The Wait is Almost Over

Yesterday afternoon, I got in my car & the temp read 88 degrees.  Last night, I saw Pete Carroll on TV looking cocky as ever.  It's almost time, & we are prepared.

My mom gave me these shoes last May right after Trey & I announced I was pregnant.  She later admitted she bought them when Trey & I were engaged.

The Name Game

As soon as I learned I was pregnant, I started thinking of baby names.  As a teacher, I have learned that it is imperative to give your children good, solid, phonetically sensical names; it is a blessing that will follow them through life.  Being me, I opened a new folder on my desktop where I kept a word document that was full of lists of names I liked; I added to it & rearranged it almost daily.  Once I knew I was having a girl & was free to replace 'it' with feminine pronouns, I got down to business & was able to eliminate several names I'd wrestled with for a few months.  When I knew I'd be finishing sentences that began with My daughter, ____________, there were a few names I just couldn't see in that blank.

Happy Birthday to Grandmama & Grandaddy Zeigler

Trey's parents both celebrated their birthdays this past week on August 6 & 8.  Reagan was born on my dad's birthday, & I think she will find a way to upstage all of her grandparents on their big day.

Celebrating Grandmama Cheryl's birthday Saturday at Waterfront Grill:

The view:

And the rest is pretty much Reagan action:

Hamburgers Monday night for Grandaddy Don's birthday (Reagan had already eaten, so she worked on her mobility while the rest of us enjoyed burgers):

Hanging out on the couch wither her grandfathers:

Helping Grandaddy Don open his birthday presents:

After the gift opening, we watched some recent videos of Reagan that Trey shot, & then we watched the video of Reagan Trey shot during dinner.  One thing Reagan will not lack as she ages is a healthy sense of self-importance.  

AZ

Firsts

A baby's first year is full of, well, firsts.  Reagan has experienced a few new ones lately.

She's finally big enough (& stable enough) to sit in the high chair I used as a baby.  My mom found it at an antique store.  It's a really nice looking high chair, & I'm sure it was back in 1980, but we stay pretty close to Reagan while she's in it since there are no straps or belts or buckles at all, anywhere.

First ride in Daddy's new truck.  

Lesson for Reagan: rear end someone, total vehicle, get nice shiny new truck.  To be fair to Trey, I myself totaled a vehicle (many years ago).  While I was initially anti-truck, I realized I now have a way to haul furniture home from Dallas, so all is well in our happy home.  Are you familiar with Weir's Furniture?  You should be! 

First family trip to the mall!  Until this past Saturday, I don't think Trey & I had been in the Pecanland Mall together since before we were married.  Trey had a bit too much fun with the stroller; I may be able to lure him back!

Reagan enjoyed the stroller racing & the figure 8s around clothing racks:

Finally, while she made it here in time for bowl season last year & witnessed the Tiger's Cotton Bowl victory . . . 

Reagan has another important first looming: 

her first FOOTBALL SEASON.

To be continued . . . 

It's a Girl

On August 2 of last year, Trey & I learned our first child was a girl, & we got our first glimpse of her face:

We left the doctor's office & met our families at Cracker Barrel for a little celebration.  

Today, my mom & I took Reagan to Cracker Barrel.  We had breakfast & coffee; she took a nap:

Coincidentally, on our drive to Bastrop this afternoon, my mom had the radio on XM 17, which I think is the 'Love' station, & Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" came on . . . technically a 'romantic' song, but it still made me smile when I heard it:

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and stars were the gifts you gave
To the dark and the empty skies, my love,
To the dark and the empty skies.

AZ

Jesse and Jean

I was blessed with nearly twenty-seven years with all four of my grandparents & logged many miles to & from Bastrop visiting them. Below, Jessica & I with our grandparents (note that two of them are holding coffee cups; it's in the genes!):

My paternal grandfather, Jesse James, Jr., passed away Wednesday, August 1, 2007. Yes, his name was Jesse James. His middle name was Arvin &—get this—his father, Jesse Arvin James, Sr., purposefully changed his middle name to Arvin (I know what you're thinking, from WHAT?, but sorry, I don't know). My dad had an older brother who survived only a few days, otherwise Gordon would be known as Jesse Arvin James, III (or maybe Trey! haha).

I am my paternal grandparents first grandchild, & Reagan is their first great grandchild.

Mamaw & I:

At our wedding:

With her grandsons Erich & Adam:

Mother's Day:

As their first grandchild, I had the privilege of naming my grandfather. I assume he took one look at me and knew I could come up with a name for him far better than the traditional 'Grandpa' or 'Papaw,' so at some point after I figured out 'Dada,' I, being brilliant even as a small child, took a great phonetic leap and named him 'Dadoo.' It stuck, & eventually there were six of us using Dadoo as part of our adult vocabulary as if it were something more than the garbled rambling of a two year old.

