Jailbreak....

 About a month ago Clayton and I completed a jailbreak event. It was a 3.1 mile run with a lot of obstacles. The race was a challenge between HPD and HFD. The event benefited the Houston Police Department. A bunch of people came out and it was a pretty fun day. A cold front came in the night before and it was freezing.

The day warmed up a little but it was still cold. We were in the first wave which started at 8:30 in the morning.

Pictures were taken of the HFD team before the race started. We all were huddling around a couple HFD vehicles because the heater was on. Everyone was trying to warm up before the race started.

People also used the vehicles to warm up after running the race. The picture above are people that actually work for HFD and the one to the right is everyone that ran on the HFD team.

I rolled my ankle minutes into the race so I told Clayton to go ahead and run it since he was trying to get a good time. I stayed back with a guy from the station.

George and I ran the race at our own pace. One of the last obstacles was a soapy water slide. Yes this obstacle was cold.

There was another huge water slide you went down before you got into the mud pit. Clayton finished the race about 10 minutes before I did. He was happy to cross the finish line and rest before he started watching for me to come around the corner and finish up the last portion of the obstacles.

I was not that far from Clayton. Here George, Carol, and I were trying to figure out the best way to go down the slide. The guy told us the best way was to go down on your stomach.

What he didn't let anyone know is that there were rocks down at the bottom and your hands instead of your feet where the first things to find the rocks.  

The Cargo Net was another obstacle that was after the soapy water slide. This one was a hard one for me because there are so many people that are climbing it once that the whole thing shakes constantly. 

You are wet and really cold at this point in the race. The finish line is within site but there are about 3 wet obstacles between you and victory. After you go down the huge slide you crawl through a mud pit and then have to roll through sand. If you are not really dirty at the end you have done something wrong. 

 Clayton and I had a lot of fun doing the race. We even said we would probably do it again. Here is a picture of the Station 51 team.

Everyone finished and no one came in last place. I think we did a good job. The only bad part is.. George was listed as a girl!

Happy Haunting...

This was Tess's first halloween. One weekend we took her to a pumpkin patch. We had a ton of fun. She was pretty intrigued by the orange pumpkins. I love all the pictures, couldn't really narrow any down to being my favorite.

This halloween Tess was a lady bug. She didnt last long in her costume but we got at least one good picture. She was asleep by the time the trick or treaters came to the house. Clayton and I sat outside just like we did last year. So much has happened in a year, last year we found out I was pregnant with Tess and this year she is dressing up! Hope everyone had a good halloween!

Four Down... Many to Go

 Tess is a pretty good mixture of Clayton and I. Tess had her first school picture and there is no denying that she is Clayton's little girl. She looks more and more like him every day. A lot of people actually ask if I am

jealous that my child looks a lot like her daddy. I think its a little funny because this child may not look like me but she sure does have a lot of my personality :) We tried to take a four month photo... this is the best that we got... got to love the look of death. I probably have a ton of pictures where I am giving my own mother this face.

This month Tess started smiling back at you when you smiled at her. Now she smiles all the time, mostly when she sees her puppies. Her whole face lights up when she smiles. My mom use to call me her ray of sunshine, well Tess is the same way. When she smiles everyone else in the room smiles. .

One weekend everyone came to the house to watch the game and eat an early dinner before Matt flew back to Florida. Tess had to support her team. It says "My First Texans Tee" T

We had a couple rough weekends during the fourth month. Tess came to visit my mom and spend the night with her Oma and PawPaw Charlie. Her she is helping my mom work. Clayton and I picked her up on Saturday morning. Clayton got sick with the horrible stomach bug that passes through Houston once a year. So I shipped Tess off the my parents so she wouldn't get sick. Good thing she wasn't at home because I had to take Clayton to the ER to get an IV. The next weekend I got the stomach bug and again Tess was shipped off to my parent's house. We are all so thankful that Tess never got the bug (Clayton, Matt, Mona, Kevin and I were not so lucky)

 It finally got a little cold her and Tess was able to bust out some cute winter clothes. While I was getting her pants and jacket out I realized we really were not prepared for the cold weather. A bunch of clothes were bought and she is set for all the cold weather. The weather was nice and chilly for Clayton's game. We put a hat on her to shield her ears from the wind. I think she likes the cold weather as much as she likes being outside.

