9 Months and Counting

Our little one turned 9 months on Saturday! She's such a big girl! All she ever wants to do it walk. She has to be holding your fingers, of course, but man she really goes!

Lately she has been doing this face where she squishes up her nose when she smiles or even without smiling, it's hilarious. Here's a good shot of it.



She went to the doctor on Friday for her 9 month checkup and we found out her stats. She's 17 lbs, 1 oz. (25th percentile) and 30 1/2 inches long (WAY off the charts tall!) Everything went great except we had to wait at the lab for like 40 minutes for them to take blood. We seriously had to hold that girl down, and it was so sad. She hated every minute of it. I honestly would have preferred having the shots. She does way better for those.

We went to visit my grandparents and Taylor's great grandparents this weekend and she had a blast. This is Taylor with the other great grandchildren, Kendra and Brooklyn.




She thought she was so big sitting in that chair all by herself. Looks like we'll be getting her one of those!

Apparently Taylor didn't win Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby contest...oh well, she's the MOST beautiful baby I've ever seen. How could they turn down this face???

Flashback

So...

I've been going through the HUGE CD Tower of all the CD's I've ever owned and never wanted to do anything with (Allen has suggested at least once that I go through them). Some happened to just be the cases, there for display, no CD to be found. And SOME made me LAUGH OUT LOUD. Get ready...


Boyz II Men, my VERY FIRST CD. Because it's sentimental I kinda don't want to get rid of it. Think about all the hits: On Bended Knee, I'll Make Love to You, 50 Candles, need I go on?




Snow...Informer, anyone? In case you were like me and never knew what he was saying just kinda said "watermelon, watermelon" to the music, I looked it up and here's the lyrics:


"Informer, you no say Daddy me Snow me I'll go blame,
A licky Boom Boom Down.
Detective mon said Daddy me Snow me stab someone down the lane,
A licky Boom Boom Down.
Informer, you no say Daddy me Snow me I'll go blame,
A licky Boom Boom Down.
Detective mon said Daddy me Snow me stab someone down the lane,
A licky Boom Boom Down."

Is this supposed to mean something? I really don't know...



This one was one of my all time favorites when I was younger. Me and my friend Misti used to make up dances to it and even did the Karoake Video thing at Six Flags to "Whatta Man". That's right. The one and only... Salt n' Pepa.

After looking at the names of some of these songs, this has to go IMMEDIATELY. I'm just glad I didn't know what some of this stuff meant then...



One of me and Allen's favorite CD's from high school...funny, right?



Where did this one come from... I seriously have NO idea. I have never listened to this before in my life.



Blaque? What in the world was I thinking?



Who is this guy? He's like an Native American country singer!?!



What happened to this girl? She's so cute!



And lastly, I'm a little embarrassed to say that I really did (do) like this CD. Ha!



Go on and make fun of me or call me if you want to come over and reminisce over "Somebody's Gettin' On My Nerves" or "Shoop"!

Job and a Book Recommendation

No, not this kind of job...




Nor this kind...







Actually, I'm not even referring to a "jahb" at all, but good ol' "Johb".

I've been reading Job for about a week now and I'm realizing so much about our God.

We don't deserve a thing.

We don't deserve blessings that He pours out on us.

We don't deserve to live an easy life.

We don't deserve understanding when we do go though trials. How presumptuous to think that we do!

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4: 4-7


Circumstances pass. The Lord is always here for us to rejoice in more than any understanding that we desire. Sometimes we do understand. God graciously shows us how he has used difficulties for our good. Give Him the glory. You didn't figure it out on your own.

Job had no idea what was going on in the heavenlies while he was down there suffering. God and Satan were having a conversation. God was bragging on Job because he was blameless. Satan said the only reason was because God had blessed him so much. Satan asked if he could take everything away to see who was right and God gave him permission. He lost family, wealth, land, animals, health...and you know what?

Job still praised Him. He said this:

"The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."

"Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"


Another favorite verse in the book of Job is 13:5:

"If only you would be altogether silent, for you, that would be wisdom." (how often might silence be wisdom for us???)

