Want to check my toes

Rayne is growing up so fast. Seems like yesterday she wasn't even crawling. Now she is running and we're having trouble keeping up with her.  This morning she was just too adorable even though she is not feeling well.  She told us (Grammie aka Sabrina & Mummers aka Summer), "I want to see my toes!" Grammie asked, "Why do you want to see your toes?" And Rayne looked at us with those meaningful little eyes and replied, "I need to check them for dirt-dirt." I said, "For dirt?" She said firmly, "No, dirt-dirt between my toes."  She was just too cute for words! Love that kiddo! 

Nutter Butter Christmas

Having a little one sure makes for fun holidays! Linda French brought some cookies by Sabrina's office for her to give to Rayne. They were just too adorable! So we decided to make them ourselves.

Here are the ingredients.

13 months

Hard to believe Abby Rayne is 13 months old and weighs less than 20lbs.


Her height at 30" puts her in the 75th percentile and her weight puts her in the 25th percentile. She is right on track with walking and climbing. She says: "Hi", "Stop that" which is what we tell Shadow when she barks. She is lactose intolerant. So trying lactose free milk, will start that tomorrow.


As you can see Abby Rayne is one happy baby! She us such a delight to me in so many ways.

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God Bless Our Home

I'm sure you already know our house is on the market and has been since Thanksgiving. We listed with a new realtor a few weeks ago and have an "Open House" scheduled for today. We have been searching for a wreath for our front door. When we find one, it's either too young, too beachy, too country or to fragile. With the open house we HAD to find something. We decided to head to Hobby Lobby and the creative juices started flowing. Need a grapevine wreath, bet you are thinking round, nope we purchased an oval one. Found a stake that was cute so we got that and took it apart. Pretty cool idea because the butterflies had picks already attached. we now have a custom patriotic wreath. Hope it helps sell our house.








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My Abby brag book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Baby Mine...

Rest your head close to my heart, Never to part, baby of mine! I am still so very happy and at moments tears fill my eyes when I realize the adoption is final. Rayne is adorable and has filled a place in my heart that I never really knew was empty until she came into my life. During this adoption process I began to wonder about other adoptive people and I checked out google.  Did you know Carol Burnett was raised by her grandmother and so was John Keats as was Oprah Winfrey. Other famous adoptees are Maya Angelou, Faith Hill, Ella Fitzgerald, Ingrid Bergman, Scott Hamilton, Steve Jobs - founder of Apple, Eleanor Roosevelt, Aristotle and Andrew Jackson. While we were at the Japanese Tea Gardens we met two charming 4 year old girls and one happened to be named: Abigail Grace and the other was Faith. Both were adopted from CPS when they were 3 days olds. Rayne just happens to be 3 months old and we are already a family with wonderful supportive extended family. This thrills my heart and I thank God for this amazing opportunity to be apart of something so absolutely amazing! She brings me joy and has made my life deeper and richer.  So look forward to celebrating her adoption birthday for years to come!

Miss my little one

Sabrina and I have been trying to find a routine which worked for everyone and believe it or not, we finally worked one out. According to Map Quest the drive from Arlington to Rowlett is 58 min or 47.5 miles - 1 way. Then we drive to our office and then back to pickup Raynie and head home. Sometimes we are in the car for a total of 3 hours a day.  The schedule is complicated but it works for us at this time. Plus, routines are good and especially good for babies/kids. The 1 hour drive between the two homes is quite frustrating for Raynie so on Wednesday evenings, Sabrina and Raynie will spend the night with Grams in Rowlett. This will provide a break in the middle of the week and save gas as well. So, Wednesday evening Raynie and Sabrina were gone and I did not realize how much I would miss them, especially Raynie! Last night, I was anxiously awaiting their return, I was in serious need of some baby Raynie time. She cooed at me, she is  trying to talk, she smiles and is starting to even laugh out loud.  This is such a wonderful time in my life "and I do not want to miss a thing!" (Thank you Steven Tyler for those lyrics)