BREAKING NEWS: Babies, Babies!!!

June 25th was the day of babies!!! First, joining this world in the WEE hours of the morning (very early Wed.)...Preslee Ann Barnett! Congrats Ashlee and Joe...and big sis Mackayla! Can't wait to see some pictures (hint, hint)!!!

And...then the newest Strauss girl joined the family at 9:12am...Sophia Peyton Strauss...daughter to Julie and Peyton (my brother) and little sis to Anna!!!! Phia...as Katie calls her...weighed in at 7lbs. 7 oz. and 20 inches long. We got to see the beautiful little sweetie last night...but I didn't take my camera. But, I will post pics as soon as her parents give me the go ahead....and as soon as I take some! I love babies...so June 25th was a great day! Oh...and all baby girls and their mommy's are doing great.

By the way, for those of you who are wondering...no, we are not ready for our next one yet...you would not believe how many people have asked me that question!!! Don't worry...it will happen...just not yet! I really have to be prepared for pregnancies...they are not the easiest 9 months for my body. So, be patient...

Katie Got Hosed!

Katie had tons of fun splashing in the mud after one of the many afternoon showers in Houston...which left her a little dirty. So, we handed her the hose and let her go!

Got to clean those footsies!


Maybe take a little sip!

And then...make a huge, wet mess!

She LOVED it!!!

Swimmin'!

My cousin, Anna, came over to swim in my glamorous pool last weekend. It was so much fun! If you look real close, you can see that I even have a shallow end and a deep end...thanks to the wonderful slant in the yard!


This is FUN!!!!

I LOVE my cousin!!!!

We even took a minute to "cheese" for the camera!

Welcome Zoe!

This is the newest member of our family...Zoe the Beta "feesh"! Katie is so sweet to Zoe. She tells her good morning and good night, she helps Mommy feed her and just enjoys sitting and watching her new little friend! By the way...Zoe got her name from...you guessed it...Elmo! She is one of his friends and we read about her in some of our Elmo books.

Me and My Panties!

So, I am a fan of the panties...I am not QUITE potty trained yet...but I sure love to wear the panties! Imagine this...me wearing panties...Mommy dragging me to the potty every 15 minutes so that I don't have an accident. Whatever...at least I get to wear my panties! Oh, and thanks to all of you who went out of your way to send me some Elmo panties...LOVE 'EM!

Here I am hanging with my panties and boots...yep...still love the boots too!


Here I am sporting some of my Elmo panties...so cool!

Pictures?!?

I know some of you out there are thinking "Where are the darn pictures?" Well, I have some...I just need to upload them and update the blog. Every afternoon I have intentions of doing just that. But, we are dealing with a premature 2 year old at our house (don't we still have 3 months?!?!?!) AHAHAHA! Imagine...our sweet little Katie throwing herself on the floor and crying because we don't understand what she wants! We are working on words...and lots of them...but she gets frustrated at us for not understanding...and we get frustrated because she gets so frustrated. It is a terrible time for all involved. While you might think that I would have time to update the blog because Katie has been spending so much time in her room having time outs...I am often putting myself in time out for laughing at her outbursts (which really ticks her off) or getting over-frustrated with her antics. I knew this was coming...and it is probably not as bad as we think it is...but it sure is taxing!

So, long story short...pictures are coming!

Few Prayer Requests!

We have a few people out there who could use some thoughts and prayers right now...

Mandy and Ramey Newman (and the rest of the Newman family) have been through so much this week. Mandy delivered Ramey last Thursday. It was a VERY complicated delivery that landed Mandy and Ramey in their respective ICUs. Mandy is recovering at home now...but Ramey continues to fight her battles in the NICU. Please keep them in your thoughts...so that they can both make full and speedy recoveries. Not to mention Mandy's husband, Ross, and their three other children, Henry, Daphne and Anna, who are a little confused about what is happening. (Mandy's blog is on the sidebar if you would like to post to her or read their story.)

Star Sligar (daughter to Jason and Holly Sligar) had heart surgery earlier this week and is recovering. Star was born in January and has been waiting to get big and strong enough for this surgery. Please keep them in your thoughts...so that Star can make a full and speedy recovery and so that Jason and Holly can keep their strength for their beautiful little girl.

Amy Estrada's (Miller) niece had lung surgery earlier this week and is recovering. All in all it went well...but she still has a long road ahead. Please keep her in your thoughts for a full and speedy recovery.

On top of all of this there are so many others out there that I am thinking of right now: Ashlee and Joe Barnett are expecting Preslee Ann any day now! Pete and Julie Strauss are expecting another niece for me any day now (Sophia Payton), my Aunt Barb is finally home from the hospital (it has been MONTHS) and she is learning to live on her own again, our family is still grieving over the loss of our Badger, and my friend Delayne is having yet another surgery (I think this is #8!)

So, if you have time...please lift these families up or at least think about them as you continue on with your day. Thank you!

Potty Time!

