Graduation is less than a week away!

Well, graduation is fastly approaching for Jacob. It is now less than one week away! Hooray! We are so excited about it and can't wait to see all of our family that is coming in town. We're having a big bbq party at the park after graduation and we're really looking forward to hanging out with everyone! We also just found out that 3 of Jacob's closest buddies from law school - Jude, Rem and Joe are also going to have their graduation parties with us at the park. So, we're going to have one big huge celebration! I think it's going to be so fun to celebrate and have a great time! Hopefully we have better weather next weekend than we did this weekend since we're doing everything outside. Can you tell I'm a little excited?!

Anyways, I really wanted to get on here to post a hillarious picture of Jayda. She was trying to get up to the window seal to pull stuff off of it. In doing so, she climbed into her stuffed animal basket and got stuck. It was so funny!! I did eventually get her out after taking lots of pictures!

Stuck in her basket.

She got sleepy and layed her head down on the bunny.

She has started using her book shelf as a playhouse. She takes her blocks over to the shelf and bangs them down and plays with them in the little cubby.

Jayda turns 9 months old!

So Jayda officially turned 9 months old yesterday! She also had her 9 month well baby check up yesterday. I was expecting her to get shots, but the Dr. said she was all caught up on her shots and wouldn't need anymore until 12 months! Hallelujah! I was dreading her having to get shots all week long and come to find out she didn't even need any! I was so happy! She did have to have a little finger prick done to check for anemia, but she didn't even cry. What a big girl! I took some pictures of her yesterday on her 9 month birthday. She had found Jacob's highlighter (Jacob's studying for finals right now) and wouldn't put it down for the pictures, so that is why she has a highlighter in her hands!

Silly girl!

I tried to put a bow on her, but you can see how that turned out!

She's waving at me with highlighter in hand!

Recent happenings with Jayda!

She has realized that she can pull her shoes off. So, now everytime we put her shoes on she takes them right off and starts biting them (no matter how tight I put them on). It's kind of embarassing when we take her out without any shoes on, but she just won't leave them alone!

Jayda has started giving kisses to everybody. She was trying to give Harley a kiss here...no,no Jayda we can't do that!

She also loves playing on her little car. She has learned how to push herself backwards on it and loves to pull things out of the engine (we put little toys in it fir her to pull out).

She also recently started waving at people. Last night at Olive Garden she would not stop waving at the poor people around us. They were trying to be nice and kept waving back. It was pretty funny!

Reminiscing on Baylor Law School, the past 3 years, and our first born!

Wow, it's so hard to believe that we have been in Waco already for 3 years! Jacob had his last class of law school EVER today! It seems so unreal that he is almost done! Last night we went out to dinner at Olive Garden to celebrate the fact that law school is almost over and had a great chat about our time here. We were thinking back to when we first moved here, to the great town of Hewitt, TX that is. The day after we moved in we took our UHaul to the rental place and then drove around Waco for a little while. We found a movie theatre and tons of restaurants. We began to realize that Waco may not be the worst place in the world to live, like some people had told us. Coming from Austin we didn't have very high expectations for this place, but it actually wasn't so bad after all.

