A Morning With Daddy

Stephen's morning clinical class was postponed until this afternoon, which meant he could stay with Kyle while I went to a Young Women planning meeting. It was so nice for me to plan in peace, and I love when Kyle gets to have alone time with his dad. Those 2 boys had so much fun together this morning, evidenced by the pile of toys all over the floor and the amount of books taken off the shelf. I also thought it was so sweet that Kyle actually started crying when Daddy left for school and was trying to follow him out the door. (He usually only does that for me, so it shows how much he's starting to bond with his dad, too!)

Land of Enchantment

Check out Kyle's shirt: "New Mexico Penguins." He's celebrating "O Fair New Mexico," the land of his fathers today! (We smoke 'em peace pipe.)

A Rough Day (and Night)

It's 3:33 a.m., and I'm awake. I'm not up with a sick child or feeding a new baby. I'm not an insomniac...in fact, I LOVE to sleep!!! My lack of shut-eye is a result of an interesting Sunday evening....



Let me go back to the last 10 minutes of church. You may remember in my last post that I mentioned Kyle's stink-bomb-escape from nursery? Well, for some reason, it got to me and I was dry-heaving in the bathroom. Then, I suddenly got all hot and light-headed and was feeling the sensation of passing out. I didn't, but did have some friends escort Kyle and I out to the car, just in case. I got home, got some food in me, and tried to lie down on the couch and recover. I ended up taking about a 2-hour nap and was feeling great. (I'm not pregnant, by the way, for those of you who might be trying to diagnose...I was just fasting and it didn't agree with me, I guess.)

After my long nap, I started to make dinner. That's when I sliced off a cross-section (almost) of my thumb, nail and all.....and, for the second time in a day, I felt the urge to pass out. It wasn't a deep cut, but created enough surface area that I was still bleeding after about an hour of pressure. Granted, my hand strength probably isn't enough to apply the appropriate amount of pressure and I kept making the mistake of thinking it was done and unwrapping it to check, but still. Stephen bandaged me up really well, I took 2 pain pills, and sat back while my husband cleaned up the kitchen, gave Kyle a bath, read stories, and put him to bed.

You would think that would have been good enough for me to be able get some sleep, but here I am, still awake and in pain, after trying to fall asleep for over 3 hours. Maybe I slept too much earlier in the day. Maybe I'm just being a wuss. Maybe I need to stop drinking Diet Dr. Pepper before bedtime. One thing I know for sure.....it's okay to ask for help before getting frustrated. (This is what led to the whole accident in the first place.)

Four

Today was a pretty good day at church. Kyle was fairly well-behaved and went to nursery. He did pull his favorite escape stunt, (filling his diaper) but that was with only 15 minutes of church left. I'm getting to know a lot more people and am starting to feel at home here.


I was tagged by Julia to fill out one of the questionnaires, so here goes:

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Cashier (Fred Meyer, Mervyn's, Payless, Dillard's)
2. Telephone Surveyor (Western Wats, PPRI)
3. Teacher (6th grade science/social studies/language arts, 6th grade math, 5th grade math)
4. Domestic Engineer (Cooper & Cooper)

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. Back to the Future
3. When Harry Met Sally
3. The Shawshank Redemption
4. The Lion King, thanks to Kyle

Four places I have lived:
1. Lubbock, TX
2. American Fork, UT
3. College Station, TX
4. Miramar, FL

Four places I have been:
1. Chichen Itza (Mexico)
2. Niagara Falls (Canada)
3. Stingray Alley (Grand Cayman)
4. Statue of Liberty (Ellis Island)



Four Favorite drinks
1. Water
2. Dr. Pepper
3. Lemonade
4. cookies with milk

People who email me regularly:
1. Mom
2. Michele
3. Amber
4. Stephen

Four of your favorite foods:
1. good Mexican
2. almost any pasta
3. pizza
4. warm chocolate chip cookies.....with walnuts!

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. closer to family
2. on a cruise ship
3. The Galapagos
4. on a trip with friends, celebrating our 30th b-days

Four TV shows that I watch.
1. Clean House (and many other home/decorating shows)
2. Amazing Race
3. The Office
4. Top Chef


Four friends I think will respond: (Mmmmm....let me think....)


I tag.....

1. Shannan (You have plenty of free time to do this, right?)
2. Katie (I know you read my blog, so you'll see this.)
3. Michele (You need a good reason to create a new post!)
4. Jules (You're falling down on the blog list totem-pole!)

Hop on Pop Part II

Kyle loves to read. We didn't know this would be the case when we started buying these Dr. Seuss outfits, but they sure have been fitting to his personality. This marks the last outfit in the series, but hopefully his love of books will remain.




You can see the other Dr. Seuss outfits here, here, here, here, and here.

