Our little kneck of the net

Drama!

2010-07-12T16:12:00.007-06:00

Boy have we had drama at our house lately! We had both boys check ups and one visit to the ER.

I'll start with Tripp's 9 month check up.... it turned out to be not so fun....they found out the he has only gained 1 lb in 3 months....not even on the charts. Height was about 40% but weight was no where to be found! He only ways 15 lbs 11 oz. He is teeny! They did bloodwork to check for anemia and thyroid problems. Both came back fine. They did find that his bloodcount was high which means he has some kind of infection but we never knew it. They started him on Amoxicillin and rechecked it today and it had gone back up but isn't back to normal yet. They'll recheck his blood count in 2 wks and his weight in 6 wks. Hopefully it will be fine when we hear the results. One good thing...Tripp just learned to clap! So cute! Also, I think he might crawl soon....he really tries for toys out of reach and will fall over trying to get them. Hopefully that is a good sign!

That night we went to dinner at Cracker Barrel and as we were going to the car....Avin fell in the parking lot. Yeah...not fun! He was bleeding pretty bad. Enough that Vernie was concerned too...usually I am the only one panicking. So, we called the docs and they said take him to ER. Good thing we did. He needed stitches. He got 2 in his forehead. They had to wrap him up in a sheet to do it. He was screaming the whole time. Poor guy! Needless to say....he got many prizes! :)

Then today we had Avin's 3 yr checkup. Everything was great! This is probably the first check up for him that there weren't any concerns! He is right on target! Yeah!!!

My favorite boys!

Here you can see Avin's stitches! Ouch!

Wow.... time flies!!

2010-06-12T20:06:00.011-06:00

Well, it has been a while, as usual! But here is an update on us..

Tripp is almost 9 months and is sitting up and babbling all the time! He really brightens our lives! He is a wonderful baby! Wish he could stay this way forever! Well, almost....he isn't sleeping through the night yet!! If that were fixed we would love for him to be a baby forever! He is just so happy!! If any parents out there with crawling babies can give us a clue as to how to get him to crawl....let me know! He isn't crawling yet and I REALLY want him too. Avin skipped that phase and I really don't want Tripp too.

Avin had his 3rd birthday in May! Can't believe it! He also had his first dentist appt and didn't have any cavities...just needed a good cleaning. But boy he didn't like it! Vernie and the dentist both had to hold him! lol We didn't really expect anything different! He is sooo sweet and lovable! He talks so much now....who would have thought a year ago he was barely saying 5 words! He amazes us everyday with something new! He has recently started saying "you are the best mommy I ever seen!" Because grandma tells both our boys, "you are the best big boy (or baby) I ever did see!" So, he tells daddy that he" is the best big boy he ever saw!" He keeps us laughing!

Other than that, We have been just taking life easy and enjoying these two beautiful and happy boys! Also, we had our 7th wedding anniversary this year! The first one that we weren't together on because V had a work trip. But we managed to survive! lol :) Can't wait to be able to say it was our 50th anniversary! God is good! On to the pics!

Our precious boys!!

Vernie just built avin's playground in the back yard and put a sand box in the bottom. Avin loves it!

This is the latest addition to our family! V's porsche. Avin loves to help daddy wash it. Daddy just has to remind avin that he only washes with the sponge not anything else! Daddy is quite protective of his car! :)

Grandma and Grandpa came up to celebrate Tripp's half birthday in March! :) I think we might have given him a taste or two. Mostly it was for us! :)

Here is Avin's 3rd birthday! We just had a few family over and a few friends. We didn't go all out this year and it was so fun! Just chilling out at home with friends and family. I think we all liked it way better than any other party we've had.

And I made his cake this year! It was fun to do. I spent so much time making it that I didn't do alot of cleaning or planning the party! lol Oh well, it worked out. :)

And thanks to my wonderful mom we have new cushions for our patio set. She recovered the ones we had with this great sunbrella fabric! Should last us a while!! Thanks mom!

Funny pics of Avin

2010-02-05T17:21:00.003-06:00

Driving down the road one day and Avin says "I need gwasses!" So, I handed him daddy's.

Avin went to get a "hair tut" last night. As the lady was cutting it, he saw it falling and said, "My hair is broten (broken)" All of his K's or replaced with T's.

And for a snack one day he had "chachit" (chocolate) pudding and he decided to wear it too. :)

That's all for now!

Chick da way!!

2010-02-01T09:35:00.002-06:00

So, most of you know about my addiction to Chick Fil A sweet tea....well, we go there so much that Avin knows the building or any of them for that matter. I'll have to get over my addiction soon because Avin will want to always go there and who I am to tell him no. lol :)

This is one of the many trips....Avin and daddy sharing an ice cream. I love the way he says the name....Chick da way! Sooo cute!

And this is little Tripp getting some floor time on our snow day! He is just so sweet and easy going most of the time but Tummy Time is a different story! He hates it almost as much as Avin did....probably because we don't do it enough. I know this picture deosn't show that but we had our fit soon after this was taken! He'll get use to it or learn to roll after fast enough to avoid it.

Something else Avin said today that was funny was "Cars are stopping" and I said "Are they?" and he said "They sure are, They sure are mommy!"

Pics of the Snow...

2010-01-29T16:50:00.004-06:00

Avin peeking out the door while Daddy is outside taking pictures...

This much snow...

Winter wonderland

"where's the road?"

Snow day!

2010-01-29T16:27:00.009-06:00

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

We have gotten 3.5 inches of snow today! On top of getting 1/2 inch of ice last night. It is beautiful out! Too bad Avin has an ear infection and a cold or we would be out playing in it! Instead we are hanging out inside and V is working and we are playing, cleaning, and having fun!

This is Tripp today, sitting in the Bumbo for the first time! Yeah Tripp!

And here is Big Brother Avin right behind! You can see Avin is blurry and Tripp is clear, can you guess who can't be still????

Last night we bought Avin a "snow day" toy at Walmart on sale. He loves it!

Trying to stuff Little People in his shoes....isn't that how is works?

We went out for a drive at little while earlier and when we pulled on to our street Avin said, "Where's the road?" You can't even see the curbs!

Long and Lean

2010-01-25T11:46:00.011-06:00

4 month checkup...Poor little Tripp had his 4 month shots today. He DID NOT like it! Since he doesn't cry much...it was hard to hear him scream! I felt soooo sorry for him. Luckily they get over it quickly!

He is taking after his daddy just like Avin. I am very thankful for that....I wanted tall boys! It won't be long and they will be towering over me. :)

Here's Tripp and his stats: Height was 25.5 and 75% weight was 13.3 and 10% head was 60%

And Avin at 4 months...Height was 26" and 90% and Weight was 14.3 and 40% ( I don't have his head measurements but it was bigger than Tripp's)

So, Tripp was smaller over all. He gets to start rice cereal now...maybe he'll gain some weight from that. He doesn't sleep as long as Avin did...but Avin was on formula. He rolled over the first time on the Jan 22. He hasn't done it since but he will! :) The doctor said he was right on target for everything!

He is a happy happy baby. If I were guaranteed a girl and a baby as happy as Tripp we'd go for a third!! But no guarantees, so no more babies. lol :)

Avin says so much these days. He really stated talking when he turned two and now talks all the time! My favorite things he says are....

Otay

Lub you Trippy

Mommy, u wake?

I big boy...daddy big boy...mommy gwirl...trippy baby?

Tum on, play choo choos

That's my house (as we drive into the driveway)

We're back!

2010-01-22T15:02:00.004-06:00

Well, I have decided that I am going to blog again. I realized that we blogged alot when Avin was little, so now, we are going to document Tripp's life too! Hopefully I will get better over time.

I love these boys!

Tripp goes for his 4 month check up on Monday! We'll update later. Tonight we are playing cards with my sister and Tim. Bye for now!

Oh yeah, here is our latest family pic!

Tripp is Here!

2009-11-04T16:49:00.005-06:00

Well, we're sorry for not updating this blog very often these days. We tend to post updates on Facebook, as it's easier and faster. Anyway, here's what's new!

Tripp is here! He was born Sept. 23rd, and weighed 7lbs 6oz, and was 19.5" long. He's now 10lbs! No colic, so we're really happy about that. He's really an easy baby so far. Avin likes having a little brother, although at first he was really not happy about losing a lot of attention.

Roll the pics!

The end of an era:

New baby Tripp!

Baby Tripp has the hiccups, and he's jabbering a bit...

Pics from the summer

2009-07-29T10:59:00.009-06:00

We are having a great summer so far! Nothing too exciting happening but it's been fun!

Here are a few pics of Avin this summer doing fun things or just being silly!

This is his "Cheese" smile. :)

Just a cute pic!

He loves to play in the rocks around the fire pit in our backyard.

And he loves to water the plants with us...oh, and pull the tomatoes off the tomato plant...ready or not!

Bubble Fun!

Running around the yard playing with Annie and Parker.

This was funny.....he wanted his shorts on even though it was bed time! :)

Big smile....Little Boy!

Playing at Tanyard creek. Usually he doesn't like the water but he loved throwing the rocks in the water and getting wet in the process. It was a fun day out with Grandma and Grandpa.

We made a cake one night and this is how Avin wanted to take a bite! :) He was laughing so hard in between bites! Wish he would have done this for his 1 yr birthday pics! He wasn't that into cake back then.

Helping Annie put names on cups for dinner or pretending to at least.

This is his first remote control train. He loves it!

That's all!! Tripp will be in the pics before we know it!! Only 7 1/2 weeks to go!! Woohoo!!!

Late pics of 4th of July

2009-07-16T12:26:00.004-06:00

We spent 4th of July with V's family. We had so much fun! We played Settlers of Catan while it rained and watched fireworks during the rain breaks. It was really stormy that day. Here of pics of the family.

Annie was doing cartwheels for Avin to try to make him smile for the pics.

This is V's sisters family. I had just asked them if they wanted me to do a cartwheel for them. lol :) Prego cartwheels....fun! :)

Yum!! The food was delicious as usual!

All American....Hot dogs and flags on the 4th!

This is a fun picture of Parker hiding in the bush.

Annie is so good with Avin. She loves to entertain him.

This is Avin trying to do a cartwheel. His hands never touch the ground. Lol. He is so cute!

My sweet boy!

Well, we FINALLY decided on a name....we are going with Tripp. We are using Steven as the middle name because it is V's dads middle name. Avin has Vernie's and Tripp will have Jim's. ANd if we ever have a girl she will get Jeannette since that is mine.

Only 10 1/2 weeks to go and little Tripp will be here!! :)

Big boy and baby beds

2009-06-19T09:12:00.008-06:00

Here is a picture of Avin's big boy bed (for real this time). He loves it. He likes that mommy and daddy can get up there with him and play or lie down with him. We'll eventually change the decor from planes to trains. We bought him a Thomas comforter but that is it so far.

We are doing a nautical theme and we are painting the bottom half a dark blue and the top a lighter blue. Very similar to Avin's (colors are a little different) and the bottom of the baby's room will be wavy. We are going to cut out boats and light houses to decorate with. We'll update later.