Pretty soon after we moved here we met some amazing friends, Lauren and Greg. They had just moved down here from Seattle for Greg to start law school. They had no idea what Texas would be like and were very surprised by our crazy thunderstorms right after they moved in. It didn't take long for them to fit right in. It was so funny meeting them because it was like we all just clicked with one another. Lauren and I both like to run. Greg and Jacob both loved baseball. The boys were both in law school together and liked talking about 'law stuff' that me and Lauren never understood. We all liked to watch the same tv shows, and even watched them together many nights. They had 2 dogs and we had 2 dogs. We have a border collie and a lab and they have 2 mixed border collie/labs. Oh yeah, did I mention we lived only 3 houses down the street from them! It just seemed meant to be that we meet them! We are so thankful that we did meet and develop such a great friendship. Unfortunately after our first year here, Greg got offered a job at the law firm he had been working at over the summer. It was a great deal for him, so they couldn't pass it up. He needed to start working at the law firm before he graduated, so that meant they were going to have to move back to Seattle! I was so upset about the news and didn't really know how we were going to make it down here without them. We didn't really know anyone else here. Greg and Jacob had become very close and studied together all the time. They even talked on the phone late at night about their cases (like little teenage girls). Lauren and I did everything together. We worked out together, made dinner together, watched movies together, shopped together and supported one another throughout the terrible first year of law school. Who were the dogs going to play with? They used to play with Trucker and Bailey all the time and didn't have any other friends! Thankfully, we have stayed in touch with Greg and Lauren and still completely support one another! We even went to visit them this past spring break and stayed for a week! We're also going on a cruise with them this summer to celebrate Greg and Jacob's graduation along with Lauren's parents, Jacob's parents and Jacob's brothers and their girlfriends. We can not wait!

The last 2 years of law school were pretty rough. The second year was a bit easier than the first and I actually got to see Jacob some. We started going on walks together again, taking the dogs to the park and going to movies. It was as if we had a somewhat normal life, compared to the first year here. It wasn't too long into the second year that I found out I was pregnant with little miss Jayda Michelle! That was the most exciting news ever for me and Jacob. We were soooo happy and could not wait for her to get here. Jayda finally arrived on July 24th, 2007 and we couldn't have been more proud parents! It was the most amazing thing that has ever happened to us! Jacob had off an entire month before he started back for his last year of law school. It was wonderful having him around to help with Jayda for that month. I definitely couldn't have done it without him. He is an amzingly wonderful daddy! After that month, Jacob started the awful, dreaded Practice Court. We had heard tons of horror stories about practice court. It started in August and would last until the beginning of February. Let me just say, those were the longest 6 months of our ENTIRE lives! We had a new baby to take care of and Jacob was averaging 3 hours of sleep a night. He had SO incredibly much reading to do I didn't think it was humanly possible to actually do it. Jayda and I hardly ever saw him because he had so much studying to do. Usually, we would see him for dinner for about 15 minutes a day and then he would be back to studying until 2 or 3 in the morning. This is no exaggeration, but exactly what our lives were like. We never went on walks anymore and the poor dogs never got out. I felt so sorry for them, but I can't take them out on my own. Jacob and I didn't even have time to watch one t.v. show together. We also couldn't go out of town on the weekends because Jacob would have to study the entire weekend! It was really hard because Jayda was only a few months old and I was wanting to take her all over the place for people to see, but we were stuck here for 6 months! Anyways, you get the idea that it was pretty terrible. This is one reason why I can't believe that Jacob is about to graduate. We have been through SO much here and Jacob has endured so much. It is simply amazing that he has made it through this craziness and that we are still a happy family. There is no way we could of made it without God by our side. He definitely gave us both the courage and determination to perservere these past 3 years. I'm so thankful that we found a great church home while we were here. We had some very supportive people there that were always understanding of what we were going through. And of course, thanks so much to both of our wonderful families. They have both been so supportive of us throughout law school and we can't wait to be much closer to them very soon! Anyways, I think that's enough reminscing, I'll post some recent pics next!

It's bluebonnet time!

So, now that all of my friends that have babies have already done the bluebonnet pictures, I figured it was time to take Jayda out for her first annual bluebonnet pics! At first we went to an area that used to have a ton of bluebonnets, but when I went today they were all mowed down except for a few patches. So, we first tried that spot. The only problem was that there were just a few flowers and there were duplexes in the back ground since we were actually in their front yard. Wow, I'm really starting to sound like the 'crazy' mom that will do anything to get the perfect picture.

Jayda with the little patches of flowers.


All she wanted to do was grab the flowers!


