LewtoNews

New shelves from Ikea

2012-01-09T01:11:00.004-05:00

We went to Ikea a few days after Christmas and got some new shelving, one for the front hall, the others for the playroom. AJ let the boys help him put together the front hall one.

I think he did this on a lunch break or something, that's why he's in uniform.
Before getting them put together, the boys had a great time with the boxes!
If you can see the pockmarks on the boxes, they were pounding them with hammers.

Aren't they cute in their stripey footie jammies??

Playing in the play room
Walking around on the boxes

Cutie Mr. Tim in a hand-me-down from his cousin, Micah (and maybe Josiah)!

Aprons and Rockets

2012-01-07T16:48:00.003-05:00

Aunt Jenny made aprons for the older two (and Mommy!) for Christmas. We love them!! Super cute and fit great! Thanks, Aunt Jenny!

Handsome Daddy!
Silly J lying on the ground.
Sam shooting rockets off with the pump rocket.
Setting up and playing with the stomp rocket the boys got for Christmas! They completely love these rocket launchers b/c they can do them themselves! (A year later, we need to replace all the fins on all the rockets for the stomp rocket... Sam really enjoyed pulling them all off...sigh).

New ornaments and hats!

2012-01-07T02:27:00.003-05:00

One of the girls at our church who helped out in Josh's class made little hats for the 3 boys! What a sweetie! Unfortunately, the other two were pretty small, but Tim's fit great!

Just love the eyes in this one! Loved these outfits!!
Sam with his new ornament that Daddy got him in Germany. It's a hot air balloon. Because Sam LOVES balloons!
Josh got a helicopter, because Josh was/is very into rescue helicopters.
Cute little stripey guy!
"Aaa-chooo!"

Christmas 2010

2012-01-07T01:29:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday Jesus cheesecake!

Christmas dinner
Tim got pretty tired, and decided to kick back in the swing with all his new toys.
Opening presents with the boys.
Attempting to get a good pic of the boys in front of the tree.

Sam with a ball and a sword. Of course.
Daddy and baby Tim on his first Christmas morning!
Christmas Eve service
Yes, we let Josh have his own candle. What, you don't let your 4 year old play with fire??

The Tiger and the Duck

2012-01-07T01:16:00.003-05:00

Outgrowing his awesome Tiger outfit. :0(

This was his Daddy's outfit when he was a baby!

Such a cute Tiger baby!
Duck lips!
Love the messy hair!
All dressed up with no where to go!

Skyping with the family in TX!

2012-01-05T18:34:00.002-05:00

So on Thanksgiving we had arranged for Missy and Nate to bring their computer (with Skype) to my parents' so we could try to video chat with the whole family. It more or less worked. Here's a shot of us on their computer screen...

And a shot of them talking to us... outside! The kids were all running all over the place and people were popping in and out... absolute chaos! But it was awesome, and so great to see everyone, including the nephews we'd only seen once or twice since their birth!

Brothers

2012-01-05T18:31:00.002-05:00

Happy Tim!

Sam loves the "did you kiss the baby" book from Aunt Shannon!
Josh helping to feed his baby brother! What a helper!

We were getting ready to go somewhere... Tim was FREAKING out and screaming and I believe I had to change a last minute diaper or finish getting food together or something, and so I had Josh hold his bottle and he did a great job!

Another bath, another cute Tim picture

2012-01-05T18:29:00.001-05:00

Aww, isn't he sweet, talking to his seahorse??

Well, he started out happier in this bath...

Random pics

2012-01-02T14:28:00.004-05:00

Josh vacuuming with the little vac. Such a helper!

Sam wanted to be a baby again?? He did like climbing into Tim's chair.
Weird post it face, but super cute holding his baby brother!

Cloth diaper babies! Tim finally got big enough for the BG OS on the smallest snap.

Josh was helping put Tim's toy back on the mobile for him... he was being a great big brother!
Love this sleeper! Got it with Sammy... What a cute boy!
Random Sam kangaroo shot from Halloween.
Not sure why his hands are over his ears... maybe Tim was screaming??

First cloth diaper and a snuggly swaddled baby!

2012-01-02T14:07:00.002-05:00

Tim all swaddled and snuggly in his cradle.

I bought these newborn cloth diapers on Etsy before Tim was born... they didn't work at all (very leaky), but they were really cute!

Bath time!

2012-01-02T14:03:00.002-05:00

Tim didn't like his bath... at all!! Lots of screaming was involved, as well as some peeing and pooping outside of the diaper, I believe.

Finally all dry and snuggly again... much happier!
Wearing the ducky robe and slippers bought by GG to Josh.

At the airport

2012-01-02T13:57:00.003-05:00

This is when we were dropping off Grandmom and Grandad at the airport. Cute shot of mommy and Josh. Notice his wings... the people at the Chas airport always loved seeing the boys come to the counters to check in and always gave them wings... don't ask how many pairs of wings I've tossed out once the sticky wore off...

Sam and his wings! They have great windows with rockers set up (I LOVE the Chas airport!! Miss it!) and the boys would run around and look out at the planes.
Tiger brothers!

Teeny Tiny Tiger

2012-01-02T13:51:00.004-05:00

Just a few pics of Tim when he was teensy. He had lots of Tiger clothes (still does!) and this was one my mom bought even before we knew he was a boy Tiger!

Awwww! Snuggly sleepy little Tiger! He fell asleep on my lap.
Tim's Aunt Missy made this adorable gown for him! I loved that thing so much!
This was taken in the hospital... this is his Tiger we bought him at the zoo in Montgomery, AL when we were there for SOS. And the outfit is one we got with Josh.
Love looking back at all these sweet newborn pix!

Pumpkin Patch 2010

2012-01-02T13:28:00.003-05:00

So a few days after Tim was born we went to the Pumpkin Patch at Boone Hall Plantation in Mt. Pleasant. My parents were still with us, so they got to come, too! We got a few pix, though AJ and I were super stylish wearing our sunglasses for our family picture here... oops! I think Tim was maybe 5 or 6 days old(??).

Josh's pumpkin
Sam had fun walking around looking at the pumpkins, too!

WHAT??? A NEW Post??

2012-01-01T22:51:00.002-05:00

So... it's a new year, and it seems like maybe a good time to try to start blogging again. I kept meaning to get caught up from the last post, but being so busy with three boys and some other stuff (AJ deploying, finding out we were moving, moving cross-country, etc.) I just haven't gotten to it. I've been ignoring it. But now that we're more or less settled, I feel like maybe I can actually get back into the habit. I hate that Tim's life up till now is so not documented on here, and that there's a huge gap with the other boys. Maybe I'll do a post with a mini-catch up??

Anyway, trite as it may be, I'd like to start off the year with my "resolutions." I hate that word, and the thoughts it brings up (I'm going to lose X lbs, etc). However, my resolutions are a little different. And hopefully I'll keep them.

1) Keep growing in my relationship with Christ and my heavenly Father. To do this, I want to keep up with my reading through the Bible (currently in 1 Samuel). I also want to find our "home" church here and get plugged in with a community group and hopefully a good preschool group for the boys.

2) Grow my relationship with my husband. It's so easy to just "coast" in marriage, and then one day you realize how long it's been since you really communicated with your husband. Or at least it seems that way in my life. I really want to start having regular(ish) date nights where we go somewhere we can really talk, not just go to a movie or something. We need to put in some serious work with all the stressors we have day to day on us and our relationship.

3) Spend some serious play/teaching time with all three boys, but Josh in particular. I am so lazy in this area! I keep wanting to get set up to do some little mini-lessons with him to get him ready for K next year, but still haven't done it! Part of it is that I always seem to be so busy with just caring for the boys and AJ and keeping up with house work. Part of it is just me being lazy. I want to make a little spot for him to be able to work at. Still trying to figure out where this will be. I might get a little table and put in his room. Or maybe in the guest room. I don't know. Anyone with ideas on what to do or how to get started or what to start with (another problem I have had getting this going), please please email or comment on this or FB me!! I may or may not use your suggestions, but I'd love to hear them!

So... that's about it. I would like to lose the 15 lbs. I put on during the move, and we'll be joining the YMCA here in order to help the kids use some energy, and me get some work out time in. We're all very excited about this, but it's not a vow I'm making or anything. It would be nice, though...

What are YOUR New Year's resolutions??

While I was in labor...

2010-10-23T21:53:00.009-04:00

OK, these first couple are actually from the day or two before Tim was born, when my parents got here. They were amazing and changed their airline tickets to Monday instead of Wednesday, so they could be here to help with the kids for us!! Thanks, again, Mom and Dad!!

Josh was pretty enamored of Granddad's hat...

Silly boys going down the stairs in the morning. Sam goes down on his belly mostly, so Josh thinks it's hilarious for him to do the same.
Sam loves the stairs. A LOT. And beach balls. And the tail on his outfit makes this a super cute picture!!
Classic Josh "look". He learned from a pro. (Me, in case you didn't pick that up.)
Rough housing with Daddy the night before their brother was born. They love playing with Daddy!!
While AJ and I were at the hospital, Mom and Dad took the boys to Gahagan Park (aka The Faraway Park). They played and had a picnic and got out lots of energy and took really good naps when they got home. They also happened to meet up with some friends of ours from Rolly Pollies and school and got to hang out a bit with them. Not that Josh needs to know people to talk to them, as is evident in a couple of these pics. He could talk to anyone, and does!!

Josh swinging on the tire swing.
Sam in the red swing. This is a super cool swing, and it's never open when we're there, so I know he was excited to be able to swing in it!
Metal pipes and brass balls on strikers make a GREAT toy. They love to make noise!!
Josh talking to people. No idea what he was telling them about... probably about his baby Tiger being born!! He was super excited about that.
I love my Sam's expressions!!
Peek-a-boo!!
times 2!!
Playing soccer.
Sam really loves balls. A lot.
Another kid. Josh really loves to talk... No idea where he got that trait from...
Cheese!
Mom and Dad said that Sam would pull himself up on these monkey bars to stand on Mom's shoulders. You can see this in the pic below. Silly monkey!
Having the time of his life!

Love that smile!!

A Tiger is born!

2010-10-23T09:55:00.003-04:00

WARNING: This may be TMI for some of you. I'm describing the birth of my child, so there is some info on here you may not care to read. Just fair warning.

So on Wednesday, October 13, AJ and I woke up VERY early to go to the hospital for me to be induced. I was progressing on my own, but the contractions I was having wouldn't stay regular, and we were on a tight schedule with AJ scheduled to leave on a trip the end of October and my parents only in town for a week. So at 39 weeks and 4 days, that's where we were. Trident Medical Center in Charleston. At 0600.

This is right after we got all registered and signed in downstairs. I forgot to get a last preggo shot when I got induced with Sam, so I wanted to be sure to get one this time! So this is me at 39 wks. 4 days.

OK, before we get to the "good" pics (aka, the ones with the baby!) I'll tell you how the day went.

Got all changed and all, the nurses came in (still the night shift, so they didn't do too much, other than explain when the new shift would be in and what would happen, in general terms.

So about 0700 the new shift came in, introduced themselves, and got things started... meaning paperwork. And needles. The first nurse was very sweet, but not incredible at putting needles in me. She tried a vein on my left forearm first... couldn't get any blood out. Tried a big old vein on my left hand, and ended up blowing it out... in a major way. It's still bruised. NOT cool. And apparently they have a two try limit, so the other nurse came in and put it in my right wrist, which wasn't what I'd call fun, or comfortable, but at least she got it first try! They took a little blood, and then left me hooked up to the IV fluids to get ready for the pitocin when the dr. got there and could check me and get things started. About 0830 they got permission from the Dr. to check me themselves, and I was 3-4 cm. dilated and about 70% effaced. So they started the pit drip. The contractions started almost right away, but of course were very small and not painful, barely noticeable. After a few "bumps" up, they got a little more regular and intense. Several bathroom breaks (LOTS of fluids going in me!) and some boredom and an hour or two, Dr. Molly finally made an appearance. She came in and talked to me a little, and said she'd check me and if Tim was in a "good position" she'd break my water. So she did. It wasn't like with Sam where the contractions got REALLY bad REALLY fast after that... but they did start ramping up a bit... and I started contemplating epidural or no epidural. After much deliberation, I finally decided to try it again. The one I got with Sam didn't really help much, and stopped working at all after an hour or so. NOT cool, so I was unsure whether it was worth it. But since this could possibly be my last pregnancy/labor, I thought it was worth another try.

So I let them know, and they gave me another whole bag of fluids really fast to get ready for the epidural. By this time the contractions were getting really painful, and it seemed like it took forever for the anesthesiologist to get there. Dr. Molly came in and checked me right before the nice man with the drugs got there, and I was 5-6 cm. and 80% effaced.

