Fun at Granna & Pa's/East Texas Hot Air Balloons/One More Day!

Playing in the sprinkler at Granna and Pa's house

Putting on an amazing puppet show!

Dane and J.J. with their Woodys, a must-have toy for any 2 year old boy!

Last week, while Lane was gone on Trek, Dane and I spent most of the week at my parents' house. Needless to say, Dane was showered with lots of extra attention, and I was given lots of extra time for rest! The first part of the week, my mom had to work most of, but my dad was off Sunday and Monday, so we got to spend a lot of time with Pa, riding in his new truck and playing around the house. Wednesday through Friday, my mom was off, and Robyn and her kids came over to have some good cousin time together. Mainly, we spent most of the time in the pool. Dane and J.J. are avid cannon ballers, and it was so funny to watch them splash constantly. It was even a little funny how aggrevated Mary Nan and Laura would get at their constant splashing. There was a clear difference to be seen in how little girls and little boys like to enjoy their swim time! To their credit, the boys way did look like a lot more fun to me!

Three swim times in one day makes for a very fun day!

Lane returned home safely on Friday afternoon, and we basically lazed around for the remainder of that day, catching up on each other's weeks. Then, Saturday night, right at dusk, we headed over to the Gregg County Airport, to see a hot air balloon glow show. Mark Scirto, my trusty weatherman on KLTV 7, told us all about it, and since the airport is only about five miles from our house, we thought it would be fun to take Dane to go and see. During the day, they had an actual race with the hot air balloons, so this was the grand finale, I guess. Lane was a little disappointed that the balloons didn't actually fly around at the glow show, they just aired them up and lit them all at the same time. Considering Dane's 2 year old short attention span, it was probably best that they didn't fly around because he was ready to go after about 20 minutes anyway. The balloons were really pretty, though.

It looks like Dane is getting ready to pick a fight with someone in this picture.

Watching the hot air balloons!

Well, this will be my last blog before Sydni is born tomorrow afternoon. I can hardly believe that the time is finally here. Joe David and I discussed the other day how nine months is such an incredibly long time to have to wait for a baby. He said that he thought there should be a doctor out there that specializes in getting fully developed, big babies to be born in just six months.


We have a pretty big day planned before we have to be at the hospital. I get to eat a big breakfast tomorrow, as long as I have it eaten by 8:30, then nothing to eat or drink for the rest of the day. After breakfast, Lane will ceremonially shave his beard to reveal his amazing #1 Dad mustache. We will also have a ceremony to pin his "#1 Dad" pin on his shirt. It will be a very emotional time, I'm sure! For those of you who don't get what I'm talking about, I'll fill you in. When Lane and I attended childbirth classes when we were expecting Dane, we didn't learn much, but we did learn 2 very important things. They showed us several birth videos, which were all clearly made in the 80's. Well, two very important things stood out to both of us, and we made sure that we remembered them...#1 - All good new fathers have amazing mustaches, and...#2 - All good new fathers wear buttons on their shirts that say #1 Dad. Sure, you might say that the dads in those videos only had mustaches because they were from the 1980's, but we tend to believe that there was more significance to it than that. I mean, my dad didn't have a mustache in the 80's (granted, he couldn't grow one), but still, we don't think it was just a coincidence. So, we will make sure that Lane is completely prepared to welcome his new child into the world properly.


Lane and I have to report to the hospital at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon, so that I can get all of my lab work done. The c-section is scheduled for 5:00 p.m., so hopefully we'll have a sweet girl to hold shortly after that. We'll post lots of pictures tomorrow night, I'm sure! Please pray that everything will go well, and that Sydni will be healthy.

Baby Shower & Another Long Week Ahead

I love this picture of Dane that I got of him today. He stays so busy these days, so it's getting harder and harder to get him to pose and smile for the camera. He complied today, and I love how he says "Cheese". He has made it a little more personal and says, "Cheese for Colby Jack!" Colby Jack is both his and my favorite kind of cheese, so I guess it just comes naturally to add it to the phrase!