After we had taken these pictures I found out from my friend that right down the road from where I was taking pictures there was a huge field of bluebonnets that I should take Jayda to. So, we went down the road and found the huge field of flowers and got some more cute pictures. Jayda didn't really want to look at the camera because she was so interested in touching the flowers, grass, leaves etc. She even pulled some of the bluebonnets off of the stem and was about to start eating them before I got them away from her. Needless to say, we had an interesting time! After we finished I thought to myself that people driving by probably thought I was a real idiot taking pictures with one patch of bluebonnets while down the road there was an entire field! Wow, talk about feeling goofy.

Yay, I finally got her to look at the camera.


This is what she was doing most of the time.


Sweet girl in the bluebonnets.


On a different note, I just had to put this picture up. This is what Jayda does anywhere between 2 and 4 times a day. She crawls over to her book shelf and pulls any and everything out that she possibly can. She absolutely loves doing this, so I had to share.

What a great weekend!

Things have settled down a lot around here now that we have found our first house. Last week was so crazy and stressful trying to figure out which house we wanted, how much we could afford, which lender to go with, how much to offer on the house, how much we could go up to etc,etc.... So, needles to say, it was incredibly nice to have a relaxing weekend at home with our friends.

We started off on Friday night having a couple of our close friends over and grilling burgers and hot dogs. It was so nice to hang out with our law school buddies and see their babies. Sara and Joe have a 2 month old baby girl and Rem and Kelly just had their little boy at the end of March. It's so sad to think that law school is almost over and we won't get to hang out all the time like we've been able to. The good thing is that I convinced my friend Sara to start a blog. I have put a link on my blog to hers and the name of it is The Rivera Report if you'd like to check it out. So now I can keep up with her little family and hopefully Kelly will start one too.


Me & Jayda, Sara & Elizabeth, Kelly & Kale.


The boys playing xbox.


Kelly with little Kale.


Sara and Elizabeth.

On saturday Jacob had to make a lot of phone calls to different inspectors to try and get our house inspected this week. Luckily we found someone that will be able to do it this Tuesday. I'm excited because we will get the report the same day. So, by tomorrow we should know if there is anything wrong with the house. If there are minor things wrong we will ask the owners to fix them. But, if something is majorly wrong, we will have the option to back out.

Saturday evening we took a picnic out to Lake Waco and met Joe and Sara. It was such a pretty day and we had a great time. Jacob and I took Jayda to the playground and she went down her first slide ever. Her eyes got really big as she came down. I thought she was about to start crying, but once her and Jacob got to the bottom she sat really still, then was ready to do it again.

Daddy and Jayda sliding.


Mommy and Jayda sliding.


Jayda on sunday in her new green dress.

On monday morning I got to babysit little Elizabeth. Me and Jayda had so much fun with her. She was even smiling at Jayda. Jayda absolutely loves other babies. The only problem is that she is way too rough with them. So right now she is only allowed to look at them, not touch.

Miss Elizabeth checking out Jayda's stuffed animal.

We got a house!!!

The entry way.


The kitchen.


The front of the house.


The master bath.

Yay! We finally found out tonight that the seller accepted our last offer and we have a house! We are so excited and can not wait to move. We'll be moving in on May 30th. Woo hoo!

Houses, houses, houses...and GRADUATION!

This is a picture of the awesome kitchen in the house that we are trying to buy.

AHHHHH, this house thing is driving me crazy! So, right now we have been going back and forth with a seller to try and come to some sort of compromise on a sell price. It wouldn't be so bad if we'd started all of this today, but instead we gave our first offer on Monday morning. It is now Wednesday afternoon and we still know NOTHING! Hopefully we will find out something very soon!

Anyways, besides all the stress and craziness of trying to buy a house we are getting so excited for Jacob's graduation. He was telling me last night that he only has 11 more class days left! That is just so crazy for me to think about. It has seemed like law school would never end for all of these years and now it's really here. Jacob is really going to graduate and he's really going to start work! It's such a great feeling and I couldn't be more proud of him! He has been so strong through all of this and honestly amazed me many times at how hard he could push himself. I guess you never really know what you're capable of until you push yourself to the absolute limit!

