I Love It When...

... babies talk in their cribs waiting for Mom or Dad to come and get them.

When Evan was little, I could leave him in his crib for sometimes 30 minutes while I finished getting dressed, making breakfast, etc. He would just talk and play. When he wanted out and had started learning how to say people's names, he'd go through the list of names, just waiting for someone to come get him.

Now that Aubrie has started saying names, she kind of does the same thing, and it's so cute! She doesn't go through all of the names like Evan did, but she definitely calls for Mommy, and when that doesn't work she switches to Daddy. She even said Bobby once! She's not as patient as Evan was, and starts crying after a few minutes if I don't go and get her.

It's so cute listening to her calling for us, but it shows me just how much she's growing up! Pretty soon she'll be big like Evan. So I'm going to soak up these precious little moments and enjoy every sound she makes while this small.

We Have A Walker!

Aubrie took her first steps today!! Chris and I were standing in the kitchen, and Chris got Aubrie to stand up on her own next to him. She took one step towards the island before she grabbed it to hold on. We were so excited that we made kind of a loud noise, and she got scared and cried for like 5 minutes! Then we decided to let her try it again. She is a quick learner because she took several more steps the second and third time we stood her up. She laughed each time she fell backwards, so cute!

Evan was around 15 months when he started to walk, so it looks like Aubrie beat him by just a few days! She'll be 15 months in 4 days. It also took Evan about a month to really get the hang of it after he took his first steps, but I bet Aubrie catches on within a few weeks. I only say that because of their personalities; Evan is more laid back, while Aubrie is a hands-on go-getter type. She'll want to walk quickly so that she can chase her brother and cousin around!

(I have a video, but it's on my phone, and I have to figure out how to get it on the computer. Check FB if you want to see it!).

Evan Turns 3!!

Oh. My. Goodness. My little boy is 3!

Evan has gotten so big over the past year. It's crazy to look back at pictures from his second birthday and to see how much he has changed. He talks so much clearer than a year ago, and it often feels like I'm talking to a "real" little kid, rather than a baby or toddler.

He LOVES to pretend with his toys now, and comes up with such funny stories! It's so cute to watch him weave stories together from what he is learning and put it all together. For example, while playing with an Iron Man toy he got for his birthday, he uses phrases from Buzz Lightyear, makes him sit with other toys at a picnic breakfast, etc, all within about 5 minutes. I love his imagination!

He's been going through phases where he only wants "Mommy." He even told Chris, "but I don't love you!" Chris is better than me, because it didn't even phase him! I would've been balling. But Chris just knew that he didn't mean it, which of course he didn't. He'll tell me, "But Mommy, you're my friend." These phases last for a few days at a time, and then he's back to his normal easy-going self. He amazes me because just when I think he's going to throw a fit, he'll just look at me and say, "ok." Love him to pieces. Every. Single. Piece. I'm going to enjoy every minute of it, good and bad, because I'm noticing that it all goes by so fast. I'm going to enjoy the fact that he cries for me to hold him because he misses me, not be frustrated that it's something else I have to "deal with." He may not be doing that in the near future...

I'm trying to think of everything I can about him so that I can write it down and not forget. He's just such a sweet little boy, and he makes my heart melt. It hits me every time I see him that he's turning into a big kid, and I have mixed feelings about that. I always wanted to have a son so that I could watch him grow into a good, strong, handsome, smart young man. Now that Evan is getting older, I can actually start to see him turning into that person, and I love every minute of it.

(I have pictures from his 2nd birthday on our external hard drive, so I will go through those photos and post them very soon).

Mother's Day 2011

What a wonderful Mother's Day this year! I woke up to Chris saying, "Don't worry about the kids; just get dressed and I'll get everything ready for church." I couldn't help myself, and kept trying to help get things ready to go. It's hard to break the habit. :)

It was also Evan's 3rd birthday yesterday, so we decided to let him open his birthday present before we left for church. We got him a cool basketball hoop. His cousin Aiden has the same hoop, and Evan LOVES it! Although, he doesn't quite understand that you're supposed to try and shoot the basketball in the hoop all the time. So far, his favorite part of the hoop is to knock it over...

After Evan opened his present, we rushed to get in the car and head to church. After church, we ate lunch at Doneraki mexican restaurant, and it was good! We met Mama D, Nick, Alia, & Aiden, Bobby & Allison, Clay & Amanda, and my Mom near the Gulfgate Mall. It was a great lunch with several surprises; one of which was my brother announcing that he and Amanda were going to have a baby! They are due on December 19th! It's been one year since they had a miscarriage, so we are very excited about this little baby!

After lunch, we went back home where the kids played and Chris gave me a foot rub. I could get used to this Mother's Day stuff! It was a great Mother's Day!

(no pictures since our camera is still out, and I don't know how to put pics from my phone on the computer...).

Seizure?

Chris got a call this morning from Aubrie's MDO teachers saying that she had had 2 "seizure-like" episodes. While she was pretending to sleep in the middle of the floor, one of her teachers walked over and picked her up. Her teacher noticed that Aubrie was kind of limp and heavy, and just hugged her really hard. She said it happened again about 30 minutes later while they were playing on the little train playset in front of their classroom. No jerking or eye-rolling, but they said it was just strange and out of character for her.

After Chris and I rushed over to the church, both with adrenaline pumping and hearts pounding, we got to hold her and she was as happy as could be! It was a relief to see her smiling face when we walked in the building, I must say. I made an appointment with our pediatrician's office, and we saw Dr. Parkerson (not our normal doctor) at 1:30PM today. The doctor said that it didn't sound like she had had a seizure because she had been responsive afterward. She said that most children her age also don't have the "silent" seizures; there is usually the jerking and eye-rolling to go along with it, and a period of unresponsiveness afterward. So, we aren't scheduled for any follow-up testing, as of yet. We are watching her to see if it happens again so that we can witness it for ourselves. Then we can make more decisions, if it happens again.

Please be praying that this is nothing, and that she doesn't have any more "episodes," whatever they may be.

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!