Well, we're starting our third and final week of Lane being gone this summer. He left with the youth early this morning to go to Colorado for Wilderness Trek. I think that he is really excited about the trip. Please pray that they will have a safe and meaningful trip there and back. Once he returns home next Friday, we are considering ourselves home-free! We'll be within a week of Sydni coming then, so time will hopefully fly by! I really don't think that Sydni will decide to join us this week, but I will definitely be glad when Lane gets home and there's no possibility that he could miss her birth, especially since there's really not a way to get in touch with him while he's up in the mountains. Dane and I are still going to manage to have some fun this week, though. As an aside, just saying that we'll have fun makes me feel a little bit guilty and makes me laugh at the same time. Growing up, anytime we were doing something and going somewhere fun when my dad wasn't with us, my mother would always say, WITHOUT FAIL, that "We just can't have any fun without Daddy here". I always knew that she meant that she wished Daddy was with us and that we would have even more fun with him there, too. But, part of me also always felt like it was a little bit of a damper on any fun that we might possibly get to have. We always have to repeat that phrase to my mom to give her a hard time now. Anyway, to her credit, I now understand what she always meant because we miss Lane when he's gone, too. However, we are excited about our restful week ahead. Tomorrow, we'll head up to Mama and Daddy's house and will spend Sat. and Sun. nights there with them. Then, we'll come back home Monday afternoon so that C. John and Spanky don't have to be alone for too long at the house without us. Then, my mom will come Tuesday night and go with me Wed. for my dr. appointment. Then, we'll go back to my parents' house and spend Wed. and Thurs. nights there and come back Friday in time for Lane to get home! So, it seems like the week will take forever to pass, but I know that we will have so much fun at Mama and Daddy's, and I know that Dane will eat up all of the extra attention that they will give him.

It's taken me a while to get this posted, but last month, our church family here in Kilgore was so wonderful to us and threw us a baby shower. I was completely overwhelmed by all of the generosity and warm wishes given to us. We are truly blessed to be a part of such a loving and encouraging group of Christians. I have officially moved into the phase of my pregnancy when I can't stand to see myself in pictures, so I am only posting the few that I can stomach looking at. My favorite is the one of my mom and I laughing at something. I wish it wasn't blurry, but I still like it!

My New Favorite Home Pedicure Miracle Product!

You may have seen this product advertised on TV lately. Well, Lane and I saw it a few weeks back, and it really peaked my interest. Does it work, you might be wondering? Well, let me tell you, instead of saving up for new socks to hide my horrible feet during my upcoming hospital stay, I now want to go out and get lots of new colors of nail polish! This thing is fantastic! I am so excited that it works!

Lane called tonight, and I told him that I went to CVS and got one. He said he is definitely ready to get home and give it a try himself! I'm not so sure I'm OK with sharing it with someone else, so we may have to go and get him his very own and put his name on it. We have really had some good luck with As Seen On TV products lately. Lane recently purchased the Save A Blade product that sharpens razor blades. He has been very pleased with it, too.

So, if any of you have been experiencing overly calloused heels or very dull razor blades, these products may work some miracles in your life, too!

My Week So Far

For the last two days, I have been trying to remember what in the world I did with my free time before Dane came around. Well, if I recall correctly, a lot of that time was spent in a Dallas highrise with my trusty 10-key calculator, pondering the world of debits and credits (which I truly do love, no joke!). Lane and I also spent a lot of time eating out, which I also dearly love. And, I probably spent a lot of time shopping, too (which I'm trying to avoid doing this week). This week, Lane and Dane are both gone to Harding University for a youth camp called Uplift. Lane had told me a couple of months back that he wanted to take Dane on this trip with him, so that I could have a week to rest and finish up any pending baby projects before Sydni comes. He also informed me last week before they left, that he and Dane would be going on their "Baby Moon", or their last hoorah together before the boy to girl ratio in our family is put into balance! I had told him that if he changed his mind at the last minute, that would be OK, but those boys were ready for their time together, I think.

My boy is getting bigger and bigger every day, and it was so much fun getting all of his stuff packed up for his big vacation! After I finished packing everything, I called Dane in there for me to show him where everything was in each bag, so that he could help his dad out in case Lane couldn't find something. He helped me pack a toy bag, with all of his most essential toys. Then, he really cracked me up when he started exactly repeating back to me all of the contents of his snack bag.

