Alyse--4 month update

Alyse went for her 4 month check today. She is actually just a couple of weeks away from being 5 months. She weighed 11lbs 8oz and was 23 3/4" long. She is such a happy girl with a personality all her own. She is unlike any baby I've ever been around.
In the picture above, she is nose to nose with Macy's tree frog, 'Spiderman'.
She is so much fun. Kate and Macy still can't get enough of her. It may help that we are all away from eachother all day everyday. This has definately been a challange for me. I was able to be home with Kate and Macy and I never missed a beat. I thought my heart was breaking when Tadd called me to tell me she had rolled over.

Macy is teaching her to love all creatures, great and small.
Just as I suspected, we have another Daddy's girl!

My Kindergarten Classroom
We are half way through the first week of school and my how fun it has been! Teaching Kindergarteners is definately challanging. All I am doing right now is teaching procedures-procedures-procedures. Then re-teaching procedures :) In about three weeks, I will have some school pros on my hands, I feel quite sure! I have an awesome class. The kids all come from really great families. I do have one little boy that can't get anything done from sucking his thumb. So, if anyone knows of legal reasonable ways to break that habit, please share! Turning a cartwheel last year for my Kindergarteners made me famous amoungst the 1st graders. Every time I see one of them in the hall, they say, "Mrs. Mann, when can you do a cartwheel for us?" So now, my class thinks they need to see one.
I have posted some pictures of my classroom. See my new home away from home!
This is my barn door! All of the K teachers decorated

cowgirls with our faces.

The board that says "We Are Family" will have pictures of all of my kids and their famalies for those who choose to bring them. I have about 10 so far I am just waiting to get more before I climb on the counter to hang them. The board with the cowboy and cowgirl is to display their work.

First Corinthians 13 for Mothers

If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place,but have not love,I am a housekeeper-- not a homemaker.

If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements,but have not love,my children learn cleanliness--not godliness.

If I scream at my children for every infraction,and fault them for every mess they make,but have not love,my children become people- pleasers not obedient children.

Love leaves the dust in search of a child's laugh. Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints of a newly cleaned window. Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk. Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys. Love accepts the fact that I am the ever-present "mommy,"the taxi-driver to every childhood event,the counselor when my children fail or are hurt. Love crawls with the baby,walks with the toddler, and runs with the child,then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood.

Before I became a mother, I took glory in my house of perfection.Now I glory in God's perfection of my child.All the projections I had for my house and my children have faded away into insignificance, and what remain are the memories of my kids.
Now there abides in my home scratches on most of the furniture,dishes with missing place settings,and bedroom walls full of stickers, posters and markings, but the greatest of all is the Love that permeates my relationships with my children.

Adapted by Jim Fowler

I've Been Tagged

The Rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules. (**if you’re a non-blogger, you can email them!)
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Here goes with my 8 random facts:
1. I have been with Tadd for 14 years--married 12 of those.
2. I have had the name Tegan Brock picked out for our little boy (that we apparantly are not going to have) since I found out I was pregnant with Kate.
3. On our honeymoon to Cancun, Hurricane Roxanne hit on the second day we were there. Tadd swore he would NEVER leave the US again.
4. Tadd surprised me with a cruise to the Bahamas for our 10 year anniversary-he booked it and planned it all without me knowing. (so much for NEVER leaving the US again, thank goodness)
5. I wanted to be an Orthodontist when I grew up then later a hygenist but realized after a few years in the dental field that teaching suits me better.
6. I love to water ski and am planning a trip to snow ski for the first time this coming January.
7. I also wanted to be a Country Singer when I grew up :) I still love to sing.
8. My first date with Tadd was a blind date with my best friend in high school (Amy Hoppe) and her boyfriend who happened to be Tadd's best friend (Steve Cartner). We still hang out with Steven and his wife and I occassionally talk to Amy on myspace.

I will tag friends on myspace because Stephanie is the only blogger I know and she tagged me! Melanie, Sara, Elizabeth, Jill, Stephen, Aimee, Shelley, and Misti.

