Wow! New Year, New Baby!

Blog post #2 that never got published. It's a good read with an overall update on us. My next update, I promise, will have pictures! Our laptop finally crashed, seriously crashed, and we are still working to get the most important things off of it...our PICTURES! We do have a new computer though (Thank Goodness!) and I am working to get everything loaded on here, including the new pictures I have taken with my new camera. Now, on to the "catch-up" post... Well, forget the fact that our computer is and has been quite a pooper for a very long time, and forget the fact that I am a very bad blogger, we really are alive! Yes, I said it, we are all alive and well and even expecting a new baby! As my Mom said, this will be another pregnancy for the records books, length wise. No, I don't plan on carrying this baby for more than 40 weeks, we just found out at the first possible moment! So far, the last 5 weeks have flown past and I am now quickly approaching 10 weeks! This new addition is due October 11...or is it the 13th? Going by our dates, the baby is due on the 11th, but by sonogram it is due on the 13th. Dr. B said either day is good for him, since they are so close. So, we chose October 11th! The kids are getting so big! Seth is closing in on his 3rd birthday and we just can't believe it! He is talking up a storm and really doesn't stop unless he is sleeping. (My parents kept the kids for us last Friday so we could go out for dinner and they said he hadn't stopped talking the entire three hours they had him!) He is so smart! He says his ABC's and counts to 14, then it all goes to heck with 17, 18, 14, 16, 17... He has several favorite TV shows and learns more from each of them. He really like Diego and Backyardigans. He knows several Spanish words and cracks us up every time he uses them...the right way no less! I attribute his CRAZY intense imagination to the many books we read every day and "The Backyardigans". It is a cute little show that fosters so much imagination use in him. He tells us so many stories all of the time and really keeps us in stitches. He thinks everything is funny and doesn't hesitate to tell you when he thinks so with a great big fake laugh and a "That's so funny Mommy/Daddy!!!!" He likes to laugh with us about anything we might be laughing at and is such a character. We love him so much and enjoy learning from him even more. Hannah-girl is just growing and changing every minute. She began walking around 13 months old, right around Christmas-time, and hasn't slowed down since. She is starting to run and cracks us up because she looks just like Stacie did when she was her age, with her arms straight out behind her. She has a head full of brown hair and her sweet brown eyes are getting darker every day. Her hair is curly in the back and quite unruly. Getting her to allow me to put even a bit of it up is almost out of the question anymore. She doesn't have much patience for "cuteness" which makes me think she'll probably be quite the tomboy. We are absolutely fine with that, though. She is beginning to talk now, which we thought would never happen. She now has quite a few words, but I think her favorites are Bubba and Dadgy. (Yes, I spelled it the way she says it, and Bubba is much easier for her to say than Seth. What can I say, we live in the South! By the way, this nick-name for Seth is strictly for use by ou little family only!) She loves our animals very much and especially enjoys chasing Parker (our cat) around to "pet" him...if that's what it can be called. Hannah also loves anything to do with her brother or whatever he might be doing. She mimicks everything he does and even maybe a word or two. Both kids get along so well. They play together all day. They do have moments of dislike or disinterest in eachother and moments where they just plain don't like one another, but overall I really can't complain. They certainly make quite the pair. Henry and I are both doing very well. Henry has been working with the Police Athletic/Activities League since October. He is the Deputy in charge of the new Lacrosse league and is helping out quite a bit with Football. It keeps him very busy, but I can truly say I have never seen him more fulfilled. He has definitely found his calling and is going after it full force. We miss him at home, but once these program are up and running flawlessly, we'll see a whole lot more of him. His biggest goal is to have everything running with such smoothness that by they time Seth is old enough, he can join in the fun. Even with all of the time away he still finds time to tell Seth stories each night and put Hannah to bed, as well. His love for our children makes me love him more and more each day. I am doing well. The beginning of this pregnancy has been a bit trying at times. There have not been any complications, but I have suffered from a stomach virus 3 times now. I do not get sick with my pregnancies and I can honestly say that the stomach issues I have had with this pregnancy are not baby related. (I also know this now because we have managed to share it with my Mom and Sister - sorry guys!) So, while I feel bad to have passed it on, I felt vindicated a bit because I was afraid I'd have quite the struggle on my hands. Fortunately, we are treating the kids and getting them well and I am not going to work again until I am sure I am well. I think that is where I have been picking it up from. Speaking of work, I have been working on a very limited basis since right after Thanksgiving. I am enjoying being at home again and can't wait until I can quit for good. I do work every now and then, but try not to work too often. Now, with the new baby coming I am trying to keep it down to once or twice a week because I am finding that I am so tired after working that I have no energy left over for my kids...not fair! So, that is the long and short of it. There is so much to catch up on that I probably won't. We did take Seth to Disney for the first time in January. He had a blast and Hannah had fun staying with my parents...even though she was sick. I will attempt to add pictures to this post, but because of this comptuer and its issues I won't promise anything. I will do my best to update again soon. After all of my blog stalking, I am getting motivated to do a better job at keeping up with our blog. We'll see.

