11 months

I can not believe how fast these last 11 months have flown by.  Our little girl is desperate to walk, a speedy crawler {especially when she hears the word "bath," she drops whatever she is doing and moves as quickly as possible to her bathroom} she doesn't really cry much besides those fussy moments right before bedtime.  Talking to herself in her crib, her "alone time," is one of her favorite past times.

Some of her other favorites are, but not limited to:

-cheerios/ yogurt for snack time

-she understands she is not supposed to touch the Christmas tree so she just waves in that direction.  She will also come to me and wave to the tree when she wants me to pick her up and show her all the ornaments.  {we do this about 45x a day}

-when she finds leaves {dragged in by her furry, puppy sister} she is proud of her findings and lifts it up for us to see.  Of course, mischievously, if we don't notice she quickly puts it her mouth.

-high fives

-clapping for herself after she has done anything

-still adores elmo

-turning off light switches

-going with us to get the mail

-singing

-dancing

What an absolute joy she has been in our lives.  We both could not love or adore her more.  

Beautiful Cause

Friends, just wanted to share with you a link to what has become such an amazing blessing to Clay and I. We were contacted by the folks at Fotolanthropy a few months back. They had heard about our story this last year and that Clay was in remission. (For 5 months and 7 days, now btw!!!) They wanted to celebrate with us and give us such an incredible and special gift. It was a photo-session, a film of our story and so much more.

There are not words to express what a timely gift this was to us. Clay's hair had all grown back, we were finally out of the haze of hospital stays and settling into our new home in Mansfield. If you are interested in seeing the video click here

They are UNbelievably gifted and for them to share their talents with us was so awesome.

We were so humbled that they would ask us to be a part of their efforts that I wanted to share with you, if you are interested, with supporting them. So that they can continue to bless others who are in need, they are selling beautiful ornaments!! You can see the information here, as well as footage from when they debuted the film at our house with our families and friends. Please check it out!!

dresser

while i prob should apologize for the not so great phone pic, i was excited to show off this dresser. it had been sitting in my parents well house for nearly 20 years, collecting many gross things. inspired by this post i used a gloss smoke gray rust-oleum, and it worked fabulously! i had to work on scraping off the varnish {which for the record, i don't think i'll do ever again! talk about back breaking!} but this paint covers a lot of wrongs. the hardware was covered in rust so i had planned on using new hardware only to discover many of the drawers had different lengths between the holes. since it is not budget friendly to special order hardware or drill all new holes...i just soaked the old hardware in vinegar for a couple of days. it worked awesome!

a little spray paint and it was complete! so happy with this outcome, as well as we finally have a clean home! i had still been keeping my things in boxes until today :/ that is almost 3 months! so now we are box free and no clothes on the floor, my patient hubby is so thankful :)

hazel lately

Our darling little girl continues to change right in front of our eyes. Meet her best friend...

At 4 months I introduced Hazel to who would become my saving grace in the middle of night terrors, teething, difficult feedings and that uncontrollable fussy time. She immediately giggled. Since then she adores Elmo. Elmo songs, elmo dolls, elmo books, and anytime we ask where is elmo? If he is not on, she looks at the tv dissappointed. I have never known a child so young be so interested in a tv character. It makes the both of us laugh a lot.

She and I have been going on what I like to affectionately call "Mother daughter dates." Which is really just an excuse for me to go to girly places with her that her father wouldn't totally appreciate it. Here her titi (auntie) V is joining us for lunch. {btw all of these pictures her titi v took} I love the way our family loves this little girl.

"How big is Hazel?"

"Soooooo BIG!"

This is her response to anytime the word "big" is used. Big bites, big dogs, big girl, etc. I love it! {I also realize she is in her christmas pjs, just wanted her to use them before she out grew them :)}
She has been standing all by herself for a couple of months now but is still a little scared to take a step forward. She will walk all day long if she has something to hold on to. Her first few sounds were "dadada," and I think that sealed the deal for this papa here. We think we may have even heard a "hi, dada." Which only made me a tad jealous. She did start saying "nanana," that I took as mamama. Hazel is learning some signs, the one she has down is "all done," and she even says a-da.