The anesthesiologist did the epidural with me lying down on my side... MUCH bigger fan of this way than the sitting on the edge of the bed way. Not extremely pleasant process, but once those drugs started working, it was SOO much better that it didn't matter too much. But after enjoying the effects for only about 3 or 4 contractions, I started feeling a LOT of pressure. Thinking it was the full bladder, the nurse quickly put in the catheter and drained it. It didn't help much. So she checked me... I was 9 cm and completely effaced! In about 20 min!! And the pressure was b/c he had moved down to +2 station, which basically meant he was about ready for me to push!

So they paged Dr. Molly... but she was stuck somewhere, and meanwhile, the pressure and pushing urge were almost unbearable. It was BAD! Even with the epidural taking the contraction pain mostly away, it was horrible!! FINALLY, as I started to think I'd have to just start pushing without her, Dr. Molly showed up! I pushed for I think 2 or 3 contractions, and got his head out, and then the doctor told me to stop. STOP??? Are you KIDDING?? I later found out that he had the cord wrapped around his neck and when I pushed, it was pulling it tighter so that she couldn't get it off. EEK!! Not sure if that knowledge would have been better or worse to know at that point. But she pulled it off just fine, and got him all out w/ the next push, and that was that! But OW!!!! I forgot how much it hurts... and I was all shaky from the epidural drugs and from pushing and from NOT pushing, and I was FREEZING! But I had my baby! This was the first time I'd been able to see my baby right after he was born, instead of after they cleaned him up... it was kind of gross, but cool at the same time. With the first two there was meconium in my water, so they had to grab them and take them to get cleaned up right away. It was nice to be able to see him right away.

There he is, seconds after being born! He didn't pink up and cry right away, but once he did start crying, he was REALLY pink!
Here he is getting cleaned up by the nurses while I was being stitched up.
All clean... well, more or less. Oh, and I got to see AJ cut the cord for the first time, too! I mean, he's cut it all three times, but I've never been able to see it b/c they took the baby away from where I was. So that was pretty cool, too!
Isn't he the cutest??
He weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz. and was 20 1/4 inches long. Not bad!
Then they gave him back to me to try to get him to nurse... he wouldn't latch on right away, and was pretty upset about it. He'd scream and scream in between tries! He also peed all over me...
Not a happy camper... They eventually took him and bathed him, and when they brought him back about 5 min. later he latched on right away and nursed for a LONG time!
All wrapped up and happy. He really loves being wrapped and snuggled!!

So welcome, Little Timothy Joel "Tiger" Lewton!! Mommy, Daddy, Josh, and Sam love you so much (even if Sam doesn't know it yet...)!! And you've got a lot of other family and friends who love you, too!!

We pray that you'll grow up to be a Godly man, who loves and lives Christ in his life for all to see, and be a loving happy strong courageous man! We love you, little Tiger!

39 Week (and LAST) check up!

2010-10-08T20:54:00.001-04:00

So I had my 38 wk. 6 day appt. this morning. It didn't take nearly as long to see the midwife, thank goodness, and she brought up induction before I did! YAY!! I was worried she wouldn't want me to, or wouldn't be able to schedule it or something. But it's all set up for Wed. morning, show up at 0600 (eek!), with a possibility of it happening on Tuesday morning. But with AJ's schedule, we may not even call and try for Tues. if he's not here before then.

When she checked me I was still at about 2 cm, 60% effaced, more anterior, and he was still about -1 station. I hadn't had hardly any contractions this past week at all, but this afternoon I had them for a good 4 hrs. or so, and then after that sporadically, so we'll see what happens the next couple of days.

His grandparents just got back in the country from their trip to Europe, so maybe he was just waiting for that... or for us to make a deadline for him! Maybe he's a procrastinator like his mommy!

At any rate, he's coming SOON one way or another! I still think 10-10-10 is a super cool birthday, and much better than the 13th, though it's not a big deal.

I can't wait to meet my little Tiger!!

(Almost) 38 week Tiger check up

2010-09-30T16:45:00.002-04:00

So once again, I sat in the waiting room at the NWS health clinic for over an hour... stupid walk in appointments... there's nothing else available on a weekly basis, though... erg. Anyway, they told me that she would check me, so take off my bottoms, and she'd be in shortly... someone did come in, asked where my chart was, like I knew, and then left to "find it". About 40 min. later the midwife FINALLY came in and got things started... sheesh!

So she measured me, and I'm measuring right at 38 cm which is exactly on track, my blood pressure is still great, no issues with that, no swelling or weirdness. She did his heart beat, but he really wasn't thrilled with that... kept rolling away from her! But his heart rate went up w/ movement so that's good, too. She also checked me, and I've progressed in the last week to two cm dilated, and about 60% effaced, and he's also (yay!!) moved down from almost too high to place in a "station" to -1 station, so that's definitely good, and also not in keeping w/ the other two boys at all. They were both way high till I started pushing pretty much.

I've also been having some off and on contractions, nothing that's lasted or been something I could really measure as consistent at all, but definitely doing what they're supposed to I guess, and getting us ready for Tim being born. So also good. Whether this means we still have 2 weeks or that he'll be born in the next few hours or days, I have NO clue. Josh was so text book and consistent once things started, and Sam was so NOT text book and refused to get in position even after they started pitocin and things were moving along w/ everything else, until HE decided he was ready, and then he came FAST.

Both situations were COMPLETELY different, and I have no idea what to expect from Tim at all! Which is kind of exciting, and kind of frustrating. But we have no real plans for the next couple of weeks really, and have all the really important things done that needed to get done, and while I'm certainly not what I'd term comfortable, I'm not in lots of pain or super UNcomfortable, either, so I'm more or less content to just wait on God's timing for us. I do tend to think he'll be here before his due date, b/c of how things are progressing, but I'm not willing to bet on anything, especially after Sam!

I will say, though, that after some pretty intense contractions last night, that I now have my bag more or less packed, Tim's bag more or less packed, and a list of instructions for whoever ends up watching the kids/house/dog!! AND got the car seat unpacked from it's box and de-tagged. So now we are pretty much ready whenever he comes!

37 week Tiger Appointment

2010-09-27T16:19:00.003-04:00

Sorry, no pix again... I should have maybe taken some of the new Naval Health Care Center (or whatever it's called), but was running late and very lost, so I didn't.

Anyway. I got to go by myself, no kids, thanks to my new friend Crystal Cantrell! She was awesome and agreed pretty last minute to watch the boys for me! YAY!

So I had gotten my windshield sticker on Tues. while the boys were at school (yet another wasted morning, as I found out that a few days later, due to the HUGE amt. of people needing said stickers just for the clinic, they decided to make it N/A for people who are only going there to have them and not going to the NWS for any other reason... that would be me... sigh...), and managed to get them stuck on the windshield in the more or less correct place before going through the gate. Woohoo! I was "on time" at this point... till I walked in and couldn't find signs anywhere to the OB clinic. Some nice sailors were standing around, so I asked one if there was a map, which he got for me (fairly useless, since it was confusing, complicated, and had a lot of stuff on it that wasn't built/ready yet... plus I'm HORRIBLE at reading maps!) and then took me upstairs to the "Women's Health" part himself... very sweet, and I think that was the main purpose of him and some others that looked like him being there.

Check in, and they say, have you been to the lab... routine question, to which I can normally answer Yes, but since I had NO CLUE where the lab was, or if they were still doing things that way, I had to say NO and go back downstairs and wander awhile before finding the lab for my urinalysis. Found my way back up to OB w/o too much trouble, and waited... and waited... for an hour... finally got called back, sat in a room and waited... and waited... for a half hour, b/c they forgot about me!! ERG!!

At least the midwife was nice and very apologetic about it when she came in... the staff was still all confused and settling in apparently, and just forgot I was in the room... or something...

At any rate, she did his heartrate (144-146, normal), measured me (normal), felt around on him a bit and commented that I was "all baby" which to me sounds an awful lot like, "Holy cow, that's a big baby in there!" I'm hoping I'm wrong...

After this she kind of got distracted and was watching my belly... kind of weird, but then she said, "Can you see him 'breathing?'" WHAT?? I didn't realize babies "breathed" before they were born, and certainly never thought you'd be able to SEE it! But apparently the last couple of weeks they start practicing breathing motions, but are not actually circulating oxygen or anything through their lungs. And as she explained this and I, too, lay watching my belly, I could see him breathe!! SO COOL!!

Anyway, I asked her to check me, since AJ was being pressured to go on a trip this week (no longer happening, b/c the short "keeper" mission he had been asked about first, turned into an open ended mission and that's not the sort of thing that's a great idea this close to Tim being born, probably), but I wanted to know what to tell him in terms of what she thought about Tiger being born soon/later and stuff. I was about 40% effaced and a "fingertip" dilated, but of course, like my other two stubborn sons, still WAY up high... my kids never "drop" till I'm actually in labor, and in Sam's case, sometimes declare their stubbornness and independence and willfulness by moving UP during labor... sigh... but at least there's some sort of preparation going on there, so maybe he'll be just a teensy bit early! Not TOO early, I still have stuff to get done, and would really like that October birthday, but other than that...

But on that front, I'm feeling much more ready, now that Josh's party is over and was a huge hit, and the house is almost clean... still need a couple more days to finish up baby laundry and cleaning out the guest room, and would really like to get the rest of the windows cleaned and some more "detail" type things done, but other than that, I'm feeling pretty ready!

Come on, Tim!! We're ready to meet you!!

Sam felt the need to catch up with his brother in terms of scars...

2010-09-10T17:38:00.003-04:00

So this morning started off not super great, with crazy hyper Josh and slightly grumpy and still sleepy Sam... and out of patience quickly and still really tired Mommy. We were going to get donuts for breakfast for Josh's birthday, but he was being all defiant and wanting to control things himself this morning, and announced that he didn't want donuts, so there! So we stayed here and had cheerios (mommy missed those donuts, but my weight sure didn't!). Got worse when I went to change and dress Sam and discovered a really nasty poopy diaper... got him cleaned up and just took it all downstairs to wash out. While I was doing this, the boys were creating, as usual. Creating havoc, of course! I can't remember now what exactly they were into, but it was not on the "approved" list and they got into trouble. Got everyone breakfast (had to eat mine in the car, but that was fine), shoes on, bag packed, etc. and out the door to the car on time, for a miracle.

Made it to the Dr. w/ no trouble from the boys or traffic, and got there early. It was nice not to have to rush! Went to the lab, did my urinalysis, got checked in at the clinic... and sat... and waited. Finally got called to get my vitals about 15 min. after we sat down in the waiting room, not too bad. Then we came back out and waited for them to call us "in just a couple of min." Which turned into an HOUR! By this time of course the boys were crazy restless, Sam was wet again and there's no changing table in the bathrooms in the clinic (what???), so I just changed him on the floor and decided I didn't care if people were upset about it. Josh and Sam were running around, climbing in and out of chairs, stroller, kid chairs, turning every which way and generally just going nuts.

FINALLY they called me back and we got there and the nurse or tech or whoever said, "now, you know we're doing a Strep B culture today, right?" Um, no... no one happened to mention that to me, do you really think I would have brought my two BOYS to that type of appt?? I don't think so!! Erg... so I got undressed and sat... and waited... and sat and waited some more... finally Josh announces that he needs to go potty AGAIN... seriously?? OK, there happened to be a private bathroom connected to the exam room, thank goodness, so I just let him go in there. Sam, meanwhile, is uber sleepy and tired and grumpy and wants to be held and snuggled, which is what I was doing when the midwife finally appeared. Instead of me putting him down, she "let" me keep holding him while I lie back and she did the heartbeat (normal, though he wasn't too happy w/ her holding that thing on him... squirmy tiger), measured, and then did the strep swab. Um, OK... holding a 25 lb. kid while doing all this, not the best of positions, just so you know.

So we get it all finished up, and I go make my next appt. for the 24th (the day before Josh's party) and wait in the pharmacy to get my scrip filled, which amazingly didn't take all that long. Then we rushed off to CFA where we're meeting some friends for lunch, who are already there.

Which brings me to the most fun part of the day. So Sam ate some lunch (Josh had some fruit and one chicken nugget and a couple fries...), and they were both playing while Sandy and I caught up right outside the door to the play area. Sam wasn't mostly too thrilled about being in the play area, just was mostly running around our area and looking in the door and stuff. But he finally was playing w/ Evan in there, and next thing I know, I saw Evan run and "crash" into the padded top of the shoe cubbies, and then Sam trying to copy him, tripped and crashed into the actual cubbies. I go run in to grab him and when I picked him up, notice he's GUSHING BLOOD!!!!

