All Moved In

Well we're all moved into our new house. Brandon went back to the old house last night and got the last of our stuff so it's official, we're in our new house for good now! All we have left to do is find somewhere to put a china cabinet and buy a refrigerator and a dishwasher...yuck. But it's such a cute little house and it's been so much fun so far. Timothy loves being able to go wherever and not have gates blocking him off and stairs to worry about him falling down.

We still don't have cable, but it's getting there, in the mean time we've been watching season 8 of Friends and I think tonight I might start season 2 of Lost. Anyway, since we don't have cable I can't post the pictures of Timothy's hair cut, but trust me when I say it turned out well and he did great. Not too much crying, he just sat there in his little boat and played with cars and trucks and Elmo while she clipped away. He looks so grown up now though. I guess that's what I should expect for a 20 month old.

He has really started saying, "No!" to everything now, even when he really wants something, so it's hard to tell when he means it and when he doesn't. He's also real big into climbing and jumping...he even actually jumped with both feet the other night. Usually he just skips around the house. He's also learned the song "Ring Around the Roses" so we have to sing that every night but all he knows is to say, "ashes, ashes" (which comes out "aches, aches") and then he yells "down!".

Not much else new going on around here, we leave for TX on Friday and won't be back till the 29th so I hope everyone has a great Christmas and we'll see you in the New Year!

Future CEO

Well I couldn't handle having the camera packed so I had to get it out and take pictures. Actually, I had to get it out because I was selling some stuff and the lady wanted pictures but I figured I would keep it out just in case so here we are.

Timothy has an obsession with our computer. I'm sure most kids love anything to bang on and play with, especially when they see mommy and daddy on there having fun so the other day we were banished to my bedroom while Brandon loaded up the truck and Timothy climbed up onto the computer chair and he just looked so cute that I had to snap some pictures. He banged on the keyboard for about half an hour and I didn't think he had done any damage until I tried to get on here later that night to watch some shows I had recorded and noticed that the Media Center icon on the desktop was now called "io" and the iTunes icon is now "kk ....." so I guess I have some clean up work to do there!

He has also started calling himself, "Timmy". I think that's what they call him at daycare and the other day he was playing and I said, "Timothy crash!" and he responded, "Timmy crash!" and then when he was playing on the computer he saw his picture on our desktop background and said, "There's Timmy!". It's cute, I figured at some point it would get shortened to Timmy, I still call him Timothy though, I can't help it.

I know in these pictures his hair is looking a little shaggy so tonight we're going for the first official hair cut. I'm really nervous, I just don't want them to make him look too much like a big boy, like shaved head and all so I'm sure they won't like me very much by the time it's over, but I just want it trimmed and cleaned up, not completely removed! It took so long for all that beautiful hair to grow, I don't want it all taken off!

We've pretty much got the house all packed up, just a few more boxes in the kitchen and our closet to go and then we're done and ready to move. Brandon's already taken like four loads over there so all that should be left for Saturday is the furniture and stuff like that. Anyway, I should run, I need to grab a shower before he wakes up and I need to do some stuff for work.

Two Weeks til Christmas

Ahh! I feel like there is so much more to get done before Christmas. And I know it's been forever since I've been on here, but there's a good reason for that...we're moving! Yes, I know, we're moving...again. We really hadn't planned on it, but it was a deal we could refuse. Our good friends the Brazile's were trying to sell their house so that they could move into a new house and they weren't getting many people interested so we asked them if they would consider doing a lease to own for us and they said yes! So, we'll lease the house for 18 months and then if Brandon's office here offers him a job here we'll buy the house and not have to pack up and move again, and if not then we're only renting and don't have to worry about selling it...so it really was a good deal. But, we're moving next Saturday, one week from today...so I've been busy packing up the house and Brandon just left to go ahead and take a few loads of boxes over to store in their garage.

So I don't have any new pictures because the camera is packed but I promise I'll get pictures of the new house once we get in and get reasonably unpacked. I should probably go pack some more though. I've gotten pretty much everything done except for the kitchen so not too bad. I will miss this house, it's really pretty and new and I like the playground behind the house...but it takes at least an hour to get anywhere, and I really don't have too many good memories of this house...this is the house that we all got so sick in last Spring so I don't think I'll miss that too much. It is also the house that Timothy learned to walk in and said his first real words in though, so I will remember it for that.

