Wilson Stuff

Luke's first hair cut

2010-10-21T22:17:00.005-05:00

About two weeks ago, I took Luke to get his first hair cut. Much to my disappointment, his hair was getting in his eyes and becoming an issue. He was very cooperative although a little unsure as she wet, combed, and cut his hair with a jack hammer as back ground noise. Unfortunately, there's work being done on the store space beside the hair cut place. But Luke just looked quizzically and went back to watching TV. Without further ado here are the befores and afters.

And this one is from last weekend and his hair is dry so you can see what it looks like better.

Not sure why that post took me so long to do, but thankfully it's finally out there! Whew!

Oh the places you'll go...

2010-10-11T20:56:00.008-05:00

Luke, as you can see, is on the MOVE lately.

I'll try to catch you up on the past month without overwhelming you with pictures, but it's gonna be hard 'cause there's just so many!

Here we go back to Labor Day weekend and Baby Brother's first birthday. We went to Galveston for the weekend and stayed at the Moody Gardens Hotel. But before we arrived at MG, we pulled the kids out of school early on Friday and headed to NASA Space Center which had a huge Star Wars exhibits! WAY up Mr. Jack's alley.

This was a musical instrument. Like a water flute or something. Luke and I walked away soaked because he loved it so much!

There was a ball "float" over an air vent so Samantha and Jack tried to keep the ball from floating by covering it up!

We went to our hotel after NASA and had supper and swam. Got up Saturday morning and met my parents at the Moody Gardens Aquarium.

Luke had a great time...as you can see

as did Samantha...

and Jack...

(they were being sharks, I was told)

Saturday evening we also took them to the Gulf for their first dip in "ocean". It was sooo sooo fun seeing them fighting the waves with their daddy. And I will confess that I was petrified the whole time because they didn't have life jackets on, but Michael put up with my fussing until I was satisfied that they were all safe.

You also won't be surprised to find out that we swam in the pool after we swam in the "ocean".

Sunday morning we got up and hit the "Palm Beach" that was like a way toned down beach/water park. I say "like" because it resembled both of these things even though it was really neither. Luckily the kids didn't care what it was, it was wet and fun and they loved it.

So that's my first installment of catching up. Hopefully tomorrow I can get you through the birthday party! Crossing my fingers! :)

Walking the line

2010-09-28T10:26:00.002-05:00

September has been a big month for sweet baby Luke. He turned 1, he now has three teeth and he's learning to walk. Here's some video from this morning:

I know that I owe you birthday pics and pics from our Galveston Vacay over Labor Day weekend. I promise: this week!

Dearest Children,

2010-09-02T20:43:00.003-05:00

Dearest Lukie,

In three days, you'll be an entire year old. I can NOT believe it, and yet it seems like you've always been a part of my heart and our family. You bring such joy to each one of us, each of us getting something different from your wonderful little self.

To Jack, you are brother. There is something different, special and hilarious in the bond that they two of you already share. You have looked past your daddy and me and have given Jack the honor of your first word. You call to him at different times through out the day, but there's no way to miss what you're saying when we go to school to pick up the big kids. "Ja?" "Ja." "Ja?" "Ja?" over and over until we find him. Then you flail about in a motion that you used to only reserve for me...we call it "swimming". You already know that Jack is a safe place to play. You guys sit on the road rug and drive your cars around. He lays on the ground and you beat feet over to crawl all over him and drum on his chest a time or two. That you love your brother there is no doubt. And he loves you, little one. He beams with pride when you reach for him. He squeals with delight when you pull his hair. He talks with genuine tenderness and love as he greets you in the morning. You are his brother!

To Samantha, you are baby. And you always will have two mother hens pecking over you. Sorry about that. Actually, no I'm not sorry about that. Samantha is brilliant in her mind and her spirit. And her love overflows for you, even though she sometimes struggles to let you grow up. She is compassionate and tender and will make a SUPERB mother one day, and you're giving her lots of practice early on. Thank you, Son, for being patient with her and helping her fulfill part of who she is. I pray that one day you will see her for the intelligent, caring, protective sister that she wants to be and that you'll forgive her if she struggles with being a little overbearing.

To Daddy, you are the "I'm not going to miss one single thing" baby. Which is very ironic since he's been gone WAY more with work since you've been born. But this final go-round, your daddy is different. He's into the baby-ness of you. He's into your version of playing together. He's into teaching you his version of playing together. He's into showing you the world, and showing the world his last son. And this has NOTHING to do with you guys sharing hair color. It's because HE'S different. He was wonderful with your brother and sister, but he's even more wonderful now. God has blessed you buddy with an awesome dad!

To me, Little Lovie, you are my side kick, my constant companion. You don't have to go to school (yet, thank goodness) and you don't have to go to work. So, it's you and me all day. And MAN, do I love it. There are times where you are content to be toted around on my hip. Times when you want my attention so you run to the stairs and stick out your left leg (not sure what you're doing with that leg thing, but it's consistent and funny!). Times when you just CAN'T resist the pretty blue button that flashes on my computer. Times when you fall asleep in my arms. Times when you're so tired you just want me to lay you down. Time. That's what you and I have. For a little while.

And so as you turn one this weekend, I want you to know that I choose to celebrate the time that we have together, rather than mourning the passing days because I know without a doubt (your brother and sister have proven that to me) you'll leave me one day. I pray that as we spend our precious time together that I'll be able to imprint my love upon your heart and in your life the same way you've imprinted yourself on all of us.

May you be blessed, Son, with all that God has to offer. May you rise up and walk with Him every day, as He leads you on the path you are supposed to take.

Much love, My Precious!

xoxoxoxo,

Mommy
------------------------

Dearest Samantha and Jack,

You've both given me clear signs today that you're ready to sore in school. And as much as it pains me, Jack, I will let you walk down the hall to your classroom by yourself. And Samantha, I saw your eyes dart into the classroom as I leaned down for my goodbye kiss this morning. So, I'll keep our kisses my little secret.

I will always be here, my jewels, to comfort, praise, encourage and guide as you need me. Thank you for showing me grace as I struggle to let you be the people I've raised you to be. You make me so proud.

With all my heart forever,

Mommy

A fun game thwarted

2010-08-27T10:55:00.002-05:00

A fun game

Poor Lukie!! Mama changed from the regular spout on the water dispenser to the "safety" spout. We've had the new spout for a week or so, but he just can't leave it alone. So today I captured the process.

First, focus:

Second, displeasure:

Next, a new plan:

And FINALLY success!

Can you see his little wet thumb??

That boy makes me smile, every day!!! Man, I love him!

First day of school

2010-08-27T10:03:00.004-05:00

We've had a GREAT first week of school. Although we had to make a believer out of Jack yesterday, I believe he gets the point now and will cooperate in the morning. When Mommy and Daddy say, "First things First" in the morning, we really do mean it. And when you follow the policy, BIG rewards happen! I get tired of nagging and pushing and prodding in the morning, so this year, if you can get your stuff done (fully dressed, brush teeth and hair, get medicine, have your bag packed) there will be a reward in the afternoon. It might be TV, video games, their music in the van...whatever it is they want it and I'm hoping it will help encourage good behavior.

Jack's made lots of friends in school already. One little boys name is Kane. Kane is going to be the bane of my existence for several days I can tell. He's informed Jack that there will be a hurricane coming to Houston in November. To Jack, November is like this afternoon or tomorrow so he's not necessarily "worried" (to the point of crying) but he sure is perseverating about it. Since I picked him up from school yesterday, almost every "Hey Mom, did you know..." is some "fact" about hurricane's that Kane taught him. Holy Smokes! He DOES know our plan (to go to RoRo and PawPaw or Uncle Matt and Aunt AJ's house) and he LOOOVES the idea of that, but just can't quite let the hurricane talk rest just, yet. I'm just thankful that he was able to sleep through the night without having bad dreams and coming to my room for loves. Moving on before I start to perseverate! :)

Here are some pics from our first day.

Seeing all the things they are going to be learn really excites me! It's going to be a great school year! I just know it!!

wildlife

2010-08-17T21:44:00.003-05:00

Well, down in these here parts of sweltering hot, asphalt covered Texas you have to get excited about whatever kinda wildlife creeps into view. Last Thursday, it was a lizard that was in the recycling bin as Samantha picked it up to return it to its place in the garage. And this is the hilarity that ensued. They were both happy little campers for the rest of the day. There's nothing like their genuine laughter and giddiness that releases the stress and tension of being the sole care taker for three little people that are light years apart in schedules.

After much ado, I present to you The Lizard:

A fun impromptu trip

2010-08-11T13:29:00.002-05:00

In an effort to rearrange Lukie's naps a bit, this morning we were going to just go ride the zoo train around the park and be done. But Mama got a hair brained idea and we ended up having a ton of fun. We got on the train at the zoo, rode around to the playground and splash pad, played for an hour or so and then hopped back on the train to finish our ride and head back to the zoo.

Here are the pics to remind us of our fun:

Sorry for the weird sizing and stuff. These pics came off my cell phone and I didn't want to lose much of the quality by resizing. Enjoy!

Dear Caterpillars,

2010-08-10T10:34:00.002-05:00

When you do this

to my

I do this

to your face.

He's got SKILLZ!

2010-08-03T10:02:00.005-05:00

Sweet baby Luke is growing up!!! He'll be 11 months old in two days! How, oh HOW can that be???? Breakin' my heart that boy is...wow, Yoda that sounded like! Guess you can tell we've been a bit taken with Star Wars lately, huh? Jack and Samantha are totally ga-ga for Star Wars. It's pretty fun most of the time, but there are times when I have to say to Jack, "I don't want to hear General Grievous' name for the next 20 minutes. Find something else to do!"

It's been a great summer! Here are some pics of things that we've gotten to do:

Summer Vacation with the Wilsons in Branson:

Several evenings we sang church songs. This night (Friday, I believe) Samantha very specifically sat next to her PawPaw.

Two nights Jack just pooped out in the middle of the family room in the middle of family time. Michael treasured this moment with our ever growing boy, as times like this are so far a part.

Swimming in the lake

Tea parties with Nonny

This very nice man, who was actually playing the game, allowed Jack to stand beside him and jump, and "shoot" and flail himself about. Jack had NO clue (or at least he didn't care one little bit) that he wasn't actually contributing to the game. All he cared about was shooting that gun! Such a boy!

3-D, glow in the dark Putt Putt

Being the early riser, Luke got some special one-on-one time with his Great down by the lake.

Playing with Nonny and Great

Swimming in the pool with RoRo

Butterfly Museum at Houston Museum of Natural Science
We went to the butterfly museum to see Lois the corpse flower. For those of you that don't know (and I didn't before all the hoopla began), the corpse flower blooms VERY rarely and when it does it smells like a rotting mammal. Pleasant, huh!? Well, I knew my kids would NEVER tolerate the smell so we went after she bloomed and the stench died away...pun intended. :) More info on this cool plant can be found here, if you're interested.

Jack wasn't really a fan of the butterfly museum. Poor guy!

But as soon as we hit the door, he was all smiles again!

We also hit the Children's Museum one Saturday

I think this picture says it all about the fun we had at the museum:

And FINALLY, Luke and I made this video last night, showing off his newest skillz!

Well, thanks for putting up with my summer recap! Hope you enjoyed the catchin' up!

A Tribute

2010-07-26T16:20:00.002-05:00

to the man I love. Is this not the most handsome man you've ever met!?

Michael George Wilson, everyday you make me proud of the choice I made 11 years 6 months and 17 days ago. I love you so much. May you be blessed each day as you choose to give our children someone to be proud of, someone to turn to and someone to emulate. We'll never get another July 24, 2010 again, but because you laid aside your own initial desire, we don't need another...we redeemed the time.

Much love, my Love,

Jamie

Prayer Request

2010-06-09T21:22:00.002-05:00

Hi friends from the interwebz,

If you are the praying kind, I'd ask that you pray for my sweet baby nephew, Titus. He has some metabolic issue that remains to be named. His super sweet mama, AJ, has given the details in her blog much better than I can repeat.

We covet your prayers for this precious little one!

Thanks!

Isn't he sweet!?

