This is going to be short

I'm exhausted tonight. It could be because I didn't sleep well and then forced myself out of the bed at 6am to go to the gym. That's probably got something to do with it. Plus the day was emotionally exhausting because I found out that the lawyers haven't really done their jobs and things will probably be delayed quite a bit longer.

But I did want to post real quick to make an announcement. (blow trumpet)

Petra has a tooth!! It is just now visible on the bottom right gum. We are thrilled. Who would have thought I could be so excited about something that was bound to come at some time or another.

She has also occasionally, and very rarely started saying "mama." Usually when she learns a new word she repeats it over and over on the weekend ... so maybe this weekend I will hear a lot of "mama's."

Help! Any Ideas?

I've put off some landscaping in our front yard for too long. Mainly, because I have no idea what to do. We have a front garden area right in front of the house. Now remember, we have a split level. On the left is the two story side, and on the right is the main floor. My basic dilemma is that I can't decide what to do with the left side. It seems to me that because this side is taller ... it should have taller plants in front of it. But maybe not. I don't have a clue. So I couldn't think of a better place to solicit some help than from my family and friends.

We have lived in our home for a year and a half now. During the first few months, we stripped the yard from weeds, thorns, and 10 pine trees. They all covered the property. Then we had sod put down. Our yard has slowly looked more and more like a yard in NC, and less like a yard in Florida. And that is how we prefer it. We have the thin blade (zoysia) grass that looks and feels like carpet, instead of the common thick bermuda grass that is so popular here. The plants that I have chosen so far (the few that I have bought) also are less common around here.

In the pictures below, you will see on the right side there are some plants and a lot less weeds. On this side I have planted bush mums, azeleas, persian shade, hydrangeas, hostas, etc. Most of this was done this past May. The left side of this garden area however contains a layer of mondo grass (?), obnoxious weeds that grow everywhere with little white flowers, elephant ears (?), and a ton of poison (see photo 3 below). Now, I'm not sure why elephant ears were planted here on top of mondo grass. But generally, I have no clue what to do. Should I take it all out? And if so, what do I put in its place. I'm slighlty worried about putting anything too big there ... because of its proximity to the house and because of the bedroom window.


While, I'm on this topic. I also want to mention a few other things. For some reason, someone thought that planting "showy grass" was a good idea. This stuff grows up every where in our yard, does not bloom, is very tall, and comes from a bulb. The unfortunate thing here is that bulbs multiply ... so the yard is effectively filled with these bulbs. I can dig just about anyhwere and find handfuls of them. See the next two photos for examples. So on a regular basis I try to pull them out. My neighbor said he was able to get rid of his ... after pulling for some time.


And one last thing I want to mention for those of you who might be interested. This past spring I bought some encore azaleas. They are actually suppose to bloom 3 times a year - spring, summer and fall. I planted them in May. They started blooming a little in July and have continued ... but not many blooms. I'm not sure if it will improve with time. Maybe after they get used to it in my yard. But I've included a photo so you could see what they look like now. They are only about a foot tall right now, and should grow to about 3 feet.

Birthday Weekend

Most everyone knows that this past weekend (Monday to be exact) marked my 32nd birthday. It's a little daunting to say the least. Some people have done some pretty amazing things by age 32. For instance, my mother was 32 when she gave birth to me, her third and final child. By age 32, Sir Isaac Newton had developed infinitesimal calculus, had made basic contributions to the theory of color, had developed ideas concerning the motion of the planets, and invented a reflective telescope. And of course there is always the perfect example. I read somewhere that "Jesus was alive and dead again by 33 ... you better get busy".

Busy doing what?

As most of you also know, (because this blog is read mainly by family) this weekend was also a very sad weekend because we buried my grandmother, Mama. Mama was an amazing, kind, and selfless woman. She was quick to her feet to help others around her. She was busy. She was always asking what she could do to help others, especially when it came to comfort and food. The majority of us may help from time to time, but when it comes down to it, when we are at home lazing around, we are often times slow to serve others. I know I could do more.

And my grandmother brings to mind other fond memories. I loved the BLT sandwiches she made for me. I loved the days reading at her house. Plus, she took me to my first movie - Annie. And she bought me my first bikini underwear when I was 7 years old. Who couldn't love a grandma for that? And then there was the all important question ... how are your grades?

More than anything, her life was a testament to serving others and to constantly striving for excellence. She did both these things and I can't help thinking am I?

Like every one of her other grandchildren, I loved my grandma's house and yard. I have always cherished photos of her house with my family. There are some of my cousin and I playing as infants in her living room, there is another when I was five twirling on her front porch, and there are still more of Christmas and birthdays. I could not think of a better way to remember this weekend and her life than to get some photos of Petra at her house. Now that we live in Florida, it is not often I spend a weekend at my grandmother's house.

Petra doing her stuff

She's got skills ... or at least great skills for a 9-month old. She can walk, talk and strut her stuff.

