Sunday, May 31, 2009

The beginnings to a fun summer...

This weekend was a busy one beginning with a lot of play time outdoors in our yard, around the neighborhood, our church's playground and Landa Park in New Braunfels. We also had a birthday party for one of Nathan's school friends (complete with pony rides I might add), a barbeque for a graduating senior, a "Mexican Fiesta" dinner at a good friend and MDO teacher's home and church. Thrown into the mix to make life a little more exciting was a Schwinn bicycle trailer that attaches to Corey's bike (what F-U-N!) and as an added bonus it detaches and makes a great stroller for two kiddos (max. weight of 50 lbs each) with a fairly large area to store things like picnic lunches, diaper bags and swimming supplies! We are also now officially Schlitterbahn season pass holders and look forward to MANY days ahead this summer spending time in their incredible waterparks (3 to be exact). Nathan asked why Kate wasn't going to get to go to the waterpark this summer when we got home after getting the passes. He was referring to the fact that we all had ID cards except for her. Of course she gets to come along, she just doesn't cost anything to get into the parks. At least one of us was free. :)

Friday, May 29, 2009

Yesterday, my first year of being Mother's Day Out director at our church came to an end. I really cannot believe how fast this year has flown by. When I think of the beginnings of it all I remember praying to God for great teachers and classes that would be filled with sweet children. God supplied both and sent amazing parents, no major accidents (thank you Lord!), encouraging AND helpful church staff to go to whenever I needed them, and time to minister to both staff and families. We were blessed so much this year by new friendships and I am grateful to God for giving me the opportunity to take on a position like this while I stay at home with my two sweet littles.
I can honestly say I am going to miss seeing everyone this summer on our Tuesday and Thursday get togethers, but am hopeful that we will see each other through playdates in June, July and August.
Here is a picture of some beautiful roses that were accompanied by a sweet card from the awesome staff at FBC. I am also including pictures of Nathan and Kate's last days at MDO this year. Enjoy!
Three year old Balloon Launch off of the church's balcony!Fun in the Sun Day (pools, slip 'n slides, popsicles, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and the Jiggle Bug Express Train!)

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Makeover...in more ways than one!

I have a sweet friend, Kim, who also has a blog about her family and I noticed that it had a makeover. She has had it for a little while now, but recently I noticed that in the top left corner of the screen there was a little ad for, "The Cutest Blog on the Block." When I clicked over to it lo and behold there were layouts upon layouts of free backgrounds for bloggers! What fun! So, here is my "made-over" blog and I am delighted with the new change!
Oh, and Kate and I had a little makeover of ourselves on Wednesday....

After I painted her little, teeny-tiny toenails pink (first time-by the way) she gave me the sweetest, most heartfelt hugs ever! Love that girl!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Camping

Last weekend Mimi and Poppy drove down with their trailer and we all loaded up for camping on the Guadalupe River.
We had a fun Friday night getting everything all set up, eating and playing around. On Saturday morning we walked down to an area of the river called, "The Devil's Playground." It was a neat area with small rapids, rocky shallow areas and a few deep areas. Poppy and Nathan began fishing right away. Corey also took Nathan down "the rapids" with a little inflateable boat. I guess I didn't get any pictures of the rapids...Kate enjoyed playing in the water as well, mostly walking around in it and tossing rocks.
While Nathan and Poppy were fishing, they managed to catch a few perch. That was pretty exciting. Of course, they tossed them back in (more like they flopped for their life out of their hands back into the water)! :)
Around noon, dark clouds swept over the area and rain began pouring pretty hard. We headed into the trailer just as it was all beginning. That is when I was especially thankful for the trailer! We ate lunch and Nathan and Kate took great afternoon naps! After the naps, it was still pretty wet and dark outside, so we decided to head into New Braunfels and watch a movie, "Earth."
Then we came back to our site we grilled hamburgers and hung out.
Nathan was able to stay an extra night with Mimi and Poppy and head back down to the river one last time the next morning.
We had a good time all together and I know Nathan was beyond excited about the whole weekend. I am glad we were able to do it!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

