Vegas, Baby!

Monday, May 11th
We left for Las Vegas around 11:30 am. The flight was pretty uneventful so we arrived on time and got a taxi to the hotel. We were staying at the Luxor Hotel and Casino. We had never stayed there before and were excited about staying in the pyramid. Of course, when we check in, they have no king beds ready in the pyramid so they gave us the option of staying in 2 queen beds in the pyramid or a king in the tower. We initially went for the king in the tower and then realized half the fun was staying in the pyramid. So we decided to be "wild and crazy" and stay in the pyramid and even sleep in separate beds! :)

After changing our room and dropping off our luggage, we were starving so we decided to grab a bite in the hotel cafe and then check out the Luxor since we'd never been there before. The Luxor is connected to The Excalibur and Mandalay Bay so we walked between the three hotels and decided it was time to lose some money. I found a machine I liked and it obviously liked me as I won $200! We played for about 2 hours - winning enough to stay steady - and finally I cashed out with my $200. It was almost 8 pm (which was 10 pm Houston time) and we were ready to call it a night. Plus, we figured we had two more nights to be losers so we might as well go out on a win streak tonight. We went back to the room to watch the season finale of House - during which I drifted in and out of sleep.

We were dosing peacefully in our separate beds when all of a sudden at about midnight the fire alarm went off. I thought I was going to have a heart attack it scared me so bad. It lasted about 15 minutes before they told us they had a "minor incident that had been contained". Luckily, I had no problem getting back to sleep. I just prayed that our hotel wouldn't catch on fire the remainder of the night.

Tuesday, May 12th
Today we got up and decided we had to have the breakfast buffet at Paris. If you ever go to Vegas, it is a must! We called to make sure that we wouldn't miss it and was told breakfast was over at 11:00. We got down there around 10:20 and had about a 20 minute wait. This actually turned out to be the best time to go. They transition to lunch was right at 11:00 so our first trip to the buffet was breakfast and our second (much smaller) trip was lunch. It was the first time we'd had a glimpse of their lunch buffet and it looked so yummy! So we got the best of both worlds at the breakfast price (lunch was $3 more per person).

On our walk down to Paris, we noticed they were filming a movie entitled "Going to the Greek". Jason saw the star of Superbad but I missed him. On the way back down the strip, they stopped traffic to film a star running after a vehicle. It amazes me they are closing the traffic on Las Vegas Blvd. (which is super busy) to film this at 12 pm but they are. I had no idea who the guy was and we were trying to figure it out as he was walking towards us when someone yelled "Diddy". You got it - it was Diddy (or P. Diddy or Puff Daddy or Sean Combs or whatever you chose to call him). This would be our first of two star sightings.

On the way back up the strip, we stopped in the Coke store and got a glass bottle of coke as a refreshment. (There is nothing like Coke in a glass bottle!) Then we explored the M&Ms store -which is so fun! After, we decided to see a movie so we went to see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. It's ok. I wouldn't pay money for it at a theater but it's cute enough to rent. (I'm sure Jason would disagree! This would be the first of three shows he saw for me! I love my husband.)

After the movie, it was time to go get ready for Cher. Not wanting to risk being late, we took a taxi from Luxor to Caesar's for the show. The show was fabulous! I loved it. (Again, I'm not sure Jason would use the same descriptions.) Cher was beautiful and she put on a great show complete with all the costumes, wigs, etc that we've come to know and love from Cher. The show was 90 minutes (too short for me) and seemed to be over as quickly as it began. We decided to grab a few drinks at the Shadow Bar in Caesar's and then called it a night (and we didn't even gamble!).

Wednesday, May 13th
Today was my massage day. It started with Krispy Kreme donuts (provided by Jason) so I knew it was going to be 80 minutes of pure bliss - and it was. When I got back to the room, Jason had surprised me with tickets to the Phantom of the Opera which was playing at the Venetian. This began our never-ending walking adventure. Jason had gotten the tickets from Tickets 4 Tonight (which is a great deal!) but what you receive is actually a voucher and you have to go pick up your tickets from the box office. This meant going to the Venetian first. We decided to take the monorail which you could pick up at the back of MGM. What a mistake....it took us 15 minutes to get to MGM and another 15 minutes just to get to the Monorail station. (We did see a cute lion playing along the route.) After an hour, we finally had our tickets!