Lastly this little girl can't get enough of books. She loves to open a book, especially the touch and feel books, and touch them and turns all the pages.

kisses



A very rare moment...this little one NEVER stays still. The only time she is cuddly is a little right before she goes to bed.

take in the view

she is :)

{at my parents house, bathing, watching the dogs bath in the pool/swim}

sup

hello blog world! i know, again, not a lot of posts... sorry about that. we are just truckin' along here!! super ready for fall, pumpkins, and cooler weather to come around. in the meantime, i get to wake up to this darling little angel :)

also baylor is currently ranked #15

yes, that is right, in the country

boo-yah!!!

baylor vs tcu.....we totally ran the field

yahtzee

So its not grey brown at all its just grey, and I love it!

Still working on unpacking and decorating, but so far we adore our new place. We are also starting to find some random perks about this city.

chloe sofa

When clay and I were first married, he had just moved down from Philadelphia and I was living with my parents...ie have little to no furniture of my own. We were so fortunate to have some of his furniture to help us start our lives together. Now 3 years, a puppy, a pregnancy (where i spent almost all 9 months hanging out) and a baby later these leather sofas have seen their better days. This below is one of them in their prime.

Upon our move the hubs and I spent quite a bit of time looking for one that we both liked/were comfortable. I really wanted a velvet sofa in a color that makes sense for our dear black haired, puppy baby, sophie. He wanted something that he can lay across (so easy to please ;) ) and that was within our budget. Since this one was major on sale last weekend, I'm proud to show you our fun new sofa coming to us the first part of Sep.

in the color granite (like a brownish grey). More pictures to come soon!

via

eat cake for breakfast

maybe you have already seen this, but in case you have not...

how adorable is this video???

no sleep

its 10 at night...what is your infant doing? mine has been refusing sleep for the last 3 hours :( instead she has figured how to pull herself up. so we had to lower the crib, then she discovered she can see so much if she just lowers the bumper. no sleep heeerrrreeee!

{you will also notice an elmo in the background as well as a pillow we used to keep her wedged in so she would stop rolling over in her sleep and waking herself up...its been a long night, already}

a few things

-it is too dang hot to do anything
-saved by the bell in the morning cures my hot day blues
-hazel loves and i mean LOVES to see herself in the mirror, finally she is showing signs of being like her mom ;)
-in a week we move to mansfield, have not even began getting things together, shocker
-my roomie from california, who i have not seen in almost 4 years, is back in texas...YEA!!
-screech says, "everything you need to know about girls...talking cool is key," so much wisdom
-i misspell, write things grammatically {when i wrote this i misspelled 'misspell' and grammatically'} incorrect and comma splice the heck out of this blog, thanks for reading anyway
-life is good

so pretty

via


i would really like to purchase these...if only i could fins them online!

3 years

In three days, we will celebrate that we did this 3 years ago.....

My how things have changed in 3 years. I thought I loved him then....I feel so crazy blessed to have such a husband in him and a father for her. By God's grace, I get fall more in love with him each day.

new normal

We have been back in Fort Worth for over a week now, loving every minute of it. Seeing friends, eating at home (and our fav restaurants) date night(s), spending time with family with out the stress of hospitals or illness. It has been so refreshing. We are also trying to soak it all up, b/c come August 17 we will no longer be residents here. Now, I must speak loosely to that b/c we won't be far at all, only about 20 min away. Nonetheless, its a different city. If you know me at all you know how obsessed I am with Fort Worth. I love our little neighborhood, our crazy neighbors, being so close to so many fun things, it is going to be sad/exciting.

Our precious little home, despite its coziness, has many a flaw and very little space, no dishwasher, so many holes there is not chance of staying cool in the summer or warm in the winter. BUT it is where we brought our baby home, it is where I spent many evenings on the wood floors to help my back when I was pregnant, where loved ones redecorated for us when we first came back from Houston. When life was at its craziest, this was home. I am sentimental and don't like change. The first step is admitting it right?

We will be moving to a home built in the last 15 years (not 60) that has been completely updated with many a new cosmetic features. It has 3 bedrooms, a garage, closets (we have barely 1) 2 bathrooms and offers so many exciting things. There is much to look forward to, not to mention learning a new city. (I know again its only 20 minutes away, but shockingly I don't know where much is around them parts of Mansfield) Clay will finally get to practice his calling in ministry and help plant a church and study to finish his masters in divinity. (Considering that I married a man called into the ministry and could be called anywhere, Mansfield, is not too shabby, I realize this but I don't like change remember?)

