The Ragsdale's

So..I'm a little behind on the blogging, and I'm blaming it on the weather. It's been gross and depressing lately--but right now the sun is shining in my office window and it makes me happy!! :)

I didn't want to face the reality of my little girls birthday. I can't believe it's already been a YEAR!! It was such a bittersweet time! My little baby isn't a newborn any more, but she's into so many fun things that I can't really complain. :) I love all of the new stages!

Makena's dr wasn't available for her 1 yr check up until next week, so I don't know all of her "stats", but she's my growing girl.

She LOVES to read books. Pat the Bunny is her favorite (she loves "touch and feel" books)...but we've started reading books about Toes, Ears, and Noses (lift-the-flap books). Often times, I'll find her in her room all by herself reading books and entertaining herself. She babbles words as she turns the pages...and my FAVORITE is when she reads herself "Pat the Bunny" because there's a page that says "Paul can smell the flowers, now YOU smell the flowers" and every time she gets to that page, she gets really animated and puts the book up to her face and breathes really hard, then turns around to see if I'm watching her to laugh at her silly self.

If I say, "Makena, where's mommy's ear?" She comes over and sticks her finger in my ear and waits for me to say "where's mommy's OTHER ear?" and turns my face with her precious hand and sticks her finger in my OTHER ear. She can also find her own ears. If I say where's your tongue? She sticks it out. TODAY she learned where her foot is. She claps her hands, and has recently started clapping them to music. She dances, and ESPECIALLY loves the song "Gold Digger"...but the edited version, of course...and "Single Ladies" and pretty much anything from the Black-Eyed Peas. She's running and trying to keep her balance while doing so. She LOVES to blow her lips. I KNOW she's trying to say words to me, but right now, I can't really make out what she's saying most of the time....and she HAS to be frustrated because I'll say, "what did you say?" and she repeats the EXACT same thing, over and over...

One thing i KNOW she's saying is...she'll point at random objects (usually the same things over and over again) and says "Dat?" (that?).

She knows a lot of words, and it's so fun to realize she's such a sponge and is soaking everything in! She knows words like, baby (day-dee), book (dook), deer (dea)...as you can see "d's" are her favorite right now. She recognizes several words, a few of them are: bottle, drink, bear, dogs (and knows their names!), paci, bath, "do you want to eat?", "are you hungry?". She LOVES to give hugs, and gives THE BEST HUGS EVER. It was such a rewarding day when she started that!!

She has 8 teeth, and is doing really well eating. She loves to take big bites and scare the poo out of mommy and swallow things whole. However, she's getting MUCH better about learning to bite food with her front teeth when the food object is too big to shove in her mouth.

Here are some pics of her birthday party. She was my little princess. I made her tutu and shirt...and felt very crafty. :) (and economical b/c I spent less than $10!) :)

Yesterday at about 6:20 PM our power went out for NO reason (well, I'm SURE there was a reason, but a reason unknown to ME). I waited 5 minutes, hoping/KNOWING that it would HAVE to flicker back on since there were NO storms in our immediate area. And then, I got a little huffy. You see, I had food in the oven as it was prime dinner time. I'm sure there were many in our neighborhood who were in the same boat as me.

Luke was SO excited about dinner last night because he was going to be grilling his recently acquired dove. Me, I'm not so much of a fan--unless I have side dishes to fill me up. I can eat 3, and then I realize I'm eating something abnormal and it makes my stomach turn. I'm pretty sure 3 is my limit, so sides are a necessity, as these birds don't have much meat on them. The dove breasts is stuffed with 1/2 a de-seeded jalapeno, wrapped in pepper bacon and marinated in italian dressing. *I do have to say the dove turned out nicely. I had Luke cook mine with the jalapeno seeds included and think I found a new liking--i'm definitely not saying "love" for dove--but I could probably eat 4 if my jalapenos have seeds. :)

I was ALSO frustrated because 2 of the sides were going to be Makena's dinner (mac and cheese and green beans). I knew I was going to have to improvise and quickly because my growing baby was showing signs of hunger.

Instead of being mad at the situation, Luke turned my frown upside down and made me smile. He's so good to me. :) He reminded me to LAUGH and make the best of it, and that we could make it a memorable experience. I love him. He offered to cook it all on the grill. OH HOW I WISH I WOULD'VE GOTTEN A PICTURE. We are country bumpkin's at heart (especially my Luke). :)

He cooked the green beans in their tin can, and the mac and cheese--boiled it in a pot over the open flames and made it perfectly. And Makena? (because the previously mentioned take a tad longer on the grill and she was not willing to wait). She ate cereal and yogurt and some non-heated carrots for dinner, and I don't think she minded a bit. She might have even liked her breakfast for dinner.