2010-06-01T17:47:00.001-05:00

Kid update

2010-04-23T09:22:00.003-05:00

It's been too long again. Sorry!

Quickly here are some pics and videos.

This is Jack at his annual spring program at school. He was Adam. Too bad he was the first one up and there was all that crying so you can't really hear him. He did really well...you'll have to take my word on it. You can hear Luke cackling in the background at first.

This is our toothless wonder. She lost both of her top teeth within about a week of each other. Unfortunately this picture is about a month old and now you can see both of her top teeth poking through. You'll just have to take my word for it. :/

And these are my precious boys snuggling while Jack watches TV.

Here's four of us at the Rodeo petting zoo

We took a trip to Searcy over Spring Break so that great Grandparents could meet our little one. Here's one great Grandmother and sweet Luke.

We got to go to one of the Rockets games earlier this month. The kids had SUCH a blast. Thankfully, we won...something we didn't do very much of this season, I learned later.

Jack was a little nervous about the noise during the opening ceremony.

This catches you up a little bit. Prayers and blessings on you all!

changes

2010-03-05T09:09:00.002-06:00

Well, changes are a brewing at our house. And the first has to do with brown. Can you guess what's brown now? It was a startling surprise this morning when I retrieved my SIX month old (can you believe it's already been SIX months since this sweet thang popped out??? I can't either!) today from bed. It used to be yellow and all nicey nice. But no more. The video should give you a clue...

All the growling, hand flopping anticipation cracks me up. He WANTS to like it, but somehow he's just not sure so he has to frown, growl and flap. Silly sweet boy!

And now that I've finished...I have more brown to go clean up!

p.s. I started getting spam comments so I turned on comment moderation, but didn't really know what I was getting myself into. Looks as though I'm gonna have to ask Mr. Wilson to help me with comment security! :)

to tide you over

2010-01-28T11:05:00.001-06:00

I have things to share swirling in my head, but until I have time to get them out, here's a video.

Seriously, that a four month old thinks bodily functions are funny is beyond funny to me!

A letter from me:

2010-01-08T16:38:00.002-06:00

Dear Laundry, please hush. I'll attend to you after my cup of coffee.

Dear Samantha, I'm so sorry you have strep, but so proud you can swallow pills! Now you don't have to drink the icky medicine!

Dear Jack, you are a silly boy who talks incessantly...and I love it, mostly :).

Dear Luke, when you laughed as I kissed your feet, my heart swelled with joy. You are a gem, Little Smiley One!

Dear Children of Mine, you make me sooo happy. I love you all for your individuality but today I'm especially thankful for your synchronicity...thanks for taking a nap at the same time.

Dear Michael Wilson, Without you where would I be? 11 years ago tomorrow I made the best decision of my life in becoming your wife. You are a FANTASTIC husband and a true joy to partner with in is this crazy life. May God bless you and fill you and strengthen you as you strive to live up to your potential in all areas of yourself. You are an incredibility talented and gifted man, thank you for sharing yourself with me!

Dear Children of Mine, Know the goodness of your father. May you see the example of love, compassion, grace and mercy he sets before you. May you follow him as he follows the teachings of Christ.

All my love to all of you,

Jamie, your wife and Mama

A few days before Thanksgiving

2009-12-01T09:57:00.007-06:00

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I took the boys to see my brother and his family in Portland, Oregon. On the way there, Jack was totally entertained by the things we brought for him to play with and watch and Luke was quite content to be held and sleep the entire 3.5 hours! Such angels!

Here are some videos of our time there. We did fun things like the OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), the Portland Children's Museum and World Forestry Center. We also hung around the house and played and slept.

At home

At the Children's Museum

At the World Forestry Center

One of the funnest things ever is that my big brother has a baby three days younger than our sweet baby, Luke. My SIL had a photographer come to take their family pics while we were there and one of the special pics she had done was of the sweet baby cousins. Here you can see how close they are in age and size. So so so fun!

Our flight home wasn't quite as successful as I'd hoped it would be. Jack and I both fell asleep right at take off and slept for some time (not sure how long). but then we both woke up. And for the next hour or so, poor, sweet Jack struggled and struggled mightily to get comfy in that huge airplane seat without much luck. Had I been able to hold him, I think we could have succeeded in getting him back to sleep quickly. But because I had to hold Luke, I couldn't hold the big boy. So finally we all quite trying to get him comfy and whatdya know? He fell back to sleep for the remainder of the trip. So while it wasn't a total success he did get some sleep.

At landing, we parked at terminal E...which was unfortunate because we took out of (and parked at) terminal C. So, we had to walk a bit to get our luggage and make it to the van.

One other bit of trouble we had was that the parking garages aren't color coded correctly. Inside the terminal, the garage we needed had a yellow sign...when in fact it was the BROWN garage. That made finding our van a bit of a challenge which was unfortunate b/c I was wearing Luke in front, the backpack on my back, pushing Jack in the stroller and pulling a piece of luggage with the car seats on top. It was needless to say a bit of a challenge. But we found the van eventually and were outta there.

Luke, who'd slept since about 10:30 p.m. Portland time, was RAVENOUS at 7:00 Houston time, so we had to stop at McDees for breakfast. Then it was on to Samantha's school so we could see her before her day (and Michael's day) began.

The boys and I finally made it home about 8 am and I began the task of furiously cleaning the house. Michael had done a great job of picking up, but it needed "cleaning" in the worst way. Michael arrived with his parents about 5 o'clock and I'd done about 85% of the cleaning so we left it at that.

It was a SUPER trip to visit my brother and I was sooo proud of my boys. Jack certainly enjoyed his first plane ride and I enjoyed giving him that experience.

BTW, one video I unfortunately neglected on my Thanksgiving post was Luke talking to his PawPaw. Priceless...

Up next...Ice skating.

Going backwards

2009-11-27T20:39:00.002-06:00

Well, it seems I'm behind again on my blogging. So, in stead of trying to catch you up in order, I'm gonna work backwards.

Michael's parents came from Kansas for Thanksgiving. They arrived in Houston the same day I returned from my trip to Portland (next blog post). We had a great time together cooking, watching movies and playing with the kids.

My part of the cooking included the turkey and ham, bread, tea and pies (chocolate, pumpkin) and pumpkin cheesecake, Michael's only request.

We had guests from church who didn't have any family close and one of Michael's co-workers from India. He hasn't been home since Julyish 2008. It felt good to share our home and family with him.

Enjoy...

Luke speaks and Jack spells

2009-10-07T17:17:00.003-05:00

I was lucky enough to catch some of Luke's very earliest purposeful talking. So sweet.

Jack spells something...not sure what, but he'll come up and say, "Mommy, what does this spell?" and then proceed to string a bunch of random letters together. Thought maybe some of you brilliant people can figure it out.

An update on everyone

2009-10-01T15:55:00.007-05:00

Starting with the youngest to the oldest...

Luke

I hope I don't look as tired in real life as I do in this picture!!

Luke enjoys the wrap as much as I enjoy wearing him around.

Jack

Jack and I found this cool praying mantis yesterday at my mom's house!! He's pretty cool!

My boy loooves him some scooter!

Samantha
She had the day off from school on Monday Sept 28th so we headed to the zoo with some friends. It was NOT fall weather like the previous week...definitely still summer. :( Notice Luke...that's all he did at the zoo! Notice on the carousel and in the praire dog tunnels that it's not my kids waving at me...they didn't even notice I was there. Thank goodness for our friend (also named Luke) who WAS paying attention!

In other news, Samantha got her first babysitting gig this week. She watched Luke on the bed while I dried my hair. She rocked it! :)

his video debut

2009-09-19T17:52:00.002-05:00

I got a COOL Flip camera as a gift from my hubby when Luke was born, and it's so easy to take and upload video with this little contraption that I'm hoping it will make posting videos so easy I have no excuses.

Here's one of the first that we've taken...

Another update

2009-09-16T10:08:00.003-05:00

Update:

We have the MOST wonderful practice of pediatricians in the world. I just received (within 10 minutes of each other) calls from both our regular pediatrician (who we didn't get to see on Monday and who has today OFF) and the pediatrician that we did see. They both had questions that I couldn't answer, so I will call back on one of them and our regular doctor (Dr. L) will have a conversation with Dr. G about his questions.

I feel VERY blessed to be in Houston where there is so much technology available to us and where we have so many truly caring doctors.

------------------------

We had Jack's hip aspirated this morning and it turns out that there was hardly enough fluid to actually aspirate. But what fluid he did get, he's 99.99% sure is NOT infected. They're doing a culture just to be safe.

So, the next step is a perthes test in a "couple of months"...the thing the orthopedist doesn't know is that we've met our deductible this year! We'll be back sooner rather than later!! :)

The waking up was the hardest part. He wanted that IV OUT NOW!! Eventually we were able to get through to him and he drank his sprite and peed and then they took that darn IV out and we were out the door in less than 5 minutes. It was none too soon for Mommy and Daddy.

I have to say that I couldn't have done it without my Michael. He's been my strength and my equal partner in all of this. I'm soooo thankful for you, Michael and wouldn't want to go through this parenting roller coaster with anyone else! *smooch*

Jack update

2009-09-15T11:30:00.001-05:00

Found out this morning that there is "non-specific fluid" on his hip. Will have it aspirated tomorrow morning. Should be interesting.

He's able to walk around (on his tip toes) but we're trying to keep him still...wish us luck. :)

Catching up

2009-09-14T19:11:00.002-05:00

Just so you know, I had Baby Luke 9 days ago! He's beautiful and perfect and wonderful...in every single way! I hope to have time this week to write down the details for posterity's sake. But not tonight.

Today we took Jack to the doctor only to return with no answers. He's been complaining of his right hip hurting for weeks. Being the "tough" parents that we are, we've been compassionate but not overly pro-active about his pain because it hasn't really slowed him down at all. Until this morning...when Michael found him crying on the floor of his room unable to walk. We decided to go to the pediatrician and as soon as I could pull myself outta bed (it wasn't Lukie's best night), I made the appointment. At the doctor's office, you could definitely tell there was a problem so the pedi diagnosised it as "Irritable Hip Syndrome" and made an appointment for us with the best pediatric orthopedist in Houston. They also did some blood work on him and diagnosised that he has a virus. We went to see the orthopedist and they did x-rays that are NORMAL thank goodness. The plan was for us to also have an ultrasound to determine if there's fluid on his hip, but the US tech was gone for the day so we'll do that tomorrow.

If you heard me say today that Jack has Synovitis, please excuse the misdiagnosis. I was under the impression that the hip pain + virus = infection in the hip. But that doesn't seem to be the case. If there is fluid on his hip, they'll do an asperation of it, which means no food after 1 AM tomorrow morning.

If there is no fluid, we're kinda back to the drawing board for a reason for his pain. Thankfully, the orthopedist seems to be interested in really finding out what's going on.

We'll keep you updated...

Building my confidence

2009-09-04T18:25:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure how I got here, but I realized tonight that I'm quite scared about this labor and about being able to manage three beautiful children. It wouldn't surprise me at all to one day to hear God say, "Dear One, I kept sending you into labor, but you weren't ready."

I think there was a time in my life where there was no doubt in my mind that I could deliver this baby the way I want, the way I know I'm capable of doing. But maybe it was the concern over the oldest two and my ability to get them safely to someone who could care for them in my absence, or maybe it was concern over whether Michael could get to me quickly enough. Or maybe it was my concern over getting EVERYTHING ready prior to his arrival. Maybe it's my concern about being able to continue the norms of the older two while nurturing the precious babe that's in my womb. Maybe it wasn't of those things, maybe it's been all of it that has undermined confidence.

Whatever "it" is, I'm releasing it tonight. I am SURROUNDED by my Creator: the ONE who supplies strength in my times of weakness, the ONE who provides comfort in my time of discomfort, the ONE who provides love in my times of loneliness. He does this miraculously by surrounding me with friends and family that WANT desperately to pitch in and help, and by giving me the most wonderful life partner in the world, who wants nothing more than to see me succeed and will bend over backwards to make that happen.

