Shelby Videos

I finally had an opportunity to get some DSL access. I took Shelby to the doc this morning and we stopped off at Target to get some stuff. I was then going to stop and get something to eat in Needville when Shelby decided to take a nap. I thought I'd take advantage of this and stop somewhere there was wireless DSL so I could sit in the truck with her while uploading these videos.

Anyhow, I told doc how Shelby has been a bit congested and so she is going to have me give Shelby some generic zyrtec. I was surprised I could do anything for her! So, hopefully that will help her congestion. She also lost a little weight. Doc thought that might have been from the congestion...not wanting to eat. So, hopefully the allergy meds will help and she'll start eating more and gaining some weight.

It has been a busy couple of weeks with Shelby. She keeps me hopping, so I haven't had much time to write. It's also been slow in the news as well so I hadn't had much to say.

Airplane ride to MI

Peek A Baby

Thursday

This week has been yet another adventure for us, Boudrie’s. For me, it has been a big taste of being a stay at home, poor (as in no money), mom. That is not much fun at all. It also doesn’t help that it is like 100 degrees, literally, outside! So, Shelby and I have had a lot of time in the house and staying cool. Each day is much the same with Shelby getting up, feeding, playing with her, giving her down time in her chair, nap, repeat. In the evenings I usually take her for a walk just to get her outside before we both go crazy.

Today was a busy one for me while Shelby slept or played. I spent most of my free time calling banks, learning the loan value of specific trucks, what the value of Ryan’s truck is, etc. I haven’t done that in YEARS so it was a little bit of a learning curve for me, especially with the banks being so tight on their loans.

I have figured what we are going to do (get a different truck) now I have to figure out where we are going to get the money to pay for the loss on Ryan’s truck. We are cutting our losses at this time. I just don’t feel safe in that truck anymore. We carry a lot of precious cargo…Shelby…horses…us…and can’t afford anything bad to happen.

We did find a really nice truck in Gonzales that we really like. We will make a trip there (about 2 hr drive) to check it out this weekend if we need to. As I type this, Ryan is heading to the dealership to check out the new ones. It is unlikely he’ll get a new one in the price range we are looking for, but you just never know. After what we went through with the Dodge, I prefer new, but, more importantly, I prefer what we can afford. So, we’ll see. They have lots of discounts, rebates, etc plus our GM discount…you just never know until you look into it. If that doesn’t work out, then we’ll make the trip to Gonzales I guess. We just don’t know what else to do.

On a Shelby note….she is doing great. She is learning more and more everyday. It’s fun to be home and see her grow in mind and body. I have been teaching her sign language. She’s been doing the sign for “eat” for several months. However, just this week she did the sign for ‘more’. It was soooooooooooooo cool! I was feeding her and kept showing her the sign for “more”. I then said (without signing) “Do you want more?” and she did the sign for more. I thought…No way…that’s a fluke…so I said it again and she did it again. It was soooooooooooo cool to witness it first hand. So many times I hear about her ‘firsts’ from Ryan or her babysitter, Brenda. I was thankful to have one for myself.

She is also starting to try and figure out crawling. Her legs and arms move, but they don’t go anywhere. If she gets on the hardware she can scoot backwards. She also loves to stand up with my help. She is getting stronger and stronger. She can now pull herself up without my assistance other than me holding my fingers out for her to grab. She is starting to try and pull herself up using furniture, her bouncy seat, etc. But, she has not had success with that yet. That goes for her sitting up from a lay down position as well. She gets about half way there and gets stuck. She gets so mad and throws these little fits. She starts to whine and looks for help. I have learned not to hover and let her work through it. I think being home all the time has helped me with that by eliminating the ‘guilt’ factor of not being with her as much as I would like or feels she needs.

With Ryan working full time she shows signs of missing him. He walks in and she lights up. It’s too cute!

As for the weekend, we are tentatively planning to go to Eagle Lake with some friends. There is a 2 day barrel race, but we are all ready for a break. A weekend off will be really nice. I got up early two days this week to ride horses. I got to ride Romeo and Badger 1x this week and Mito 2x. They all did well. I love that I can ride Badger in a rope halter and lead line. It helps keep my hands out of his mouth, which can make his mouth tougher which is not good.

Mito is starting to settle down and think a little more. He’s not as nervous. At this point, I’m working on making him a good trail horse. Since his price has dropped so much that’s all I’m going to worry about. Well I say that, but truth be known, I’m also working on the barrels with him. I’m using a technique I got from a Connie Combs clinic. Pretty simple, I just work on keeping him square around the entire barrel. He likes to drop his shoulder and weight on the barrels which will cause me to hit barrels when we pick up speed. Mito is smart and after a few times around the barrel using this technique he squared up a lot more and was going around the barrels more evenly. Yea! He’s trotting nice around them using this and so I hope to work on loping him next week. It should be an easy transition since I’m using all the same signals at the trot as I would at the lope. So, we’ll see…if I get him running competitively I’ll start running him every now and then. Either way, my hope is to sell him.

