Ike's aftermath

I spoke with my parents and Adam throughout the night and this morning and everyone is fine. Both have been without power since late evening last night. The Houston area news says that it could be 2 weeks at most to get the power up and running for everyone. However, Houston is on top of things and the areas with less debris will most likely have power fairly quickly. My sister sent me a text in the middle of the night saying she lost her back fence, and strangely enough the same thing happened at my in-laws house.

I went to http://www.chron.com/ and found these pictures of the damage. Apparently, the infamous restaurant, Brennan's, caught fire last night and received significant damage. I actually went there for dinner before Prom. The JP Morgan building downtown, lost all of the windows on one side of the building.

JP Morgan glass debris

Brennan's

Damage inside the restaurant

Texas at Main Street

Ike - Part 2

Just the beginning

Waves alone the sea wall in Galveston

Satellite image of Ike The flooding has already begun

Yesterday was just a hard day for me. I am sure it was mixture of pregnancy hormones mixed with concern for my family and friends in the Houston area, but I wouldn't say it was my best day. I spent most of the day watching the updates online, talking to my parents, to Adam and trying to take care of Mason and myself. I had to run an errand last night and the minute we got in the car, Mason gave me a poopy diaper. When we got home, I went to pick him up and realized it was more of an explosion and his back was covered in it, not to mention his carseat. I don't have a very strong stomach normally, but it is even harder with the pregnancy. I did everything I could to keep from throwing up, as I put him in the kitchen sink and hosed him down. By the end of the night, I just wanted to sleep.

I lived through Hurricane Alicia in 1983 and even though I was young, I remember not being able to leave the house for 3 days, the sound of the wind howling outside the windows, and the loss of electricity. Fortunately, Houston is more prepared this time around, but there will still be significant damage.

My aunts and uncle that live in Deer Park have decided not to evacuate to my parents house. I don't think this is wise, considering the streets flood very easily. But I can understand they want to protect their house from looters. I just wish they would let the police do their job and load everyone up and head to Katy.

All of my family in Katy seems pretty prepared for the storm. You can only do so much and then it's just sitting and waiting. When I talked to my mom this morning, she had cleaned the house, bathed the dogs, did some laundry and baked a cake all before 9am. The storm is expected to hit a little after 1am and the winds are expected to get up to 100 mph. I'm praying for safety and that I will be able to stay in touch with everyone.

I just spoke to Adam and his company brought in a ton of food and water into one of the hotel suites and everyone is hanging out and waiting. They aren't allowed to leave the hotel. I feel sorry for some of the guys that are from Egypt, and South Africa who have never experienced anything like this. What a way to welcome everyone to the states.

Yikes IKE!

Normally, I get excited about severe weather. I don't necessarily like to be in it, but if I am, I prefer to be safe at home. I glue myself to the weather channel for hours, watching the latest on storms and hurricanes. It's a little different in California. Bakersfield gets rain about 30 days out of the entire year. While I love the continuous sunny days, I miss a good thunderstorm every now and then.

Ike is closely approaching the Texas coast and almost all of our family lives in Houston and surrounding areas. Some of my family is part of the mandatory evacuation of Harris county, because they live to close to the shore and will experience flooding. Everyone else of my family is in danger of the high winds and tornado's that spin off of the hurricane. Adam is in Houston right now for the end of his year long training with the company and isn't expected to return until next Wednesday.

I spoke with him last night, and the company plans on keeping everyone at the hotel, since they have a backup generator and bringing in plenty of food for all of their employees. He is in Sugar Land, which also has experienced a bit of flooding over the years. He said that plans could always change and I seriously hope they do. It would be different if I was in Houston with everyone, but since I'm in Bakersfield, I am stressing out more than I normally would.


*Edit*
Spoke with Adam this morning and they still plan on keeping everyone at the hotel. My mom sent me a link with the projected winds in Harris County and it looks like Katy will get +100mph winds. I'm not to thrilled at the moment and very frustrated over the situation.

Football & Celebrities

Everyone knows that High School football is huge in Texas. It's a whole different ball game in Bakersfield. Private schools tend to have better teams than the public schools, or at least that is what I have been told. Tonight we decided to go to the Bakersfield Christian High School vs. Oaks Christian football game.

A group of us decided to go together and meet during the JV game in order to get good seats. Going to a football game with a bunch of little ones is a challenge and we knew ahead of time that the kids wouldn't want to sit still for the entire game. So all of the girls and the kids left during halftime of the JV game and the guys stayed to watch the Varsity game that followed.

Oaks Christian is located in Thousand Oaks and several celebrities send their kids to the school and a lot of their sons play football. The QB on the JV team is Trevor Gretzky, Wayne Gretzky's son. Trey Smith, Will Smith's son, is a RB for the JV team. We actually saw him score a touchdown for Thousand Oaks. The Varsity QB is Nick Montana, Joe Montana's son. Some of you in Houston will remember, Derek Carr, David Carr's little brother. He is the QB at Bakersfield Christian, where his brother used to play.

