New stuff

I never could get the blogger video to work, so I've had to put my stuff on YouTube. Here's my first video to share. It's old - was taken on 7/29/08, so Nixon was almost 5 months old at the time.



Last weekend Amber Torres took photos of us to use for our Christmas card. Here are a few I wanted to share -





And yes, Nixon's eyes are still blue!

I forgot Halloween!!

So my last post talked about things we experienced over the last couple of months, but it didn't dawn on me until a day or so later that I totally forgot to mention Halloween! How could I forget such an important first for our child?? We didn't do anything extremely exciting other than attend our church's party and go trick or treating with some friends. I think Nixon had fun, although I'm not sure what he thought about his costume. He seemed a little irritated at first about having something on his head, but he was a good sport and wore his costume the whole night.

Here is our ferocious little dragon -

The adventures we've had...

A lot has happened since I posted last. Let's see... Nixon is 8 1/2 months old now, Nathan got a job with a small law firm which means I got to quit my job to stay home full time (finally!!), and Nathan and I went to Atlanta, GA to see Coldplay in concert with our gang. Let's start in chronological order -

There's no story behind this one. It's just a photo of Nixon when he turned 7 mths old (Oct 2nd). I just realized I forgot to take a photo on Nov 2nd. How did I forget? What was I doing that day? Hmmmm.....


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October 27th was my first day home after quitting my job. Nixon and I were hanging out folding laundry when I realized Otis was missing. There is a hole in the fence that connects our backyard to our neighbor's side yard, and her gate was left open by guys doing work on her house. Otis had been gone about 45 minutes before I realized it. At the time we only had one car which Nathan took to work that day, and to make things more complicated, the stroller was in the trunk. So, I bundled Nixon up since it was chilly and windy outside, and we walked a few blocks to see if we could find the dog. I didn't see Otis anywhere, but a lady said she saw him a few blocks away. I knew we would never find him since beagles are notorious for following their noses on paths to getting lost. I called our friend Jeff Brigman to see if he had any suggestions on what to do since he is huge animal lover, and he said he was coming over to help since I was without transportation. An hour or so later we jumped in the car and drove a few blocks. In my broken Spanish I managed to ask some construction guys if they saw Otis, and they told me yes, they'd seen him just five minutes before. Jeff and I drove another block, turned right, and to our surprise, there he was trotting down the sidewalk. Jeff pulled over to the side of the road, rolled down the window, and said "hey, Dill", to which Otis responded with squeaks of excitement.

While waiting for Jeff to come over, I had thoughts of "I hope Otis finds a good home" because I just knew we weren't going to find him. I know that's terrible, but for a little while I admit I was totally fine with not having a dog to look after. Poor dog - I will love him again someday. We just need to put an end to the constant whining and freaking out when someone comes to the door (where's the Dog Whisperer when I need him?).

Big long story for this picture of Nixon after our walk through the neighborhood -


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On November 11th, me and Nathan, the Torres' and the Fennegans traveled to Atlanta to meet up with our friends, the Colemans, to see Coldplay in concert. Nathan's mom came to Dallas and kept Nixon while we were gone. She brought Elle and Ryland, Nixon's cousins, to help her. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of them together, but I hear they had a great time. Nixon LOVES his cousins and thought they were pretty hilarious. We are very grateful to Gramma Sug (short for sugar) for being willing and able to take care of Nixon so we could have our first getaway together since he was born. The trip was a blast. Marshall and Michelle live outside of Atlanta in a beautiful rural neighborhood. See photos below - it's not a backdrop, it's their backyard!!



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Last, but not least...
Nixon continues to grow more and more hair. The other night I combed it down after his bath and he looked all grown up. Maybe he'll have beautiful hair like his daddy some day.

Darn it, we gave in

Nathan and I agreed before having Nixon that we didn't want our kids to have a ton of toys, and we really didn't want the ones they do get to have all the lights, sounds, and bright colors that everything seems to have. I personally don't believe that kids need a lot of toys as they need to learn to be creative and use their imagination with things outside or around the house. Also, I tend to think that the toys that have all the bright colors, lights and music all in one are probably overstimulating for a young child. You think this might be one reason why so many kids allegedly have ADD these days? Hmmm......

Despite our strong opinion about this, we decided Nixon needed some sort of activity center to keep him busy (preferably with a jumping mechanism in it because I love johnny jump-ups) , especially while Daddy is trying to get some work done during the day. We picked out the tamest thing we could find, and the Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo was what we left the store with. There are some flashing lights and music, but at this time we do not plan to install batteries in it. I think all the attachments are plenty to keep him entertained.