15 months

Kate went for her 15 month check up today and while I would love to say she is doing great, (because she usually is) she actually has an ear infection in her left ear. So, after our appointment I picked up the antibiotics and some motrin and she is sleeping even as we speak. She actually has been a perky, happy little lady until last night. She slept through the night but did get a runny (although clear) nose and a cough during the evening.
So here is a rundown of what Kate is doing at 15 months and also what she did at her doctor's appointment today. At 15 months Kate-
  1. Can say "nana (banana), diapuur (diaper), mama, dada, dis (this), and uh-oh (among other things that we can't understand quite yet!)."
  2. She has signs for the words-more, drink, please, baby, hello, bye-bye and love.
  3. She likes to make dog, monkey, cat, and lion noises.
  4. She walks, runs, walks (loves to take her wet diapers to the trash can after a diaper change), walks backwards (at times), climbs everything, and dances.
  5. Kisses and hugs with her arms wrapped around your neck are favorites of hers.
  6. She has several nicknames: Baby Kate, Katers, Katers-Potaters, Katie-love, Katie-pie, Baby Cakes, Kate-Kate, Cutie-patootie (I am thinking that may be it--but there may be more that I am not thinking of at the moment.)
  7. She LOVES to rub her ears and suck on her paci or her thumb (whatever is available at the moment), hence another reason why it is difficult for me to know if she has an ear infection or not.
  8. She has a shoe fetish. I AM NOT KIDDING! Loves, loves, LOVES her shoes (especially the fancy ones)! Also, I am proud to say...will USUALLY keep her bows/flower clips in her hair for the entire day (keeping cute sunglasses on her face--another story!)!
  9. Her nurse, Joni, asked her to stack blocks, feed a baby a bottle, toss a ball, and put a crayon into a small jar (in and out).
  10. Kate played a hilarious game of "keep away" with Joni and I today. We couldn't stop laughing.
  11. Weighs 23 pounds (that is in the 50+ percentile)
  12. Head measures at 18 inches around (50th percentile)
  13. Length is at 31 1/2 inches (90th percentile)
  14. Recieved on shot (Pneumo Conj. 4) and was a trooper through the whole bit).
  15. Dr. Becker gives all of her patients a book when they come in for their well-check appointments each time. That is something we always look forward to. Today she was presented with a picture book called, "In the Kitchen."
Nathan hugged and kissed her while we were waiting for her antibiotics to show that he cared. He is really sweet with her. The other morning he woke up and Kate was still sleeping. I asked him if he wanted to eat something for breakfast. He simply replied, "I will wait until Katie-pie wakes up, then I will eat breakfast." :)

Corey, Nathan and I love this little girl of ours dearly and feel so blessed to have her in our lives!

Monday, May 11, 2009

A Page Has Turned

Our little guy (about 3 months into his life) found his thumb and NEVER looked back! He attached himself to a sweet little stuffed monkey that he received as a gift from his Granny and Papaw at his first Christmas (6 months old). Soothing became rubbing monkey's tail under his nose as he sucked his thumb. He used this whenever he was sleepy, upset, or just wanted to have a little extra comfort throughout the day. Of course this was an advantage for Mom and Dad as he truly was an easy baby/toddler in that sense. We were concerned, however, about how long this was going to go on. Many friends and family shared their stories either fondly or not so fondly about thumbsucking. We knew the advantages and were VERY clear of the disadvantages of a thumbsucker (we even heard horror stories of how some children never could quite stop).
My feelings were that when he was able to understand the consequences that it would be easier to help him stop. There was no way I was going to monitor "thumbsucking" through the night, etc. When a kid wants to suck his thumb, there is honestly not much that you can do about it. (He was a firm rejector of a pacifier and constantly went for his thumb.)
Anyway, the other day (oh, about 2 1/2 weeks ago) I made a "Thumbsucking Chart" where for each hour that did not suck his thumb he would receive a Curious George stamp on his chart. That worked for a little while, but not for long. Not really because he didn't want a stamp, but he just didn't remember and I would forget from hour to hour to remind him as well.
So, I purchased some clear nail polish that was called Thum. After applying it to your nail (in our case the thumb nail) it would maintain a bitter taste that fond thumbsuckers "hopefully" wouldn't like. It worked. He really did not care for the taste, but more than that he started really talking about stopping. It was like a light went on in his head and he realized he could stop! I applied the polish for a couple of nights and mornings, but he never even cared about sucking his thumb after the first night-polish or no polish! Talk about a couple of proud parents!!
We surprised him (after his second week of not sucking his thumb) with his first trip to Chuck E. Cheese's. He had seen a commercial about it on PBS and had talked to us about really wanting to check out that "fun place for kids" sometime. So, last Friday we drove him to the "surprise destination" and we had a lot of fun as a family celebrating this newest accomplishment in Nathan's life. Of course, Monkey is still around and that is perfectly fine with us. After all, when I introduce our family to someone--Nathan always whispers, "And don't forget Monkey, he is part of our family, too." I think I will be okay if he (Monkey) sticks around for a while. :)
Here are a couple of photos from our time spent at Chuck E. Cheese's: