New Addition...Hermes

As most of you know, our mini-dachshund, Athena has taken the addition of Hope into our family pretty hard. Although she has warmed up to Hope and she seems to like her now, or at least tolerate her, she has still been jealous and lonely. We have been trying to find her a doggy friend, but after many attempts, we haven't been able to find a good match. Well, last night I decided to tag along with Andrew and Cassie to Pensacola for Sushi and puppy drooling at Petland. See, Andrew and Cassie have found this adorable puppy they want to buy, but are waiting to buy it until they move into their new house. So, they are traveling to Pensacola about once a week to "eat sushi" and check on her. After meeting their cute Toto dog, I decided to bring Hope around to see the rest of the puppies. She loved it and giggled every time we passed puppies roughhousing. Somewhere near the end of the row I saw a cute little mini-dachshund sleeping in a ball. Now, I know the pups at Petland are way over-priced, so I wasn't even thinking about getting him, but I was curious to see how over-priced he was. Well, turns out he was on super-clearance because he was getting to old to stay there. So, naturally I asked to hold him. After playing with him and emailing Jason a few pictures and video, we decided he was perfect. It was a long night in Petland (three hours to be exact), but well worth it. I brought our new puppy home and he fit in right away. Athena and him played until midnight and woke up early this morning to play some more. He is a perfect match.

Hermes...welcome to Team Montanez.

Date Night, Crawling, Standing Up and Pictures

Hi everyone,

I think I am officially the worst blogger in the world! I just keep forgetting about it! Haha. Well the past two weeks have been as fun as ever. I love being a mom and watching Hope grow into this beautiful, strong, smart, curious, and active little girl. As most of you know, Hope turned 6 months old on the 16th. She is growing up much faster than I would like, but I am enjoying every minute of it. Today, we went to the doctor for a check-up and she came out with flying colors! It was so funny, the doctors eyes grew huge when I told him she was already sitting up, crawling, and pulling herself up onto her feet. She will be walking and potty trained in no time! We now have the OK for a sippy cup and table food!

Aunt Cassie took Hope's 6 month photos last week, and they turned out beautiful! I don't have them available to post online yet, but when I do I will. They take my breath away. They are the kind of pictures you get lost in. They will be bringing tears to my eyes for years and years to come; probably for the rest of my life. Cassie - I can't thank you enough! Thank you for capturing the true beauty and innocence of my dear Hope.

So, Jason and I went on a date the other night! It was the first time we had gone out without Hope in months and it was wonderful! Jason made the whole night a surprise. First, he brought me to this great Irish pub that brews their own beer. Then he gave me two choices - something dangerously fun, or something innocently fun. I chose innocently fun and he brought me bowling. We used to bowl all the time when we were dating. We played 3 games and I won best out of 3! That is a really big deal because I almost never beat Jason at anything. Jason then gave me two more choices - something romantic, or something relaxing. After bowling 3 games and eating tons of irish food and beer, I chose relaxing. Jason took me to this hotel that keeps their hot tubs on all year. Yes, we put our swimsuits on and ran in 50 degree weather to the hot tub. The breeze from the ocean played with my hair as Jason and I kicked back and let the hot water work out some of the kinks in our backs. I think I chose the better of the two choices, because a hot tub is both relaxing and romantic! The whole night reminded me of when Jason and I were first dating. Thank you, Jason, for bringing me back to the fall of 2005! I'm so glad you chose me to be your forever girlfriend!

Right now I am sitting on the couch. Jason is sitting next to me finishing up some work and I am finishing up a bowl of cookies and cream ice cream...yes, some things never change. My house is kind of a mess, but it was still a good day. The laundry is almost done, the dishes are almost clean, the toys are almost put away, but the most important thing is that Hope is happily dreaming away in her bed, and Jason and I are happily signing off on another day in this wonderful life.

Thank you all for tuning in and here are some recent pictures.

My play house (not very happy in this picture)

Learning to stand
TEETH
Daddy and Me
Sitting up like a big girl...with big girl shoes

Mommy and Me

This year, Grandma and Grandpa Lewellen came down for Thanksgiving. While they were here, we had some family pictures taken...here is a peek.

Grandma and Grandpa Lewellen
Team Montanez
The whole family together for Thanksgiving! Miss you Grandma and Grandpa!

First Teeth!

Hello all my followers!

I know I have not blogged for a while. Right now, I am taking advantage of the fact that Hope is down for a nap. Have I ever mentioned that she does not nap often? She sleeps 11 - 12 hours at night, but almost none during the day. So, that doesn't leave me a lot of alone time to do things like this. Especially lately, because she has been very grumpy. I don't blame her though. Her two bottom front teeth are coming in. The poor thing has no idea why she is in pain all the time. Today I was able to feel them! So they have actually pushed all the way through the gums! I'm so proud of her. She could have been a lot worse than she was. She just wanted to be held a lot.

Life has been fun lately. We have been living the crazy holiday life of endless mashed potatoes and family gatherings. We spent about a week car shopping and finally purchased a decent car that doesn't sound like a semi truck! Hope is starting to eat solid foods. So far we have tried Applesauce, peaches, and bananas. She isn't very fond of the peaches. Her face is priceless! I was laughing so much I wasn't able to take a picture, so sorry Grandma Jeske. I'll try again. We also put her in her first pair of shoes this week. They went straight into her mouth. I'm convinced she likes them more than her teething ring! She looks so grown up in them. I have a video I will try to upload onto the blog. You are supposed to be able to, but it always takes too long for me and I lose patience.

This week I am spending cleaning my house from top to bottom! Reason number one: We had rats in our house...yes RATS!! for about a month. The stupid poison I bought took weeks to kill them! Finally we found them and got rid of them! I am so glad to not wake up to fresh rat poop in my bathroom every morning. So, now I get the hebbie jebbies thinking about how much gross stuff they left al over my floors. Reason number two: Jason's boss is coming into town next week to check out his home office and spend some time working with him (His boss works 7 hours away in tampa). We are having her over for dinner on Monday and she will be in and out for three days. Definitely a good reason to get your house in order!

So I have to mention how totally awesome my husband is! He is only 2 months into his new job and he won us a free TV in some territory competition! GO JASON! He is so dedicated to his work :) He also won the championship with his Best Buy football team! Way to go team!

Hope just woke up and is staring at me with a wide-eyed blank stare..HAHA she is so funny

And now for some pictures and hopefully some video.