Being a Cow-girl!

I've completed week number one on the road! Tomorrow we head for Canada for a couple of days and a stop in Kansas City before we get back to Texas. At that point, I'm done with travel for work and I have a few days off that I'll spend in the Lone Star State visiting with friends before I head home.

Last night, I got a head start on the visiting friends thing. I drove up to Fort Worth to see my friend Christine from high school and her husband, Jamie. We had a little dinner party with her friends Ginger and Rich at this really cool restaurant in downtown Fort Worth called Mi Cocina. I can honestly say that I will never forget the day I met her friend Ginger. She had a bag of party favors for our dinner which I have to admit, was a first. We each got a pair of kid's scissors and a glue stick and a paper with a Ben and Jerry's cut-out action cow. Don't ask!! I will say it was a bit random but of course I went along with it and we all sat at this nice restaurant cutting paper cows out. For some reason, maybe it's because I was in Texas and have eaten half a cow every day, but it almost began to make sense. I can honestly say I've never done that before but I laughed harder than I had in a long time!! It was sooooo fun to see Christine and Jamie again and hang out. Ginger and Rich definitely get two thumbs up from me in the fun category! I'm glad I have two new friends in Fort Worth! Check out Ginger's blog for more pictures!!! She definitely wins for providing the most random activity! I guess that is her teacher mindset coming out as she and Christine prepare for school to start next week!

I just have to say that one of the coolest things I realized last night is that I apparently have had great taste in picking out friends over the years. I met Christine when she moved in the 7th grade and I honestly think I would be friends with her if I met her last week!! And she's not the only one like that! She's consistently been a cool person (even when no one was cool in junior high) and just a lot of fun to be around. I find myself laughing so hard it hurts when I am around her! And I really liked downtown Fort Worth. So hopefully the next time I'm stuck in Crawford/Waco for extended periods of time, I will be able to visit her and Jamie again!!

Another fun day in Crawford!

Yes, it's still hot in Texas. Maybe not 110 degrees but it's still rather toasty. Yesterday, I had the honor (or misfortune depending on how you look at it) of being in travel pool for a quick trip with the Pres to a ranch down the road from his for a fundraiser. I actually never saw the Pres except through the window of his Suburban but at least it was a change of scenery from hanging out at Crawford Middle School. We were at a ranch named Broken Spoke and it is owned by some really rich Texans (I'm assuming). These people love to hunt because the place where we waited for the Pres was this garage with a very large moose, three bears, approximately 20 deer and some other random animals. It also had a shuffleboard table so we played a game underneath an enormous moose staring at me. It was kind of like the Mona Lisa, wherever you went, he was looking at me. I wasn't really good at shuffleboard but I finally got four points! Inside the garage, it was pretty hot but I managed to find a fan to stand under for a minute. This garage was like none other I've seen- mainly because there was a 50 inch flatscreen in it along with a lot of dead animals. We got to eat some really good Texas barbecue. Our menu wasn't as extensive as the fundraiser's but I gained three pounds by just reading the menu for the party!

Hot Days in August

I've been on the road with the Pres since Monday in Crawford, TX. You'll remember my blogs from early on about my thoughts on Crawford and Texas. While they haven't changed all that much, I think I have a new appreciation for Texas in the summer. The locals tell us it finally got hot here on Monday, which coincided with our arrival. For the first three days, it was 105-115 degrees. Even if they tried to make me feel better by using the rationale that it's a 'dry heat', it's still extremely hot- to the point that when you walk outside, it takes your breath away. Lucky for me, I've been coping by eating plenty of free Blue Bell ice cream. The other way we coped on Wednesday is something that was a little bit out of character for me. Brianna (my correspondent for the first part of the trip) and Liz, my fellow producer and I went swimming in the local swimming hole in Crawford!! I definitely prefer a swimming pool with treated water to a random flooded creek but desperate times called for desperate measures. That and Liz and Brianna really wanted to go. So we jumped in the creek at this place about a mile from Crawford Middle School and had the best time! It's been a while since I've tread water for about 30 minutes but I preferred that to jumping off the cliffs into an unknown depth of water. Liz and Brianna were much braver than I was but I felt like someone needed to ensure that at least one of us left there without a broken neck!

The rest of my long week in Crawford has been filled with eating (waaay too much) as usual but last night we also went to sing karaoke in a honky tonk Texas bar (Brianna was a total rockstar). Today at work, we had free massages (sooooo nice), acupuncture (I didn't partake), and Dr. Pepper ice cream floats (including a visit by Little Miss Dr. Pepper). Oh and we actually did a bunch of work today too! I've only got four more days in Crawford until we head to Canada for a couple of days!