We decided to head back up the strip and go eat at PF Chang's which is in Planet Hollywood. Again, we trek back to the monorail and get to the restaurant about 30 minutes later. (As you can imagine, we are beginning to realize this monorail thing is not a great idea!) While at PF Chang's, we see our second star sighting - Holly Madison - who I later learned was there to lead the world's largest bikini parade. Darn! It was the day we left and missed it. :)

After eating I could not bear the idea of walking anymore so we went to the Hoops Hall of Fame Exhibit and planted ourselves on a few slot machines at Planet Hollywood. After losing our money very quickly, we decided to start walking back to the Venetian and made a pit stop to lose more money at Paris. (Well, I lost money but Jason won about $100.)

Finally, it was time for Phantom which was so great! The theater was beautiful and the actor portraying the phantom was fabulous! After Phantom, I wanted to walk the strip to see the Volcano at the Mirage and the fountains at the Bellagio. We then went once more to get a coke in a glass bottle and rode the roller coaster at New York, New York. Finally, I was ready to call it a night. Jason wanted to spin the reels one more time so we kissed goodbye in the Casino of the Luxor and separated. I hadn't been in the room 15 minutes and Jason walked in. Apparently, the spinning of the wheels was not kind to him.

Thursday, May 14th
Time to go home. We got up, checked out, and headed to the airport. The flight took off on time and we arrived a little early. We had a wonderful time in Vegas but it was good to be home. I missed our girls and I am sure Grandma was a little ready for some help. There really is nothing like home, sweet home.

Happy Mother's Day

Ok...so I know it's been more than 6 weeks since I've written. But I have a good excuse. Our computer crashed so for the latter part of April/early part of May I have been having to use an out of date desktop that takes 30 minutes just to boot up. But....I'm now back in action and will make more of an effort to blog - at least once a month or so.

Today is Mother's Day and I was lucky enough to have my mom here to celebrate. Jason first cooked breakfast for us and then for dinner cooked my favorite - spincah tomatoes & kabobs. He's done the dishes (with a little help from my mom) and the laundry. It has been a wonderful day! As I celebrate this Mother's Day with my mom, I realize how lucky I am to have three generations sitting in my living room. My girls are beautiful and my mom is my best friend. I hope my fellow mothers out there have had as great a day as I have had. Whether you are a mom or not, take a moment to remember your mom and enjoy being her baby once again.

I'm off to pack for Vegas....Cha-ching!!!

Six Weeks

I have officially been a mother of two (outside of the womb) for six weeks. It has taken a little bit of an adjustment but we all finally seem to be in a routine - if there can be a routine with a six week old. Bailey adores her little sister and we are so blessed to have a healthy new addition to our family. As I sit here on Reese's six week birthday with her sleeping peacefully beside me, I thought it appropriate to share six things I have discovered about being a mother of two (besides how much I miss a full night's sleep):

(1) A smile or an I love you can melt my heart so fast. Those girls have no idea that they could get anything they wanted by starting their request with "I love you, Mommy".
(2) Nothing makes me laugh like these girls. Whether it is Bailey telling me about her prince kicking her out of the castle or Reese scaring herself when she makes a noise that actually came from her. They make me laugh harder and louder than anything or anyone else can.
(3) Having my own girls makes me appreciate how good a mom my mom was and still is. My greatest hope is that one day my girls think I'm the coolest mom ever - just like I think my mom is.
(4) Looking at my children makes me love my husband more. Seeing these angels we have created and watching him interact with them makes me realize that my husband is some of the best parts of my children.
(5) I love, love, love my girls. I never thought I'd love two little people so much but sometimes when I look at them - especially together - I just want to cry. My heart has so much love for those little things that I don't even know if I can stand it.
(6) God is good! There is no way I have done anything on this earth to be blessed with two healthy, beautiful girls. They truly have to be a gift from God and I am so grateful that He trusted me with these two angels.