Miss Jayda is doing great these days. She has been crawling for a while and continues to stand up by holding onto anything she can get her hands on. She has even made us a little nervous sometimes because she tries to crawl out of her crib and pack and play. I don't think she could actually do it yet, but I definitely have to keep my eye on her. She has 2 top teeth coming in now and they are so cute. She is realizing that they're there and likes to bite everything now because she knows she can. Well I think that's all that's going on for us now, I'll keep ya posted on the house thing...cross your fingers!

Springtime Update

All of us in Seattle at Kerry Park.


Jayda at 8 months.


Jayda's first Easter.


So, after Andrea made me feel bad for not posting in forever, I've decided to try this whole blogging thing again! Before when I tried it a while back I was not able to post pictures on here. So that became very frustrating since I am not much of a talker/writer. But, I just tried to post a picture and it worked! So, it looks like blog spot finally figured out there problem, yay!

Well, I have been gone for a long time and lots of stuff has happened at the Paschal household. Jayda is growing like a weed and is already standing up on everything she can get her hands on. I'm pretty sure she's going to be walking within the next month or so. She now has 4 teeth and they look sooo cute!

We recently went to Seattle to visit our friends Lauren and Greg and stayed with them for a week. It was so nice to see them again and hang out with our old buddies! We are so thankful to have friends like them!

We also had a great Easter in Huntsville. Jayda got to hunt for Easter eggs and play with her cousins. She also got to pet the Paschal's horse for the first time. At first she did not seem to like it, but then she decided she did like her and kept wanting to touch her with her hands and feet. It was too cute!

Jacob and I are currently looking to buy a house in Sugar Land. We are not sure if we are going to move this May or August. It kind of depends on how the house hunting goes and how soon we can make an offer and close and all that fun house stuff. We went last weeekend and looked at houses ALL day. It was crazy how many we were able to see. Thank goodness my sister-n-law is a real estate agent and was able to take us all around. She was amazing! We found 3 houses that we really like and we're now waiting to get approved for a loan. This house thing is quite the process! I'll keep you updated on what happens next!

Springtime Update

All of us in Seattle.


Jayda at 8 months.


All 3 of us on Easter.


Jayda petting the horse with her feet.

So, after Andrea made me feel bad for not posting in forever, I've decided to try this whole blogging thing again! Before when I tried it a while back I was not able to post pictures on here. So that became very frustrating since I am not much of a talker/writer. But, I just tried to post a picture and it worked! So, it looks like blog spot finally figured out there problem, yay!

Well, I have been gone for a long time and lots of stuff has happened at the Paschal household. Jayda is growing like a weed and is already standing up on everything she can get her hands on. I'm pretty sure she's going to be walking within the next month or so. She now has 4 teeth and they look sooo cute!

We recently went to Seattle to visit our friends Lauren and Greg and stayed with them for a week. It was so nice to see them again and hang out with our old buddies! We are so thankful to have friends like them!

We also had a great Easter in Huntsville. Jayda got to hunt for Easter eggs and play with her cousins. She also got to pet the Paschal's horse for the first time. At first she did not seem to like it, but then she decided she did like her and kept wanting to touch her with her hands and feet. It was too cute!

Jacob and I are currently looking to buy a house in Sugar Land. We are not sure if we are going to move this May or August. It kind of depends on how the house hunting goes and how soon we can make an offer and close and all that fun house stuff. We went last weeekend and looked at houses ALL day. It was crazy how many we were able to see. Thank goodness my sister-n-law is a real estate agent and was able to take us all around. She was amazing! We found 3 houses that we really like and we're now waiting to get approved for a loan. This house thing is quite the process! I'll keep you updated on what happens next!