Summers End Comes All Too Quickly

We have had an outstanding summer. It has flown by much too quickly. Alyse is now 12 weeks old. Last check a week and a half ago she weighed 8lbs 8ozs! She's a growing girl for sure! She is doing much better now that we have her belly button cleared up. She was on pretty strong medication because of a staph infection. The Dr. seems to think that this could have been caused from the hospital when they cut her umbilical cord. Apparantly, they are seeing a lot of staph from the operating room---which is very scary. She is fine now and we caught it early on. She is cooing and smiling and making it very hard for me to leave her to go back to school. But we are on day #2 away from eachother and doing ok. I only cried for about 2 hours Monday night thats all. I'm not sure that she misses me quite as much as I miss her. She is going to be spoiled I am afraid. She is staying with Tadd's mom at the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. So not only is she getting spoiled by Gran, but Daddy comes in and spoils her throughout the day. On Wednesdays and Thursdays because of the cattle auction, our neighbor down the road will be keeping her. She is a retired pediatric nurse and a grandmother herself. She's exactly what I had in mind! We couldn't have asked for anyone better.

I have spent the last week getting my classroom ready for my sweet little babies coming to me for Kindergarten. I am completely convinced that I will have the best class in all of Westwind Elementary! But, whew! I get tired just thinking about them. I know that I do have the best team in all of Frenship School District. My K team has just out done themselves. They do year after year and I am proud to be a part of the team. It's so nice to be able to finally put my creativity to work and not be graded on it! Once I finish my classroom I will post pictures for all to see. It is going to be sooo cute!

We went on vacation to Dripping Springs and stayed with Tadd's sister and her husband. We had a great time even though half of Schlitterbaun was closed because of the drenching rains. We got all of the kids school clothes in San Marcos, and I had a blast shopping at Pottery Barn and Kirklands!!! I just love those places :)

Kate has had a busy busy summer. On Mondays she has continued her fiddle lessons. She recently tried out at the Cactus Theatre to play on stage with child prodigy fiddle player Amanda Shaw. Amanda plays in the Omni Max movie "Hurricane on the Bayou." The tryouts went really well but Kate was up against some really tough competition. She had a good experience and is ready to go again! On Tuesdays she has her Power Tumbling team. I'll tell ya what---that girl is keeping us moving!

Macy has no desire for tumbling---she thinks she can teach herself. She has enjoyed swimming and bug/reptile/and almost anything furry-- searching. She goes from the pool to the trampoline to the horse pasture and makes her rounds again. She is ready to start guitar lessons, so that is something we are looking forward to in the fall. She is the family clown and keeps us laughing .

School starts August 27th and actually I am ready to get back into our routine. We are extremely routine driven around here and having a new baby has really drowned out routine as we used to know it. But maybe once school gets going we can find it again. I know the school year will fly by just as my summer has. My goal this school year is to be just as good of a working mom as I was a stay-at-home mom. I was able to stay home with Kate and Macy as babies so being away from Alyse is hard :( But, I love teaching so if I must leave her, at least I love what I am doing.

Fingerprints of God

"She's a masterpiece that all creation quietly applauds, and I can see the Fingerprints of God."

With great joy, we introduce you to Alyse Noelle Mann. She was brought into this world by an alert group of Doctors who played a major part in saving her life. For twelve days, I was in the hospital on bed rest. If I got off of my left side my blood pressure sky-rocketed. My Doctors and hospital nurses were baffled as to why with my third pregnancy and not fitting into any of the criteria for pre-eclampsia this blood pressure was affecting me this way.

After a week and a half in the hospital I was looking forward to getting to leave for a couple of hours on Mother's Day to be with my family at home. I really was like a kid at Christmas on Saturday night. Our 'family night' slumber party Friday night didn't feed my hunger to be home with my family. Mother's Day morning, I was dressed and ready for the first time since my stay, I actually had make-up on! The nurse came in to do my morning assessment and my blood pressure had reached 'red flag' highs. She called in the neonatal specialist, Dr. Hales. He quickly went into action with an amniocentesis and blood pressure medication. The amnio needed to be a 55 or greater and we scored a 57, which was great news! But, no longer would I be spending Mother's Day at home. Instead, back to bed, on my left side until Dr. Killeen could make it in on Monday morning. Our next 4 monitorings began to worry me. It was as if Alyse was trying to make it known that it was time for her to come. The whole 20 minutes she did fine but as soon as the nurse came in to take me off of the monitor, it was as if Alyse wanted attention. Her heart rate would go crazy and beat out of the monitors safety zone. The nurses would have to try to act calm but wait about five minutes watching to make sure it went down before they took me off. It became very scary for me, I would try to 'think happy thoughts' to bring her heart rate down, but after about the second time of this it was next to impossible. I knew something wasn't right and this baby needed to come.