So baby Luke, precious one, Mama's heart is now ready for you to come. I've had all the physical "stuff" ready for at least a month now, but now the real transition has happened...my heart is surrendered to the fact that I can't and won't do all of this myself. But don't you worry, everything's gonna be fine, dear one. Our Heavenly Father is holding us both in his hands and won't let either one of us fall out of his reach.

A labor update
Yesterday I went in for my weekly checkup and when asked the question: "Is the baby moving well?" I honestly answered "No." I hadn't felt him move in about 15 hours. So, they put me on the baby monitor and monitored his heart beat. At one point during a contraction his heart beat dipped a bit. Then they did a measurement of my amniotic fluid and it was at the cutoff mark for being "OK". So, between those three things the midwives sent me to the hospital to be induced as I was 40 weeks on Wednesday. This was certainly NOT my #1 choice for a labor plan, but Luke's safety comes first, obviously. But by the time I got into a L&D room I'd been having fairly regular contractions for 2 hours, so not only was there no need to induce me it was too late...we all thought I was in labor. YEAH! BUT by 8:30 last night the contractions had virtually stopped.

We decided at that point to do a 1L saline drip to maybe bolster the amniotic fluid in hopes that I could go home today to rest and maybe go into labor again on my own. This morning they did an additional monitoring of his health called a biophysical profile (BPP). It includes measuring the AF (it was up to 5.6...not all that much of a bump since they had given me another 1L bag of saline this morning), and measuring his "reflexive" movements (purposeful movements: open and closing his hands, flexing his neck, kicking, etc) and "fetal breathing" which is where he "practices" breathing...this was amazing to see is ribs expand and contract.

Since he passed the non-stress test (all the heart rate monitoring) and the BPP, and with my promise that I will rest from now on, and that I wouldn't hesitate to come back if I "think" I might be in labor and with an appointment to come back in Saturday morning for another non-stress test, they let me come home this morning. There are more plans for me over the weekend, but they're all assuming that things don't progress into labor on my own. So, for now, we'll take in one step at a time.

Speaking of my first promise, I'm off to lay down. I think that catches you all up on where we are.

A picture post to rival AJ

2009-08-30T17:55:00.004-05:00

Wellllll, probably not really quite enough to rival AJ, but...

My birthday pics:

Me snuggling with Z:

Our friends held a baby blessing for Luke, instead of the congregational baby shower that would have been WAY over the top for a third baby. It included our closest friends and was a TON of fun!!!

My three friends who threw the fabulous blessing:

Michael's birthday:

And finally, re-decorated children's rooms:

Samantha has had no problem filling the places Luke is currently leaving blank with her own babies

And finally, my belly as of Aug 17, 2009:

Random tidbits

2009-08-28T08:21:00.007-05:00

Well, here we are still waiting for Baby Luke. He's thrown us all for a loop, since neither of the other two children have waited this long to come. Part of me is glad he's staying so snuggly, because it's really giving us an opportunity to get into a good routine of helping and participating in the necessary morning and evening activities for the older ones. Samantha is now in charge of picking and packing her "ancillary" lunch items the night BEFORE, and both kids set out clothes for in the morning. It's also given us the chance to set a breakfast and lunch schedule, so there's VERY LITTLE thinking that has to occur in the morning...just lots of routine!

On the other hand, I kinda had my heart set on already seeing his sweet baby boy face by now! As I always say: nothing before it's time, nothing before it's time.

Yesterday at my 39 week appointment, we noticed that my blood pressure seems to be creeping up. The midwife began to talk around bed rest, and I just pretty much stopped her in her tracks and said, "At 39 weeks, I am NOT going on bed rest. We just need to figure out how to get this baby here." She agreed and that was the last I heard of that.

We also had a discussion about being induced, and in general I am opposed to messing with the labor process. I truly believe that God created our female bodies for this beautiful act of love and nurturing, and for the most part, it needs to be allowed to do it's thing. But because of convenience we've been suckered into a series of procedures that ramp up the scariness and difficulty of the natural process. Don't get me wrong, I'm VERY thankful for science and technology and current medical knowledge as it's saved my life (and my baby's) at least once already. And in that vein, if they determine that amniotic fluid is deteriorating (via ultrasound), I'll have no other choice than to be induced. All it may take is breaking my water, or it may take some other medical intervention, but we'll cross that bridge after Sept 2 (unless my BP becomes a problem).

FOOD
One fun thing that I've been doing this summer is cooking and baking...a LOT! I've made fresh blueberry muffins, oatmeal chocolate chip muffins, orange muffins (with icing...that made Samantha gag--WHATEVER!) and this morning for the first time, we made cinnamon rolls (outta the can, sorry to disappoint) for breakfast. Sometimes cooking supper is so mundane and boring but somehow it hasn't been that bad recently. Michael seems to have a penciled in grilling night on Wednesday so that helps and I've been trying to buy enough that we have at least one night of leftovers from each meal that I prepare which really helps. In that vein, I've got three meals (with leftovers) prepped and frozen so that when Luke FINALLY arrives, we've got some of our favorites already bought and fixed. Yeah!

READING
I've been reading some this summer, too. The two series that I've read almost completely are Francine River's Lineage of Grace Series (I have yet to read Unshaken about Ruth as I can't find it in our library system) and Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth and World Without End. VERY different books, but all have VERY strong women...which you'll be surprised to know, appeals to me! :)

I had intended to post pics on this update, but I'm having technical difficulties. I'll try again later!

My kids say the funniest things!

2009-07-20T17:12:00.002-05:00

Today on the way home from the grocery store, Jack says, "Wow! That hellercopter is SOO Coooool!" ... "Except it doesn't have any hellers!"

I have absolutely no idea what he was talking about, I just LOVED his expression and the pronunciation. This is one funny kid!

Recent videos from our summer

2009-07-17T21:32:00.009-05:00

My wonderful SIL inspired me to buy a Slip-n-slide for our family. And all I can say for the performance of my children is that in other areas of life they TRULY excel. Prowess on the Slip-n-slide though seems to be a bit lacking:

And finally tonight we had our bunk beds delivered and installed. Here's the kiddos headed to the top bunk for the first time...

And finally this is just a fun little clip from a family owned and operated ice creamery here in our neighborhood. They send a free ice cream coupon in the month of your birthday and since June is Jack's birthday we went on the 30th to redeem our treasure. The place is called Moo Hive Honey Ice Cream and in the bathroom is a glow in the dark bee hive with sound effects. As you can imagine, it is the kids favorite part.

And just as good as that is eating your "Fire Ant" ice cream and getting to make faces at yourself! Notice the princess all dressed up in her lime green boa.

My favorite song

2009-06-28T16:51:00.003-05:00

This song really speaks to me right now. It is both a promise and a warning not to waste the few precious months that Lukie is completely dependent on me. I can't wait for my little one to arrive and although we've done NOTHING to physically prep for this new one, there's so much love and tenderness built up inside me, he'll be welcome anytime he decides to come (although no one wants him here for another 8 weeks :) ).

Animal cookies according to Jack

2009-06-18T11:03:00.003-05:00

Mother's Animal Cookies

Father's Animal Cookies

Jack's Little Gym Show

2009-06-17T22:34:00.001-05:00

Sorry it's taken so long to get this posted, but I had trouble uploading it and then got distracted. Better late than never, right??

Jack's Birthday video and pictures

2009-06-17T16:47:00.007-05:00

Sweet boy Jack turned turned FOUR this past Sunday. It's amazing to me because I totally remember being awakened by Michael's phone call and promptly realizing I was in heavy labor JUST LIKE it was yesterday. Except that it wasn't yesterday, it apparently was FOUR years ago!!

To celebrate we had our Life Group from church over since the kids from that group are fairly close in age and relationship. Michael grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and I baked the cake. We blew up our pool and the kids swam most of the evening and when they weren't swimming they were making a mess with bubbles...talk about cheap entertainment!!!

We had such a fun evening together with our friends. We had several comments the day after about what a "FUN" evening it was to be together.

Without further ado, pictures:

My Lightening McQueen masterpiece:

The kids eating:

His new Lightening McQueen "tractor tipping" launcher toy:

Another McQueen launcher:

Jack receiving his Leapster 2 from RoRo and PawPaw and a game from Samantha:

Jack's big gift:

Jack finding his big gift:

Jack driving his truck:

It was a VERY busy day for this pregnant mama, but it was sooo worth it to see our boy so happy and growing up surrounded by so many friends. We thank God for your noisy, crazy little boy self everyday, Jack Wilson. Thanks for being a super boy!

Some videos for your viewing pleasure

2009-06-03T16:36:00.004-05:00

In kinda random order, I'll post some videos that we've taken of the children's performances over the past month.

Samantha's Little Gym Show -- May 28th
This was the last day of school, which required that we spend two hours outside prior to her show...which didn't lead to our best performance, but seriously she's six so we're just glad she hung in there and cooperated.

Our first swim of Summer 2009

2009-05-30T20:12:00.003-05:00

We had our first swim of the summer today at our local YMCA. They've installed a new "family rec pool" that's about 3.5 feet deep everywhere, except under the slide which brings me to my story. Jack (remember he's only 3) WANTED to do the slide BAD! So, I ask the lifegaurd what the rules on the slide are. To which she replied: just pass the swim test (swim the length of the lap pool without touching the side or the bottom). Okey dokey. I explained this to Jack and he, in his three year old boy way, started rambling on about something else. So, I said, "Son, let me show you what they are talking about and we'll practice." So, we leave the rec pool to go the the lap pool. We get in a lane and this dude swims the entire length of the pool for practice, TWICE.

Finally, the time arrives to actually take the swim test and he does it AGAIN, no problem. A little tired, but he passed. He gets out of the pool and we wait in the line for the wrist band only to be told at that point that he's not tall enough for the slide. WHAT!!!!!????? I had a discussion with them (the life gaurd I had originally spoken to was there and I addressed her) and told them what the life gaurd had JUST told me and they were moderately apologetic. Michael had met up with us at this point and I sent HIM to talk to them, to no avail. The explalantion they gave him was that the slide manufacturer had REALLY emphasized the height rule recently (because they'd been letting kids go in previous years who weren't tall enough...Hello, Samantha!) that littlier kids can get thrown out of the slide because they don't weigh enough.

I was okay with that explanation b/c I really didn't want him to get hurt, but I wasn't very happy with the gaurd that told us otherwise. Michael suggested that they measure kid's heights PRIOR to the swim test so that the kid will know whether they're tall enough or not. DUH!!

Jack cried, I WANTED to cry, but we all got over it, thankfully, and had a super fun time at the Y. We ended at the perfect time because no one cried over leaving...they were as tired and hungry as we were!

And we all now know that Jack's as good of a swimmer as his sister...he just lacks a bit of the focus during class. :)

A conversation with Jack

2009-04-14T08:24:00.003-05:00

Yesterday afternoon:

Jack: I'm going to wash my hands (he'd been playing in the sand) and go poo poo.
Me: Okey-doke.

minutes later, he comes back in from outside
Jack: I'm going to wash my hands.
Me: ...and go poo poo?
Jack: No, it drained.
Me: Drained? Did you go poo poo in your underwear?
Jack, very annoyed with me for asking such an intrusive and belittling question: NO!
Me: Well, then where did your poo-poo drain?
Jack: There's poo-poo in the sandbox.
Me: You poo-pooed in the sandbox?
Jack: NO! The dogs did it.
Me: So, where's your poo-poo?
Jack, very matter of factly and non-chalantly: It drained.
Me: So, you don't need to go anymore?
Jack: Nope!
Me: Okey-doke.

Who knew that "drained" meant the feeling passed? Obviously not me! Kids are weird!

Pepperoni rolls

2009-04-11T20:38:00.004-05:00

Michael clued me into one of his Internet friends, Debby, a long-while back. A short-while back, Debby posted about making pepperoni rolls (she even gave a pictorial tutorial here), a comfort food in their family. Loving my husband like I do and loving our Bible class like I do, I took it upon myself to bake pepperoni rolls for breakfast tomorrow. Here are the before pics (I'm hoping that they're rising like Debby says they will):

I have no idea if I did them right. But it's bread dough wrapped around pepperoni and mozzarella, so really, how bad could they be, right!?