Rockin'

Kyle LOVES his Braves rocking chair! This was one of his Christmas gifts in 2007, but we didn't have enough room to take it back to Midland with us. When we moved to Miami, we made sure to fit it in the car. The rocking chair has been in the corner of Kyle's bedroom ever since we moved in, but he hasn't paid much attention to it.

After going to Houston over spring break and learning how to rock on Uncle Bando's old rocking horse, it seems that Kyle has developed a craving for his own rockin' ride. Thank goodness for the good 'ole rocking chair! I'll hear Kyle playing up in his room and find him laughing out loud and havin' a rockin' good time.

Reunited, and It Feels So Good

Between vacations, wisdom teeth being pulled out, spring break, and a funeral, it's been several weeks since all the moms and kids were at the park at the same time. How nice it was to be with friends and catch up. Even though today was pretty windy and even a little chilly, it was fun to get out. I truly look forward to Thursday mornings at the park.

Digging in the Dirt

Yesterday afternoon we decided to go on a walk down to the playground to let Kyle run around and use up some energy. He went down a few slides, climbed some stairs, ran around in the sand and grass, and then found something more fun than all of those things combined: digging in dirt! He found a huge pile of dirt to dig in and then kicked it up a notch: He ran over with handfuls of soil and tried to throw them at us. I saw that mischievous grin on his face in time, and showed him how to throw the dirt at the ground and not in our faces. He did that once and had to go back and get more to throw again and again.

He was having a grand old time, laughing and smiling like crazy, and running back a forth to the bench where we were sitting and his dirt pile. Then, I looked down at my feet where a small pile of dirt was collecting and noticed that something was stinging my big toe.......ANTS!!!!!!!!!!! They were everywhere!!! Kyle was digging in an ant hill!!!

I ran over to get him out of there and found ants all over his hands and feet. He had bites everywhere on his feet, hands, and arms. The crazy thing is that he never cried or seemed irritated or showed any signs of complaint. The whole time he was playing, you would have thought he was having the time of his life, not getting eaten up by ants. What a crazy kid!! I don't know how he did that.

I have 2 little bites on my toe, and it's still irritating me. Kyle has so many bites that I couldn't even count them all, and he still isn't acting like they bother him. I counted 15 on his feet, and at least 20 on his right hand, not counting more on his palm that he wouldn't let me see. There are about that many on his left hand, too. It's amazing that he put up more of a fit for me trying to look at all these bites than at the bites themselves. What a tough guy.

The Emperor's New Clothes

Most of you have heard of food storage or setting aside extra food/emergency essentials for a "rainy day." We haven't done a great job of building up food storage, (we don't even have a pantry!!!) but there is one kind of emergency storage we have set aside and that has come in handy......clothing storage! I know this isn't as common of a practice, so let me explain. Clothing Storage involves setting aside a supply of clothes for your child's next size by buying things that are on clearance and putting them away until said child grows into them. Kyle has always had a vast supply of clothing storage, and not just the basics. Thanks to friends and family, a few sales we've found, and a Grandma who LOVES shopping at Marshall's, Kyle has always been good-to-go for new clothes as soon as he outgrows his current size.

I changed all of Kyle's clothes out from 18 months to 24 months/2T yesterday and had a bit of a shock. I thought his closet had about half-and-half 2T and 3T, but as I went through his clothing storage, I discovered that he is in short supply of the next size! This is a first. Never before has he not had clothing "on deck" as he grows! There are only 3 shirts, a fleece vest, and a jacket in storage now....we need to get crackin' on building up the supply. Pretty much everything in the clothing storage was 24 month/2T, so even though it's still a little big on him, I decided it was time to start getting those clothes on him. He needs all the time he can get to wear everything in his closet. (Also, I was getting pretty sick of seeing him in the same clothes all the time on the blog.)

So, without further adieu, I present the first picture of Kyle in his larger-sized clothing.


(Not only is he growing up, but he's (apparently) learning gang signs from his father!)

Hanging Out With Dad

One of the great things about Spring Break was that Stephen got to spend so much time with Kyle. I think Kyle enjoyed having his dad around more than usual, too. They played together, threw plastic Easter eggs all around the living room, practiced "body slams" and "steamroller," and just hung out, watching t.v. I enjoyed hearing the two of them laughing...especially when Kyle was being tickled!



(p.s. For those who don't know about "body slams" or "steamroller," stay tuned for future posts!)

Heading Home

Spring Break went by too quickly! We had so much fun in Houston and hate to say good-bye so soon. Thanks for everything, everyone who was there. Kyle sure is going to miss all the attention he's been getting and we will miss all the laughs and late-night games. We hope we don't have to wait all the way until Christmas to do it again!


By the way, I'm writing this post on the airplane. Southwest is test driving a "new technology" that allows their planes to be Wi-Fi Hotspots. Cool, huh? I got to fit in with all those business people who look busy the whole time they're on a flight, making sure you know they have a computer. Only, I was doing real work, via the internet. I feel like I'm from the future or something.

