The Baird family

Allison was born at 4:39pm on Tuesday 12/30/08. She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and was 20 inches long. Our little tax credit made it before the new year :)

So maybe she didn't make it in time for Christmas, but we were prepared anyways...


Her "Petty feet" and super-long toes

Yes, it snowed here in Houston yesterday. And, no, it wasn't one of those what-Texas-people-call-snow-when-it's-really-just-cold-rain kind of snows. There were actual snowflakes that stuck!! I've seen lots of pictures of people who were able to make snowmen (albeit tiny ones...).

I was out and about running a few errands wearing my flip-flops and capris. Wintertime is the best time to be pregnant :) I got a few weird looks, but I much prefer being cold to how it is in Houston in July: hot and humid.

I don't have any pictures to share because Greg had the camera at work, so you just have to take my word for it. This morning it was 31 degrees on my way to work so I had to take the long way to avoid the bridges on the tollway and all the ice. That's never fun to drive in!! It's pretty and sunny outside now, but I don't know what it's like because I've been cooped up in my classroom all day.

Other news:
**I only have 6 more days of work until Winter Break, then I'll be taking my 6 week maternity leave and not have to work again until the middle of February. I can't wait!!! Allison will be here before we know it!!

**Tonight we have Greg's company Christmas Party where he will be honored for working at J&C for over 5 years now (it's actually closer to 6 though) as well as for getting his Professional Engineer's Certification. I'm sure he'll be getting some really nice letter opener and tie tack or something. That's what businesses always do....

**Mom is having her hysteroctomy tomorrow so they can biopsy and see if the cancer has spread, so keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Well I'm off to get dolled up for the party tonight; hopefully Greg will remember the camera and I'll have some pictures to post later. Happy snowman-building :)

I never do this, but I thought it would be fun....here's my response to Sara's tag, the totally material/superficial Christmas desires list (no cheesy/sappy world peace wishes here..)

1. Baby Allison to get here either way before Christmas or right at the end of the year. She's not due until Jan 5, but we'd like to have her here early for tax purposes :) but not too early because I hate for her to have a Christmas birthday...she could never have a birthday slumber party. I just want to pick the date!! If only it were that easy...

2. A new sheet set for our bed.

3. A waffle maker; Man cannot live on pancakes alone

4. More of our china sets: Waterford's Ballet Ribbons. We only have 4 sets and we'd like to have 12 or so (for our future big family). Right after the wedding last year, we ordered all the extra sets (and platters and bowls) from a "discount website" that was supposed to save us about 15%. We did the same for our flatware and crystal with no problems, but apparently the website we used for the china was a scam and we lost over $1500 :( It was a rough life lesson. So needless to say, we don't have our full set of china...

5. My old waistline back.

6. A digital camera for the new Mommy :)

7. Stuff from Bath and Body Works. I LOVE their wallflower plug-ins, especially at school (6th graders are stinky!!!).

8. Gift cards for Old Navy and JCPenney for when I get skinny again....They're the only mainstream stores that have Tall clothes (that I know of...)

9. Any more cute baby stuff that we "need".

10. A subscription to Cooking Light so I don't have to keep paying way too much for each individual magazine. They always have really good recipes in there!!

Tag: Lisa, Emily, Leslie, Karen, Jessi, Ashley, Hannah, Natalie, Jill and Jaimie; basically everybody who I know has a blog that I check regularly :)


Happy Holidays to everybody!!!

Yesterday was our one-year wedding anniversary!! We had a doctor's appointment, then Greg took me out to a wonderful restaurant, Truluck's. We splurged and got the Stone Crab legs with all the fixings and ate to our heart's content. Our favorite things were the Cream of Poblano Pepper soup, the crabcake we got as an appetizer and their mashed potatoes....yes, we liked the mashed potatoes better than the crab!!!

