Pool Time!

and in case you missed these, below are a few pics. you can always check out the flickr page for updated stuff.

this weekend was quite lovely. cindy had to work saturday, so the girl and I spent the morning cleaning, organizing, and rearranging her toys and the living room. we brought her plastic table and chair into the living room from outside (after removing melted crayon with a pot of boiling water) and set it up as her 'snack table'. now she has a place to eat snacks that she can easily get to instead of sitting on the floor or having us boost her up to the dining room table in her high chair. better yet, the bookshelf beneath the tv (which is adjacent to this table) is the perfect height for her, so we've put her dishes and silverware there. now it's much easier for her to set her spot at the table instead of us giving her each piece to set. she totally enjoys doing this - she spent 15 minutes completely captivated just rearranging her dishes. the girl also became a fan this weekend of 3 important things we find in every building. floor, wall, and ceiling. just ask her about it next time you see her.

pretty much the rest of the weekend was spent at the pool. she became a bit scared of the pool suddenly, and is only comfortable is she's touching us in some way. surely she'll grow past it. either way, we still had a great time - we spent a majority of pool time in the big pool, throwing the girl up in the air, dragging her for swims (like a monkey on our backs), supporting her while she floated on her back. in fact, the little mimic picked up a new phrase while we reassured her we wouldn't let her fall below the water - 'i got you'. we then added the 'babe' after we heard her repeat, so you may as well call her Cher next time you see her.

Tickle Tickle!

Jackie has gotten big into tickling lately. This was taken on our camera, not the new HD video cam. Doesn't stop it from being 'Koot', as Jackie would say (we need to stop calling her cute right to her face).

A Who's Who of our Family

btw - you can click the little HD button on the lower right side of the video for higher quality, and the button just to the right of the HD button will make it full screen. give it a moment to buffer if you click HD.

this was taken w/ our new HD Flip video cam. notice the much better video and sound quality!

Two! Two Two Two!!!!

she likes to count now, but is basically fond of only the number that follows one.

First Sentence!!

More cheese please!

Update: STAYING IN AUSTIN!!

So we found out on Thursday that we're staying in Austin. Yay!! Once we got over the shock of our new situation, I think Kenny and I are both a little bit excited about it. Kenny has fantastic ideas all the time as to one thing or another that he wants to invent, build, whatever, and the only thing holding him back has been his slave-labor-type job. Well, now that that's out of the picture, he has all options open and waiting for him. I get to focus on my job for a little while, Jackie will get some great Daddy time, and our house might actually be clean for once. What will be even more fun will be watching Kenny figure out what he's going to do next on his career path. Like I said, it's exciting to have the world at your feet and nothing in your way :)

And life changes before you have a moment to breathe...

Today was one of those days where your life is turned upside-down in an instant. I got a call from Kenny at around 11:45. He says, "Can you meet me on the Riverwalk downstairs...right now?" This is after I know that he received a cryptic email from his boss this morning asking whether he could "meet for a couple of minutes" at 9:30. Kenny assured me he had not been fired, but he did say "We need to talk." That was the longest 30 second elevator ride of my life. So we meet on the promenade, and Kenny tells me that, as of Friday, he is transferred to the Dallas office of his firm.
Let that sink in for a second. We have lived in Austin for 7 years. The longest place I ever lived is in Dallas, which was for 14 years. Atlanta follows behind Austin at 3.5 years. We have built a life here. We have bought a house. I, who usually kill plants, have established a garden in our backyard and invested $400 in said garden. I have recently survived the split of my law firm. I have helped build my new firm. I serve on two boards of directors here. I have built an established network of contacts in the Austin legal community. I have cried twice today at the thought of leaving Austin. I am sad. 3 of my 6 closest friends live in Austin.
Dallas will be alright, assuming I am able to keep my job. I know some people there, my parents are there, my high school is there. I have always wanted to be more active with my high school- I feel like I owe much of my current fortunate situation to my high school.

My life is serendipitous. This transfer could have happened 3 months ago, right in the middle of my law firm's split. It could have happened while I was pregnant. It might not have happened at all, which would mean Kenny would be jobless.

It means I have an opportunity to build a network in Dallas. I can meet a client I've worked for for 4 years but never met in person. I can open up the Dallas market to my law firm. I can get to know a new group of lawyers. I can still visit Austin once a week. It will all be ok. My daughter can attend a really great school- the one I owe my own education to. That alone makes me happy. Everything will be alright. I will still visit Austin to buy lead-free wooden toys.