Grandpa and daddy working on the new closet doors. We wanted the bi folding doors in this room because it was so hard to get access to the whole closet with the door the builders put on. It is still a work in progress.

Daddy and Avin building the baby crib. Avin loved helping!

Serious work going on here...

I love this shelf!

Ta da!! :) So cute!

Well, that is it for pics! We'll update more later on. We like it because it is like a journal of our lives. But I am bad about finding time to do it. Right now as I type....Avin is trying to get me to go "pay". lol :) So, gotta go...

p.s. I am not one for taking photos of my belly during pregnancies but everyone has been asking so I'll get V to take a picture soon. :) lol

Trip to St. Louis

2009-06-03T13:43:00.007-06:00

For our 6 year anniversary, we decided (last minute) to go to STL (our favorite place) for the weekend. We just took it easy and had fun doing things Avin would enjoy. He loves trains...so, everything we did involved trains (or something he called a choo choo).

Here we are at Grant's farm riding the tram or choo choo....

Daddy and Avin feeding the goats. Avin wasn't too sure of this.

Not sure if he is supposed to be on this but it was fun.

Daddy and Avin on the choo choo that you were allowed on at Transportation museum.

We found this cool park and let Avin play. He was the only one there and he loved it! :)

And of course we had to go see the Arch! We took the Metrolink to downtown and walked to the Arch! Avin loved riding on the choo choo!

We got to go see a little of Shakespeare in the park one night and Avin had crashed. We would have stayed longer but we were being eaten up by bugs!

It is weird to think that 1 year ago we were in Seattle, WA and Avin was just learning to walk all by himself. He had been walking for a while before that but only if you would hold on to his finger. And when we were on one of the piers he just took off and we were so proud! Now he is such a big boy and runs all over the place! We really had a great trip this year and can't wait to see what we do next year to celebrate!

New Baby Bedding!

2009-05-14T16:24:00.003-06:00

We found the crib bedding we are going to use for the new baby! I am so excited! I really wanted to use sailboats and have red in there somewhere. So glad I found this bedding! We don't have the wall hangings, chair, or mobile. We'll work on that! :)
We are working on the name. It is very hard though. We'll do a poll when we narrow down the names.

Okay, so everyone probably knows that Avin is a late talker....well, he is finally talking! Today I picked him up at MDO and he usually yells "DA-EEEE!!!", even though it is mommy picking him up. Well, today, he yelled "Mom-ma, Mom-ma!!!" I was so excited! And this afternoon I went upstairs and he was playing with his trains and I said "Hi buddy!" and he said "Hi Mom-ma!". Sooo cute! I love his little voice! He is just the greatest thing in the world!

And the Verdict is.....

2009-05-07T18:09:00.002-06:00

IT'S A BOY!!! We'll post pics later! The baby weighs 10 oz....Avin weighed 9 oz. And the doctor said everything looked perfect. It is neat to think Avin will have a little brother to play with. We are very excited!

Fun pics of Avin!

2009-05-06T09:44:00.010-06:00

We had not done "studio" shots of Avin in a really long time so, the night before his 2nd birthday we decided it was time. We set up everything in our bedroom and moved some furniture out of the way and here ya go!

And here is a funny picture from another day of him in his baby swing. It is funny because he didn't like being in at as a baby and now he loves it. He is really too big but we let him in for pictures. lol :) We have been pulling out baby stuff to get ready for the new baby. The seasons won't match up for clothes if we are having a boy so, we are having a garage sale to get rid of some things.

Avin's 2nd Birthday

2009-05-04T16:01:00.008-06:00

I can't believe he is 2 already! He is growing up too fast......I truly understand why people say that now. I can see why some people have 20 children. They are one of God's greatest gifts.

We had his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese (note to self: DON'T do that again!)....it was complete chaos but it was fun. :)

Here is a picture of Avin wearing his tshirt that we made for him. I found the iron on transfers at Walmart and that it would be fun to make him a birthday shirt since on his first birthday he wore a bib that said "1st birthday". And since we had a Thomas party for him we thought it would be neat to have a Thomas shirt on. If you look closely you can see that V replaced Thomas' face with Avin's and put "Avin and Friends".

The back said "AVIN" and "the birthday party" and "May 2nd, 2009"

Here we are at Chuck e Cheese! The pizzas were late coming out so we missed out on dancing with chucky which Avin wouldn't have done anyways. And we didn't have time to do cake and presents there so we ended up having to go back to our house and do that. It worked out fine. Although, right when we were about the cut the cake our couch got delivered (it was being repaired). It was nothing like I planned but what party goes as planned anyways, right? lol :) It reminds me that as parents, we must be flexible and go with the flow.

Avin LOVES this train....he will just stand their and point and talk...he loves it!

And any game with balls is always fun....

He wasn't too fond of Chucky....lol

And here we are FINALLY cutting the cake.

and eating it...

He got a lot of great gifts....an swimming pool, a kitchen, a Thomas tent thing, a new battery powered James train, a bubble train thing, a mail box with shapes, and V and I got him a basketball goal and fridge phonics (thanks Keisha, we saw it on your blog and had to have it). He plays with all of them, well except for the pool....but that will come when the weather isn't so rainy!

Thanks to all of our family for coming up to celebrate and for the great gifts. We appreciate it!

Avin's first performance!!

2009-04-26T12:01:00.003-06:00

Avin's MDO group had a Spring music performance last Thursday. Here are a few pics.

After the performance we went to peek in on him in his classroom. We love to know what he is doing and how he is doing. He loves going there and usually runs to his classroom. He has really come along way in the last year. When he first started going he would cry when we left....now half the time he just runs in and doesn't look back. lol :) These pics were taken from a window that the parents look in and the kids can't see out. That's why they aren't the best quality pics.

We LOVE this little guy!

Easter Pics

2009-04-21T14:02:00.010-06:00

Easter Pics....just a little late! :)

Here is Avin and his Easter basket. He really liked all the stuff we picked out for it. Especially the Thomas ball and bubbles. :)

We were so sad that we forgot to take Avin's Easter basket with us to our parents houses. So, here he is at V's parents hunting eggs without it! He still had a blast though.

Avin loves it when Daddy throws him up in the air. He says "adin" for again. :)

Here is Avin hunting eggs at my mom's house. V's mom had gotten him this bucket for part of his Easter surprise so, we used it at my mom's.

He really had a fun Easter this year! Much more fun for us because he really enjoyed finding the eggs. He went to an Easter egg hunt at V's sisters church and he was so funny because he didn't want the candy in the eggs....he just wanted the eggs. Funny boy!

In other news, we are finding out the sex of the baby on May 7th! Everyone keeps asking if we want a girl, and I honestly would love another boy but would be totally happy if we have a girl. Can't wait to find out so we can start decorating! I have been feeling the baby move a lot today right around my belly button. :) Fun times!

Street Witnessing

2009-04-05T10:17:00.007-06:00

Please read this entire blog entry. Someone else's eternity depends on it.

This is Vernon writing (I usually don't write much on this blog, but I felt this was something you should read). I apologize for no photos this time around. :)

If you're like I was most of my life, and how most Christians out there currently are, you don't feel like you're equipped to witness to people. You don't know how to walk up to a complete stranger and start a conversation with them where you share the Gospel, or you feel like you need to be able to quote every verse of the bible before doing so, or you fear being rejected by people you approach. That's how I felt for so many years. I knew I was supposed to be doing something more than sitting on the pew Sunday morning. In fact, God commands us to get off our seats and preach the gospel, but only 2% of Christians are actually doing so. Why? Because they don't know how to! They know what God's Word says, but they don't know how to approach the lost, and it's really, seriously, overwhelmingly disturbing.

A few weeks ago, my brother-in-law told me about a 3 hour "Way of the Master" crash course (www.wayofthemaster.com material by Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort) that was being held at his church (Oak Cliff Baptist) in Ft. Smith. It was being taught by Tim Glass (www.deliveringevangelism.blogspot.com). I had been watching some of the street witnessing videos on www.wayofthemaster.com, and was thinkging, "WOW, that actually works! I could actually do this!!". After the crash course that Tim led, I was getting fairly confident that I could do this with a little effort. After all, it's a biblical method used by Jesus Christ, so it has to work! I then listened to Todd Friel's "Terrified" MP3 files, which contains over 20 audio recordings of Todd using the "Way of the Master" method to witness to every imaginable type of person. I also watched Ray Comfort's "Open Air preaching" DVD. "Why am I just now discovering this?!", I've said to myself so many times now.

At this point, I was so convinced that I could do this, that I went out with a friend (Allen Evans - friend of Tim Glass), and we hit Dickson Street this past Friday night around 9-11pm. I approached several strangers (all of whom were not saved), using the Way of the Master method, and I was able to share the Gospel with several people who listened intently. It was amazing!!!! MAN DID IT WORK! Here are the people I had a conversation with (not just a one liner shouted to them as they walked by):

-girl who believed in reincarnation, and based her beliefs on "feelings"
-guy who believed in evolution and wanted proof that God exists
-guy, his girlfriend, and her friend
-guy who said he was a Christian, but admitted at the end of our conversation that he was not
-guy who said he was too young to have to think about that "kind of stuff", and that he'd think about it later
-two young guys who listened, and who felt so convicted during our conversation

I talked to some of these people for over 20 minutes! If God had not put me on Dickson Street Friday night, these people may have never heard what God's Word says.

Previous to Friday night, I had pretty much NEVER shared my faith with anyone outside of church, especially a stranger on the sidewalk! I'm anxious to do this again, and possibly try out open air preaching. If I get rejected or persecuted, then it means I'm doing something right. :)

If you're reading this, I'm begging you to PLEASE, AT LEAST check out the street witnessing videos on www.wayofthemaster.com. The reactions of the people I spoke to Friday night were so similar to the reactions I've seen on the numerous videos and audio clips I've watched and listened to.

Churches need to urge people to use this method to reach lost people!! I've been in various churches for the entire 35 years of my life, and I have never felt confident enough to walk up to a stranger and have a meaningful conversation with them about their eternity. My friend and I were the ONLY people on Dickson street talking to people about their salvation. Where was the rest of the NWA Christian community? 99% of the people you see on the streets are headed for hell, and it's a Christian's responsibility to warn them of the coming day of judgement. If a blind man were walking toward a cliff, wouldn't you want to warn him, and tell him how he can be saved?

I would love to help train anyone interested in learning how to witness in a very effective way, and maybe a group of us could hit the streets. Even if you want to just go with me for an hour to see what you think. It's never too late to start doing what God commands us to do (Matthew 28:19). I know without a doubt that the people I talked with Friday night will at least consider that conversation the next day.

For the first time ever, I feel like I've truly done something that God has commanded, and it truly feels awesome.

Thanks for reading!

Moving a tree!

2009-03-16T14:06:00.005-06:00

The much talked about tree moving is over!! :) V, Jim and Brian moved the Canadian hemlock from the front flower bed to the back yard on Saturday! It looks really good back there

And V has been hard at work today moving and planting plants to make it look as Northwestern as we can afford! lol :)

Thanks to Vernie, our backyard is a beautiful and fun place to be!