So I grab him and rush out of the play area and yell for Sandy to grab some napkins to mop up some of it so I could look to see how bad it was. So I'm rushing a bloody child across the restaurant, and people are gasping and asking if I want them to call 911, and I'm trying to get them to let me get the bleeding under control for a min. so I can look at it. Sure enough, once the blood slowed down a bit I could tell that it was a pretty small, but pretty deep cut on his forehead. Nothing to call 911 about, at least not in that location. So I keep putting pressure on it till the bleeding slows down, and someone brought some wet cloths and an improvised ice pack which also helped, and Sam started calming down, and we kind of just settled down and let it get controlled. I figured I should probably still get it looked at and that it would probably need at least some glue to hold it together so it could heal up right, so Sandy offered to take Josh so I could take Sam in. So as we were trying to get everything together, the managers grabbed their first aid kit, Sandy ran out to her car to get hers, and some guy in the restaurant also went to his car to get his. Looking for butterfly bandages to hold the cut closed. No one had any, but Sandy had some neosporin and I smeared some of that on, and then just squished it closed with a regular bandaid, which worked amazingly well, actually.

We put Josh's seat in Sandy's car and I started off w/ Mister Sam to the closest emergency room, a few min. down the road. As I was driving, it occurred to me that maybe I should check w/ our dr. office on base to see if I should go there, instead. So they took his name and what happened, and made me an appt. for almost 2 hrs. later, with an urgent message to the nurse for her to call me for a phone consult about whether we should just go ahead to the ER or not. Meanwhile, I'm sitting in the ER parking lot, waiting to hear back from the nurse... she never did call back...

I called back about 20 min. later, and let them know I figured since our appt. time was in about 45 min. anyway, that we'd just head in to the base and not worry about the ER. So that's what we did, w/ a stop at the bathroom for me and some new clothes/diaper for Sam, who was covered in dried blood. And had a VERY wet diaper.

Didn't wait too long to see the Dr. and he came in and basically told me what I'd already guessed, and went off to find some Derma glue to glue the cut together. It came in an applicator that had both the nurse and the Dr. a little confused, but after several min. they figured it out, and got it glued, with absolutely NO fussing from my brave little man, Sam!! A sterile strip and a band aid, and we were out of there! He fussed a couple of times in the car when we had to get buckled up again, but then went to sleep and had a nice long nap, while Mommy washed the blood stains out of our clothes. Josh slept some at Sandy's, and Rachel (our neighbor across the street) came and sat here while I ran to grab Josh and bring him home, since Sam was still sleeping.

Sam didn't have much dinner, but ate some and is in a decent mood, so hopefully he'll be ok to sleep tonight and more or less back to normal tomorrow.

Poor Sammy, but glad he's ok and that it wasn't more serious. Also glad that blood doesn't really phase me too much, so I was able to handle the situation without panicking or anything. But Murphy really needs to find a NEW home!!

Trying to upload pix from FB or my phone on here, but in the meantime, if you'd like to see pix, look on my FB.

Only 45 days left????

2010-09-01T09:15:00.004-04:00

OH NO! I'm soooo not ready for him to be here... except that I'm soooo ready for him to be here! I have SUCH a huge long to do list that I'd like to get at least a major part of finished, but have been unable to make much of a dent in it so far b/c other random things keep coming up (like having to sit at the lab for 2 hrs. to get a 1 hr test done... adn then go back another day b/c I didn't have time to wait for their slowness in getting my shot... erg!). And it's hard to get any major re organizing/cleaning out done till I finish the regular cleaning/cooking/laundry/etc. Which I'm also super behind on.

Here's my list for today:

Call Terminex to renew our termite bond and see if they'll come spray to try to kill some of these nasty bugs I've been finding

Call someone to powerwash the house SOON!!

unload/reload the dishwasher

finish the hand washing

clean up the kitchen

pick up the library/play room areas

clear off the couches and dining table

vacuum downstairs

clean downstairs bathroom

I think that's a fairly realistic list... I hope! I feel like I'm always going in circles, b/c as soon as I get one room mostly cleaned I have to go clean up whatever's been crashing around in the other rooms! Sam is definitely in the destructive phase...

Hopefully I'll get things accomplished today, and then I can move on to bigger things like cleaning out the guest room and getting the kids' clothes packed up and organized. And possibly having or at least organizing to have a garage sale. We need to get rid of some stuff...

Update: I have the kitchen, living room, and play room all picked up. Except for clearing off the couches. Working on the library, and then I can vacuum... maybe after dinner...

New background

2010-07-26T11:19:00.001-04:00

My old one disappeared for some reason, so I was looking for a new one, and this one just struck me as appropriate, since we're as busy as bees lately. Possibly busier...

0333

2010-07-15T04:31:00.004-04:00

So here it is. 0333. That's 3:33 in the morning for those who don't speak military time. And I'm awake. Wanna know why?? B/c I'm pregnant. And can't remember to do things like pick up heartburn medicine. And can't be bothered to go get the right one, when her husband picks up too high a dosage by accident.

So here I sit, in our hotel bathroom, b/c that's the only place here to go in the middle of the night that's not disturbing someone who's sleeping. And I'm really irritated with myself.

Oh, and I have a zillion mosquito bites that have all decided that since I'm awake at 3 in the morning, they should all make themselves felt with a vengeance. AND Tiger's now awake, too, and making it known that he wants to play. And stretch.

I will be happy to not be pregnant anymore, for SO many reasons, but the ones in this post (minus the mosquito bites, since they're not really pregnancy related, just stupid Altus related) are some of the worst. Of course, the heartburn is usually ok, if I take my meds...

BUT...

This could be a really circular post, esp. since I'm really tired and wishing I could be sleeping peacefully in my bed. MY bed, not the hard, lumpy old mattress here in our hotel. Oh well.

I doubt anyone is reading this anyway, but if you are, thanks for listening to my whining. Wish it made the heartburn go away...

UPDATE: I made it through the night! LOL! After I finished on the computer (around 0415?? not too sure...) I went back and stacked up my pillows (all 2 of them!) and wedged my jacket under Tiger and managed to get back to sleep. Thank goodness! And feel much better this morning, and hopefully AJ just got back w/ some meds for me... as well as DONUTS!!! YAY!!

Under 100 days left!!

2010-07-10T18:31:00.002-04:00

Unless he's late, Timothy Joel will be here in less than 100 days!!! YAHOO!!

2010-07-07T10:21:00.002-04:00

So one thing that really bothers me is when people are not just un helpful to mom's with kids, but are downright rude and mean!

We had a CRAZY time leaving on Mon. We had gone to the fireworks at the old Navy base on Sun. night, as it was the 4th, and of course got home late after. So the boys went to bed around 11 pm. AJ and I went to bed around 0130... and woke up for our 0530 flight around 0300! So of course we were exhausted. Got the boys up around 0400 and put them right into the car to go to the airport. AJ dropped me and the boys at the ticket check in... with a TON of bags, car seat, stroller, etc. One of the guys hanging out helped us with the bags, and we went in. My plan was to sit and wait for AJ while wrapping the car seat in some plastic we'd brought with us, but the check in lady had other plans. She yelled at me to get checked in NOW, and NO we couldn't wait for AJ b/c we'd be late for our flight...we were about an hour and 15 min. out at that point. Nevermind that I obviously was already exhausted and stressed out and had a toddler and preschooler who had JUST woken up in a strange place, or that I'd asked her if we could wait for my husband (btw, it's technically illegal to check people in for flights, or their bags, if they're not there w/ their ID's...). So we get a couple of bags up on the scale (the porter really wanted stuff off his cart, and was doing what the lady said, even though I was kind of ignoring them, dealing with kids and carseat) when Josh all of a sudden looks at me with that desperate look and says, "I have to go potty!!!!" Josh had been having a little tummy trouble w/ diarrhea, so I knew we had to get to the bathroom FAST. So I told the lady I really needed to take him to the bathroom, and she just gave me this disgusted look, like, how dare you or your children have bodily functions to take care of! and said, "they're around the corner," and looked away again.

Fine, we'd just leave our stuff and run...which is exactly what we did, and thankfully got there in time! Ran back, and started again w/ the carseat and she's still bugging me about different bags and Sam's crying and Josh is asking questions and jumping around and finally I'd HAD it!! So I looked at the lady and politely (if forcefully) told her, "Look, I really wanted to wait to do this, and I really don't appreciate you pushing me. I have to get a couple of things organized before I can deal with the rest of this, so please let me get them done. Thanks." That did shut her up, and thankfully, AJ arrived a min. or so later. He took care of the bags, while I did the car seat and then wrangled the kids, stroller, and carry on stuff. Oh, I was MAD!!! And very silent. And so was she. But I had been polite and that hadn't gotten her attention, so I had to be forceful to get her attention that I wasn't going to be pushed around. But I feel like I was still polite, too.

Anyway, we got through security just fine, everyone was nice/polite to us, and understood when we took awhile longer than all the business men/women w/ their single carry ons. Got to the terminal before boarding started, and I took Sam to change his diaper, and when I came back out, AJ, Josh, and the stuff were completely gone! I almost panicked for a min. then realized that they must have had to go to the bathroom, too. Turns out Josh did the same thing to AJ as he had to me...and AJ got a small taste of what I'd dealt with that morning! Poor Josh... and AJ!

So then we all got on the plane, it was a good flight, the next flight went fine, except for a small meltdown from Sam b/c he was so tired, but once he finally fell asleep, we all went to sleep, too, and had little naps. It was nice! Got to DFW and the crews and everyone were so nice to us, and talked with the kids and everything, and then Dad was there waiting for us in baggage claim, so it was all fine. But it took all those really nice, kind, patient, and helpful people the rest of the morning to get the bad taste out of my mouth from the first lady I'd dealt with.

Oh, almost forgot this part... we get 3 free bags b/c AJ's active duty traveling on orders, which is great...but we had two more bags and a box besides those... she told me several times that we couldn't have that many b/c he only got 3 free. I said I knew that, but that we would just pay for the others. She in turn told me that it would be over $200!!! For 2 bags and a box!! I asked her how much "normal" passengers were charged for their two allowed bags... $25... OK, there are 3 other passengers here who AREN'T active duty military... "Oh, yeah, I guess we can do it that way..." DUH! Seriously? Come on, if you're going to be a mean awful person who's irritated that we're slow, at least know how to do your job the right way!! I shouldn't have to do it for you!

Anyway. It was a REALLY bad start to the trip, but after the second flight and seeing my dad and then getting to Mamaw's and seeing her and my mom and stuff, we were doing much better. And after some napping (and shopping, for me and my Mom!) for everyone that afternoon, we were doing great! And the rest of the trip has been fine, too...some parts really good, some not so good, but nothing like that first part at 0415 Mon. morning!! I'm thanking God for the rest going soo well!! And even for that experience, b/c it made everything else seem like cake in comparison!!

So we're here in Altus for awhile, and looking forward to our "down time" since AJ will actually have some!! We're going to go try out the pool in a while, maybe this afternoon after the kids' naps. YAY!

Our crazy, crazy life!!

2010-06-30T22:04:00.003-04:00

So, many of you know we were planning on AJ going to PCO (pilot upgrade class) in Altus at the beginning of May. That got changed to the next available date for him, which was August.

Well, this morning as I was bustling b/t the lab, getting vitals taken, and actually seeing the Dr. at my 24 week appointment, I got a voicemail from AJ. I didn't have time to listen to it in the midst of all that, and my phone was quickly dying, so I just turned it off, and decided to recharge it in the car on the way home and call AJ back then. So after my very quick appt. (everything looks/measures/sounds great w/ Tiger!!), I get us all in the car and on the road and plug in my phone and listen to AJ's message which went something like, "Hey, call me cuz there's a lot of stuff I need to discuss with you, so call me ASAP." Immediately I thought, "There's been a drop down and we've gotten an earlier date for PCO." Followed by, "Or he's going on a trip...like, tomorrow, or something and has to let me know he's leaving immediately."

So I called his cell, got voicemail, called the office, got the guy he works with, Jake, who tells me AJ's in a meeting and he'll get him to call me back b/c he knew AJ needed to talk about something with me. So I ask Jake if he knew what it was about...sure enough, drop down earlier PCO date. So, innocently, I ask if he knows the date...suspecting what I'm about to hear: "I think he starts next Wed."

Of course. On the craziest day of the week, when AJ's in the middle of writing his 12 page paper for his master's class and about to do his final next week, just before a 4 day weekend when everything's shut down and we can't get things done, and ticket prices go way up for flights, of course that's when we'd find out we're leaving for over a month in 4-5 days!!! Oh, yes, Murphy... bring it!!

