I'm back!

Considering it has been nearly 4 months since I last updated, I figured it was time and I have just about 30 minutes of a nap time left to get it done. Lots of changes these past few months so I will try to recap the highlights. It has certainly been crazy and exciting. We moved into our new house over Spring Break. It was so nice having the whole week off to move and get settled in. Of course, we are still settling in even 2 months later but it will just take time to get everything situated. We absolutely love our new home and feel so blessed to live here and have all this space to grow in. I don't have any pics of the outside of the house other than the one I posted last. Here are a few of the inside...








We
ve actually done so much more to the house than what these pics show. These were taken the morning of our Sprinkle (to be discussed next!)

Just 2 weeks after moving in, my friend Chelsea hosted a baby shower (actually the correct term is a "Sprinkle") at our house for me and Noah. It was wonderful seeing everyone and getting a few of the necessities for Baby Noah.








NOAH MICHAEL MEGOWN is here! Born May 2, 2011 at 7:49pm. He's a big boy weighing in at 8lbs 9oz and 21.5 inches long. My doctor and I decided to induce just 2 days before my due date, mainly because baby and I were both ready. Noah was measuring a bit larger and I was more than ready to begin my maternity leave since we just get six weeks leave. Just so happens that there was just six weeks left of school. Perfect! I have the whole summer with my baby boy & little girl and I am so grateful! So after 9 hours of labor, Noah finally made his grand appearance. It was a pretty rough delivery. He wasn't in the ideal position but the contractions kept pushing him further into the birth canal. His heart rate dropped a bit so my dr had to use forceps to guide him out. I kept saying he was just being stubborn but it turns out he was not quite ready to come out on his own. He is an absolute angel and we are adjusting to life at home with 2 kids! Myla absolutely adores her little brother and is actually quite obsessed. She wants to hold "Baby Noah" all the time and loves helping mommy get his diapers and wipes. She is such a great big sister already. We are so in love with our little family. Here are a few pics...many more on FaceBook. Explaining to Myla that Noah is different than her dolls. :)


Now for some drama...The evening we got home from the hospital, we were home just a couple of hours when we had to rush to the ER with Myla. Little MacGyver as we call her sometimes, got into my sister's purse and into a bottle of hydrocodone pills. All I know is that she was out of our sight for just a minute when we heard her gag and say "yucky!" I got up to check on her and she was sitting at the kitchen table with the empty (well one pill remained) pill bottle in her hand. She was also wiping her face and tongue continuing to say "yucky". Frantically I asked her is she ate what was inside the bottle and she just smiled and said "uh-huh" matter of factly. I freak out, Kim calls her paramedic husband, I call 911, then poison control, then Jeff who was at the grocery store. It was crazy, as if in a movie. Before I knew it an ambulance was here as well as 2 police cars and firetruck. During the chaos Myla was acting fine, so calm and collected. I was trying to be myself but just too freaked out by the unknown to be calm. Kim remembered that there were about 5 pills in the bottle. One was still in there and there was one we found on the floor leaving 3 missing or in Myla's tummy. Long story short, after talking to Poison control, we refused ambulance service to the hospital and took her ourselves. (Did not want to pay the thousands of dollars for the ambulance, thank you very much) On our way Myla said a couple of times that her tummy hurt. :( We could not get there fast enough. My dad was still in town and so he drove us there with Noah in tow and then Jeff met us there. Kim called to tell me the paramedic found 1 pill and then she had found another. So that just leaves 1 that Myla could have eaten. Better than 3 but still didn't know how it would affect her. Luckily, the doctors assured us that the worst case would be Myla acting delirious and lethargic, possibly some vomiting. They had her drink this activated charcoal mixture and Myla complied in exchange for a popsicle. Here is a video that captures her pure delirium. :)Kinda long, but pretty funny.




Lastly and sadly, we learned yesterday that our sweet golden retriever, Jersey, has liver cancer. The vet has given her just a couple of months. She has a tumor the size of a grapefruit on her liver. :( We took her in since she hadn't been eating regularly and has lost some weight. We feel so bad that we have been so caught up with moving in the house, and baby stuff to take her to the vet. The vet, however, assured me that if we had brought her in sooner it would not change the outcome. She has been a very healthy dog up until now. Apparently she is not in any pain so we are grateful for that. We love her so much and will treasure every moment we have left with her. She has been the best dog!