Romeo did well too. I don’t push him at this time. He is lazy and hard to keep going, so I’m working on that. You can be lazy, but when it’s time to work, it’s time to work. He is just sooooooooooooo smooth….and so nice to ride…other than the lazy streak.

Well, I guess that’s plenty for today. I have some really cute videos I’ll add of Shelby. I need to get access to some DSL, which means a trip somewhere where there is wireless. Hopefully that will happen soon as I’m anxious to share the videos with you all.

Stupid Dodge

Ryan's truck is broke, again! Ugh...There was a recall on it, so we are hoping that is what it is. Needless to say, we are looking to trade it in. I'm so frustrated by this stupid truck. The bad news is we haven't had it that long and so we have little invested in it in regards to the loan and the trade in on trucks is not good right now. So, I'm not sure what we are going to do.

This year has been a challenging one for us financially. It seems like a lot of things have broke or are unrepairable...it's depressing.

This time we will shop for used Chevy's. They have some nice ones in Gonzales so we are going to there this weekend. It's a 2 hour drive, but worth the investment if we find a nice truck for a good deal. I just don't know what we'll do if the payments go up, which they might since I know we'll be upside down on our truck. Stupid Dodge...I've been saying that a lot.

As for me, I'm sitting at home playing on the Internet and cleaning the house to pass the time while Shelby sleeps. I'm trying to stay productive, then part of me thinks why do I need to...I'm getting paid...hahaha...

Ryan's 2nd job is working out well and has been a true life saver for us. His business has really slowed down these last few weeks. Also, people are switching to trims more than having their horses shoed since it's so much cheaper.

Shelby has really helped keep my mind busy. We play a lot and it's a lot of fun. She is sitting up all by herself and working on sitting up when she is laying down. She also can pull herself up using my fingers to sit and then stand. That's one of her favorite things to do. It's too hot outside, so we just hang out around the house a lot until late in the evening.

Oh, I almost forgot...WE GOT RAIN!!! Ryan thinks we got around 2 inches. Yeeehaaww...I'm so happy! I would love to get more, but we will take what we get. I'm sure it's all soaked up already. We got it last night so at least the sun didn't evaporate it before it had a chance to soak in.

Well...that's about it for me. It's been a slow week, which is good!

Busy Three Weeks

This has been a long and busy 3 weeks for Ryan and me. We had Nancy come for a visit at the beginning of the month to spend time with Shelby. We did lots of shopping, which is Nancy’s specialty even though she denies it! Ha! J/K Nancy! Then, we all flew out on June 18 to go to MI for a few days. The weather was awesome. Way warmer than what it is usually like in MI in June. Boy was I happy. I thought for sure I was going to freeze. I even got in the pond next to my dad’s. Shelby loves the water so we played in there a couple of days. (you can see pics under “Michigan” if you haven’t already)

Dad and Charlene also hosted a party for Ryan, Shelby and me. All our friends and family came to visit. It was so nice seeing everyone! I had not seen some of my relatives in many, many years. So that was a blessing. It was also great to see my sisters, their husbands, and my nephews. My how my nephews had grown! I miss all of them just thinking about it.

We flew back on June 23 and the 24th I had Gwen, a high school friend, fly into TX to visit. Last Thursday we went to Galveston to spend a few hours at my friend’s family’s beach house. I enjoyed hanging out by the water, but wished we had left earlier that morning so we had more time in Galveston. I had Shelby go to the babysitters, so we had to leave by 4:45. Unfortunately we got hung up in rain and traffic and ended up getting back late. I probably should’ve just taken Shelby so we wouldn’t have had to rush back. We could’ve done a little souvenir shopping and maybe saw some more sights. It was just so hot, I was worried it would be too hot for Shelby. I warned Gwen that I was not a good host. So, hopefully she forgives me. She told me she would’ve let me know if she wanted to do something else.

On Friday we did some shopping and went to the Country Peddler Show in Rosenberg. It’s like a big bazaar. I found lots of things I would like to buy and also figured out how I wanted to decorate my spare bathroom. I am going to paint it a beige color, probably much like what I have in my living room and then decorate it in a burgundy/red color. I’m anxious to do that, but it might be a while.

On Saturday we went to a barrel race in Wharton. I had a nice run. That is the arena my horse does not like, so I was very happy with my 15.9. A 15.2 won it…so I wasn’t too far off the mark. I hope I won the novice to put my in the lead or close to it. I‘ll have to check tomorrow when the post it.

Sunday I took Gwen to the airport and then headed back to the house. We hung out til it was time to go to the barrel race in Wharton. I did ok…I ran a 15.9 again, but it was on a smaller pattern so I was a little disappointed. I thought Badger quit running, but after looking at the video I’m pretty sure it was me that quit trying. I was just so tired. It has been 100-104 degrees Fahrenheit which really wears us out. Now, that’s hot!

I rode Mito around 6:30 once it cooled off. He did ok. I just wish we could sell him. I’m going to drop the price drastically on him and see if that helps. We just need to get him and Cowgirl off our feed bill. I plan to get up real early and ride at my friend’s house to work him on the barrels. If I can get him loping the barrel pattern pretty well I might start running him in the NBHA. Perhaps that exposure will get him sold. Who knows…what a depressing economy we live in. I am trying to cut the ‘fat’ but I’m not having much luck. On top of all of that, our grass is frying. It has not rained here in over a month and it’s been SUPER hot…so all I hear is crackling sounds when I walk on our grass. Our pastures are getting bare and all we have our 4 round bales…which we have to pay for. Ugh….

On a happy note, Shelby is officially sitting up on her own. It’s so cute watching her sit up and hang out. I am sure I got some pics of her doing that in MI. I have all those posted as they had wireless DSL at Dad’s. Oh how I miss it and I’m soooooooo tempted to start pricing air cards so I can upload pics and videos without having to drive somewhere. My goal is do that by August…so we’ll see.

Shelby has also gotten pretty attached to me. If she sees me coming into the room she starts to cry. So, then I have to wait for her to quit crying (you moms know how hard that is) before I pick her up. It’s so hard not to get sucked into the tears and sad face.

Tomorrow is the start of a new week. I have no major plans other than riding horses I wish I could sell and going to the river next weekend with some friends. My vacation is half over, how’d that happen? Oh well…at least I get one…it sure is fun being with Shelby and it’s going to be hard going back in August. Darn jobs, they always get in the way don’t they? Ha!

PS: I’m writing this off line on Sunday night. I hope to upload tomorrow. Just thought I’d let you know incase you noticed it was written and uploaded at two different times.

Fun videos

I uploaded a bunch of pics to "Michigan." We are having a lot of fun up here, but I'm very tired! So, today I'm hanging out with Dad and Charlene. Not sure what we'll do...but it'll be low key. :)

Well, I'm super busy so I guess I'll catch you up later...

Uncle Jason and Shelby dancing...

Riley found a "tadapole."

In perspective

I was watching GMA this morning and they have a piece called "in three words" I love to watch. Viewers send in videos of them doing something and they have to describe it in three words. Anyhow, this week I've been a little concerned that Shelby is not sitting up on her own yet at 8 months old. She can sit up between my legs for a while and she sits up in her bouncy seat and her stroller, but she can't sit up on her own or without holding on to something to support her.

With that said, on GMA's "In Three Words" there was a video clip of a piece of paper with "Open Heart Surgery" written on it....then they panned up and it was a little baby...maybe two years old...his little chest had stitches all over it. It was at that moment that I realized that it no longer matter that my healthy, little girl was not on target and might be behind with sitting up. But, who cares, she'll get there. I no longer needed to worry. That 8 second clip really put things in perspective and reminded me to not sweat the small stuff.

On a different note, Mom Boudrie flies in this morning. We have a busy day for her! We are going to leave here with horse and trailer in tow around 11 to head to the airport. We'll pick her up, head to La Porte for a barrel race. I had my friend, Suzanne, sign me up early so I can get in and run earlier in the day because we have a wedding this afternoon. We won't make the ceremony but we plan to make the reception. Nancy offered to stay home with Shelby because she thought she'd be pretty tired with the early flight and long, hot day at the barrel race.

I am looking forward to having a date with Ryan. We have had friends watch Shelby for a couple of hours so we could go out to eat, but we haven't had an opportunity to make an evening of it. I believe the music is going to be really good at this wedding and I'm looking forward to doing lots of dancing and a little drinking. :)

Then, Sunday, we have another barrel race in Edna, TX.

The weather has been really hot! It is already in the 100s and it's only June! We usually don't get those temps for another month or so. And, for some reason, I'm being such a wuss about it! I think it's mostly because my eyes are all jacked up from all the dust in the air. I went to the doc yesterday morning and she said it was an infection. So, I have to put eye drops in my eyes 2x a day, take an antibiotic, and take Claritan for the next 5 days. Thursday night I woke up 2x with my eyes completed sealed shut with gunk. I had to get up and put water on them so I could open them up. Last night wasn't as bad. I was able to open them without putting water on them.

Shelby's eyes are leaking too and so we have been keeping an eye on them. So, we have been hanging out inside a lot. Yesterday, both of us started to get a little stir crazy around 4 pm. I had to go back into town to get my prescription so I went to put her in her car seat. LOL She squealed with excitement knowing we were going somewhere. She didn't care...just get her out of the house! HA I thought it was pretty funny.

Oh, I almost forgot, Ryan got a second job. Yea...this will help us a lot as times have been tough the last couple of months. He's going to drive a tractor and shred pastures for the ranch he always hangs out at. It is temporary, but that's ok. The extra money will help us out and we won't have to pay for a babysitter since I'm off of work.

Well, I guess that is it. It might be a little while before I get a chance to write again. With Nancy coming in today and us going to MI after that. So, until next time....I'm off to ride in the dusty trail...literally...it is soooooooooooo dry down here! Lord, bring the rain!

Tattoo & Swimming Videos

A brief video of Ryan getting his tattoo. This was the VERY beginning. It was late by the time they got started and Shelby was sleepy. Our friend, Goat (not sure of his 'real' name) did it for him as he is a tattoo artist.

Many of you wanted to see what this 'swimming' thing with Badger was all about. Here's a brief video of him coming out of the water.