So AJ came home on his lunch break and we frantically discuss all the things we have to get done, and organize and start looking for flights, and both our minds are racing. He went back to work, I had to get the house cleaned up, the lasagna and cake made for community group tonight, and try to figure out what all I have to try to get done before the weekend starts and we can't do anything but pack to get ready for this trip!

My wonderful Dad spent a LONG time helping me search for flight options, combined with different dates and driving options to get in and out of different places, spending as little as possible... Hopefully AJ will get his paperwork and everything all worked out tomorrow early enough that these tix are still available and haven't sky-rocketed price-wise. My amazing parents are also planning to drive separate cars up to Dallas this weekend so we can borrow one for the whole month of July and don't have to rent/deal with not having transportation. I love you, Mom and Daddy!!!!

So, anyway, my mind's still spinning like a top, and I'm about to go sit down and make multiple lists to try to organize the chaos in my brain. At least the cake and lasagna turned out really good!! I just wish more people had been here to help us eat them!!

So all my friends and family in Dallas, OK, and Houston, LET IT BE KNOWN: The Lewton's are coming to town!!! If you'd like to get together, let me know, so we can put it together!! I suppose there's even a remote possibility I could make it to my 10 yr. reunion, but I'll probably only go if AJ can make it, too...don't want to show up by myself...

OK, list time!! Please pray that everything falls into place for us and goes smoothly. THANKS!!

Painting's done and boys are moved in together!

2010-06-23T00:22:00.004-04:00

So I got zero pics of the process of the painting, unfortunately, but at least it's done, except for touch ups, and at some point, re-painting the trim, since it's pretty dingy and also has blue (and now yellow) paint all over it. Whew... thank goodness it's done!

The color in the pix is a little brighter yellow than it is in real life, but you can get the general idea here. I've also been doing some shopping on ebay for some accessories and stuff for the room, and have gotten some cute stuff.

I moved Josh's bed to the wall next to the door, which he was excited about, and as you can see, I put his new quilt on his bed.
I wrestled for awhile with this crib to get it together by myself, but finally got it all put together and put against the wall that used to have Josh's bed on it, and the airplane was painted. Sam was not a huge fan of sleeping in a new bed/room, but did eventually settle down and go to sleep after I went back up and rocked him for awhile.
Moved the kitchen to where the train table was. Now the trains and table are downstairs in their playroom.
Moved the dresser to where the kitchen was...I still need to try to combine the boys' clothes into one dresser and closet...yikes! We also need to get new pulls for this dresser, and possibly paint it at some point, since it's not in the best shape. I believe when we get the beds from AJ's dad they'll come with the dresser that matches it, so this one will probably move to the guest room and we'll get rid of the entertainment center in there to make a little more space.
This picture probably shows the color of the paint the most accurately of all of them...I'll have to see if I can get some in the morning and see if they turn out more realistic.
Josh was not asleep here, but could have been...this is a fairly typical pose for him to be in after he goes to sleep.
Aw...isn't he adorable? He will hopefully get used to his new bed pretty quick, though he was up till about 10 or 1030 tonight, and when I did finally go up to get him, he had tossed literally everything out of his crib and I never did find this binky, had to get him a different one. Oh, well...they're both asleep now...

Sam videos from his cardio check up

2010-06-17T23:16:00.003-04:00

Here are the videos of Sam right after he woke up. The guy holding him in the second one was one of the nurses who did the sedation. The woman's voice you can hear in the back ground was the other nurse. They were both great with him, and with us having never done anything like this before! You can tell he's still a little loopy and happy and wobbly.

Sam's 12 month cardio check up

2010-06-17T21:30:00.002-04:00

OK, Sorry y'all, but the pix loaded in a really weird way and it won't let me move them, so just bear with me and read captions!

So Tues. we had Sam's cardio check up. We'd gotten a phone call telling us to have him stop eating at a certain time, but not why. I was guessing at maybe bloodwork or something? Anyway, when we got there, they sent us off for a chest X-ray, which made me REALLY glad AJ was there, b/c I couldn't go in there with him b/c of Tiger.

Then we all trooped back to Peds Cardio, having been all over the hospital for about an hour and a half by now, and got called back for Sam to get weighed and stuff. The nurse told us they wanted to sedate him for his Echocardiogram. That was a bit of a surprise, and when we told her that they didn't sedate him for his 6 month one, she commented that b/c he was being so good for her, maybe the Dr. would consider not sedating him. But the Dr. came in and told us they had to do some 3D and 4D Echoes and he'd have to be SUPER still, which is not likely for any one year old, much less ours. So they sedated him. OI!! That was a MESS!

First they gave him an oral medication called Chloral hydrate around 1135. The nurses told me it should take about 30 min. or less for him to fall asleep. It's metabolized in the liver and basically affects him like alcohol. AJ took Josh out to play and spend some energy and have a snack, and I sat with Sam. He didn't love the taste of the medicine, but he was ok with it. I was holding him for awhile, and he was all sleepy and laying on my shouldar...and then the meds started kicking in. He was so hilarious!! I sooo wish I'd gotten some video of him... He started playing with his tongue and flirting with the nurses and rolling around and stuff. But 30 min. later, he was still going pretty strong. So around 1205 they gave him a nasal injection of Versed. He didn't like that AT ALL!! I actually was a little afraid he was going to throw up, he kept gagging and coughing at it going down his throat and stuff, and was crying at the same time. But eventually he calmed down a bit. The nurses informed me that it should make him sleep in about 5 min. And about 5 min. later he was much dopier and MUCH grumpier about it!! He was rolling around and freaking out and NOT happy, not happy being held, being on the bed, nothing. I couldn't stop laughing at him b/c he was so upset about being out of control, but it was one of those if I hadn't been laughing I'd have been crying types of things...it was really really stressful, and he's really getting strong!! Anyway, so about 15 min. later he was STILL awake!! Barely...but still fighting really hard, so they brought in the Pentobarbital injection and had to give him a shot in his thigh... OH MAN!! NOT GOOD!! He seriously freaked then. But about 5 min. later he finally fell asleep...WHEW!! Poor kiddo...But they got the echos done...took about 30 or 40 min. maybe? I'm not really sure...but Sam was OUT. And Josh was so good while they were doing all this...and esp. b/c we had to be quiet for most of it.

Anyway, after that, they took Sam over to the same day observation till he woke up. They also did an EKG on him while he was still sleeping. Josh thought that was pretty cool.

After that, Josh and I went and got some lunch and then AJ texted saying that the Dr. was there to talk to us, so Josh and I ran back upstairs, poor kid, and I listened to as much as I could, until Josh insisted again that he needed to go potty RIGHT NOW! So I ran him down the hall to the bathroom and back again, ending up missing another large chunk of the discussion of AJ and the Dr. about stuff. I was kinda irritated and made them repeat it all for me!

Basically my understanding of this rather disjointed conversation was this: Sam's right atrium is still enlarged. They also found a TEENY hole b/t the two upper chambers of his heart, but not big enough either to fix or to be causing the enlargement. He also said Sam's tricuspid valve is shaped and functioning abnormally, but perfectly adequately. So the couple of irregularities they found couldn't be causing the enlargement, and so he's still our little mystery! He's taking 1/2 a baby Asprin a day basically as a precaution, and if he stays the same condition in the next few years, should be able to play sports and all just fine, so that was good to know.

For now they want to keep doing check ups on him. In Sept. he'll be going back in for an EKG so no sedation (yay!), and then probably every 6 mos. again after that.

After we talked to the doctor, it wasn't too much later that Sam finally decided to wake up. He was REALLY groggy still, and wanting to get the heart monitor (on his thumb) off even if it meant chewing it off!! So they put it on his toe...that didn't really help, he kept kicking his feet up and all around till they finally just took it off b/c of course they couldn't get a reading while he was being so crazy! He got some apple juice and water, and did really well with that, so after about 20 min. of him being up they let us leave...around 3:30 or so in the afternoon!! He kept almost drifting off in the car, but refused to actually go to sleep. Finally got him home and he really wanted to get down and crawl around and play, but was still so wobbly and rubbery that he kept falling over, so for awhile we wrestled him on the couch, then put him in the high chair. And finally we just put him in his bed for a little nap, which he needed! He came with us to community group that night and ate a ton, begging brownies from everyone there, and chasing the Rileys' dogs off their bed and stealing their toys! He was still slightly wobbly, but much more coordinated than before. Of course now he's back to his normal self.

So it was a LONG and slightly traumatic day for us, but with pretty good results. We love the nursing staff there, the peds nurses with us for the sedation were awesome! I have a video that I'll post later of one of them with Sam after he woke up a little but was still really loopy.

Josh was kinda tired...this is when they were weighing him and everything before the sedation.
Such a cute little man...and he loves to play with his belly button!
Josh being weird
Sam and AJ were in that room where it says X-ray in use. Josh and I were in the waiting area pictured below... really awesome!!
this was some sort of interactive game
Sam right after waking up
Out cold getting his EKG...wow, that's a lot of wires!!
Josh being really good during the echos.
Sam during the echo...the wires were to monitor his vitals while he was sleeping.
More boy piles of silliness! We sure do love our little mystery boy!!

Sneaky Chef

2010-06-16T13:24:00.002-04:00

So my sister Jenny just sent me her Sneaky Chef cookbook and I'm soo excited to start using some of these recipes! So today when I was making out my grocery list I sat down w/ the book and made sure I had things to make some of her "make ahead" purees and mixes for things. There were some kind of uncommon (at least for me!) things on there, like wheat germ. Does anyone know where to find wheat germ in the grocery store?? Because I couldn't find it...

I did get the stuff to make the green and orange purees I think, so I may try to find enough energy to make those and freeze them in 1/4 cup portions to be able to pull out and use when I need to. I'm seriously exhausted just after doing the grocery store, though, so I'm not sure I will. But still hoping I'll be able to get more veggies into all of us, not just the boys!

Thanks again, Jenny!! I'll let y'all know if there's any recipes we just really really enjoy!

Third boy-child...what are we going to do???

2010-05-28T16:46:00.005-04:00

So we had our ultrasound this morning. Could not believe when we saw "boy parts" on the monitor, but there he was. Our Tiger is a boy! I'm still coming to terms with the no new baby stuff and no girly, ruffly, pink clothes again, but I know I'll be excited, and not just resigned at some point. I'm excited to meet him, just not looking forward to the next few months with nothing to prepare. I was really hoping to be able to re-do the nursery and get new clothes organized in the dresser and all that. It's ok, though, we love our Tiger!

We still don't have a name for him, though. We haven't been able to agree on a name yet, and I've run out of boy names that I'm just really excited about. So, please, if you have a name you'd like to suggest, we're open!! We'd love to hear what you think! We don't want to repeat letters though, so no "S" or "J" names...and not really wanting to use an "L" name, either. Also, Daniel, Max, Mark, Paul, and a few others are definitely out. They've already been suggested, and turned down...I actually love Daniel and Max, but there are some very cute doggies who already have those names, and we can't use them. My current short list includes Zachariah, but AJ doesn't like it. He does like Zachary, which I'm not a huge fan of...go figure! But neither really sounds like "our" kiddo.

Anyway, here are some pix from the appt. He's perfectly healthy, normal size for his due date, and his heart looks great. He's about 12 oz, and his heart rate was 145 beats per min.

Heart rate
Profile w/ either an arm or leg up there
Same thing
His cute little feet!
nose and mouth to check for cleft palette.
Yay for 4D ultrasounds! He looks like the other two...
He had both feet up by/over his head pretty much the whole appt.
Very flexible little one! Maybe he will be a gymnast or a dancer!
More profile
The first boy pic...I started thinking maybe she saw something else, but if you look at the next pic, you'll be able to tell that there was no way anyone could mistake him for anything but a boy!
Poor Tiger, having his private areas on display! But now we all know for sure!

Kids' names

2010-05-07T16:32:00.003-04:00

OK, this is for Jessica...you want to know about my kids and how they got their names, and I think that's a pretty cool idea, so I'm gonna do it, too.

Joshua William:

Well, I've always loved the name Joshua, despite its popularity. I love the Biblical stories about Joshua, and how strong he is as a leader of God's people, and I pray that same spirit will be evident in our Joshua. It's also AJ's middle name, so that was nice, too...not a huge fan of "juniors", but this was kinda the same concept w/o being that.

William was AJ's choice. It's a family name, both on his mom and dad's side. On his mom's side is apparently William Barret Travis, and his Grandpa on his Dad's side can trace their family back to Kaiser Wilhelm I...I believe his sister's branch (the kaiser's).

