The Varner Family

• She cut her first two teetth last Wednesday. I was kind of surprised by the appearance of them. She was extremely fussy or anything. She never drooled much, but neither did Brody. I think she is working on her top two now.
  
• She had some horrible rash that started last Tuesday and is still lingering on her legs. I took her to the doctor on Thursday and they said she was at the end of a viral infection. We had to cancel family pictures that were scheduled for Sunday because she looked like a teenage boy with extreme acne.
  
• When I took her to the doctor she weighed 18 lbs. 7 oz. I about fell over when they told me that. 6 days before she weighed 17 lbs. 15 oz. I couldn't believe she put that much weight on in just a few days.
  
• She is really jumping these days. We all get a kick out of her jumping on my legs and in her jumperoo.
  
• She is all over the place. Anywhere she wants to get she can get there one way or another.
  
• In addition to not liking peas we can also add applesauce and oatmeal to the list of foods that she is completely appalled by. I continue to try them and she continues to act like they are the worst tasting foods ever. But give her a biter biscuit and she will be the happiest baby on the block.
  
• She has been a little more cuddly these days. She will sit in my lap and we will just sit and smile back and forth and I will make some silly faces and she will laugh and then she will just put her head in my chest and then she will look up at me with those sweet eyes and smile. And she just does this over and over.
  
• She also is very aware when I leave a room now. It doesn't always bother her, but when it is naptime or bedtime she gets a little upset. Now that she isn't swaddled anymore she will find her way to the edge of the crib and pull the bumper down and peek through the slats of the crib to see if I am in the room still. Or she will try to pull herself up to peek over the top. It is so sweet. I am a sucker so I usually try to pat her back and get her to go to sleep but I usually end up picking her up and rocking her.

The best after church shot I could get First night sleeping unswaddled

What my sweet angel looks like right now

• Brody and I took Meg to her first Gymboree Music Class. She loved it and really responded to the music, dancing, and other babies. Brody loved being the helper!
• She has started raising her hands when she wants picked up and will reach out towards me when someone else is holding her.
• It is getting easier to make her smile and laugh. She has a couple of ticklish spots and it is fun to get her laughing!
• She is rolling all over the place and has started crawling slightly backwards and does a little wiggling in the forward direction.
• Current favorite songs include This Little Light of Mine, 10 Little Horses, The Wheels on the Bus, and Hush Little Baby
• She loves playing our peek a boo game and really enjoys dancing around the house to the 90s channel on TV

She loves carrots. This look on her face makes it look like she is saying, "Seriously, I want more carrots"
Carrots are yummy and messy!

Brody loves the boxing gloves daddy brought in from the garage. He is very good at it and I think he looks pretty cute!

I love how excited Brody gets when taking pictures with Meg!

Meg trying to get her favorite ball from Aunt B

How can I get over there?

I'll just roll and that will get me closer!

Wearing the dress I got her in Texas. I love this little look on her face!

Brody loves having a cartoon buddy. He is trying to get Meg hooked on Clifford.

Brody has also been doing a number of new and funny things......

• Started class on Wednesdays at Meg's Mothers Day Out and loves it. They asked if he normally hangs out by himself. I asked if he was a loner and they said no and that he plays with the other kids but a couple of times during the day he will take some time out and sit by himself. Not sure what that means, but I think it is just that he gets tired.
• His imagination has really expanded here lately. He is starting to put together funny stories that just make me wonder what in the world is going through his head. Like tonight he was pretending to be a Knight and he was killing a dragon with a drumstick. He also said he was a cowboy and needed to get his horses. And I suggested he go get his stick horse and ride on it and he said, "Mom I am a cowboy I ride cows not horses". I will go get by cow. He also said he wanted Rosco to talk and I explained to him that Rosco would never talk and only dogs on TV talk. He said he wanted Rosco to be on TV. I said that couldn't happen either. He decided he would like a new dog. I asked him what kind of new dog and he said a Macy dog that would be pink and red. No clue where that came from, but I just love it! He also loves to say that he is just teasing and pretending!
• On our way to school today we were each taking turns making animal sounds and guessing which animal it was. He made a tooting noise with his mouth and I said that isn't an animal. He said boys toots girls don't toot. He also said that big boys toot. I explained that everyone toots every once in a while. He then let the most enormous toot ever and I just died laughing. I asked if he made himself toot and he just laughed and laughed. He is certainly his daddy's child!
  

I had the wonderful opportunity to stay at this gorgeous house last Friday night. My sweet friend Stephanie from church asked me a couple of months ago if I would want to go on a girls trip to Dallas with her mom (Patsy) and her mom's friend (Beth). I really wanted to go but wasn't sure about leaving Meg for the first time. She then said we would be staying in a beautiful house in the same neighborhood as George W. The George part sold me! Beth's sister Sara and her husband Buddy live in Dallas with their son Walt. They were all such nice people and I had the most wonderful time. I missed my kids, but Brody was well taken care of by Bryson and Meg was spoiled by my mom, Hannah, and Kena!
We met Patsy and Beth at the Allen Outlet Mall around lunchtime on Friday and managed to get around the entire mall is about 3 hours....amazing. I found some great things for Meg and a couple of things for myself. After we shopped we headed to Dallas. We hung out for a little while and then got ready for dinner. When we walked outside we saw this limo waiting for us. We were shocked. We rode in style to Javier's and had one of the most delicious meals I have ever eaten. It was actually not outrageously price so I hope to one day go back with Bryson. He would love it. Our limo driver used to be a secret service agent and provides some security to George W. on the side. We all wanted to sit down with him and hear some stories!
This is Buddy and Beth. He was so nice and friendly and put up with all of us girls at dinner!

After dinner we came back home and went to the basement and bowled a little bit. Yep, they had a two lane bowling alley downstairs along with a huge Wine Cellar. They called it Grapes and Gutters. They even had every shoe and bowling ball size imagineable. I bowled terrible and everyone else kept getting strikes....oh well!

Dining Room Beautiful Staircase

Sara's Office
Another Dining and Living Area

Kitchen
This was all the alarms. They are able to lock all of their doors just by pressing a button. Crazy! They also had these little screens on the walls in a lot of rooms that you could change the temperature in each room to your liking!

The server

This great bible verse was in their game room. It was quite obvious to me that they follow this. I hope if I ever come across a ton of money that I will be as generous and kind as Buddy and Sara are. A glimpse into the closet in our bedroom. They really take care of their guests. They each had robes, extra comforters, and an assortment of pillows.

One of the extra bedrooms. Sara is a terrific decorator and pays such close attention to detail. My pictures do the house no justice.

I loved how they displayed various items that are sentimental to them. These were all ties that were worn by her dad and grandpa. I plan on doing the same with some of my dads!