Texas Andersons

Before Evan was born we were presented with the option of letting Dr. Brougher collect our cord blood for donation. After all the facts were laid out before us, why would we not want to help another family if we could? So we agreed, the blood was collected, and we were given a certificate documenting that Evan’s birth and our choice may save a life in the future. And not only that, but the nurse told us that so much was collected they may be able to use it to help two lives! Just another wonderful thing that happened on the day Evan was born. Want to learn more about donating cord blood? Click here for an article.

And today I got ten inches trimmed off my hair to donate to Locks of Love. The summer is too hot for long hair, I hated that I was just pulling it back every day, and Evan had begun to grab it. So why not? It’s a great feeling to get all that weight off and to know that a child dealing with cancer may soon have a beautiful wig thanks in part to me. Want to learn more about this charity? Click here for their website.

Out of the mouths of babes come some of the funniest moments. Here’s what we’ve heard from Ben (this is a work in progress as we remember all his best quotes)…

During an outing when he was much younger, he asked Grandmom Debbie for a piggyback ride. When she told him that he was too heavy, he replied “I not heavy, I cute.”

One evening in the last couple of years when asked what he wanted for dinner, he looked in the pantry and asked for “Possibilities.” It took me quite a while to realize he was referring to soup due to Campbell’s latest marketing.

One evening while I was pregnant and lying on the couch while Nathan and Ben were playing and talking smack, Nathan tells Ben “You’re going down!” Ben yells back “Nuh-uh, I’m going up!”

When beginning to comprehend breast feeding last month, we heard from him “He’s getting milk? You’re serving him milk?”

And Evan, the first few weeks of his life, he peed on me any chance he got (every bath, almost every diaper change)!

And a couple of weeks ago at music class, Evan was sleeping in the car seat until Ms. Kim opened with a “growing up” song. When she asked the class how a baby sounds, Evan replied with a wail! She was thrilled.

Any great quotes from Ben that you know of that we don’t? Anything from your children that just tickled you? Share…

CONGRATS to John, Marli, and Robert on the new addition to their family! Lillian Amira was born on the 4th of July at 9:10am. She weighed 7 pounds and 12 ounces, and was 19 inches long. What a beautiful baby! What a wonderful Independence Day surprise! Congratulations again- we are so excited for all of you.

And BRAVO to Rackspace who once again shined as one of the best places to work. Computerworld has ranked the company #8 in the US and highlighted some of the reasons they rated Rackspace as they did. Read the article here.

Since my last article…
we attended an Aben concert; Ben and I spent another day at Fiesta Texas with our friends Morgan, Landon, and Madison; Ben attended Vacation Bible School; Evan was born into our family; Ben and Nathan attended the Berges Fest parade; Nathan, Ben, and I were able to attend an evening of our annual Johnson/LaCrosse family reunion (while Grandmom Loretta babysat the munchkin); Ben got to spend an evening swimming with Jayden and then had a sleepover with Grandmom Debbie and Pawpaw Larry; I had a bout with an infection and spent an evening in the emergency room getting tests and a CAT scan done (ugh!); and we all spent an afternoon out in Kerrville for the annual TPPA conference, swimming, and print awards dinner. What a fun month!

And then we spent this week…
Tuesday we made it out to the Aben concert, where Ben and Morgan had a blast playing, dancing, and petting every dog at the plaza (and Evan slept through the whole thing); Wednesday we took a picnic lunch to the nature center and spent the afternoon in the creek with friends Morgan, Landon, and Madison; Friday night we met up with the same friends for a wonderful evening out at the fairgrounds for the big Boerne fireworks show; and today we spent a great afternoon with Jenny, Myk, and my parents enjoying a bar-b-q and a fun game of cherades. Busy week!

And all of this is in addition to the usual storytimes and music classes, errands and chores, evening walks and playtimes in the backyard. All we need now is a trip to the beach and a big, juicy watermelon to make this summer complete. Well, and maybe a few more of Ms. Sandy’s snowcones!

Have a great summer, everyone! Hope you all had a great 4th of July! And thanks to friends Mandy, Erica, and Patrice, and all the ladies from MOPS who helped us with dinners after Evan was born and while I was battling the infection- it was much appreciated.