We will have to get some video of him in it because he loves it! As soon as he learned he could jump (this is a new thing for him) he just laughed and laughed. It was pretty darn cute. I'll post that when we take it, but for now you'll have to settle on a picture.

Growing up - good but sad

Nixon turned 6 months old on Sept 2nd (already!). It's so much fun watching him discover the world around him. He's also becoming more mobile day by day. He's perfected rolling over from his tummy to his back and is close to rolling the other way. He's also close to sitting up on his own.

He's such a happy baby (except when he's really tired, then we have about 10 seconds to put him to bed before it's meltdown time). He is the sunshine in our lives.

Here are a few recent photos. I really want to post some videos, but I keep getting errors on this thing (arrrgghh!!). Hopefully I'll be able to post those soon, so check back later.

Nixon and Daddy



Just plain cute

I'm a big boy now

Nixon's hair is finally starting to grow. He kind of has a mohawk since the sides are really short and the top is much longer. One night after his bath, I was stroking his wet hair as I fed him. This was the result -



Nixon ate cereal for the first time on Monday night, Aug 25th. He's one week shy of 6 months old. I opted to wait this long due to my concern with food allergies, especially since his daddy has some he could inherit (let's hope not). I took some video of him eating, but it's not exciting enough to post here. At least I have it for posterity. Nixon did really well with the meal. At first he kept pushing a lot of it out with his tongue, but after a few tries, he seemed to get the hang of it. Tonight (3 days later) I thickened it up a bit and gave him more. He really seems to like it and probably could have eaten a lot more than I gave him. I realize this is not that exciting to most of you, but the whole ordeal made us kind of sad - Nixon is growing up and becoming a big boy already!

Evidence of his meal around his mouth

Lots of travel

So several things have happened in the last few weeks. Nixon rode on a plane for the first time when we went to Midland, TX. We went on a Thursday night so I could work on Friday out there, and we came back Sunday. Actually, we came home Monday morning because we missed our flight due to accidentally leaving Nixon's milk in the fridge at Nathan's parents' house. That's a whole other story. Anyway, he was really good on both flights.

Nixon on the plane


The following weekend I took Nixon out to Sedalia, Missouri to visit my grandmother. Sedalia is a town of about 20,000 people, but it's the location of the Missouri State Fair, which happened to open that weekend we were there. My brother Scottie and his wife Kelli met us in Kansas City, and the 4 of us spent 3 days with Grandma. We had a great time. Nixon was pretty good but definitely had his fussy moments when he didn't want to take naps. Scottie and Kelli were good sports as his crying times were usually at 9am in the morning when they were still asleep, until he woke them up.

Grandma holding Nixon


Uncle Scottie and Aunt Kelli with Nixon at the fair

A few of my favorites

Here are a few of my favorite pictures. I wanted to share them just because...

1 1/2 weeks old


My doctor and his nurse - they are the best!


Daddy playing John Mayer for Nixon


New jammies Gramma Sug bought for him

Prescott Family Reunion

Nixon attended his first family reunion over the 4th of July weekend down in Corpus Christi, TX. The Prescott family is Nathan's mom's side of the family. It was a lot of firsts for Nixon - first time to meet this side of the family, first time at the beach, first to sleep in his pack and play, and first to wear his bathing suit. I think all the constant commotion and noise wore him out. Nixon fell asleep as soon as we arrived at the beach. Here are a few photos we managed to shoot before he woke up and it was time to eat:




Here are a couple of family photos from the reunion:

The whole family (minus a few relatives)


Pops, Gramma Sug, and family

Getting started

I decided to start this blog to keep everyone updated on what's going on with Nixon since our family is spread across Texas, Arizona, and Utah.  This is also for the benefit of our friends since Nathan doesn't keep our Mac website updated enough and I don't know how to use it (and he doesn't want to teach me for fear of me messing up his masterpiece).

I titled this blog "Joy At Last" to express my feelings for the miracle we were so blessed to receive.  As many of you know, we struggled for almost 5 years to start a family.  Nathan and I underwent almost every kind of infertility treatment available with continued disappointment.  The most frustrating part of it all was that we were considered "unexplained".  I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I had never been so depressed in all my life.  It wasn't until I almost gave up that we were notified of an in-vitro study we qualified to participate in.  Dozens of hormone shots and three short months later we took our first pregnancy test.  Two pink lines!!!  I couldn't believe it.  The adventure and love of my life began....

Thanks to all of you who have been there for us during the heartbreak and happiness.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.  Now that we have little Nixon in our lives, we truly do have joy at last.