So anyway, we had Joshua William, which is a classic sounding name, and very "male". I'm like Jessica, I'm a fan of definite gender names.

Samuel Henry:

We didn't have a new "boy" name picked originally...took some brainstorming on our part. We came up with Henry pretty quickly, actually AJ did, but I liked it right away, partly because it's my Grandaddy's name, but I also just like old fashioned type names. Samuel took us awhile longer...but one night I was lying there thinking about things, and it popped in my head, and I decided I loved it! We had been studying Samuel in our Bible study class, and that's probably why it popped in my head, but I loved having another strong Bible name for our son, and it sounded really cute with Henry. Come to find out, apparently my great grandfather (my Papaw's father) was named Samuel, too, so it's also a family name. Plus I think Sam is just about the cutest boy name ever! I love it! Which is good, huh? Since my kid's named that...

Tiger:

Well...we don't have any for sure yet, we're waiting to see what gender the ultrasound tech happens to see in a couple weeks, but we do have some contenders. I'll share them, since we're not secretive about names, like SOME people I know (Jessica!! lol, just kidding).

For a boy we've discussed Thomas as the first name, with James or Eugene as middle names...Thomas for my Papaw (Tommie) and James is AJ's dad and Eugene is his middle name, named for his Dad, Gene. We've tossed around others, but that's the strongest candidate for now. We haven't been doing a lot of brain storming lately, since we're so close to finding out what Tiger is. Plus we've been busy, and AJ's gone currently.

For a girl, we've thought about several...many more options for that gender, as we don't have any yet! Gwendolynn is the top of my list currently, but switches places regularly with Margaret and Kaelynn, with Ruth and Aisling as middle names. I'm trying so hard not to get my hopes up for a girl that I've been trying not to dwell on it too much either way. With both the boys I knew they were boys...with Sam I even had a dream about him, that he had brown hair and everything! Kinda weird, but w/ Tiger, I've felt that it's a girl some, and then immediately doubt everything, and back peddle so as not to get my hopes up. We'll welcome and be excited by either boy or girl, but let's face it, we're both hoping for a girl...and so is Josh, he really wants a sister! We'll see (hopefully, if Tiger cooperates) on May 28th, and we'll figure out a name from there. Only bad thing about if it's a girl: What will we name her? I've got about 18 names that I love, and there's only one child in here!! LOL! We'll figure it out!

Anyway, that's the story of our kids' names.

The Census

2010-04-25T15:51:00.003-04:00

So when we filled out the census awhile back, Josh was curious...so we decided to see what his answers to the questions would be. I wrote them down so I could share them!

Age: Josh "I not know....umm...free."

Are you Hispanic: Josh "No. Mommy's."

Are you white: Josh "Well...I have whipe on my pants..."

What race are you: Josh "What's a race?"

Daddy "Who your ancestors are."

Josh "Am I ancestor? I wanna be a car race!"

Do you sometimes live somewhere else: Josh "Ummmm...yeah! At Grandmom and Grandad's house!"

It was hilarious! Though tempted, we did not put his answers on the form.

Birthday Donut Tradition continues...

2010-04-23T15:41:00.004-04:00

OK, once again, backwards order. Sorry. But personally, I'm just thrilled I can finally upload pix again!!

OK, so we had a tradition in my family growing up: on your birthday, you get a chocolate donut w/ sprinkles, and a candle in it for breakfast. (As we got older, we sometimes switched to the slightly more healthy birthday bagel!) I LOVE donuts so I wanted to continue this tradition with my own family. So here's Sam's first birthday donut. Scroll down, it's on there, I promise!!

After breakfast, (AJ was already at work), my Dad took the panel off the dishwasher to inspect the leaking part. He fiddled with it, and discovered the probable fix, but we have yet to order the new part and try it out to see if that's actually what's wrong. Anyhoo, I got a few cute pix of the boys "helping" Grandad with the dishwasher.

Birthday donut at last! Fully committed to eating the whole donut and getting as much chocolate frosting on his face as possible for maximum picture cuteness!
Before he committed...
Seriously, Mom?? Can I eat yet??
Grandad holding Sam's hands so he didn't grab the candle flame...he really wanted to. And Big Brother Josh singing Happy Birthday to Sam!
Everyone eagerly watching the candle lighting...even Gus
It looked a little girly b/c they used Easter colored sprinkles.
The fun headband/hat didn't last too long!
More to come...don't want to overwhelm Blogspot when it's actually cooperating!

12 week photo

2010-04-22T22:12:00.002-04:00

Easter Sunday...I'll try to take another one soon. Not much bump going on here in this pic.

I did start feeling Tiger moving around some about a week later (13 wks). Not all the time, but when I eat something cold or sugary, or am sitting really still. Can't wait to find out if it's a Tiger or a Tiger Lilly!!

Time

2010-03-31T16:11:00.001-04:00

Check out the tickers on here!!

Less than 200 days till Tiger's due!

TOMORROW my little Sam will be ONE!!! Can't believe it...!!

Catching up: Playing at Foster's playground

2010-03-20T09:57:00.003-04:00

So Josh and I went one afternoon to my old elementary school to play on their playground. There are a few things left from when I went there...but not many! And even the "new" stuff is starting to get so old that it's falling apart. Well, some of it. Josh had a ball!

Excavating...these were still a little large for Josh
But he loved playing and trying to dig up the dirt anyway!
Sliding down the BIG slide
This is something they put in either right as we got there, or the next year, I can't remember...so about 20-21 years ago!! (Wow, I'm old...)
Hey, Mom, I'm posing for you!
He loved swinging from this little bar at the top of the slide!
Climbing up
Firetruck...new...Josh posed for me...isn't he sweet?? What a good fireman!

Weaning

2010-03-20T09:47:00.002-04:00

It's been two days since the last time Sam nursed! He's a big boy now, drinking whole milk out of a sippy cup. I think we're done with nursing...until Tiger gets here, of course...

9 weeks

2010-03-15T09:40:00.002-04:00

Hate morning sickness.

No cravings...except to feel like a normal person again.

Hate changing sheets covered in pee right as I wake up.

Need more sleep.

Grumpy.

Mint gum helping slightly.

Don't want to clean my house.

Don't want to clear out my cabinets before Wed.

Ugh.

8 wks pregnant with Tiger

2010-03-07T20:27:00.002-05:00

Today is 8 wks. So far I've been moody, exhausted, sick almost all the time, but only thrown up once, and have had cravings for hamburgers, chocolate (normal for me, anyway), and corndogs.

Josh asks about "Tiger" sometimes...he does seem to more or less understand that he'll be getting a human baby, and we're just calling the baby Tiger, but who knows for sure? I was holding a friend's little almost 2 mo. old yesterday, and Josh came and asked very sweetly if the baby was awake (she'd been sleeping). I said yes, and asked if he wanted to see her. He said yes, so I knelt down next to him, and he looked at her, smiled, and said, "Aw, Mommy, it's my sister!" I wonder if he knows something we don't? I'll hope so! Anyway, first ultrasound was supposed to be tomorrow, but I've put if off so we could stay a couple extra days here in AL with AJ. I'll post pix when I have some!

Catching up: Silliness!

2010-03-04T23:10:00.003-05:00

Just some random silliness from the boys at Grandmom and Grandad's house. Josh and Sam playing with Grandad...

...or Grandad's computer...
A deep conversation taking place here b/t grandson and grandad
Poor unhappy Sam!
Josh in the tunnel...being silly!
I have a video of this, but blogspot's been really bad about letting me upload video, so I'll try to get it up here sometime.
Maestro Sam
Sam fell asleep like this one day...face between the rails of the crib and the bumper. Funny kid!
No, I didn't let him stay like this...after taking the pix, I rearranged him so he was in a safer and probably more comfortable position.

Sam is 11 mos. old!!

2010-03-03T23:06:00.002-05:00

I have no pix to put up for it currently...but will add some when I get back to my house and locate my card reader, which I couldn't find before leaving last week. Whoops, sorry!

Anyway, Sam...

is almost weaned (most days only nursing early in the mornings...hate to give this one up!)
loves whole milk
loves to steal his brother's sippy's and drink whatever is in them
LOVES phones, and pretends all kinds of things are phones, holding them up to his ear and saying, "hwo-hwo?" (hello in Samese)
can still only sign all done and more...dropped the milk sign long ago and refuses to do any more!
waves hello/goodbye to people, esp. girls/women in public! Little charmer! He, of course, accompanies this wave with his cutest grin and gets tons of attention, which drives his big brother NUTS!!
can stand by himself sometimes, but not even really wanting to try walking yet. Although, the past couple days he's figured out that Mom/Dad really like it when he tries to stand/lean/step by himself and has decided to "perform" in this manner!
has 7 teeth, 4 on top, 3 on bottom
loves to unroll toilet paper. A lot!
is very curious about the bathroom and toilet, and very upset when we close the door and don't let him in
is FIRMLY attached to Mommy...WAY too attached! Freaks out if I walk across the room and someone else is holding him, even if I'm still in sight of him. This is rather obnoxious and makes for lots of screaming (most of it by Sam)
can climb stairs
can climb the stroller step, back seat, and stand on the seat (found this out today!)
likes being naked, and LOVES playing in water!!! Should be an interesting Summer!
thinks my watch is a phone and everytime he sees it, he points and bangs on it, while saying, "Mama (or dada, whichever he feels is appropriate...both for me), hwo-hwo? hwo-hwo?" He continues this, mixing in some crying for good measure, until I take my watch off and hand it to him, whereupon he immediately pushes the buttons, then places it up to his ear and says, "hwo-hwo?"
gets VERY upset while I'm talking on the cell phone (or any phone) if I don't let him hold it. Which I don't, b/c I'm talking, so there's usually lots of screaming then, too...notice a trend, here?
can now un-velcro his shoes and get them off his feet
hates being left out of anything!
idolizes his big brother!
steals his brother's food/toys/etc.
is definitely what I'd call a speed crawler
hates hats/hoods
loves to feel skin. Like, obsessively. Especially belly buttons. He really likes belly buttons, and is curious about everyone's!
loves to get his teeth brushed
when he drinks out of a sippy, half the time he'll tip it all the way upside down, sometimes resulting in him knocking himself over if he's not being supported in the back
loves Gus. A lot. Calls him either Dat or GaGa
says Mama, Dada, da (I think this means Josh), dat (doggie), ah (open your mouth and let me probe inside with my fingers...this usually results in him saying ah and opening his mouth, as well), hwo-hwo (hello or phone--applies to anything with buttons, pretty much), baba (bye-bye), bwabwabwa (not sure, but I think it means anything he doesn't know how to say), nana (no), eh-eh-eh (also means no), eh-eh (uh-oh)
that's all I can think of right now

So there you go, plenty to paint you a great pic of our not-so-little Sam! (I will still try to remember to post pix, though!) He's a great little guy, except when he's tired/hungry and screams non stop. He has a very fun personality, though, and even his big brother loves him! They have so much fun together! Josh always wants to dress like Sam, and do anything Sam does that's cute...we have to remind him that there's LOTS of things he can do that Sam can't, b/c Josh is a big boy...sometimes it works, sometimes not.

Sam will have some tests (EKG and more echoes) next month after his birthday, so we'll see how his heart is looking at that point, but he's certainly growing on the outside! He's really had a pretty dramatic growth spurt since this fall, and is now almost out of his 12 mo. stuff!! I can't wait to see when he starts walking and what he learns to say next! This is such an exciting time of his life, and so much fun to see his brain soaking up everything! Such a cutie, and SO smart! Sometimes too smart...

Less than a month till he's a year old...how did that happen???

Catching Up: Fun with Family and decorating the Tree!

2010-02-22T15:48:00.004-05:00

So my family's always had a tradition of decorating the tree all together, and when we finish, we sit and sing Christmas carols and drink egg nog (or hot chocolate, for those crazies who don't like egg nog). We still do this tradition with as many people as can be there for it. Unfortunately, living as far away as we do, we don't always get to be a part of it, but it's AWESOME when we can! It's gotten much more...interesting? frantic? crazy? since we added kids to the mix, but it makes it more fun, even if it takes twice as long! This year, not only were the boys and I able to be there, but so were all my other sibs, and my niece and nephew! Sophia and Josiah were old enough to "help" hang the ornaments this year. Whew, that was exhausting! Josiah REALLY wanted to take the ornaments OFF the tree, and was very good at it!! So we had to keep chasing him to make sure he didn't take them all off. Sophia was mostly just disinterested...but did hang one or two shiny ones with her Mommy. Josh is an old pro, but hasn't quite got the concept of hanging the ornaments in different spots around the tree...he put more and more all on the same branch until we made him put them somewhere else, and then he lost interest shortly after that. So poor Beth ended up doing a lot of the decorating herself, as the rest of us were running after our children! But still loads of fun! Next year should be...interesting, to say the least, if we all are able to get there together! Two boys about Sam's age, a newborn, a 4 yr. old, and 2 two year olds! Yipes!! Oh, and during all this, Sam was trying to take off the lights on the tree (the kid is obsessed with wires and cords, and anything that lights up, of course, and actually succeeded in pulling some off, though the pix I have of that were taken with my Dad's camera, so I don't have them)...he was quite a handful though, crawling around getting into things! Anyway, here are some pics of the event!

