Why, hello there!

Yes, yes, I realize it's been almost a month since I posted anything.

I managed to be at home for three weeks and not write a thing, and then when I had to go back to work, I've been working 10 hour days and just haven't had the energy to do much of anything when I get home.

So here I am, back again. It was incredible to see everyone this past weekend. We're really glad that we and so many others decided to make the trip.

Pictures from the weekend are up at Flickr (you can see them over there on the right), but I'm going to post a few of my favorite.

Time flies when you're having fun...

Just a quick retrospective of what we were doing three years ago this month:

The wedding, three years ago today...


And our three week honeymoon:

Big Bend area...


That's Mexico behind us in both pictures.

New Mexico...


Bandelier National Monument (north of Santa Fe)



Colorado...


Rocky Mountain National Park


Both of these pictures were taken on Trail Ridge Road...the top one was taken at about 12,000 feet above sea level, and yes, that's snow on the ground behind us. The second was taken somewhere significantly farther down the road, and about 20 degrees warmer.

Wyoming...
Grand Teton National Park



Yellowstone National Park



And finally, South Dakota...
Mount Rushmore


The Badlands


Happy Anniversary, Monica!

Two years, one month

Dear Rachel,

Today, you turned twenty five months old.


It has been an extremely busy month for all of us. We've traveled quite a bit, and you've gotten to see Nana and Dodd a lot this month. You've also had the chance to meet a lot of new people.


Let's start with the talking. Holy cow, girl, your vocabulary has just exploded. We are having conversations all the time about everything under the sun. Your big thing this month has been this:

"Hi!"

"Hi Rachel."

"How you?"

"I'm fine, how are you?"

"I good."

Over and over and over again. Of course, your other big thing in the past couple of weeks has been learning how to say your name and age. Last week, we even taught you how to respond to the question "¿Como te llamas?" and when we ask "¿Cuantos años tienes?" you tell us "DOS." You're getting really good at repeating what we say, although your brain will mix up the beginning and ending of words sometimes. You've been trying to say "diaper" this week and it keeps coming out "pie-der." But you're also very good about listening to corrections and trying them on your own, so as long as we have the patience to keep repeating the words for you, you keep trying to say them correctly.


Speaking of on your own, another new thing this month is, "No, no...my turn." When we're counting (especially in Spanish) or singing or whatever, at some point, you'll stop us from leading and say "My turn" and become very upset if we don't let you take over.


The traveling. You and I had a "first" together this month. It was the first time either of us had ever been to New York. I'll admit, I wasn't all the excited about going. I figured the second we got off the plane my wallet would be gone, I'd be fitted for concrete shoes, and the mafia would sell you off as child labor. But I was pleasantly surprised. The mafia didn't sell you off. OK, so my impression of New York was completely wrong. The people were very friendly, and except for our car service, things weren't all that expensive.


You were quite the trooper in New York. I think the only day you got a regular nap was the day Aunt Sarah and Uncle Britton (Say-ah and Bit-on) got married, which was the whole reason for the trip in the first place. Ever other day, we were so busy doing touristy things, you just zonked out when ever you reached your limit, no matter where you were. One day in was in your stroller, then on my shoulder while we were fighting our way through the crowds at Coney Island. You slept through all of that commotion, but the second I gave you to Mommy on the subway (sub-bay tain!) you were wide awake. Hot, sweaty, people yelling and pushing - sleep. Comfortable, air conditioning, quiet - awake. Another time, we were taking a tour bus (ride red buth!) through Manhattan, and you knocked out on Nana's lap. You did really well for having your entire schedule messed up, and even when our flight was delayed over 3 hours coming home, you were still pretty good. I think we might actually have to go back to New York sometime when you're a little older, so you can enjoy it as much as we did.


The weekend after New York, we took a road trip up to Fort Worth to see a friend of our family get married. It was very interesting to see all of these people who knew me as a child see me now with a child of my own.


By the way, on both of our trips, you were quite the hit. Perfect strangers would talk to us and you, and tell us how beautiful you were. I don't know how many pictures were taken of you (excluding those taken by you mother and me) but I'm betting it was in the hundreds. Two weekends in a row you got to see Nana and Dodd and dance the night away. Quite the lucky girl, I tell you.


We started potty training late this month, and it has been less than successful. You are telling us when you have to go "poo-poo," but you're afraid to actually do it in the potty. The two times we've gotten you to actually go, you cried the whole time. We are being patient with you, though, and trying to teach you that this is what big girls do because Mommy needs a raise, and when you get out of diapers, she gets to stop spending money on them.