Happy Easter, everyone. We are blessed EVERY day with a God that's good. May you feel it with all the fullness of His being tomorrow.

Another milestone

2009-03-28T10:12:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, Jack and I had an event...one that brought me GREAT joy and a view of what is to come. It was monumental, if only in my mind.

I needed to put something in the mail, and with all the rain we've had, I didn't want it to sit in our mailbox, so I decided that we would walk to the post office. All together, round trip would be about .75 miles. I told Jack that he could ride in the stroller and we'd take the dogs with us, too. He considered my suggestion and then informed me that he would ride his Lightening McQueen bike (a 16: bike with training wheels). I was skeptical, but told him that he would have to ride it there AND back because I had the dogs and wouldn't be able to help with his bike. He assured me that he could do it and off we went. I want to proudly proclaim: HE DID IT!! And without one complaint!! I was sooo proud of him.

So, here's was my vision: Jack on his bike; dogs on their leashes; Baby So-and-So in the sling/pouch; all of us walking in late summer/early fall. Now that is was a beautiful site to my wondering-how-I'm-gonna-manage eyes!!

A sweet story by my sweet girl

2009-03-15T20:36:00.004-05:00

I don't know why this story Samantha wrote made me say, "AWWWW!" but it did. Maybe it was the intricacy of writing the whole thing (she's a bare-bones kinda gal), or the thoughtfulness of returning the bear or the sweet way she misspells things, or the confidence she has in her own writing ability...I don't know. But I loved it and thought I would share it with you.

In case you can't read her writing it says: One day I lost my teddy bear and "I went to the groshry [grocery] sorte [store] and botte [bought] a new one Aftr theat [that] I fond [found] it so, I went back and sood [sold] my new one back."

They're growing up...

2009-02-23T13:17:00.003-06:00

I only have a few seconds before I fall into a deep afternoon slumber, but I wanted to get this post started. For a long time, I've been keeping a list of things in my head that are markers for the children growing up. Here's a brief list (one I hope to continue adding to).

Jack: Went into the dentists office today BY HIMSELF with not ONE tear shed. Utterly amazing to me. He must have asked the hygenist 15 times, "Are we done, yet?" and I did hear one, "I want to go see my mom." but not nary a tear! So proud of you today, Jack!!

Samantha has her first loose tooth. It got loose about 3 weeks ago, but it's still hanging in there. Her permanent tooth is well on it's way to being fully in behind the baby tooth, so the dentist said it needs to be out this week.

Jack can turn on any light switch in the house without a stool.

Jack can get himself totally undressed and dressed!!

Samantha is standing up for herself in school! There's a little boy who "loves" her and has talked her into buying her lunch...except she doesn't "like the way Herod Elementary cooks their lunch" so she's moved back to bringing lunch. I'll tell you it was SO AWESOME not having to pack her lunch each morning, but it was EVEN BETTER to hear her tell the little boy, "I didn't trick you, I just changed my mind!" Thatagirl, change you mind, any time!!

I have more floating in my head, but I need to rest before I miss my chance. Baby "So-and-so" is taking quite a bit of my energy!!

UPDATE: It's out! It's out!

2009-01-26T20:50:00.001-06:00

These are the door decorations I made for the kids. Not perfect, but homemade with lots of love. I think they like them and hope they'll like them for a long time.

My newest creation

2009-01-10T22:35:00.002-06:00

I blogged earlier about my Christmas project. It actually turned into a Christmas 2009 project, but oh well. When you don't know what you don't have, you can't miss it, right!?

Well, I finally finished Mr. Snowman tonight...maybe 10 minutes ago. I'm so excited about him I can hardly wait another year to use him! We may have to use him in February or something?! ha!

Without further ado...

This has to be one of the most creative things I've ever pulled out of my head. I've made nap mats (with blankets and pillows attached) for the children, but this guy surpased even those. As much effort that I put into this guy, I'm really glad that Pottery Barn was out of their tree calendars!

I hope this is something the kiddos fight over when I die! :)

What is this world coming to?

2008-12-10T20:21:00.003-06:00

Three posts to my blog in one day!? What in the world!? AND it's snowing in HOUSTON, TEXAS! What???

Here are picts for proof:

White dots on my hair and shoulder

This is an old couch cushion someone dumped in the empty lot next to Mom and Dad's house

White dots on the puppy

White flecks on Samantha's hair and jacket

And snow sitting on our gate

Christmas project

2008-12-10T14:29:00.003-06:00

I have wanted an "Advent Calendar" for my kiddos as long as I've had them and this year I finally had the extra cash to buy one this year! I was looking through the Pottery Barn Kids catalog in November and decided that I would buy this. But being late to the party as usual, when I arrived on December 1st to the store to purchase the long awaited new family tradition, they were, of course, OUT...company wide out, no more to be made this year out. It was a MAJOR bummer, as I was already a day late of course.

So, I have decided to MAKE my own Countdown to Christmas Calendar. I am still not finished, but it has all the things I'm looking for: large pockets (other calendars I found had teeeeeeny-tiny pockets; HEEELLLOOOO! How can you fit any sort of gift in that thing, much less gifts for more than one kid??? Anyway...). And I can't wait to hang it on my wall. I'm getting closer, so I thought I'd post picts of my handy work. Enjoy!

It's in the shape of a snowman and each of the pockets have the numbers free-hand embroidered. Green pockets have white thread and white cording across the top. Red pockets have blue numbers and blue cording.

Once I get the pockets attached, I'll move on to his face. I'm invisioning blue button eyes, a carrot nose and maybe brown stick hands.

All's clear on the ECHO front

2008-12-10T09:23:00.002-06:00

Jackie had his Echo on Monday morning. He was NONE too pleased about the process, although all it involved was laying on a bed watching TV for half and hour. He even agreed to a spanking rather than laying on the table...for a minute. :)

The doctor wasn't in on Monday to read the results to me, so he called last evening to tell me that everything was normal. No hole in his heart, no mitral valve prolapse...nothing. He would like to have him re-listened to in a couple of years.

Yeah!! We say thank you to God for walking with us down this potentially scary path! Thank you to all of you that prayed with us for Jack's heart...it seems to be perfect, just like our boy!

Hugs!

The Wilson Famole

2008-11-30T21:28:00.002-06:00

Sweet Samantha drew this picture for us today. She's getting to be quite the artist. Please notice Daddy's red-square hair.

Back from the doctor

2008-11-24T12:29:00.004-06:00

Well, he definitely has some noise going on (a squeak and a grind, I think). The doctor thinks he's fine as he sees this "probably once a month, weeeellll, I haven't seen it in a couple of months; so maybe more like couple times a year." After that commentary, I was encouraged that he offered to set up an Echocardiagram for Jack to see what's going on. Neither option (a hole in his heart, or Mitral Valve Prolapse) seems life threatening...obviously since we've gone several months since the initial diagnosis.

So, now I'm just talking myself out of being really worried. He'll be fine, as he's already fine. It's just worrisome.

The ECHO is set for December 8th at 9:40 a.m. Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts this morning! They were comforting.

Headed to the doctor

2008-11-24T08:56:00.003-06:00

This summer Jack was diagnosed by a doctor in his pediatric group with a heart murmur...something that was a bit worrisome since that kid has been listened to I don't know HOW many times and nobody's ever mentioned it. But this summer it was loud and proud, and today we're finally being seen by someone in the "Murmur Clinic" of Texas Children's Hospital to see how/if we need to proceed this this issue. Our appointment is at 10 am today, so if you think of us today we'd appreciate a prayer.

I'll update this afternoon with our (hopefully good) news.

2008-11-19T14:27:00.004-06:00

My sister in law tagged me for a fun photo meme.

It's easy, so if you wanna show us your random photo feel free (as I don't tag others...read the next post for why).

The rules:

1. Go to your pictures
2. Upload the 4th picture of the 4th folder
3. Post it
4. Tag 4 friends

Here's goes nothing:

That's my baby playing in the hay maze at the Oil Ranch Farm. Such a fun day, even though he stood in an ant pile whilst throwing a typical three year old fit. Thankfully I had very helpful fathers that helped me stripe him down and get all those nasty boogers off.

Thanks, AJ, for the great idea!

p.s. Michael, I'm tagging you. Fourth photo from your funny photo file.

I've been tagged

2008-11-16T21:57:00.003-06:00

My sweet husband tagged me and here are the rules:

When I’m in a time crunch and my hair is greasy, I sprinkle powder at my roots to soak up the oil. I learned this trick in a mom’s magazine and LOVE it.

I’m taking a parenting class on Tuesday mornings at the 2nd Baptist church. The title is something about joyful parenting and I sooo love this class. The focus of the class is on influencing our children instead of controlling them. The point that has stuck with me the most is about not micro-managing my children’s mood, because God doesn’t do that to us. Just look at the psalms for proof that God listens (empathizes) no matter what we feel. If my home isn’t the safe place where Jack and Samantha can’t vent or process their emotions now, where can they do that when they are teenagers?

My hobbies include weight lifting, gardening and reading. None of which I’m really finding time for right now.

One of my self-improvement foci right now is on being prompt to my meetings and time commitments. I have a tendency to just do “one more thing” and make myself late, which annoys me.

I cried at every letter in P.S. I love you. I loved that sweet, sweet movie, except I thought it was kinda creepy at the end that she was going to start a relationship with her husband’s almost twin.

Drinking too many water bottles with the “Crystal Lite on the go” flavor packs gives me MAJOR tummy trouble.

I’m terrible at Wii Mario Kart.

I have to tell you, I'm going to break rule number 3. I'm my loser self and don't really know 7 people on the internet with blogs (other than Michael's friends) so...if you read mine and wanna play, feel free to go for it and post a comment so I can read yours!!

Have a super great week!!

Introducing myself again

2008-10-28T23:34:00.006-05:00

Hiya! Sorry it's been so long...it's been a crazy time since...May, oh yeah. Hmmm. Guess I've been slacking a bit. Eeeek!

Here's some picts to make you all a bit happier--if you're still reading.

Halloween Pics: The Pit Crew and his Princess

Samantha's first Kindergarten field trip to Oil Ranch Farm
I wish you could know just how bad this baby felt on Friday, but she was dying to go so we made do and popped some Pepto. She must have gotten two short doses of the stomach bug. The rest of us got one harder dose. I'm not sure which I would have preferred her to get as it was a bit worryisome as to why she was "randomly" vomiting!? Anyway, I think we're all better, but look at these pale lips! Sweet baby!

Riding the horse

Jack having his turn to ride. He was only convinced that he should ride when he remembered that he'd already done it once at RoRo's house just last month.

The haymaze was a lot of fun, although Jack got in trouble for "bumping the hay" which was as much fun as anything else we did.The last thing we did was pick out a pumpkin; she looks pleased to me!

The following day, we attended three (holy smokes!) different halloween parties. This picture was taken at the first one. Bless her heart, you can see she's started the parade-o'parties tired. But beautiful all the same.

And finally, my latest baking prowess: two pumpkin pies for Samantha's class to taste tomorrow.

I TOLD you it's been busy!!! :)

Love you all!

May's adventures

2008-05-12T21:38:00.004-05:00

So, two Thursdays ago (May 1st) Samantha's pre-school class took their final field trip together. Having a Mommy-panic-'cause-my-baby's-growing-up moment, I decided to give up one of the few Tuesday/Thursday Mommy times I have in May and go with her to the Aquarium.

We saw some pretty cool aquatic life. This octopus was really into showing off for us! All over the glass the whole time we were in the room. We also got to see a Moray Eel and a Large Mouthed Bass which are in Veggie Tale Music that we listen to constantly in the van. Now she has a good visual of what those animals are!

This "deep sea diver" suit was in a room where we got to touch tiger sharks (if you were fast enough) and sting rays. Isn't she a cutie!?

I am sooo glad that I went, because as much as I want her to grow up and be successful and brave and strong and confident, it was heart warming and reassuring that she still does need her mommy. The first request for Mommy, came on the train that takes you through the "property." There is a mechanical shark that "jumps" out of the water at you. Apparently he's supposed to be frightening, but mainly (and Samantha agreed) he's just annoying.