Mamaw & Dadoo fished; they fished a lot. Jessica & I didn't much care for fishing, but we were more than willing to fill our tackle boxes with food & stuff our faces while they fished, giving preferential treatment to anything made by Little Debbie. I also remember eating a lot of vienna sausages & thinking they were fantastic; this haunts me now & makes me wonder why some adult didn't intervene.

I likely took my first sip of coffee at Mamaw & Dadoo's kitchen table. They drank copious amounts of coffee. I suspected I wasn't supposed to have any coffee, it being the mysterious dark drink that fueled (fuels) my mother, so naturally I wanted it. Mamaw loaded it with so much milk & sugar that it was more like a milkshake than coffee, but I loved it & it went well with the pancakes floating in syrup they always made me & Jessica when we spent the night.

Believe it or not, I was a little bossy when I was younger. I thought the purpose of family gatherings was to provide me with enough pupils for my classroom so that I could "teach" them. Dadoo always acted up, speaking out of turn quite frequently, & thus he spent a great deal of time in the corner. The geniuses are always misfits in school.  

Dadoo's mother was German, so in addition to my English degree & my endearing habit of correcting people's grammar, he's also probably responsible for my OCD tendencies & my lifelong dream of having zoning laws enacted in West Monroe, although it's probably about fifty years too late for that.

At my high school graduation:

Dadoo often wrote letters to me & Jessica (& also to the editors of The News Star & the Bastrop Daily Enterprise). I have all the letters he sent me while I was away at college, but about a month ago, my mom opened an old book that was read to me & Jessica as children, & pressed between the pages was a letter he'd written to us on August 24, 1988. In the letter, Dadoo discusses at length an owl he had been observing while sitting on their back porch at dusk. He describes his first encounter with the bird, and then concludes with this:

I have seen him most evenings since then, when I remembered to go outside at dusk and watch for him. To me, it is fascinating to watch, and comforting, too, a form of permanence, because I love the outdoors and nature and I know that this will go on, owls hunting at dusk, long after I have gone on to Heaven. 

I am sure that at seven years old, this passage meant nothing to me, assuming I read the letter in its entirety. Needless to say, its value has increased with the passage of time.

Prior to his death, he requested that someone read William Cullen Bryant's poem "Thanatopsis" to him. I volunteered. This is the last stanza of the poem:

So live, that when thy summons comes to join

The innumerable caravan which moves

To that mysterious realm where each shall take

His chamber in the silent halls of death,

Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,

Scourged by his dungeon; but, sustain'd and soothed

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

He had a healthy understanding of life & death. He didn't want a gravesite; he donated his body to science. I last saw him resting in his bedroom, at peace, & I have to say I prefer it to funeral homes, caskets, & graveyards. Those are props we, the living, hold onto when a loved one dies because we like structure & formality, & there is nothing wrong with that, but the pomp & circumstance seemed impractical to Dadoo. He knew he was simply folding up his earthly tent, to borrow Paul's metaphor, & joining the innumerable caravan that awaits us all, barring the Lord's return.

AZ

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Reagan & I spend a great deal of time together.  Right now, everything I do is the most interesting thing in the world to her, so I'm taking advantage of it while I can & introducing her to all the things I love.

I love Target.  Reagan likes looking around for a bit . . .

But we've got to work on her stamina:

Getting in bed with my MacBook:

And while she's unfortunately too young to drink coffee, we're working on getting her off the bottle by introducing the precursor to a coffee cup, a sippy cup:

As the release of Breaking Dawn nears, we're spending time discussing what it means to be "Team Edward."

Discussions include, but are not limited to, why reading a book is always better than watching the movie.  Those who have read the Twilight series know that "Team Jacob" was doomed to fail from the beginning, and Taylor Lautner removing his shirt in no way changes that.  Don't be distracted by a nice set of abs: read! 

AZ

Family Fish Fry

After Jessica & I raved about the fish Uncle Bryan fried us while our parents were cruising in Alaska, my mother hinted that she wouldn't mind him making another batch.  Bryan having been sufficiently persuaded to cook for us, my parents, Trey, Reagan, & I headed north toward Bastrop Saturday afternoon to join Bryan the cook, Donna, Jennifer, Marykate, Zach, & my Papaw for dinner.

Reagan enjoyed the drive . . .

And a book with Papaw before . . . 

Taking her first 'swim'!

She mainly sat in my lap & kicked while gnawing on her fingers, but she seemed to enjoy herself.

Sitting with her daddy during dinner (still gnawing):

Marykate provided some after dinner entertainment by singing a rousing medley of songs:

The show was brought to a halt when she spilled her drink & had to investigate the damage:

I think this would be termed a pile-on.  There were no injuries:

A good evening all around.  Reagan got her first taste of the aquatic life outside our bathtub, Marykate 'used her words' in productive & entertaining ways,  & we all got our fill of fried fish.  

AZ