Toddler Bed

2009-03-16T13:54:00.002-06:00

Well, we did it.....we got rid of the paci (1 whole week) and we took the rail off of the crib and turned it into a toddler bed.

He is growing up soooo fast!! We decided to go ahead with the toddler bed since we have a new baby on the way and we will need the crib for him/her. We get to go shopping soon for A's real big boy bed! Can't wait! Too bad the place we bought his crib from is out of business! Unpainted furniture store was the best!! So sad.

We couldn't believe how easy it was to get rid of the paci. V laid him down one night without it and there wasn't a fuss....so, then we decided to keep trying it and it worked!! Nap time at home is the hardest thing to do without it. At night he is so sleepy that it just works well. Praise God!

Two milestones under our belt! Here are a few pics of A and his new bed!

He is just so precious!!

Our sweet Avin

2009-03-01T20:02:00.014-06:00

Poor Avin has been sick for a week now. We think he is on the mend but still not eating much at all. We are going to the doctor tomorrow to make sure he is getting better. We think he has/had a stomach bug. It was been one interesting week. We pray things will go back to normal quickly! :)

Here a some pictures from today...

Avin will be 22 months old tomorrow! He is growing up way too fast!

We have noticed lately that he tries to sing with the Veggietales theme song. It is so cute! He doesn't say any of the words they sing but he tries really hard. He even sings the last word and goes up a note at the end like they do. SOOO fun! We got it on video tonight!

And he likes to say NO alot!! Most of the time he says, "Ummmmm... no"

We love him more than words can say! Thank you Lord for such a precious little boy!

Good News!!

2009-02-16T18:52:00.002-06:00

We had another ultrasound today and the heartbeat was 157!!! Praise God!! I'll try to post the new ultrasound pics later on. We are 7 weeks and 4 days and have 7 pics of our little one! :)

Baby Pics

2009-02-10T16:00:00.003-06:00

We had our second ultrasound today. The baby pretty much doubled in size and looked great. They only thing is that the heartrate was 100BPM when it should be 120 to 160 BPM so, they are going to do another one next Monday at 10 AM to be sure that the rate has gone up. So, PLEASE PRAY that the baby's heartrate will have increased by Monday and that they don't find anything else to be concerned with. The doctor said she wasn't really concerned but she just wanted to double check it. They only good thing is that we get to see our baby AGAIN!! :)

Here are pics from both visits. V wasn't here to take them, so they aren't the best....

This is the picture from last week....

The next three of from today... (can you see how much bigger he/she is?)

We got to hear the heartbeat with this one.... so awesome!

Please pray for us! We want a happy, healthy baby! :)

Thomas PJ's

2009-02-07T08:25:00.003-06:00

Nana bought Avin these Thomas PJ's and he loves them!! He didn't want Vernie to take them off of him yesterday morning...but we had to because he got yougurt all over them. So, I washed them last night, the top and bottom happened to be in seperate loads, and he was not happy that he had the shirt without the pants! lol He is a funny little boy! :)

Baby No. 2

2009-02-05T09:43:00.002-06:00

I am SO happy to report that we are 6 weeks pregnant with baby No. 2! I went in Tuesday for bloodwork and found out that I was pregnant for sure and that my progesterone level was low but my HCG levels were high. So, they got me in for an ultrasound that very same day and we got to see a teeny tiny little heartbeat! We get to go back next week for another ultrasound because they thought I should be measuring 7 weeks 3 days but I was only measuring 5 weeks 6 days. I kind of remember that being the case with Avin. So, we can't wait to go back and see our new little baby again! :) This time they said they would use the big ultrasound machine and we would get a better picture....so we'll post that one sometime after next Tuesdays visit. :)

Another happy report is that we took Avin for a speech evaluation and found out that he DOESN'T need therapy!! WOOT WOOT!! We were so relieved! I think our doctor is just overly cautious! Which can be a very good thing. Avin is learning new words everyday and has always had exceptional receptive language....he just doesn't vocalize a whole lot. But, we bought him a Baby Einstein first words DVD and he loves it and will repeat some of the words and do some of the signs. SOOOOO CUTE!

We just love our little boy so much! We are going to really soak up this time while it is just him and enjoy him.

Sorry, I don't have any recent pics to post. I'll try to get some soon!

Ice Storm

2009-01-28T11:20:00.003-06:00

Well, we are ICED in! Luckily we still have electricity but no cable TV or internet. We ventured out to Wal mart today to pick up a few essentials and then saw that CHIC FIL A was opened and came by to get free internet and some yummy food! We were going stir crazy at home. We have cleaned and cooked and cleaned and cooked until we are sick! lol Avin is having a blast right now playing in the play area and we are just enjoying not being at home. :)

Hope everyone is well and staying warm!

Christmas

2009-01-05T13:01:00.011-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! It was nice that Avin was a little more interested in it this year. Not a whole lot but it was fun! He enjoyed unwrapping the gifts even if he didn't seem to care what was in side. :) He is at such a fun age.....why can't he just stop here....well, get past the temper tantrums and then stay just like this. :)

First, we had Christmas here at our house Christmas morning. Avin woke up at 5:30 that morning for some reason. And as I was taking him in to our room to try to get some more sleep....he spotted his shopping cart that Santa brought him. Let Christmas Begin!!!

We got Avin this clock puzzle thing (way too advanced for him but he loves clocks) and he played with it for a while. I put it away because he just throws the pieces everywhere! V looks sleeeeepppy!

He enjoyed pulling the stuff from his stocking this year too! We just took the magnetic numbers back to walmart yesterday because we found out that the magnets fall out....not good for a little one.

Total chaos....but oh so fun!

Christmas afternoon we went to Nana and Poppy's house.

They got him a Mega Blocks fill and dump wagon. He really likes it! Avin got to open a present first because he is the littlest and didn't have much to entertain himself.

All the kids lined up and got presents. It was neat to see Avin at the end of the line!

We got Haley, my neice, the Hungry Hungry hippos game and Avin had fun playing too!

Looks fun...doesn't it??

We were supposed to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house but we gave everyone a stomach bug and poor grandma was sick on Christmas day. Sorry to everyone who got sick because of us! We had no idea little Avin was sick! But happy to report everyone (including grandma) is well!

Great Granny sent Avin this track thing (very thecnical term) and he really enjoyed playing with it. The batteries was so strong it was making the car go so fast. Grandpa kept trying to find batteries that were almost dead to slow it down! lol :)

Grandma and Grandpa got him a thomas the train car and it was sooooo funny watching him open it. He just talked and talked when he saw that it was Thomas. Too bad we have no clue what he was saying.

It's Thomas everyone!! :)

Okay, funny story....Annie (v's neice) got this table and chair set for her American girl dolls....and Avin loved it! It was hilarious to see him sitting in that tiny chair and make music!!

Thanks to our wonderful families for all our gifts! We love them all!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T07:38:00.006-06:00

We had a wonderful thanksgiving! We spent Thursday - Saturday with family. What fun times!! We went to V's parents on Thursday...we got there early even though we weren't having dinner until 6 PM. It was fun hanging out with them. Before dinner V, his dad, and I all went for a hike at a park nearby. The weather was so nice that day. V's mom stayed home to cook and watch Avin for us. (thanks brenda!)

We got up early on Friday morning and went shopping! We were at walmart by 5:00 AM!! I know we are crazy!! We got alot done by 9:00 AM. Of course, I took a 2 1/2 hour nap with Avin later that day! We went to Angel and Greg's house that night and had so much fun. Nothing is better than hanging out with friends you have known for along time!

Then on Saturday we went to my mom's for lunch. We had a lot of fun. Here are pictures of Redneck Sledding.... :) lol My brother Scott decided to build a sled and this is what happened next...

And Avin napped...

Fun times with family and friends!

Fun stuff

2008-11-16T20:02:00.008-06:00

So, here is what we've been up to lately....

Thursday, Aunt Minda, Parker, and Annie came to visit us while V was working. We did a little Christmas shopping (thanks to Kelly for the friends and family discount), had lunch, and scrap booked (while Avin was sleeping). It was such a fun day! I think Avin loves having company, especially if they like to play with him!

Friday night, V and I went out to dinner at Red Lobster and to see Quantum of Solstice (the James Bond movie). Thanks to V's parents for watching our little Avin for us! :) They spent the night and we went to have Cracker barrel for breakfast. We also took a little tour of V's work place. It is amazing the stuff they have available to them for forensic stuff. So cool! Oh, one more cool thing....V gets to work from home one day a week now. This month it is on Fridays....it is so nice to have home...even if he is working. What a blessing!!

Then, on Saturday night, My cousin Jodie, new boyfriend Chris, and her two girls came to see us. We made Chili for dinner and had brownies as dessert. It was so neat having two more little ones running around the place. Bri is 18 months old just like Avin....She is just a week younger. And Bella is three. We really had a great time.

It is wonderful to live close enough to family that they can just come visit for the day or night. If we still lived in St. Louis this wouldn't be happening. We are SO happy to be here with them. Sometimes, okay most times, I wish they were right next door. If you live near your family.....don't forget how blessed you really are.

Unfortunately, after that wonderful weekend, I woke up this morning with a migraine headache. Luckily V let me sleep in. It was baaaddd.

Well, since we didn't have any pictures of the busy weekend, here is a picture of Avin riding the train at creekmore park last month . It was fun!

That's all folks! :)

Yeah AVIN!!!

2008-11-10T10:10:00.003-06:00

Today was the first day that Avin didn't cry when I dropped him off at MDO!! Woohoo!! He was excited when Shirley said, "We are going to play in the Ark today!" He just giggled and went to her! Yeah!! Sure makes it easier to drop him off without him screaming and crying to come with me! :) I really think MDO is helping Avin in many ways. Seeing and playing with or near the other kids is so good for him! I think he finally crawled partly because he saw all the other kids doing it. I have been working with him on doing the sign they try to teach them....it is....God made me. He kind of points up to the sky for "GOD" and then he skips the "made" part and them touches his chest with both hands for "me". So cute!!

I love that little boy! :)

Purple dinosaur

2008-11-03T09:51:00.004-06:00

Avin was a purple dinosaur for Halloween! He was so cute! I bought the costume at 9 months later thrift store a month and a half ago and when I bought it fit great....now as you can see....he looks to long for it. lol Oh well!

We went to V's work to trick or treat and since he couldn't really have any candy...he just played with V's work stuff! lol We did let him have a sucker and it was all over his hands, face, dad's shirt, and the costume! Fun times. :)

That night we walked over to Patty and Dwight's house and hung out for just a little while. It was fun pushing a dinosaur in the stroller! :)

The other night we took Avin for a ride in the wagon to the park in our neighborhood. He loved it!

Here is just a cute picture of him playing in his car. He can get in and out of it by himself! Yeah!