Anyway, just thought I would let everyone know that we hadn't fallen off the face of the earth, we've just had a crazy few weeks since Thanksgiving. And to top it all off, we leave on the 21st for Christmas, so there's just really not much time left this month! So, I hope everyone enjoys the last 16 or so days til Christmas and I'll try to get back on here once our cable and computer and everything gets set up!

Countdown to Christmas

Ok, only 29 days til Christmas. I still have to buy like 7 more presents as well as finish up buying presents for Timothy. Our tree is up and the his stocking is hanging up and all the decorations are out though. I love Christmas. I can't wait. Timothy is really getting into it too this year, he can spot Santa from a mile away. We took him and Tyler to a drive through Christmas lights show thing at a city park the other night and he was so funny to watch. He just sat there with his eyes wide for the whole trip through there and every now and then he would yell out "Santa!" or "Snowman!". It was pretty fun.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We all went to my parents house and had a great meal and a great day. It was a lot of fun. The cooking part actually went well too, we didn't forget anything, burn anything (or anyone) and the smoke alarm didn't go off so all in all, it was a success. I brought my camera with me, but I didn't really get any pictures. Here's one of Grammy and Grumpy and Tyler though.

Timothy has become quite the little mischief maker lately. I've really had to watch him around the Christmas tree, he's gotten a lot of spankings lately for unplugging it or hitting it with his baseball bat. We had another parent teacher conference at day care last week since he had been in his new classroom for a month now and his new teacher told us that he's a little aggressive. So, we're working on not hitting or kicking or tackling, but it's hard. He loves to play tackle with Brandon but it's hard to teach him the difference between tackling daddy and tackling another little kid. He's also become a huge spider man fan lately. He even tries to sing the song. I put him down for his nap yesterday and he wasn't very sleepy so he played for a little bit and at one point I heard him in there singing, "Biderman, biderman, biderman, biderman". It was pretty funny.

Anyway, that's all we've been up to lately. This coming weekend is Tyler's 9th birthday so I think we're going ice skating and then out for a family dinner. It should be a fun night, I can't believe he's 9 already...time flies...anyway, hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

A Little Fun

Since the last couple of posts were pretty much depressing and morbid and our lives are all much better now, I thought I would add some holiday cheer with new pictures!

Check out the cool kid in the pull-ups!

And smiling pretty on the potty

Trying out the booster seat (have you noticed a theme with the cheesy smile face?)

Trying to put own his own clothes

Yes, we put up our Christmas tree already...I couldn't wait any longer!

This toy blows out air and he figured out how to point it at his face...he thought it was pretty cool

Brandon thinks Timothy looks like the statue of the guy holding the world on his shoulders...

Watching TV with daddy

And then doing a little daddy surfing

That's all for now, Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Update

Well it looks as though our new little one is on its way to heaven. I got my test results back from Saturday and my hormone levels had dropped pretty low and I'm still bleeding and cramping so I'm thinking this one is over. So, I've decided that it was a boy and his name is Henry (since Brandon refuses to let me name any of our sons Henry - this is as good as it gets) and our little Henry is in heaven now and I'll see him someday so it's ok. I still have to go do another blood test on Friday, but I don't really see the point. I'm a little mad at my doctor, but I'll probably just find another one and move on.

It's been harder than I thought. We were only about 6 or 7 weeks along, but I didn't realize how attached I had become to the little guy! For the most part I've been ok, but I've had a couple of moments of breaking down and crying for a little while. I've still been going to work, but I think I'm going to have a little talk with my boss about reducing my work load during month end. Did you know that job-related stress increases your risk of miscarriage by three times? I guess since things were so easy with Timothy when I got pregnant I just thought they would be easy this time too, but oh well. So we'll wait until all this stupid bleeding is done and I feel better and then start trying again.

So in other news...Timothy is still really interested in the potty. I did buy him some pull-ups and he seems to like them (except for the fact that he can take them off himself, I don't like that very much!). He doesn't go in the potty 100% of the time, probably only 30%, but hey, it's a start!

He has become quite the challenge when it comes to discipline though. I took him out a few weeks ago in church to spank him and decided to just spank on the diaper and it totally didn't even phase him and when we walked out of the bathroom he announced, "all done!" so we've moved to spanking on the side on his leg...it's been much more efficient. He also still occasionally throws his food at the table and I was popping him on the hand for it and last night he threw something and Brandon and I both looked at him and he started hitting his own hand, I had to get up and walk away, I was trying so hard not to laugh! It's been nice to have some humour and sweet hugs and kisses this week.