WE LOVE YOU JERSEY!!

It seems like I've probably left some important stuff out but maybe I will have more time to update regularly now that I'm home and with the summer around the corner. Here's hoping, anyway!

We found a house!!

Jeff, Myla and I have been living with my mom since selling our home in Argyle in October. We decided that saving money would be a great option until we found the house we wanted. We are so excited that we found one we LOVE! It is in Highland Village in a great neighborhood 3 minutes from my school. We close March 15 and will be moving in the week of our spring break. Perfect! We feel so blessed and incredibly grateful to find this great house. We also wanted to move in somewhere with enough time to prepare for Baby Noah. Life is good!

Countdown!!

Christmas Letter 2010

It's been months since I've had the time to update so I just decided to post our Christmas letter we recently sent out. Lazy way to fill in the gaps since my last post but it's better than nothing, right??

Dear Family and Friends,
It is hard to believe that the Christmas season is already here! We thought this year we would send out an update about the latest with our family.
Jeff is in his 2nd year as the Varsity Assistant Basketball coach for his alma mater, the Lewisville Fighting Farmers. They have a great team this season and recently defeated the #2 team in the state! He is also teaching a Health class, as well as a P.E. class to a great group of Special needs students. Life as a coach, as many of you may know, is very busy and filled with hard work and long hours. I am very proud of Jeff’s dedication to his players and students. During the crazy basketball season, we look forward to relaxing weekends with family.
I am still teaching 2nd grade at McAuliffe Elementary and loving it. I feel so blessed to work at such a great school with awesome kids. Teaching is one of the best and most rewarding jobs out there and I am glad that I’ve made it my career. Of course, the hardest part of my day is being away from our daughter Myla, but I know she is in excellent care with my mother and mother-in-law who watch her during the week. We are forever grateful!
Myla is now 20 months old and full of laughter and energy! She is so much fun right now as she is talking, running, jumping, clapping, dancing, giggling… you name it. Myla enjoys “reading” books, experimenting with her blocks, and playing outside whenever possible. We are looking forward to sharing this Christmas with her as last year she was too young to notice much of what was going on.
The most exciting news we can share is that we are expecting a baby boy in May! We are thrilled to add another to our family and feel so incredibly blessed with God’s timing and grace. We know Myla will make a terrific big sister. She is already quite interested in mommy’s growing belly and often requests to see his sonogram pictures.
Lastly, we sold our house in Argyle in October after having it listed just 3 ½ months. Again…God is good! Since we sold it so quickly, we were not ready to make that big decision in choosing a new home right away. As of now, we are living with my mom in Highland Village, which has been such a blessing! We are able to save up and take our time finding the perfect home for our growing family. We do plan to live in Highland Village and have recently begun our search. I’ll be sure to forward our new address once we find our new home.
We hope all is well with you and yours this holiday season. If you get a chance during the holidays, we would love to hear from you!
Merry Christmas,
Jeff, Monica, Myla and Baby Boy MeGown

Maybe one of my New year's resolutions could be to update my blog more. Check back...it might happen. :)

Myla and the Macaroon

Just a cute video of Myla devouring one of Nona's chocolate macaroon cookies while we were in Steamboat this summer. I just now got around to uploading it. Enjoy!

Now that summer is almost over...

WOW...I really thought I would have loads of time this summer to update the blog but it has been a busy couple of months with lots going on. There is no way I can give a full recap since I last posted but here are the highlights from the summer...

FOR SALE-We put our house on the market the week school got out. Hoping to sell soon to move closer in to Highland Village.We've had 6 showings so far with 2 showing some interest. Our realtor has set up an OPEN HOUSE for this Sunday. Praying for the right buyer to walk in our door!