"Connor's Amaizing Corn Maze"

This post is really old but, since it was never published to the blog and since I am trying to get motivated about updating the blog again, I thought I'd finally publish it, sans pictures! Last Saturday Henry and I took the kids, my parents and sister to "Connor's A-maize-ing Corn Maze" in Hilliard, just northwest of Jacksonville. (Check out the link!) It is a very nice family farm set up in the fall with a pumpkin patch, hay ride, farm animals, etc. I was so excited to be spending some time outside in the nice "fall" weather with my family. Little did I know that the 20% chance of rain meant that 100% of Hilliard would see it! It didn't rain hard or for very long, but it was cold for a while...until the sun came up! We walked around for a bit until the rain stopped and then decided the first thing we should do was get Seth and Hannah on the Cow Train ride. I was excited to be able to take Hannah on this ride, until I saw what I'd have to (attempt to) sit in. It was very quickly decided that Aunt Stacie would take Hannah and Henry would take Seth. (Henry was very sore after this ride as the sides of the "cow" were digging painfully into his ribs. He had the strength to pull the sides apart a bit in order to fit in with Seth on his lap. Even Stacie had no easy time of getting into or out of the ride. Did I mention it was meant for children under the age of 12 and weighing no more than 100 pounds?!?!?) As you will see from the pictures, Hannah had lots of fun, Seth did not! I am not entirely sure why, but Seth is nervous about a lot of things these days. (Halloween should be LOADS of fun considering his fright when it comes to masks! We'll find out in a few days!) Anyhow, the day progressed and we explored the farm, fed the chickens, pigs, ducks and goats, and petted the bunny. We went on a fun (5 minute) hayride and fed a bunch of (huge) cows and ate some homemade icecream. After we were done with that we headed over to the pumpkin patch to take a few more pictures and pick out a pumpkin. Considering it was the end of the day and the kids were exhausted I think we got a couple of ok pictures, although I'm not sure about the devilish look on Hannah's face in many of them. All in all we had a wnderful time and got a really nice (overpriced - WalMart has pumpkins 2 for $6.00!!!!!) pumpkin for the big day. Then, today we went to the Sheriff's Office Annual Family Day picnic. It was the first time we have gone since we had the kids and it was really fun. There were "big jump things" (as Seth called them), a wild train ride, good food and our favorite part, pony rides! No, Henry and I did not have a chance to ride the ponies, but Seth did and LOVED it! We got a couple of pictures, but they really don't do any justice to the smile he had on his face the whole time. After all the that fun who would have thought it would get any better, certainly not us! Well, not us until Seth gave a huge reason to smile. He was winding down, getting ready for Henry to take him up to bed when he pushed Henry forward and put his arm behind Henry's back. It was the sweetest thing i have ever seen! In the past few days he has taken to sitting really close to me when I am getting ready to put him to bed and he'll look up at me and say very sweetly, "Awww Mommy! I love you so much!" I amlost cry every time. It never gets old.

No excuses!

As the title says, no excuses! We have been busy and things for me have been a bit topsy-turvy. The kids are growing like weeds and changing faster than "Quick Change"! I have gone back to work and have been working for about 7 weeks now. I miss my kids terribly and do all I have to do to get through each day. I am trying/hoping to find something to do at home so I can get back home to my babies soon! We'll see what happens! Henry is great. He hurt his shoulder a week and a half ago and is on light duty but he is great! He is working at the Police Athletic League and loving it. We had a nice summer and I didn't take nearly enough pictures of the kids so I'll share the best of the best. PS - As of this email Hannah is cruising along everything, almost standing on her own and trying to walk. She has two teeth and is trying to get one or two more...finally! She has the best personality and really enjoys driving her brother crazy. Seth is absorbing everything these days, so much so that we REALLY have to watch what we say, even when we think he can't hear us. He has come up with a few doozies lately! Of course, like the fantastic parents we are we TRY to hide our laughter while disciplining him and then bust out laughing two seconds later. Not the best parenting ever but if you could just see his sweet face! I'll promise not to promise to try to update on a regular basis. I'll do what I can is all I will say! A few of hannah's classic faces! (June 2008) Several of the kids together! (The really do love to play together!) Hannah's hair styled with "all natural products"...otherwise known as whatever she was eating for dinner that night. August 2008 A few of Seth... Watching TV with his pal Connor. Helping Daddy "Ga-poom" "Seth Smile!" Well, that's all for now! (If you ever want to see a picture bigger, just click on the picture.)

