Poor James...

Nearly every day after Selah wakes up from her morning nap I let her watch a little Sesame Street while I fix lunch. Well, today was no different. Selah was sitting in her little wooden rocking chair enjoying her TV time and I was just about to put lunch on the table when a new sketch started. It was James Blunt sitting with his guitar, clearly down about something. Telly comes running up, asks James what's wrong and James says that he's lost something very special. Very concerned, Telly asks James what it is that he's lost and James decides to sing about it.

The music to "You're Beautiful" begins to play and James starts out with "This shape was brilliant..." and proceeds to sing "My Triangle" (the shape of the day).

No sooner did James start singing and I hear Selah start crying from the living room. I'm so close to having lunch ready that I just call from the kitchen, "Selah, what's wrong? It's OK, Baby Girl." while I finish cutting up her food. The cries continue to grow with each line James sings, and so I round the corner to find Selah, in her chair, tears rolling down her cheeks, pointing at the TV.

James Blunt is making my daughter cry!!

As I'm about to console her I think, what a funny post that would be! So I run grab the camera and get a few quick shots. Bad Mommy, I know. As I take the last pic the sketch ends and Elmo's World comes on; the tears and crying are immediately replaced with clapping and smiling for her furry, red monster-friend!! Oh, the drama!

Of course, I'd like to think that my little girl is so very intuitive and insightful that she was being truly sympathetic to James' plite in the loss of his beloved triangle. But I guess I must admit that it may have been his scary falsetto voice and accent, or the sad music, too!

Anway, I thought the story and pics of James Blunt terrorizing my sweet baby was definitely post-worthy! Check out the pic and video below:

Don't cry, James!

"My Triangle" ~ James Blunt and Telly

WHAT?!

Doesn't everybody drink like this?!

Like a weed!

Selah's 12-month stats:

Weight: 21 lb. 4 oz. (50-75%)

Height: 31 in (95%)

Head: 18 in (50-75%)

Did you SEE that?! 95% on height! Dr. Raine thinks she might have a future in the WNBA or as a supermodel! Where does it come from?! Lord knows, NOT from her parents!

He gave her the gold star for sleeping so well through the night (11-12 hrs), which Mommy definitely appreciates! Apparently many babies her age are still just going 6-7 hrs/night at a stretch. CLEARLY they have not been "Sleep Sensed" (thanks Katherine)!

Funny story...Dr. Raine was going through the round of questions about her developmental progress and asked if she's pointing and vocalizing when she wants something. No sooner had the words left his mouth and Selah started yelling "Ah, ah, ah..." and pointing to her cup of crackers on the exam table. Dr. Raine started cracking up and said "there's my answer"!

Yes, she responds on cue!

TALL, BEAUTIFUL, BRILLIANT...she's got it ALL (including the attitude)!!!

New duds!

Outfit courtesy of Ms. Summers,

crocs courtesy of Ms. Susan

What a look!

Old Man!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!

New do!

Finally hair long enough for pigtails!
Barely!

SPLISH SPLASH!!!

We had a Birthday BASH! And boy, was it EVER!! About 40 of our close friends and family (including almost 15 kiddos!) joined us to celebrate Selah's first birthday. Since it was a typical August day with a high of 104, we setup a splash pool for the babies and a water slide for the big kids (including Terry and Brett!) to help everyone keep cool, particularly the babies. They were a HUGE hit!!

Here are some pics of the fun!

Caleb being brave on the big kid slide!

Watering the babies...

Splish!

Splash!

A little too wet!

Opening presents! Thanks everyone!!

First taste of cake!
Mmmmm...cake...
Here Jack, you need a little color!
STUFFED!
Mommy and Daddy with the Birthday Girl!

Not a baby anymore...

Selah Blaire has officially entered toddlerhood. Wow! A year? Really?! This day is a little bittersweet. Of course it's exciting to think about her future, what will she learn next? Who will she become? But also sad that this year passed so quickly, my baby girl is now a little lady.