So life is leveling out for us. A lot of changes in one year, but we are adapting and loving it. Despite all of my sentimentalness (if that's a word), the Lord has given me new perspective in life that I pray will remain forever. All of this, and Jesus? I'll take it!

This photo has nothing to do with anything except that Hazel is the most darling ballerina you will set your eyes on!

walks

I thought that by leaving super early this morning for a walk I would avoid that awful sun that makes its 100+ degrees in FW. (Which for the record, I must apologize to my Houston friends for always complaining about the humidity in Houston. While there is much humidity, there is also cloud cover, as well as a breeze...not the case for funky town. Here its just still- but I digress) So it wasn't super hot, but I ended up still with a problem with the sun. I was so excited to be home, in our sweet neighborhood I just went. Walked for awhile before I thought that maybe I should turn around b/c Hazel's morning nap was coming soon. As I turned around the sun was directly in my baby's eyes. Now I know most babies are shy about the sun, but I think Hazel is a little more sensitive about it. So instead of torturing her I turned around so the sun would be at my back. Only I didn't have any other options for routes home without the sun being in her eyes. So my only option was to walk backwards and that's what we did. For a mile. Pulling a stroller. Luckily we made it home with only a few weird glances....

my tired and now hot baby

and this one just cause I thought it was precious.


BTW we do have clothes for our child, this is just her its too hot for cotton look :)

aaaannnnnnnddd we are BACK!

I cant promise we will be consistent, but I will try. Praise God from whom all blessing flow! We are back in FW, we are home, we are healthy, and we are so grateful! Thank you for those who prayed, loved, encouraged, provided, hurt, helped, and all together walked through this journey alongside us. God used you all to make sure along with Him, we were never alone.

This is my now 6 month baby! (only she was 5 months in these pictures) God's provision is perfect.

counting backwards

this is a beautiful movie made by my dear cousin, who also stars in it. you must check it out and put it on your queue in netflix. it will be available april 26...do it! you can see the trailer here

i have quite the talented friends and family if i do say so myself :)

apt therapy contest

hello friends! i know it has been sometime since i have been on this blog of mine but i wanted to tell you all about one my dear friends, ellie, has gotten her cute carriage house into apartment therapy teeny tiny contest. its a beautiful place and she has done such a fabulous job decorating! please vote for her here!!

thank you so much!

hope to return when my life is a little more predicatable...in the mean time thanks for your prayers!

fyi

we also have another website to help raise donations in order to assist us with medical expenses. if you feel led to please check out this website

http://funds.gofundme.com/the-wooten-family

we still have many prayer requests and we so covet those. you can see those again at this website

www.caringbridge.org/visit/claywooten

a new blog

my dear friend lizzie has assisted us in better communicating with our loved ones by creating this blog/journal--

we will be using this to update everyone as we begin our journey through this messy chapter of our lives.

www.caringbridge.org/visit/claywooten

we continue to covet your prayers

update on our familia

"do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God..."

Philippians 4:6

clay my dear husband, hazel my sweet little baby and i have been through quite the whirl wind these last couple of weeks. clay has been diagnosed with an aggressive kind of lymphoma. we are in desperate need of prayers. only before we go there we would like to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts for all the love and support so many have shown us. we are so thankful for it, b/c the only thing worse than having to go through all of this is having to go through it alone.

the biopsy this week revealed the cancer was lymphoma the non-hodgkins kind. more specifically they think its burkitts lymphoma which is a very rare and very aggressive type of lymphoma. the doc said there are about 12 different types of lymphoma and burkitts makes up about 1 to 2 percent of those types. It is typically found in smaller children and do to its aggressive nature needs just as aggressively. since it is so rare we all decided that going to MD Anderson in Houston is probably our best bet and the treatment plan that Clay will be going through is one week in the hospital of constant chemo and one week off. the time frame of this treatment is unknown. the latest that we will have our appointment at MD is in a little over a week the earliest is early this coming week. our oncologist, Dr. Nugent, spoke to the head of the lymphoma department at MD and i believe he will be our contact over there his name is Dr. Heigemeister. On top of chemo we will need a bone marrow biopsy and maybe another biopsy on my abdomen. If after all the chemo treatment there is a recurrence he will probably need a bone marrow transplant.