This is actually Job talking to his friends who are trying to get him to reveal some horrid sin in his life that God is punishing him for, but because they have no idea about the "conversation" they don't know this is totally false.

How often must this happen in our lives? God is up there planning, maybe having conversations with Satan, hopefully bragging on us, protecting us... but we have no idea. Often we don't look beyond ourselves when things are bad. I hope that we can. I hope we can see His perspective...or at least understand that we can't understand it all.


A book I have been reading is called, "The Message of the Old Testament" by Mark Dever. It's amazing. Really.

If you can't read the whole book of Job or Isaiah in a day, like me, this is great. It gives you the big picture instead of snippets that are nearly forgotten the next day. It gives you the history and background of each book, the rituals and traditions that play into the text. I highly recommend purchasing this book. I think it might be pricey. It's worth it. Allen says the New Testament one is just as great. I'll leave you with an excerpt from Job: Wisdom for Losers in the book.

"God intends to display his glory in your life and in the lives of everyone around you. You can be certain of this...in the context of Job, we can see very clearly that he intends to display his glory in the lives of his children as they continue to serve him amid life's trials. And if you are a child of his, reconciled to him through Christ, realize that your very suffering can exquisitely display the glory of God as you serve and worship him in a way that simply defies the world's comprehension and abilities. If you, Christian, are presently enduring a season of suffering, it may be that God is sitting in the heavenlies right now and saying to the heavenly host about him, "Have you considered my servant?" and then pointing to you. Could it be that one day you will watch as God shows to all creation the presently unrevealed glories of what he has done by making you in his image and then remaking you as his child!"

Shampoo Mohawk

Taylor's hair is getting so long!

I just couldn't resist "mohawking" it one night.

She thought it was funny, too!

Best Friends

Taylor Joy's friend, Ryleigh, came to visit her last weekend. They had fun together at the learning table and most often they would try to touch each other and then inevitably one of them would end up mad! Getting up in each other's business...Isn't that just what friendship is all about?

On another note...Taylor is feeling MUCH better and is almost back to being her crazy self. Thanks for the prayers! They were heard and she is healed!

Sick as a dog

Have you ever wished you could really kiss a boo boo and make it all better?

My sweet Taylor Joy is as sick as I've ever seen her and all I can think about is I wish there was some way for me to take it away even if it meant me being sick in her place and still having to care for her. I can't stand to see her this way. She's as chill as I've ever seen her, downcast, glum, no smiles or giggles...the opposite of the Taylor we all know and love.



As wild as she normally is and as on my feet as I always have to be, I want my Taylor back. I want to be running back and forth, here and there. I want to see that precious dimply smile on her sweet little face. I want to hear squeals and dadada all day long instead of her being totally conked out in her bed.

The one amazing thing about this is that she's cuddling with me. She is so sleepy and the medicine so strong that she literally just falls asleep on me while we are sitting somewhere and I get to cuddle with her all I want. She slept on my chest for like an hour last night when she woke up at 4 am.

I can't tell you the last time that happened.

A Tribute

It breaks my heart to be writing this. Our precious Taylor Falligant, close friend of my family, Taylor Joy's namesake, and like a little sister to me, passed away on Monday morning, January 15th. I just want to take a couple minutes to remember her short but well-lived life, and the lasting impact she made on so many.

As a baby she was probably the cutest ever (along with another Taylor I know...). She grew up in our house since my mom took care of her and we felt like she was our sister from day one. Those bright eyes, and precious smile...we all knew she'd be a knockout and were we ever right!

My family and I still talk about some of her most precious sayings like, "pur danden" (Poor David, who happened to be sick), her songs like, "skimarinky dinky dink skimarinky do, I love you!," and a million other things that make us smile to this day.

I googled Taylor to see if I could find some other pictures of her (and I did) but before I did there was about 4 pages of her accomplishments. Gymnastics meets, track meets, band qualifying events, etc. She was literally GREAT at everything she tried. The girl could also sing and play volleyball, cheerleading, any other school sport, but she had to narrow it down for time's sake.

