Christmas 2011 Recap

Our first Christmas with Sawyer was great. We had a lot of fun with her and she had a great couple of days! No whining and just overall a happy baby! :)

Here is our Christmas in pictures (and a few words)… 

I wrapped our presents a little differently this year--turned out to save a lot of money because that paper is cheap and it comes on a big roll! I also displayed our Christmas cards differently this year and I loved it. Brightened up our kitchen cabinets quite a bit!

Sawyer made a couple of ornaments at playschool this year and we were also given some great ones as well! I think all in all she got 6 new ornaments! haha!

Sawyer got to see pretty much all of her family members this Christmas season! From Great, great, grandparents to Aunts and Uncles and Cousins galore! I wish I had gotten group shots of everyone. Next year that will be my goal ;)

We went to the Christmas Eve service at c|Life and had a good time eating dinner with Casey's parents afterwards. Then we came home and took some pictures before bedtime:) Meanwhile, Casey had on the Santa tracker - haha!

Christmas morning was a lot of fun! We first got up and read the Christmas story together as a family. Then, we looked in our stockings and opened presents! 

Later we went to Mimi & Poppy's house (Casey's parents) and met up with Chris & Stephanie and their clan. We all opened presents there before going over to Great-Grandmother's house for lunch where we gathered with even more family--Casey's Aunt, Uncle, and cousins!

Around 2 we left and went to my Papa Tapp's house--Sawyer's Great, Great-Grandpa!! He is 92 and still going strong! After talking with family there, my immediate family (my mom, grandparents, and uncle, Casey, Sawyer, & myself) left and went to my Momma Sheila's (my grandma) new house! We opened presents there and stayed til about 8pm. After all that we got home, unloaded the car, and went to bed! We usually go see a movie on Christmas night, but not this year--we were too exhausted!

Sawyer's first Christmas was a success and I just know they are going to get better and better as she gets older. She is so much fun! I can't wait to teach her all about the reason for Christmas and the birth of Jesus. Next year I want to get her one of the Fisher Price nativity sets so we can talk about it as she plays with it.

One last picture of me and my favorite man--He'll even put on a silly Santa hat to make me happy:)

3rd Annual Christmas with the Rickersons!

For the last several years now we have a little Coats/Rickerson tradition of dinner and looking at Christmas lights! This year we went over to Charlie & Ginni's to see their new house and Ginni made us some delicious chicken tacos! We also had wassel (hot apple cider) for the car ride! Yummy!

Charlie & Ginni gave us an awesome Christmas gift! Personalized corn hole!!! We love it, as you can plainly see. ;)

 We took some pictures in front of their nicely decorated fireplace!

Charlie & Ginni looking good:)

 Every year Ginni and I do this little pose and we gotta keep the tradition going! :)

Casey & I :)

Ginni was trying to capture the perfect picture of Casey and I, but he had other plans… 

 Finally a couple of good ones:)  

 

As usual we had a lot of fun! 

Thanks again for the awesome corn hole guys!!! We love y'all!

The Good News

"Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." 

Luke 2:10b-11

Check out this great video by The Village Church that c|Life showed tonight. I loved it. 

The Village Blog - Advent: God With Us

We wish you a wonderful Christmas and hope that you are remembering God's precious gift to us on this special day.

Casey, Lauren, & Sawyer

Sawyer Meets Santa

Sawyer met Santa Claus!

She decided she liked him pretty well. She even pulled his beard. I hope that doesn't put her on the naughty list! ;) 

We got a picture of Aubrey and Sawyer together with Santa, too! They are super cute! :) 

I am so excited about Sawyer's 1st Christmas!

Every year will just get better and better, I am sure.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Video Diaries: Sawyer Grace 3 months-8 months

I haven't been very good at staying up to date with posting videos of Sawyer. I have posted a few here and there and then posted several of her first 3 months here. If you ever want to take a look at my videos you can do so at youtube--my username is AggieMrs. Most of the ones on youtube are just from my phone though as we haven't yet figured out a fast way to upload short clips from the video camera. I need to do that soon though because I am so afraid they are going to get erased somehow!! 

Anyway, the videos start with Sawyer at 3 months old and continue to the present (8 months old). I cannot believe the difference! So much growth in 5 months! What a crazy little miracle babies are. Actually blows my mind. 

I don't expect you all to watch all of these videos - I like to have them on my blog for me, but you are sure welcome to them as well! :) The last 3 are the best for sure (since she is big enough to actually do something at 8 months old)! If you only watch 1, watch the second to last one of her in the bathtub! She LOVES splashing and playing with her toys! So fun! (And yes, I know you people think I am crazy for still bathing her in the baby bathtub, but I think it is so much easier than warming up the big bathtub, plus my back doesn't hurt from leaning over for so long!! I like to let her play a while and I don't want to kneel on the hard tile and lean over, hurting both my knees and my back, so for now, the pink baby bathtub it is! Don't judge me :)

Isn't she a cutie? I love her to death!