We hit another milestone this month... guess who can roll-over. Now she rolls everywhere. She realized she could roll to get places so that's what she does. She would roll across the room if we let her.

Three Months and Counting....

We have been pretty busy the last couple of months. Tess has grown way more than I expected. I don't know how ready I am for her to be getting this big!

This month Tess started focusing more. She would focus on the dogs, the tv, our phones, and the iPad. She still loves the tv and gets distracted by it all the time, especially during feeding time. The dogs are still her favorite and she loves to cheer on the Texans on Sunday!

Tess also found her fingers this month. The minute she found out she could put her fingers in her mouth it was over, they barely come out. She also puts everything else in her mouth also. She used to love her soothie now you can see that she now prefers her own fingers. She usually doesn't suck her thumb, it's usually her ring and middle fingers.  

We were at an outlet mall and I saw the cutest converse shoes. They are a little big for her but when she is able to start wearing them she will be able to match her mommy (except I have black ones). This picture makes her feet look huge :).

Clayton started playing outdoor soccer this fall. We have been able to go to a couple of his games. Tess loves to be outside. Sometimes the only thing that will calm her down is going and sitting outside. She doesn't really sit in her stroller for too long, she likes to sit on my lap and watch the action. She is pretty entertained by the game and pretty much the coolest kid in the park!

During her third month Tess hit a pretty fun milestone, she started laughing. For a while she would only laugh for her daddy, but she warmed up and her and I have a ton of fun laughing and playing.

Daycare here we come!

Tess started Daycare last week. I thought I was going to be fine dropping her off but I had to do it fast or I was going to breakdown.

  

Here she is right before

we walked out the door

 

Her bed is one of the ones on the far left and
you can see her playing with one of the workers





   

Here is her report for her first day,
Clayton picked her up and the
ladies had nothing but good things to say!

 



Tess goes to daycare every morning. When Clayton is home she gets picked up early and if he isn't then I swing by on my way home and get her! I am pretty sure she likes going because they have cool toys that we don't have at home!



The Second Month

 

I can't believe that Tess is already 2 months! This past month has been a little calmer than her first one but we still did a lot while I was still on leave.

Clayton and I got out the play mat/piano that was given to us at one of the baby showers. Tess loves to look around and see what is going on around her. We thought the play mat would be perfect, it took her a little bit to figure it out but once she did she loves laying on it and looking around playing with the toys hanging down and most of all looking at herself in the mirror.  

  

Here is a clip of her playing...

Tess started sleeping in her crib, I thought it was going to be a disaster but I think she was ready to get out of her cradle and be in her own room. She is sleeping pretty well and she will even put herself back to sleep if she isn't wet or hungry.

Lexi is still a big fan of the baby, she likes to lay right next to her. Lexi is a little anxious to have Tess old enough to play, she has tried to give Tess toys for her to throw, we keep telling Lexi no but if we don't throw it I guess she thinks Tess is the next best thing!

 Tess has done quite a bit of lounging around. Whether on her daddy or in the boppy or on her mommy. One good thing about this kid is that she can usually sleep anywhere. 

 A couple of weeks ago we went to an Astros game. Tess did great, she only got a little fussy and then went to sleep and was fine till we got home.  

Tess met her first friend, this little girl was so intrigued by her. She didn't really watch the game. All she really wanted to do was look around and look up at the lights. She was pretty tired the next day.

Tess got baptized...

Tess was baptized on August 11th at Strake Jesuit at the Chapel onsite. Fr. Lahart performed the ceremony, he also married Clayton and I.

Before the ceremony we got a three generations picture. Tess was really interested in everything else and didn't want to look at the camera.

Here are some pictures of before the ceremony and during it. My mom made Tess's baptism dress out of her wedding dress. I wore a portion of her veil when I got married and the lace on her dress matched the veil. The dress was amazing.

My brother, Matt is Tess's Godfather. He flew in from Tampa so he could be here for the ceremony. Clayton's cousin, Meredith is Tess's Godmother. She stayed an extra day in town so she wouldn't miss the event. She left to go back to Lubbock very early the next day.

A few of Tess's great-grandparents were able to make it down for the baptism.

And just for fun.. this is what happens when a bunch of people are taking pictures all at once. We are all not looking at the same camera.