PS- I wasn't on TV today but my shirt was. Suzanne, another correspondent I work with, came into town late last night but her luggage got lost. So I gave her the shirt off my back (except that I wasn't wearing it at the time) and it's really good that we wear the same size. So my shirt has spent the afternoon on TV. Suzanne loved the shirt so I'm not sure if I'll ever get it back.

Watching a miracle

Last night, I was invited over to Joe and Katie's to observe a wound dressing change for Baby Ella. First let me say that I was truly honored that they would ask me if I wanted to participate. The whole process was just so interesting. I couldn't figure out how it could take over an hour to change bandages for someone so small but it was quite intense. I had to mentally prepare myself because as those who know me will attest, I don't really have an iron stomach when it comes to things like this. )Once, I passed out at the eye doctor just thinking about my eyes getting dilated for heaven's sake.) But I made myself be okay with whatever I was going to see. I figured if a seven week old can endure it (and she's the one who is actually getting the bandages changed), then so could I. Joe and Katie showed me a picture of her legs on the days she was born and she basically had no skin on her leg and foot. So I was prepared for the worst. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought! She gets new blisters on a daily basis but it is truly amazing how much skin has grown on her legs. I told Ella that she was the best skin grower I had ever seen! Joe and Katie do such an awesome job as her parents and taking care of her and they have the process down to a science. They have quickly become experts in her care and use all kinds of medical jargon during the process. I was able to ask a ton of questions and I learned so much.


When I was walking home last night, I just kept thinking about what a miracle this baby truly is. God truly has answered a ton of prayers. She's gone from maybe not making it through the night on the day she was born to being home, eating and sleeping like any other baby. To see how much skin has grown in just six weeks is absolutely amazing. And I deeply believe that she's going to get better and better and that God is going to heal this precious baby. I feel like we're all right in the middle watching God perform a miracle in Ella's life!!

I'm letting you down

I know it's been over a week since I've posted anything and that's because there just hasn't been much excitement. It's August in DC for Pete's sake. I haven't been on any fun trips with the pres and I've actually only seen him a couple of times in the last week. I was in the Rose Garden with him for an event but it was not all that exciting and there was nothing to pass along except that it was extremely hot. He talked about taxes and fiscal spending which is not all that interesting to most folks. Other than that, he's been at Camp David and Thursday he leaves for Kennebunkport. I pick up with him on Monday and am on the road for about two weeks. Woo hoo! I'm headed to Crawford for a week and then to Canada and then to MN and MO and then back to TX.

In non-work news, Joe and Katie and Baby Ella are all doing fine! I think I might be addicted to holding her! When I've been over there, I just don't want to put her down! She's still getting new blisters every day but Joe and Katie are taking great care of her and she seems to be in pretty good shape. And most importantly she's a beautiful baby!!

Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!!

I just finished a weekend of entertaining my sister and niece and it was absolutely fun! I do give all you parents out there a big round of applause because after almost four days, I'm exhausted! How do you do this all the time?? :) Cayton is such a great kid and really low matainence but there's just something about following a three and a half year old around that made me tired! I took more naps than she did! But we had a lot of fun. The highlight of the weekend was a visit with Cinderella in Arlington. Cayton is obsessed with Cinderella and all the Disney princesses and she just returned from a trip to Disney World where she had breakfast with Cinderella and met all the other characters. So I was a bit nervous how this Cinderella would match up to the one at Disney. I had found this event when I was doing research to find activities for us to do while she was here and I totally lucked out that Cinderella was going to be at Tree Top Kids, a toy store/book store in Arlington. I really didn't know what to expect but I was just sooooo relieved when Cinderella walked in and she was the correct ethnicity and had no visible tattoos. Cayton didn't quite understand why she couldn't see the magic coach parked in the parking lot or how a princess could possibly be running late. But she loved the whole thing and got to dance with her and gave her a hug and wouldn't let her go! Actually, this professional princess was really good and she could sing very well too. Now I'm wondering what a professional princess does to make a living in Northern Virginia. I think that's what Cayton wants to be when she grows up!

Baby Ella is home!!

This is absolutely HUGE news since 34 days ago, the doctors didn't think she'd make it through the night! She came home from the hospital this evening and I have already fallen in love! She's absolutely beautiful! She was diagnosed with EB, a rare skin disease, at birth but it turns out that she may have an extremely rare kind where she could potentially grow out of it! That's a huge praise! But I was just so happy to get to meet her in person! We bonded tonight while I was able to give her a bottle! I don't want to sound corny but it truly was a precious moment that I will savor for a long time. Joe and Katie are truly amazing people and parents! Visit their blog to post a comment of congratulations!