New "Cousin" Addition!!

We just found out tonight that Nick & Alia are expecting another baby!!!! Hurray!!!! They told us tonight after orchestra practice, and they were really sneaky about it! Alia told me that she had ordered some amazing food for lunch from her school and that I needed to try it. We joked about the fact that she had all of this food left over from Easter yesterday, but that she still ordered food. After practice, Chris and I went with Nick & Alia to Nick's office to try the food. When they opened the lid, it was wings... I should've picked up on it then. But I made a joke about us eating wings and how we seemed to only do that when someone was pregnant. Then Alia pulled out a card that one of Nick's students gave him, and said, "Did you see this sweet card someone gave Nick?" As she opened it, there was an ultrasound picture inside! Turns out she is 10 weeks along, and is due November 16, 2011!!!

We are so excited to have another baby joining our family; especially to two such wonderful people. I told Chris back in March that I thought she was pregnant, but she was doing such a good job of faking us out, that I started to believe her! I finally broke down and thought that I was wrong last Friday after our playgroup at the park. She also had coffee yesterday (she gave up coffee for lent, which made me even more suspicious). But she really is pregnant and we are soooooooo excited!

Easter 2011

Wow, it has been a great Easter this year! It was so nice to have Chris home for a 3 day weekend so we could spend some great quality time together as a family. It makes me very ready for summer vacation!

Friday:
Chris was home, and we all got to sleep in! Chris, Evan and I, all slept in until about 8:30 (no, Evan does not sleep in our bed). And Aubrie slept until 10:00AM!!!!! She has definitely been busy growing this week, as well as teething. I'm glad all of that is behind us for a little while, sheesh. Then we all headed over to Matheson Park in Tomball for our normal Friday church playdate. It was great having Chris there with us, and Alia was even able to bring Aiden! Good times.

Saturday:
After we all woke up, we made Resurrection Rolls together. Evan loved being able to help us make breakfast, and he was really into learning about Jesus and his resurrection. At one point he held up the marshmallow and asked me, "Is this our Heavenly Father?" So cute! The rolls tasted yummy, too! Then we all hopped in the car to rum some errands. I ran into Carter's Outlet store to look for some Easter clothes for the kiddos, then we ran into Old Navy for a fantastic sale (spent $157 for $345 worth of clothes!), and then over to the Woodlands Mall where we ate lunch and then let the kids play in the indoor playground (which the LOVED!). Then we came home and the kids went to sleep. Both kids did really well while we were out, and especially Aubrie who missed her morning nap while we were out shopping. She did only sleep for an hour, though, once we came back home... Later that evening, Chris and I watched the Passion of the Christ after the kids went to sleep. It is always hard to watch, but it does a really good job of reminding me of what's important in life, and what it took for all of us to have eternal life. It was even harder for me to watch since having children. First, because I empathized with Mary, secondly because I realize what it took for God to watch his own son go through that, and thirdly how much God loves me just as I love my own children. I found myself being nauseous from watching what he went through, but then rooting him on as I saw Satan in the shadows. Knowing that he was almost finished with his task and what would happen to Satan was powerful for me to think about.

Sunday:
We had to be up early to make it to the church earlier than normal for extra worship rehearsal, but there was only one service, so we were finished by 11am. Then we headed over to Nick & Alia's house for Easter lunch, and an egg hunt. It was such a relaxing day. The kids had a great time, and ate a TON of candy! They'll be on a sugar high for a week!

All in all, it was a very relaxing weekend together as a family! (Pictures to come once I figure out how to download them from our phones, and get some from Nick & Alia's camera; we still don't have one because of the sand incident at the beach.)

All Better

Evan, Aubrie and I went back to the doctor today to do some follow-up tests after our visit yesterday. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Yesterday, I took Aubrie to the doctor to check her fever. She woke up with a fever of 99.5 yesterday morning, probably because she knew that I was taking her to the doctor! It had been much higher during the two days before that. But I went ahead and took her anyway.

They took a sample of blood to check her white-blood count, which was low. They also checked her urine just in case it was a UTI, which it wasn't. We were there for 4 hours, though, waiting for the little princess to pee in the bag! They did find some extra crystals in her urine, though, which is why we went back this morning.

Evan was so cute this morning, since I had to take both of them with me. I told him that I really needed him to be my little helper, and that if he started crying or not listening that it would be hard for Mommy. He said, "Ok, Mommy, I won't cry." And he didn't! Well, he started to cry a few times, but then when reminded, he stopped right away. He kept saying, "Mommy, can we PLEASE go home? I want to watch a movie and eat lunch on the couch." "Not 'till Aubrie pees in the bag." "Did she pee in the bag yet?" He really was my helper today.

Turns out there were no more crystals in her urine today, which was obviously good. They said that it could have meant she was predisposed to kidney stones if they had found some. So even though we waited for a total of 7 hours for her to pee in 2 bags over 2 days with nothing to show for it, I'm so thankful that it was nothing and that my little girl is on her way to feeling better!

(By the way, she weighed 19 lbs 4.6 ounces yesterday, and 19 lbs 11.5 ounces today).