No pictures tonight, I did take some of him today in his pull-ups and on his potty, but the cameras downstairs and I'm too tired to get it tonight. I'll try to get them up later. We're putting up our Christmas tree on Saturday though so I'll get pictures of that too. Happy early Thanksgiving!

Day by Day

Well it's been a busy week here as usual. It was month end closing for me and it was horrible. I've been covering for a girl that's covering for another girl's maternity leave and we had a lot of changes this month and it was just bad. I ended up with only five hours of overtime, but that was only because I came in Friday at 11 instead of 6:30am.

We have had an interesting week here, other than closing stress. It started off fine, still a little nauseous and tired, but other than that normal and then Thursday morning I noticed that I had started bleeding, which is never good when you're pregnant although I have been finding that's it happens more often than I thought. After I noticed the bleeding I noticed that I was cramping and immediately thought miscarriage. I couldn't even think about work after that. I called the doctor and at first she told me to take it easy and go home from work if I could (yeah right, I can just imagine what they would have said if that had happened!) but then she called me back and said she wanted me to come in for a blood test.

So I went in and did the test and called back Friday morning and they said they wanted me to do another blood test on Saturday. Needless to say, I was just a little worried! So I went in today and did another blood test so I guess I'll find out Monday if everything's ok. Christi suggested I go buy another pregnancy test so I did and it was still positive so that made me feel better. I'm thinking now that it's just bleeding. I'm still worried, but I have been praying so much about this and I just have a good feeling that everything's ok. I guess we'll see what God has planned for this little one. Thank you all for your prayers though, I have felt really calm about it yesterday and today and I wasn't very crampy today.

So that put a little damper on the weekend, but we still were busy as much as I could handle. We stayed home last night and relaxed and today we spent most of the day at the mall. I had an appointment to get my hair cut and then we went and got our family Christmas pictures made. They turned out really cute, I was really happy with them. Timothy was a total cheese in front of the camera. His "cheese" comes out as "chee-ya". It's really cute. The worst part about this whole bleeding thing though is that I'm not supposed to lift anything and she said that included Timothy so Brandon has had to handle all of that lately. It's been really hard not being able to put him to bed or anything, but hopefully it won't scar him for life.

Brandon's parents and aunt were here to visit last weekend. We had a lot of fun, we went into Seattle on Saturday and it was a nice sunny day so we did Pike Place and the Space Needle. Ever since they left Timothy has been asking, "Where'd that Papa go"? Tonight he answered himself and said, "Papa home airplane". He's so smart it's scary sometimes.

Our biggest news of the week just happened a few minutes ago. I was getting him ready for his bath and he started saying, "potty" so I thought, ok, we'll take off the diaper and see what happens so I put him on the toilet and he actually went in the potty!! I had started to notice that he was saying, "potty" a lot more lately, and today he started telling us when he would poop (sorry, that's gross) but I never dreamed he would actually know that he was supposed to do that kind of thing in a toilet! So I think we're going to wait and see if it catches on and he keeps doing it or if it's just something he's interested in and then forgets in a few days. I know in his new class at daycare it goes up to three years old so they have a lot of kids in there that are potty training so maybe he'll catch on faster seeing all the other kids doing it, but I just thought it was pretty cool that he actually went potty for us.

Anyway, I'm sure that was thrilling news. Hopefully this next week we can relax and gear up for Thanksgiving. Happy early birthday to Aunt Larena! We'll see you next month!

Happy Halloween!

Ok, so I really have not been feeling well all week this week. Besides the cold which won't go away, I'm also getting a touch of morning sickness...I haven't actually thrown up, but it's just that constant nauseous feeling, so I think all I'm going to do tonight are post the pictures from our Halloween and then I'm off to bed!

This one isn't technically from Halloween, but it's just so cute, I had to share it.

Tyler and Timothy ready to get some candy!!

Trying to climb the cabinets to get to the candy, looks familiar, huh mom?

Our sweet little lion (wearing Mardi Gras beads, holding a baseball, and pointing a sword at me...)

News!

Timothy had his 18 month check up on Friday and everything is looking good! He weighed 26 pounds, 11 ounces and was 34 1/2 inches long so that put him in the 95th percentile for height and around the 50th for weight. The doctor said Timothy seemed to be right on track developmentally and everything was fine. He got all his normal shots and we went ahead and did a flu shot too.