Our Two Week Adventure

Well, I cannot believe it. Yesterday Reese celebrated her two week birthday. It has gone so quickly. In honor of her being two weeks, it was time to meet her pediatrician. We've used her with Bailey and love her but knew Reese might be less than thrilled with their first meeting. We were right. She was beyond mad. After the pediatrician, we planned to run a few errands thinking the experience would wear her out. It didn't. Instead, we were able to see just how well her lungs really worked. We tried feeding her in the car and rocking her but nothing worked. We finally just started for home. She finally gave up and cried herself to sleep because we were almost home and she was finally out. Grandma Frances and I took that opportunity to drive through Taco Bell for our "fix".


As for the pediatrician, she was very happy with how well Reese is doing. She is now 9 pounds, 12.8 ounces and still 21 1/2" long. Unfortunately, she also has her first cold thanks to big sister. It doesn't seem to bother her too much but it's hard to hear her cough. The doctor said it should only last about 7 - 10 days but that seems like such a long time in the life of someone who is only 14 days old. At least in all other respects she is healthy. We are so blessed in that regard.


Enjoy the pictures of her two week birthday. We'll write more later!

Reese Has Arrived

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the newest member of the Sharp family....

Reese Leighanna Sharp made her debut on Wednesday, February 11 at 10:36 am. She weighed 9 pounds, 6 1/2 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long. Big sister Bailey is loving being a big sister but having a little adjustment to not being totally doted on at all times. I think she is doing well despite telling me that "Babies are boring".

I realize that I am almost 2 weeks late in making this announcement but we have been a tad bit busy. Adjusting to being a mom of two while trying to recover from my c-section has kept me a little bit busy. I will try to provide more updates on a regular basis but for now, enjoy a few

pictures of our newest angel and her very proud big sister.

Reese's Debut

Well, I went to the doctor today and had made no progress. When doing the physical exam, my doctor could no longer feel if Reese had her head down. She requested an ultrasound for fear that she had turned. Sure enough, little Ms. Reese had done an acrobatic feat and turned sideways - getting herself stuck. It was clear the likelihood of her turning back would be next to impossible since she is so big.

So the decision was made to do a c-section tomorrow at 9:30 am. My doctor's fear was that with me being so close to 40 weeks, I would go into labor, Reese would still not have turned, and then it would turn into an emergency c-section (which anything with the word emergency in it is not a good thing).

I am not at all worried about the c-section. Too many of my friends have had them and all turned out fine. To say I was surprised would be more accurate. It was just a possibility I had not considered.

We'll be sure to provide an update once we get home for the hospital and are settled. For now, I'm off to get my last night of what will be uninterrupted sleep - at least for the next few months!

Updates, updates, updates

I just realized that I have not updated you on my test results. Shame on me! I think the excitement just took over my brain that I forgot to post how I did. But since I haven't done that, I think I will post a few updates.

First and foremost....I PASSED!!! I was playing on e-mail on Monday morning (2/2) when I hit refresh and there staring me in the face was an e-mail message with a subject of "Your ETS TExES Scores". I knew what it was but my fingers sort of froze and wouldn't let me open it for about 5 minutes. Once I finally got up the courage, I realized the scores were in a PDF attached to the e-mail. Once again, I was frozen until I finally opened the PDF. But did I look at the PDF after I opened it? No.....I just let it sit open in a new window until I finally willed myself to look at it. Boy was I thrilled when I did. I first saw the word "Passed" and then saw the score was 278/300. I almost fell over. All I need to pass was a 240 and I had been asking God for only a 240. I had no reason to be greedy. But to see I scored 38 more points. Awesome!!! I sure wasn't going to complain. The thing I was most excited about was that I only missed 3 questions on the Math section. Given that I am hoping to teach middle school math, it was nice to see I did very well on that section. Thanks again to all my prayer warriors and supporters. I know it helped!