We got to ride the carousel TWICE! Wow! That was a big hit!
The MOST fun of the day was right before lunch: sprinkler time. They all got to play for about 30 minutes in a fountain area. As you can see by this smile she approved!

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My other cutie-patootie, reading before breakfast last week.

A quick potty update...he's pooped on the potty at least once each of the last three days!! Yeah, Jackie boy! I'm pretty sure he's doing some of his business, but not nearly "cleaning the pipes." That's ok though because we used to celebrate the three tinkles he'd do and now he's blowing out the porcelin...just like his daddy! :)

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Our ugly new additions.

Today I was on the phone and the person I was chatting with had asked me earlier if we had baby birds, yet. I said no and continued on with our conversation, walking around outside, doing my typical Mommy multi-tasking. So, I peep my head over the nest just to see the eggs and up pop these three yellow mouths! I screamed bloody murder! Scared me to death as I was totally expecting eggs still. After the inital shock, we hip-hip-hoorayed. The kids had to have at least three turns looking at them, blah, blah. My one lasting impression: Dude, baby birds are nasty looking!!! Eeew!

Houston additions...

2008-05-01T16:58:00.003-05:00

Last year my dad put this old basket in our tree in hopes that we would get some feathered visitors. We mostly forgot about it although it was in plain view. On Saturday we were playing in the backyard and much to our suprise there was a nest in our little basket! We couldn't have been more happy! And then on Tuesday we got an even BIGGER suprise. Eggs! We'll be watching and let you know how this turns out. Anybody know how long mockingbird eggs incubate??

Another fun addition to our family: an official reader. Samantha is quite the reader. She concentrates very hard and this is the result:

As she reading the page, she's absent mindedly curling the right page's corner. We can always tell whether she's been to that page or not! :)

I got to go to the Aquarium today with her class...I'll post pics of that this evening!

Samantha's latest feat...

2008-03-18T13:25:00.002-05:00

It's actually related to her feet: she tied both of her shoes today all by herself!! I was getting ready in my room this morning and she comes flying in with both shoes double knotted and as proud of herself as she can be!! I can't vouch for the perfectness of her knot, but I will say that they stayed tied through the entire outing (a birthday party) so that gives her an A in my book!

We called Michael at work so she could tell him and I heard her say, "It makes me feel all grown up!" What a big day for her! Mommy was as proud as she was!!

The birthday boy's mommy took a picture of her when we got there and I am hoping she'll send it to me so I can post it here!

Houston happenings...

2008-03-12T21:12:00.005-05:00

Sorry it's been such a long time since my last post (Uncle Bob!), but things have been a bit crazy.

I've been to Portland, OR to meet my brother's first baby girl. She's absolutely adorable and has the funniest, busiest legs you've ever seen on a baby! This was my first "Mommy by herself" trip that I've ever taken. It didn't start out so well (lost my keys...which I still haven't found, misplaced my purse, cried when I left the kids, etc, etc) but it improved very quickly once I got on the plane. Craig and Renata are hopelessly in love and are spoiling her rotten which is to be expected and encouraged!

The following weekend the kids and I left Daddy at home to travel to Michael's nephew's birthday party in Springdale, AR. We had a really fast but great trip. The kids were like angels on the drive, and endured beautifully not being able to watch videos. The video players we'd previously purchased weren't the highest quality and have pretty much pooped out, despite PawPaw's best efforts.

I am not sure how Adam's birthday has become such a to-do, but Matt and AJ are SPECTACULAR hosts and we had an enormously fun time connecting with Michael's extended family. This maybe our last time to be able to make this trip as Miss Samantha starts Kindergarten this fall.

I am pretty sure Samantha's favorite part of this trip was Great calling her "Catfish" and finding her under the coffee table. And Jack's favorite was Adam's Thomas Tunnel. That kid just couldn't get enough!

After visiting a gymnastics facility for Adam's party, Samantha put on the full court press for taking classes at the Little Gym. No longer able to put her off, especially since we drive past it at least three times a week when we go to the YMCA, I called and signed them up for classes. They are BOTH loving it more than I thought possible. And it's a skill set and body work that we haven't done with them so it's good for them to be exposed to something new.

And don't you worry; we haven't given up swimming twice a week. They're both doing really well. Samantha's working pretty hard on the breast-stroke which takes a TON of coordination. And Jackie-boy has just passed his float tests. I wasn't totally sure that he was ready, but his teacher seemed to think it was fine, and she was right. He did AWESOME! I was a bit nervous the first two times but did manage to remember the camera for test #2 and #3. They are the videos you see below.

For those that don't remember or don't know the float test is laid out like this: they do it three times with progressively heavier clothing, to mimic summer clothes, fall clothing and winter clothing. They can pass by either floating to the side of the pool or floating for 5 minutes.

[\end Mommy's bragging]

Tomorrow is cowboy day at school so there will be biscuits and gravy for breakfast, a small petting zoo, a horse/pony/donkey/some pack animal to ride, and tons of Texas cowboy crafts. It should be lots of fun and hopefully we'll get lots of good pics for me to share before Samantha turns six! :)

"Mommy, it's snow much fun!"

2008-01-23T22:48:00.001-06:00

Jackie quotes Toy Story

2008-01-23T22:08:00.001-06:00

Getting myself outta trouble...

2008-01-23T15:48:00.001-06:00

Several people have requested that I get a new post so here you go. Hopefully the first of many in the new year. :)

Mostly I am going to go with pictures until I get you all caught up.

This is when we took the kids and my mom and dad to Galveston for the Festival of Lights at Moody Gardens.

Samantha's Birthday

A "member morning" in December at our awesome zoo:

Samantha's ears are plugged because the elephants were trumpeting in protest of the construction equipement that is building the extention on their exhibit.

Breakfast with Santa at school:

The only reason why Jack even considered sitting was the lollipop. Thankfully, it was enough!

These are just some random pics.

This is Christmas with my mom and dad before we all left for the far corners of the earth.

Samantha had the "frow ups" and was VERY weak, so she layed around and opened gifts. By the end, Daddy had to carry her back to our house and she was in bed before Jack and I even got there. Poor baby.

This is the funnest part of Christmas: Playing in the snow at RoRo and PawPaw's house:

Christmas morning chaos:

I think Samantha's favorite was her "Baby Sarah" doll, and Jack adored his scooter AND Adam's bouncing ball.

I'm going to call these last two, "You know you had a good Christmas when..."

Look alike meter...

2007-12-21T22:14:00.000-06:00

My SIL did this on her blog and I thought it would be fun to do it here too. Everyone one says, "Samantha looks sooo much like Jamie" and this agrees, but it's only by 4%. That's not nearly the % I hear when people say that.

And Jack...

Whatever! Michael and I have decided it's random. Fun, but random! :)

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!

My favorite Christmas song

2007-12-04T20:54:00.000-06:00

Well Michael and AJ have posted Christmas related songs on their blogs so I thought I would add my favorite song.

Here ya go: Mary, did you know?

Swimming

2007-12-01T21:21:00.000-06:00

Thought some of you might like to see this...

Our little artist

2007-12-01T20:56:00.000-06:00

It's been a hoot watching Samantha's artistic ability change and mature. These are portraits of her RoRo and PawPaw. I know that you will immediately recognize them if you meet them on the street!

Notice the short boy hair and facial hair on PawPaw, and one boob on RoRo! She must have gotten distracted before she finished RoRo. Or maybe it's the necklace that RoRo wears and has promised Samantha when she dies? Really, who can read the mind of a five year old? :)

A singing montage

2007-11-18T22:03:00.000-06:00

Play list (in case you can't translate two year old singing)

The ants go marching

Did you ever see a lassie

Down by the station

The B-I-B-L-E (with sign language at the end)

Roll the gospel chariot, devil verse

Days of the week (tune of The Adams Family, including snapping of the fingers)

A trip to the farm

2007-11-18T20:42:00.000-06:00

Thursday I had the pleasure of joining Samantha's pre-school class at the Dewberry Farm out west of Houston. It was a cool, sunny, breezy day and we had a really great time. Here are the pics from our day.

hay bale climbing (this was weird to me...it was just hay arrange around a pole and it was sooo fun? Samantha decided it wasn't sooo fun after she got a foot to the cheek. I had to ask one of the other moms, "How do you know if you've broken your face?" Luckily, none of her answer transpired for Samantha.)

a train pulled by a tractor

a hay ride to the pumpkin patch, where you could pick (up, not actually pick it off the plant) a tee-tiny pumpkin to take home

two different play ground areas (one was called Fort DooHickey...only in Texas)

the "other" playground

a tee-tiny barn with chickens, turkeys, rabbits and goats you could feed

a funny slide that was made of capped PVC pipes...quite bumpy on the booty, fun for the kids, NO fun for the mommies as another mom could atest

It was such a fun day that I considered taking Jack, and my good friend and her kids back on Monday but at $10/person, I decided that might be a bit much. So we are praying for good zoo weather tomorrow. :)

School worries

2007-11-13T21:06:00.000-06:00

Well, the Vanguard Magnet Program process has just begun and I am WAY stressing about it. I toured a school today that we are really excited about (hopefully Michael will tour on Thursday) and it was pretty impressive and emotional (for me, I am sure Michael won't have tears in his eyes as he tours :)).

The impressive part

the curriculum and academic work that they displayed
every teacher there is certified to teach the "gifted and talented" children
they have a language immersion program where they teach children to read, write and speak fluently in English and Spanish by the third grade (3 children from this program got up and read a speech that they wrote for themselves in one language and then translated it into the other...in front of us. AMAZING)
they have "student competitions" that they encourage everyone to participate in, but by third grade you have to pick at least one to join. The choices range from spelling bee to science fair, to math minders (or some such thing), etc, etc.
they have a cool garden mostly managed by the kiddos; they encourage teachers to build it into their curriculum whether it's measure the height of the flower, to watching paper decompose.
the HISD bond fund just passed and this school is slotted to be re-built within the next five years and maybe next year.

The emotional part

I really could see Samantha as a Kindergartener today. I was overflowing with pride for her because of what a good girl she is and just how far she's had to come since I first met her...not that all kindergarteners haven't come that far, but never my first born.
I am really anxious about the whole school thing though because as a child I NEVER operated from a place of strength in school. I feel like I had to work HARD to scrape out every B I got. When I tried to attend 1st grade, the school really wanted me to re-do Kindergarten but Mom and Dad pitched a big enough fit that they let me proceed. So, I guess I am a little jittery about the testing that will have to occur for her to get into this program.
Pretty soon I am going to have to send my precious little one into the big, bad world where I have little control...and that scares me a LOT.

I recently finished reading ScreamFree Parenting and what I learned is that to produce self-directed, confident, successful children I need to settle myself down and grow up. For Jack and Samantha to be what I want them to be they need me to operate out of my highest principles rather than my deepest fear. So, if you see me nonchalantly talking to Samantha about all of this, just know that I am crying desperately inside as I don't feel equipped make such hard and life altering decisions for her. Know that I struggle every day to find the right amount of grip to keep on her close to me and protected and still allow her to flourish and grow as God intends for her.

Parenting is HARD work and can be totally exhausting, but I thank God for Samantha and Jack and the things that I learn from them everyday.

Later taters!

It's my potty...

2007-10-26T14:36:00.000-05:00

and we certainly gave it our best shot, but I am thinking he isn't physically ready. His pee pee just trickles out constantly. I probably have at least 12 pairs of his new, cool underwear being washed right now...and that's just from this morning. I wash and dried 4 pairs last night.

We did have some success at getting it in the potty but we definitely had MORE accidents than we had success. We'll see how much stamina I have after nap to see if we continue this craziness.

He was pretty proud after he pottied in the right spot and his reward for getting it in there was a sucker. So, at one point today he had a sucker in his mouth, a jacket with hood in place, underwear (only, no pants), and his green crocs. It was pretty cute!

Days like today are the exact reason I don't keep chocolate around!

I'm off to chill out and relax while the kids are down.

The sweetest babies you have ever seen

2007-10-23T21:01:00.000-05:00

We had the kids pictures made at school a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I would share them here.

Samantha: beautiful as always!

