On Santa's Lap

Sydney had her first experience with Santa at the church Christmas party. She was very restless the entire evening during dinner and singing and finally fell asleep just as Santa was making his grand entrance. However, like most naps these days, she only slept for a few minutes. She went to Santa without crying, but not smiling either. She was very intrigued by the pink stocking and the bright colors all around.

4 days 'till Minnesota

We only have a few more days until we leave to spend Christmas with David's family in Minnesota and South Dakota. Sydney will probably sleep through most of the events. We have tried to get her used to unwrapping gifts, but it just does not work. Everything goes in her mouth!

Cabela's fan already

Micahael (soon to be Uncle Michael) came out every night when he was home from school. He really likes little kids and it very good with them. There was a stack of Cabela's catalogs by the chair for the guys to mark things they want for Christmas. Sydney thought she wanted something out of the catalog too...

More Texas pictures

As we finally get into a routine back in North Carolina, I have finished uploading all of the pictures we took in Texas. Several of them are of close family friends holding Sydney. Ann and Jim have known my family for a very long time. Jim works for us on the farm and was the tracotr driver of choice for my sister when she was little. Of course he cheated by carrying gum for her and now he carries gum for the newphews. He stopped by the house one morning to see Sydney.


Sharon and Karson come over Thanksgiving night to see Sydney. Of course Sydney said hello to Sharon by spitting up on her clothes. At least Sharon is somewhat used to it as she is a Kindergarten teacher.








Glenda was the first person to hold me in the hospital, other tahn my parents. She is very proud of that and reminds my grandmother often. She was so excited to see Sydney and thought she was beautiful. Of course, we do too.

Only 18 days until Minnesota!

We will be going to see David's family in Minnesota and South Dakota for Christmas. Grandma Jean and Dennis visited us in North Carolina in September, but they will be amazed at how much Sydney has grown. She will get to meet her Minnesota and South Dakota cousins Lucas, Nathan, Kylie and Nikki. We are very excited about this trip and Sydney's first Christmas.

Joel's Magic Duck

Our friend Joel came over on Saturday to go to the hockey game with David. He brought Sydney a present...a cute little rubber ducky. However, the duck lights up with all these different colors. Sydney thought the duck was pretty cool. Thanks Joel for the neat gift, now you will be responsible for battery replacement so she does not cry. :)

Happy Turkey Day!

Sydney's first Thanksgiving was spent in Texas with a lot of family. She was a very good baby and played with her cousins- Tyler, Michaela, Ryan, Casey, Davis and Kinsley. She was dressed in a very cute outfit that had a turkey on the back.

The Agee boys

Sydney went to visit the Agee's on Saturday while Daddy and Carl went to the hockey game. She had not seen the Agee's since she was a few weeks old. Brandon and Lance were so excited to see her. Lance was so sweet with her. He would sit int he floor and put her pacifier back in when she spit it out. Here is a picture of Brandon and Lance tickling Sydney after I changed her diaper.

Gettin cozy

Sydney is such a snuggle bug at times. She loves to sleep on people and will just get so cozy. This picture is from a while back but it is so sweet.

John Deere Pink

Sydney is just so much fun to play dress up with, until she gets tired of it. We dressed her in a cute little outfit that my department gave us. Of course it is John Deere, but pink. She and daddy had to pose with their John Deere outfits on.

p.s. she really likes chewing on her hands...

Drake...a man of few words

Drake and Sydney are 1 year and 1 week apart. He is such a sweet boy and very loving to Sydney. At times a bit too loving (he loved pointing to her eyes and accidentally got a bit too close once) but just so sweet. He loves to pat you when you hold him; he got down in the floor one day while I was changing Sydney. Aunt Jodie was trying to keep him away but couldn't. He got down beside Sydney and put his head down on her cheek and patted her. Then he tried to touch her eyes.

Sweetest cousin

Jaxon is an experienced baby handler. With 2 little brothers he is very good with babies. The first time he saw Sydney he walked up to her and reached out to touch her. He said "she's pretty soft. And pretty cute too."
When he would come out to Kiki's to visit you could hear him yelling "we've got to wash our hands before we can touch the baby!" Then he would proudly walk up to whoever was holding Sydney and offer his hands for the sniff test- Kiki has blue raspberry smelling soap so she can tell when they wash their hands.

Like father, like son

Sloan was quite the character. He loves babies and was always wanting to hold Sydney-his father was the same way and still is. He got upset when she would cry and told his mommy to make her stop. In first grade his daddy who wrote a letter to Santa Claus asking for a baby brother. Sloan has also inherited the tremendous talent for modeling and showing off his muscles as seen here. He prefers boots and Ninja Turtle undies.