Let's take a look back at that day just one year ago when our lives forever changed...

Selah Blaire's Birthstory ~ Tuesday, August 8th, 2006

At 41 weeks, 2 days, I was 9 days past my due date of July 30th, and WAY beyond ready. After having had my membranes stripped twice within the past week with no success, I was waiting for the birthing center to open at 9am so that I could call and find out the next plan of action. At 8:40am the phone rang and it was Cherie, my midwife, calling to ask if there was any change. After telling her how things had gone the day before, she told me to come in and she would check me. We took showers and got ready for another trip to Dallas (the 3rd in less than a week) and before we left Terry asked if we needed to bring everything with us (bags, food, etc.). I naively replied that there wasn't any point because they would just strip my membranes and send me home again.

We got to the birthing center around 10:30am. Cherie checked me and I was 100% effaced and 5 cm dialated! Yeah! But still, I felt nothing. She told me to go walk in the park right next door and asked Terry to bring our stuff in from the car. OOPS!! Stuff?! We left it at home! So...Cherie sent Terry home for our bags, but wouldn't let me go because it was too risky considering I was fairly far along. The right decision, but it was still scary and upsetting to me that I had to stay there and work on getting my labor started without him! Today was the day we were going to meet our baby girl, FINALLY!

While Terry was gone I walked in the park. I walked and walked, taking many breaks for water and the bathroom.

When Terry got back around noon (the fastest trip to Arlington and back EVER!) we made a few more laps around the park before heading inside for me to be checked again. I was 6 cm, and Cherie suggested breaking my water to help move my contractions along since they were still barely noticeable. She broke my water at 1pm and things really progressed from there! I labored through mild contractions for a few hours, mostly rocking on a peanut shaped birthing ball. A little after 4pm Cherie and Debbie, my birth assitant, came to check on me and commented on what a quiet laborer I was. My pain really had not been bad at all to that point, so I was getting a little worried that I wasn't progressing and would have a long night ahead of me.

I ate a snack of crackers and juice, and then Cherie sent me to the bathroom and then she would check me. Terry came to the bathroom with me and the moment I sat down I felt a HUGE wave of intense pressure and pain. Now THAT must have been a contraction! Let's just say the quiet part of my labor was over; I grabbed Terry around the waist and buried my head in his stomach as hard as I could to try and counter the pressure with each contraction. After about 10-15 minutes, the contractions let up enough for me to head back to the birthing room. As I walked down the hall, I prayed that God would strengthen my body and my spirit to be able to endure what I thought was the beginning of true labor.
When Cherie checked me, we were both surprised that I was 10 cm dialated and ready to push! Praise Jesus for an incredibly short labor and transition! I squatted for the first 2-3 pushes, and then moved to the bed. With 3 more pushes Selah was born, and Terry got to "catch" her and put her on my stomach!

Selah was born at 5:14pm, weighing 8 lb. 6 oz., and 21 inches long.




I truly cannot imagine having a better experience and wouldn't change a single thing...except maybe remembering our junk!

Selah had a great first birthday! We drove to Dallas to eat lunch with Daddy, opened presents, and had our very first cupcake! A special day indeed!!

Birthday breakfast of waffles, blueberries, and strawberries. YUMMY!

Look Ma, no hands!

Selah officially took her first steps on July 5th, but it was kind of a freak thing. We were at the Parks Mall playground with a new group of friends and another mom stood Selah up and said, "Walk to Mommy!". I said she would just plop down and crawl (she hasn't even stood without holding on yet), but when my friend let go Selah toddled 4-5 little steps right to me!! I was so shocked! This was it, right?!

WRONG!

Since then Selah could care less about walking. When prompted by Terry or me, she would barely take a step or two. Most of the time she would refuse to even stand up on her own. We decided to give it a rest for awhile. No sense pushing her, walking should be fun!

Tonight (after a few weeks of no pressure!) we stood her up just to see what she would do, and she took off across the living room! I thought I was busy when she started crawling, but I can already tell that THIS is a whole new ballgame!