When the group left Saturday morning, Lane called everybody together for a prayer and after that, told them to load up in the van. Well, it was a bittersweet mom moment for me because Dane was on the other side of the church van from me, and he yelled out, "Bye, Mom, see ya later!". Of course, I stole several hugs and kisses from him once I got him all buckled in, but it really did strike me at how fast he is growing up! I know that some of you may disagree, but I am so proud that he is my son, and I always tell him that he is the "best boy EVER". That's yet another reason why I'm so glad we're having a girl because now I'll have both the best boy and the best girl ever!

The boys have checked in several times so far this week, and it really sounds like they're having a great time. Dane did get extremely offended Sunday after lunch, however, at several squirrels on campus. Lane said that Dane really wanted to play with these squirrels, and of course, they ran away from him immediately. When they did, Dane said, "Well, that wasn't very nice!" And then Lane said that Dane proceeded to chase them around yelling at them, and then the whole ordeal ending with Dane throwing his sunglasses at the squirrels! Other than that, Dane's really enjoying his first experience with dorm life, and Lane says that he has a hard time getting Dane to leave the room. This does worry me a little bit, as I think ahead to the type of college student he might be - never going to class and always hanging out in his dorm room.

Anyway, I can't wait for them to come home Thursday! I'm hoping that Lane will have taken lots of pictures that I can post here later.


Oh yeah! Big news! Last night, I went to my parents' house to go to church with them and spend the night. Well, Daddy's been looking at buying a new truck lately, and I got to go with him this morning to get his brand new Toyota Tundra! I am so excited for him! This is his first brand new truck, and I'm so proud that he got to get it! All my life, and I'm sure before I was even around, he has always put us before himself, and I know, has sacrificed doing things for himself so that he could do things for us. So, I'm so glad that he finally got to do this! If anybody deserves a new truck, Joe Bowers does! Of course, the whole time we were looking the truck over, he kept saying, "Don't you think Mama will like this?", and he's even told her that she can take it down to San Antonio to Joe David's house later this week. So, even with his new toy, he's completely being his unselfish self. Here's a picture of one like he got.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day! I have really been feeling extra thankful this week for Lane. Last summer, I was fortunate to be able to go on most all of the youth group trips. This year, that just wouldn't have been possible, though. Well, the summer has officially started, and Lane was gone with the kids to Memphis for Work Camp this week. It's at times like these, when Lane's gone, that I am constantly reminded how blessed Dane and I are to have him in our lives. In so many families, I think that it would be accurate to say that it is the mom around whom the family revolves and gets its strength. That is not the case in the Brown household. As long as I have known Lane, 12 years now, he has been a man who people want to be around. He is the most fun person to be with, and he definitely fills our family's life with joy and laughter. More than being my best friend, he is most definitely the center of our family's life. Everyday, Dane will ask all afternoon long when Daddy will be home, even though on most days we have just seen him at lunch. And, everyday, when he hears the garage door open, he drops whatever toy he is playing with and yells, "Daddy's home, Daddy's home!" over and over and runs to greet Lane at the door. I think this is the sweetest thing to watch - it reminds me of when I was little and how Robyn, Joe David and I would hide and "surprise" Daddy when we would hear his truck pull into the driveway. There's just something special about having a daddy like that! This week was really hard for Dane each afternoon when he would ask when Daddy was coming home and I had to tell him not until Saturday. I am also so thankful for the relationship Lane and I have. If you know Lane, it's not very hard to believe it when I say that he is definitely the talker out of the two of us, and I'm so thankful to have him to talk to and share everything with. I guess a lot of my conversations this week were with my sweet 2 year old, which centered a lot around legos, cars, flags, etc., so one night on the phone with Lane, I was telling him something, and he started laughing. I asked what was so funny, and he said that he could tell that I had been talking to Dane all week because I had used one of Dane's common, very vague phrases, "Somethin's doing somethin'...".

So, thank you Lane for being who you are...my companion, friend, confidante, helper and joy! Happy Father's Day. Enjoy a look back over this past year with our buddy and please know how important you are to both of us. We love you so much and thank God that you're the rock of our family! And I know that very soon you will capture the heart of a very lucky girl, too!