Clothes optional


The boys seemed to strip down as much as they could when they came to Kiki's. They were too cute playing with Sydney in her crib.

Those boy cousins...

Sydney is a very lucky little girl. She is the only little girl in the nursery at church, the only little girl in our neighborhood, and the old granddaughter on the Rowland side. While in Texas she had quality time with her cousins. Here are Sloan and Drake coming to spend the night in their pj's and boots...a real Texas tradition.

Sydney's Pawpaw

Sydney met so many people in Texas, all of whom loved her. She watched her cousins play and make loud noises, was fought over by her 2nd cousins and was pestered by her Pawpaw. Every morning we would get up and go into the kitchen to visit. She was the center of attention and was a very happy baby. Her Pawpaw has officially made her squeamish when you go to tickle her.

luv my aunt jodie

Sydney is so spoiled. Her Aunt Jodie comes home from school on the weekends to spoil her. As you can see from the pictures Aunt Jodie has motive for "watching" Sydney...

Cousins...boy cousins

Sydney is loved by so many people. She has become quite used to her boy cousins Jaxon, Sloan and Drake. They are so sweet to her. They wash their hands as soon as they get to Kiki and Pawpaw's and then tell us to "smell"- they use blue raspberry scented soap. They will find Sydney and touch her and hug her then the chaos begins. All the toys are out and the boys are playing.

For Halloween Jaxon was the purple dragon, Sloan was T-Rex and Drake was a caveman. He loved Princess Sydney and was so excited to show us her eyes and nose. He got a little too excited and accidentally poked her in the eye.

I am glad that she has such sweet cousins in Texas to love her. I know that her Minnesota cousins will love on her just as much!

Happy Halloween!

Sydney's first Halloween was pretty uneventful, unless you consider being the only girl with a dragon, T-Rex and a caveman a party. Sydney palyed it pretty low key this year but we did pose for pictures with the cousins. We went as a princess this year and the outfit turned out pretty cute.

Though we are too young for candy, we still got a neat Halloween book from Kiki and got to take our first ride to the farm.

Welcome to Texas!!!

We arrived safely in Lubbock at 10:30 am on Monday. The flights were very good and Sydney was VERY good. She woke up Monday morning around 2:30 and was up until our flight left at 6:15. She slept for most of the flight to Houston and all the people around us commented on how good she was...I think they were just glad that she was not a screaming baby! The flight to Lubbock was just as good, though she did not sleep as long. Our prayers were answered for a safe trip and a good experience for both of us.



We were met at the airport by Aunt Jodie who had a sign made by Aunt Candice and the boys (Jaxon, Sloan and Drake). They had also written a message on the back of mom's car. Everyone has loved their "Sydney time" and are so excited to finally meet this little girl.

3 MORE DAYS!!!!!!

Sydney and I are on the countdown. We brought the suitcases down from the attic yesterday and started pulling clothes out to pack. I went crazy and soon realized that I do not need a new outfit for every day we are in Texas...my parents do own a washing machine. So we will be re-evaluating the wardrobe on Saturday.

Now for Sydney, we have so many cute outfits that she still has not worn. We will be packing these (like the red fu-fu outfit from Auntie Candi). However it is easy to pack her stuff since it is so little. Did I mention all the jewelry the girl has? She has some major bling for a 2 month old- gold, pearls all she needs are some diamonds.

We have also been practicing tricks for everyone. She will smile at certain names (sorry Aunt Jodie, but she's not sure about you yet) and is very ticklish. If you were expecting her to do more sorry she is only 2 months old!

looking forward to our visit. Pray for a safe and easy plane ride out.

2 Month Checkup

We had our 2 month checkup today. Sydney weighs 12 lbs 9 oz and is 23 1/4 inches long. She is in the 90th percentile for weight and 80th percentil for height.

She also got 4 shots today. She has been a trooper and is currently on her 2 straight hour of sleep after the shots. (...thus I am able to work on the computer.)

Texas...7 days and counting...



We are going to Texas in 7 days, YEAH!!! Miss Sydney will get to meet Papa, Granny, Aunt Jodie and Auntie Candi along with all the other aunts, uncles and cousins. She is very excited and smiles whenever I mention Kiki or Papa.

Wow! I have never done this before, but I need to join the rest of the 21st century. This blog has been created for our families in Texas and Minnesota. We try to send them pictures and keep them updated on our lives as much as possible, but sometimes we forget someone. Now everyone can have access.
I will try to keep things up to date as much as possible. Remember, my priorities have changed and my time alone is short.

-R