I love to give my uncle Dave kisses!!!

Hanging out with my Gran-D!

I really don't like taking all these Christmas photos, hurry up already!!!

Thank you Lauren and Daddy for my fun birthday dinner and yummy ice cream cake from Marble Slab!!!!

Getting ready for Christmas!

Dad and Lauren picked out the perfect tree! Lauren helped test the lights and put on the ornaments! Now "it's beginning to look alot like Christmas!"

I love my ball pit!

Thanks Gran- D for my cool barnyard ball pit!

Who needs toys?

Who needs toys when you can have a cool fort built out of a box!

I love my new sweater!

Just a swingin' !

Just a smilin', swingin' and singin' on my birthday! Yesterday Lauren Elyse turned one year old! As Aaron and I were cooking the Thanksgiving meal, we had fun memories of leaving the dinner table last year and heading downtown to have a baby!- Good times! God has been soooo faithful to us through her birth, her heart surgery and now as we live the daily routine of being parents! He has lavished us with His grace. We have so much to be thankful for.... our beautiful daughter who smiles when she opens her eyes in morning and is grinning when she lays down at night. Hugs and slobbery kisses are her speciality. She loves to roar, show us how big she is, and sing at the top of her lungs. Lauren is such a sweet reminder of the joy one can have, a pure joy even to spite one's circumstances. The joy Christ gives his children. We are also so grateful for our friends, family and even strangers who have prayed for us and loved on us over the past twelve months! We are so blessed!

I love swinging with Daddy!

Hanging out with my buddy Seth!

Just hanging out with my daddy!

Our Fall Vacation

What a fun vacation! The first half of the week daddy cleaned out the garage. We can walk in there now! Lauren and I visited the Skaggs family. Lauren enjoyed playing with Ella and Seth. Mommy enjoyed chatting with another mom who has a special needs kiddo. She got lots of good pointers. Then Mommy and Daddy went to the Texas Hill Country for a little R&R! We enjoyed lots of rest, good food and a hike up Enchanted Rock. It was beautiful weather and a great little getaway. Lauren enjoyed staying with her friend Isabelle. She even picked up a new word "ball". We have decided we might need to hire children to come and do therapy with Lauren. It is very effective! Lauren joined us for the second half of the vacation. We visited the Houston Zoo. We had lots of fun seeing all the animals. Overall we had a blast just being a family and spending quality time together!!!

Our little ladybug!

LIfe on the Raft

Well, life has been good for the Trott's these days. Lauren is doing great. She is trying to scoot and likes to roll across the room. She talks all day, but no words we can recognize yet. She has also started using sign language to tell us she wants milk. She eats all kinds of veggies, fruits, meats and even a popsicle or two when she goes down to Gran-D's house. Yes, Gran- D (Leanne's mom) has moved into her new house. She lives 4 houses down from us now. It is great to have her close by! Aaron is busy at work. He is doing alot more traveling these days, so Lauren and I have lots of slumber parties while daddy is away. He is hoping to get a little break this fall to go hunting with Uncle Dave. We always seem to have momentous events during hunting season, getting married, having a baby. So hopefully this season he can restock our freezer! I am getting adjusted to being a stay at home mom. I have been able to go to a women's Bible study on Tuesday mornings which has been great. I have learned what days they have samples at H.E.B (the grocery store) and I have learned how to fold laundry, cook dinner and feed a baby all at the same time! We are hoping to take a little vacation at the end of the month. Aaron and I are REALLLY excited! Life has been so crazy over the past year or two, it will be so nice to get away--relax, and have some time to really soak up how good God has been to us!!

Baby Dedication 9/20/09

On September 20th, we got to dedicate Lauren at our church. It was a very special time to read her a letter and have the pastor pray over her. We tried to post the video, but it was too big. So here is the letter Aaron wrote to Lauren. It was a sweet time!

Dear Lauren,
Your Daddy and Mommy are so excited that God gave you to us. You were born on Thanksgiving Day which we think is very appropriate – we are so thankful to have you as our daughter. Before you were born, the doctors told us that your heart wasn’t working right. So we asked God to protect you, and we started taking special precautions so that we would be ready for you when you were born. God has protected you, and we are very grateful.
You were almost six months old when you were born to us the second time at Texas Children’s Hospital where the doctor’s transformed your heart. It now works great, and we are so excited to see all of changes that this has brought about in you.
We are praying that you are born to us a third time by allowing the great physician to transform your heart again so that it will be just what Jesus wants it to be. We are confident that this will make even bigger changes in you than your physical heart transformation. We can hardly wait!
Your first name “Lauren” means victorious one, and your middle name “Elyse” means set apart for a purpose. We acknowledge publicly today that you have been dedicated to God for whatever purposes He has for you. We are excited to see what these purposes are and are confident that you will be victorious as you follow His leading. Based on what the Lord has already done, we think He has big plans for you. We want to raise you in a way that will honor Jesus because He loves us more than any of us could ever love Him.
We are also excited about raising you in a church where people have shown such great love and care for you and for us as a family. We are glad that God has seen fit to love us through these people.
With much love,
Daddy and Mommy

The Journey Continues ...

The raft has been sailing for quite a while. However, this is the beginning of The Trott Trio's blog. We plan to add photos, videos and ramblings of what is going on in our life. We mostly started it so that we can post video of Lauren for her grandparents!!! :)