LUBBOCK TRIP 6/25-6/29- My mom, sister, Olivia, Myla and I took a road trip to Lubbock to see my grandmother Tita. We stopped at the Abilene zoo on the way which wasn't the greatest but a good stop for the girls. My mom was coming to LBK for a high school reunion so Kim, the girls and I stayed with Tita. We had a fantastic time! Just hearing old family stories, looking thru old pictures, laughing A LOT, watching the Twilight movies (yes, I finally gave in) and watching the girls enjoy their great-grandmother. We did take the girls by the ZTA lodge which I think they really enjoyed. ;) We also dressed our future Red Raiders in their Tech gear and headed to campus to take some pics. They were too cute. It was an awesome trip. More pics on facebook but here are a few.
At the Abilene Zoo At the ZTA lodge
Wreck Em!
With Tita


STEAMBOAT FOR THE 4TH-6/30-7/10
The day after returning home from Lbk, we (MeGowns and Lees) flew to Steamboat Springs to spend some quality time with Dad and Cindy. Stepsister Annie came too with four friends and stepbro Joe and his girlfriend were there as well. As always, 10 days in Steamboat never disappoints. There was plenty of great food, fun, and entertainment. We went to a wonderful string quartet concert in this quaint garden near the river (amazing) and to the Steamboat Rodeo. Jeff and I celebrated our 4th anniversary with Kim and Clay who celebrated their 5th. We went to eat Italian and see Eclipse while Dad and Cindy stayed with the girls. We had a blast. Dad and Cindy cooked a fabulous meal for the 4th and we played "Celebrity" into the night (almost missing the fireworks that were visible from the backyard). The best part of the evening was being with family, of course. On the 5th everyone left except for Jeff, Myla and me. We spent the next 5 days just relaxing with Dad and Cindy, watching movies each night, and playing outdoors with Myla (her absolute favorite thing in the world.)On our last full day, we rented a boat and went out on Steamboat Lake to fish and relax. Didn't catch a thing but it sure was fun. Only downfall of the trip was when I rode the 4 wheeler and hurt my left arm which has the metal plate in it from a car accident 12 years ago. So painful, probably more so b/c I couldn't hold Myla for days. :( Overall, we enjoyed our time tremendously and cannot wait to go back. Here are a few pics.

Family pic at the outdoor concert
Random pic before Anniversary night out


With JidoAt Steamboat Lake
Us again before a dinner out



ANDREA'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION 7/17 A group of us went out for my best friend's bday to a wine tasting in Dallas and a great dinner at Angelo's. As always, we had a such a fun time.



SURGERY 7/22 (not really a highlight but worth mentioning) Shortly after returning home from CO I scheduled surgery to have my metal plate removed. I figured this was as good a time as any since it was a 10 day recovery. The surgery went very well, according to the Dr. My pain wasn't so bad although I definitely took it easy for a few days. I get the sutures removed on Monday and I can't wait because this splint is HOT in the Texas heat. Sorry no pics of me at the surgical center or in my stylish splint. :)

That wraps up the summer so far which has been entirely too short. Can't believe how soon we have to go back (Aug. 16). I can say that every single day and every single moment we have spent with Myla has been such a gift. She amazes me daily on all that she can do. I never thought my love for her would be this monumental. Crazy!! Here is the latest on Myla-(as well as some recent pics)

Angel face

Ready to go swim with Cousin OliviaAt the Steamboat Rodeo

Lost most curls in Steamboat due to the dry air!



She will be 16 months on Aug. 7, weighing in at 25lbs at her 15 month well check. She has so much personality, she cracks me up a hundred times a day. She's a mess (in a good way) and is super busy. Of course, Jeff and I think she is just brilliant. I am trying to remember how much she was talking when the summer started and how much she can say now. Truly amazing how much she has blossomed. So...I thought it would be fun to make a list of what she is saying now as a way to keep track. Some of these may be a stretch but exciting for us since it seems just a few weeks ago everything was "dada".

As of today...

Myla can say or tries to say
hi
bye-bye
mama
mom
dada
daddy
more
milk
help
nigh-night
uh-oh (does that count as a word??)
duck
dog
ball
ice
hot
bath (really sounds like "bah")
Nana
banana (although that's really "nana" too)
purple (puhlpul)
yellow (yell yell)
water (wa-wa)
Granny (without the r sound)
Poppa
puppy
boat ("bo")
Tita
Jido
Nona (comes out "Nano" sometimes!)
Jersey ("ersy")
cup
eyes (while pointing at them)
nose (pointing)
bebo ( which means belly button, while lifting up her shirt/dress and pointing proudly)
thank you ("tnku")

We have also been teaching Myla some sign language as another way to communicate since she was about 6 months old. She has really taken off with it recently and it is so fun to know what she needs without her having to say or yell it (although she still does sometimes!)
As of today...

