Wow. Tomorrow Elaina will be a month old. Time flies when you're taking care of a baby. She's adorable though. She's starting to get a little drool, and her crying comes with real tears now. They say any day now she'll start making those 'cute' noises and smiling. I hope so. I also can't wait for her to enjoy her toys and like her baths.

Chris gets to go to Austin Monday to get fitted for his uniform: HE'S GOING TO BE A SHERIFF DEPUTY!!! He was so nervous they weren't going to hire him. The department had narrowed it down to three people: an old guy with 20 yrs experience, a man with 6 yrs experience, then Chris...fresh out of the academy. Luckily they chose him. He is looking forward to it. We're both excited as hell. He's going to be a rookie.

I've obviously been busy. Two exciting things have happened to me in the past year:

* My Christopher graduated third from his class in the police academy. I am so proud of him.

* I had a beautiful baby girl on September 18th. It's hard to believe I'm a Mommy now, and Chris and I worry that we'll be good parents. She doesn't let you sleep much, but she's the cutest thing I've ever seen...espectally when she fart-sneezes.

I took some pictures when my sister and I went to Long Horn Caverns on Saturday. A majority of them are pixilated (horrid camera still), but still wanted to share them. We had a blast. Jamie had never been to a cave, so it was fun. Hope to go back to wander more of the trails.

Stress. Stress. Stress. College. Mom. Stress. Stress. Stress. Car Fixed. Stress. Job. Stress. Stress. Stress. Doctors. Stress. Stress. Stress. Stress. Tired.

First week of June my Mom and ex-stepdad came home on leave for two weeks. One of those weeks we vacationed in South Padre. The fun part: Chris and I got to drive down by ourselves because they left earlier in the day. We went the entire way with the windows down and the radio off...just talking and enjoying the Texas country. I do have to admit, 77 between Corpus Christi and Harlingen is one of the most desolate strip of road I've ever been down. I was happy we got gas and peed before we started down it.

Vacation was fun though. There wasn't any fighting, which, surprised me. The condo we rented at the resort was nice too: kitchen, livingroom, dining area, two bathrooms, two large bedrooms, with a balcony for one of the larger bedrooms & livingroom...then there was a spiral staircase where mine and Chris's area was (another small floor): big bed room, our own bathroom, and third floor (WONDERFUL VIEW) balcony. We ate around at local restaraunts, hit up the beach with boogie boards & seashell hunting, relaxed in beach chairs wasting the day away listening to the surf and drinking our beer, minigolfing, shopping, using the resort pool/hot tub, and Schlitterbahn. I only got sun burnt twice: once on my right arm from sitting in the car the whole trip there, and that same day when we went swimming at the beach. All the other times I was fine. Got kidney punched by a wave...Mom lost her sunglasses...Butch and Chris actually hung out and did guy stuff...Heather played minigolf for her first time...Jamie didn't get flipped from her intertube...and I got to see Chris swim.

We drove back the Saturday before last. That following Monday Chris had to go see a doctor for his foot because it started to bother him on the day before. Doctor told him it was a mild infection from a bug bite, gave him antibiotics, and sent him on his merry way. Tuesday night while playing pool at a friend's ''going away'' party, my friends convinced me to take him to the ER because his foot swelled up and turned purple to his ankle. Spent the rest of the week (til Friday) in the hospital with him because it turned out he had a MRA Staff Infection (resistant to most antibiotics). He got wicked sick from it and had to take IV antibiotics because nothing else was helping him. He's happy to be home now, but we all have to be careful around him because there is a slight chance that we could get it too if we do not keep our hands and stuff clean. He has to use special antibacterial shower things, we have to clean the shower each time anyone uses it, and he had to throw away all of the socks he's worn. It's crazy. You can get a staff infection from anything. Seriously. Anything...and it's some scary stuff.

So all this week I've been trying to clean house and catch up on my college work. I'm a week behind now. Two weeks from now we'll be going up to Lake Jackson to help watch Chris's parents' house while they are on vacation for a week too...so expect some more beach pictures by the end of the month. My Sarah and Jamie are coming too. Sarah's excited because it's been ages since she's been to the beach...we're going to steal some sand...