Greg got me a really sweet card and one red rose for our one year of marriage. He's such a wonderful man and I'm truly blessed to have him as my husband. He is my best friend and I love laughing with him, talking with him and making plans for our future together. He will be such a wonderful Dad!!!


Since last year was so crazy with the wedding and honeymoon right after Thanksgiving, we never set up a Christmas tree. So here is officially our first Christmas tree

I couldn't resist this picture...The diapers were really full of melted chocolate candies and we all had to guess what kind they were (Megan, mother of two, won the game...). And only one person was brave enough to actually sample the chocolate, the rest of us relied on sight and smell...

We actually had a little time the other day to start getting the nursery set up. Since we only have 2 bedrooms, Allison is going to have to share a room with our guest bed (and all my clothes that are in the closet). My belly is starting to get bigger and bigger each day!! Allison sure is active too!! She rolls around and kicks a lot!! I'm going to the doctor every 2 weeks now, and everything seems to be going well. I've always been really healthy, so I hope Allison gets that from me. Only 7 more weeks to go :) Greg and I are both really excited!!Our first really cold spell hit in Houston today. It's beautiful and sunny outside, but it was still in the low 50s this afternoon, so winter is starting to hit us here. I love that we don't have to bundle up too much; a nice sweater or jacket is all you need. It's the perfect hot cocoa weather too...that's been my latest indulgence. I have at least a cup or two each day.

On a more somber note, my Mom was diagnosed with cancer this week. She has adenocarcinoma of the uterus, which is really rare for someone of her age (it's usually really, really old women that get it). She has a very positive outlook about it all; even joking with Dad about how now they won't be having any more kids :) She's set for surgery in a couple weeks, and they're hoping they caught it early. The timing couldn't have been more of a miracle though. Everything with the doctors has worked out well so far and we're all praying it continues to go smoothly. She's still living her life as normal though; going to Dallas for Caleb's 3rd birthday today and coming down here next weekend for our baby shower. We're still planning a big Thanksgiving too.

My brother Russ is getting some leave from the Army, so we'll get to see him this Thanksgiving too. He's back from his second Afghanistan tour and has been at his post in Italy for a couple weeks. He's now going to be stationed in North Carolina, so he bought a house there (sight unseen) and will be back right around Thanksgiving time. He's still a bachelor and he says the house has enough room for all his toys, bikes and stuff...I guess boys never grow up :) His tentative plan is to be in NC for at least 6 months, but he mentioned having to do a tour in Iraq starting some time next summer. With a new Commander in Chief in charge by then, who knows it he'll still be shipped off or not.

That's pretty much the synopsis of what's been going on around here. I'm still working hard, Greg is still working hard, and now that Aggie football home games are over, we have our weekends back. I'm so ready for the holidays to be here; I LOVE Christmastime!!

That's about all for now...

...but I feel like I can finally stop and take a breath. Volleyball season is over, and I'm afraid to say, it might be my last one...I just don't know that I'll have the time or energy to coach again next year. The last 2 months have definitely been more stressful than anything I can remember; I've worked at lease 65 hours every week so far this school year (except for our "Ike vacation"). And people say teachers work from 8 til 3....if they only knew...

On the baby front: baby Allison and I are both doing wonderful. We've been blessed enough to have no complications or problems so far. She's growing and kicking and moving around all the time; it's really interesting to me. Greg's even been able to feel her a few times. Except for being thirsty all the time, I have no complaints. Only 10 weeks left to go!!!

Our house is still in shambles :( Almost 6 weeks after the hurricane and we're still living with a hole in the ceiling (though the roof is tarped) and no carpet on the stairs. Hopefully it'll get fixed soon...I want our house to be back to normal!! I also can't wait to start getting our baby nursery set up. We have piles and piles stacked and shoved in corners because we have to wait to get the carpet padding back down before we can get things moved in.