Cryable

While taking Evan upstairs to go down for his nap, he says, "Is it naptime?"

I said, "It depends on how cranky you are. You've been really cranky for the past few minutes."

He said, "I'm not cranky, I'm just cryable."

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Gotta love the way he tries to put all of his words together!

Aubrie has a fever, again...

Yesterday morning, we stayed home from church for some much needed rest and rejuvenation as a family. It was a good thing we stayed home, because by 9am Aubrie had a fever of 100.6. Over the past two days, it's gone back and forth between 100-102.

I didn't take her to the doctor this morning because it looked like the fever was going away. However, it came back again, and she only wanted to snuggle today (which I didn't mind!). It worked out well, though, because Evan was finally out of his "I want Mommy all the time" phase. So I was able to put the attention on Aubrie without Evan crying and grabbing my legs for me to hold him. Instead, I was able to hold Aubrie while she slept on me, and play with Evan, or watch tv, all day. Except for the fact that Aubrie was burning up all day and sleepy, it was a perfect day!

I'll keep you posted on what happens at the doctor tomorrow. I'm almost dreading it because I hope it's nothing like the appointment when she was 8 months old. Although, it seems to be just like it so far; not an ear infection (I don't think), which means they'll have to prick her toe again. Which means they might then have to draw blood or try the UTI baggie thing again, which means Aubrie possibly throwing up 5 times again... Really not looking forward to it again!

Aubrie's 15th Month

* She loves to "walk" on her knees. She does this weird half crawl, half walk thing where she just scoots forward on her knees. She is standing up on her own more often now, though. So maybe any day now she'll start walking?! (4-17-11)

* She had another round of fever this month.

* She had a major growth spurt this month, as well as got two more teeth on the bottom. She now has 16 teeth!

* She now says please (ease), thank you (danku), bubble (buboo), Bobby D, Pops, Mommy, Daddy, Bubba (Evan), puppy, banana (nana), & dog (dock), and no. She can also kind of say Delaney (which sounds like "Aney). I can ask her any question, and she'll shake her head and say, "Noooohhh."

* She took her first steps! (5-9-11). She cried the first time she took steps because our reaction scared her. She cried for 5 minutes, poor girl! I was so proud of her, though, because she tried again several more times, and got better each time! We can't get her to do it again, though. But I think she'll pick up on it quickly when she finally puts her mind to it.

* She still kicks her right leg all the time.

* She loves to sleep with a blanket over her head, which drives me crazy! She has also started taking her blanket with her wherever she goes. If I don't grab it when I get her out of bed in the morning, she grabs it and pulls it out with her. It's amazing how that blanket calms her down.

* I love that her hair is long enough to put into pig-tails now! Although, the drama has already started with me "doing her hair." I have to time it just perfectly, and even then I'm not guaranteed to get it done the first time. She must know that it frustrates me when I can't play with her hair, because she'll take her hand and mess the top of her hair up on purpose and then look at me. But I still win! :)

Evan's 35th Month (2 yrs, 11 months)

Wow, next month Evan will turn 3 years old. A lot has happened in those 3 years, and he's gotten so big. I don't really realize just how big until I look back at pictures from just 6 months ago and see just how little he was back then. Now he's a "real" little boy!

His favorite thing to do lately is pretend. He pretends with everything! I love to listen to the conversations between his toys (see previous post for an example). He also loves to pretend that his hands are talking to us. He'll be in the middle of a sentence to us, and then all of a sudden he will put his pointer and middle fingers together on each hand and they will start talking to me. It'll go something like this; "Oh, hi Mommy!" (these are his hands talking to me). "What are you doing?" "Have you seen my son?," etc, etc, etc. He cracks me up because I never know what's going to come out of his mouth! On the way to school the other day, we saw a lizard. I asked him what he thought the lizard was doing? He said, "Probly looking for a girlfriend..." Aye-yai-yai...
He's a little better at sharing toys with his sister, but he has to be the one to initiate it. If Aubrie starts to crawl towards something that he is already playing with, he'll start to cry and ask me to pick Aubrie up. But if he decided he wants to share, he'll just walk over to her and be very sweet with her. He also loves to wrestle her. She's going to be one tough little girl, that's for sure!
He's also had a bit of trouble with nap-time and bed-time this month. I'm not sure if he's scared of something in his room, but he wants us to sleep with him each time. I don't think he's scared, though, because as soon as we leave he'll settle down. Sometimes he screams for several minutes, or tries to trick me into thinking that he's hungry, or needs to go to the potty. Don't think badly of me, but I "drugged" him with some tylenol the other day, and he went to sleep like a charm! Maybe it's growing pains or something, but I hope he grows out of it quickly!
He's still such a sweet little boy, and we love him with all of our hearts! Happy 35 month "bday," Evan!

Aubrie's 14th Month

*She still won't stand up on her own, but she has started pushing chairs and a walker toy by herself. She seems to be on the same time line as Evan as to when she might start to walk. But I'm in no hurry! She can take as long as she needs!

*She loves our new swingset. I bought a baby swing for her, and every time I walk past the back door she is pointing at it to go outside. Evan really likes her swing, too, but is such a big boy now that he is ok to sit in the big swing while I push him.