Playing Catch Up

Well, I wrote this quite a while ago, but thought I'd post it just because. We have just experienced our first real scary illness with Seth. While he only had a virus (confirmed twice at the doctor's office), it was really scary. Seth began running a fever and with 24 hours of the first visit to the doctor it had risen to 105 degrees. Yes, that says 105, it's not a typo. Of course, Henry and I were very nervous and upset and called upon the best nurse in the world, Pat, for advice. She talked me through what we had to do over the span of about two hours. By the last phone call with her Seth's fever had come down to 102.8. It took a dose of Motrin, a Popsicle, two apple juice boxes and 3 baths to get it down that much. Henry ended up taking him to the doctor on Sunday morning and he was still fine, with the exception of the fever, of course. Sunday afternoon the fever broke. He took a 5 1/2 hour nap and when he woke up, you could tell he was feeling a bit better. We really knew he was feeling better when we were sitting at the dinner table eating. Seth asked for a slice of cheese and since he hadn't really eaten much in almost 3 days we obliged. Well, our little boy began ripping the cheese into tiny pieces and said, "I count them." He then proceeded to count to eight...IN SPANISH! HE didn't miss a number and did it more than once. I laughed so hard I cried! He was so proud of himself and we are so proud of him. I know that TV isn't great for kids, but he sure gets more out of it than I would have imagined. On Tuesday, July 29, Hannah's first tooth FINALLY arrived! It is one of her bottom teeth and as of now has come about half way out of her gums. She looks so cute with just one tooth! We have found the baby seat for Seth's rocking horse. Hannah loves to sit on it and "bounce". Her version of bouncing consists of rocking her head back and forth in a very quick motion. I am trying to get a video of it because it is just too cute for words! Hannah is also trying to stand up on her own. She will be crawling around on the floor (which she also does the "right" way now!) and out of nowhere try to stand. Of course, it looks like a failed handstand, but she loves to try. She walks around holding onto anything she can now. I have a feeling she's be walking on her own before she turns one! As for me and Henry, we're doing well. Of course, I should mention that if it isn't one thing for me, it's another. This time it is my Thyroid! Seriously, that's how I feel these days. I don't know yet if I have hypo- or hyper- thyroidism, we just know that my "levels were out of range." Of course, this is not a big deal. It is easily taken care of either way, it is just frustrating. Hypothyroidism runs in my family, so no one was really surprised to hear I might have it now, except for me of course! Oh well, I'll deal with this just like I have everything else...it is what it is and cannot be changed. I'll take whatever is prescribed and move on with life as normal!

"I am, Mommy!"

A regular conversation in our house now goes a bit like this: "Seth, do you want to have breakfast?" "Um, I AM, Mommy!" "No, you aren't yet. What do you want to eat for breakfast?" "Um, I am!" "Seth, do you want yogurt?" "Um, I am, Mommy!" If you haven't figured it out, he is trying to say "I do!", he just doesn't! He also hasn't figured out how to use the word "me" yet. If the dog licks him it is "Lia lick you!" He cracks me up! Seth's vocabulary grows by leaps and bounds every day. I can always tell when he has been listening to us because he'll use words we don't typically use in a sentence to him. Some things he comes up with are so funny. One evening recently we were watching a TV show and there were babies on it. He saw a baby crying and looked at me and we had the following conversation: "Baby crying, Mommy." "Yes, the baby is crying, but he's ok." "Mommy get one." "Mommy get one what, Seth?" "Mommy get 'nother baby?!?" "You want Mommy to have another baby?" "Yeah, Mommy get 'nother baby!" "But, we already have baby Hannah." "Mommy get 'nother baby." "Ok, Seth! Whatever you say!" (with eye crossed and tongue sticking out as if choking!) Hannah is now our little mover! She is still not crawling on her hands and knees, but she is extremely quick on her belly still. She also is now pulling up on everything!!!! Seriously, if she can get a grip on it, she stands up using it for support. Not only is she standing, but she has begun taking a step or two to get where she wants to go. She loves all of Seth's toys and tries to get up on the ones you can ride on. I helped her sit on one yesterday and she stayed there for a while before falling over (I was right there)! Hannah still doesn't have any teeth and the drooling has subsided...thank goodness! She eats her weight in baby food everyday, and wants so badly to be a big girl that she now eats "puffs" and drinks, ok dribbles, out of a sippy cup. Otherwise, life is crazy as usual. I am in the process of tyring to go back to work. This has proven to be very difficult, as the job market in St. Augustine is very limited and with gas prices where they are, the drive to Jacksonville is out of the question, unless of course the salary is $100K! Henry is busy with work at the Sheriff's office and our HOA. Both jobs seem to keep him quite busy, but he does a great job at juggling both and still manages to spend time with us at the same time. Hopefully things will slow back down a bit after school begins in the fall. I'm still in the process of trying to go through all of the pictures I have taken in the last month and a half, so bear with me as I get the all uploaded!

