Having a real yard for Marley to run around in is such a blessing! Today, the weather was so nice so we spent a while just sitting out on the porch, running around chasing the ball, and swinging. She absolutely loves being outside, and I am sooooo glad that it is getting cool enough outside to do so!
I think Marley is happier since living here. She has so many more people around to hang out with, and I think it makes her more tired at night, too. She has been a little needy today, but other than today she has been great. She hates the bathtub here, though. We need to get her a mat so it isn't so slippery. Last night, i took a bath with her to see if she liked it better, but she still wouldn't sit on the bottom of the tub.
I really have been a sucky blogger lately, but we have been so busy! We have to have everything out of the house tomorrow and clean it so that the landlord can come inspect it. Monday, my mom and I went to the party rental place and reserved tables, chairs, linens, arches, and silverware for the wedding. It got me so excited to actually be able to visualize everything and realize how pretty it will be! We can't go dress shopping until the 10th, only two weeks before the wedding! So, hopefully we will find something that day. I really want something simple, like this dress, but I haven't really decided yet. From our first count, I think we are going to have around 60 or 70 people! That is way more people than I had planned, but it is so great to know so many people love us and want to see us do well.
Along with sucking at blogging, I feel like I have been sucking at keeping up with all the things Marley does now. She is getting so good at doing the signs she knows, making some really weird new noises, putting her fingers in her ears like she doesn't want to listen to us, and my personal favorite, picking her nose. I know, but her finger fits so perfectly in there!

Happy Birthday, Emily! a few days late...

She's SIXTEEN! I still can't believe it. She has a license now!

(We are actually staying with her tonight to make sure she comes home on time... and she is 15 minutes late! She's going to be grounded...)

Kima Leaves Marley in Her Babylegs

Today, we had to say goodbye to Kima and take her to her temporary home at Asa's mom's house. There are other dogs there, so I think she will have fun, she and Marley are really going to miss each other. They are BFFs.
It was also cool enough today to break out the Babylegs! Doesn't she look so cute walking around in those things! Just another re minder of how much she has grown since the last time it was cold!

A New Home

Tonight is our first night living at my mom and Joel's house. We have spent the past week moving things, packing things, and throwing TONS of things away. We have manage to completely fill our storage room, with just enough room left for our bed. We still have all the little things to pack and move, which is the worst part. My mom and Joel are gone to Dallas for the weekend, so we are just staying with Emily right now.

I was worried that Marley was going to feel weird staying here, but she's really not. We had dinner together, played around with Pompey, and had a dance party while we organized our room. Asa played music on his computer while Marley and I danced around the room. It is co cute how much that girl loves to dance! She isn't a big fan of the bath tub here, so we have to get a mat to go in the bottom of it.

I am starting to stress about if we are doing the right thing. On Wednesday, The Forest Service called because they were interested in giving Asa a job. So, his dream job that he has been trying to get, finally calls a week after he signs his papers with The Army. He could have still backed out, but he said that he likes the plan we have. We do not always get supportive comments from people. At first it didn't bother me, but I am starting to wonder if we are doing the right thing. There are so many things to consider when you are making such big changes like this. There are good parts, bad parts, and parts that you don't know if they are good or bad. But, I need to remember the whole reason we are doing it: to make our lives better. I don't want it to seem like I don't care about how the next few years of Marley's life will be. Of course, I will be worried about how she is doing and if she is happy. I don't want her to miss out on seeing her family, and that is probably the most upsetting part for me. I don't want her to not know her family. So, will we all be okay? I really really hope so, but I really really don't know.

Sunday Sales and Sundaes

The garage slae on Sunday was nowhere near a success. We got up at 6 am again, and did not have one single customer for the three hours we sat out there. Most people I have told about this have said "Well that's because you had it on Sunday!" Why didn't they say that before? I really didn't think it would that big of a deal and if people wanted to come they could have come before church.

But the morning was not lost, because Marley had a blast hanging out in the garage with us, exploring everything, mopping the floor, and pulling away all the clothes we were trying to sell!


We stopped early, obviously, and went to our usual Sunday Lunch with Bill and Mary. But today was exciting because we got to go out for ice cream afterward. I have never seen Marley turn down ice cream. I think she is going to be an ice cream addict one day. She was considerably dirtier by the time we left, from eating tons of ice cream and walking all over the property. She had a blast though!

What She Wants

Tonight, when Marley got tired she came up to me and did the sign for "book". So, I sat her in my lap and read her her favorite book. When the book was over, she looked at me and did the sign for "all done". I took that as she was "done" with the day and took her to bed. When we got in bed she did the sign for "milk" and then nursed herself to sleep. It has to be so satisfying to be able to tell someone exactly what you want to do. And on my end, it is so satisfying to be able to give her exactly what she wants.