*She jabbers all the time. There's still not a lot that we can make out, but she's started to say Mama a lot more often. In fact, just today she started calling me "Mommy" every single time. So cute! She says it when she wakes up in the morning, or when she wants me to hold her. She now says stuff like Daddy, Hi (sounds like i), bu-buy, cheese, wee (when sliding down the slide), there she is (which is not really words, but the same sounds that I make when I say that), and signs milk, more, thank you, and please. She hasn't signed "eat" in a while because she just leans over and points to the food.

*She LOVES to climb up our stairs. She'll go up a few, and then try to come back down before I turn her around and send her back up. Then once she reaches to very top, she takes off towards the bathroom as fast as she can crawl. She thinks it's a game while I grab her up. I love her infectious laugh when she giggles!

*Evan still doesn't like to share his toys with her. If she even looks like she's headed his way while he's playing, he'll run up to me and ask me to pick her up and hold her. I'm trying to explain that some of the toys are hers, and that she just wants to be next to him and play with him. But he doesn't like it when she messes up his way of doing things. I guess it's a good thing that he has a younger sister to teach him how to share; otherwise, he'd grow up having his own way and be terrible to live with as an older man!

*I sent her to school with real milk a few weeks ago to see if she would have an allergic reaction, and I thought we were safe for a while. However, she started getting a rash earlier the next day. I'm glad to definitely know what is causing her rash. It'll be hard because almost everything has milk in it, but we'll make it work. At least it's not a strong reaction. All it does is give her a rash (can be really bad depending on how much milk she's had), some mucous in her nose, and some gas pains. Her skin looks so good now that she's not having milk products.

Pretty Good Imagination

(All said by Evan in his room, before falling asleep for his nap)
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hhhhaaa hhhaaaa haaaaa!
But I don't believe iiiiiiiiiitttttttttttt
haaaaahhhhaaaaahhhaaaa!
(grunt noise)
but.i.don't.believe.it.
hey, where did we park our car?
in our van?
hello! my name's thomas.
(cry noise) What? Hey, I thought you were a jumping man?
2.more.minutes.
12345
alright, now I'm going. alright, I'm playing with my son Danny.
Alright. I'm going to ask Mommy, alright.
Mommy. Mine dude. Mine dude. Mind dude.
I'm going with Mommy.
(whispering, and out of bed).
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I'm just one bear. I'm a bear. I'm a space ranger. I thought you were a lily? No, I'm a fireman. Birthday guests at 3:00. Who's saying that? Me! Who? Me! Birthday guests at 3:00, Mommyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!
(making water noises) You waked me up with the water hose. That was me. This was me. The smoochie poo.
Hello? What happened, little baby? Come on, my friend. Get in. Well get in here. What? Yes! Don't do this, please. I'm a shooter man. Is someone asleep? Is someone asleep? Hey, it's a little bug. It's a little bug flying around. Oh, bug! Oh! Bug! That's dirty.
(Now he's squooshing all of his stuffed animals and blowing raspberries).
Wake up! The bug is right there.

Answered Prayer

First of all, thank you to everyone who has been praying for our family lately. It has meant so very much to know that we have so many people willing to pray for us when we really need it. It felt like every time we turned around, we were putting our prayer request on another list with friends or family gathered around to be a part of it.

Because of all of your prayers, and because of God's grace, Chris has heard some great news about where he will be teaching next year. (If you don't know the full story, click here to read a previous blog post on the situation). Chris found out today that he is going to be moved to another middle school band program in Spring as the Assistant Band Director. This is great news because he still gets to teach in his field, instead of, say, history... He will also be at one school full time instead of 2 half time positions, which is also a great praise. He also knows and gets along with the other director, which will make the transition a bit easier. All in all, this is definitely the best solution for the problem that was facing us. It's so nice not to worry anymore about what is going to happen!

Now for the sad news. They will not be replacing his position at TCMS for next year, and his co-worker will be there to run the program on his own (which is basically impossible to do). It's just so sad that education has come to this. As a friend (Robin) said on facebook, " The government found money to bail out Wall Street. They found money to bail out the car companies. Now, instead of cutting teachers and jeopardizing our children's future, they need to make the greatest find of all and save EDUCATION!!!!" I totally agree with her statement, and my heart goes out to those teachers who are new to the profession and now can't find a job. I'm not sure what the "higher-ups" think will happen because of these poor decisions, but they obviously haven't thought it all through. I wish that there were more that we could do, but sometimes I just feel helpless to change anything. I just keep thinking that that is the world we live in, though, and I'd better get used to it. Good thing I have an (the) all-powerful God on my side!

"New" Blog

Hey everybody!

I ran out of picture storage on our "old" blog, and since I am so cheap, I have decided to start a "new" blog so that I can continue to post pictures on our blog without paying money for extra storage.

Here is a link to our old blog, and I'll add the link to this blog as well.
http://www.chrisandkimsblog.blogspot.com/

And, since I'm starting this blog so that I can add pictures again, here are some pics of the kiddos.

Love you all!