Mr. Jack: not so happy :(

Now, I have already had to buy the prints that I wanted, so the point is probably moot. But still my question remains: what is the standard for buying and sharing picts where one kid is beautiful and the other is a dud?

I have more pics on my camera, but I am just not as dedicated as AJ is, so you'll just have to wait. :)

Later taters!

It's official...

2007-10-11T21:05:00.000-05:00

Amber is the winner! Yeah Amber! Your points are not in the mail, so just go on with your life like you never won anything. :)

Round two:
Moow, meanie, meanie
Every dog, every dog, boo

I'll give you a hint...we went to see the singers in concert. Really, if you get this you get a million meaningless points. Good luck!

The Wilsons play our own version of

2007-10-10T18:23:00.000-05:00

Singing Bee and we wanted to see if you could name that tune based on Jack's version of the song. Here goes:

If you like to smarck with a tatoes,
up and down the pro-juice isle
got a show fa you.

1000 meaningless points to the first correct guess.

My sweet sister-in-law...

2007-10-08T20:57:00.000-05:00

tagged me for a dissertation on "My Man." I couldn't be any more proud to tell you about the man I married! Here we go!

1. Who is your man? Michael

2. How long have you been together? We met the fall of 1995 and have been together since November-ish 1995...you figure it out. :)

3. How long did you date? a little over 3 years

4. How old is your man? 31...have I mentioned that he's older than me! :)

5. Who eats more? In general, Michael. But if we are talking about specific foods (like dessert), I have NO problem holding my own...unfortunately!

6. Who said "I love you" first? Not a clue, but I would guess me.

7. Who is taller? Michael: he's 6' 3" ish and I'm 5' 6" on a good day.

8. Who sings better? Michael. There's nothing more romantic or utterly heart-melting than to hear a man sing to his children.

9. Who is smarter? Michael, in almost every aspect of life, except for fixing things, and then he'd be clueless if it weren't for the internet! :)

10. Whose temper is worse? We are equally bad at this. Although, I will say that we are both making great strides in calming ourselves.

11. Who does the laundry? Me. I think he stopped helping when I mentioned that some clothes needed to be pre-treated prior to washing and drying them. He's pretty good at helping me get them put away though, and that's a big help.

12. Who takes out the garbage? This really is a family project. Either Michael or I get the kitchen bag gathered up and removed, Samantha gets and opens the new bag, places it in and Jack puts the top back on! Michael is as good at taking it out as he is at packing it down so that it will last another day. :)

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? When laying in bed, I'm on the right. But when in a hotel, Michael sleeps between me and the door...whatever side that happens to be.

14. Who pays the bills? Another shared task. 98% of our bills are paid online...the bigger ones like our CC payments he kind of manages and the smaller, dinky ones, I pay.

15. Who is better with the computer? I would say me, just because I had enough hours in college to be a CS minor. Also, part of my job before kids was managing the network/computer/technical side of our business.

16. Who mows the lawn? Michael mows and I weed-eat. Although, I will say I believe I noticed (but didn't say thanks, sorry, Honey) that Michael mowed the entire lawn and weedeated/edged the front yard! Thanks, I noticed!!

17. Who cooks dinner? Mostly me. But on the days that I can tell spending 1-on-1 time with the kids for a prolonged period isn't going to go well, I let Michael cook. I almost always have the supplies and idea ready for him to implement.

18. Who drives when you are together? Michael.

19. Who pays when you go out? The one left at the table.

20. Who is most stubborn? Wow, now that's a hard one, probably me.

21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Michael. We have a "make it right" policy at our house, where we try to avoid saying "I'm sorry." In making it right, you have to ask for forgiveness which can either be granted or denied. It's MUCH easier to forgive and move on when you have previously had grace extended to you!

22. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine...they live 3 doors down from us.

23. Who kissed who first? Michael, and I was dying for him to do it! :)

24. Who asked who out? Michael was sold on the first hello...I on the other hand took a few months longer. We went out on several double dates with our roommates who were pitiful. Somehow, Michael ended paying for all those dates as well! Thank goodness for donating plasma (they paid us money that we blew immediately on our meal)!

25. Who proposed? Michael did. It was quite a surprise to me and unfortunately I had slathered on baby oil or something prior to laying out, which is where he found me.

26. Who is more sensitive? Me

27. Who has more friends? I probably have more friends that I physically see everyday, but we both have about the same amount of virtual friends.

28. Who has more siblings? We each have on brother...mine older, his younger.

29. Who wears the pants in the family? On day to day stuff, me. On larger stuff, I try very hard to leave that to him...I don't want all the responsibility of ruining our lives! haha!

Here are some of my favorite pics of Michael...

This post drives it home again how nice it would be to have a professional family photo!!

"The Mommy/Daddy Difference" and "The Lies We Tell our Children"

2007-09-19T14:08:00.001-05:00

School (a "Mother's Day Out" program at our old church; two days a week) started the first Tuesday in September. Jack is in the "younger two's" class and has made the adjustment quite quickly. Yesterday when I dropped him off there were no tears, and only a little freak out because another kid was screaming her head off. Yeah, Jack. It's working out great: the kids get to be with other kids (not each other), new toys, and Mommy gets to be away for Mommy time. The only problem is at night: every night that it's my turn to put Jack to bed, I have to lie to him, sort of. I guess this is because he's being separated from me during the day...I dunno. But as I lay him down he asks, "Can you sit?" Which means, will you sit in here until I fall asleep? The first week, I was very obliging; I totally got that he didn't want to be left alone after spending the majority of the day away from me. But then when it continued for me (and he's NEVER asked Michael to "sit"), the answer that just flew out of my mouth: Mommy has to go to bed, too. Now he asks me, "Mommy, you go to bed now too?" It's that "now" word that is tripping me up. I am taking it to mean "after I go to bed" not "immediately".

Honestly though, why only ask me? Why not Michael, too? We trade off nights putting each kid down, so every other night he needs someone to sit??? Whassup wit dat???

The other Mommy/Daddy difference is with Samantha. Daddy does the "Super bunny hop" into bed, and it has been requested that I do it. WHAT?? Honestly, after all the fun things I do that he never gets requested to do... Anyway, I averted that one by saying I wasn't as strong as Daddy and couldn't do it as fun as he does.

Finally, after 4.5 years, she asked him last night at the supper table if he could do a "good prayer tonight, instead of a silly one." FINALLY! Mommy measures up! :) Just kidding!

A swimming update...
Jack is now going to swim class without crying and has done the "big slide" (by himself) every time they've offered it to him. Last week he even asked if he could do it again! Go Jackie Boy!

And Samantha! All I have to say is that you have to see it to believe it! She is amazingly fast and it getting so coordinated in the water. It's a beautiful site! She probably swam 4-5 laps today: freestyle and back stroke. They're also working on the butterfly and on breast stroke. I am WAY thinking that next summer she's going to be on (and love) swim team.

School update...
We've picked a school for Samantha to go to...now all we have to do is have her tested (I feel certain that she can pass any thing they throw at her, for heaven's sake she's reading already and their goal is that she be reading by the end of Kindergarten) and win the lottery (if there are more candidates that pass the test, than spots then they determine the winner by lottery). The process starts in November so we still have plenty of time.

We've checked out the school and it looks GREAT! Test scores are amazing, it is diverse and it's close to our house. When we mentioned it to a friend who's a teacher in a neighboring district, he raved about it for 5 minutes and said they moved into the neighborhood so that his kids could go to that school specifically.

Guess that's about it. Later taters!

A little rant...

2007-09-05T13:05:00.000-05:00

There's this woman and her child that attend swim class at the same time as me and my kids. This is the third week that I have seen the mother do the most infuriating thing: give her kid TWO lollipops out of the basket (each kid is supposed to get one) because the kid screams and cries when she "tries" to give her one. Today the thing that made me most aggravated was that the mother looks around at all the rest of us (mothers who have kids with ONE pop) and starts asking what to do. One woman says, "Just don't give her another" and I say, "In my house if one isn't good enough, you don't get any." For about 10 seconds she takes the one lollipop away from her (which makes more crying...DUH), and then proceeds to ask the lifeguard to get her another pop so that she'll quit crying. HELLO?! Anyone home??? Why should your kid ever quit crying for two, if you're only going to give her what she wants? Is that your job in life, to give her whatever she wants, 'cause Life isn't always going to give her what she wants, and your job is to train her to survive Life away from you? Are you really giving her a fair shake?

AND what if we all gave our kids two pops? Swim club would then have to buy TWICE as many as they do now; not a big deal in the big scheme of life, but seriously, get a back bone, Lady.

And (hopefully the last thing), think outside the box, Lady! Don't force swim club to provide for your inability to make the rule stick: bring her a pop from your own house. And one way to break her of this is to leave the lollipop in the car and she gets it when she gets there. Truthfully I could go on, but the key was that she doesn't get told "No" at home, so why work on the lollipop issue if you aren't going to work on the whole balleywick?

p.s. Jack went to swim class by himself today and went down the big slide!!! (but I missed it because I was trying to get their other swim class scheduled, so so sad!) He did great as far as I could tell. I did hear some crying, but it was more fussing than screaming crying. Yeah Jack!

The Lord Jesus Christ

2007-08-29T08:29:00.000-05:00

For several weeks Samantha and Jack have been leading our prayer for supper, most of the time it's a chain prayer minus the chain. Samantha has added two different and cute phrases into hers and Jack is now copying Sissy. "Thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ" and "Thank you for this food that nourishes our bodies." Thank goodness she doesn't say "Father God" otherwise you all might think we've become Baptists! :)

Not until yesterday were we really ready for school to start. I don't know what changed, but I felt like it happened for both Samantha and me. We've had a really good summer together, but now it's time for Mommy to have a little Mommy-time and Sissy to have some Sissy-time.

Insurance
Until yesterday, I was fighting charges on Jack's medical bills from the intusesseption back in April. I finally got someone to tell me what two charges were, they had different (but similar) names cost the same. Come to find out we paid $567 for Barium and $567 for the Enema...for three vials of barium we paid $567. I find that to be excessive especially since on the 2nd time we had the procedure it was done with air which thankfully cost us nothing (the air, that is). So, yesterday I was ALL HOT and BOTHERED, until it dawned on me that we had charges well over our deductible (amazing considering how high our deductible is) so we would have paid that money anyway, whether it was for Barium or Doctors or Medicine, it's still $$ out of our pocket. So I have officially relented and am going to leave this topic alone until next year when we have to start our deductible again.

Books
I recently finished "The Kite Runner" and I really enjoyed reading it. The subject matter was tough for me, but seeing the main character find redemption was rewarding. It taught me some more about Middle Eastern culture...of which I know very little.

Now I've moved on the Harry Potter -- The Half Blooded Prince so that I can remember what happened before I move on to the final book. Michael got book 7 for his birthday, but if he doesn't get busy reading it, I'll have to steal it off his nightstand!

Praying, part deux
Baby Ethan seems to be struggling pretty good right now. If you pray, would you please include him in your prayers.

Later taters!

Conversations

2007-08-20T20:43:00.000-05:00

We've been using the "naughty place" (thank you Super Nanny) with Jack for several months now, but lately we've not been getting the correct answer for "Why did you go to the naughty place?" His de facto answer is, "Because I scream at Mommy/Daddy."

Tonight the offense was drinking the bath water. He'd been told MULTIPLE times to stop doing it and he kept after it. So, Daddy pulled him out of the tub and Mommy rinsed his head in the shower (not his favorite). After rinsing, we (mainly I) was trying to discuss with Jack why he'd been pulled out of the tub. He gave his standard answer (because I scream) and I informed him that it was not that, but that he kept drinking tub water. He looked at me dead in the eye and said, "Dat's not fa-ir." How I kept it together after that I don't know, but we finished the talk with no laughing outbursts and he got a drink of water out of the CLEAN cup from the sink.

The other conversation that we've been having lately is about monsters under the bed...thank you Chick-fil-a. Chick-fil-a handed out the "Junie B. Jones and the Monster Under Her Bed" audio book. It has become a favorite of Samantha's and although he isn't scared while he's listening to the story it MUST be having an impact on Jack because he mentions it two or three times during the day.

