Big Girl Bed

It was a long time coming. Danijela has been in a crib until we moved to the Blue House. There had been so many changes (new brother, move, apartment life, move again) that we just waited to move her out of it. She has never once tried to climb out & has always seems perfectly content. We've been talking up the "big girl bed" move for sometime. Then I spent a good month searching for THE trundle bed. I found this one on-line at Charles P. Rogers. This picture does not do it justice. It really is very stylin' & seems timeless to me. The hope is this will be her only bed & then will stay with us when she leaves home. Below is a much better image of the bed that caught my eye.

Visitor

Sweet Cole has lived skin-to-skin with his mama since he was born. That girl carries him everywhere in a sling. Honestly, I have no idea how she physically does it. He typically has a pretty serious look on his face (when he's awake). However, lately he's started being much more alert more often & smiles easily. Incredibly easy. He also doesn't cry often. Today in church Melanie had him in the service. He smiled & cooed right through the whole thing. Our two kiddos would never have lasted. It was very sweet getting a chance to glance at him down the row. He's come to visit the Blue House often because his equally sweet mama is always wanting to help us out. Again, I have no idea where that girl gets the mental or physical strength. In the midst of newborns I could hardly see past the end of my own nose. Heck, it doesn't take a newborn for me to be short sighted. Love you, Mel.

Girl Power

I know where we were. We were in the blue house living area. I don't remember exactly what we were playing but she was writing on foreign currency. I've saved some over the last 20 years & I'm sure my sister gave her some with her cash register. People are probably horrified we allow her to do this. It's just paper. It's just stuff. Could be worth millions one day, but so is she (every day). Don't get me wrong. We teach our children to care for their "things" because they are a gift. But we try not to emphasize the "things" part & teach them to let go. In this case we really didn't care. She has no idea this is more than pretty paper.

Whatever. She couldn't be more precious.

Big Boy

We got in the house & the kiddos adjusted so well. We've done this thing with Luka for some time now. I'll say "big boy!" & Luka throws his arms high in the air. Here he is in (Melanie's) rockin' IKEA high chair doing his thing. Too cute.

Dirt

We moved in & were required to immediately put a "yard" down because the city was concerned about erosion control. They required the builder to install a hand rail on our tiny porch the day we were hoping & praying (thank you, everyone) to move in. Mark had to "throw" a rail up that I hope to take down or replace soon. Super ugly. Well, we called in the irrigation guys quickly thinking it only made sense to install a sprinkler system before figuring out how we were going to get sod down. The sod is down now too. It's my nature to do all the physical labor. It saves money & teaches me something. The glitch was two small children & not so great property grading. The rains had been so bad that there was a great deal to do.

The other (not blue) house in the first picture was our first & only home. Thank goodness our neighbor is awesome & has tolerated all the hassle of a home being built next door. Again, blessed beyond measure.

Grand Tour

These are images I took the day my parents left for Italy. The move had been delayed so I thought I'd get in to take some pictures. This is a mini-tour. It was & still is a mansion to us. We've gone from one bathroom to three. From two small bedrooms to three good sized. It's the the first time in our married life (almost 8 years) that we've had a washer & dryer in the house. I think both of us would have made the house smaller & more simple if we didn't consider resell value. The house is just under 2000 square feet which is relatively small for new construction in U.S. terms. To us it is really BIG. I'll be showing you more soon.

Adjusted

First Day

Don holding Cole

Sweet Jan

Hungry Luka

Some of our community group came over the first night to share pizza & fellowship. Somehow I managed to not take a single picture of Melanie. A huge thanks to her for getting the delicious pizza & Jan for leaving the wine behind! To this day we do not have any gas. As I posted before this means no hot water, no stove & no oven. We lived on the left over pizza for at least three days. That is so sad to admit. Now, we did have some other foods but the pizza saved the day. Oh, today I learned it will be a minimum of 20 working days at the least. I thought we were nearing the home stretch. Now I realize we are only half way. Darn.

Calm

This was the calm before the storm (of moving). How I wish I could sleep like this. Both the children have adjusted amazingly well. Luka went from being in our room in a pack n' play to his own room in a crib. I think he is sleeping better. Danijela went from a crib to a "big bed" in her own room. The temporary bed was a twin blowup mattress. Not a glitch. I also think she is sleeping better.

Italia

Days before we moved Poppy & Grammy drove from Austin. They were headed to Italy (not Italy, Texas) the next afternoon. Here are some snap shots of the apartment action that evening. I love my parents so incredibly much. It's this enormous gift to see them with our children, hear laughter, watch life lived in its purest form.

Please note the disgusting mold / mildew on the bathroom grout was permanent. I tried. Really I did. That is only thing I'm glad to not have to look at again.