Second....Baby Reese still is quite comfortable inside my big belly. Today I am 39 weeks and 1 day. I went to the doctor last Tuesday and had dilated almost 2 centimeters. I was measuring 40 weeks and Dr. Smith said that Reese was head down but she was still sitting high and had made no move to "drop". She also estimates that Reese is already about 8 pounds. So we are still waiting. I am enjoying resting and having some free time as I know that will quickly come to an end once Reese gets here. I go back to the doctor on Tuesday and will provide an update either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

Finally....Bailey has moved up to Pre-School 2. She was visiting the last week in January (which means spending half a day) and officially moved up on Monday (2/2). She's not really happy about it. We always have a hard time when she transitions and it usually takes about 3 weeks or more before she realizes the teachers don't have fangs and the class is actually fun! At least her Prince David is in there. I think that helps her - a little.

So those are the Sharp Family updates. The latest and greatest. Happy Saturday!

The Waiting Game

You know what I hate....waiting! God knows when he created me he shorted me on patience. I hate waiting for anything that is "good" or "important". For example, I hate waiting for Thursdays to come around when Grey's Anatomy is supposed to be good, I hate waiting for trips to Disney World, I even hate waiting for my W-2s. (I have Turbo Tax up and ready. Why does it take 4-6 weeks to get a W-2?) Anyway.....as you can imagine, I really hate waiting for grades or test scores. I always have.

Some of you have called and asked how I did on the teacher content exam yesterday and the answer is, I really don't know. I don't have a good feel. I honestly don't have the feeling of horror that comes with knowing you didn't pass but I also am not confident I passed either. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised either way. Some of parts of the exam were much easier than expected (i.e. Math) and others were a lot more unfamiliar than I expected (i.e. Social Studies and Science). I use the word unfamiliar rather than hard as I think the questions might have been conquerable if I had known the material or terms. Social Studies, unfortnately, had a lot more Texas history that I had been exposed to on previous exams or in my studies. Science had a lot of terms I had never seen - not even in my study guide. It's hard to use process of elimination when you aren't even sure what to be eliminating. I did take my time and worked through what I was confident in and focused on the rest at the end. I took 4 hours and 15 minutes (of the 5 hours) so I definitely made sure not to rush. I only hope my efforts were enough. I have prayed and prayed that all I need is a 240 (out of 300). I do not need a 241 or 242 - just a 240. I even gave God permission to change some of my answers to get me to 240. (Can you tell I'm desperate?)

So...that's the exam in a nutshell. The state board says I should have my grades within 7 business days. The online community says computer grades are available within 48 hours. More likely, it is somewhere in between. I will be sure to let you know. I know if I pass I will be elated and if I don't, you'll be able to hear me sobbing from here. As for now.....let the waiting game begin.

A Chapter Closes

Today a chapter has closed in my life. After 7 years, I have left BMC Software, Inc. Although BMC has brought me some great opportunities, it has also brought many frustrations - especially in the recent years. As with most things in my life, I do not regret my time there nor do I think it was a waste. In fact, it was just the opposite - another stepping stone on my path to maturity.

I must admit that I was not sad to walk out the door for the last time. If anything, I was elated. It was as if a weight had been lifted off me. In retrospect, I suspect my heart had not been there for many years - possibly even before Randy (the best boss ever!) left last February.

It feels strange to not have a job at the present moment. I have worked since I was 15. But I am going to enjoy this time of unemployment. I am sure I will be ready to return to work soon enough.

4 Weeks and Counting

Well, we are in count down mode. Four weeks from today is my expected due date. Now as we all know, babies come whenever they want to and I sincerely hope that Reese does not wait 4 weeks. But for now, all we can do is say 4 weeks left.

For those who remember, Bailey was 9 days early. She was originally due October 14th and came on October 5th. I'd like to believe Reese will follow the same pattern and make her debut somewhere around February 4th or 5th.

Let's keep our fingers crossed. We will keep you posted!