Things to be praying for:

-Quickly getting an appointment and first treatment at MD

-Strength and faith to endure the intensity of the treatment

-That everything would work and the cancer would be gone completely from clay's body

-Strength and faith for me during this hard time

-That God would be known more, worshiped and glorified throughout all of this

my love

does it get any more precious than this boy impressed with this catch but not interested in getting too close to touch it?

ugh this boy has stolen my heart...only i didn't know him then. i met him when i was 14. we went to different high schools. but we had some mutual friends, and i had heard of his name before. my friend actually liked him at the time. she used to call me after school to tell me about the times that she talked to him and how cute he was.

then as many 14 year old relationships do it fizzled. then i was a sophomore and saw him at a party. he was so cute. i had to get a picture with this boy. i sucked up the courage to ask him to get a picture with me. he was sweet and humored me, luckily knew who i was and agreed for the picture.

that night i went to my friends house loving that i had gotten to hang out with him and that he knew who i was! we continued on with our very separate lives until that fall, he still hadn't really left my thoughts...and for some reason i decided that enough was enough i was determined to date this boy. now don't get me wrong as though i was this aggressive teenage girl. quite the opposite. my parents were very adamant in raising me and my sisters to be lady, never calling boys and the boys responsibility in regards to girls.

then he came to one my high school football games, with a mutual friend. i. died. i could not believe it. we talked. even flirted. he invited me to church. i told him to call me and i would come. he said he didn't have me number. i told him it was cause he didn't ask for it. it was only the beginning....

and slowly as the Lord held us in His hand growing us in Him, challenging us in different, hard, unique ways we somehow still ended up together. that was almost 11 years ago...

here we are. the man of my dreams. my soul mate. the man who is not perfect but is perfectly made for me.





i love him so dearly

and now he has become a father. and what an amazing father he is to our little girl.
i know that this maybe late but he is my valentine, my hubby, my love.

she is here!!!

she is here! she is here! hazel's beautiful cousin charolette bradly wooten!! i. die. and oh my if this picture would only do justice to those lips, you would die too! we are so in love with this new little family--and hazel is just dying for her cousin to play with her :)

1 month

on feb 14, my baby girl will be 1 month old. i read a quote on a friends blog that continues to resonate with me"the days are long, but the years are short" and although we have not experienced a year...a month sure flown by!

my sister {who is so talented} and i had a little photo shoot with hazel yesterday. we sorta went a little crazy but here are some fabulous ones...

look at that smile! she has grown so much. i am doing my best to take pictures and write things down that she is doing, she is changing everyday. i saw somewhere in the blog world about writing a sentence everyday about her on a calendar, i'm not good at being consistent like that but i may give that whirl. even if i remember to do it here and there i know i cherish to look back on it. i'll let you know how that goes ;)

sweet sleepiness

absolutely there has been nothing greater than seeing my sweet baby's eyes, faces she makes, hands, and wiggly self. there are times where i just feel like i can never put her down, i don't want to miss anything. as much as i love her, this whole only sleeping a couple hours at a time has been taking its toll. day and night very much blur together for me, i get cabin fever often and am starting to hate tv. i came across this while trying to stay awake during a late night feeding, from the valley of vision

"Thou blessed Spirit, author of all grace and comfort,

Come, work repentance in my soul;

Represent sin to me in its odious colours that I may hate it;

Melt my heart by the majesty and mercy of God;

Show me my ruined self and the help there is in him;

Teach me to behold my Creator,

his ability to save,

his arms outstretched,

his heart big for me.

May I confide in his power and love,

commit my soul to him without reserve,

bear his image, observe his laws, pursue his service,

and be through time and eternity

a monument to the efficacy of his grace,

a trophy of his victory.

make me willing to be saved in his way,

perceiving nothing in myself, but all in Jesus:

Help me not only to receive him but

to walk in him,

depend upon him,

be conformed to him,

follow him,

imperfect, but still pressing forward,

not complaining of labour, but valuing rest,

not murmuring under trails, but thankful for my state.*

Give me that faith which is the means of salvation,

and the principle and medium of all godliness;

May I be saved by grace through faith,

live by faith,

do the work of faith.

Perceiving nothing in myself, may I find in Christ wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption."