Sophia had some important phone calls to attend to
Sam and Uncle Nate were doing "technological" boy stuff on his itouch
Sam loved it!
Josh got to play with a branch we trimmed off, so he was also rather thrilled!
Sam being Sam...
...and Josh being Josh! Being silly with Uncle Nate!
This was one of the places he "hoarded" his ornaments.
Hanging a shiny ornament with her Mommy
Aunt beth, cold, as usual, and looking gorgeous, also as usual!
Sam loves to grab anything covered in skin...especially noses and mouths!
"No, Josiah, leave the ornaments ON the tree!!"
Josh, dressed in a stylish outfit consisting of shirt, boxers, and Santa socks!
Mmmmm...cherry vanilla Blue Bell ice cream being devoured on the couch...Sophia helping hang another ornament.
He looks so much like his Daddy!

Catching up: More Fall

2010-02-20T16:05:00.003-05:00

Sammy in the front yard at my parents' house. He was having a great time eating...something!

That's the blanket behind him...which he refused to stay on!
What a cute fall baby!

Grandmom trying to get Sam to crawl to her. Didn't work.
Me and Beth on the roof putting up Christmas lights...tradition!
Josh throwing leaves at his brother
Kicking the leaves...Sam is at least smiling in this one!
Throwing the leaves again
I think Josh had a stick with a bunch of leaves on it he was waving around (that's th blur) and Sam had a pinecone
Well, Sam looks cute...
Hmmm...
Josh waving that stick again
Our Christmas tree!! This very nice guy at Lowe's helped us...he used to work at NASA until funding for his program got cut. Now he works at Lowe's.
Grandad pulling Josh on a flat bed wagon outside of Lowe's

Catching up: FALL!!

2010-02-19T11:55:00.006-05:00

Fall came to Houston in Nov. when we were there. Mostly the leaves were brown, but there were some really pretty ones that Josh enjoyed picking up and playing in!

Kicking the leaves
Grandmom and Josh kicking the leaves
Throwing the leaves (so MANY fun things to do with dry leaves!!)
I just love that I managed to catch the leaves falling in midair!
Trying to put the leaves back on the trees

Josh in our old climbing tree. I love this picture.
Lazy day in the tree

Silly Boy!
Those eyes!! My child is beautiful!!
More leaves...
What a ham!

He takes after his Mommy...I loved climbing trees! Though, his Daddy probably did, too...
Swinging! This is the same swing set my parents had for us when we were kids...they did replace some of the swings...

Grandmom and Josh spent a lot of time going on "tramps" through the yard while we were there. This day we were swinging, though.

Catching up: Thanksgiving!

2010-02-18T12:06:00.007-05:00

As you can see, it was a rather exhausting day for most...but FUN! These pix posted backwards, as usual, but they're still cute!

Sophia and Sam

She wasn't really spanking him, though that's what it looks like here...she was patting him!
Sam had Sophia's panda...Sophia was nice enough to share...for awhile!
Uncle Aaron loving on Sammie
Sam entertaining Uncle Aaron
Trying to get a pic of all three of them in their Thanksgiving stuff...this was the best one...most of them are looking in the general direction of the camera, and Josh is smiling, though Sophia seems very unimpressed!
Trying to get more pix...Sophia was not interested in staying still for pix...Josh was trying to hold her down!

Miss Amanda (Uncle Chris's girlfriend) was there for Thanksgiving, and she and Josh got along really well! Playing Rock Band drums together
The whole band
Josh goin' to town on those drums!
Brothers on Thanksgiving!

I'm so thankful for our kids!!

Josh being silly!
Josh made napkin rings for everyone at dinner, and Miss Amanda decided to use hers as a hair decoration...very stylish!
Uncle Chris and Sam have a bond...maybe it's a second son thing??
Cute/random pic of Josh feeding the baby. With very crazy hair.
Grandad and two sleepy boys!

Catching up: Grandparents are awesome!!

2010-02-09T22:15:00.002-05:00

Visiting with Nana and Pawpaw. Josh and Sam LOVE Nana and Pawpaw!!

Pawpaw showing Josh all of Nana's lighthouses. Josh really liked them!

Intently watching...something...all of them, even Max!
Lots of love for Nana!!
Nana trying to get Sam to crawl to her.
Typical grandparent pose...camera in hand!!
We had so much fun visiting with Nana and Pawpaw!! Miss you!!

Catching up: Playing with Cousin Josiah

2010-02-08T11:13:00.004-05:00

Sam found out he could sit on the rocking horse all by himself!

He also discovered how much he loved to play with computers
typing to Daddy...he crawled all over the floor chasing the computer, trying to push the buttons.

Sam looks very impressed by his brother's costume...Josiah does NOT!
Josiah showing Sam how to play cars...
Josiah LOVES cars!!
Josiah pushing Josh around in the car...what a STRONG boy!!
Josh and Josiah in the car together...Josiah didn't want to sit and be pushed, he wanted to do it himself!
Hi Sam!
Hey, Josiah!

Catching up: Preschool Thanksgiving Feast at Faith Family

2010-02-06T22:42:00.003-05:00

The church I was a member of (still am, actually...) before we were married had a Thanksgiving Feast for the Preschoolers the Sun. before Thanksgiving. It was so cute!

Twinkie cake
Set up was adorable...so detailed and well-done!
Dad, of course, was in the nursery with the babies...here he is with Sam and another little baby girl...I can't remember her name, of course, b/c apparently I can't remember anything, but she was VERY little...and sweet. I want to say her name is Ashley (?).
He loves the babies!!
Can you believe Dad gave Sam up??
Josh enjoying his feast
apparently I put this pic up twice...sorry

Catching up: TX at last!!

2010-02-05T11:36:00.007-05:00

Getting to Houston, we got to see all our family again! The first few days we got to see Aunt Jenny and Cousin Sophia, and then Aunt Beth came for a little visit. Josh LOVES his Aunts and Uncles!

Playing with Aunt Beth

Kisses and love for Aunt Beth!

First night back...Josh and Sophia reading bedtime stories with Grandmom (very happy to have 3 grandkids with her!)
Talking to Daddy on Skype

Sam may be a dentist someday...but he may need to invest in a chair and some instruments...

Sophia liked pointing at Sam
Sophia and Sophia's mommy

My sloth son
Grandad getting some good Josh time in
Sophia and Sam
Sophia and Aunt Kathy...love my niece!!
Grandad enjoying his grandkids

Aunt Jenny lovin' on her Sam
bouncing w/ Aunt Jenny
Josh loved this Kawasaki 4 wheeler that Grandmom found for him.

Aunt Jenny loving on Sam again...it's like she missed him or something...

Catching up: Driving Home to TX

2010-02-03T10:51:00.005-05:00

So my Mom flew up to SC to drive down with me and the boys to Houston. So awesome! Made it all a lot easier. We ended up driving for 3 days, spending two nights on the road. It was a LONG trip, but went pretty well, considering the time we had to spend in the car and the ages of the boys!

We took breaks during the day driving, of course, and one of those was at the visitor's center when we entered LA. It was pretty nice. Josh had fun playing soccer and "baseball", though it looked a little more like cricket...

Sam had fun crawling around on the grass and trying to eat leaves
Catch, Mommy!!
Look, a leaf!
CHEESE!!
Grumpy face
Happy face
Froggy friend
Sam fell asleep while "working" on his computer
keeping the sun out of his face while napping
This guy was so funny...he was just dancing and grooving. Had his headphones on and was just goin' to town. I had to get a video of it!

And a video of Sam crawling in the grass

Sam is 10 mos old!

2010-02-01T21:47:00.004-05:00

TODAY! And I'm posting on the actual day! I'm proud of myself...especially considering I never did actually post a 9 month one. BAD MOMMY!!

Anyway, took some pix tonight of Sam in his pj's...size 18 mos!! They're still big on him, but not a lot! He's really grown since his 6 month appt!

These pix are backwards, but if you scroll from the bottom up, you'll see that he spies a block on the floor, reaches down to pick it up, grabs it, and proceeds to try to chew on it...unfortunately it's round, so that didn't work too well...

MY BLOCK!
Oooohh...I WANT that!
YAY SAM!!
What??

I finally decided he was moving too much, so I just took a video...sorry it's sideways...

Sam:

is crawling FAST!!
is pulling up
can stand alone for a second or two before sitting (NOT falling!) down
is TEETHING in a serious way
can say "mama", "ada" (daddy), "da" (doggie/gus), "uhohoh" (uh oh), "uhuhuh" (eheheh, as in, no don't touch that), sign "all done", "more", "milk" (though he doesn't really do that one much anymore), "hi/byebye"
is still nursing
still uses binkies
still can't find his binky in the bed if he wakes up in the middle of the night
still wakes up in the night frequently...stupid teeth...
LOVES all cords, computers, buttons, lights, anything electronic
LOVES to knock over his brother's block creations
loves his brother and doggie!!
loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, just like his brother
loves ice cream
can push his cars/trucks along the floor
can "walk" using his little walker or the dog food container on wheels, even on the wood floor
is very good at falling...he does it A LOT!
has very good fine motor skills
always wants to eat the BIG piece of food, not the small bite sized pieces Mommy spends so much time and effort creating for him
hates lunchmeat
can drink out of a sippy cup really well (unless he gets it backwards...but he already knows how to tip it up and stuff...took josh ages to figure that out!)
likes to draw on josh's glow doodle and magnadoodle (did i mention his fine motor skills are really good?)
is very smart!
is very cute!
is very manipulative
is very very upset if mommy leaves his sight, or sometimes even when he just is not being held by her, even if she's right next to him
loves having an audience (just like his brother!)
is the sweetest Sam in the world! (in my completely unbiased opinion...)

Why furniture shopping and 9 month olds don't mix

2010-01-28T11:00:00.002-05:00

So the other day we went out looking to replace our couch. We decided to start at a place that has TONS of couches! Well, of course we had to go through and sit on the ones we liked and this was a really BIG store, so it was taking forever. Anyway, I had sat down on a love seat (SUPER CUTE, btw, multi-colored stripes w/ sailboat accent pillows!) to rest, and Sam was being super squirmy and of course wanted to get down and crawl around, so I let him stand holding on to the couch I was sitting on.

There were little plant stand type table things next to us, 4 of them, wrought iron w/ a tile top, really small, sitting a couple feet away. On one of these tables was a plant in a ceramic pot. (I'm sure by now you can see where this is heading...)

I took my eyes off Sam for one second to answer Josh or something, and next thing I knew, I hear a huge crash and Sam's screaming! Then Josh starts wailing...(I think he thought he was in trouble or something...he was REALLY upset! He cried way longer than Sam did, who had fallen down! Crazy...)

Sam had tried to transition b/t the couch and the little tables, fell against the first one, and knocked them all over like dominoes, including the one with a potted plant. The pot, of course, smashed into pieces all over the carpet, the plant went rolling across the floor...it was bad, y'all! So there we are, Sam screaming, Josh screaming, me trying to calm them both at the same time, while AJ's picking up the pieces of the pot and freaking out. I'm sure the people in that store were so happy we'd picked their place to look at furniture! They were really nice, though, wouldn't let us pay for the pot that broke, or anything, and let AJ have a bandaid when he discovered he'd cut his hand when trying to clean up the mess!

Later, we discovered Sam had a SCREW in his mouth, no idea where he picked that up, and by the time we left, we were all exhausted!! Whew! BUT...we found a new couch! AJ went back and bought it the next day (we wanted to make sure it would all fit in our living room), and it's supposed to be delivered on Friday or Saturday!! I'll post pix when we get it all in and set up.

He's lucky he's cute...

2010-01-04T22:28:00.000-05:00

Yesterday after Josh's rather short nap, he asked to "wock" w/ me as I fed Sam. When we were all snuggled up together, he was rubbing his eyes, and said, "Mommy, I am not sweepy, I am just putting on my happy eyes. I not want my sad eyes anymore."