New Fashion Statement for Church Tomorrow! Yea!

I am so excited (not really) about my new fashion accessories for the next few weeks! You may be able to tell from the picture above exactly what my life is like at 34 weeks pregnant chasing around a very swift 2 1/2 year old. OK, it's really not all because of that, but mostly, I'd say. This morning, as I got all of my gear on to survive the day, this question popped into my mind, "How can I pull this look off tomorrow at church?" I haven't really come up with a good solution yet, but I'm working on it.

If you will remember my acrobatic fall on our vacation last summer where I sprained my ankle (see picture above), then you will understand my situation a bit better. I come from a family who, not only has strong tendencies to trip and fall frequently (Robyn seems to be the best at that, we think), but we also have extremely weak ankles (I think this is one of the reasons Joe David was attracted to Stefany - she's got them, too). So, we tend to injure our ankles a lot. Anyway, my ankle was doing fine until this week, and it really started swelling again pretty badly. So, my theory is that I started favoring it and putting more weight on my left leg, which is causing some nerve pain below my knee. On top of that, my daughter decided to have a growth spurt this week, which added a little more strain to my joints. So, long story short, it's really not that bad - mainly I've just decided that it's now time for me to start to kick back for the next 4 1/2 weeks and stop trying to run as fast as Dane all the time. I really can't stand moving around slowly - it's been one of my goals in life to get places as quickly and efficiently as possible, and slowness absolutely drives me bananas. But I guess I can do it for a few weeks.

Anyway, back to my point, I realized yesterday that the best pair of shoes for me to wear to help with the impact on my joints are my Nikes. They really do make all the difference. Well, I looked down and laughed about how an outfit for church would look if I wore them with all of my braces and supports! What makes it even better, and you can't see this in the picture, is the wonderful menthol odor emitting from my knee from the Icy Hot knee sleeve under the knee brace. With it on, I won't even have to wear any perfume to church at all! It makes me laugh thinking about all of the people sitting by us at church trying to figure out where the BenGay smell is coming from.

I won't really wear all of this getup to church. I'm sure I can survive without it for a few hours. I just thought it would be funny!

Hot Summer Days!

We have discovered the best place to hang out in East Texas during the hot summer afternoons! The city of White Oak replaced their city pool with a splash pad play area. Robyn and her kids are visiting for a couple of days, and we thought it sounded like a great place to check out. It's free, which is always good, and they have covered canopies with picnic tables when you're not playing in the water! The kids really had a lot of fun - so much fun that we are thinking about going back tomorrow before they head back to their house.

I think I'm finally finished with Sydni's room!

I think that I am officially done with Sydni's nursery, as of today! I had mostly finished all of the painting and decorating last week, but a couple of things still HAD to be taken care of. I had been putting them off because they're not necessarily fun.

The furniture that I am using in her room, the dresser, chest and guest bed, are all from my grandparents. They bought the set when they got married in 1936 from Sears for $35, and the shipping label is still on the back of the dresser, which I have always thought was very neat. After they passed away, I inherited the set, and it really is one of my most valued material possessions. That's yet another reason why I am so excited that we're having a girl, so that I can pass this furniture on to her, too. Anyway, over the years, especially through all of the moves we've made, the dresser drawers had really gotten messed up and needed to be repaired (not to mention, cleaned out). So, I emptied all of our overflow stuff (mainly junk) out of them and got them put back together where they're sturdy again. I am really excited to have that done because I was finally able to fill them today with what will be their contents for at least a couple of years...diapers, wipes, etc.!

The other task I had been putting off was to figure out what to do about the unpainted ring around the top of the ceiling fan. When we painted the rooms when we moved in, we didn't paint the ceilings (I don't know why), and when we put up the new ceiling fan, there was this unsightly ring around the fan mount, and it has driven me crazy ever since. Well, I decided to paint a flower around the ceiling fan to disguise that awful ring. It's not perfect, but I think it looks so much better than before. By the way, it is extremely difficult to paint a flower on a ceiling while 33 1/2 weeks pregnant. Difficult, but it can be done!