As we were waiting for our feast to be ready (and cooked thoroughly). We opened every blind in the house to use what little sunlight was remaining, and got our candles ready for a night in the dark. Makena also took her first bath in the dark with the help of a (very redneck) hat that has a flashlight in the visor. I think it might have even been FUN for her. :) ...or maybe confusing?

Either way, it turned out to be a night I'll never forget (too bad I don't have pictures to prove it). It's the little things in life that can make you smile. (I'm secretly hoping it'll happen again so I can document it with some pictures).

Finding your baby's diaper off (AND on the floor) upon first arrival into the room (and the overwhelming smell of poop) is NEVER a good sign.

"WHEN THE DOG BITES, WHEN THE BEE STINGS, WHEN I'M FEELING SAD....I SIMPLY REMEMBER MY FAVORITE THINGS AND THEN I DON'T FEEL SOOOO BAAAAADDD!"

...did the title make you want to sing the song? It did me, and so I sang. :)

Here's my list:


1. The belly button of the butter. It's so stinkin' cute. When we were little, my siblings and I would argue over who got the first scoop of the new butter. It's like the belly button was extra tastey. Now, I ALWAYS remove the belly button first. Maybe w/ the next butter, I'll be a rebel and let the belly button stay as long as possible, scooping all around it to enjoy its cuteness. Weird? I think NOT.

2. My Baylor cup--not only does it remind me of the sweet day I birthed my newest love, but I SWEAR water tastes better out of it. Plus I love to drink out of straws AND to see how many ounces of water I'm drinking, so I'm pretty sure this cup was made with me in mind. It's perfect. Except...mine broke. So sad. I still haven't thrown it away. And it now has water stuck inside its layers that won't come out. Luke tried stealing this cup from me, but I reminded him of why I got the cup (basically, I made him feel guilty for the pain I endured to win this "prize") and he's now got his own version of a big, oversized cup. If I could buy one or 2 of these, I would.

3&4. Frosted mugs--everything tastes better in them. And I especially love when my drinks get little chunks of ice in them because they're so cold.
The Great State of TEXAS--sure, it's hot here right now...but I love it. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

5. Crockpot liners-yep. They're amazing. No clean up necessary.

6. Orange Juice--Luke and I used to argue over who drank the most orange juice, so finally I put an end to the bickering and got us a his and hers bottle. Yep, our names are on them. I'm pretty sure he still cheated and drank some of mine after his was empty.

7. A1--Why is it upside down you ask? Because I want every last drop-that's why. I love to stick my finger in it and lick my A1 lollipop'd finger. My mouth is salivating for it right now. I love it's tangy-ness.

8. Smiles through paci's. No explanation necessary. Although, I do have to elaborate on the picture. She also LOVES her new little baby. We always go through the toy aisle at Walmart/Target and she SMILES and LAUGHS when she sees the baby dolls, so I finally bought her her very own. And, it has a paci of its own that she loves to steal. (She looks a little cross eyed here...she's not.)

9. Rednecks. Yep, Makena's pool is in the front yard. And it's sitting on the HUGE slope, under the tree. Luke had just gotten back from a fishing excursion and while he was cleaning the fish, we decided to keep him company. (Actually he begged me to do this, I wanted to refrain for fear of what our neighbors might think). Speaking of....our neighbor (who is black) came over and said, "Luke, where i come from, this is considered ghetto, but for you, I guess it's considered honky". We laughed and said, "you mean white trash?" (as we had already joked about what WT we looked like that day). He quickly said, "ok, now that YOU said it, yes, definitely white trash, but I didn't want you to think I was racist". Luke assured him that he could always tell us when we were white trash if we could tell him when he was getting ghetto. That night, a hoopty pulled up to his house as we were loading the truck to leave, and Luke screamed over to him, "Hey Dave! Now that's what I call ghetto!" SOOOO Embarrassing. Dave laughed and said, "the funny thing is? His Momma is WHITE." LOL. Oh brother. This poor, unsuspecting man who got picked on (I was DYING in the truck...so embarrassed). :) BUT, just look at this cute baby...no one could call her trash. Not ever.

And, I just love how prissy she is in this picture. :)