She is officially up to 2-3 words, maybe more depending on what you count. She has said uh-oh, now she can also say duck. And sometimes she repeats words - this week she also said red and yellow, but only once each.

I love this video - its a great clip showing her skills. Also, you will hear her say dog. Yep, that's right, she finally starting saying dog about a week ago. Its been so funny because it is so southern. This weekend she pointed at Forge and said "daaawwwwg."

Looking forward

This week was disappointing on the legal front. On Tuesday's advisory hearing we expected P's mother to inform the court of her intention to give up her rights and to clear the way for the adoption process. Instead, she denied the states claim and named a potentially new father pressing forward with the case. It's very weird but we had a discussion about what would happen and while we both hoped for the best outcome, I was pretty uncertain about the likelihood of the mother just giving up her rights. All of this was pretty obvious from a strategic point of view, but given her history and her apparently unprepared legal representation I doubt that they actually came up with this plan as part of an official strategy.

Anyway, we knew of this potential fathers name before but we aren't sure if she gave the same name to the court before, or a name similar but slightly altered. If the name is new (either completely or just slightly altered from a previous name), then another round of searching is required for the father, which means at least 30 days until the case can move into adoption, but we can work towards completing the process in a concurrent fashion. In the meantime, P's mother was back in court on Friday for mediation and long story short, her lawyer was not prepared. They were given until Monday to come to some conclusion.

Nothing is certain, but it is unlikely that she would win a case against the state given the disappearances and failures over the past six months. I assume her legal adviser will notify her of this, but who knows what they will come up with. Whether the rights are terminated or she hands them over, the process should be completed soon. Hopefully we will know by midweek the outcome of the court situation with the mother and whether or not another search will begin for the father.

In the meantime Sherri is busy starting up a Heart Gallery (like this) here in Tallahassee and has been putting together material and getting organized. We have been enjoying the political conventions and all the excitement they've been generating. I've been working out pretty hard until this week, but I'll start back on Monday. Class is ramping back up, the department softball team started up this week, and I think Sherri is going to get a membership at the campus gym for the rest of the year.

I don't feel nearly as stressed as before given mynew outlook and strategy this semester. I'm finishing up a summer project now, then I'll spend the remainder of the semester on random papers and building a syllabus for my prelim exams in the spring. I'm hoping to get a lot of work done between now and December because of the situation with P's mother, but I'm not really that concerned yet. We are expecting Sherri's sister this thanksgiving and we don't know yet what we are going to do for Christmas, but it looks like we will probably be staying here for the majority. So far so good this semester.

Hope all is well and healthy. Come back soon and look for updates and more pictures and video from Sherri.

Labor Day

We were blessed to have good friends visit us over the weekend. Jenn, Gregg and their little stud Raymond came to see us for a few days. The visit flew by and before I knew it, it was time for them to leave.

Raymond and P played together a little more than last time. And they held hands a few times.


We went to the downtown market on Saturday morning. Raymond picked up a new car (not the pink one). And P learned all about reading the daily news while sitting on the bench with the guys.




Plus there was good music that we all were able to enjoy. And yes, you can see here that her eyes light up when she looks at her daddy.


We had a nice visit, just a little too short. After they left this afternoon I thought of several more things I meant to do. One day, we hope to live closer.

P is continuing to call dogs - "g" sounds. And she is still trying to say duck. And this morning she also tried to say bird. She also took a few steps today behind a push toy - but then when I tried to record it on the camera she would NOT do it again.

Tomorrow is a court day. I'll try to post again to let everyone if anything happens.

DNA results

I was relieved today ... We found out the paternity test came back negative. What this means is things should get a little simpler for us. We were told that the judge will probably determine that the father is unknown and will end the search. This should make things simpler when we head to court next week. Just a week away from tomorrow!

P is doing fantastic. In the last week she has started saying "daddy" some, and she also now able to do spanish "r" rolls. She usually only does them when she gets frustrated and starts crying/whining, which is very funny because that is when Jenn's little boy does it also. Wonder if she picked that up from our visit a few weeks ago?

Tonight she was trying to say duck --- all she got out was the "d" sound --- but she tried several times and I was very happy with that.

I posted the photo above for two reasons. 1) to demonstrate how tiny she is ... she might not be that small but for some reason it seems so weird for her to barely be able to see over her crib, and 2) to show that she does cry. She is getting into the clingy stage.

Tropical Storm Fay finally left. We had rain bands with torrential rain downpours this morning several times, but none since lunch time! Our basement had quite a bit of water in it, and we have that mostly pumped out now. Getting it pumped out was quite a chore and involved several trips to Lowes. Next, we just have to clean out the basement, and I guess get a new leaf blower. I'm thinking that after watching ours float around it's not going to work anymore. We just bought a weed eater and hedgers last week ... I'm very glad that they weren't damaged also.

And Thomas starts school this week! The start of his 3rd year in the PhD program. I think that is very exciting.