Also, just a little update on Avin's therapy. We quit going about a month ago and he can now crawl and climb the stairs! Yeah!! He has made such progress! I am so proud of him. It is nice to be able to leave him in the floor and know that when he is ready to get up, he will just crawl to something to pull up on! I know this is normal stuff for most parents but since he was delayed in them, it makes it that much more special to us. He is such a terrific little boy! We just love him more than words can say.

Thank you Lord for this wonderful blessing! :)

Update on Avin

2008-10-02T13:50:00.004-06:00

Avin still has 6 blisters on his hands but he doesn't seem to be bothered by them too much. Last night was the first time since Sunday, that he was poking at them. He kept shaking his hands trying to get them off. lol. Poor little guy.

Last Saturday my parents came for a visit. Here is a picture of my mom w/Avin.

Vernie was building something for work and Avin was trying to help!!

Here he is trying to feed himself....which means I had a mess to clean up! :)

We bought him a Thomas the Train table and he loves it. He looked really cute the other night in his pj's playing. If a distraction is needed at any time, all you have to say is "let's go play with Thomas" and he just starts running to his room. He loves Thomas! We think we will eventually redecorate his room in trains!

Crazy Sunday

2008-09-29T09:19:00.005-06:00

As we were getting ready for church yesterday....we had a disaster! I had just gotten done straightening my hair and Vernie was getting Avin ready (little did I know...he was already finished). I went into the closet to find something to wear and all the sudden I hear something fall to the floor and Avin screaming. He had pulled the hair straightener off the counter and tried to pick it up. He burnt six fingers (2nd degree burns). He still has blisters on all of them. Needless to say, I was panicked! Scared out of my mind. I didn't even look at his fingers before I started screaming for Vernie. I just knew it was bad. He cried for about 2 hours that day. And his hand was submerged in water for atleast 3 hours. Finally he took a nap and was fine after that. He doesn't even seem to be bothered by the blisters. He is such a trooper!! Tough little guy! We did anything he wanted to yesterday to make sure he was happy. He ate juice treats and watched Veggie Tales as much as he liked!! It still makes me cringe to see the blisters! I am so glad Avin has such a wonderful daddy! Vernie had to take care of him because I couldn't stop crying and freaking out. I have always tried very hard to avoid such situations and that one time I screw up this happens! I can say I have seriously considered NEVER straightening my hair again!! :) I am sure I will get over that as soon I have a bad hair day! :)

Here is a cute picture of our little one....please pray for fast healing for his poor little fingers!

This picture was taken in Raymond, Washington at V's aunt and uncles. We went in May for vacation.

Mowing the yard

2008-09-24T09:21:00.002-06:00

We are loving this wonderful weather. We try to spend as much time outside as we can. Even if it means mowing or weeding the yard.

We had to go to therapy yesterday, which is never fun. I absolutely hate going because Avin doesn't enjoy it and he always tries to cling to me. He is having separation anxiety right now. I think it started when he started Therapy and MDO at the same time. It is just hard for him. I may have to take him out of MDO because of it. I feel absolutely terrible leaving him there when he is screaming. I am sure most mothers feel the same way though. I am not sure what to do? I didn't take him this Monday because we got home late on Sunday night from St. Louis and I wasn't sure how he would do. He ended up taking a 4 hour nap that day. So all worked out well. That is just one hour less than MDO. Poor little guy was sooooo tired.

Today we are just hanging out at the house. Grandma and Grandpa are coming up tonight! Can't wait! :)

Our weekend trip to ST. LOUIS

2008-09-22T09:51:00.016-06:00

We decided to take a little trip to St. Louis this past weekend. Vernie found out that the Great Forest Park Balloon race was going to happen, so we went. We went to his race together one time while we lived there. It is so cool to see the big balloons floating around above you.

The night before the race (Friday night) they have something called "The Glow in the Park". It is neat because about every 10 or 15 mins a siren goes and all the balloons light up. It is awesome! And at 9 PM that night they had fireworks...which we heard from a distance...we headed out a little early because of traffic. And we were glad we did because we heard them while we were walking and it was soooo loud. Avin would have been scared. It took us about 25 mins to walk to Glow and the same heading out. The park was packed! Here are a few pictures.

One of the balloons was packing up for the night and we tried to get Avin to touch it and he didn't want to. He loves balloons and he loves seeing the big ones from a distance but didn't know what to think when we went up close. Maybe he was thinking "mom, it is just a bunch of material, what's the big deal??"

The next day we went to the MAGIC HOUSE! And magic it is....it was so fun! We spent about two hours in here and still didn't see everything. The place is massive!

Avin has this little Gear toy at home that he loves, so this was like heaven to him! lol

Vernie and Avin sliding down a big slide. FUN!

How cool is this....giant Lego's in a room all to them self! We had a blast!

The have a little play grocery store....the kids can shop and do self checkout or another kid can play cashier! Fun stuff!

Cheese anyone??

This was a little river in the flooring. You could watch fish (fake of course) floating around and walk on them!

Our little mechanic. He liked pushing the horn button.

Working on the car....all of this is just to cool. Kids can pretend to be mechanic working on this car. You can take the tires off and put them back on. It can't get any better than this...can it??

Our little fireman has come to save the day!

My boys...

Avin loves computers because mommy and daddy play on them at home. He just wants to be like us. Here, he can without getting into trouble! I guess this might be teaching them to do it at home but oh well. :)

He kept acting like the mouse was a phone. lol

Bye Bye Magic House. There are so many things that we couldn't blog about them all or I would be at the computer all day! No thank you!

Okay, This is a bowling alley that Vernie thinks has the best hot dogs....so he had to go get one. I am sure the people just laughed because he didn't bowl....he just got a hot dog. lol :)

This is the balloon race day. Avin got a free ball from American Airlines. He was having fun kicking and throwing it all over the place.

Vernie won me a free blanket. He just answered a question and we got it!! Yaahoo!! Thanks V.

Can you find the rabbit? The Rabbit wasn't doing well today....they couldn't get him aired up. All the balloons are supposed to chase the rabbit and who ever lands closest to the rabbit wins the race. Well, since they couldn't get him aired up they sent the Macy's balloon first. The others had to find that balloon in order to win.

And of course we had to get an Avin size balloon just for him. :)

Can you find the Pepsi can? So cool!

Neat picture looking up into one of the balloons. Good job V.

We got Avin a balloon race shirt and daddy. Avin kept pointing at the balloons and jabbering to them. :)

He loved this fountain. Each time we walked past it, we had to stop.

Sunday morning we had breakfast with Matt, Beth, JJ and Ty at Denny's. JJ has gotten sooo big and Ty is a little chunky monkey! SOOOOOOOO Cute!! JJ kept wanting Avin to play with him. I loved hearing him so "come on" in his cute little voice. :)

While we were at Denny's...Mommy and Daddy got distracted and Avin decided to play in some syrup....so we had to change his clothes. It was all over the place. Also, on Saturday morning, at Uncle Bills (our favorite pancake house) I was letting him play with the jelly packets and he got into to one of the apple butter packs and it went everywhere. We try to entertain him so we can eat and sometimes it doesn't go as planned!

All tuckered out.....time to go home. :)

Biking with Avin

2008-09-18T11:24:00.006-06:00

We finally decided to take Avin in the bike carrier that we have had since he was itty bitty! We bought it at a big consignment sale over a year ago. He wasn't big enough to ride in it when we first got it and now it was nice enough weather to try it out.

Originally V was going to pull him on his bike because I thought I would be nervous and not be able to see him. I don't feel as confident on a bike as V does. He has competed in mountain bike races and is just really good at it. So, needless to say we choose him to pull it.

Well, when we were trying to put it on V's bike it wouldn't fit and it fit my bike perfectly. Since my bike is WAY to small for V....I had to do it. I was so nervous but it went fine. Avin liked it at first but it was also bath and bed time so he got a little whiny. Here are pics from the night....

He liked running at me while I took his picture. :)

Cutie pie!

Doesn't he have a sweet face! :)

It looks like V is teaching A how to air up a tire...a little two early don't you think?

I just love pictures of the two of these guys!! They are my favorite!

Like father like son. :) (sorry for the blurry picture...V is much better than me at taking pics)

Usually A stands at the door from the inside crying to go out...tonight it was opposite. For some reason he wanted to go back inside. Crazy boy.

V getting my bike ready before the big ride. Both of our bikes have been neglected for over a year so both of our tires needed to be aired up.

The big ride. :)

Fun family day! :)

Oh, I took A to the doctor today and found out he has really bad allergies and has to take Zyrtec every night and a nasal steroid. Hope it gets better soon. Poor little guy has been through a lot lately with being sick, physical therapy, separation anxiety and now this. I love him so stinking much!!

We're still alive! :)

2008-09-12T13:40:00.005-06:00

Sorry we haven't posted in a long time. Times have been crazy lately but luckily things are beginning to slow down. V did his last wedding photography last weekend. We are officially done taking wedding photos now!! Yeah!! We feel like we have free time again! Here are a few recent pictures of Avin. He is growing up so fast. And he is so much fun these days.
He loves to brush his teeth!!

Beautiful smile!

Say cheese!!

Nana bought him a lawn mower and he loves it!

He likes to wear mommy's sunglasses. He thinks he is cool stuff!

A's walking on his own!

2008-06-10T20:05:00.008-06:00

Tonight, it was like a light went on in A's head, and he decided to start walking all over the house without holding on to any furniture! It's been a really fun evening. He followed me (V) all over the house, like there was nothing to it. He circled the main area of the house about 5 times, and then wandered off into his bedroom. Then, after I gave him a bath, he took off streaking through the house in search of mommy! Great stuff!

We went to the neighborhood park tonight also, and let him swing for a while. He walked about half way down our street on the way there. Here are some photos.

our little blue m&m.....

1 year old!

2008-05-15T08:51:00.005-06:00

LOTS OF PICTURES!! :)

We had three parties for Avin's first birthday. Which meant three cakes! lol Can you say...HYPED UP ON SUGAR?!?!?!?!

1st party was at our house....just the three of us. I made a little chocolate cake that he could smash but he didn't really do anything but eat the icing. lol Smart boy!

He didn't like being covered in icing and cake. We had to clean him up quickly!

2nd party was at my (carla) mom's house. With both my brothers and my sister and their families. My cousin Trisha and my brother-in-law's mom came too. We bought a cake from Wal-mart. Since he doesn't really understand what this is all about...we just chose a Nemo cake because Vernie and I both love Nemo. :) The smash cake that we were going to give Avin at this party got messed up on the way in to my mom's house. And we soon realized that a blue cake wasn't exactly the smartest idea. It stained my fingers as I was dishing the cake out. So, we decided not to give Avin a piece of this cake because we had to go somewhere the next day and didn't want him to look like a smurf! :)

We bought him a "1st Birthday" bib from Gymboree that he wore all day. I loved it!

He got tons of presents! Thanks to everyone! My sister got him this Radio Flyer rocket. It is so neat. He is a little scared of it now but he'll grow into it. And I bought him 18 balloons because he loves them. He gets so excited when he sees a balloon. Imagine his joy when he say eighteen!! It was quite an adventure getting these in the car and a wonderful windy day in Rogers. Some nice people at Wal-mart helped me get them in the car and I still lost two of them!