We are loving this part of your life because we're learning so much more about you now that you communicate with us. We can't wait to see what the next months will bring as you continue to grow and learn.


We love you very much.

Love,
Dada

I am who I am and that's all that I am

After two years, we've finally gotten her to say her name.

Home

We made it back from our trip to New York. It was a great trip, and all of my worries about going there turned out to be just that...worries. Nothing more.

We had a wonderful time and I'm glad I don't have to be back at work right away so I can take some time to recover. We walked way more in those 5 days than I think we walked the rest of the year!

Instead of posting a bunch of pictures here (I took over 300) I'll just direct you to my Flickr photostream. If you've been checking in over the past couple of days, I'm sure you've seen those four thumbnails on the right changing every couple of hours as I upload.

I've created a few sets on Flickr to kind of categorize things, so if you want to see the wedding pictures or touristy things, or architecture, pictures of our family, gargoyles, or pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge (yes, I took enough pictures of it for its own category), they're all there. You don't have to go wading through all of them to see the things you like.

I think we're going to have to go back. Soon. The list of things we didn't do is about as long as the list of things we did do.

Watch out, American Idol

Rachel started singing this in the car with me the other day, and every time it comes on she asks to hear it again.

New address

One of the many changes you'll notice around here is that Laleblog has a new address. I've been trying to get my entire website a little better organized, and one of the ways I wanted to do that was to create a subdomain especially for Laleblog. The new address is http://blog.namelal.com - that's it. Nothing else to remember, nothing else to type. It's a little more simple than the old address and it allows me to keep all of the blog stuff out of the main site folder.

GEEK SPEAK AHEAD
If you happen to view this site via a feed reader, the feed will be changing as of today too. After today, the new feed will be located at http://blog.namelal.com/atom.xml

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

In case you hadn't noticed, Laleblog is going through a few changes. It started off as a little tweak to the code to allow me to post larger pictures, because we all know, bigger is better. It's turning into a little more tweaking here and there, so be on the lookout for new things soon, and bear with me through the mistakes.

Twenty Four Months

Dear Rachel,

Yesterday, you turned two years old. Two years!



We had a big party for you on Sunday, the day before your birthday, and lots of friends and family came to help you celebrate. You were very excited about your presents, and actually understood that they were for your birthday. Since you got a few presents early, you would point to them, sitting on Sparky's kennel and say "for my birthday." We've had a very busy month with you, and next month is looking to be even more busy.


The temper tantrums that you were throwing last month have subsided a bit, because we've started telling you when things are coming up. We never thought that it would be helpful to warn you, but the Great and Powerful Internet told us that we should tell you that we're going to clean up in a few minutes, or that you're going to take a bath after dinner and then go to bed. Who knew that simply telling you what was next would help curb those fits?


You are starting to have entire conversations with people now, even on the phone. The other day, your mother put you on the phone with me and you said, clear as day, "What are you doing?" and I told you that I was coming home. When I asked what you were doing, you told me that you were helping Mama water. Simple as that, like you'd been talking your whole life. There are still times when we have to pause and consider what you're saying in context, but overall, we can figure out or just plain hear what it is that you're trying to tell us. We repeat back to you what we think you've said and you either tell us no or yes depending on whether we get it right or not.


Speaking of the phone, every time the phone rings, you make sure to tell us, and then proceed to ask if you can talk to whoever it is on the other end. You're getting really good at talking on the phone because your speech is improving so much.


You also started counting to us this month, and you can count to 10 on your own pretty consistently. We still need to get you started, but once you hit four, you can take off on your own. I love to listen to you say seven because it comes out at "sen-en." You've also started actually saying "I love you" instead of your shortened "fu."


The big exciting thing for you this month has been car washes. Yes, car washes. I have no idea what it is that fascinates you about the car wash, but every time we pass one in the car you have to point it out.

"Dada!"
"Yes Rachel?"
"Is a wash? CAR!"
"Yes, it's a car wash"

You even know that there are different varieties of car wash - the touchless ones at the gas station, the self serve ones down the road from us, and the Wash Tub, where they hand dry and detail your car.


We had to work on you with your manners quite a bit this month and it's paying off. You no longer run up and stick your nose in people's crotches or jump on them when they come through the door. Wait...wrong child. You started off the month saying "Yeah" almost all the time. It took a few weeks of me frowning at you, and correcting you even when I knew you were just playing a game, but it's paid off. Of course, in the meantime, your mother and I have also started correcting our own speech because you were only repeating what you'd heard. Saying "yes" has become a habit for all of us, and we sound much more polite because of it. Along with "yes," you've also started saying "thank you." You had please down a couple of months ago, but one day you came home from Judy's and everything we did for you was met with the sweetest little "dink doooo, dink dooo Dada, dink dooo Mama." Cute and polite. A deadly combination.