That kid is lucky he's so cute...he got out of his bed and into my bed this morning at 0400, and when i woke up and put him back in his bed, he didn't stay, so when I went back in there to put him back in bed, he FREAKED out and SCREAMED bloody murder. I was SO MAD, as his brother had slept all through the night up till then, which he hasn't done in WEEKS, so I got really mad at him and shushed him up reasonably quick, and somehow, Sam didn't wake up! But I got him to stay in bed after that.

Don't shoot me!

2009-12-29T00:25:00.002-05:00

Sorry, y'all, I know it's been FOREVER since I posted! I have high hopes of posting a ton of things once we get back home to Chas. but we'll have to see...may just have to post the highlight pix and then get to AJ coming home...I don't forsee me having any free time really before then...or while he's on leave! We'll be busy being a family again!

So anyway, all that as a long rambling way of saying I'm sorry, and I'll post Thanksgiving/Christmas/TX visit pix when I have time.

Sam is 8 Months Old!

2009-12-05T18:54:00.003-05:00

Sam is:

crawling
pulling up
has eaten (in no particular order) peas, green beans, mixed veggies of different sorts, carrots, sweet potatoes, jar and homemade, bananas, jar and "homemade," peaches, apples/applesauce, strawberries, pears, yogurt, plums, grapes (in a mixed fruit jar), squash, butternut and acorn, corn, avacados, oatmeal, rice cereal, and mixed cereal, refried beans, breads of various sorts (he generally still chokes on these, though...), puffs, yogurt melts, cheerios (choked on them, too, so he doesn't get them anymore), and some bites of a cheesy turkey and rice casserole from my mom the other night when he was begging (he didn't get any turkey, just sauce and rice).
says "hi", "hey", "yay", "didi" (pronounced diedie, meaning Daddy), dada (meaning mommy), and baba (meaning almost anything, including brother).
can sign more, and knows what the sign for milk means
is growing more tufts of hair on the top of his head
has 6 teeth, 4 on top, 2 on bottom, and has puffy places on top where his canines and molars are, and slightly puffy on bottom where the secondary incisors are.
loves to smile and make people laugh and be silly with him
crawls around growling all the time
loves to knock over his brother's block buildings
loves to chew on things
is absolutely ADORABLE!!
LOVES any kind of electronic device, especially laptop computers!
can move at lightning speed when moving toward laptops that have been unwisely left on the floor w/in reach of a Sam.
knows his daddy, but thinks he lives in the computer
wants to eat any "grown up" food in sight, but usually chokes on it
weighs more than he did, but i have no idea how much

Sam with Uncle Nate...Uncle Nate REALLY loved playing and snuggling with Sam!
If his binky was moved, maybe you could see the resemblance b/t him and that dino w/ all the teeth on his shirt!
Playing in the leaves
Grabbing Aunt Missy's nose, one of his favorite pastimes!

He's such a fun, cute, full-of-personality little boy, and I loveLoveLOVE him!!!

Holiday in the Park Fun Run!

2009-11-23T17:53:00.006-05:00

One of the county parks in Chas. (on James' Island) has an annual Christmas light display throughout the whole park. We went last year and drove through it (and walked through parts, too). This year, not being pregnant, I signed up for the Fun Run/Walk on the opening night of the event. We didn't run mostly, and ended up coming in dead last, but it was fun with the kids. Here are some pix of the event and the kids at home in their cute outfits after we got home that night. WARNING: There are a LOT of pix!

"Look this way, Sam."
Silly brothers
Big brother and little brother Santa socks
Both of them looking at the camera at the same time!!
Crawling Sam
Isn't he adorable! So handsome in his Christmas sweater and fleece lined jeans (it was COLD that night!)
Eating the roasted marshmallows
Roasting the marshmallows
The PIG (Piggly Wiggly mascot) was at the finish line to greet us (there was a bus rounding up stragglers...ie, us). Josh thought he was cool, the rest of the kids were pretty scared of him.
Mr. wind

Nativity
Josh had fun...loved his glow sticks (or as he calls them, gluesticks!)
The new charleston bridge
HUGE oak tree w/ icicle lights and a yellow ribbon
Kenzie and Sydney are good friends...but Josh was a little jealous...he wanted to hold hands with Sydney, too, but she was interested in girl time.
He was so interested in examining the lights that i couldn't get him to look at the camera.
The fire breathing sea serpent
Pretty holly wreath
Sam all bundled up (and incidentally, representing our awesome TEXANS!! Josh was doing his part, too!)
HUGE sand sculpture...they have a different one every year.
3 kids out of 6, in 2 out of 4 strollers
a gingerbread house

The squadron on TV

2009-11-08T16:33:00.003-05:00

So the NFL did their Sunday show in Afghanistan, and they got to go on an airdrop mission. Guess who flew them? Yep, our squadron, the 17th AS Charleston! Our commander and one of the loadmasters were interviewed. AJ, of course, was no where near there, b/c he's not with the squadron, but these are some of his squadron mates.

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi3pywup0Ls

Enjoy!

Attempting to get Sam to do something on video...

2009-10-31T23:48:00.004-04:00

So Sam had been scooting after Rachel till I got the camera out. Oh, well, I tried...I'll try again! The second one is Sam "dancing" which he does all the time!

Pokins!!

2009-10-29T22:35:00.006-04:00

That's what Josh calls them. We decided not to carve our pumpkins. Josh really wanted to "open" them, but I told him we could paint his pumpkin instead. He told me he wanted to make a blue bird. Here is the result:

Not bad for a 3 year old!
He loved painting the newspapers!

The blue sucker...started out blue, didn't get painted!
The process...notice his tongue out in concentration
My beautiful little punkin! I placed him by the pumpkins, but did no other posing for these...he's just perfect!
Channeling Daddy...look at that one eyebrow up! Have you ever seen a baby do that? I haven't!

No idea what he's looking at here, but doesn't he look angelic?

Investigating

Taking a closer look

My favorite photo...my precious little pumkin baby!

4 teeth and CRAWLING!

2009-10-29T14:54:00.003-04:00

OK, I'm a horrible Mom, and it's taken this long to do a post about Sam crawling! I also have no video to show you...I tried, but the memory card was full and batteries in the camera were dead, so I'll have to try again soon.

Anyway, Sam has been "crawling" on knees and elbows for over a week now...it's so funny, he'll get on hands and knees, rock and rock and rock...crash on to his tummy, then get on his elbows and knees and inchworm his way across the floor! He can MOVE, too! Good thing we're headed to a place with no stairs soon! However, when we get back, we're going to immediately have to get some sort of gate figured out for our stairs. He's already pulling the baby gate we have propped against the fireplace (it's not big enough to fit snugly) over onto his head about once or twice a day!!

He also has gotten a fourth tooth...still no upper middle teeth, but has the two on either side, and two on the bottom in the middle. Crazy snaggletooth! His Daddy has taken to calling him "Fang!" However, the middle ones are extremely tender and puffy, so I don't think it will be long before he has those two, as well.

I'll leave you with a beautiful picture of him in his new flight jacket from Grandmom and Grandad!

Ranting

2009-10-28T09:53:00.002-04:00

OK, so no pix and no real cute stories or anything...just want to say, being sick STINKS!! Being sick while you've got sick kids too, and a deployed husband stinks EVEN MORE! I'm so tired of being sick, and sick of being so tired! Sam's been waking up at least twice every night, and combine that with the sickness and critter noises I've been hearing over my bed at night, and it's a bad deal for me! No wonder I got sick!

OK, thanks, I'm better now. Hoping everyone gets better by Friday so the boys can wear their cute costumes for Trunk or Treat at the church!

Sam's 6 month check up...finally!

2009-10-21T14:15:00.003-04:00

I finally got around to taking/downloading/putting pix of Sam up here. These are from the day of his 6 month check up (you'll see the shiny bandaids from his shots). The top few are playing later that evening.

This is not blurry b/c of me...he kept bouncing everytime I tried to take a picture!!

Hello, all! I finally got around to making Sam's 6 month check up, went this morning, so here are the stats.

He's 16.9 lbs. (though he hadn't eaten yet, so I really think he's a little more than that), 27 1/4 ", and head circumfrence was 43 cm. Those numbers put him in about the 60th percentile for height, 17th for weight, and don't know for head. But the dr. wasn't concerned at all, and said he looked good. He was his normal charming self, and behaved beautifully, even when he got his shots! He was so hungry he wolfed down his oral one, too! Josh, Sam and I all got our flu shots today, too, and all did great! Josh hasn't had a shot in a couple of years, so he had no idea what it was, I don't think, and still did great, no crying or anything, and is a huge fan of the "banbaid" and dora sticker he got! Sam fussed for a few secs till I could pick him up to comfort him, but was just fine and smiley again in a min.!

Speaking of good babies and check ups, it occurs to me that I haven't posted about Sam's 6 month cardio check up, either. To remind those who don't remember, Sam was born with an enlarged right atrium, and despite hours of testing just after he was born, no cause could be found! The pediatric cardiologists at MUSC (a really great teaching hospital) signed off on him, and asked to see him again in 6 mos. to determine if anything had changed, and if they could find any cause when he was older, and his heart and everything more fully formed.

So while Missy and Josiah were here visiting, we went downtown for that appt. (Missy, Josiah, and Josh stayed home...thanks again, Missy, for watching Josh for me!!), and once again, Sam was as good as gold! He charmed everyone, and let them take a ton of pictures (echocardiograms) of his heart and some ultrasounds of his stomach, too, to try to find a reason for his right atrium to still be very enlarged. No cause was found, once again. The ultrasound technician working with him called him her little "puzzle baby"!! They were concerned about possible pooling blood, which can cause enlargement, and could ultimately cause clots and strokes/heart attacks, but found none. They also looked at his stomach, to be sure there were were no issues there, and at the walls of his heart and everything they could think of. He's a head scratcher! The cardiologist told us there are only a handful of cases in all the literature out there like him, with no determined cause for an enlarged heart chamber.

All in all, they think there's no worry for the short-term, and want to see him back in another 6 mos. (just after his first birthday), and long-term, they're not sure yet. They talked about doing an MRI to map his heart, but b/c they'd have to use general anesthesia, they wouldn't do that till he's much older, probably around 7-8 yrs. old.

So that's pretty much it. I unfortunately do not have any pics of him at his cardio check up, b/c I forgot the camera, but did snap a few from today, which I will upload later, when I find my card reader.

Sam's hit all the developmental milestones pretty much on time, or even early, so he seems to be a fairly normal (except for his "puzzle" heart) 6 month old--almost 7 months, really! Wow, how time flies! Taking him back down to MUSC was a bit nostalgic, since we haven't been there since he was pretty tiny, and not to the cardio wing since before he was born! I like going there, everyone's very nice and helpful and good about explaining things that sound bad in a way that makes it seem not scary! That's a very valuable thing, when you've got a baby with a strange heart condition!

Check back for pix of Sam from today, and hopefully of all of us from when Missy and Josiah were here!

Videos

2009-10-07T23:55:00.003-04:00

I finally figured out how to edit my videos, so here's 4.

Sam and Rachel having a "conversation" These are both the same video, it uploaded twice, for some reason, and won't let me delete it.

Josh got this dump truck that you can take apart and put back together with a little drill. Josh is really good at using it!

The other one is Josh saying "Eye wuv you!"

Sam eating a puff. He's much better at it now.

My Little Cowboys

2009-10-07T22:56:00.003-04:00

The other night I put the boys both in jeans and their "western" shirts and cowboy boots for church, and we had a photo shoot on the stairs after we got home. I think they turned out really cute!

Brothers
Aww...cute little boy behinds!
Cheesy little boy!
He got so excited, he was jumping up and down when I took this picture!
Being silly
The slightly more stationary one...love that smile!
"Look at the camera, Sam! Right there!"
One of the only ones where both are looking at the camera and at least sort of smiling.
Boots and Jeans
One of the best!
Josh just doesn't get the concept of "natural" smiles in pictures! But they're still awfully cute, aren't they??

Sam is 6 months old!

2009-10-04T00:38:00.002-04:00

So these pix were actually taken on the 2nd...whoops! I'd put him in the middle of his floor to play, and went back to check on him a couple of min. later, and couldn't find him!! I heard him giggling and cooing, and looked under his crib...here's what I found!

