The smell of rain

As I sit here and type I can smell and hear the rain! (I can also hear my son screaming in his crib... which... isn't so pleasant...) And I'm thankful for the rain for many reasons but mainly because I was slacking on watering my baby flowers in the front yard and now they are getting a nice drink!

ok... I'll be right back. I can't focus with Eli crying. 

grr... this wretched daylight savings time!! It might as well be bright as day in his room! We are definitely fixing that before tomorrow night. Poor thing... 

Ok y'all. I got my report card from my graduate school and I got all A's! yay!! Too bad I wasn't this good of a student in high school and college! So next week I start my pre-practicum class, but since I have already passed the test I just have to do some case studies and then I can start logging hours for practicum! I will graduate in August! Yes!!

It has been so beautiful outside lately! We have loved playing around at different parks, which is actually the reason I haven't been blogging on this site much lately. I kind of feel like I'm cheating on this blog due to this "great idea" I have for a website I'm starting. More on that when I have something...

I finally used my mani/pedi gift certificate that Jeff got the girls for Christmas! Thanks Jeffy! Jouleen and I went yesterday and it was so awesome! sorry for the randomness of the photos... the screen on my camera is still broken so we can't see what we are taking a picture of!

The "baby-ness" of my son is basically gone... which makes me question why he is still getting a bottle and paci in bed!? (sigh...) I'm gearing up for that battle ahem, right honey?? He pretty much understands everything we say to him. He is full of opinions which he expresses with his own little jibberish language. He's still not saying that many words and he's becoming less interested in books. He used to want to look at every page and now he'll bring over 4 or 5 and he might look at two pages each! 

He's getting taller. He's getting cuter! If that is even possible... And he's just getting to be so big. Now the hitting has stopped thank goodness, due to me thumping his hand when he would hit me. He does still turn into a werewolf (spelling anyone?) when he gets tired and the one year old violence ensues, but we just put him to bed and he's fine. I just still stare at him as much as possible. I love looking at him. He is incredible.

My dad and I went to the henna ceremony of one of our former students on Sunday night. I had never been to one before and Fatima looked SO beautiful! Her wedding is tomorrow and I so wish I could be there but I can't! :( She graduated last year and she is marrying a guy that was arranged for her by their families. Apparently he's a really great guy! He's tall, cute, some sort of doctor, but they move to London where he lives at the end of the month. It will be so sad not to have her around... but there is always facebook! :)

Goin to the chapel

My cousin Susan got married! Yay!! It was a lot of fun and we are so happy for the happy couple! 

Love you Susan and Mason!

The day of my birth

Today I am 27 years old! Wow. What a fun age I can already tell! I have no problem getting older... yet... :) 

Wes' mom is in town and I took her to the Dallas Arboretum and we had SO much fun! It was a perfect day! 

What I learned in counseling today

1. Sometimes you can't just be tolerant of the situation, you actually have to genuinely support it.

2. Being over-controlling of how things go with your baby may not be the most productive thing but it's all part of the process and is normal to go through.

3. It's interesting how you can want to hit someone, feel sorry for them, and really like them all at the same time.

4. It's hard to be encouraging to your spouse (even though it might be easy to do so for others) because sometimes we're not encouraging to ourselves. (there was actually a lot more to that... but kind of hard to convey right now while I am typing for some reason)

5. ... oh great... there was something else that I can't remember... uh oh.

Twins!

Why does my camera have to be broken? :(

Do not fret friends! I am no longer Debbie Downer! Yay! Thanks for all of your sweet words! I haven't forgotten my commitments to be a more faithful blogger for myself and this week is kind of different because Wes is gone and his mom Carol is staying with me to take care of Eli! Yay!

Today at school Padme the guinea pig had a surprise for everyone. On Friday everyone was saying that she was really fat and Adam, the owner/science teacher, was worried that she had tumors. This morning we came in and there were two guinea pig babies with her!!! Twins! How adorable is that?! Y'all those are the cutest little babies I have ever seen! (insert adorable picture of guinea pig babies here!)

Ok guys... I think Wes and I have decided to maybe start trying this month or next! We'll see! 

Debbie Downer

That's me right now. Debbie Downer. I really am not sure why I'm choosing to be this way right now when there are so many fantastic celebrations going on! For example: 

1. I just finished my very LAST exam for my Masters Degree! Now all I have to do is log some hours, pay for those classes and you can call me Master Amanda! haha... kidding.

2. My dear friend Leny finally joined us in our wonderful world of blogs. And, her family is from India so that already makes her fascinating! Check her out!

3. Although my house is a complete disaster right now, it is showing some small signs of improvement. My camera is broken (gasp!!) so I'm probably going to use my birthday money to get it fixed - my birthday hasn't happened yet - because I need you guys to SEE my life too!

4. Eli says banana all the time now in the form of "nana!" and he also says please now in the form of "psss"!

But even with all of those wonderful things I am still kind of blue. I think I've worn myself to the ground lately. Maybe being a little over committed or a little over involved, but mainly just because all of my schedules seem to be crashing into each other and I have had not one ounce of peaceful me time in what seems to be ages. Wes assures me that will change soon, and I hope so. I would like to go back to being Amanda Martin instead of Double D. 

That was cheerful huh.

Oh! and #5 would have to be Hugh Jackman's fabulous performance at the Oscars! He was truly great! 

what a great time to sell a house

so... Wes and I have decided to try and sell our house. WHAT? yes. ARE YOU SERIOUS? mmm hmm... basically our decision is based on the fact that we found a beautiful house we would love to buy. We like it so much that we decided to be a little crazy and get our house ready to be put on the market. If it doesn't sell, then we made our house as beautiful as possible and we get to enjoy it! If it does sell, then WHOO HOO!!! We get to move across town! I'm telling you we are so excited and tired. Really tired actually. I'll have to post some pics soon!

I've made some new commitments, one of which is to blog more faithfully. Not only because I miss reading about your precious lives but also it has been such a great sense of therapy to have some me time and talk about my day.

Tomorrow and Tuesday are my final exams for my last two grad classes for my School Counseling Masters. After that, all that is left is my pre-practicum and practicum! WHOO HOO! So... I'm off to play with Eli until study time. Love you guys!!