Garage Sale Day One and A Trip to Lufkin

The garage sale was a success! We had tons of people come and tons of things taken away, which was the overall goal, right? We said it started at 7:00 am, but we had customers at 6:20 am! We had some really nice people, really strange people, and really rude people all come by and almost everyone bought something!

We didn't manage to get rid of the two biggest things: the entertainment center and Knaack toolbox. But, since most of the little things were gone, I was happy. We can sell the other things on Craig's List or something.

In the meantime, Marley went to watch Aunt Emily swim and had her first busted lip. Evidently her pants are too tight ad she couldn't move very well. I know, bad Mommy for putting them on her. It was only her second time to ever wear them! And I feel guilty about that and about the fact that I wasn't there to comfort her when she was hurting. But she is okay now and you can't even tell there was anything wrong with her.

We were done by 1:00 pm. First of all because I missed my baby, and secondly because business was slowing down. So, to celebrate our great successes, I wanted to go to Lufkin and eat at Olive Garden and buy ourselves a present! We got all cleaned up and dressed up, but that didn't last long!
Marley LOVED her spaghetti and had me cracking up through dinner about the status of her hands, hair, face, dress, and seat. She was a mess, but she had a blast! We got her face and hands cleaned up before shopping, but her dress was hopeless. I had to cross my fingers that we wouldn't run into someone that would be worried about the status of her clothing and think we weren't taking care of her!

When we got to Old Navy, I told Asa he should look at the khaki pants and see if they had anything he would like to wear for the wedding. Now, I have had in my mind for a while what I hoped he would wear. But what we both have in mind for other outfits never really matches, so I didn't figure this would either. However, not only did we pick out the exact same outfit for him as our dream clothing, but it was also 75% off! I felt a little weird at first because it feels like what you get married in should be nice and expensive... but that feeling didn't last long when I saw how handsome he looked in it! It is like the perfect outfit for getting married on the beach or in a backyard! I love it and so does he! The hard part was having to convince him that he couldn't wear it until he got married in it. So, we had to buy him another pair of pants and a few shirts that were a different color! But, at least we both win!!

We were totally exhausted and were both passed out by 9:30! That's super early for me! I am getting really excited about the wedding! Five more weeks!

The Sitting Master

Marley has been loving to sit on any little surface she can get her butt on to. She loves our fireplace, but she's not picky! She will sit on the curb if that's all she has! The funniest part is that she will get about a foot away from whatever she is trying to sit on and then scoot her butt back until she reaches it. And then she doesn't even sit on it for long. She gets up walks around the room or twirls in a circle and then does it all over again! It's hilarious to watch how much fun she has just sitting herself down! It's like she thinks she can do the world's coolest trick!

Garage Sale Prep

Tomorrow, we are having our big garage sale! So, we had to get ready for everything tonight. We started with a little picnic out in front of the house. It is getting so cool here, and it was so nice to be outside without worrying about sweating or mosquitoes. When we were done with dinner, we came in to get all the last minute items for the garage sale. So, while Asa cleaned out his junk drawers (and junk boxes and junk baskets...) Marley and I did a Hat Fashion Show.She looked so cute and grown up! And I couldn't believe how long she wanted to keep them on! We have everything laid out for the garage sale, so we are ready, but I am nervous! I have never actually been the host of a garage sale, so I don't know what to expect! Luckily, Marley is going to Emily's swim meet with my mom and Joel, so I won't have to worry about her. But I will have to worry about all the crazy people that want to buy things from us!

Wiping Things Down

Marley loves to wipe things down these days. If she gets a hold of a paper towel, wipe, or rag she cleans everything with it. She wipes her hands, her feet, her hair, the floor, Kima, any surfaces she can reach, and my legs. She is so helpful!

The Potty

Marley has peed in the potty three times. I know, this is a little early for potty training, but I am more so doing it to get her used to it. And I have gotten lucky, that she has peed every time I put her on! I did it the first time when we woke up one morning. She doesn't pee during the night and I could tell she hadn't done it yet that morning. So, I took her diaper off and held her on the toilet. She immediately peed, laughing pretty hard about it. And then the past two nights I have put her on before her bath and she pees within 10 seconds!

I'm pretty impressed, and I think I am going to keep doing it. It can't hurt to practice and it saves two diapers a day! They have a new thing that is getting popular called Elimination Communication which is pretty much teaching your baby to go in the toilet from birth. We are definitely not that talented yet, but maybe this will make it easier once it's time to do it for real!