Our Drama Queen!

Well, Hannah Grace continues to grow and change. She is an incredibly fast learner and keeps us on our toes! And, in keeping with tradition, she is moving right along in the development department! She has been crawling for quite some time now, well, army crawling. She is getting EXTREMELY fast now. One second she's in front of me and the next she's across the room! We have taken out some of Seth's old "baby" toys and bought a couple new ones for her and she is sooo not interested in them! She is more interested in Seth's cars and tools and stuff. It drives me nuts! While none of his toys are too small for her to be playing with, it still makes me nervous for her to play with them. So, on a little Seth side note, he now has "big boy toys" in his room to play with and "universal" toys downstairs. Back to Hannah, on Saturday night I noticed that Hannah was starting to get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth. I told Henry that it is time we drop the mattress in the crib, and being the good father he is, he agreed and said he would do it in the morning because it was so close to bedtime. Well, wouldn't you know that Sunday morning when I went into her room to get her, she was sitting up on her knees looking out over the side of the crib! It was really so cute and where was the camera???? Downstairs!!!!! So, Sunday evening Henry got his tools out and dropped the mattress 2 levels. As we were putting Hannah to bed he said to me, "You know she's going to stand up now that we have lowered the crib, right?" Darned if we didn't turn around and find her STANDING...staring out over the side of the crib at us with the biggest grin on her sweet little face! What a monkey! Now, she is crawling around and trying to pull up on everything! She loves to stand up, holding onto your hands, and bounce. She gets the biggest smile on her face and you can see just how proud she is of herself! And if you thought that was the last bit of news on Hannah G. you are wrong! Yesterday I left Hannah and Seth with my neighbor Amy for a couple hours. When I got there to pick the kids up she (Hannah) had just woken up. She was extremely happy to see me and sat with me while I hung out with Amy for a bit. To keep the story short and details shorter, I will just tell you that after a few minutes Hannah began to fuss because she was hungry. I sat her on the floor and walked away to fix the bottle. Well, I guess eh panicked and started to cry. She let out one of those loud screams and then it was immediately followed by the "Silent cry" - mouth wide open, no sound coming out and no air going in. This went on for what seemed like forever so Amy picked her up. We both tried to blow in Hannah's face to make her breath and she wouldn't. Then, her head just fell onto Amy's chest. At first we both thought she had fallen asleep really fast, but then I realized that Hannah had actually passed out! Yes, you read that right, she passed out! Of course Amy and I both got very scared because we noticed that for a very short moment Hannah had actually begun to turn blue and we almost called 911, but then Hannah woke up and was back to 100% within a couple of minutes. She was still hungry so I fed her and then I called her doctor. As always, Nurse Pat came to the rescue and said that what had happened was that Hannah had had a Breath Holding Spell. Yes, there really is such a thing, no I had never heard of it, and yes, there is every possibility it will happen again! The good thing is that there really is no risk of these spells harming her and Nurse Pat gave me some instructions as far as how to try to prevent them and how to deal with them if/when they happen. While I am glad I was there when it happened, I am even happier that Henry was not there. We all know Henry to be a very calm person, cool and collected even, but NOT when it comes to his babies! I think that's what makes him such a great father! So, in the last 24 hours we haves talked the heck out of what happened and I have explained to him what to do if this happens again. He is not comfortable with the thought of it happening again, neither am I for that matter, but it is something we may have to deal with. The Breath Holding Spells are reflexive and this is when they develop, at this age. From the things I have read they will peak by age two and should be gone by age five! Lucky us, right?!?! So, now we need to make sure not to give in to her when she has these spells, especially if it is in response to a "fit." Nurse Pat told me that some of the children who have this reflex reaction will actually learn how to use it and well, we don't want that! All in all, Hannah is great! My Mom is looking for the book by Dr. Dobson about raising a Strong Willed Child. She gave it away a while ago and now we both wish she hadn't, as it seems we will have a very strong willed little girl on our hands!

