March 27, 2007 - My first short sleeves! I think I like this freedom and am looking forward to warm weather.

March 26, 2007 - Enjoying the nice weather!

March 26, 2007 - Hopscotch!

Nicholas is into drawing a hopscotch board on the pavement with his sidewalk chalk. He often needs a little help as he can't handle it if it isn't perfect. What is interesting to me is that first I have to draw the squares. Then he goes through and makes a small little square in the corner of each of my little squares. I then have to write number 1-10 in each of the little squares. Next, he goes through and re-writes each of the numbers much bigger in each square (he has a tendency to make his #'s backward if he isn't copying them). Once, he knows that each of the #'s is written correctly in each square he goes back through the squares again. If the square if totally absent of any additional marks (like marks the girls previously made on the sidewalk) he will draw the letter 'R' in the square for 'right'. If there is anything additional in the square he write an 'N' for 'not right'. Who knows he reasoning behind it, but he has done it several times already - could make for an interesting summer.

March 25, 2007 - 2 months old

Sam continues to look less like a newborn and little more like a little boy. Amazing how fast they change. He is definately filling out, though we haven't got a new weight as he had his last doctor visit at 6 weeks and doesn't go back now until 4 months. He is starting to smile more often and make more eye contact. He continues to be a content baby 95% of the time, and still sleeps through the night 7-10 hours most of the time. Such a good boy.

March 24, 2007 - Girls Day Out

Today was a day out for mama with her girls to attend a Bridal Shower. Unfortunately, Allison woke up sick and was unable to go. So...it turned into a special day for Gabrielle with one on one time with mama. She got ready with me and we did everything together. She got a shower instead of a bath, got to use mama's lotion, and then she actually sat and let me blow dry and curl her hair. We then got dressed together, complete with jewelry and little bit of perfume. Gabrielle was feeling like a princess. The theme of the shower was tea party and we were instructed to bring our purses. Gabrielle had her princess purse and papa had stopped at the store and got her a little lip gloss set to take along. I happened to know that they were going to play a game at the shower regarding the contents of her purse, so I made sure she had some appropriate contents in order to participate. Here are some pictures of our day.

Pretty as a princess!What a beautiful day! A picture with my coat and purse - the complete ensemble.
Quick pose with mama before we go.
All buckled in and super excited!
We got to town a little early, so we called Grandpa at work and he ran out to the parking lot for a quick minute to get a glimpse of his oldest grand daughter all dressed up. She was so excited to show Grandpa her pretty dress and her little purse.
She loved putting on her lip gloss from Papa. She spent most of the car trip applying it, and would periodically get it out during the shower as well.
She insisted on sitting by Aunt Nancy, totally across the room from mama.
Gabrielle loved helping AnnAlissa with her gifts and started to collect the bows on the front of her dress.
The bows got a little boring, so she decided that she needed to decorate Grandma with the bows and ribbons instead.

March 20, 2007 - The Return of Lake Haymeadow!

We have a joke around our house whenever we get lots of rain or the snow melts. We call it Lake Haymeadow when our backyard gets overtaken with water. Well, with all the melted snow around here the ground is pretty much saturated. Then, we got two huge March thunderstorms within 12 hours the other day and Lake Haymeadow has returned. Now, the hard part is getting the kids to understand why they can't play in the backyard right now.

March 20, 2007 - My First Smiles

(caught on film, at least)

Sam has been smiling every once in a while and very briefly over the past week, but this morning I actually managed to catch a few on film.

March 19, 2007 - Potty Training?

Allison has been telling when she is poopy for quite some time now. However, the last week or so, she tells us she is poopy and she isn't. We have figured out that she is actually trying to tell us she needs to poop, the problem is that she will go around saying it for 30 minutes or so some days before she actually does.

On the way home from preschool she kept saying poopy. When we got home, she still hadn't done the deed, so I decided to try putting her on the potty. She didn't go, but I didn't put her pants on either. After watching her carefully for 30 minutes or so, and one pee accident later I caught her stop in her tracks and got that look of needing to do her business, so I swiped her up and got her into the bathroom. She did it , ALLISON WENT POOPY ON THE POTTY (she did this a week or so too, because I happened to catch her at the right time). She was so proud, and got to pick a treat out of the candy bucket.

Last night, at bedtime, she was again saying poopy over and over. She does have a habit of filling her diaper shortly after we put her bed, so I spent some time with her in the bathroom. No BM, but she did go pee-pee. She then got to go downstairs and tell papa. She is very excited when she goes, but so far it's just timing and luck. When I put underwear on her she just has accidents. It's a start though.

March 15, 2007 - 7 weeks old

Like my overalls? I borrowed them from my cousin Joshua.

Warming up after bathtime on a Saturday night
I grew into another outfit. A couple of weeks ago it was huge.

Now I got to wear it to church on Sunday.

March 14, 2007 - Gabrielle Reads to Allison, how cute!

March 13, 2007 - Spring Weather, finally!