3rd party was at V's mom and dads. We started the day off by going to the Heart Walk in Fort Smith. It was fun but chilly!!

This was the cake for this party. We actually had a smash cake for this one. We ordered these cakes from Paul's bakery in Van Buren. They were great!

He didn't really eat the cake here either. He just ate the icing. This icing didn't stain like the wal mart cake. Not sure why. The chunk out of the cake was from V biting into the cake trying to convince Avin to stick his whole face in it. It didn't work. But that didn't stop Dad from trying! lol Just an excuse to eat cake with out utensils. :)

For lunch Grandma made Avin mashed potatoes, carrots, and green beans. All organic of course! He loved it. And of course made a nice big mess while he ate!

Then we played out side for a while and A's favorite thing was to walk around the fire pit. We thought it was cute so we let him do it. Now that we are at home and he wants to do it here...we decided that it wasn't the smartest thing letting him do that because he doesn't understand when it is hot. So, we can't have fires right now while A is outside. He gets so frustrated when you won't let him near it! lol Lesson learned! :)

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful presents and for spending A's first birthday with him. We love you all!!

New Book

2008-03-21T08:21:00.007-06:00

Last night we went to Barnes and Noble. We were looking at books for Avin and we were all sitting in the floor. We had about 10 books laying on the floor that we were considering. Avin pulled this one book off the shelf at least 7 times. It was so funny. We would try to give him a different book to look at and he wouldn't have it! So, needless to say we had to spend $13 and get this book. (we also bought him 2 other books)

Vernie was reading it to him right before bed and he was sooooo tired. He just laid in V's lap and held on to two of the duckies. It was so cute!! We put him in his crib and was trying to give him milk and he wouldn't let go of the duckies. Picture this....Avin laying in his crib...duckies in each hand...and a bottle of milk that he is trying to hold while holding his duckies. lol so funny! Lazy parents should have gotten a picture!

This morning we gave it to him and he was just trying to throw the duckies like they were balls. lol We didn't get a picture of that either! But, here he is atleast playing with it! :)

Our plans for today are cleaning the house and going to have lunch with Vernie!! Woohoo!

Sewing and Connecting night!

2008-03-18T09:40:00.005-06:00

First off, I have to thank my wonderful husband for taking care of Avin while I was out with the girls. Avin was asleep when I got home. I missed getting to kiss him good night but I was thankful that he was sleeping soundly. Thank you Vernie, you are the best!

This was my first night to get to go to and it was so fun!! I took the napkins (that I still haven't finished) thinking I would try to finish them but that didn't work. I got there and wanted to make the purse! So, luckily I had fabric from another set of napkins that I hadn't started on and I used that to make the clutch they were teaching everyone. Thanks for helping me Genessa!! Here are a few pictures!
This is the outside...

This is showing the fabric on the inside....

And since Avin was asleep when I got home, I got to scrapbook a little. I felt so crafty! :)

What a weekend!

2008-03-17T11:24:00.002-06:00

We had a very busy and fun weekend. Friday night Michelle, Brian, me and Vernie took dinner over to Carrie and Dougs house since they had Talbey. Michelle made yummy enchiladas and I made spanish rice, dip, and a stawberry cake. It was all wonderful! It was great getting to meet Talbey. I can't believe Avin was ever that little! It was kind of scary holding a baby so small. :)

Also on Friday night V's mom and Dad stayed the night and took care of Avin for the whole night! It was so nice getting to sleep through the night!! Thank you so much Brenda and Jim!!

Someone put Avin standing up in his crib and he loved it! lol We can't pull him self up yet, but I guess this is what it would look like if he did! :)

Saturday we took a tour of V's work and then had lunch at Zaxby's (my favorite place). Then we went to see my Mom and Dad. Saturday was my mom's birthday. She watched Avin that night for us so we could go to a friends house. I didn't realize it was her birthday until after I asked her to watch him. Thanks for doing that Mom and Dad!! And Happy Birthday again! We don't have any pictures to post from that night, sorry!

Loving this weather!!

2008-03-13T19:05:00.005-06:00

Avin and I have been enjoying this lovely weather. Yesterday my sister and mom came up for the day. Avin was so good too! We went to the Olive Garden for lunch and he just played in the high chair and didn't cause a scene. lol This is huge! He is starting to want to be on the go all the time now that he is so close to walking. So, being contained in a high chair isn't always an easy thing.

Today, he and I ventured out to Walmart and to Clayton tire. We had to get all new tires on the van. Oh, and for those who didn't know, we bought a 2002 Honda Odyssey and we LOVE it! We traded in our 4runner and accord. So, we are only a one car family for now. It has been 3 months now and it is working great. We now have no car payment! Woohoo! Here is a picture of the van and of Avin on our way to the tire place.

He looks so big here! My little sweetie!

Almost walking!

2008-03-12T13:44:00.002-06:00

He loves to walk holding on to your hands right now. He also walks behind his toy.....of course we are very near by incase he falls. He is so stinking sweet!! :)

Bragging on V

2008-03-12T13:39:00.003-06:00

V took pictures of a fashion show last month sometime or maybe January. The Pink Papaya was the one doing the hair for the fashion show and they asked V to take some pics. He got some amazing shots. Here is the wall at the pink papaya where his photos are hanging up. He mounted the pictures to foam core board and then took there there and hung them up. Looks so great!! Good job V!

Misc pictures

2008-03-12T13:32:00.003-06:00

At home group last week, several of the girls had to try out our bed. It is memory foam and it is awesome!! lol Left to right (keisha, genessa, lacy, and michelle) Later Tim and Steve had to check it out too. It was a funny night!

We bought Avin this play gym at toys r us for $9.98 and we bought 100 balls to go in it for 9.99. It looks funny being in our living room but we will move it someday. :) He likes it...he won't stay for a real long time though.

He is such a sweetie! 10 months old....can't believe it!

A and his rocking horse!

2008-02-11T20:39:00.001-06:00

Here is a picture Nana and Grandma will want printed!! (we'll send it to Walmart for you guys!)

TOO SWEET!!!! I just want to eat him up!! lol

Biter Biscuits

2008-02-11T20:30:00.001-06:00

We went to my Sisters house this weekend to play cards and hang out. They bought A his first Biter biscuits and he loved them. He was a complete mess afterwards. :)

His cousin Haley loves him so much!!

Aren't they soooo sweet!! :)

Good times at Grandma's house...

2008-02-11T20:18:00.001-06:00

We went to Grandma's house for lunch and A got to play with grandma and nap on her too! This is the life!:)

A's first time on a swing. He liked it at first then we think he kind of started to look sick. Maybe motion sickness???? Not sure....he could have just been really tired...who knows?

Playing w/ cousin Annie has it's downfalls....she is dressing him in pink!! lol :)

New ducky tub and video of A playing

2008-01-21T19:44:00.001-06:00

We bought him a new bath tub since he is sooo big now. He loves it. He liked it more the first night without water. Now he likes to bathe in it too. :) He is to stinkin cute! :)

This is a picture of A in just a onesie and some slippers playing in his activity center. I thought it was a cute picture. And he happens to be smiling too! :)

This is a chaotic video of V and A. It is hilarious....might make you a bit dizzy! :)

And here is a video of A chasing daddy! :)

8 months old!!

2008-01-03T13:43:00.000-06:00

He weighs about 18.5 lbs and I didn't measure his length. He is so much fun to have around. V and I are so very thankful for this little bundle of joy. He brightens up our lives. Every month we say this is our favorite month because each month is something new. :)

He is eating pretty much any vegetable or fruit you put in front of him. We tried giving him ham for the first time last night and it didn't go so well. He spit it out as soon as we put it in his mouth. So, we are going to try chicken tonight and see how that goes. His favorite vegetable is squash and favorite fruit is pears. Well, this is what I think his favorites are....if he could talk he might tell me I was crazy! He just devours these two things when you are feeding him. If you don't go fast enough he gets mad! :)

He isn't sleeping through the night anymore. He wakes up about 2 times a night and since he has a cold right now it is even more because he can't breath very well. Hopefully this will end soon and we'll try ferberizing him again. lol That sounds so funny. He is sleeping with us for most of the night. We lay him down in bed at first and then if he wakes up we just put him in bed with us. We are usually missing him by the time he wakes up anyways. I love having him in our bed. I like knowing that both he and V are right within arms reach. They are my favorite people in the whole world!

A just discovered how to make the activity center go around in circles. I was watching him today and he went around 4 times in a row. It is fun to watch him learn something new. Here is a video we got today...

Pics with Santa V

2007-12-05T10:07:00.000-06:00

V borrowed a Santa suit and we got some pics...

It was a very comical event. We tried stuffing the costume with pillows and it looked like Santa V had boobs. We laughed so hard. :) Finally V's mom got it to look right.... and we decided that V and I aren't so good and the costume thing. That might explain why we never dress up for Halloween! :)

Pics of Avin

2007-11-30T13:40:00.000-06:00

A's Grandma got him this jumpy thing that you hang on the door trim and we just tried it out recently. He loves it!! We let him play in it while we watched TV and I looked over at him and this is what I found....He had wore himself out playing and just fell asleep. This is very unlike him. He usually fusses before we goes to sleep. This time, no fussing! lol We felt terrible that he fell asleep but he hadn't been in there long.

We just bought a booster seat to feed A in. I really like this one. I didn't want to buy a highchair because they take up so much space. So, this is what we are going to use. It is portable too. You can fold it up and take it with you anywhere you go. Love it. It was much easier feeding him in this that in his car seat. We used to put him in the car seat while we fed him but he is so messy that we had to figure something else out or the car seat was going to be stained with carrots and green beans! :)

Halloween and Thanksgiving

2007-11-29T13:11:00.000-06:00

I just realized the other day that I forgot to upload pictures from A visiting V's work on Halloween. We borrowed this costume from a friend (thanks Kelly!) and he was our sweet little lobster that day! :)

This picture was taken on Thanksgiving day at my mom's house. My mom got him this activity station so that he would have something to play in when we visit. Thanks Nana!! :) I think he loves it! :)

And then at grandma's house he loves to play in the toy box. He has to chew on everything! Grandma has plenty of toys for him....Thanks goes to Grandma for keeping him occupied while we are there!

And then Daddy got him to sleep and I stole him! :) I love having him sleep on me but daddy does a better job at getting him to sleep....so he does the hard work and I reap the rewards! :)

6 months old!!!

2007-11-15T10:41:00.000-06:00

We took A to his 6 month checkup on Monday. He is 16.3 lbs and 27.5 inches long. He got his shots and a flu shot. There was only one nurse there so he had to get 5 or 6 individual shots. Usually there are two nurses and they give him shots in both legs at the same time. So, he wasn't a happy camper. It was soooo sad. Luckily he gets over it very quickly.

V took some pics of our Pastors family and he was practicing on us first...here is a good shot of A.

Our weekend...

