SERIOUSLY????

So...I requested transcripts from 4 different schools a little over 3 weeks ago.  Each of the 4 schools state on their website that transcripts will be sent within 24 hours of the receipt of request.   My apartment complex doesn't allow long-distance faxing so I have to drive all the way over to Fedex Office to fax these requests in to get them sent asap.

Fast Forward to a week later when I log on check my application status...just to put my mind at ease knowing that all 4 transcripts should 100% for sure have arrived by this point in time.  NEGATIVE.  One has arrived.  ONE.  A short while later, I check the mail and find a letter from one of my schools stating that one little number (that seems pretty UNessential to me) is missing from the request (which by the way...I called and reviewed with someone from the transcript office BEFORE sending to ensure that I had included all of the needed information..), so I need to fix it and re-fax the request.  ANNOYING.  ESPECIALLY because the letter is dated an ENTIRE week AFTER the request had been faxed in.  Answer me this:  If a request should be fulfilled within 24 hours, how the HECK is it that it took an entire 5 work days to print out a FORM LETTER and get it in the mailbox!??!  So-  that one is taken care of.  FINALLY.

The day after I checked the mail, I called one of the other schools to find out the status of that particular transcript request and was assured that both requested copies had been mailed 48 hours after receipt (late), so they if they haven't arrived yet they should definitely be there today.  I left town for 3 days and when I returned, STILL no transcripts.  I called again today (THREE WEEKS after request) to find out why they hadn't been sent and to re-request.  Turns out they were never mailed out because there is a hold on my account.  Someone was supposed to have notified me of this upon receipt of my request.  They didn't.  When I called to check on everything the first time, they should have been able to access that info easily....they didn't.  I don't know if the dude was 100% confused or lazy and just lied to me to get me off the phone.  So now- I have to wait until Ave wakes up,  drive over to Fedex (AGAIN), fax in another request, AND find out why there's a hold on my account (from 2 yrs ago!!?).

Who would have thought that a few simple transcript requests could really be THIS difficult.  People get paid to do that SPECIFIC job, so I guess I just kind of expected things to go a little more smoothly.

K...I feel a LOT better.  I hope no one actually reads this rant.  Fedex...here I come.

Vday 2010

With all of the snow in the Dallas area, I had begun to worry that B wasn't going to make it home in time to celebrate love day with his girls....but he was finally able to fly in on Saturday! Yippee.

Yesterday was a great day :)  It was good enough just have B home.  We all got ready for church, headed to Einstein's (YUM), then off to The Village, where Avery LOVED her nursery time (as always) & BandI got to worship & listen to a super awesome sermon!  We all headed to the grocery store for our big trip for the week (one of our fav things to do together) and Ave got to enjoy her first piece of chocolate chip cookie!  She DEF enjoyed..

In the afternoon we all hung out for a bit, Ave & I napped while B played video games, then B cooked my FAV dinner (chicken romano-cheesecake factory style).  After I got Ave bathed & in bed, the hub & I enjoyed some strawberries & nutella (ghetto choc covered strawberries that taste just like the real thing...mmm) and just hung out for a bit!

Yay for LOVE day.  Vday is TOTALLY one of my fav days of the yr....always has been.  I usually didn't have a boy to celebrate it with...but I have ust always gotten excited at the prospect of spending an ENTIRE DAY celebrating LOVE <3  If I lived close to ANY of my friends I would have baked you yummy pink cupcakes and left a pretty "I LOVE YOU" note on your doorstep.  At least I like to think I would have.  So...just pretend I did :)

Love you!

SO MUCH SNOW!!

I woke up this morning completely unaware of what the weathermen had warned us DFW residents to expect.  At around 8, after I fed Ave, I checked out some FB updates and everyone in Dallas was making comments about the weather...so I peeked out the window and

 

this is what I saw!!

Sooo...I got super excited, but had to wait until the afternoon to enjoy it!  I took Avery to her 9 mo check up appointment (which was a little bit scary bc it was basically like driving through a Blizzard), got us some chick-fil-a for lunch, let Ave rest for a it and then FINALLYYYY....

headed out to enjoy the crazy snow!!!

Avery really liked it!  She was SUPER bundled, so even though she got pretty covered with snowflakes, she didn't seem to mind!  She kept digging her little fingers down into the snow and stuffing it in her mouth.  So cute :)  Can't wait to take that child skiing someday!

Oh and ps- I can't take credit for the snowman...our neighbors made it, but it was big and cool so I had to post a pic!

At around 5pm the news ppl said that we had already gotten 7.3 inches of snow on the day and it has NOT STOPPED ONCE since then.  Craziness.  The only downfall of all of this snow is that Brian's flight got delayed, then delayed again, and then CANCELLED!! Boo.  So now we have to wait until SATURDAY AFTERNOON to see him!  The weather should be somewhat back to normal by then I think!

ANNNDDD finally- a shout out to my fav sex-machine, Jacci, who is running in the Austin Half this wknd!  Gooood luck!  Wish we could make it down there to cheer you on!  You're a stud :) 

Time to make myself some yummy hot choc and curl up on the couch for Grey's! G'night!

9 Months!!

Baby girl is 9 months old! WHOA.

Height:  28.5 in.
Weight: 18lb. 2oz.
Head: FINALLY above the 50% percentile!!!  haha...not a pea-head anymore (like her daddY!)