Silly boy!
Sam is:

rolling (obviously!)
getting up on hands and knees...not for long, but he does it!
chewing on EVERYTHING!
eating lunch and dinner with "real" food...fruits/veg and rice cereal. So far he's had green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, corn casserole, applesauce, oatmeal and apples, peaches, bananas, apples and blueberries, sweet potato puffs, teething cookies, apple slices (he just gnawed on them), fruit and yogurt, and I think that's about it.
recognizes (we think) his Daddy on the computer and talks to him
chews on his toes and fingers all the time
still uses a binky and still mostly sleeps on his tummy
can pinch like nothing else...it HURTS!
has 3 teeth, and will probably have more very soon. The third one is a top tooth, but just beside the middle...no middle top teeth yet. Go figure, my kid has to be different!
loves his seahorses
loves to chew on his bibs, clothes, burpcloths, etc. Have I mentioned he shoves everything in his mouth?
still has the SWEETEST smile ever!
is getting thicker hair
talks and coos a lot
loves his brother, and really would like to get closer to the dog!
has a very sweet spirit, but definitely wants what he wants when he wants it...OR ELSE!
is my very favorite Sam Henry in the WHOLE WORLD!

Josh is 3!

2009-10-03T23:41:00.002-04:00

Well, he turned 3 almost a month ago, but his check up was later in the month, and I've just now gotten around to actually downloading these pix.

Anyway, Josh weighs 35.5 lbs, and measures 37.5" tall. (I think he might actually have another 1/2 inch, but he wasn't too clear on the concept of putting his heels against the wall and standing up really straight when the nurse put the measuring thingy on his head)

He's healthy, and, according to the growth chart I just looked up online, he looks like he's about 75 %ile for height, and 10th for weight, though that doesn't really seem right...I might be reading it wrong.

Things Josh can do:

set the table
pee in the potty...he very rarely has an accident of any sort...but refuses to poop in the potty, just waits for a diaper/pull up mostly. We're working on it, but if anyone has any great ideas for us, we're open for suggestions!!
sing several songs (Twinkle Little Star, ABC's, etc), including his own that he likes to make up on a daily basis
loves to do "art"
is learning his letters and knows how to count reliably up to 13 or so...and with help can count to 20. He can also count to 5 in spanish, german, and french (with help, of course)
plays pretend all the time...and is VERY imaginative!!
likes his brother a lot more now, and can be very helpful with him
feeds the dog and lets him in and out every day
still won't eat vegetables (mostly), and is still iffy on meat of any kind, but will now eat ham and cheese sandwiches (I think that's Sydney's doing...she eats them, and Josh LOVES Sydney!)
Speaking of Sydney...he's so cute with her, and very protective. When she cries or gets hurt he tries to help her and tells her, "It's OK, Sydney"
Loves Dora, Diego, Little Einsteins, and Charlie and Lola
misses his Daddy very much, and likes to wave out the window to him when he goes to bed. AJ told him, before he left, that Josh's windows are to the east, and that Daddy was going to be in the East, so if he waved out his window, Daddy could wave back. It's very cute, and a little sad.
has a HUGE vocabulary and uses words like "frustrated" and phrases like "not quite yet" correctly

I love my sweet big boy, and can't wait to see how he grows and develops even more through his next year!

Grandmom's Visit

2009-10-03T00:11:00.007-04:00

My mom came to visit a couple of weeks ago for a few days. We had a lot of fun, despite the fact that I ended up getting sick while she was here.

Rachel and Sam "visiting."
Josh just loves climbing this ladder on our bookcase!
The finished track that Grandmom and Josh built together.
We had birthdays while she was here, and Josh got a dump truck that comes all apart and has a drill and bolts to put it all back together...he loves it! And he's really good at getting it all apart and back together by himself! Such a pro...he's been watching his Daddy, I guess!
Putting the bolt back in
Josh in the middle of his track set up, running his train around. Yes, that's a bandaid on his head...he bumped it, and insisted he needed one, so I decided not to make it an issue.
Playing with the ambulance that came with his emergency center.
Sam is sitting up pretty well...likes playing with stuffed animals
Babyzilla!
Diving in for more geotrax
Wow, look at this!
Just so you know, that shirt smelled like chocolate until I washed it. Not why I bought it, but a fun little bonus!
Josh helping Sam play with his penguin
Sam loved this penguin Grandmom got for him!
Josh dressed Grandmom up in his pirate stuff. She's gonna kill me for putting this pic up! (FYI, she's not just randomly holding her hand out, Josh made her hold the treasure.)
Playing Pirate
Grandmom and her grandsons!
They had so much fun with her (and so did I)!!

Thanks for coming out, Mom, and for everything you did for us while you were here! We miss you!

Chick-fil-a ice cream and a fire lilly

2009-10-02T23:55:00.003-04:00

We went to Chick-fil-a a couple of weeks ago for kid's night, and they had ice cream toppings to choose from! So Evan and Josh had a blast picking out their toppings and eating it all up! They also had a great time playing together in the play area, and seeing the cow! My boys, of course, were completely infatuated with the girl that was leading the cow around, and later giving out the ice cream toppings. Josh asked to sit with her at her table, and Sam didn't even notice the 10 foot tall cow in front of him, because he was so busy flirting with this girl! I'm going to have my hands full when these two get older!

Josh loves ice cream!

So does Evan!
The cow. I think Josh must have run out of the shot as I was getting the camera ready or something, but I think that's Evan, grabbing the cow's hand...hoof?

Our garden is full of surprises...every few days/weeks something new will pop up, and we wait for it to bloom to find out what it is! It's so exciting! This one is gorgeous...Mom said it's a fire lilly. I loved it!

Sam's first teething cookie and sippy cup

2009-10-02T23:44:00.002-04:00

What a big boy! This was a while ago, but it was his first time to drink out of a sippy...as you can tell, he loved it! He didn't drink much, but the cold water felt good while he chewed on the spout!

What a mess! (A blurry mess...sorry, didn't realize how blurry some of these were till after I posted them.)

McKenzie's Party

2009-09-30T22:42:00.001-04:00

Josh was invited to Kenzie's Pet Shop party in September for Kenzie's 5th birthday. It was so fun! Anne-Marie had lots of fun things planned to do. The kids got to "adopt" a pet and name it and make it a "collar." Re also had a lot of fun activities planned for outside. They had to rescue frogs by leaping across the lily pads to the pool, feed the cat by fishing for a fish and dipping out water, and feeding a bunny his carrot (like pin the tail on the donkey, but with a carrot and rabbit).

Re explaining how to help the next animal.
Josh putting his carrot on (yes, he was blindfolded).
Wow...frosting on Caleb's face, and he wasn't even freaking out!! It was worth documenting!
Josh staying fairly clean, for him.
He loved wearing the party hat!
Some of the kids eating at the tables.
Josh having a quiet "spider spying" moment with Jim. If you look closely, you can see his "adopted pet" in his hand...
Grandmas are so great for snuggles...even when they're not your own! Sam was a big hit with the grandparents who were there!
Josh picked the unicorn with the pink sparkly mane and tail for his "pet..." I tried to convince him to get a dog or something slightly less...well, pink and sparkly, but he only wanted that unicorn! He named it Butterfly, and loved stringing the beads on his/her(??) collar!
What I hoped he'd pick...
Re had set up a table with grooming stuff and bows, and also a medical station to check their pets to be sure they were healthy. She's so creative! We had so much fun!

Josh's 3rd Birthday

2009-09-30T22:04:00.004-04:00

Josh's birthday was on the 9th, a Wed. He had school that day, but we went to the store that morning and got him some birthday donuts (sang Happy Birthday in the parking lot), picked up the GIANT cookie cake that we'd ordered, and were going to go to Chick-a-flay that evening with Sydney. He also got his present from his Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. He loves his new Sit 'n' Spin!

Mmmm...frosting!
Taking out the candles.
Great job! Got them all!
Ready, set, blow!
Sydney is scared of lit candles. Josh was singing happy birthday to himself!
Silly kids!
Josh and Sydney...the first thing Josh wanted her to do as she walked in was put on her birthday hat...she wanted him to immediately open his present!
I went to Josh's school at lunch time and brought the cake. I ended up staying the rest of the day with him, which he loved. And apparently made him much more comfortable there, b/c ever since, he seems to like it (once he's there and I'm gone).
My big 3 year old birthday boy. Yes, he wore the ribbon and hat all day, even to school!

Cassanova

2009-09-26T22:42:00.001-04:00

Sam just loved talking to Rachel one night at community group.

"Hey, do you mind, we're kinda in the middle of something here?"

Laura playing with the babies

AJ deploys

2009-09-23T00:29:00.004-04:00

On Sunday Sept. 6, we dropped AJ off at the airport after a FULL morning. We had some friends, James and Rachel Riley, do a photo shoot with us at the park before church, the off to the church service, and after a lunch stop where both boys were asleep (AJ ran in), we had lunch, finished packing AJ up, and then headed to the airport. We had a little time when we got him checked in (finding out in the process that the boys and I were allowed to go to the gate with him), so we sat down and recorded AJ singing some nighttime songs for Josh, and took some pictures.

Josh loved wearing AJ's hat.
Posing

Aww...I love my guys!
My baby boy and my hubby

Love those smiles!
Family picture. A man who came through security with us, and offered to take our picture. Sweet!
All my guys! This is my favorite picture!
Josh waving goodbye to Daddy's plane
Our chain to count down the days. AJ wrote little notes on some of the links, and we cut one off before Josh goes to bed every night. He loves it!

We're doing well so far, and we get to talk to AJ pretty much every night on Skype. We really miss him though, and can't wait till he gets back!

Ice cream night

2009-09-22T23:46:00.004-04:00

Sam had his ice cream in the form of a milk bottle

What cheesy grins...I love them!

Mmmmm...tasty!

Now that's coordination!

We did put a little sugar free cherry gelato on Sam's binky a couple of times...he seemed to enjoy it!

Yay for ice cream!!

Baby Dedication and First Day of School

2009-09-22T23:12:00.003-04:00

Sam's dedication was the weekend before AJ left. It went pretty well...Sam fell asleep in the service right before we went up there, and slept through the entire thing! Josh had no clue he was on a stage with lots of people watching him...he kept turning around to look at us and grin.

(I tried to switch the pix around again, but it won't let me...I think it might be a Mac thing.)

Got some pics of Sam when we got home from church.
Josh's first day of school at Old Fort Baptist Church (Mother's Day Out). He was so excited he couldn't even eat his breakfast! Too bad he didn't really like it until the 3rd week. Oh, well...he mostly likes it now. Notice the lunch box...that was my Winnie-the-Pooh lunchbox...in high school!!
More after pics...I'm just glad I got a few before he pooped all over it.

Such a happy Sam!

The dedication

Getting ready for the new dining room floor

2009-09-22T22:54:00.002-04:00

When we pulled up the carpet, we found a crack running wall to wall, and pretty much all the way across the house. We freaked out, called an inspector, and were reassured that it was just a settling crack, nothing to worry about. Here are some mid-project pics of Josh with some of the wood pieces. Eventually I'll get out the hard drive and get the finished project pics, too.

Balancing
Airplane arms!
Josh "helping" again

Downtown with Nana and Papa

2009-09-20T10:02:00.008-04:00

OK, for some reason I can never remember to put the pix in backwards, so they're out of order. Sorry...

When AJ's parents were here a few weeks ago we went downtown for most of a day and here are some pics! from that day. It was lots of fun! Enjoy the pics!
Tuckered out!
Walking next to Battery Park with Papa and Nana
"Look at the boat!"
Pretty pretty house!
So cute
More pretty houses
Josh had so much fun running next to the water!
Watching the waves with Nana
Sam slept through the last half of our outing...good baby!
Watching the waves below. Yes, Josh is biting the railing...and yes, I told him not to...

Me and my hubby!
Me and my big boy
more pretty houses

A sailboat. I like taking pics of sailboats.
One of the beautiful gates in downtown
A pretty lampost
pretty fountain inside a garden. I wish I'd had an SLR for this shot, it would have turned out better.
Another pretty gate

Water Front Park fountain...

Josh loved playing in the water! In this picture he'd found a flip flop on the ground and was using it as a sailboat...
The fountain
Of course Josh picked up some pretty college girls
Did I mention he had a blast??
Sam enjoyed getting out of the stroller and playing, too!

Josh's Birthday Party

2009-09-19T22:55:00.004-04:00

We had Josh's birthday party before AJ left. These pics are reversed, but I hope you'll enjoy them anyway!

Josh liked "fighting" his balloon

My knight in plastic armor.
Aaarrrrgggghhh!

Thanks, Shannon, for the costumes!

Re picturing!
Silly Kenzie in a bag!
Josh loved playing with his new remote control firetruck. Thanks Sandy and Evan!
Sydney really enjoyed the cupcakes! What a cutie!
Evan is a mess, just like Josh!
Fun with cake!!

All the kids eating their cupcakes
Sam and Rachel playing on the playmat