We finally has some warm weather to get outside for a bit. Hopefully, there is more to come. We headed outside after dinner to vacuum out the van after a long winter of climbing in and out with crackers, fries, nuggets, and whatever else the kids were snacking on and dropping along the way. Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying the weather. Other than a walk that afternoon, and regular trips too and from the van, this was Sam's first time out of doors.

March 11, 2007 - Pretty as a Picture!

We were ready for church and I just had to have the girls pose for a quick picture. They looked so cute all dressed up with bows in their hair, and those both got to wear necklaces this week and were proud as punch.

tpvan-March 8, 2007 Portraits

Click to Play

March 7, 2007 - One last day in the snow? We can only hope!

Big Girl Teeth!

Somehow, Gabrielle and I got talking about teeth this morning. Along the way, I told Gabrielle that her teeth are "baby teeth" and when she gets bigger they will fall out, and she will get "big girl teeth". Well, her eyes got really big and she informed me, under no uncertain terms that

"I already have big girl teeth and they aren't going to fall out they are stuck with glue."

I just thought that was very funny. Anyway, we have decided not to have anymore discussions about teeth falling out until she's older.

It's all about Me!

The kids always get to watch a movie/video before bed. They take turns picking which movie they want to watch. The other night it was Allison's turn and she picked Thomas. Anyway, Allison is not a TV watcher and about 5-10 minutes after the movie starts she is always in the living room wanting to sit by Paul or I. So, following her usual routine she came into the living room and was walking around. Paul decided to ask me who had picked the movie (he thinks it is quite funny that Allison won't even watch the videos she picks herself). Allison piped in...

"ME, ALLISON", took both hands, pointed to herself, shrugged her shoulders and looked at Paul like : didn't you know that?

Over the last week or so, she seems to have gotten a firm grasp on the difference between me and mine (a word which she knows all too well). Now, we just have to get Gabrielle to use He, His and Him, in the proper way...everything to her is HIMS instead of HIS.

Sam's First Video March 4-12, 2007
Click to Play

March 7, 2007 - 6 weeks old!

Well, our little guy is 6 weeks old already. He continues to be more alert and active and has finally become a good eater. Because of his weight gain issues and his recent illness, Sam had to see the doctor at 6 weeks instead of waiting for the regular 2 month checkup. The good news is that he finally surpassed his birthweight and weighed in at 9 pounds 3 1/2 ounces. He gained exactly 1/2 a pound since we had him in a week and a half ago when he was sick... YEAH SAM! He is in the 25% for weight. In addition, he measured 23 inches which is the 75% for height. His lungs are now clear and we have a very healthy boy. He received 4 shots and also an oral vaccine for rotovirus. After we left the doctor's office he basically slept for 24 hours with the exception of his meals, which I had to wake him up for. We thought we got through the shots home free, but then Sunday night he was fussy from early evening until 2am..YUCK!!! Monday morning we seemed to have our Sam back and are spending this week trying to teach him to go to sleep on his own in the bassinet instead of being nursed or rocked to sleep. We'll see how things go in that regard...so far, so good.

March 7, 2007 - Cowboy Day!

Nicholas' Preschool class has been doing a unit on cowboys. To conclude the unit they all got to dress up like cowboys and cowgirls for the day. They were reminded to make sure and bring their "horses". They had trail mix for snack and Nicholas came home with a handmade WANTED poster...he was wanted for smiling too much.

March 3, 2007 - Stuck Inside AGAIN!

Another winter day stuck inside trying to keep the kids occupied. Nicholas came home from preschool with a note stating that the conclude their unit on cowboys they would be having a COWBOY DAY on Wednesday the 7th. The kids are to dress up as cowboys. So, we headed down to the basement to find the box of Halloween costumes. Nicholas was 'Woody' from Toy Story 2 years ago, so we were off to see if the costume still fit...which it does...it is a little short but fits everywhere else. While in the costume box we discovered a few other costumes that Gabrielle wanted to explore. (On a side note, I have been looking on e-bay to try to find some dress up clothes for Gabrielle and Allison as they love to play dress up at playgroup). Needless to say, mama realized it was kind of stupid to have these costumes sitting in a box to MAYBE be worn again some time when they could be having fun with them. So, we brought all of the costumes upstairs and now they have a start to their dress up collection. Nicholas also is all set for cowboy day, complete with some the boots from Gabrielle's costume and our "horse on a stick". He is excited to go to school on Wednesday, and they have been having a ton of fun with the customes ever since.

Here we have a Care Bear, Woody, and a Hello Kitty Cowgirl

March 1, 2007 - Words to live by.

Allison is now just over 19 months old. When you get to kids of this age it seems like the question everyone wants to know is "are they talking yet?" Well, Allison talks remarkably well for a child her age, at least so I have heard. There is no possible way for me to list everything she says but I thought I would try to keep track of what she said for half a day, and it didn't work---I lost count. She will repeat anything that we ask her to say, including memory verses after dinner.

