A San Antonio We Will Go!!

If you have not ever been, Sea World San Antonio is well worth your time. We all had such a good time. We were there 2 days, but I think we could have easily enjoyed spending another 2. They have the regular, good ole' fashion Sea World stuff full of shows and animals and interactions with them, but they also have few roller coasters and a full water park. Let me say again, we had a blast. As you can see though, we got a bit of rain the first day there...Yes, we walked in the front gate and was met with a tremendous downpour. In hind sight we have decided that the rain was a blessing...it sure cleared out the park!
Once the rain finally let up, this was a common sight. What's the saying...how many college educated adults does it take to read a Sea World map? Well, apparently in the Shields family it takes 3! :)
Here is the motley crew that attended! Poor Tim...he sure was out numbered. As one person commented, we look like a group of polygamists with Tim having 3 wives and 5 kids.
This trip was a time for Gammie to spend with her grand kids...and that she did! I am quite sure they plum wore her out...I know they plum wore me out! It took Andrew a day, but he finally warmed up to the characters. We at lunch and watched a show with Shamu and his friends. Bot can that whale dance! :)
A highlight for me was getting to feed the dolphins. They are such amazing creatures...I think they look like they are smiling. Little Man was not real keen on touching the fish, but he finally got over that too!


Thank you Gammie for the good times and great memories!!! We love you. :)

Already 4 months!

One thing is for sure...this sweet baby Girl is a thumb sucker!!!! She never took a pacifier, but she sure takes her thumb or her toe when she gets it up that far. As I have been told by those wiser than me...good luck with that! You can take her pacifier away, but you can not take her thumb. Good times to come!
Other than that, this precious child is doing well. She is off her reflux medicine (only because I forgot to be giving it to her while we were on vacation) and she seems to be doing great. At her check up today, she was in the 40th percentile for weight and the 90th percentile for height. As the doctor says, "I forgot how long and skinny she is!" I like to say she takes after me. :) Daddy would argue she gets it from him...
Her brother is her FAVORITE person...right after Miss Susan of course! She just thinks he is the funniest person around. And around he is...most of the time I am having to shush him out of her face, but she just laughs and laughs. It is a neat sight to see the two of them together playing. He loves her...
She has started rolling over. We have seen her go from her back to her tummy, but she is not a big fan of being on her tummy. Not as mobile on her tummy so she doesn't roll that way much. We have not seen her roll from her tummy to her back, but a couple of times I have put her in her crib on her tummy and when she has awoken and started fussing, I go to get her and she is on her back. I tried to get her mad enough to roll over for me in the living room, but no such luck as of yet!
Drool, drool, and more drool. This Girl is a spit-making machine. For this reason, no one in our family is without a burp cloth. It has only been four month, but they have been amazingly fun and rewarding. We can't wait to see what the next four will entail...keep ya posted!

A Golfin' We Will Go!!

Well...as you all know College Station is sunny the vast majority of the time and no one should be caught out on the golf course without her hat on. And what a hat it is...a pink satin Aggie hat! There is no guessing who this sweet little girls Daddy is now is there?
And as for Little Man, he loves the golf cart. Posed and ready to go...Mama would you hurry up and get in the cart! We got some golf to play today.
Josh tees it up and then drives down the fairway where he throws a ball out for Little Man at about 200 yards out. Then, the race is on, hit the ball...run...hit the ball...run. It is pretty cute to watch. As Josh gets out to putt, he takes Little Man's putter with him and they finish up the hole together. Andrew is the flag taker-outer and the flag puter-back-iner and then they walk off the green together.
Little Man will tell you that his favorite part of golf is hitting it at the green (only because that is his Daddy's favorite part), but honestly his favorite part is the water cooler and the ball washer. He manages to find those at every turn. But Mama, its hot out I need to dink some water! :)
Here is Little Misses and I...this is out most important job...the gallery. Every pairing should have their own personal gallery. We make sure the cart doesn't roll away or something like that!
The boys don't keep score...at least the little one doesn't. As he would tell you he just made a birdie...after 47 putts. When all is said and done, we have a big time on the course. I told Josh it will be his job to teach him his numbers 1 to 18! ;)

Another Andrew Update

Well...Little Man has done a great job with all his trips to the doctor for blood work. We did much more talking about this past trip and he was much more mentally and emotionally ready for it. He told me he would be brave...and brave he was. Normally it takes me holding him in my lap, a nurse to hold his arm making sure he does not bend it, and then the lab nurse to draw the blood. He informed the sweet lab nurse (who has been the same all 3 times of this) that he did not need the other nurse because he was going to be brave. He did great, didn't even start crying until the actual stick. She told us that anywhere between 0 and 20 was normal. His rate was a 13!!!! Praise God and thank you for all the prayers. They sure worked. Hopefully this was just a bacterial virus that never got out of his system until the mega shot of antibiotics we received in the ER...all $900 of it...that was just for the shot and some Tylenol. So expensive, but definitely worth it.

Andrew Update

Ok...a normal Sed rate is anywhere from 15 to 20. On Wednesday when we reran Andrew's blood work, his rate was a 23...down from 36 it had been the Wednesday before. The nurse assured me this was good news, but the doctor wants to rerun the blood work again this coming Wednesday to see if it is still coming down...hopefully into that normal range. The poor lab nurse who draws his blood has thick skin. Andrew now screams and bolts for the door as soon as she walks into our exam room. Once he calms down he really does a good job of sitting still and letting them stick him, but not a fun time at all. Please keep up the prayers. We will find out more this coming Wednesday!