Jaylen Jane Byrd

Our precious niece, Jaylen Jane Byrd, was born on Monday! She weighted 5 pounds 10 ounces. What a beautiful baby girl. We have been in Texas since Tuesday, so this is the first opportunity we've had to announce her birth on our blog. Next week, we will try to add some pictures of her. She is actually back in the hospital tonight, because of dehydration and jaundice. Hopefully, she will only be there for a couple of days, but please keep her in your prayers.

Katie and I had an excellent Thanksgiving Holiday. We were able to see all her family and eat a lot of food. Katie is blessed with a great family, including two grandmothers who are still with us. Being able to see both of them over the holiday was especially special. We were also able to see our other niece, Austin! She is growing and already starting to show a great personality. I also really enjoyed spending some time with my 6 year old brother-in-law, Major. Two of my favorite times were playing air hockey and telling him stories about Spiderman battling with an invisible zombie (his requested main characters). There many other great stories, but I am too distracted by college football, sorry.

Finally, Dad, Katie and I just got back from my beloved Sooners beating the our in-state rival cowpokes. It was a good victory for senior day and a not so good day for our in-state rivals. To each of you reading this, we hope you a had a great holiday.

Boomer Sooner!

This post is very late, given the length of time and the fact that it comes the day after OU's loss to texas tech. Oh well. For the first time in our marriage, I am celebrating an OU victory over texas! We had a great weekend, staying the first night at her dad's. We got up Saturday the morning and headed for the game. There is nothing like seeing a stadium half crimson and half orange. This is the only rivalry I've heard of where each team's fans get half the seats in the stadium. It is an amazing experience, although I recommend having thick skin because the teams and fans do not like each other. Katie and I are like a walking punchline, holding hands while dressed in our team's colors. On the way into the stadium, a texas fan staggers up to us (after consuming a few adult beverages) and made this statement and nothing else: "you know your child will be the antichrist." Katie and I just laughed. Our guess is that he passed out before the game started. At the end of the 3rd quarter, we actually left the game. Katie's body gave us some indications that our baby was trying to make an early exit. So, we headed for Baylor Hospital. Turns out, Katie's body gave us a false alarm, but we were both glad to get checked out. So, we finished the game at the hospital, which was different, but did not make the victory any less sweet. Then, we had dinner and stayed the night with our good friend, Eric Thornton. It was a great weekend and allowed me to decorate our mantle with my OU. As awesome as the victory was, it is just as nice having a wife who enjoys college football as much as I do, even if she cheers for the wrong team.

New member of the family

Michael and I added a new member to our family - a Jeep! We decided to get something a little bit bigger to drive once the baby comes. I used to have a Jeep and loved it, so I really wanted another one. Michael is really big on good gas mileage, and not that I don't love the environment or anything, I just really like my SUV's too! After much discussion (debate), we did decide on the Jeep and for the record, Michael really likes it so far.

This afternoon is Melody's baby shower! I know it will be so exciting for Mel to not only get all sorts of fun baby stuff, but to get out of the house to see everybody as well. We are so excited that she and the baby have made it this far. Mel goes off her pump tomorrow, so we coud have our new niece any day this week! Our family has been "taking bets" on when the baby will come and personally I'm saying 8 p.m. tomorrow. I can't take off school any day this week because of Thanksgiving, so I'm selfishly hoping she won't come during the school day! Hopefully we will get to make a post later this week about a new member of our family - not just a jeep!

Hook 'Em Horns!!!

Michael and I had a wonderful anniversary weekend in Austin, TX - A.K.A. - God's country! On Saturday morning, we got to go the the Texas high school state cross country meet. My brother-in-law, Junior, had two boys running. It was so good to see him and my sister, Jessi. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see our niece, Austin, but hopefully we will get to see her for Thanksgiving.

Saturday afternoon, we went to watch my Texas Longhorns beat up on the Texas Tech Red Raiders. I had actually never been to a game in DKR stadium. Oh, it was so great to be surrounded by fans that love Texas just as much as I do. I told Michael now he knows how I feel every time we go to an OU game. Nobody really played defense, but we had a great time. Here are a few pics from the game:

This is our little girl's first picture at a Texas game. She is definitely going to be a Longhorn!


Michael is having SO much fun...maybe he could be a Longhorn too!

The eyes of Texas are upon you...

On Sunday morning, Michael got to feel our little girl move for the first time! One more reason I think she's going to be a Longhorn - she waited until we were in Austin to move for her daddy. She loves it down there!