Here is some of what she says on a regular basis:
Names: Mama, Papa, brother, sister, Nicholas, 'yell' (this is as close as she gets to saying Gabrielle), Allson(she doesn't quite get the middle syllable in ther yet), Sam (& where Sam?) Gamma, Gampa, Toni (for some reason she must have picked this up sometime when they were staying at my mom's house when Sam was born, she doesn't seem to have any idea that it is my name, but whenever she is pretending to talk on the phone she always says Toni and she says it perfectly), Onen (Owen), Ja-wa (Joshua)

Favorite Things: blankie, pipey (her word for pacifier), baby, Care Bear, 'Queen (for Lighting McQueen), Huson (for Doc Hudson),

Foods: juice, milke, water, 'tart (pop-tart), some, 'tatoes, dip, sauce, 'nack (for fruit snacks)

Here's a short clip of mama prompting her on some of words for the camera, for memories sake.

Click to Play

March 3, 2007 - Snow, Snow and Blowing Snow

We got quite a bit of snow over the weekend, but the worst of it out here was the blowing. We have a big open field behind us and nothing to stop the wind. The drifts just seem to keep piling up in our backyard and against our garage. Our side of the street was much worse than our neighbors across the street. On Friday, I had to clean up the drift against the garage twice just so Paul would be able to get the car into the garage when he got home. Paul spent a large part of Saturday morning cleaning up the driveway and then practically had to start all over again. He did manage to get some cool pictures though.

March 1, 2007 - SCARY !!!!!

I am going through the house picking up toys and Allison is sleeping, therefore it is usually safe to give Sam some time to lay around and kick on the floor in the den. I never would have guessed that I would be wrong. After a minute of picking some things up in the living room I walked back into the den to put the items away. The minute I walked in the door I noticed that Sam was now nicely propped up on a pillow ON the couch (right by the edge), big sister Gabrielle right beside him. Needless to say I panicked and ran across the room to rescue my son (sorry, no time for a picture...I think you'll understand). My reaction upset Gabrielle, now I had to calm her down, and then explain to her why she isn't allowed to pick up her little brother. I don't think I really want to know HOW she picked him up. After the situation settled down, Gabrielle was given a few minutes to hold her baby brother under adult supervision (as seen below).

March 1, 2007 - Looking for something to do.

Just like everybody else these days we are so sick of winter and being cooped up in the house. We are constantly looking for something new to do and always feel like we are running out of ideas. The other day Nicholas was trying to make a "castle" out of the pillows on the couch and that gave me the idea of making them a big "castle". So we got out the cardboard table and some sheets and blankets and made a great place for them to play. Later in the day, I remembered that we have a kid size tent in the garage too, so we added a wing to our castle (no picture of that though). The kids loved it and played with it most of the day on and off. The biggest problem was trying to keep Allison from climbing ON the cardboard table, and knocking the roof down.

February 27, 2007 A Sick Little Boy!

Over the weekend, Sam started doing quite a bit of coughing. We weren't overly concerned - the cold virus has been going through the house and he wasn't running a fever or anything, he just had a really bad cough. The cough gradually began to wear on him and he got laryngitis of sorts...the poor baby couldn't even cry, he would try and only a squeak would come out. The cough started to get worse and worse and he started to squeak more and more, but still no fever and he was eating well.

He continued to eat well throughout most of the day on Monday, but his cough was getting worse and he would just cough with his entire body. Monday evening, however, he started to not want to nurse. He was willing to take a bottle, so that was good. However, the last two bottles of the evening he spit up almost the entire feeding. Now, I was starting to get a little nervous, especially given that Nicholas had the stomach flu over the weekend.

I stayed up all night with him trying to get him to take small amounts of fluid every couple of hours to keep him hydrated. He did manage to keep small feedings down throughout the night, but by morning he was so worn out and exhausted that I just couldn't keep him awake for a feeding. This little boy, who has been gaining weight so slowly couldn't afford to lose any. So...a call to the doctor was made.

We started off finding out that he only lost 1/2 an ounce since the week before, so that was a good thing. At the doctor's office his respiratory rate was definately quite fast, but his blood oxygen level was between 94-95% and it needs to be above 92%---that was good. His lungs were quite "coarse" as the doctor said, but with no fever they wanted to try to keep him out of the hospital as it was just a virus, not an infection that antibiotics would help. Sam was quite alert during the visit, which was a good thing for mama to see.

While at the office, they gave him a nebulizer breathing treatment. He did quite a bit of coughing during the treatment, but they said that is a good thing. After the breathing treatment, he was like a brand new baby. He stayed alert, and before I headed home he nursed for 15-20 minutes in the car. YEAH Sam.

He has continued to improve throughout the week and his cough has changed from congested to more of a tickle in his throat. Thursday, he was finally able to get a normal cry out through his tired vocal cords. He has been eating well, and been more alert than he has been in the past.

It was a little scary for a while, but we are truly grateful that we were able to stay out of the hospital and that the breathing treatment made such a difference.