Sleepy head with just 237 days until she's ONE!

Rosa Jane is One Hundred Twenty-Eight days old. Here are some sleepy pictures...

Margarita Nights lead to Breakfast at Del Lago Cafe

Yummmm, it's been a delicious weekend so far! Don and I spent the evening enjoying a much needed dinner out on the town of Lakeway after partaking in Robyna's happy hour margaritas. It was so fun to be out with my sweet husband... catching up on the week that was. Rosa Jane was with us, but she slept the entire time. She woke up screaming this morning at 1am saying, "What tha? Why am I still in my "infant carrier!?" And "Where's my Cozy Cocoon?"

Heavy rain this morning helped us get some extra zzz's late this morning. We spent the morning giggling and laughing and tawkin' Texas French. These weekends with my best friends are very, very sweet. This afternoon will hold more bad Saturday TV movies like Back to the Future and maybe naps for all.

A delicious Saturday afternoon... nuttin' better.

Prostate Cancer Moves a Bed

Larry and Lorna came from Garland today to help Robyn move her bed into the Roedner Ranch. We're pleased as punch to have an extra guest room now. Follow this picture link to see the rest of the house in all its messy glory. It's been a long week driving the length of Texas, so not much time for cleaning. But I suppose if we'd waited to take pictures until the house was clean we'd all be old and gray. So thanks for stopping by... please, be our guest any time.

Doctor, Doctor Give Me The News...

RJ had her four month checkup today, the day after her four month birthday. Everything went great.

She grew three inches in length in two months. Whew, girlfriend! Way to stretch it out!

It's beginning to look like she's going to keep her blue eyes.

She's in the middle percentiles for height and weight, and she has a little head circumference, percentile wise. I have no idea what that combination adds up to. I do know that we once had a dog who we jokingly referred to as Indian Princess Little Head. Maybe Little Head will be RJ's Native American name going forward.

The real reason for this post, however, is that this morning I appreciated more than ever before during RJ's brief life that I was in the company of a baby human being. She noticed, and locked in on, every person who came into the room. She turned to listen to every speaker, following the cadence of the conversation if not the substance. She smiled at each person at appropriate times. She tried to chime in with cogent coos and spit bubble comments, which all but her parents failed to notice. At 123 days of age, she was engaged in complex human interaction.

I was struck by the reality that our little girl, overnight, has become a very social creature. All kids do, of course. But this is the kid I study all day every day, and today she was suddenly a noticeably more fully-formed person.

Welcome to the club, sweet baby girl.

And a Friend's a Friend Forever If the Lord's the Lord of Them . . .

Whew, what a long, fun weekend it has been. So much has happened that I want to blog about and the Good Lord knows I had enough time to think about it on the 5 hours it took me to get home...

First off, I want to tell you my favorite quote from Mickey's party:

"We sure love running into your Mom and seeing which purse she is carrying. She has quite the collection."

And I said, "Yeah, you probably can't help but look at her shoes to see how they all match, too, huh?"

I've never told her, but I do admire my mother's purse collection and her ability to always pull outfits together from head to toe. Unfortunately, those genes totally skipped over me and I'm forever in blue jeans.

Secondly, I have to tell you what an amazingly good baby Rosa Jane was all weekend. She let Mom and I have "craft time" every day as we prepared party favors for Mickey and friends. On Sunday, we drove through the driving rain (which I'm not complaining about since the whole state of Texas has been in a severe drought for the last months) to Houston to see the Princess Diana exhibit. It was very crowded and I was the annoying person in the crowded space pushing a baby carriage. But the exhibit was great -- the most notable was her gorgeous wedding gown. I always forget that she was just 20 years old when she married the Prince. Rosa Jane missed the entire day sleeping in her baby carrier. That day she slept from 12p to 5:30p. Unheard on any normal day around the house in Austin. I had forgotten her "Cozy Coccoon", so neither of us was getting as much sleep as we usually do in the nighttime.

Thirdly, I held a newborn baby, Ryan Hebert, on Monday. OH! How one quickly forgets how sweet and teeny, tiny they are! Though RJ weighed slightly less at birth (4 months ago today) than Ryan, I just don't think she was ever that itsy bitsy. I find it pretty tragic that new mothers are out of sorts when their babies are that wee little. At least, I know I was pretty unaware and would like a do-over minus all -- the ahem - pains of labor and recovery? There just isn't anything like a newborn.

Unless you're talking about the precious little 4 month old that Rosa Jane is today. She smiles for miles and miles and is so cute, she almost doesn't seem real -- it's Disney cartoon-like when she slow-blinks her eyes and gives you that adorable smile. She's getting ever chunkier and lately I've noticed some sore spots in the deep creases of her fat rolls and I think to myself, "Poor baby."

But the real purpose of this blog entry is about friends and how we are more because of them and less if they had not touched us. I'm grateful for my friends and my mom's friends and just for the whole wonderful lot that makes up the community in Liberty. I hope one day I'll have that kind of community whereever we end up living. I hope that I'll be able to shed this internal wall I've been building around my heart over the last ten years. I want to live and love freely and wear my heart on my sleeve. I know I'll get hurt, there really isn't any way around that. Not everyone will be as receptive and I'll just have to get over it and move on. The risks are great, but the rewards are even greater. I've been isolated and "protected" for far too long.

And finally, props to Michael W. Smith songs and summers at church camp. :-)

ROTFL

(For those of you that don't know the above common acronym, it means Rolling On The Floor Laughing)


Only a log can roll over better than Miss Rosa Jane. Better keep a close eye on her now, or she'll wind up from the bed to the floor before you know it. She's a funny cat. Last night she was so tired, but we had praised her so much for rolling over that she just kept doing it. That huge noggin' of hers is oh-so-heavy and it plain tuckered her out until she just didn't know what to do.

Sure, She's CUTE, But What Can Rosa Jane Do??

Well, I'm glad you asked. In the last few days, Rosa Jane is successfully grabbing and reaching for her toys, Suckin', chompin' and droolin' on Mom's arm or anyone else that will come close enough, and in today's photo session at just a wee 16.5 weeks old, she rolled over on her own! Her smile will quickly brighten any day that you might had thought otherwise was dull. I adore her, but it's been a rough week -- Don was up at the crack of dawn and not home until well after we had all gone to bed. Vignette's Sales Kickoff was a huge success. He's such a bright shiny star and the CEO personally recognized him and all his efforts by saying he "hit it out of the ballpark!" I am so proud of him... but I'm also really glad that the long week is over. We'll celebrate our time together by being apart... he's heading East to go huntin' and I'm heading Southeast to spend a long weekend with my mother and take pictures at Mickey's going away party.

Three Cheers for JETBLUE and ...

their direct service from Boston to Austin... AT $158 roundtrip... who wouldn't want to leave the frozen tundra to come visit us! Get on it, Ladies!!

Baby #2

Baby #2
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

Congratulations to the Guldes on Baby #2! The Roedner Ranch couldn't be more thrilled for our friends. I'm gonna hold my breath until this one is born a Texan! They better get their act together and fast!

Rosey Rosa Jane

Rosa Jane thinks that 16 weeks should count as 4 months. However, there are those under the same roof that think she must wait until the 24th to be officially 4 months old. Click on the picture to see more from this set taken yesterday and today.

Also, a user's hint: Pictures bordered in BLACK lead to more pictures. Pictures bordered in a grey box lead to what could be a larger version of the same image. It varies.

Something to Look Forward To & One Sick Sense of Humor

Mary is coming! Mary is coming! YeeHAW, Mary is coming! Mary is our dear friend from college who lives in California. She will be appearing LIVE and IN PERSON during the month of Feb and into March. We can't wait to spend some time with her and her beautiful girls, Caeden and Bailey. I even think they are going to spend a night or two out here with us on the Roedner Ranch. ;-) We got excited thinking about hiking on the trails and playing on the playscape just out our backdoor. That will be so much fun!

Yesterday Rosa Jane was watching the evening news and started laughing when they showed a story on FIRE! Then this morning she laughed when Hanky was gagging and choking. I don't know what else to say except that maybe she has the Brown sense of humor and it's sick. ;-)

The Call of the Open Road

I know you're all dying to know what happened to us yesterday. Well, here is what we did: We (Robyna, Rosa Jane and I) buckled our seat belts and headed west. We wanted to hijack the Wrangler, but we settled for the Liberty's sunroof. Our first stop was in the home town of Lyndon B. Johnson at the restaurant that claimed to have "The World's Best Chicken Fried Steak." The crust was thick, pepper-y and flaky yet it didn't completely cover the taste of the steak. Our vote: DE-LISH! We split the cream-covered steak, black-eyed peas, a baked potato and onion rings. So good.

Before we left the restaurant one of my friendly neighbors from the Ranch walks in with her girlfriends. I love running into familiar faces and it was fun to see her 60 miles away from home. When RJ was just days old, I ran into Nina the first time watching her grandchild playing in the park. Her grandchild and his new buddy ended up coming into our yard to play fetch with our dogs. His buddy's grandfather didn't speak much English (I think he was Italian), but Purdy's playful bounding across the yard after the super-bouncy ball transcended the language barrier and we were all laughing together. That was a really great day. I hadn't seen any of them since.

After lunch we sped through beautiful hill country on our way to Fredericksburg. I'd never been there and wanted to see what it was all about. Our first stop there was into a little boutique where I made Robyn try on Million Dollar Jeans that made her butt disappear. As she put it, she didn't think any boys would want to follow her home. We meandered through the town square and had fun looking in all the shops. It's definitely a place where we want to go back. Rosa Jane was a great sport, too. But by the time we got back to our neck of the woods and through the grocery store at record pace, she was furious, mad and HUNGRY. Woo-WEE! I hope I never have to see that again! Downright scary! By the time I got her out of her car seat and upstairs to our favorite dining chair, she still wanted to have some words (at the top of her lungs) with me. Bad, mom.

Meanwhile, Robyn made a delicious spinach lasagna and it was the perfect ending to "another day in paradise."

And Speaking of Laughing

Yesterday afternoon we took a walk around the neighborhood. Don held Rosa Jane and I held Hanky's leash. Rosa Jane pretty much laughed the entire time while looking at the dog. We think it was the first time that she's really noticed him. Pretty funny stuff.

This morning I was talking to my dad and I told him that RJ had just fallen asleep in my arms and it was so sweet. He said, "Good, I'm glad to hear that you haven't put her down and that she's still in your arms. You're going to have to follow her to college so that you can still hold her." I said, "Hey now, you're taking it a bit too far." and he said, "Okay then you'll still be holding her in high school." It is no secret that our holding Rosa Jane has taken the star spot as the butt of family jokes. But I ask you, who wouldn't want to hold her!?

Anyway, I have some more cute snapshots to post... so check back later...
As for now... the blue skies are begging for a sky dome cruise!!! And I gots to GO!

We Laughed Our Heads Off

Last night I made Robyn make her special guacomole and salsa mixture deliciousness and our fellow Baylor friend Sarah joined us for some dirty dishing and dirty rice dinner. We laughed so hard at various stories. Robyn is a great storyteller and Sarah had some great stories, too, from her life as a middle school counselor and a single "fabulousity" (a term it seems Robyn has coined) woman. I love these girls so much and it was wonderful to be able to spend an evening laughing and laughing and laughing some more with them. I have been without girltime for entirely too long. Rosa Jane is just too young to get any of my jokes... although she is starting to laugh when I bounce her up and down repeatedly. I don't have to tell you that that gets real tiring real quick. She's a 15 pound whopper and will celebrate 14 weeks this weekend. I thought she was on target weight-wise until last week when we "met" another mom in Dayton who was basically aghast that RJ weighed so much at so young.

Anyway, it's time to change another dirty diaper... back to the real "this is my life" program.

Happy Birthday, Granddad!

Happy Birthday to our favorite January birthday man, Granddad! We love you!
And since the Beatles asked if we'd still need you and feed you when you are sixty-four, we have to answer emphatically, "YES!"

Have a great year!

Sitting on the edge of her seat

Rosa Jane loves football. She really can't take her eyes off it. Here she's watching the Texans play the 49ers. I like this picture because her eyes look so light-colored. We tried three times to capture RJ's song-singing on video, but wouldn't you know it that she'd be as silent as a buzzard when it was time to sing out. Silly, girl!

The Start of a New Year

Today, the first of 2006 was a lot like yesterday, the last of 2005. We've been plugging away at getting the Brown computers updated. Loads and loads of fun...not really.

We realized that tomorrow Rosa Jane hits the 100 day mark. Koreans make a big deal out of the occasion and get their child's portrait taken in costume among other things.

Baek-il (100th day of baby's birth)
This is the day to give congratulations for 100 days after a baby's birth. The number 100 has an inherent meaning of maturity and perfection, signifying a baby passes through perfection period safely as a human being. People bring presents and congratulatory statements and wish for the baby's health and blessing.
The several different types of rice cakes are prepared, including baekseolgi (steamed rice cake), bulkunp'at gomul (red bean rice cake), ch'alsusu gyongdan, and osaek songp'yeon (5-color moon rice cake). Baekseolgi has the symbolic meaning of holiness, bulkunp'at gomul for expelling evil spirits, and ch'alsusu gyongdan for returning a baby which is secured in a holy world to the worldly place on that day. The 5-color moon rice cake is made with 5 pretty colors, signifying the harmony of nature. Unlike the rice cakes of Samchil-Il, the rice cakes for Baek-il are shared with neighbors from the belief of a baby's longevity and blessings.

We're trying to decide how to mark the event for ourselves. If you have any ideas, please feel free to submit them in the comments section. We'd appreciate any feedback.

I remembered the haiku I wrote for RJ on the way here. It goes like this:

Little Rosa Jane
Cute as a button, she smiles
More poopy diapers

Brilliant, isn't it? That's the real beauty of a haiku. Don suggested the last line and I just went with it. Maybe we'll come up with an alternative ending.

Hope your first day went well, too.