Taylor was the apple of everyone's eye. Sweet, smart, gentle, kind, beautiful (thought she never let on), talented, humble, the girl you love to be around...

Here's an article about her: http://gazetteextra.com/falligant011507.asp

Taylor, you are loved abundantly, cherished richly, and missed constantly.

Dance with Jesus for me. I know you'll be great at that too.



Please keep her family in your prayers.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Matthew 11:28-30

The Mobile Tot

Hey everyone...in case you haven't heard our Taylor Joy is now crawling! She began a couple of weeks ago and I had been meaning to put some footage of it up. So sorry for the delay, but here it is!

This video doesn't capture our true reluctant crawler who cries the whole time while she's crawling. Usually she is so frustrated that she wants mommy or the toy that mommy is holding that she cries the whole time and it cracks us up. She is actually much better at crawling these days. That was only like the second time she had ever crawled!

In the video I was holding my cell phone which plays music and Mercy Me was motivating her to keep moving. So funny!



In other news, Taylor Joy will be 8 months on Wednesday! What a big girl! Not literally...she weighs about 17 lbs and hasn't gained very much in the past couple of months but has been eating TONS! Guess she will be just like dad in that sense. She says, "dada" all the time, as well as, "buh", "lala" and "gaga". Still no "mama". Oh well. Soon enough. She's pulling up and starting to scale things. She is very proud of her newfound mobility.

How we wrapped up 2006...

A wonderful end to an amazing year...



Sweet time spent with our families... Taylor Joy just keeps getting spoiled by all her sweet aunts.



We were blessed to be able to visit the Bridenstine's in NC over Christmas. We love them SO much and miss them and joke all the time about how the Lord is going to bring them back to TX...or so we are praying!








Seeing old work friends...



Hanging out with Ryan and Cate all weekend... such a FUN & CUTE couple!



New Year's Eve at Jon and Stephanie's wedding (they were sweet with the wedding cake, no mashing it in each other's faces)



My three favorite guys having fun on the dancefloor...



Happy New Year, dear friends and family! We love you!

Happy Birthday Jesus

Happy Birthday Jesus and Merry Christmas all!





2006 has been amazing...here are some highlights:



awaiting the arrival of our little one



seeing the Bridenstine's in January



the joys of being pregnant




the anticipation of our growing family



our early anniversary trip to San Antonio, and the deep love we share for each other, there's no way I can even put into words!




falling in love with the Lord more everyday

being blessed by so many people with baby stuff, mommy advice, and being covered in much prayer



Taylor Joy's arrival into the world! 5/17/06



growing more and more dependent on the Lord as parents of this little girl




being a mommy and a daddy and discovering how amazing this parenting thing really is!

Storey and Graham's wedding! What a blessing to be a part of that special day with special friends!



My mom's side unoffical "reunion" to see everyone again after several years (for me at least)



our relaxing vacation in the ruidoso mountains...talk about rejuvenation!




Britt's graduation! Congrats to my sweet sis on getting her masters! She's AMAZING!



All of Taylor's firsts: smiles, laughs, teeth, sitting, food, half birthday, Christmas, etc.



Another amazing year is coming to an end. I pray that the Lord will use 2007 to blow us away and make us even more like Him. We love you all! Christmas blessings to you and your family!

7 Months of much Taylor Joy

Our Taylor is now 7 months old...what a big girl. Sigh. It seems like only yesterday we were at the hospital and cuddling our tiny little redhead. Now she's about as squirmy as they come, the poster child for "active alert" baby. Some highlights for the month include eating all kinds of new things: peas, carrots, greenbeans, pears, apples, bananas, prunes, sweet potatoes, peaches, and more (She loves ANY food!), being so close to crawling, pulling up from sitting (yesterday) and just being so stinkin' cute.

Taylor and I celebrated Christmas with my mom's family this weekend. They were all so excited to see Taylor again since some of them hadn't seen her since she was just 5 weeks old. Here's a picture of Taylor playing with my Paw Paw.