We've got her on video, so I'll try to get it uploaded soon...

Lil' bit of everything...

It's been awhile since I've posted pics of Selah, mainly because there just hasn't been an event that was unquestionably "blog-worthy".

Here are a few of Selah's favorite things to do the past few weeks...

Playing in Toby and Maggie's water bowl! In...her favorite spot...
...Out!
Poppin' a squat on Mr. Turtle, and chewing on Daddy's watch!
We LOVE reading stories!
Daddy's favorite thing...Crazy Bath Hair!
Dressing up!
Taking "Peanut Butter" for a ride!
In...again...
...Out...yet again!

Coursey Construction Co., LLC

Terry's parents and grandpa visited this past weekend and were so gracious to help us build a pergola over our back patio. This has been a long-awaited project on our "to do" list and I'm happy to say we can now check it off!

The side of our yard slopes down so steeply toward our neighbors that there is about a 2 ft. drop from the side of the patio down to the grould. It's definitely NOT attractive, but has never really been an issue until Selah started taking a few steps recently and will soon be toddling around on her own. Needless to say we had to get at least a railing up, and pronto!

Terry had a good time working with his dad and grandpa, and his mother and I had fun playing with Selah in the air conditioning!

Here a some pics of the masterpiece!

The much needed railing! No getting through there, Baby Girl!

My design, Terry's steady hand

Selah showing her Great-Grandpa all of her toys

Mission: China

It has been an amazing past few days in the Coursey household! On Sunday Terry and our good friend, Jason Maurice, were approached by the preschool director at our church with the opportunity to travel with a missions team of preschool workers to China. At first we weren't sure if that was a possibility since Terry will be moving to a new lab in August and didn't want to create any problems by asking for time off before he even starts, but he has such a desire to go that he decided to take a chance.

On Monday he met with his new boss, Jerry, and explained the situation, prefacing his request by acknowledging that it was somewhat presumptuous, but that he really feels led to go. Without hesitation Jerry said he wouldn't even think about getting in the way of an opportunity like this and that they would work out whatever they needed for Terry to be able to go! Praise the Lord!!

Apparently Jason had a similar experience when he approached his boss as well, so it's a thumbs up for both of them!

The group of six will leave on September 28th for Shanghai, travel by train overnight on the 30th to the remote province of Hiiraan, spend the week of October 1st-7th working in two children's homes, travel by train overnight on the 7th to Beijing for four days of site-seeing, and will return to TX on October 11th.

Please pray for Terry and the others as they prepare to spread the love of Jesus during this amazing journey. Pray that all of the funds needed will be raised, that all of the preparations will fall into place, and that the whole team will make it there and back safely. Pray especially for the people of China who will cross paths with this team, that their hearts would be softened and ready to hear the Good News!! More info to come!

11 Months Old?!

How can it be that our little girl is entering her last month of babyhood?

My experience as a mommy so far has proved all of the typical clichés to be true, and they've become very profound statements of parenthood for me, rather than just goofy sayings. So I must say that it really does feel like we just brought her home yesterday. Lately I feel the need to really cherish everything "baby" that I can like cuddling, nursing, etc. because I know that all too soon those things will be just memories as well.

We spent the day going to church in the morning and playing with Papa before he had to make the trip back to OK. Selah LOVES playing with her Papa, he's just SO SILLY!!

Root, root, root...

For the Rangers! Selah experienced her first baseball game last night as the Rangers lost to the Baltimore Orioles. While the game was slightly dissappointing, we had a GREAT time!

We were joined by our good friends, Tom & Rebekah Louis, my dad, and Terry's friend and college roommate, Eric, who we haven't seen in over 3 years.

I wasn't sure if Selah would make it through the whole game, but she did really well. Even the guy in front of us thought so!

Mommy, I'm trying to watch the game!

SO COOL in Ms. Rebekah's sunglasses!

Selah and her Papa

Best seat in the house!