Bless his little pea-pickin' heart!

Our MOST exciting thing coming up is this Sunday we are taking the kids to see The Wiggles concert...and they have NO idea! We're keeping it a secret until after their nap on Sunday (otherwise they'll be unbearable to live with this week). We really have become quite the Wiggles fans lately. This summer we have purchased 3 music cds and 1 (soon to be two) DVD. I am thinking I'll be figuring out a dog bone for Wags and roses for Dorothy undercover this week. Should be fun!

Gotta run! Later taters!!

Cool calendar sayings

2007-08-12T15:49:00.000-05:00

Michael buys me a daily calendar for my kitchen every year at Christmas. This year's calendar was about being a mom. I have trouble keeping up with it everyday, so once or twice a month Michael will tear off a bunch, leaving the good ones for me to read. The last "catch-up day" I had the honors of selecting the ones I liked the most and I thought I would share them with you.

***********************************
There's no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one. Jill Churchill
******

Phyllis Diller claims her husband Fang called the hospital to report she was in labor. The nurse asked him, "Is this her first child?" "NO," Fang answered. "This is her husband."
******

One evening, Carly's husband Sean received a phone call requesting he attend an important business meeting the following morning in New York. It meant e would miss their daughters Tali's soccer game. He quickly packed, kissed Carly and their sleeping seven-year-old goodbye, and drive to the airport. The next evening, Sean, who was the volunteer assistant coach, called to find out how Tali and her team did. With Carly and Tali on the phone, they told him the team had won. Sean said, "I'm sorry I couldn't be there." Tali replied, "That's okay, Daddy. I told the team that you left us in the middle of the night."
******

There is a power that comes to women when they give birth. They don't ask for it, it simply invades them. Accumulates like clouds on the horizon and passes through, carrying the child with it. Sheryl Feldman
******

When asked what love is, six-year-old Clare said, "It's when Mommy gives Daddy the biggest piece of chicken, and he gives her the biggest piece of chocolate cake."
**********************************

Hope these give you a chuckle and/or a bit of inspiration for the week ahead!

Bronchitis, vacation, and allergies

2007-08-02T08:02:00.000-05:00

Well, it's official: all the coughing and fever at the lake is indeed bronchitis. Tuesday night I started running fever for the second time (it had been a week since I ran it the first time) and was informed that if I didn't agree to go willingly to the after hours clinic that I would be hogtied and forced to go by the three adults surrounding me. Needless to say, I went willingly.

The triage nurse said, "I can hear you wheezing from over hear!" and last night as I was laying in bed Michael could hear the paper-crunching noise emitted as I breathed. Apparently, I really was/am sick! Who woulda thought!? :)

VACATION
Can I just say that we had the most wonderful time on vacation? The only glitch we as a family unit experienced was Jack's sleep disturbances. Not sure why, but he would wake up and cry out for any number of things: Mommy, Daddy, Sissy, etc, etc. And he would do it for hours!

We've discussed several times: "What was your favorite part?" and I think my absolute favorite part was seeing Samantha enjoy the lake so much. Once she figured out that her life jacket was going to keep her afloat, she must have jumped off the dock into the water 100 times. She loved it! And she was totally set to try tubing behind the boat, but the water was too choppy that evening and it was our last night together so we'll have to try it another time. I LOVE to see her so brave and trying new things especially in the water as it is a pretty big fear of mine.

AJ has all her pictures already up, but I am not nearly as fast as she is. They are downloaded and edited on the desktop, but I am stuck on the couch with my laptop (that bronchitis thing ,you know). Pictures will come soon, I promise!

ALLERGIES
Tuesday morning was a "testing" appointment for Samantha to look at Fall allergies, and things she tested negatively to last time, and things like cats and dogs. She tested positive for quite a few airborne allergies, cats, and a major one (that she was negative on at 2 years old) was dust mites. He was fairly concerned about her being on the "allergic march" from food allergies, to airborne pollens to respiratory trouble like asthma. But since she's only had one ear infection in two years and no other respiratory illnesses, he was encouraged NOT to put her on the weekly immuno therapy shots.

The kicker of the entire appointment came when Doc casually mentioned her being off her Zyrtec for the testing and I freaked out...I had totally forgotten to discontinue use of her meds. So, let me connect those dots for you: she had major reactions to several things WHILE she's taking her allergy medicine (an adult dose), which should have knocked everything down and suppressed any reaction. It was really sad for me to figure out how allergic she is; I had tears in my eyes for the rest of our discussion.

The other big thing of this appointment was how brave she was. She cried as the nurse scratcher her back and poked her arm, but she NEVER tried to pull away from me and she only screamed once or twice. Once the scratching/poking was done she stopped crying and we went on to watch the movie she'd picked out. She's an AWESOME girl!!

Think that's all from here for now!

Later taters!

And another thing

2007-07-01T22:32:00.001-05:00

We went back for the one month check-up with Samantha's allergy doctor and the news on peanuts was not good. They did a blood RAST test which measure allergies on a one to six scale. I am putting a couple of things together when I tell you this, but they count "things" in your blood and the number of things makes you either a one, two, three, etc. But they stop counting at 100, that's too high to count and you are REALLY allergic if they get to 100. Well, guess what? Samantha's a six on peanuts, and they stopped counting at 100. Wooopppeeee! Her levels for pecans and walnuts (tree nuts) was a five. Another wooopppeee!

We're going to do another round of scratch testing (where they literally scratch her back with something that has the allergen on it; nice, huh?) in a month to see where she is with the cats (if they are causing any problems they are Gandhi; just like last summer when we thought they had given Jack cat scratch fever)and some pollen things she didn't respond to last time (when she was two). This should be suuuupppper fun now that she's four. Can you hear the excitement in my voice!?

Bless her little pea picking heart! I really feel terrible for her, but truthfully she's doing great on her Zyrtec and really she isn't a sickly kid. She just has a super hyper vigilant immune system, which messes with her skin.

Oh yeah....I turn 30 this month! AAAAKKKKKKK!!!!

Remember when I said...

2007-07-01T22:11:00.001-05:00

I'd bitten off more than I could chew with working and 2 weeks of VBS? Well, I was right--it was too much for all of us. Ends up we've ALL been sick at some point the last two weeks. Nice. Both kids with fever (Jack doing his best to get it REALLY high again), Michael and Jack with snots, mom and kids with tummy troubles, blah, blah, blah. The good news is that I play a pretty cool camel and that we're headed out of town this week to go visit the Great Grandparents in Arkansas.

The first two nights of the camel puppet were downers because you couldn't hear me...not because my mouth isn't big enough, there were just too many kids and the microphones weren't working. But once we got that worked out, nights three and four were a hoot. Spitting and everything. Amy (their children's minister) and I make a really good team. Can I tell you that I miss my friends, my sisters and my brothers at that church? I do like where we are, and I am certain that in time I will grow to love them like I do West U, but I'm not there, yet.

I think Jack is playing the part of a two year old QUITE well. All in one breath he can yell, "I want applejuice; I don't want applejuice; I want applejuice!!!" The cool thing is that there's no response needed from me...I can't get a word in edgewise.

We are learning to use manners when requesting something (he's always been good at saying "thank you").

The "bad pwace" is a nice tool in my tool belt: after he's finished he can TOTALLY tell you why he was put in there: "Because I scream at Mommy" or "Because I hit Sissy and no say I sorry."

He's the sweetest little critter on the planet, but I am certain that Michael is ready for us to do some travelling, 'cause when he's home Jack sticks to him like glue!! Super glue at that.

Well, it's super late and I have a ton to do tomorrow to get us ready for our trip. If you pray, please remember Michael's grandmother as she's having knee replacement surgery tomorrow, pray for Ethan Powell, Bob needs a job (I haven't forgotten that you haven't responded to my tag, yet) and for the sickies in Houston! :)

Later taters!

I've been delayed...

2007-06-08T16:59:00.000-05:00

Well, my mother-in-law tagged me which means that I have to now post seven things you may not know about me. I've been delayed in posting this for two reasons (1) I've been REALLY busy with the aforementioned teaching and VBS'ing (2) I'm pretty sure there's nothing that you don't already know. :) But I am going to give my best shot, because I promised Michael I would tag him and he's nagging me about it! hahaha! Just kidding, he did take some playful pot shots at me though!

When I grow up I want to be a Certified Nurse Midwife/Fitness Expert or at the least a REALLY good doula. I really REALLY believe in the power of a woman in her body and in her spirit. A bumper sticker that I saw in my midwives' office sums it up pretty well for me: "Women of earth, take back your birth." I truly believe God created us to be strong and courageous and he programmed our bodies to do what HE created it to do. In my old age (hehe), I am becoming less and less judgemental and more and more determined to make myself fully educated on this topic so that I can educate others. It inspires me! :)
I TRULY enjoy taking long road trips with my children. Don't get me wrong, there are some hairy points in every trip, but I love that I get to show them their world.
Home to me is where my family is. I live three doors down from my parents and I live in the same house as the other "Michael Wilsons." In the four years that we have lived in this house, I have painted (count it with me now...) ONE wall. I have hung some pictures and curtains (where necessary), but I look around and see how (relatively) quickly we could leave here and go to some other home and I would be perfectly happy...'cause I am with my home when I am with Michael, Samantha and Jack.
I have AWFUL washing machine karma. I've been the owner of a washer and dryer set for 4 years (exactly four years ago this month we moved in here! cool!) and I've already had to completely replace one washer. The BRAND SPANKING NEW ONE that we bought in February is already crapping out on me! And here's the nuttiest part...it's the exact same problem (the timer isn't advancing) as the other machine. Truthfully, we are wondering if there is something in the electrical outlet that is shorting it out or something.
In high school, I was the manager and statistician of the varsity volleyball team. I really wanted to play and the P.E. coach talked me into trying out for the team, but when I went it was OBVIOUS to me and her that I wasn't even close to being able to compete with these girls so she asked me if I would be their manager. My parents were cool with it, so I said yes. It was a REALLY awesome time for me as I had just broken up with a long term boyfriend and had virtually NO other friends. I felt extremely out of place, but the girls were sweet and accepted me as much as I put myself out there. I got to letter two years in a row because I was the manager.
I was born in Westin, West Virginia and my mom says that I was the only good thing to come out of W. Virginia...she's a southeast Texas girl through and through. :)
I LOVE to do "projects." The first project I really remember having a major part in was rebuilding what would soon be my first vehicle: a wrecked (by my older brother) Chevy S-10 pickup truck. Craig wrecked it the winter of 1992 (I think) and it sat in my parents drive way until the spring when Dad decided that he and I should fix it up for my first car. It was a stick shift and I was SUPER cool 'cause I could drive it pretty well! :)

Whew! I can't believe I actually came up with seven...hopefully some of them are a suprise to some of you???

Now comes the fun part: Michael and Bob you're IT!

Doctors

2007-05-24T15:06:00.000-05:00

What a day! What a day! Samantha has pretty yucky allergies...like she'll claw off her feet when they get fired up. Well, we ran out of the Rx hydro cortisone cream so off we went to the Allergy Doc today to get a refill (we hadn't been in 15 months so they wouldn't call one in for us). He wasn't really thrilled to see us in that her allergies aren't getting any better and when they don't grow out of them it generally turns to asthma and starts internalizing and affecting the pulmonary system...not news the mommy wanted to hear. We're going for a blood test this afternoon so that we can start monitoring the levels of her allergies for future reference.

We came home with Zyrtec twice a day (an adult dose), two different creams (one for her face and one for her body) and one more over the counter, general body cream. Yikes!

The good news: "God protects the children" the doctor said. That was in reference to her reaction to nuts; he said that the life threatening responses don't normally start until around twelve--until then they normally throw it up and break out in hives. Another good thing is that since Jack decided to get intasesseption twice and stay overnight at TCH we've met our deductible for the year so the entire rest of the year is covered for all of us...Rx and Doctors! YAHOOO!

Michael also got good and bad news yesterday on his eyes. His right eye is still very dry and made no progress this last month, so they (the doctor who did the lasik surgery) referred him to the dry-eye specialist in Houston. Lucky for us our health insurance will cover it so we are definitely going to take them up on this new treatment plan.