2007-11-06T09:33:00.000-06:00

V took photos for Locke Mountain Cabins in Locke, AR on Saturday. They let us stay in one of the cabins for free. It was a fun little trip. My parents were there to help watch A so I could help V. They were such a huge help! They also bought stuff to make hamburgers and hotdogs for lunch! Here is a few pictures from the trip...

This is my dad w/ A

And my mom w/ A

The next few pics are of the cabin that we stayed in.

There are two other cabins that he took pictures of but I didn't upload any pictures of those. They are cute little cabins. It was a nice little getaway for us.

V's Bday was Sunday. We went to his parents house to celebrate. Here is V with Parker wrapped around him! lol :)

A was really enjoying daddy's party!

Great weekend!

Best Pizza EVER!!!

2007-11-05T18:44:00.000-06:00

http://www.rosatis.com/

We got a small double dough 1/2 Italian Sausage w/ black olives and 1/2 canadian bacon w/ black olives.

It is seriously incredible pizza. A little expensive but well worth it. Check it out some time! It is in Bentonville on 8th and SW A.

Purple Team WINS!!!!

2007-10-30T13:24:00.001-06:00

Sunday evening we went to watch some girls from church play soccer. It was a lot of fun! We took some pictures just for fun. It is hard to do sports photography without the appropriate equipment (which obviously we don't have).

They won the game too! Good job Purple team! You did great!

Here is Michelle....

Here is Christy... (sorry if I spelled your name wrong...I never remember how it is spelled)

This is a shot of Genessa scoring!

And this is the smile afterwards! :)

Here are all three of the girls...

Oh, and we had to get the falling down shots too! :)

If you don't have anything to do on Sundays and want to get out of the house for a bit...go see the girls play! They love having people watch and support them. We'll go again soon. :)

Movie Night

2007-10-29T09:45:00.001-06:00

Well, since we don't have a home theater anymore we decided it would be fun to watch a movie outside! And that is what we did...we had movie night at V's parents house Friday night. We watched Meet the Robinson's on the big screen out in their lawn. It was so much fun! V set up a screen using the white back drop we have and used our theater equipment for everything else. We roasted hot dogs and made smores. It was around 54 degrees that night but it really wasn't too bad. We think A enjoyed it. Here are a few pics...our battery died on our camera so we don't have many to show...

Fun Night!!

Mr. President

2007-10-25T14:43:00.000-06:00

Last week President Bush was in town and I decided since I had nothing better to do that day that we would go try to see him. We called V and he came out to take some pictures of the protesters and try to get a pic of the president. Anyways, we waited for an hour and half (V only got to stay for an hour) and we only got to see his motorcade. It was still fun to be there and have something exciting to do for the day. :)

A and I waiting to see the President

Mr. Bush in this there! :)

We saw our friend Christy there. It was nice to see someone had a positive sign for Bush.

Fun day! :)

Camping Trip

2007-10-25T14:34:00.000-06:00

We went camping a couple of weekends ago with V's sisters family and some friends. Here are a few pics.

We went hiking up to Devil's Den

Some were brave enough to enter the cave...

Others chose to safely wait outside :)

This was our new tent! Got it at Walmart for $50 bucks and it sleeps six people. There was plenty of room for our mattress and A's mattress. I know...we were roughin it! :)

This is a bad picture of me and A but it was the only full picture of A's little bear outfit! :) Cute huh?

I was a little nervous taking A camping but he did wonderful! He only cried one time in the night and that was because he rolled over on my wedding ring when he was in bed with us. Can't blame him for that!

We had a great time camping! Thanks for taking care of the reservations Minda!

Quick Post

2007-10-10T15:50:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone!! Sorry it has been so long since we updated it! We are just plain lazy!! I love that Kelly and Michelle keep on me to update. :)

Here are some pics from our trip to St. Louis this past weekend. We got to visit with Matt, Beth and JJ. We had a great time! These pics are of us at the zoo!

I got to shop at one of my favorite kitchen stores in STL. Cornucopia!! I got a new red apron, another red utensil holder, a red recipe box, and a red pie plate. It all looks great in my kitchen! :)

Here is a picture of A in an outfit we borrowed from Rex (thanks Kelly!). We took this picture a week or two ago of Avin with the pumpkin that Grandma and Grandpa bought him. He looks so cute!!

We borrowed 4 or 5 outfits from Rex and I can't wait to try them all on A. He got cranky the night we tried to take pictures so we only got pictures of this one so far. We'll post more as soon as we make time.

Okay, well there were a few more with a sweater on him but the sweater is a little bit too big right now. Here it is...it looks hilarious! :)

In case anyone is wondering....we are still using the Ear Buddies but we took them off because the tape was bad. We have ordered replacement tape but it hasn't been delivered. So, if you see us soon it will be back on. He will wear them for another 3 months. Hopefully it will be worth it! If not, we can at least say we tried!

A eating Rice cereal

2007-09-18T11:42:00.000-06:00

We finally got A to eat rice cereal. We tried once before but he was already hungry and it wasn't working for him at all. So, we tried again on Sunday night and he loves it now. He just talked to us and he gets so excited! V has a problem keeping his mouth clean when he feeds him! lol I at least try to get the stuff off his face...V doesn't!! :)

This is to show you how much food he had on his face!! :)

What a wonderful weekend....

2007-09-17T11:11:00.000-06:00

The weather was gorgeous this weekend!! So, we spent a little time out side...

Friday night we just played in the backyard on a blanket with A. We think he liked it!!

Saturday is was a little chilly...I think around 55. So, we decided to make a fire.

4 Month check up

2007-09-13T11:57:00.000-06:00

Today we took A to Rainbow Pediatrics for the first time. Dr. Sharkey is wonderful!! Everyone was so friendly. A loved the room we were in. It was really colorful and had dragon flies painted on the wall. He just looked at the walls and talked to them. lol I wish I would have thought to get a picture of the room.

Anyways, he was 14.3 lbs and 26 inches long. So, 90th percentile for height and 5oth percentile for weight. Long and skinny....just like he looks. He was in the 50th percentile for height and weight at two months. So, he has really grown over the last 2 months. I hope this trend continues. I really want him to be tall when he is older.

He got shots today so he is drugged up with Tylenol sleeping in his swing. The doctor said that he was doing excellent at holding his head up and at grabbing things. He actually grabbed her stethoscope and the thing that she looked at his eyes and ears with. She was surprised at first that he did it. She said within the next week or so he will be transferring toys between hands. Can't wait. I love watching him learn new things. One thing we need to work on is tummy time. He rolls over occasionally. We are terrible at making him stay there because he hates it. She said just a few minutes a day should work. So, that is my homework for this next week.

Here is a picture of him after the appointment...

Napping...

2007-09-12T14:10:00.000-06:00

A is napping so I thought I would post a few pics...

Since I am too lazy to find the camera and take a pic of him napping today I thought I would post this pic of Daddy and A napping together. I love it!

Here is A in his Bumbo chair...I love his cute little smile...

A pic of me and A last Sunday at V's parents house.

This is a pic I took yesterday of my two guys! :)

A enjoying Grandpa's cuddle time....

Can you see him sucking his thumb? He won't take a pacifier but he'll suck his thumb. I love it but I have to admit I am a little worried about breaking the habit in the future. Maybe he'll quit on his own? It is a sweet pic though. Oh, I had a lei from the Luau on the swing for him to look at....I guess I should have chosen a blue one!! lol...looks a little girly...

Things are going really good lately. A is sleeping so good at night and is starting to take longer naps. I am loving it! Since he is actually taking good naps (instead of catnapping) he is a much happier boy.....and I am a much happier mother! :)

We go for his 4 month checkup tomorrow. We are going to Dr. Sharkey at Rainbow Pediatrics for the first time(thanks Kelly!). When I called to make the appointment, the receptionist was so friendly. She loved A's name. She said we are going to have a cool smart kid...cool, because of his first name, and smart because he has to learn to pronounce and spell his last name! lol :) So, as long as the nurses and the doc as this friendly, I think we will be in good shape! I'll try to post after the appt tomorrow. I am hoping he is gaining enough weight...he seems so skinny to me. I think we'll be fine in the length category...the boy is so long!! :)

See ya tomorrow!

Luau pics

2007-09-10T09:18:00.000-06:00

Sorry these pics are so late...I have tried many times to upload them and something happens! V and A aren't in the pics so I'll be uploading some different pics of them....

Crazy pic of the group! :)

Limbo pics...

Houla (sp?) pics....

Kid pics... (I am sad that we didn't get one of A at the Luau)...

Neat picture that V took.

Our Weekend...

2007-08-15T13:59:00.000-06:00

Saturday V worked on cleaning the upstairs rooms so that we can have room for the studio. We sold our theater chairs so V dismantled the home theater stuff...took down the projector, speakers and screen. Here is a pic....(it is still a work in process)

Here are a few pics of him in his swing. He has starting swinging a little more. If you put him down in the swing when he is almost out, he will eventually fall asleep there and stay asleep for 30 to 40 mins. Nice!

Just some pics of him in his crib. We are actually going to try tonight to put him down in his bedroom! Pray that it works!

Here are some pics of him on Sunday morning. We dressed him in this outfit before church at he spit up all over the shirt and on V. So, we had to change them both!! One of V's cousins got A this shirt. It says, "Mommy's little stinker". So cute!

THE END! :)

Branson Trip last weekend

2007-08-10T11:01:00.000-06:00

Our Branson trip was great! Very hot but it was a lot of fun! We went up Friday afternoon and surprised my sister. They didn't think we were going to be there until Friday night but V decided to take a vacation day so we got there about noon. We found out where they were and snuck up on them. It was great! lol :) We shopped with them at the Tanger outlet mall and I bought A some cute little sleep and play outfits from the Disney store. After that we went to the Titantic exhibit....AWESOME but expensive....$42.00 for two people. That night we went to Branson Landing. Kind of like the Promenade on steroids. Much more going on there than here.

Here is A in one of the outfits I bought. :) It has Dumbo on it....CUTE!! :)

Here we are at the Titantic exhibit. Very cool! V is taking the picture so he isn't in it.

Friday night we went to the Branson Landing...here are some pics...

We were waiting to eat dinner at Famous Daves on the Landing on A was having fun looking at one of the lights....Lots of pics of him smiling!! We loved it!!

On Saturday we went to Silver Dollar City. It was fun until it got so hot that A was sweating really bad. If I could have stayed in the kids area the whole time we both would have been fine. He liked it there because there was so much to look at and it was shady and cool by the water. I forgot to turn off the camera the night before so we don't have any pics. We left SDC and went back to the hotel and chilled out for a while. Then we went back to the landing. We also swam in the pool for a little while...here are a few pics from the pool...V and I didn't swim...but A got his feet wet!! :)

Haley my neice had a blast! She didn't want to leave the pool! :)

That's it!! We'll try to post more often....we are slackers!!!

3 months old!!!