After the drive back on Sunday morning Taylor got dedicated at church. Dedication is basically the church body's way of saying we're in this together and will come alongside ya'll, as parents, to raise this baby to love and serve Jesus Christ. It was neat to see everyone stand and agree to do that. It encouraged my heart to what I already knew of our amazing church.



Taylor was definitely the oldest one up there since the last dedication came a couple of days before she was born. She wanted to stand so bad she was wiggling around like crazy...if you saw it you know...I've got my work cut out for me.



A picture of my sweet fam.

My Celebrity Self

So there's this site you can upload your picture to and it scans your facial features to figure out which celebrities you resemble. Apparently I look like many people (celebrities) I have never even heard of. Others like Ashlee Simpson worry me a little...is this pre or post all the surgeries? And I'll take Mischa, she's pretty. About Mariah, can I have her voice too? You should try this if you need a laugh.

Denver & the Mile High Orchestra

In case you're in need of a good Christmas CD, I highly recommend Denver and the Mile High Orchestra. A couple of years ago when we lived in Charlotte and Allen worked at INSP, they performed at his company Christmas party and we were blown away. We had never heard of them before and eagerly bought the CD that night. Then when we came to Texas starting hearing them again in this area. Allen insists on pulling out the CD the week before Thanksgiving to get us in the mood for Christmas. It's very unlike all the cheesy Christmas music that's out there. Here, have a listen...

Denver

Poopsmith...tagged...all this blasted tomfoolery

Aaron tagged me. I know exactly how it went down, too.

After finishing his post (which, by the way, is the sum total of all the words I've ever heard Aaron speak), Aaron thought, "Hmm...who should I tag?" After coming up with a couple of names, he fell out of his chair laughing.

"Honey!" yelled Aaron. "Come here for a sec!"

"Yes," Heather responded, "what is it?"

Laughing hysterically, Aaron managed to get the sentence out between laughing and trying to breathe. "I...just thought...to myself...what if I...(this is too good)...tagged Allen?" Another outburst followed. At first, it was just a faint smirk and a chuckle that emerged from Heather's mouth. Then, it was laughter. In a matter of seconds, she was doubled over at the very prospect, joining her husband on the floor rolling around and laughing at the inconvenience and utter disruption of the schedule that this will cause Allen Duty. They are still laughing to this very minute.

So, here are five things that you may not know about Allen Duty:

1. Gatorade and Nike athletic wear are possibly my two favorite things in the world. I love Gatorade and Nike stuff so much that, subconsciously, I may play sports so that I can wear Nike stuff and drink Gatorade before, during, and after my athletic endeavors. I have long believed that these companies (though Nike does this more often than Gatorade) need an "everyman" to be in their ads and that I'd be a great choice.

If any of you ever meet any executives from these companies, I'd appreciate you dropping in a good word.

2. From November to February, I nearly enter a state of depression if the weather gets over 50 degrees. You may think to yourself, "Allen, you live in Texas. Not only is it not that cold here, but the weather is terribly inconsistent at best." All I want for Christmas each year is consistently cold weather for three months and a few snow days. This desire is so great that I consider moving every year, brought back to reality only by my love for Living Hope, the nearness of our families, and the sheer hassle of relocating. The weather was probably my favorite part of living in North Carolina.

3. I absolutely, positively cannot stand pooping. Whenever I have to poop at home, I make sure that Kendra is nowhere near the bathroom and warn her not to come near the bathroom for the next 4-6 hours. It's not that I take really smelly poops, it's just that I think it's such a vile activity I don't even want my beautiful wife near it. There is nothing more embarrassing to me than pooping in a public place and having one other person enter the bathroom. I don't mind doing it if no one is in there or if there are 20 people in there, but there's nothing worse than pooping in a small bathroom and having one person come in there. Just thinking about it is making my stomach turn.

4. Home improvement projects are more fun to me than going to Six Flags. I would rather install a new ceiling fixture, paint the house, or build a new shelving system than do anything recreationally. Even though it stresses me out sometimes, I love it. If I had the time and I thought I could actually make some money doing it, I'd probably do that stuff for little old ladies and other people who don't like doing those things. Though I love the finished product, I love the process at least as much - especially if it involves using my cool power tools.