G&G Visit

This past weekend, Grandpa David and Grandma Karen came to visit for Emily's birthday next week. Marley finally got used to them, especially when they took her outside. That's pretty much how we get her to like anyone. As soon as they take her in the backyard, she is all smiles.
Ok, so Marley is naked in this picture because she had her first real throw-up experience. We had just finished breakfast and she was sitting on Emily's lap. No one really knows what happened, but all the sudden there was throw-up everywhere, and Emily was screaming. I scooped Marley up and gave her a bath, but she was really upset. I guess she couldn't figure out why we were all rushing around and she got scared. I have no idea why she threw up, but she seemed fine the rest of the day.

Smoothie Queen

She didn't want to share...

The Calendar

We are officially an Army Family. Asa signed his papers today, and we are so excited. That means that everything is going to start happening at a hundred miles per hour. Here is a rough schedule in case you are interested.

9/19-20: Garage sale. We are selling EVERYTHING that we aren't really attached to. Furniture, clothes, books, fish, snake, everything. I figure there is no point in paying to store it while Asa is gone and then have to move it and then decide we want to buy something we like better anyway.

9/30: By this date, we have to have all of our stuff moved into storage and the three of us moved into my mom and Joel's house. This is a month before we had planned, but this is the only way we can do it to where Asa doesn't have to work anymore. We can spend a lot of time together and get all the rest of the stuff done that way.

10/24: Our wedding! We are getting married in my mom and Joel's backyard. I have started planning, I'm sending out invitations this week, and hopefully it will be beautiful.

10/29-11/2: Honeymoon at Beaver's Bend!

11/11: Asa's birthday

11/14: Joint birthday party and going away party

11/15: My birthday

11/18: Asa leaves

So, that doesn't seem so busy written that way, but imagining all of the little things that need to be done so that those things can happen is overwhelming.

My feelings range from relief, to pride, to excitement, to content, to anxious. Asa said that today was a rough day, going to the Military Entrance Processing Station to pass the physical and get sworn in. I know Marley doesn't know what's happening yet, but I hope she will be happy. She will miss our families, but I will try my absolute hardest to keep her busy and having fun. Living with my mom and Joel will be much easier than trying to live by myself while Asa is gone. Having someone to help if I need to do something for myself (like take a shower!) will be fantastic. And Marley adores Emily. Emily said we will have lots of GTT. Girl Talk Time, for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, like myself.

Wednesday afternoon, we all went to the park in our neighborhood and let Marley run around for a little while. She wore her crocs for the first time and cute little girl jeans. She looked so grown up. I know I say every time she has one a new outfit, but it's true!She has started screaming and yelling when we make her come inside or leave something she likes. If we close the door before she can escape or when we were leaving the park, she gets so mad. I can't help but laugh, just because it's cute, but at the same time I'm thinking "YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS!"

The First of Many Big Days

Yesterday was a big day. Instead of having to wait until the 15th to reserve a job, Asa got to to do it yesterday! They did not have any firefighter positions available, which made us pretty sad. They did not have any of the jobs on Asa's list of possibilities, as a matter of fact. But, luckily his ASVAB scores qualified him for every single job they have, so he had a few options. The two that sounded somewhat interesting were Combat Engineer and a Secret Intelligence job. The Intelliegence job sounded really cool. Asa would get to learn a new laguage, and interpret emails, phone calls, etc. He would get a $20,000 sign-on bonus and have a high security clearance. On the downside, he would be stuck in an office with no windows, just listening. And I think we all know that that doesn't sound like Asa. So, he chose Combat Engineer, with no bonus. The money part is disappointing, but I really think we chose the right thing. He will happier with this job, and it translates into more jobs when he gets out.

So, a Combat Engineer is pretty much the support for the people doing the combat and they help then get to where they need to be. He will be building bridges, tearing down bridges, clearing land, driving big trucks and machinery, handling explosives, and in their words "blowing shit up". That totally sounds more up his alley. So, he leaves November 18th, for boot camp and AIT in Missouri. He will get two weeks off for Christmas, so we will get a little bonus visit that most people don't get if they go to training at a different time of year.

On Monday or Tuesday he goes to have his physical done and meet with a guidance counselor. At that point, they can check one more time to see if they have any opening available in the job he wants. If they do, he can switch. If not, he wants to continue with this one. I really don't want him to feel like he is settling because we are in a hurry for this to happen. But he says he is not and he is excited about this job. We have not gotten really great responses from the people we tell, probably because it has the word "combat" at the beginning. My mom and Joel are supportive, but it seems that everyone else is like "oh..." But I totally support him. If he wants to do a job that starts with "combat" then he should. He will have a gun and he will be with the infantry people, but he is more so there to support and help them.