Monday morning at 11:27 a.m. we finally heard the sound that every expectant parent can't wait to hear...the first cry. This was my third cesarean, and the first that I was able to hold my baby in my arms while still on the operating table! I had been well prepared for the strong possibility that she would be put straight on oxygen and taken to NICU. We were pleasantly surprised. She weighed in at 5lbs 1oz and measured 18.5". She scored a 9.9 on her APGAR!

We later found out that this precious miracle was exactly that, a Miracle. The pediatrician said

we should change her name to Faith or Hope because without either of the two, she would not be with us. She had a true knot in her umbilical cord, which is the number one cause for still born babies. Dr. Killeen said that after he saw the knot, everything else was spelled out for him. My Blood Pressure went up to get me off of my feet to prevent pre-term labor which is an affect of the knot. If my water had broken, she would have died within minutes. If we had not taken her on Monday, we could have lost her. Signs showed that I was hours away from going into labor naturally.

Kate and Macy, as I expected are amazing sisters. They love her so much and cannot take their eyes off of her. It is a battle around here as to who gets to hold her next. Thank goodness I get the feeding times or else I don't think I would ever get to see her!

As you may know, Macy was convinced that everyone had it all wrong and at the time of our 3D sonogram the baby had just not grown it's penis yet. Well, our last night at the hospital we had a great laugh at her realization. She said, "Well guys, she is a she and she never grew her penis. She's my sister, but I love her anyways. And that's final!"

So, I think it's safe to say, we are all proud to have her here and share her with you, our friends and family. She is definitely a masterpiece that all creation quietly applauds. AND THAT'S FINAL!

Lubbock Christian University

I was lucky enough to finish my college career at Lubbock Christian University. After trying my hand in the dental field for a couple of years my heart was with teaching. So, I set off on the great, tiring, yet rewarding adventure. My family was so great to accept all of the challenges I was faced with. They dealt with my late nights... sometimes all nighters, lots of pb&j sandwiches, and having to be put on the back burner often times so that I could finish assignments and projects.

Student Teaching for me was finally a little bit of a break. I loved every minute, well almost every minute of it. I made great new friends and it opened the door to a lot of oppurtunities.

When I was awarded Student Teacher of the Year, I was so excited. It was a goal I set in place the first time I saw the glass cabinets filled with the past Student Teachers of the Year in the Education Department.

As Lubbock Christian University celebrates its 50 years of existence, I am proud to be an alumni of such an outstanding school.

Rodeo Days

Team Penning, Trailor Loading, Wild Cow Milking, Branding, and Team Roping are some of the highlights to our day yesterday.



I love rodeos in the spring and summer time. Playdays with the kids and Ranch Rodeos with Tadd. Saturday Tadd competed in the annual Mertzon Ranch Rodeo. For the past 3 years we have gone to this and enjoyed the events and re- uniting with our friends from ranch country.

Although no prizes were brought home this year, I do have to say Tadd was the star of the show with his outstanding roping skills! He kicked butt roping! During the Team Penning he pinned what was required in the rule book in 32 seconds! They won 2nd place in that category.

Mine and the girls all time favorite event to watch is the Wild Cow milking. The cowboys have to rope the cow, two of them hold her by the head and tail while the other milks the cow into a beer bottle. They did a great job this year. Tadd did the roping, thank goodness because last year he milked and milked with all his might and made it to the judge with milk all over his hands but not a single drop in the beer bottle.

Baby sister in the making!

Tadd, Kate, Macy and I are expecting our 3rd addition to the family around the first or second week of June. While we all wait anxiously there are many preparations still to be made. Tadd and I have spent several hours converting my "catch all" room into a nursery. Kate and Macy have brought in countless numbers of baby dolls to practice. For Kate, this has not been hard, she is a natural momma. Macy on the other hand, well, she is as tomboy as they come and playing dolls for her is very awkward. But, I know they will both be amazing sisters.