-Eating strictly tablefoods (peaches, pears, oranges, watermelon, carrots, green peas, green beans, cheerios, crackers, pasta....), plus 4 bottles a day
-Doesn't like beans...we're working on that
-Ate her first chicken nuggets this week!
-Is getting to be a great walker!  Her steps are getting more and more stable...4-5 is normal, 8-9 is becoming MORE normal.
-Crawls on carpet, bear crawls on hard floors
-Dances (gets low) ANYtime music comes on!  (esp to her baby einstein music player, and to CMT music videos!)
-Now naps only once a day
-Had her first cold/fever this month!  (only got up to 100* thank goodness!)
-Has perfected the deep belly fake laugh and does it ALOT!!  She loves the attention it gets her
-Is still bff with Kerbey...and is learning to be more gentle with the poor pup :)
-Is still reallyyyy quiet around lots of new faces but gets super vocal and playful when she warms up
-Does the, "what's up" head nod thing ALL the time.  NO CLUE where she got this one.
-is starting to like her dollys
-loves stuffed animals and anything that makes noise
-still loves bathtime
-still does NOT like post-bath time (diaper/lotion/pjs)
-loves the hokey pokey
-has learned the clap
-loves "quack quack" and sort of tries to repeat when we say it (sometimes!)

Averton- your daddy and i could not love anyone or anything more than we love YOU!!  you CRACK us up every day, make us happy when we're otherwise not, and you have just made our life 8million times better than it was before you got here!!! We love youuuu!!

Pictorals.

Sommmmebody got into mommy's gum & appears to be quite a fan of Winterfresh Extra!!

Averton LOVES the laundry hamper or anything that require climbing into/out of.

CUTIE in the tub trying to eat her little fish friends.

Playing with her tugboat.

Bring a goober w/bubbles on her dad...courtesy of daddy :)

Some of Aves' Favs!! (& ours too) Chris & Kylee...our grrrreat hosts on our trip to Tyler!

Avery playing with Mick...the hugest dog EVER. (This pic does NOT do him justice)

National Championship Game....before it started....obvi. :)

THE END.

Baby Food

Okay so- Avery is now 8.5 months old and she pretty much hates eating baby food out of a spoon now.  Her dislike has progressively gotten worse...but she is sooooo happy to eat ANYTHING that is somewhat solid and involved feeding herSELF.  I'm thinking that today may mark the END of babyfood for Averton.   We'll prob just stick to real fruits/veggies/starches at this point (& the bottle of course).
That's okay right?

BUT- with no teeth...meat in baby-food-form is really the only option, right?

Gimme 3 Steps...

Avery has started taking 2 steps before falling!  Whoa!  She did it like...4 different times today.  She's almost mastered one step without falling.  SO CUTE.  She totally has to stand for a bit and rev up before taking the step.  It's pretty hilar.  I'll try to get a video :)

What a cutie.  Love you little Averton.

The Big 2-5!!

Yesterday was my 25th bday and it was terrif :)  Brian brought Ave into our bed in the morning and we all just hung out and played for a bit before B had to head off to work.  Then little Miss Averton and I just hung out, cleaned up the house a bit, ran a few errands, and got lots & lots of texts/phone calls/emails/fb msgs from people we lovvvve :)  Thanks for the love my friends! I also got 3 packages in the mail, which (regardless of what's in them) automatically makes the day great :)

Last night, my S-I-L, Amy, come over to babysit Aves while Brian and I went out to Addison to The Melting Pot!!! We have been saying for years that we want to go there someday, so that's where B-Rizzle took me for my bday dinner!  I'm not usually one to get overly excited about a restaurant...but this place was DE.frickin.LISH!!  Can't wait to go back someday.  And ALSO can't wait to someday host our own little fondue party!

OH!  And the bday pkg that B brought home to me was superrrrr.  2 of the contents were:

My hub is thebomb.com :)  Yay for bdays!!

8 Months

right around 17 lbs.
size 6-12 mo. clothes...size 9mo fit pretty much perfectly!
eating super chunky babyfood and some finger foods (super mushy ones)
still no teeth
standing on her own for long periods of time
is starting to attempt to take steps
walks around holding on to the edge of things
blabbers non stop ("da", "ma", "kuh", "ga"...most common sounds)
sleeps from about 9-8 then naps in the morning for about 1.5 hrs and usually takes a short pm nap
4 bottles a day
tried a sippy cup....didnt take to it
loves beans of all kinds, fruit (minus bananas), veggies, & meats!!
can crawl like..800 mph!
is still obsessed with kerbs
lovvvvvvves other babies/toddlers but doesnt get to be around them much :(
had her first playground experience and was in love.
loves her musical toys
loves for mommy or daddy to play w/her ball with her...but she pretty much just observes and giggles
ticklish thighs, ribs, belly button
fav game is to run away from daddy on our bed in the mornings before work
LOVES her veggie puff-sticks
flaps her arms nonstop when she gets excited...which is kind of all the time
CUTIE.

IT'S GAME DAY!!!

okay.  so i could NOT more excited for a day to start!  tonight is the big game....and we are PUMPED over here in the bradford casa.  ave and i will def be sporting our burnt orange all day and babygirl will be helping me (or at least keeping me company) w/cookie-making and longhorn decorating for our mini game-watching gathering.

GO HORNSSSS!!!!!!