My Eight Month Old Sawyer Grace

It dawned on me today that Sawyer's first birthday is only 4 months away!!! I can't believe it! I will turn 26 and just 12 days later she will turn 1!!! I already feel like I need to start planning her party! ;)

AT EIGHT MONTHS… 

• Sawyer is still a champ sleeper. She sleeps around 12 hours at night and takes anywhere from 1 to 3 naps a day.
• She is pretty mobile even without crawling. She rolls all around and can even scoot a little to get whatever toy she wants.
• Sawyer has gotten to wear she can lean down while she is in the sitting position and then get back up straight on her own. She really enjoys sitting on a blanket on the floor to play. 
• She likes to play with paper! Any paper - receipts are her favorite though. This is sometimes what we give her when we are out to eat. She likes a good straw wrapper. :)
• Sawyer grabs at everything! She pulls ornaments off of the Christmas tree, pulls my hair (I have stopped wearing earrings), grabs my sunglasses, etc. She is super curious and loves everything her hand's touch!
• She is still liking baby food. We have had pretty much all of the fruits and vegetables now and will start on meats soon.
• Sawyer takes about 5 bottles a day, but now some of them are 8 oz. instead of the regular 6 oz.
• She likes to eat puffs and we use these as a good way to keep her distracted while we eat dinner ourselves. :)
• Sawyer has 4 teeth!!! She has her 2 middle, bottom teeth as well as her two middle, top teeth! She can bite pretty hard, too, but only if you stick your finger in her mouth. I guess we need stop that or she will think biting is okay. It's just so funny right now though!
• Sawyer's age and clothing are starting to catch up! For the first time she is actually able to wear some clothing in her age range. For the most part she is in 6 month clothing, with some 3-6 month and a few 6-9 month!
• She still has tiny feet. Her newborn shoes all still fit and she has a few size ones and twos that she wears occasionally, but they are a little too big for her still.
• She is still wearing size 1 diapers! She just has the tiniest waist so they still fit her really well…
• Sawyer has started LOVING bath time even more than she use to! She splashes water like crazy and loves to play with her rubber bath animals!
• Sawyer can say 3 words (babble words, but still!): bye-bye, ma-ma, and da-da. She says 'bye-bye' all the time and over and over. We are working on the wave to go with it! :)
• Sawyer met Santa this month and loved looking at him. She even pulled his beard! She didn't cry (I knew she wouldn't). She is super friendly and loves people. 
• I love her sweet little spirit. She is a happy baby and I know I am lucky to have such a good-mannered girl!

Sawyer's Weight Progression:

7 months - 14 lbs 8 oz

8 months - 15 lbs 4 oz

Here is my sweet 8-month old girl!

Love, love, love you, Sawyer! You are so stinkin' fun!

24 hours down…

27 hours + 3,700 clock hours left to go.

I think this counseling degree/license may take me forever.

Because it's hard to explain and I get so confused myself, I am going to write it all out so that I have something to refer back to and also you all can understand (if you want to), as well! :)

Here is the outline of how I've been trucking along…

Summer 1 - 2010
Coun 512 - Career Development
Coun 522 - Counseling Diverse Populations

Summer 2 - 2010
Coun 517 - Assessment in Counseling

Fall - 2010
Coun 501 - Intro to the Counseling Profession
Coun 514 - School Counseling & Development

Spring - 2011
Coun 510 - Counseling Theories & Techniques
*A particularly hard semester since I had Sawyer in April and finished out this class in May.

Summer 1 - 2011
I took the month of June off & it was glorious to just hang with my baby with no work or school looming over my head:)

Summer 2 - 2011
Coun 534 - Counseling Children & Adolescents

Fall - 2011
Coun 528 - Into to Group Dynamics & Procedures

(those are my completed 8 classes/24 credit hours)

Here is my plan for the future…

Spring - 2012
Coun 516 - Pre-practicum
Coun 539 - Intro to Play Therapy

Summer 1 - 2012
1 class (TBD)

Summer 2 - 2012
1 class (TBD)

Fall - 2012
Coun 551 - Practicum
*Required minimum 100 hours at an agency or school setting (unpaid)
Coun 549 - Ethics in Professional Counseling (a 1 hour class)

Spring - 2013
Coun 552 - Internship
*Required 300 hours field experience at an agency or school setting (unpaid)

Summer 1 - 2013
1 class (TBD)

Summer 2 - 2013
1 class (TBD)

Fall - 2013
Coun 552 - Internship 2
*Required 300 hours field experience at an agency or school setting (unpaid)

December 2013 - Graduation!!!

At the time of graduation I will be qualified to be a school counselor. However, I will not yet be qualified to have a counseling practice until I do the following after graduation (the actual link to the requirements in Texas is HERE):

1) Study for licensure…
2) Take both the National Counselor Exam and the Texas Jurisprudence Exam
3) Receive temporary LPC license…
4) Begin supervised post-graduate counseling to get 3,000 clock hours (3,000 hours may not be completed in a time period of less than 18 months).

So if all goes exactly as planned…I will graduate with my masters in December of 2013 (and maybe go to work as a school counselor) and get my LPC license around January 2015 (and hopefully go to work as a family therapist).

Omigoodness…my head may explode.