Myla can sign
more
eat
milk
help
water
bed (or nigh-night)
bath
all-done
thank you(really she is just bowing her head forward but it's her own little version)
shoes
where

We are working on "please" and "sorry" but she is not fond of those yet. ;)

She absolutely loves being outdoors and going swimming but her most favorite thing right now is looking at her books. She will look at one after the other nearly the entire time she is awake pointing to all the pictures and making sounds and sometimes words. It is crazy how a couple of months ago she didn't want to have anything to do with them. She does, however, still prefer to read them upside down. It's the strangest thing. Even though, I'm hoping her love for books never fades. It is a teacher's dream, of course. :) Myla also enjoys blowing kisses and smelling the flowers these days.




We have so enjoyed having the summer off to spend with our little bubbly angel and we look forward to many, many more.

Until next time... :)

Time for an update

It has been challenging to find the time to update this regularly these days. With work, busy weekends, chasing after Myla, and only having her nap times to get things done around the house...there is just not enough hours in the day. But I do have a few moments now while the little angel is sleeping to update the latest with the MeGown family.

We celebrated my birthday, which was March 25, by making it a weekend-long event.Really, I'm not big on celebrating my birthday but it was fun to spend the time with family, friends, and my students! On my actual day, I got to share my b-day celebration with one of my students who was turning 8. His mom had decorated a sign to hang in front of our classroom and also brought in a cookie cake for the class. It was a fun day!



The next night, the family all went to eat at Blue Goose. Myla loved the excitement and wanted to walk around to everyone's table. Jeff was in charge of pictures so this is all we got. :)


Kimmy made the delicious cake! Yes, there really are 31 candles on there.

Myla with Granny and me just looking silly.

Then on Saturday night, it was time to celebrate with some friends. Mom watched Myla while Jeff and I met up with Andrea & Kevin and Jessica & Dylan. We went to dinner at Uncle Julio's in Fort Worth (yes, I LOVE mexican food and could eat it every night of the week) and then over to The Pour House where they had an entertaining live band. It was pretty fun for us married with kids moms to be hanging out with each other. It wasn't much of a late night but we still made it fun!




EASTER
We had a fun-filled and busy Easter! We went to church and had Myla in the nursery for the first time. She was not a fan but did pretty well considering it was the first time she was left with someone other than family. We just need to get her going more often so she gets used to it!
After church we headed out to McKinney to spend part of the day with Jeff's parents. We enjoyed a great lunch and visit with Granny and Poppa and their new covered patio room.

Myla in her Easter dress


Just chilling with Daddy


Having fun at Granny and Poppa's





We then drove back to Highland Village to spend some time with Mom, Aunt Dee, Kimberly, Clay and Olivia. Mom had set up a mini Easter egg hunt and had prepared the girls' Easter baskets. They had a great time!







MYLA'S BIRTHDAY!!
Our little sweet pea turned 1 on April 7th! It is amazing and so hard to believe that it has been a year. Our life changed a year ago and it was the best thing that ever happened to us. She is God's precious gift that brings us so much joy!



I just could not imagine being at school on Myla's birthday so I took the day off! (Kimberly was my sub, which was so great leaving my kids in good hands!) Mom wanted to treat me and Myla to the zoo as part of her b-day present to Myla. We loaded up the car and made it to the zoo before they opened the gates. Myla absolutely loved looking at all the animals we pointed out. She was especially fond of the monkeys. We had her making monkey sounds most of the day. She also found the snakes pretty fascinating too and loved to make the hissing sounds. Here are a few pics from the day!













We had her party on that next Saturday. We had the party room reserved at Fuddrucker's in Grapevine. Overall, it was a fun little party. Myla enjoyed her guests and the attention. She wasn't crazy for the cake although it was fun to lick some of the icing!






Poor girl fell the day before and got a scratch by her eye. Figures it would happen before her big party. ;)


Well, that pretty much sums up the highlights. Next week, we will have Myla's professional 1 year pics taken. Hoping for beautiful picture-taking weather and a bruise and scratch-free baby!!