Done

I'm back. And I'm so done. I'm done like burnt toast, people. Please pray for me. Better yet please pray for those that have to live with me.

I do realize I'm blessed beyond measure. I have a healthy husband & children. We don't just have a house. We have a cool blue house with everything a person could want (almost). I don't know where to start or end other than to tell you we have no gas (i.e. no hot water, no stove, no oven). I have been going around in circles with AT&T to get a phone line & DSL. For the last three days (straight) I've been trying to convince AT&T that I need help & it's not a "service outage in my area." I have very little hair & most of it has been yanked out by myself. It was actually very theraputic. My last rant to the poor help desk did something. I WAS CALLED BACK BY AT&T. I almost fainted. This is after HOURS & HOURS of time on the phone trying to convince someone I was not a raving lunatic. It didn't work until now. This cool guy from St. Louis called & immediately identifed the AT&T SETUP ERROR.

I'm out of here. I'll be posting pictures & updates once I complete that anger management class. Seriously pray for me. This should not have caused such emotional distress. In hindsight it seems even more ridiculous. In the whole scheme of things this is nothing. I'm a complete ingrate.

Leaf-ing

We must be out of the apartment by Thursday. The lease is kaput. That means we have to be out no matter what. I'm actually a little sad about leaving ... but that is besides the point right now. Ideally we'll move into the blue house. We must have a CO (Certificate of Occupancy) before we can move a single box. The inspection failed on Friday because the stair railing is not complete & they require some pest control item notarized. We're down to the wire (again). Please pray for us.

Above is a picture of the concrete floor in the master bedroom. I'll have to count the number of leaf impressions but I'm guessing it's close to 100. We think they're very cool.

Timber

The Duel

This afternoon we played dueling cameras while Luka was konked out (that took some work). We took turns taking pictures of each other. I got some hilarious ones of her most of which are out of focus. I also got some sweet shots.

Pony

Sweet Child

Dear Angela,

Just a note to tell you that I think Danijela is quite a sweet little girl. Aside from being just as cute as all get out, she is also very sweet and easy and fun to play with. She takes suggestions very well and you can reason with her -- well, at least I can, but then I'm not her mother. I think she has such an overall sweet nature and I enjoy interacting with her. She's also very entertaining. I wish you could be up here as a fly on the wall when she and I are talking and playing. You would be quite amused. Today I asked her if she ever gives her mommy a kiss on the cheek and I pointed to the place on my cheek where one would plant a kiss. She said yes, she does. Then I said, "Could you put a kiss on my cheek right here too?" No hesitation, I got a big smackaroo. How fun!

Also, I'm impressed at how plain she talks. Maybe I don't know just how plain a 3 yr. old should talk, but seems to me more than a few of the 3 yr. olds I've been around still don't say their words real plain. But Danijela talks very well! I really enjoy talking to her because I like to teach kids and see them learn. (Not that I have any special area that I want to teach her, I'm just talking about how I explain things to her in answer to her questions and she seems to understand, at least to some degree.) I've never really been able to relate to little boys very well. In my opinion they just flat out aren't as easy to bond with as little girls, and they always have to be up and doing -- always active and not content to be still and just enjoy your company. But then that's how God has made them and it's in preparation for their role when they're mature men. I guess what I've noticed in little boys and even with grown men, they simply aren't as relational as their female counterparts.

Well, enough philosophizing.

Abby

Garden

Mamaw's 90th birthday party included homemade centerpieces. The theme was gardens because Mamaw has a heart for them & a beautiful yard full of flowers. The mayor (I think) acknowledged her efforts in the not too distant past. It is a joy of hers. Each family made their own unique centerpiece to contribute. Below are only a few of the creative designs. I have to say I'm partial to Gail's melon garden. Dang. I watched her make it. I would NEVER have thought to do this. It was really cool.

Toddle(r)

What's up, little man? People comment on your little size. Seriously, they have no idea what a big man you are. They have no idea what serious will is loaded in that onesie. You want what you want when you want it. Period. This past weekend in Amarillo you fooled everyone with that smile. Tata & I lived a different reality at night when you kept us up every hour. Then you naturally decided to put on the show & walk full-time. You didn't even demand a raise although you are quite demanding otherwise. You are amazing. Love you!

Fifteen

This special trip to Amarillo was made to celebrate my sweet Mamaw's 90th birthday. From beginning to end the days were filled with surprises. One of the first was the arrival of my brother, Mike, from Oregon. These pictures were taken during the first few minutes after he walked into her home. It had been 15 years.

John Michael is the 1st grandchild in a string of 13 spanning from 44 to 17 years old. The great grandbabies keep coming. Let me count ... 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 + 1 + 1 = 14 (plus two buns).