Golf and Frisbee Golf

Golf has been the name of the game this week. Jordan convinced Stephen and Steve-o to go golfing on Tuesday morning. They had such a great time that they all got up again on Wednesday morning, thinking that they wanted to get in another round before Hubba got here because they didn't think he'd want to go. To their surprise, he was up for a game, so all the boys went golfing again on Friday afternoon. I think Stephen may have found a new hobby!





"Real" golf isn't Hubba's' favorite game but he and Rebecca sure are up for a round of frisbee golf. They brought all of their equipment and invited everyone to go play on Wednesday afternoon, right after they drove into town. Liz and I stayed home with Kyle, but I heard about all the fun times when they all got back.


Jordan won on his first try. The girls got to tee off from the "ladies box," which is much closer to the hole. (That's a plus!) There were tons of "white trash" people there, playing without shirts and using their dogs to carry their beers. Awesome.


Stephen even made a hole-in-one!


When the idea was brought up to go play frisbee golf again this morning, I knew I wanted to give it a try. (This isn't like me, wanting to participate in sports. I'm usually much more of an observer.) I thought this wouldn't be too hard, and it would just be for fun anyway. I even got "the talk" about not getting frustrated and just having a good time, so that's what I did!


Here's Chris, teeing off, since Stephen didn't get a picture of him playing "real" golf.

Jordan kicked all of our butts, as usual, but was so nice about carrying the water bag, making sure everyone had drinks, (see the background of the above photo) and getting frisbees out of "the drink."

I'll let the boys stick to real golf, but I can't wait to play with the frisbees again soon! (Maybe they have this in Miami?!)I didn't even do too badly on my first try; it must have been my cool blue "Banshee!"

Spring has Sprung

It's officially spring, and Kyle decided to get in the spirit and do a little spring cleaning.....in his birthday suit.......

......which reminds me.......

...we want to wish a Happy Birthday to Gramps. Sorry we can't be there with you to celebrate, but we hope you have a wonderful day, enjoy some good food, and relax and put your feet up!

Piggy Backs and Playing Around

Kyle LOVES piggy back rides! It's only been in the last few weeks that he finally figured out how to hold on. It's so much more fun when we can actually carry him around for more than just a few steps. We don't have to worry so much about him falling off now.


We've also been having so much fun just playing around here in Houston. Kyle has had lots of attention and is enjoying (mostly) every minute of it. Here he is, getting tossed in the air by Aunt Rebecca:

He's also keeping all of us entertained for hours and hours. (What a little ham.) One of his most popular routines, "The Hulk," was put in the vault for the past few months, but he's released it on a limited-time basis for a few V.I.P.s. (For those who don't know, "The Hulk" is Kyle's little trick of flexing and showing his muscles/strength. He will actually perform on cue when someone asks, "Where's the Hulk?" He sometimes flexes so hard and for so long that his face turns red!)

Baaaaaaa!!!!

No, this is not a post about sheep.

This post is all about one of the few "words" Kyle "says." I know it's not even a real word that makes sense, but more of a combination of a whisper/air-breath sound made while opening his mouth really wide. The only reason I know what he's trying to say is that he's constantly pointing and "saying" this "word" every time he sees a flag. Yes, in our house, flags say "Baaaaaaaa." (Or, maybe "Paaaaaaaa." I'm not sure which.)


Kyle seems to have an obsession with flags. He points them out on the street, next to stores, on a shirt or blanket, in books, on movies or television, as parts of toys or decorations, etc. He loves them! Who knows where this came from, but we do have our own little collection of flags from around the world. There's even several flags hanging in our garage, which Kyle has to tell me all about every time we go somewhere, as if I've forgotten about them since the last time we got in the car!


Grandma and Grandpa have a big flag outside on the front of their house, too. At least they did until Kyle decided he needed to come show all of us and came in the house with it! What a little patriot!

20 Months Old

It's hard to believe this little runt is getting so big! Sadly, with his older age came a bigger attitude today. I think the newness of being at Grandma and Grandpa's house has started to wear off and he started having tantrums and time-outs in Houston. (The stroller is not his time-out spot, but he sure did start to have an attitude about not getting to go on a walk the exact moment he desired one.)


It's a good thing he has so many aunts around to help take care of him and keep him entertained and laughing!


If the aunts are too busy, Kyle also has a new bestest pal to hang with: Max-o. He's learning how to play fetch by throwing the ball, telling Max-o to "drop it," and throwing it again. (I took about 10 different videos of the two of them playing and included the best 2 takes. The first one was taken right before everyone was about to leave to play frisbee golf, so both the child and the dog kept getting distracted. The first 10 seconds is really good and then Max-o never comes back. He was too busy trying to see if he got to go for a ride with everyone else. You do see that Kyle is trying really hard to say "drop it," just in a language that only he can understand! The second video is after everyone but Liz and I were gone, so Max-o gives more attention to playing the game.) Seeing them play together so well really makes me miss Atlas!