ION Geo-something-or-another

Times are changing in the Counts household...we are no longer bleeding Boeing blue. Jacob has verbally accepted an offer from ION Geophysical Corporation in Stafford, Tx. If all goes well with the paperwork (which I am sure it will) he will start there October 22nd. He decided to make this move in order to gain some more technical experience and to actually use those crazy hard circuit skills he learned at Baylor. I am so proud of him for working so hard to make this change happen. It was definitely not easy to leave such an awesome company but I am sure this will be a great change for his career and our family. Yahoo for ION!!!

This is Curtis contemplating the strong side tackle game plan at his first football game. He has serious coaching potential. Look at the concentration on his face!

Family Fun Day

Today is family fun day :) Daddy stayed home to play with us (or he is taking care of us...depending on who you ask) So far we have had a wonderful day playing in bed, taking walks, watching Curtis crawl around the house and mastering throwing his baseball. Curtis has officially started to sign we get a kick out of watching him practice. So far he has signed Dad, Mom, milk, and outside. He is still perfecting all the signs obviously but he definitely gets a kick out of being able to communicate. The real reason Jacob stayed home today is because Curtis has been pretty sick for the last week. He has Coxsackie (sp?) virus otherwise known as mouth, hand, and foot disease. I took him to the doctor on Monday after six days of extreme fussiness and nose run. When the doctor looked in his throat he found lots of ulcers and inflammation. Poor little man! No wonder he has been a fuss pot! Tylenol seams to help quite a bit and hopefully he will be back to his happy self by the end of the week. Another reason Jacob is home is so that he and I have some time to discuss all of his job offers (three in all) and decide what change, if any, we are going to make. I think we need to decide by the end of the week. Have a great Wednesday!

Excuses Excuses

I have a million of them as to why I have not posted in almost a month...been sick, been traveling, been teething, really I could go on but why?! You are my closest family and friends and you love me despite my lack of blogging. So there I posted... Happy? Will post more if little man decides to tajke a nap today. Be sure to check out our pictures from San Diego on our picassa site! love to all!

Out of Reverse

He finally shifted out of reverse! I can't get over how adorable he looks crawling all over our house with his little tush in the air. A momma's love is so overwhelming! For weeks now we have been thinking he would crawl any day. He has been trying so hard to get going in the right direction. His first real crawl was in my mom's office trying to get to a really cool toy truck. What a big boy! OH, and he has decided that since he is such a big boy that he no longer needs naps. Yesterday he took three twenty minute naps all day long. Crazy boy! I should have no problem shedding these last few baby pounds while I chase him around from now on! He just woke up...more later

I heart my daddy

Okay, everyone who knows me knows that I LOVE my father. I talk about him constantly and am an absolute daddy's girl. He is most definitely one of my favorite people in the entire world. Besides being a fantastic father, loving husband, and compassionate grandfather, he is just a wonderful person. He would give you the shirt off of his back in an instant, family or not. I have always admired my father for his incredible selflessness. He has an amazing way of hitting you with the truth without being judgemental or self-righteous. His unwavering faith is my example. Last but certainly not least he is the rock and the glue of my life and of his family. He is our strength. So seeing him in a hospital bed this weekend was an absolute nightmare. Let me back up and tell you that the Schwartz side of my family doesn't exactly have a good healthy family history. Besides the infamous Schwartz belly and chin (Thanks a lot for those genes dad!) the cholesterol and triglyceride numbers are absolutely astounding in pretty much everyone in our family. My grandfather had twelve brothers and sisters and eleven of them died of heart attacks. Scary stuff! My father has always taken the best of care of his health and I am really proud of the way he keeps up with his preventative tests and medicines. Still, despite all of that I have always feared that he would inherit the fate of his father. So Saturday morning when I got the phone call that dad was in the hospital with chest pains I really thought my fears had come true. Seeing him lie in that bed was horrible for me but even worse for him. Being our rock I know it killed him to have us see him lying there feeling weak. Praise God that throughout the weekend the doctors ruled out the possibility of a heart attack. He has been poked and prodded and tested with no real answer but his heart is very healthy. Thank you to all of you who were a support to my family through this scare. Dad your the best...don't ever do that to us again!!!

He has teeth!!

Here is a picture of Curtis' two little teeth. I am very impressed with my photography skills by the way. It only took me fifty pictures to finally get one shot of the teeth!!! Curtis thought the drool hanging from his mouth would add depth and character to the picture.

Mr. & Mrs. Kale Kirchner

The wedding this weekend was absolutely AMAZING! The ceremony was candle lit, flowers everywhere, just absolutely stunning. The music was really special with a 12 person bell choir (directed by Jen's mother!), a string quartet, a trumpet player, and most importatnly Jen's grandmother who belted out the most amazing operatic version of the Our Father I had ever heard. Power to the Grannies who still have the lung capasity to belt it out!!! All of the bridesmaids looked like models in their silver satin dresses (which could totally be worn again!!!). When Jen walked down the aisle I thought Kale was going to faint. She was completely stunning. Her dress was HUGE and looked like it came out of a page of a high fashion magazine. The reception was at the Marriott Waterway and was complete with a full bar, prime rib, pasta selections, cooked to order potatoes, and did I mention a full bar? Makes me totally shell shocked to think of having a girl and having to pay for all of that!!! So far we only have rehearsal dinners to worry about (unless Curtis becomes a priest which would be perfectly wonderful too!). We had a wonderful weekend and thoughourly enjoyed our time in the woodlands. Thank you Jen and Kale for inviting us to your special day! We love you and Congratulations! Enjoy the pictures.

Curtis got his second tooth in yesterday. He is growing up before my own eyes! I will try to get a picture of that and post it soon!