Anyway, I just thought that I would share some pictures of the finished product with you. I'm so glad to have it done, and I really hope that Sydni will like it for at least a few years.

Goal/Prayer Request for June (2008 preferably)

What little boy wouldn't want to hurry up and get to wear these great underwear?! We had a pretty good day yesterday attempting to get potty trained. Today has not been as successful, but we'll keep pressing on. I would absolutely love to have Dane potty trained by the time Sydni joins us. I know this may not be possible, but maybe we can be well on our way.

So, needless to say, this is our main goal for this month. I mean, we've had these Cars underwear for over six months now, and I'm afraid Dane's gonna miss his chance to get to wear them before he outgrows them and it's too late!

That's basically all that's been on my mind today, so I thought I'd share!

Weekend with the Wilsons/Our First Family Campout!

I'm playing a little catch-up on this post. Over Mother's Day weekend, we met my best friend, Andrea, and her family in Houston. Joe, her husband, is a professional bodybuilder (all natural, no steroids), and he had a body building show near Houston the day before Mother's Day. He did really well, and ended up winning 3rd place in the pro division and winning his first cash prize! We had never been to a body building show, so it was quite the new experience, especially for Dane. It seems as though he really connected with the whole deal, and he has been showcasing his muscles for us ever since. He really has his poses down good! It was really great to get to spend some time with Andrea again. We try to get together once a year, and I'm so glad it all worked out for us this year again. Her kids, Reed and Elliot, are so sweet, and Dane really got along well with them, especially Reed. That's probably a good thing, since he has been betrothed to her since the day we found out he was going to be a boy! It would be a shame if he didn't like his own future wife!

Dane, Reed and Elliot

Dane - showing off his muscles

Lane caught Dane sleeping in this position - probably dreaming about his muscles!

This past Friday, Lane and I decided that we would take Dane camping for the first time. I had really meant for us to go a little sooner before it decided to become summer in Texas! We decided to go Friday morning, so it was a pretty impromptu trip. We decided to go to this really great camping place near Daingerfield that doesn't charge for tent camping. It happens to be on my parents' land, and it really worked out great since we were able to string extension cords from their house out to our tent for our fan. As we were setting up our sleeping bags, Dane and I looked out the window and saw Lane coming down the hill with my mom's little lighted Christmas trees that she puts on her front porch at Christmas. We used them as our lights outside our tent while we hung out before bedtime! A big thanks to my parents for all of the supplies they provided for our poorly planned out first camping trip. Here's a list of the borrowed items: an air mattress, extension cords, electricity, sheets and pillow for Lane (he forgot his sleeping bag and pillow), shower, toilet, kitchen for breakfast, trash bag, great company from the host family, a great big open view of the sky to watch the International Space Station go by, and for the finale, a complimentary Dairy Queen lunch before we left! So, if any of you are looking for a friendly, affordable and comfortable campsite, I'm sure my parents would love to have you! We really thought that we would end up in the house to sleep if Dane didn't want to stay in the tent, but he really was in the "roughin' " it mood, and he slept in the tent all night until about 7:30 Saturday morning. We were able to build a little fire and roast marshmallows before bedtime, too. I, on the other hand, decided to head on to the house around 6:00 and lounged on the couch and visited with Daddy until the boys came up for breakfast. It was really fun, and I can't wait to do it again in the fall once it starts to cool back down. As a side note, we discovered a must-have item for any camping trip with kids - Glow sticks! They give off just the right amount of light in the tent so the kids don't get scared! 15 glow sticks for $1.00 at Target - you can't beat that!

Setting up camp and visiting with our gracious hosts - We loved the cozy atmosphere the Christmas trees provided!

Enjoying a refreshing Capri Sun before bedtime

Lane and Daddy building a campfire

Roasting marshmallows

This is my new favorite picture of Dane - he was actually panicking because he had too many marshmallows in his mouth, but he was kind enough to wait for me to take his picture before spitting it all out!

Sleeping hard

I can't believe he stayed in the tent all night! Notice the Cars theme we chose...Cars sleeping bag, blanket and pajamas. It never hurts to be completely coordinated!