5. I'm a good student. By that, I don't mean that I make good grades. In fact, I barely eeked out a 3.0 in college. Good grades require LOTS of work for me, which is definitely not the case with my wife, Butch, or Aaron. Butch once took 20 hours one semester in seminary (that's master's school, people) and Aaron hardly ever took notes in undergrad. I'd get about a 17 if I tried that.

What I mean is that you can teach me to do just about anything in a relatively short amount of time. I'm willing to learn from you if you're willing to be patient with me, and I like learning new things.

So there you go - five new things about me, A.D. And, in typical Allen Duty fashion, I will not be tagging anyone. It was all I could do to log on to this dumb thing to post these answers.

I've been tagged!

I have been TAGGED! i found this random picture on my computer and since it kinda has something to do with this, here it is. Oh, and what you've all been waiting for... here are five things that you may not know about me...

1. This will probably surprise a few, especially friends from home, but I actually like to watch sports. Especially college football and basketball. The reason this is surprising is because even though I grew up watching football (like literally on the sidelines because I was a cheerleader from 5th grade up), I never once knew who was doing what and why. I didn't know what a down was, all I knew was to cheer "First and 10, do it again!" when they told me to.

Ryan Shipley just admitted to me the other day that when I came with them to the Aggie football games, he and Jon Gilbert were like, "WHY did she even come?" It was usually me, Allen, Ryan and Jon and the whole time I was griping because it was hot and asking Allen, "What just happened?"

So, after me and Allen got married, he finally taught me the rules of the game and now I totally enjoy it! I even did picks during the last two seasons of March Madness and wupped Allen, Jon and Ryan! So...go me!

2. I, like most women, HATE snakes! But with me it's more like a constant fear. They are in my nightmares at least a few times a week, sometimes they are biting and eating me (usually), sometimes they are my friend, sometimes they are animated, just depends on the dream... or nightmare. I really want an herb garden but all I can think about is that I'm going to be digging around and a snake is going to get me.

This one time in Charlotte it was raining outside and I was waiting for a package to come and thought I heard something, so I ran outside and down our front steps, peered around the corner just to make sure I wasn't hearing things and then headed back inside. As I was going back up the steps, I saw a black hose on the side of the house and then noticed that it was wrapped all the way along the front door. Hmm, that's weird, I thought... I never knew we had a black hose. Well, as soon as I realized it wasn't a black hose at all, I was right there next to it and leaping over it to get inside. I don't even know how I had the courage to do it. I slammed the door, locked it up tight, ran to our bedroom, shut and locked the door, jumped on the bed and bawled my eyes out. Then, I thought of ways for the next hour that he might have gotten in the house. I called Allen and the way I was crying he thought the snake had bit me. All that to say, snakes are my worst enemy.

3. Growing up I used to think I wanted to be a fashion designer. I was actually pretty good. My senior year of high school I entered a contest to design your own prom dress in TEEN magazine and WON! They featured me in their magazine and even made my dress for me and I wore it to prom. Looking back it wasn't the most modest dress... So what happened to my designer aspirations? Texas A&M.

4. I am very cheap. I wasn't always this way, but being married to Allen Duty will do that to you. I clip coupons, watch the sales ads and even keep a price book to keep track of sales and which places mark which things the cheapest and when. I buy in bulk when the price is right. Since I have the time to do research it, why not be a good steward of our money?

5. I don't wash my hair everyday. As a matter of fact, I don't even wash my hair every other day sometimes. The fact of the matter is, I could blame it on Taylor, but I really haven't since I got to college. Sometimes my hair even looks better on the second day. For those with long hair especially... I totally recommend my dry shampoo method, which is baby powder. Just sprinkle a little (I got this tip from my sweet sis) and voila! No more oil! At least it works for my hair...and makes my life much easier now that I do have Taylor to tend to.

I hope you enjoyed my five. Now that you know 5 new things about me, go ahead. Share your five. I'm not sure who all has been tagged, so this might be a duplicate, but I tag Lindsey, Rachel, D.O., Lauren, and Ana.