The big part of the day, at least for me, was actually that morning when I woke up. I had been feeling really tired all day Thursday and figured I was just getting sick (which I am, I've totally lost my voice and I'm coughing every five minutes) but I went ahead and took a pregnancy test and it was positive!!! So, in about nine months - around the 4th of July - we're going add another little one to our family. Thankfully I found out in time to call Brandon before he got on the airplane to come home on Friday, he was pretty excited. Other than having a bad cold, I've been feeling fine, just really tired.

So our weekend was pretty exciting. We had a lot more going on, the Fall Festival at church and Ethan's birthday party, but I was a little distracted! I took a lot of pictures, but I'll have to post them later, I'm exhausted for now. Pray for us and our little one as it grows, we've got a long way to go, but I know it will go by quickly!

A Blessed Weekend

Few families get the chance to do what our family did last weekend. We all packed up and drove (not in a mini van by the way) five hours over the mountains to Walla Walla, WA. Why did we subject ourselves to being cramped in a "crossover" (not a minivan), holding on for dear life as my dad tried to drive (I think it's time for another eye exam!), and surviving the stench of an eight year old little boy? We endured all of this for the chance to meet the family of the my sister's organ donor.

It all started a couple of months ago I guess, they sent Heather an invitation to come meet them and the rest of the organ receipients and we decided we all wanted to go. We got there Friday and we all had dinner together and then we went to their youngest son's Homecoming football game and finished up the weekend with brunch at their house on Saturday. It was an amazing trip. I've never met a nicer family. It felt like we had all known each other our whole lives and it was just a bunch of old friends getting together.

Their son's name was Tyler and he died of a brain anurism when he was 25. That was almost two and a half years ago. Heather received his pancreas and one of his kidneys. He came from a great and loving family. His parents were so nice. They kept thanking us the whole time and it seemed so strange that these people who lost their son (and he was their second son to die) would be thanking us for coming to visit them when it was their son who gave my sister and five other people another chance to live. It's so hard to put down in words how emotional and meaningful it was so meet them and to know that their Ty was a good person, a good son, a good brother and a good father.

It was an incredibly emotional weekend and I've sat down a few times trying to make it sound worthy of what it really was, but everything I wrote just didn't sound right. I decided this time it didn't matter. Our family is so grateful to Ty and his gift and that's really all that matters.

Some of the highlights from the weekend were watching our Tyler and Timothy play with their Ty's son Joe, watching our Tyler wear their Ty's old football jersey and help the ball boys at the football game, cramming Heather, Tyler, me, Brittany, and Timothy all in one hotel room, listening to all the organ receipients tell their stories at brunch that morning, and hanging out in the RV during the footbal game (they borrowed it from their neighbors and parked it in the end zone so that if it started raining - which it did - people could go sit in there so that they wouldn't get sick). It was a wonderful reminder of how short life can be and to make sure that the legacy you leave behind is one your family and children can be proud of. And, it was an excellent reminder to become an organ donor. We all know that we're not taking anything we have with us when we die, so why not save a life or two (or six!) if you can.

There have been some funny moments over the past week too. Brandon left last Monday for a class in Alabama for two weeks - he comes home tomorrow, yeah!! So, it's just been me and the little guy on our own. And, of course, Timothy got a bad cold which I've now inherited so he's been a little fussy and not sleeping well, but it's all over now, so it's ok!

We did have a milestone event last Saturday night, Timothy got his first hair cut! We had been to a friend's house Thursday night and the men there kept calling him "Mullet Boy" and trying to get him to say "mullet" so I decided I would take care of that and I cut his hair. It's not perfect and it's not really short, but it refutes the mullet argument so that's all that matters! He officially turned 18 months old last Friday, the 19th and he's just such a big boy now! I'll have more to update on him after tomorrow, we're going in for his 18 month check up! Enjoy the pictures and if you have a chance, say a little prayer for the Baffney family in Walla Walla, thanking God for their son Tyler.

Pumpkin Patch

Today was a busy busy day. We started the morning early, someone decided to wake up at 7:30 which is early for him on a Saturday. We went to Tyler's soccer game at 11 and they won and Tyler scored!! It was weird because when we left our house it was 65 and sunny and when we got to Tacoma for the game it was 50 and foggy. Oh well. It warmed up and it was a beautiful day! We came home after the game and I put Timothy down for a nap and Brandon went outside to mow and after about 20 minutes I went up to check on Timothy and he was standing in his crib with the blinds pulled up watching Brandon mow so we decided to head down to the pumpkin patch early since he wasn't going to nap. He did end up falling asleep in the car and slept for about an hour so that was nice.