Just a quick potty update...Katie worked really hard on her potty training this weekend. She was going strong Saturday, doing both #1 and #2 on the potty. Sunday saw a little set back with a couple of accidents...going peepee while brushing her teeth...NEXT to the potty. But, she was back on track this morning, and the cheering continues! Rumor is that there are some Elmo panties in her near future...that should help a little!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Daddy! You are the best Daddy a girl could ever have...and I thank you for always being the best of everything! I love you! (Oh, and Mommy says she loves you too!)

Badger Update

Our beautiful Badger passed away late Friday, June 13th. Although we are all very heartbroken, we all know that she was ready to be free of pain and to be back with her loved ones who have preceded her in death. We have been told that she had a very peaceful passing, which is what we have been praying for since she got sick. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. Badger (Mildred Spalding...her "real" name) will be memorialized Tuesday, 6/17, at 2pm at John Wesley United Methodist Church (the church that Scott and I got married in), for anyone who needs that information. Thank you again!

21 Months!

As of June 11th, I am 21 months old! Things are getting pretty fun around the house as I approach the big 2! I am starting the potty training thing (actually, my school started me on it and Mommy and Daddy are working on it at home), I am able to communicate so much better so that I can get what I want (mostly I just go get it, but sometimes I can't reach), and I am turning into such a crazy, funny, sweet little girl (or so my family says)! I still like to dress myself, but Mommy draws the line when we are heading out of the house. I have a HUGE crush on Elmo and must have all things Elmo...toothbrush, pajamas, shoes, clothes, diapers (Pampers), cups, movies, dolls, etc. You get the point! Oh, does anyone out there know where to find Elmo panties? Not so easy! We have lots of fun stuff planned for the summer and it should make for some fun blogging. On a serious note, we are still praying for our Badger to be comfortable during this time. She is such a strong little lady...we are all very thankful for any prayers and thoughts. Thanks for checking in and we will be posting later! Enjoy my crazy outfits below!

Mommy and Daddy caught me wearing this outfit the other evening. Mommy left her shoes and socks out after her walk...so after my bath I put them on and walked into the living room. I put them on all by myself...too funny! By the way, those are ankle socks on Mommy!


Mommy wrapped me in my towel after bathtime tonight. I refused to let her take the towel off. So, I put on her shoes and played like this until she got paranoid about the no diaper situation.

Then, once the Elmo pjs were on (of course!) I put more of those nasty socks on! Mommy needs to put those in the hamper after her walks...don't you think!!!!

Aust Reunion 2008

We made the trek to New Braunfels for the Annual Aust Family Reunion this last weekend. It started out a little rocky with a sick little Katie...but by Saturday she was feeling better and ready to party!

Katie and Mommy had fun swimming and sharing sunglasses (you can't see it in this picture, but Katie is wearing my sunglasses). She loves to swim and to wear "mommy gasses"...so she was doing just fine!


Here are Katie and Daddy hanging under the big water mushroom. Oh...and she refused to take off her baseball cap...she must be our daughter after all!

Gringo baught this Gazillion Bubble Maker machine and it was the hit of the reunion. Katie loved saying "bye-bye bubbles" and popping them. Kept her pretty busy! (Notice Elmo in her hands...she has a slight OBSESSION with Elmo right now.)

Katie and Carly were BFFs this weekend. (Carly is Scott's cousin Fran's daughter). Carly was such a good sport...she watched Elmo's World about 7 million times!

Katie even conned Aunt Gail in to taking her for a walk by the river...I think they both kind of enjoyed it though!

Our Sweet Great-Grandma (Badger)

This is a picture of Katie and Scott's great grandmother, Badger, taken when Katie was about 4 weeks old. (That makes Badger Katie's great-GREAT grandmother!) We have been so lucky to have her in our lives...she is extra special! Much to our great sadness, Badger is preparing to make her way to Heaven. We were lucky enough to have advance notice so that we could go spend time with her on Sunday. She is still with us and we assume she is preparing herself for a great voyage to be with her loved ones. I am posting this to ask those of you who are willing to please pray that Badger's transition be peaceful for her and her loved ones (there are so many of us out there.)

I had planned on meeting my friend Allison's new baby on Sunday, and thought it pretty bitter sweet to miss meeting this new guy...to say goodbye to such a wonderful woman. Badger loves babies and would have much rather me be holding Davis than holding her hand. But, as I said, Scott and I felt very lucky to have the opportunity to say our goodbyes. I am sure that I will post sometime in the near future that your prayers have helped...I just ask again that you also pray extra hard for her family, especially Darlene (Diva) and Audrey (G.G)...they have been such great support for Badger, in these really tough days.

Go Bearkats!

The Sam Houston State baseball team made it to the regional playoffs for the College World Series...and Daddy was pumped! So, on Saturday we headed out to Rice to cheer on the Bearkats as they took on the Longhorns. It was not pretty for SHSU...but it was fun!

Here's the coach making one of his MANY trips to the mound to calm down his pitcher.


And, here's Katie sporting her Bearkat orange! She loves "ball"!

Fun With Friends

While Mommy and Daddy were playing at their end of the year party...I got to play with some of my JMS friends. Here we are playing with bubbles!


And, here I am stealing the soccer ball.

Lily and I are learning how to hula hoop...Lily is trying the more difficult neck move...while I am mastering the around-the-waist move!