Seth's Big Day

A few conversations with the birthday boy: Mommy: "Seth, how old are you?" Seth: "I'll be two!" Mommy: "Seth, today is your birthday party, how old are?" Seth: (a little more emphatic) "I'll be TWO!" Mommy: "No, hold old are you?" ("Say two!") Seth: "Um, two! I'll be two!" Mommy: "Seth, what's your favorite color?" Seth: "Geen." Mommy: "Seth, what color is the car?" Seth: "Geen!" Mommy: "No, it's red." Seth: "Oh, red!" (repeat with all colors...except for yellow on occasion!) Mommy: "What does a (insert animal) say?" Seth: "(Animal) say (insert appropriate noise)!" Mommy: "What does Daddy say?" Seth: "Daddy say 'Hey buddy!'" Mommy: "What does Mommy say?" Seth: "Mommy say 'I luh loo!'" (with the drippiest, sweetest sound to it!) Mommy: "What does Hannah say?" Seth: "Hannah say 'WAH WAH WAH!'" Mommy: "What does Seth say?" Seth: "Seth say 'I luh loo!'" (again with the drippiest, sweetest sound!") (This promises to be a long post so I apologize in advance! I want to make sure I have certain things recorded!) Seth is now two years old and I cannot believe it! I knew the time would fly, but never this fast. I was talking with my Mom and Dad yesterday about how different it is for them watching me with my kids and telling me how much they missed watching me grow up and that made me wonder, how much have I already missed in just these two short years? So much has changed that I don't even know where to begin. I guess the first place is bedtime. Our bedtime routine (if we ever really had one) was always pretty set in stone. The only real routine thing about it was that Henry HAD to put Seth to bed. As Seth began to talk it turned into "Daddy rock." And Daddy rocked each and every night (as long as he wasn't working). Some nights Seth would ask for me and then pitch a fit for Daddy. I must admit that my feelings were always a bit hurt...that is until recent weeks. After moving Seth into his big boy bed (or "Seth's bed") we began to try to put him down without much rocking, if any at all. We also began saying bedtime prayers with him on a regular basis. Now, bedtime is split 50/50, and sometimes 60/40 in favor of me! A few nights I had to put Seth to bed without Henry and I tried singing to him again. (He had denied me our siging time for many months until now!) It worked. We sang a few songs and then I told him goodnight and he went off to sleep. Now when he wants me to put him to bed it is "Mommy lay." (In other words, Mommy lay with me.) So, we go upstairs and say prayers. Then Seth sweetly turns to me and says "Mommy, sing Sunshine." (You are my Sunshine) I sing "sunshine" and then I used to just sing a few other songs. Well, in the past couple of days I was curious to see what he would say if I stopped with "sunshine", if he knew to ask for the other songs. Sure enough, he looked at me and said "Jesus loves me." So I sang that and "I am Jesus little Lamb." I cherish bedtime now. Naptime, too, for that matter. He is very good for me and allows me to put him down without singing if I need, but he also knows I'll sing each song once and then it is time for sleep. We recently let our cat back inside (long story) after quite a long absence. I guess Seth forgot we had a cat because when he saw him he shouted "Kitty Cat!!!!" I told him, "Yes, remember, that's Parker." Seth then replied, "Parker!" A while later we were downstairs and his enthusiasm about Parker had not let up. He was so funny because all he wanted to do was lay on him. Then, Hannah became interested in Parker and Seth got very possessive. "No Hannah! My Parker!", he said. It was too cute! Of course, as with all children there is something new each day. Some days the new "things" are not so nice, but mostly they are so much fun! Hannah has started to make the same silly face Seth did when he was this age. Seth thinks it is so funny! Now, he walks around making the face as well! Of course, as with most kids, I have not been able to catch the faces on camera yet, but I am determined to and as soon as I do I'll share with you all! For now, do you remember this? Seth was just shy of 8 months old when this was taken. I found it! Here's Hannah's funny face! We have cherished every day with our little boy and cannot wait for each new day and each new thing he does or says. If I could have a tape recorder running 24 hours a day, for all of time, I would do it. There are too many precious moments during the day that I am sure I over look a few of them. I can truly tell you that Henry and I marvel at this incredible gift we have been given, the gift of raising the two most beautiful and wonderful children in the world!