The plans for this weekend are to head to Tyler to do some family bonding (i.e. work our butts off) at the Pumpkin Patch. Greg's birthday is on Monday, so he and I did some clothes shopping the other day. That's something I haven't gotten him to do in a loooooong time!! We found a really nice leather jacket that he wanted, so that's his big splurge of a present. I have a fun idea of what to do for his cake, but it's a surprise...I'll have to post pictures later :)

That's about all that's been happening around here lately. I'm going to catch up on my DVR shows and lay on the couch and be lazy the rest of the night. Later :)

Just another interesting picture from around the neighborhood....


Let me preface this post by saying that I have the most wonderful, hard-working husband and I'm so glad he's mine :) I stopped by the house this afternoon to check and see (yes our power is STILL out...), and start cleaning out the freezer. Greg's Mom and I packed up all the food that was salvagable (including our wedding cake top) and left because it was so hot and mildew/musty smelling.

Greg was unfortunate enough to have to work today, and after his 10-hour day, he headed to the house to see what he could fix. He wanted to make sure the floors and wooden stairs didn't get molded and rot, so he tore up all the carpet he could. I haven't seen it all first-hand yet, and I'm not looking forward to it. The pictures are all that I need to see....

Our entryway...

The living room.

Another pic of the living room.

The stairway :(

Baby Allison's future room :( You can see a corner of the ruined white dresser...

The hallway

At least we are blessed enough to have family that is close that will let us visit for a while!!! It's becoming a slumber party here at Greg's parents house. One of Erin's (Greg's sister) friends who lives in Houston and is out of power came to stay as well. We had a wonderful dinner tonight and I've been trying to find things to keep myself occupied today while Greg worked. Much to my Mom's surprise, I'm sure, I even gardened a bit this morning...that's almost unheard of for me!!! We did have a nice perk this evening though: Greg's Mom's masseuse came to the house this evening (because the power was out at her office) and we all got massages...so this whole Ike thing isn't all bad :)

I'll keep everybody posted. Take care :)

So we left San Antonio and headed back to Houston this morning without any problems. Traffic wasn't bad on I-10; we drove along with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Army National Guard caravans as they were traveling to Houston. As we got closer and closer to Houston, we were amazed at all the sign/billboard damage and the windows that were out, but nothing seemed too bad (being on the West side, we didn't see all the flooding).....then we took the exit to go to our house.

Here's a picture of Richmond Ave right in front of our house; boy am I glad we own a Yukon!!!


Me following behind Greg's truck as we drove to his parents house in SugarLand (since we didn't have power at our townhouse). We're such the stereotypical Texans-I have a Yukon and he has a Dodge truck....no good gas mileage for either of us :)

This was the big shocker for us....This is the tree Greg usually parks under and is about 5 feet from our front door. We were all blessed that it fell the way it did; it tore up the sidewalk and the lightposts, but didn't hit the building or any cars.

We lost our little cute tree that I love....I guess all the trees around here have pretty shallow roots...

What we walked home into...

The ceiling above the stairway.

The hallway ceiling.

Apparently the wind knocked off some of the shingles and it started raining into the attic, which saturated the ceiling in our hallway and the guest room. One of our dressers (a brand new white one) has some water damage (Note to self: next hurricane don't leave a purple piece of paper sitting on a white dresser-it bleeds through). The stairway carpet and the guest room carpet are pretty wet, so we hope mildew doesn't set in.

I know it's a little selfish/silly of me, but I was most worried about checking the bathroom walls and ceiling to make sure there was no damage there....I just finished painting!!! Everything there seems fine-most of our damage was to the hallway and guest room, and a little in our living room, so nothing terrible.

The good news is that our HOA should cover the damage, and if not, we have insurance, so we won't be out much. It's more the stress of having to deal with all this now (on top of work, baby stuff, Aggie football tailgating, Volleyball season just starting, etc). My school district is closed for at least 2 days, so that's nice :) but Greg has to go in to work tomorrow.

We're staying with his parents in SugarLand for the time being until we get power back. Greg and I have been so blessed; no matter what, we have each other :)