2007-08-02T14:05:00.000-06:00

Time flies!! I can't believe A is already 3 months old. He is doing great! We get a lot more sleep than we used to. He is completely over the Colic thing and is sleeping through the night. We have gotten as much as 9.5 hours of straight sleep! It is so nice! The past few nights it has been different, he has been waking up at 3 or 4 AM but he generally goes right back to sleep after we feed him. He is such a joy to have around! He really does brighten up our lives! We love him so much and are so thankful for him!!!

Here he is in his Bumbo. He holds his head up enough to sit in it for a few minutes and then his head falls forward a little, so mommy gets scared and takes him out. :)

Here he his surrounded by V's family. They love him so much!

Here is my cutie pie! :)

We are heading to Branson tomorrow to go to Silver Dollar City with my sister and her family. We are super excited just to get away. We just got back from Walmart and we bought a DVD player for the car so A can watch movies. Getting an early start!! lol I know you people probably think we are crazy...but he will watch the TV at home sometimes and we are trying anything to make him not cry in the car! lol :)

And we bought this Baby Einstein DVD....

We'll try to post pics from Branson next week!! Have a great weekend everyone!

Update on A's 2 month checkup

2007-07-09T09:31:00.001-06:00

Avin had his two month checkup last Thursday. He was in the 50th percentile for both height and weight. He weighed 11 lbs and 3 ozs and he was 23.3 inches long. So, he has gained 3 lbs and grew 2 inches. We were so proud of him! He also got his shots that day. :( He did good though. Vernie was the one to hold him while they did it. The doctor said that he has a heart murmur and we are going tomorrow (Tuesday July 10th) to have an ultrasound done to make sure everything is okay with me. So, if you think of it, pray for him! Thanks!! We'll try to update tomorrow after the appointment.

Mommy and Avin! He is so cute!!! :)

Grandma was playing with Avin and he was smiling so big! She was playing with his feet and he loved it!!

See!!

2 months old!!

2007-07-01T17:15:00.000-06:00

A is 2 months old tomorrow July 2nd! Crazy how time flies!! He smiles now and it sounds like he laughs sometimes too. We love him so much!

We have had an interesting time over the last two months. He is still doing to crying thing at night but it seems to be a little better than it used to be. He starts at about 8:00 and it is usually over by 9:30. V and I have learned to not stress and to take turns while he cries. We are handling it much better now. We are now eliminating things from my diet to see if it is something that I have eaten that makes him so fussy. And when we use formula we are using Enfamil Gentleease formula that is designed for fussy and gassy babies. So, hopefully things will start looking up. When he isn't hurting he is so fun! We love seeing his smiling face and to see his eyes follow us. And when he hears our voices he starts looking for us. I love it!! Here are a few pics of our little boy! :)

A's 1st trip to St.Louis!!

2007-06-12T11:24:00.001-06:00

------WARNING: LONG POST!! -------

We finally made it to St. Louis!! We were so excited to be able to go back to the city we love! And this time it was even better because we had A with us!! :) We also had more friends to visit this time since M and B moved back.

Our first night there was pretty interesting....A wasn't sleeping well. About a week before the trip he started this crazy fussing thing around 9:00 every night. We heard from a friend that if you have a really fussy baby then you should try turning on the fan on the stove and see if it helps. Well, it works great with A. It is a lifesaver when he won't stop crying! But of course while we are on vaca in STL there is no stove fan to soothe him. We made a mad dash to Wal-Mart at 12 AM to try to find something that makes some "white noise" that would help soothe the little guy. We ending up buying a clock radio and ocean CD, a hand held vacuum cleaner, and we also tried to find a LOUD fan but this doesn't exist anymore! We tried the Ocean CD first but the sound of the waves scared him instead of soothing him. We decided to tune the radio to an AM station with static. That seemed to work well. Crazy how the boy loves noise! We finally got to sleep sometime around 1:30. But we still managed to make it up and out by 10:00 to go eat at Uncle Bills!! The best Pancake house ever!! :)

On Saturday, we met M, B, and JJ at the Mills Mall and shopped a little and then we went to Lion's Choice (our favorite fast food BBQ place) for dinner. Here are some pics....

Mommy's and babies

Daddy's and babies

A was having a little bit of a problem while we were gone. We recently introduced a small amount of formula into his diet to make life a little easier on me (C) and it stopped him up a little bit. So, needless to say he was a bit fussy. B invited us over to their house to visit and help with A. By the time we got to their house A was fine. We stayed anyways and A had a surprise for us while we were there. The largest poopy diaper EVER!! lol...he saved it for Nanny B. She is the brave soul who volunteered to change it! :) Then she volunteered to give him a bath to make him feel even better.

Getting him ready

Trying to put the diaper on as fast as possible to cheer up the screaming baby. :)

JJ had bath time too. Isn't he cute!!

While we were in STL we went to the zoo. It started pouring down rain right when we got finished feeding A, but we waited it out. It was so humid after the rain. We walked around for a while and got some neat pics...

We also walked around Forest Park and laid on a blanket to play with A. The weather was perfect for this...

And of course Ted Drews!! Still can't believe M hasn't been there! You guys have to try it out! Their cookie dough concrete knocks Skeeters out of the water!! :)

We spent much of our time in the car, either feeding A or changing him. Neither of us our brave enough to take him to the public restrooms to change him because he usually screams his cute little head off. We weren't quite ready to introduce the screaming to the public just yet. Instead we created a little changing table in the front seat of the car! lol Newbies....I know.

Fancy changing table

A little cuddle time after one of the many feedings in the car

We also visited with our friends Mike and Sue and their babies while we were there. It was so good to see them. They had their second baby a week or so after A was born. I don't think V took his camera into their house....I guess he forgot.

Our visit was a little different than usual but it was so much fun. We had a blast. I think we took it easier this time because we had A with us. Usually we run ourselves ragged trying to get everything in but not this time. We really slowed down and enjoyed what we did get to do. We are looking forward to the day when we can take A to a Cardinals game. :)

What we've been up to

2007-05-22T22:02:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been a while since we updated this blog. We've been super busy around here. V has so many projects going on around the house, and A keeps us on our toes 24/7. We go to the doctor tomorrow for A's 3 week checkup. Wow, 3 weeks!! We can't wait to see how much he weighs. It's crazy how time passes by so fast when you're busy. A is doing great these days, aside from some gas pains now and then. C is doing great being a full time mommy, which is a lot of work! V went back to work after being off for two weeks, but he'd rather win the lottery and retire early. Nothing beats being home with the family! :)

We're planning to go to St. Louis this weekend, and it was funny when we booked the hotel - we had to specify 2 adults, 1 child on the hotel booking website. It's the little things like that, that make you think "whoa, that's strange!", but strange in a neat sort of way. Anyway, we can't wait to see St. Louis and hang out with M, B, and JJ! It will be neat to see what A thinks of JJ, and vice versa. I think A will just grunt and make some weird faces, as usual. :)

Here are some pics of A and other things we've been up to lately...

A takin' it easy in the boppy...

A's reaction to the St. Louis Cardinals losing to the Detroit Tigers (he was mimicing daddy)

V built a new aquarium stand for the new tank (sold the old one). Almost finished, like a lot of projects around here!! :)

The three generations! Very cool!

Hanging out w/ V's parents

A likes the outdoors - loves to look around at the contrast between the sky and the house

A hot air balloon passed very close by...it was much closer than this photo shows:

A talking to grandma...kids these days have too many high-tech toys!

A looks older in this photo!

And much older in this photo! Mommy bought him that cute little outfit.

We're trying to not kill some new tomato plants. It's not going so well so far. They're out of sight while we're indoors, so they're out of mind and don't get watered enough.

Hangin' with A on the bed...

Mommy loves to kiss A a LOT! We think he likes it. Can't help it anyway...we love him SO MUCH!

The three generations again at V's parents' house in Van Buren. Should have used Photoshop to put a tan on V's legs. They're so white, A is squinting! :)

V makes some killer pancakes! They are super thick and taste great, but not as great as Uncle Bill's pancakes in St. Louis, which we get to have this weekend!!!! WOOHOO!!!

The new office is coming along. Just a little more sheetrock to go. This photo was taken with a wide angle lens, so the room looks really narrow and curved.

the end.

Update on The Three of Us

2007-05-06T21:37:00.000-06:00

Well, all three of us are doing really great so far! C is getting around like she never had surgery. We're very thankful for such a quick recovery. We've got A on somewhat of a feeding schedule (every 3 hours), which means we get 3 hour chunks of sleep, and this is great because we now end up with a total of about 6-7 hours of sleep at night. His gas pains are almost gone, so he's pretty consistent with his routine: eat for about 20 minutes, look around with eyes wide open for about 20 minutes, then sleep for 3 hours. We're sure loving being parents! It's so awesome! We just love this little guy to pieces. V calls him his "little buddy". We're already sad that he won't stay this little for very long. We love cuddling with him all the time!

We gave A his first sponge bath this evening, which involved A pooping on two diapers and two blankets, peeing into the air onto his new diaper (first time he's sent fluids airborn!), and water leaking through his tub (we forgot to put the drain plug in place). He was NOT happy when we wiped down his arms and sides, but he loved getting warm water poured over his head, and the shampoo massage. It was quite an ordeal, but we'll be more prepared next time! Our diaper changing sessions are like nascar pitstops...one of us holds his legs up in the air, and the other takes care of the business end of things. :)

A enjoying a nice scalp massage...

After his bath, we treated him (and us) to his first stroll around the neighborhood in his new stroller! He slept through most of it, so we think he liked it. It was so nice outside tonight - can't wait to do this more often!

More Pics of A

2007-05-06T13:12:00.000-06:00

A's First 24 Hours at Home

2007-05-05T14:06:00.000-06:00

We survived the first 24 hours at home! The first night started off rough, but by 2:30am, things were looking better. We're figuring him out more and more every hour. We've learned to sleep when he sleeps, and cherish every moment of it!! We're sorry if we're slow getting back to your phone calls and emails. We're kind of in survival mode right now. :) His gas pains have really subsided over the past 12 hours, which makes it so much easier on us.

He gives a new meaning to the name Happy Feet!

He loves this little lounger

A worn out daddy is putting him down to sleep in his crib for the first time...

He likes listening to his mobile play Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star...

...Snug as a bug in a rug...

Baby A is Here!!!

2007-05-04T08:55:00.000-06:00

A is finally here, and he's incredible!!! We are so happy to have him here!! It's more exciting than words can say. He was born 7lbs 8oz, 20" long, with a full head of hair. We had a rough first night (2 hours of sleep), followed by a pretty good night (5-6 hours of sleep). Everything is going extremely well, aside from A having gas pains now and then. We finally learned the difference between a hunger cry, and a gas pain cry. He's been eating a lot, and his eyes are open more and more! It's so awesome to look into his eyes and talk to him. It has been a long road but God is Awesome!! He is truely a gift from above!! :)

We get to go home in about an hour!

Here are some photos....it's amazing how different he looks just a day later.

This is our pediatrician...

The three of us!! So happy!!!

It's almost over!