*i don't consider this time at all to be a state of trials, more so i want to simply be thankful for this season of life.

bringing hazel home

hazel is home. the last week and a half has been such a blur of night and day...i can not even believe its been that long. she has already grown so much. so before i forget some of the details (or before the need for sleep take over) i wanted to write about her birth story :)

the week i went into labor i had been 2 cm dilated. the week before my dr thought we were going to be having this baby two weeks early, but when nothing changed at my dr appt that week they thought i would hold out till my due date. that was on jan 11, then on jan 13, i wasn't feeling great and was feeling pretty huge to be honest. but i went to work and while i was driving was having intense contractions, but honestly nothing i hadn't experienced before. then they started coming about 15 min apart while i was in a session with one of my kids. i wrapped that up and called my husband telling him i was coming home, b/c i needed to lay down for a bit. when i got home they were about 10 min apart, but i was not interested in going to the hospital. i had contractions before and they would eventually pass, so i was just waiting for them to pass. clay kept asking me to go to the hospital and i continued to delay. i honestly just didn't want to be wrong and/or disappointed about going into labor. so after postponing it for almost an hour, i agreed to go to the hospital. clay had promised worst case scenario we will go out to eat and do something fun {such a patient man}.

we got to the hospital and i was walking in telling them i thought i was in labor. the nurses all kinda rolled their eyes since my water had not broken and i didn't seem to be in THAT much pain. moments later they checked me and i was dilated to a 4 1/2 cm. we called our families to let them know the baby was coming that night!

when i dilated to 5 cm, i was having contractions like crazy. super intense. clay was holding my hand as i was squeezing the bajeezes out of him. they came in to break my water, right in the middle of one of the worst contractions. it got crazy really fast. it was about then when my husband, who was recovering from being ill all week was holding my hand, and ran to the corner to throw up. i lost it. was crying. freaking out that my husband was going to be out of commission while i was in labor.

thank the Lord. he recovered. after that i got the epidural, and quickly progressed to 10cm. after a couple of hours of pushing at 1:10 AM hazel kathleen came into this world!

there was concerns of her inhaling her meconium, and potential jaundice, but after 24 hours, she was totally cleared. i know i am totally partial, but i just think she is the prettiest baby. i think she is going to be a carbon copy of her daddy.

hazel with her kiki

my sweet baby girl...oh my goodness i didn't know i could love her so much.

with her lola, this baby has so many people who love her

such a sweet baby

at home :)

hazel kathleen

welcome to the world sweet baby.... we are so in love with this bundle of joy!

look back at 2010

its pretty incredible to think of all the fun/crazy/exciting/life changing things that have happened in this last year...

in january...




had a grand ol time at the jewel charity ball with the hubs and some besties. together we have so much fun :)

in february....

got super geared up for our beloved olympics! even got some pretty neat gear to represent.

in may...
{mucho mucho occured}

we celebrated our mothers together as one big family...which was one of my fav dinners we had

all together

i got an incredible job offer and switched companies to be a bilingual speech therapist. it has been the best decision, career wise, i had ever made and it all happened so fast. i love my job and feel ever so fortunate to be working for such a great company.

then, as clay was studying for his finals, i decided to clear my thoughts and go ahead and get a pregnancy test. i was by myself for all of 15 min before he came home...pacing, shocked, and freaking out. we have always wanted kids, but our timing was a little different. now, we wouldn't change this in anyway.

we also went to fredricksburg with the wooten clan, were we enjoyed some good rest and relaxation.

in july....

we celebrated 2 amazing years of marriage in my most favorite place in all the world. puerto rico. after 10 years of being together, he finally got to see what i had been talking about for forever.


in august...

we moved from our precious one bedroom apt, where we had so many fond memories, to make some room for baby. we moved to our cozy little home.

we also enjoyed some more family time finding out that our baby, was going to be a girl! not even a little bit of an idea of what her name was going to be....we were thrilled!


in september...

chi-town. another fav city of mine :) we got to see many sites, shopped till we dropped, watch a cubs game and eat some fantastic food all in great company.


in november....

we were blessed with showers and love in preparation for our sweet hazel kathleen.

in december...

my patient, loving, wise husband got not one but 2 job offers. in a matter of days he will be quitting his security job that he has had for the last couple of years as he was in school and be the interim youth pastor at our church. then in june he will become an apprentice with a church plant here in the area where he can go to school full time and work full time. finally getting to do what he has been called to do his whole life.

wow....2011, i think you are going to be another fantastic year :)