So, he has been rushing around all day filling out papers and getting things in order. Meanwhile, my to-do list is also getting longer and longer. I honestly don't know how we will get it all done, even with 10 weeks before he leaves. It's so hard to decide what we want to do with everything. My mom has offered to let me live with them while Asa is in training. So, I am excited about that. But then what do I do with our stuff? Should we pay to store everything? Or get rid of the things I don't really want anyway and buy new stuff when we get to where we are going? And where will Kima stay while I live at my mom's? And when should we get rid of Asa's car, since we are buying him a new one once we get settled somewhere? I know he won't need it during boot camp, but in between that and getting stationed somewhere, he might. And when should we get married? And will we be able to afford to go on a family vacation before he leaves? My mind is going to burst.

Any advice, anyone? I'm so excited, yet so overwhelmed.

Recent Pictures and Such

Her eyes match her shirt. Gorgeous.

Doesn't she look totally adorable in blue jeans! This is her first time EVER wearing some!

The make her look so big!

I feel so successful when she just falls asleep on me. I only had to get through one verse of the song before she was sound asleep.

She's so cute when she gets tired at night. She starts running around like a crazy person, making the weirdest noises, and doing things like this.

And when her head hits the floor for some reason, it stays there for a very long time.

She has been loving to read books with us. Although, this particular time, she was a little impatient with it. But, she normally loves when she's in the mood.

13 Months

Yesterday, Marley turned 13 months old! That seems so big to me! We bought her some new little tennis shoes that make her look like such a big kid! This past weekend was Labor Day weekend, so we got to spend a lot of time relaxing as a family. On Saturday, we went with Donna, Noah-Beth, Malachi, and Billy to the Lufkin Zoo. Marley had so much fun, and it really made me wish that Malachi and Billy still lived around here. She wanted to walk the entire time, and would scream when we tried to put her in the stroller. She loved chasing the boys around, and it made her look so much older. It is amazing how great of a walker she is now, when just a month ago she could only take a few steps at a time. She chased Billy all over, tried to kiss him a few times, but was only really successful with kisses. She enjoyed looking at all the animals, too.
I have been trying to get her doing something outside everyday. It is still super hot here, but she sleeps so much better when she has been really active during the day. And she seems happier. And of course, I want her to have fun during the day, not just be at home with me! So, we went to the park several times last week, the zoo on Saturday, and we cleaned up the backyard yesterday so that she could hang out back there with us. Well, actually Asa and I cleaned up the yard while Marley swam, naked, in her little pool.We have so much going on in the next few days/weeks. Today, Asa was supposed to take the ASVAB, but they didn't have all the paper work done. So, he has to go back tomorrow and take it. Then, they informed him that they have posted the job openings early. So, instead of waiting until the 15th to find out if they have positions, we only have to wait until Thursday morning! I am crossing my fingers that they have a firefighter position available for him! Then, like I said before, he has 72 hours to get the MEPS station to claim the job, get his ship out date, and first location. So, he could have 2 weeks before training, or he could have 10 weeks. I have no idea, but in that time we have a lot to do.

Plan a wedding
Find a dress
Have a wedding
Take a little vacation
Figure out where I am going to live and move me there
Get a storage room
Get ALL the paperwork done that we need to get done (which is a ton)
Asa wants to go fishing with Joel
Get Asa all the stuff he needs
Finish all the projects we have started on the house to that we get our deposit back

And I'm sure many, many more things that we don't even know about yet. Oh, and in the middle of all that I have school. So, it will be stressful, exciting, and scary, all at the same time! Asa talked today about starting his own blog through the Army process, so maybe we have that to look forward to, also!

In Marley news, she is getting to be a genius. She is the next Einstein. She understand so many things. I will tell her to go get her shoes and she will walk all the way in her room and get them! She also says "cup" when she wants her cup. How amazing is that?! She loves to talk when we are at home, but when she is feeling shy, she just stares at you with a blank face. On the other hand, she has been waving at a lot of strangers when she is running errands with us. She had been staying with my mom and Joel while I have class and she is definitely having fun with that. She gets to be a little spoiled and doted on while she is with them. I mean, they don't even make her take naps by herself and she gets to have pancakes for breakfast! That's a good life! And she is always so excited to see me when they pick me up from school. But, she also starts crying when she sees that my mom is leaving her. She sure loves her Mimi and Papa.

She has also started screaming when someone closes the door in front of her and she can't go outside. It was cute that she wanted to go outside the first few times, but now it makes my head hurt. She screams so loud! I also think she is getting sick today. Her nose has been running non-stop and she has been sneezing every five minutes. It could be allergies, but who knows. I guess we wait it out.

I am having so much fun with all the new things she learns every day. I couldn't be more proud that she is mine and that I get to be one of the people who has such a big influence on her life. It really is a privilege and I love her more than anything.