The last thing this new this month is the healthy stuff. Girl, you loves you some fruit. And apple is one of those words that you started saying very clearly this month. You can put the apples and cantaloupe down like nobody's business. When you tell us you're done with dinner, we'll offer you some apple or other fruit and you'll sit another 15 minutes chomping on grapes, apples, pineapple, anything sweet. Strawberries, not so much. In addition, we've started giving you vitamins in the morning to help you grow up nice and strong. I loved my Flintstones when I was a kid, but I'll tell you what. The Flintstones vitamins are six bucks a bottle, and the grocery store brand is just over three dollars, so you do just fine with your HEBuddy vitamins. The first day I gave you one, you looked at it, and said "I eat?" and put it in your mouth and crunched away at it.


We want you to grow up to be a strong, healthy, well mannered little girl, and you're well on your way. Happy second birthday, and many, many more to come. We love you very much.

Love,
Dada

So long, farewell, good bye.

Last week, a chapter closed in the educational history of San Antonio.


Horace Mann Middle School closed it's doors for business after 70+ years of service. The building will be re purposed, but it will no longer be the "Home of the Tigers."


It was the first place I ever held a teaching job. The first place I ever coached. The place where I started fiddling with computers. The place I met my wife.


It is a sad occasion when a school board makes political decisions that effect an entire community. The neighborhood around Horace Mann will no longer have a school to call their own.

Rachel Cougar Hendrix-Halen

She stood there for 20 minutes playing while I was folding clothes. A little rock star in the making.

Twenty Three Months

Dear Rachel,

Today, you turn twenty three months old. I can't believe that you're going to be two in a month.

Of course, as I mentioned before, you've decided to start your terrible twos early, and it's really started in earnest the last couple of weeks. There are times when you're the sweetest, happiest child in the world, then half a second later there is fire shooting from your eyes. We're trying to cope, and we really hope this temper of yours tempers itself soon, or we might have to sell you to the gypsies.

You are learning more and more words every day, and you do a really good job of repeating new words that we tell you. I can't even begin to tell you how many words you know now, but it's a lot, and you talk all the time. In fact, there are times that you talk so much, you forgot to do other things, like eat.

Your brain is also starting to make indirect connections to things. The other night we were reading "Are You My Mother" and when the baby bird sees a boat, you pointed to the area the boat was in and said "wa-wa," even though the water wasn't colored blue and didn't really look like water in the picture. You just knew that boats go in the water. Amazing.

You now understand that things are yours and ours. You'll point to something and say "It's mine" or "It's Dada's/Mama's." If we sit in the wrong chair at the table, you'll be sure to tell us who is supposed to sit there, and the other day in my car, you pointed to the passenger seat and said "It's Mama's."

You have started helping us around the house, and will regularly tell us that you want to help: "I hap!" You help Mama with the laundry, you help me water the grass (but you didn't like getting wet so much), you help with the dishes, and you help with sweeping the floor. The master plan is taking shape...bwah ha ha ha!

Finally, your coordination is getting really good. We bought you a little soccer ball this past month, and you love playing with it. You've gotten really good at dribbling the ball, and last night we ran all over the driveway with you keeping the ball under control. It was so cool to watch, and we can't wait to teach you more about the game!



Despite all the temper tantrums, we love every minute of watching you grow up. You are learning so many new things every day, it's amazing that we can keep up with you. We love you very much.

Love,
Dada

Rumblings

So, I haven't posted anything personally about Monica or I for quite a while. This has pretty much become the "Rachel blog," but the name at the top still says Laleblog, so I suppose it's time to let you all in on a little thing that's been going on the past month. I've been reluctant to say anything about it until now.

No, we're not pregnant.

I was offered a job.

The job I've been shooting for since we moved back to Texas: I was offered a position as a technology director.

The funny thing is, that even though I was really excited about the whole thing, there was just something about it.

I turned down the job.

Had this been two years ago, I probably would have jumped on the opportunity. But I'm older, you know? More mature.

OK, maybe not, but there were an awful lot of factors that came into play that I didn't even consider when I started the process of applying and interviewing for this job. In the end, the timing just wasn't right.

It's an interesting position to be in, getting an offer when you're not really looking. I'm really happy where I am, and while this would have been a fantastic opportunity, I absolutely made the right decision.