After the girls left, the guys called to let us know they decided to sit on Oaks Christian side of the stadium because it was less crowded and they got 50 yard line seats. After they sat down, they realized the Joe Montana was sitting behind them and Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith were not far away. I was very pleased to know that both men took time out of their busy schedules to drive from LA to their son's football games. Adam actually got pictures of both men, so I will post them soon.

Last year, Adam's dad gave Mason this Katy Football jersey he had made for him. It was big then, and it is still big now, but Mason wore it to the game tonight. Here is our little football player showing off his jersey.

New Doctor

After talking with Adam, I have decided to switch OBGYN's. Dr. Finberg is a great doctor, has a fabulous staff, but I wasn't very sure if I was comfortable with his bedside manner. It wasn't like he creeped me out, more like he was very short and not as personable as I was hoping for. I had been warned by friends, that he gets straight to the point during his visits and isn't much of a chatter. I wasn't really worried about that, but when I met in his office a couple of weeks ago, I didn't feel like I could open up and talk to him.



When I brought this up to Adam, he made sure that it wasn't just because I loved my doctor back home in Houston and that I wasn't being open to the concept of a new doctor. After much assurance, we decided that I needed to be happy with my doctor and not have to worry about asking questions. (My friend Nicole goes to Dr. Finberg and is due any day and she was told by his nurse at her last appointment that she couldn't ask him any questions that day because he was in a bad mood.)



This morning I made a phone call to my first choice, Dr. Helliwell. His website blew me away and I have heard nothing but pleasant stories about his office and staff. I was so glad I made the call. Last week, I had a little spotting (sorry if this is TMI). It was brown and very small and it only happened once. I knew that as long as it was brown, that I was okay. However, I made sure to evaluate how I was feeling, but luckily I didn't have any cramping. When I explained this to his office, they asked if I could come in this morning, just to make sure and I am glad I did.



Everything looked fine and the doctor told me it was most likely due to the placenta taking over the hormones for the baby and I need not worry. We listened to the heartbeat and it was 170 bpm. I asked all of the questions that I didn't get to ask Dr. Finberg and learned that when I go in for my next appointment, I can schedule my ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. At their office, they have the 3D ultrasound and I can find out if we are having a boy or a girl at 16 weeks. Mid October can't come soon enough. I'm happy with the my decision and so glad that I didn't settle.

Mason & Luke

My friend Marissa started teaching Language Arts at Valley Bible recently, and I agreed to watch Luke over the next couple of months until he can go to the Preschool. Luke is only about 6 weeks older than Mason and the two have so much fun playing together.

Luke started joining us in the mornings this week. The first morning he came over, Mason was already in his high chair eating breakfast, when Marissa & Luke walked in the door. Mason started bouncing with excitement and even tried to get out of his chair. It really was the cutest thing.

Our mornings consist of breakfast, playtime, I try to take them outdoors, whether it be to the park or our backyard, snack, more playtime, lunch, and then we read until Marissa arrives around 12:45pm.

The first morning I decided to take the boys to the park by our house. It is a very short walk and I figured the earlier I go, the better to beat the heat. I loaded the boys up in the double stroller and off we went. Luckily, the park has two baby swings and the boys both love to swing. I captured a couple of pictures of our first day.

It goes by so fast

Everyone says to try to remember as much as you can about this time in your child's life, because it goes by so quickly and it is so true. Mason is growing and learning something new everyday. It amazes me how much he picks up on things and how much more independent he has become.

Walking has been a process for him. He started pulling himself up and holding onto the furniture around 8 months. It wasn't until 13 months that he started walking on his own. It still is a process, balancing on those chunky feet of his, but he is getting the hang of it and doesn't really crawl that much anymore. It amazes me how brave he is, maybe it's a boy thing.

One of our favorite games to play together is chase. He loves to be chased around the house and just laughs and laughs as I tell him that I'm going to get him. It's probably the second sweetest sound a mother could here. I'm so blessed to have a happy boy.

Mason said "Mama" awhile ago, but hasn't been saying it as much since then. It wasn't until about 2 weeks ago, that "Mama" started being used as much as "Dada" and it is music to my ears. My heart melts every time and I don't think I will ever get enough of it. Saying "Mama" is the sweetest thing I could ever here. I'm sure that will change when he says "I love you."

Our little boy loves to eat. The minute I put his plate on his tray, he is stuffing his mouth with food as fast as he can. He would win eating contests no problem. I eat pretty fast, but when I was younger, I was the slowest eater and always the last one at the table. I don't think that will be a problem with this one.

Dancing is another favorite of Mason's. Anytime music comes on, he starts shaking his body and it cracks me up every time. When I was pregnant with him, I would drive in the car and listen to the music and he would be kicking up a storm. The same thing happened at church during worship. The boy has rhythm.

Another favorite thing Mason started doing, was posing for pictures. Anytime I get my camera out, he gets excited and points to the camera until I get ready to take the picture. As soon as I put the camera up to snap the shot, he poses and smiles. I guess he is used to all the pictures that I have taken over his lifetime, that he knows how to work the camera.

This is probably the best stage thus far. Sure I miss the moments where I put him on the floor and he didn't go anywhere, but at this stage he is learning so much. Everyday, I see his personality coming out and it makes me so proud that I get to be his mother.