We got to the pumpkin patch and decided to go ahead and find out pumpkins and get them in the car and then take our time walking around and checking out all the fun stuff. We found two huge pumpkins and then I got some of the little white and orange tiger baby pumpkins, they're really cute. So once that was done we walked all over the place and checked out all the attractions. Timothy wasn't too sure about this one thing they had, it was a corn-shooter, they would put an ear of corn down in a tube thingie and then shoot it up in the air to see who could shoot it the farthest and it was loud and every time someone would do it he would scream. It got to be funny once he got used to it, but he was really scared of it in the beginning. We met the Herkens and their friends there and the boys had fun running around and playing with all the stuff there.

We left from the pumpkin patch to go to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate Ethan's 2nd birthday. It was packed, but we managed to fund two tables in the toddler area so that was nice so the kiddos hung out and ate pizza and played and we got to sit and talk and relax a bit. Candice made an Elmo cake for Ethan so we all got some yummy cake!

So needless to say, we're all tired. Timothy crashed when we got home and I'm on my way to bed now. Some new things that he's picked up before I go - he repeats pretty much anything you say to him now and his favorite phrase is, "Where'd it go?", he says that about everything, it's so cute. He also loves to dance now, like with hand motions and things, he loves the "Wheels on the Bus" song and he can sing "Row Row Row Your Boat" pretty well too. He also loves m&m's. He's cutting like all of his bottom teeth right now, we saw two of them the other day coming in, and then today he was crying pretty big and I saw at least one molar coming in down there too. Poor guy, he's only had two bottom teeth for so long, this should be a big adjustment! He's also become very cuddly lately. He likes to play with his toys and run around, but he also will just come and sit next to me on the couch and bring a book or a magazine and we just sit and read. I love those moments.

Anyway, I should get to bed, here's some of my favorite pictures from today. I didn't think I had taken that many, but when I downloaded them it said there were 83! Enjoy!

This year's pumpkin patch picture

Last year's pumpkin patch picture

The pumpkins are that way daddy!

This year's picture with mommy

Last year's picture with mommy

Walking in the pumpkins

I love this face - the "Look at me, I'm running away from you!" face

Such a sweetie!

Timothy and Ethan checking out the bunnies

Big boys

Playing at Chuck E Cheese

Birthday cake time! Happy Birthday Ethan!

Yummy Elmo cake!

Fair Time and Cheerios

Every year here they have a HUGE fair called the Puyallup Fair and since Brandon and Timothy had never been, we decided a couple of weeks ago that we would go. Tyler came with us and even though we only ended up staying a couple of hours, we had fun. Timothy was too young to ride the rides, so me and him watched Tyler and Brandon. We did go to the petting zoo, but Timothy was a little scared of the animals and we finished off the night with an elephant ear...yummy!! Here's some pictures from the fair, I didn't realize until we got there that Timothy and Tyler matched.

Since then, our lives have been a little crazy. Timothy came down with strep throat and scarlet fever last week so he was pretty out of it for a few days. By this past weekend he was doing much better. We went to see Tyler's soccer game on Saturday (and they won!) and Sunday we stayed after church for the Youth and Family ministry BBQ. It was pretty fun. This week has been ok, Timothy threw up at day care Monday but then he didn't do it again so I didn't think it was a stomach bug, but then he's had about four super runny diapers since then, but none all day today, so I don't know if it's just the antibiotics or what. We also ran out of his antibiotic really quickly so then I'm wondering if they were giving him too much at day care and that's what made him sick...anyway, sorry, I'm thinking (aka, typing) out loud. He was a little fussy this morning and we don't really have much food in our house so all he wanted to eat for lunch was fruity Cheerios. I was so tired that I just put the tub of Cheerios out on the floor and let him have at it...and well, you can see what happened.

He had fun and it bought me half an hour to clean the kitchen so it was worth it. We cleaned them all up and then he went down for a nap so overall, it was a good morning :) Anyway, next month is going to be crazy as well, Brandon and I both are travelling for work and then at the end of the month his parents and his aunt are coming to visit!! Lots to do and lots to plan, as always, but for now, enjoy the pictures!