2007-04-24T17:46:00.000-06:00

While it has been fun being pregnant...for the most part....we think it is almost over! We had our doctor's appt today and A had not dropped at all. She still says he is very high up and doesn't seem to be coming down. So, if he hasn't dropped by next Tuesday May 1st she is going to take him by C section on Wednesday May 2nd. The good thing about this is that we know the day he will make his appearance! We are so ready! We will spend all day on Tuesday making sure A's room is ready for him to come home to. We can't wait to meet him!!

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support! And for all the great gifts we got at all of our showers! We have such wonderful family and friends!!

New Addition!!

2007-04-23T09:28:00.000-06:00

Gotcha! You thought it was baby A didn't you!!! :)

We are in the process of adding a room onto our bonus room upstairs. V has been working really hard to get this finished as soon as possible.....maybe before A's arrival. This room is going to be our new office and the downstairs bedroom will be a guest room. So....that means....someone will have to come stay with us!! lol :)

We are going tomorrow for another checkup to see if A is dropping at all. If he hasn't started dropping she may schedule us for a c section around our due date. I am fine with whatever they want to do. I just want him here!!

This is C's first post! :)

Baby Bedding for Sale

2007-03-28T19:33:00.000-06:00

We bought this bedding, thinking it was more blue than lavender. When we got home, we realized it was lavender. It's made by Cotton Tales, and the pattern is called Fiji. Originally $200, we're asking $100. If you know anyone who would be interested, please send 'em our way!

Pics from the new Camera

2007-03-26T21:48:00.000-06:00

V's been having fun taking photos with his new camera. Here are a few pics from around the yard.

Local Baby Room Invaded by Airplanes. News at 10!

2007-03-14T19:46:00.000-06:00

A's room is 99% done! We finally put up those airplanes you saw a few blogs back.

C used her new circle cutter to cut out a million or so circles, which V glued to the wall...

We still need to stain the new shelf on the left...

This one's for you, Beth! Here's mommy a few weeks ago...she's now 33 weeks along! Only 4 weeks 21 days to go! Or is it 5 weeks 14 days? Ah well.... :)

We went to a birthing class last week, which was great! We feel so much more prepared now. We met some new friends in the class - Annie and Paul. Annie showed us her ultrasound photos at 32 weeks. It's so cool to see all the detailed features! We're going to get one more ultrasound so we can see what A looks like, so those photos will be on here eventually.

V bought a new camera yesterday (Nikon D40), but it won't be here until Friday. He's super excited about it. He can't wait to take some pics with it this weekend.

That's all for now! 7 weeks to go!!!!!!!!

Gimme a Brake!!

2007-02-12T18:25:00.001-06:00

Does your car ever pulse as it comes to a stop, like you're pumping the brakes? That usually means the disc brake rotors are warped. I pulled the rotors off the 4Runner Saturday, and found a brake/muffler shop that resurfaced them for $20 (for the pair) in about 10 minutes! Most shops wanted $60 per wheel to take them off and resurface them, so I saved $100 by taking them off myself! Giddeup! Only two bolts hold on the brake caliper, which has to be removed before you can slide the rotor off. Pretty easy, but the bolts were on really tight.

Here is a disc brake rotor after I took it off the hub (it's the disc leaning on my tire)...

Here are the two disc rotors after they were resurfaced...ahhhhh, nice and shiney, like a new DVD!

Now the 4Runner stops as smooth as glass! (or...as smooth as new rotors!)

BRRRRR!!!!!

2007-02-04T21:04:00.000-06:00

Here are some photos around the house that look as cold as it feels out there! We're ready for Spring already!

This is our favorite tree, called a Deodar Cedar.

Some neat grass V's parent's gave us...

This is a Canadian Hemlock tree. I love this tree, but I wish it were bigger!

Some Eastern Bluebirds were scarfing down the berries on our Holly shrubs. They inspired me to fill up our bird feeder with bird feed, so we now have lots of birds in the backyard. You can click on this photo to see their colors better.

This is a Japanese Laceleaf Maple. It has beautiful, weepy leaves most of the year. It will never get very tall, but it will get a lot wider. It's a VERY slow grower.

Here are the bird tracks after I put some bird feed in the feeder. These little tracks are all over and around the deck in the back yard. I also saw some kitty cat tracks. Does anyone know how to keep a cat out of your yard? Our neighbor's cat climbs over our fence all the time, probably trying to nab one of our birdies!

So what do you do when it's so cold outside? Alphabetize 100 DVDs!

aquarium faux toes

2007-01-23T19:13:00.000-06:00

Just a couple of recent pics, after I cleaned the aquarium. Bought 10 turbo snails today (yep, I said turbo!). Their purpose in life is to eat algae, so maybe they'll keep the tank from getting as bad as it did.

projects around the house

2007-01-21T20:02:00.000-06:00

C has been scrapbooking a lot lately! We didn't get to go to St. Louis (because of the bad weather), so instead of seeing a
Blues hockey game, C did some Blues scrapbooking.

We worked on a Times Square puzzle, which was a lot of fun! The puzzle now sits on a piece of plywood on our living room floor, because we haven't gotten around to gluing it together. V has several unfinished projects, so this may be on the floor for a while.

V finally overhauled the aquarium tonight. Algae has been slowly taking over, because we haven't done enough water changes to get rid of the nitrates that build up (Algae thrives on nitrates). This is what the tank looked like before....

Time to give the rocks a haircut! About a half a pitcher worth...yuck! C would not let me make a smoothy out of this stuff, but surely it would have been healthy, right?

V rebuilt the lighting fixture for the aquarium as well. We used to have a Coralife fixture, with two bulbs, but V got a third bulb and ballast from a friend at work. So....he gutted the two-bulb fixture and mounted all three bulbs to the aquarium top, with new reflectors behind each bulb. Also, the ballasts are now mounted on the back of the aquarium top...out of the way, and they stay cooler. Wow, 195 watts of light!

Ooooooo....Ahhhhhhh! It's SOO bright and clear now! Just about burns your retinas when you enter the kitchen. We did a water change tonight, and one will follow tomorrow. We need some new snails to eat any algae that decides to grow again.

Time to relax! We found a recipe for orange creamsicle shakes that taste EXACTLY like Orange Julius drinks. If you've never had one, stop by for a treat! They're incredible!

Had to squeeze in some Settlers....this game is addicting! If you haven't played Settlers of Catan, you're missing out!!

Baby's Room

2007-01-03T22:51:00.000-06:00

We turned one of the spare rooms into the official baby's room! V tried a new painting idea, where he painted stripes using flat and semi-gloss paint, but both are the same color. The finish makes it look like different colors, depending on how the light hits it. Lots of masking is required, but it turned out pretty cool. We added a chair rail, and painted the lower part a darker blue.

Trying to get the tape straight was a pain...

You can see the striped effect here...oooo..ahhh!

Still working on painting wooden airplanes that V cut out of plywood, which will go along the top of the walls instead of using a border (if they turn out ok). They are a larger version of the planes on the bedding material. They look like huge glowing cookies in one of these photos.

It's a boy! Ultrasound video now available!

2006-12-11T23:04:00.000-06:00

We got the exciting news this morning that we're having a baby boy! We're SOOOO excited! He weighs 9oz right now, and we got to see his little hands and feet move. It was so amazing! The due date range is between May 3 and May 9th. We looked at baby name books at Borders tonight, and we came up with several names we like. It's going to take us a while to decide.

Here is a profile of the head and upper body:

This photo shows the feet. You can see his little toes in the left image!

Video Available!!
We created a 1 minute video from the ultrasound DVD, and we added some titles to point out some of his neat little movements! To watch the video, click here to download it, and CHOOSE TO SAVE THE FILE. After you save the file, open it and enter the password (we'll send it via email upon request). Here's the important part....after you enter the password, a file will be created called "BabyH-Ultrasound.wmv". THIS is the file you will have to open - it won't just load the video automatically. Sorry for the complicated instructions. The video is 16MB, so it will take a few minutes to download.

We locked the video with a password, since it has C's full name on the screen. We keep our full names off this blog for security reasons.

heartbeat update

2006-12-05T20:57:00.000-06:00

We recorded the heartbeat tonight. The last one was on 10-30-06. Now, you can hear the baby's heart valves opening and shutting - kind of a clicking, triple beat sound. It sounds like two heartbeats, but it's only one. Here is the hearbeat: http://www.industrialpartstrader.com/heartbeat3.wav

We find out Monday if it's a boy or a girl. Woohoo!!!

Let it snow!

2006-11-30T22:42:00.000-06:00

Took some pics tonight...it's actually snowing now! Maybe V can get someone to pull him around on his snowboard behind the 4Runner!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2006-11-30T14:54:00.000-06:00

We put up our tree about a week ago. Hard to believe we only paid $20 for it, prelit!

We also built a buffet table about a month ago. It's not finished, but good enough for now (like a lot of my projects!).

It's not snowing, but sleeting instead. Looks like snow, huh?

V's trip to NYC

2006-11-22T21:28:00.000-06:00

I recently spent a week in the northeast, about 40 miles from Manhattan. I was lucky enough to get to spend one night in New York City, which was incredible! It was amazing to see so many lights and signs crammed into one area. Times Square was the coolest part of the trip. I felt like I was at the center of the world.

I was surprised to see how small the ice skating rink is at Rockefeller Center. They had the big Christmas tree setup, but not lit. The ice skating rink was very very small, and sunken below ground level, about 10 feet, and surrounded by buildings. Not at all what it looks like in the movies. Right across the street from it is the NBC Today Show studio, where you can stand outside to be in the background of the show.

I got to see the entrance to the NBC Studios / Rainbow Room, the Late Show (Letterman), Grand Central Station (where we arrived in NYC on a train from Stamford, CT), the Chrysler building, and the Empire State Building. We only had a few hours to see everything, so we didn't go inside any buildings. I did eat a hot dog from a street vendor! A dream come true!! The hot dog was ok, but the experience was awesome!!

We will definitely have to take a trip to NYC for a vacation. C really needs to see it in person. It's so much neater than on TV. Wish we could take a private jet when we both go! 3 hours and you're there!

Here is the NBC Today Show set...

V's birthday

2006-11-05T20:46:00.000-06:00

V - Yesterday was my 33rd birthday. woohoo! We went to my parent's house for the weekend, and played Settlers of Catan with the family (thanks to the expansion pack I got for my birthday!). When we got back to our hometown, we watched The Departed, but walked out after about 45 minutes. Not what I expected. We watched the Santa Clause 3 today - was pretty good! I can't wait to watch Mission Impossible III, which I got for my birthday as well. If any of you guys wanna come over and watch it, let me know!

Our little thumper

2006-10-31T20:00:00.000-06:00

We rented a doppler device so we could hear our baby's heartbeat at home. It works great! Around 155-160BPM. The device has an audio output jack, which I connected to our computer. I recorded the heartbeat as a .WAV file. You can open it by clicking on this link: http://www.industrialpartstrader.com/heartbeat2.wav (It's about 1MB).

We're here!

2006-10-31T12:43:00.000-06:00

We finally setup a blog. Badda bing! Let the blogging begin.