Finally on the doctor front, Jack's "puncture wound" bill came in and the Doctor's visit alone was $126!!! That was ONE HUNDRED TWENTY SIX DOLLARS for 5 minutes and half of that time was spent filling out paperwork. It took literally 1 minute to put the Dermabond on and I think it took one and a half minutes for the nurses and I to blow his head dry. Dude...that's a lot of money for $126...so I called them today to see if they'll reduce it. I have my fingers crossed.

Well, that's been my day...how's yours?? :)

Where's Redwifey?

2007-05-23T08:18:00.000-05:00

Well, a lot of places actually! Sorry it's been so long since I've blogged...it's been a bit more nutty than usual. In late April, I agreed to teach the two year old class at the Mother's Day Out where Samantha and Jack attend. My friend, the Director, was in a bit of a pinch and made a desperate call asking me to finish the school year out for her. She's pulled me out of a few pinches so I immediately said yes. Yesterday was the last day of school, and I was glad for that.

The trick is that before I agreed to teach in May, I agreed to teach in the summer program. It's only three hours a day instead of five like the normal school year. This works out a lot better for me because I can come home and catch a few minutes of Mommy-time while the kids are resting. All of this works out to mean little to no Mommy time this summer, but Michael's taken care of that already!

I got the BEST Mother's day present I've ever gotten: a four day trip by myself to my best friends house in Arkansas!!! I'm saving it for the end of June (I think) after VBS is over. Which leads me to my next topic: VBS.

I am currently heavily involved in our new church's VBS planning (as in I got the curriculum for them from our old church and now I'm helping them implement it) and in our old church: they have a puppet show at the end and I'm the puppet. Last year I was a fish puppet and this year I'll be a camel. Oh yeah, I found out yesterday, that I'll be in the two year old class with Jack at our old church. Ohhhhh doggy!

I may have bitten off a little more than I can chew, but at least I have a wonderful husband that has agreed that our Maria (my house cleaner and my sanity saviour) can come weekly and not bi-weekly. Thank you Michael!!!!!

Oh yeah! We also had Michael's family two weekends in a row. It was GREAT to have both of them (Grandparents and Parents) in our home. We don't have a ton of room in our home, but we squooshed everyone around and no one slept on the floor so I think it was doable for the weekend?

This past Monday, I took the kids to get their teeth cleaned...there was plenty of crying and pinning Jack down, but we got the job done...and afterward they were beggggging to go swim at the Y. So, in my best flexible-let's-have-fun-Mom voice I said, "SURE!" and I can tell you that we will definitely be doing that again. It was SSOO fun, and Samantha had the best spirit when we had to leave. I was super-duper proud of her.

Well, we're back in the pool today for swim class, so I've gotta get ready and packed. Later taters!!

More on Jack's sleeping

2007-04-28T20:23:00.000-05:00

Jack's sleeping has definitely improved. I am not sure if he was feeling bad before we left for our LR trip, but he sure sleeping HORRIBLY! But since he's gotten over this virus we are MUCH improved. He generally is still waking up in the morning a little early, but we have a system now: I go in (and if he's not poopy) I cover him back up and sit in the recliner that's in there and we both go back to sleep. Sometimes he asks: "Mommy, can you help me?" and holds his blanket up for me to cover him. It is the sweetest sweetest thing!

One hospital story that I haven't shared, that has shaped my thinking some is that he fell asleep in his hospital bed all by himself FOUR different times during the night that we were there. I wasn't touching him and wasn't very close to the crib. I was in the chair next to him, and he could see me, but we were certainly separate.

That really proved to me that he knew how to go to sleep on his own, but something was definitely bothering him at home. I think the ceiling fan blowing on him might have been making him stuffy and sleeping with his mouth open, thus slobbering allllllll over his bed and waking up in a pool of wet: YUCK! I wouldn't like that either.

The other thing that has kept him in his own bed is that in Little Rock, when he was waking and crying 3-4 times a night, we put him in our king sized bed and he continued to cry. So that meant to me that something else was wrong and I just hadn't put my finger on it. Especially since we don't have a king bed at home, we certainly don't have room in our bed. ;)

All of those different things have led me to these conclusions:

When Jack is well, he sleeps well. When he doesn't sleep well, I should pay more attention and know that he something is probably up with him.
When Jack wakes up too early in the morning, I can still make it possible for us both to get what we need by sleeping in the recliner. This also helps Samantha get the sleep she needs as we aren't up and around before 7ish. He is progressively getting closer to 7 anyway, so it is working.
Surely he won't be sleeping this poorly in High School, so we just have a few more years left. :)

Anyway, tonight we had a GREAT evening; we went to the park and had a picnic supper with ice cream to follow. It was super.

Later Taters!

On motherhood

2007-04-24T12:09:00.000-05:00

It is an interesting beast; it's so amazing how in one day you can go through sooo many different emotions (worry, intense worry, angry on their behalf, pain, relief, joy, exhaustion) about the same people. It's quite the roller coaster...until you decide to get off. Every once in a while, I just jump off the coaster for my own sanity's sake...the stability of being in the middle emotionally is a blessing and it comes only by choice. Thankfully the crisis for our family seems to be subsiding, although Michael is revving things up at work so that will bring a whole new bucket of worms to sort through. But Jack's not running fever any more, he just didn't get there soon enough to go to school today...I'm hoping for Thursday.

FEVER
Fever is not a problem...it's a good thing. It indicates that your baby is fighting some bug or illness which is good: that's what we want. After a discussion with my pediatrician yesterday, I've boiled fever down to this: how does my baby feel when the fever comes down? If he's still lethargic and complaining of pain then we should see the doc, otherwise it's best to let the body do it's thang.

WOUNDS
I am brand new to the world of wound care. It seems as though if the sides of the wound are "approximate" (this apparently is the technical term for whether or not the skin is touching) and it stops bleeding then no sutures are necessary (maybe?). But if they are not approximate then sutures or Dermabond are needed.

We needed Dermabond yesterday for the first time: Jack fell of our bed and konked his melon on the corner of Michael's nightstand. I think the thing that got Jack most mad was that the wash rag fell over his face while I was stopping the blood.

SLEEP
Here's the ultimate question: why does my kid wake up and not go back to sleep? Dr. Ferber talks a lot about sleep associations and as MUCH as I try not to let Jack fall asleep on me I think he's still doing it and this maybe why he's having trouble. He's taking CRAZY short naps after having a hard night the night before. I also know that sleep begets sleep, so I've been trying to help him finish his nap so that the nights aren't so hard, but I think I maybe just throwing fuel on the fire.

For a while, I think I am going to try modify our routine and see if I can't help him fall asleep in his bed and not on me (or Michael).

Old routine: Lamp on for books, Light off for songs and rocking, then he used to say "I Ready" and we'd lay him down, but I think he's just falling asleep while rocking.

New routine: Lamp on for books, and songs. Little to no rocking. Hugs and kisses, then laying him in bed.

It really isn't that different, but if I can make a little change and get a big result I am all for that! :)

READING
"Mommy, what does that sign say?" I am hearing this more and more. I am pretty sure that in a month she'll pick up a simple book and starting reading (not memorizing books like she's done for four years) to herself. It's amazing to watch her work!!

Gotta run!

Jamie

Whew...it's been so long, I almost forgot my login!

2007-03-28T13:21:00.000-05:00

Just kidding! Sorry it's taken sooo long to write an update.

We've been to RoRo and PawPaw's house and to Sea World since I've written. Both were great trips! The kids are really getting used to traveling and I think they are enjoying it as much as I am. We did take Daddy on our Sea World trip (since he booked it, it was the least we could do! :)), and we certainly did it in style. Friday evening we got to eat RIGHT BESIDE the killer whale pools. It was awesome!!!! The have a platform (don't ask me how big, I'm terrible at that) where the KW's (did you know they are really dolphins????) would swim up and "slide out" of the water so we could see them...absolutely amazing. Michael has all the pics on his computer and will post them soon. So, Friday we opened and closed the park and the kids were great...Jack napped in the sling and Samantha just trudged right along. What troopers!

Saturday was another early start, 8 am and we toured the park with a guide and saw and did all kinds of things: fed dolphins, sea lions, and sting rays; petted wallabies, lizard-things, sharks, dolphins, etc, etc, etc. Super fun, but the kids were done before the tour was done so it got a bit icky at the end, but oh well.

The one thing we learned from this trip is that Samantha is a roller-coaster MANIAC! Our tour passes enabled us to go up the exit side to ride rides, so she and I rode the "Texas Splashdown" and I was more scared than she. Although, I will have to say that park of my fear was because of my own stupidity...she climbed in the back of the boat all by herself and I let her stay there. So the whole time she's back there riding (having the time of her life) with no seat belt and I am scared to death that my four year old is going to let go and fly out. Not one of my brighter "Mommy moments" to say the least.

Lastly, here's a link to my newest, favoritest songs: Natasha Bedingfield's Unwritten.

We made it!

2007-03-12T22:41:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to say I have awesome kids! We (the three of us) left Houston at 4 am and rolled into Grandparents house in KS at 5:30 pm. No stops after lunch except to pee-pee in the grass (she totally freaked, but then realized her choices so we made it through...now she's soooo proud!).

Thanks, Dora and Nemo...you were a BIG help today! :)

Later taters!

Closer...

2007-03-03T21:55:00.000-06:00

Well, we aren't totally better, but by the end of the night I could say, I think he is feeling better. Some toast and tortilla for supper and nothing before that...should be interesting to see what time he gets up to eat in the morning! I should WAY go to bed now! :)

Later!

Better so far!

2007-03-02T09:12:00.000-06:00

Well, he had a great night's sleep and has kept all of the Pedialyte down that we've given him. Somehow after all that throwing up he did yesterday, he had a pee-pee diaper this morning. Amazing!

He's already back to bed, so I am hoping that he'll have a great day of lots of naps. I think that will really help.

Daddy stayed home today, so he and Samantha are going to have a great Daddy/Daughter day. Yeah for them, but I'm a little jealous! :)

Later taters!

Sick again...

2007-03-01T21:05:00.000-06:00

But at least it's something new, right? Now the boy has a stomach virus, but luckily (as the nurse pointed out tonight) he's throwing up and not having diarrhea, which is MUCH harder to control and cure. I have to agree with her, but when he's crying, punching, pulling hair and yelling, "I wunt drink!" it's very hard to resist giving him what he wants.

I think this evening he was just so tired that any movement just sent him into another episode of vomiting, so I just got his jammies on as quick as I could and laid him straight down. He didn't mind at all.

Samantha is in our room on her special blue bed so we'll see if any of us get any sleep tonight. I can still hear Samantha up in our room movin' and a groovin'.

Later taters!

Monday tid bits

2007-02-26T21:34:00.000-06:00

This weekend we made a very large and very unexpected purchase...a whirlpool cabrio washing machine. Our still-very-new front loader had a computer relay die and so we would have had to replaced a $450 motor/computer for a $475 washer. The Cabrio was NOT what we were looking for when we went, but it seemed to make sense for the long term. So far we like it!

Jack's new stuff: "Was your name?" "Who's dat?" "Wha she say?" The last two are after I get off the phone with someone. Also, this is completely new to us and I am not sure where he heard this, but the phrase is "I not a BABY!" and he says it with such feeling that you really feel like he's been offended by whatever you did. Sometimes he uses it at appropriate times, like at the supper table if I hand him a bite instead of letting him get it himself, but sometimes he doesn't use it appropriately so I am not sure if he has any clue as to what he's saying.

Samantha is fascinated with helping Mommy fold clothes. Today it was Jack pajama pants that we worked on and she did great after I figured out that she needed to lay it down on the floor so she could see what she was doing. And she's working on getting things on hangers and hanging them in her closet. She's excellent at putting away...so overall she is an awesome laundry helper and now that I have a reliable washer we should put a major damage in the laundry category.

Yesterday I got hit with some sort of stomach bug. It really knocked me on my booty: major body aches and they tingley feeling when your skin just hurts. Today wasn't soo bad although I felt so sore in my torso that you'd have thought I spent the day throwing up. It was such a BEAUTIFUL day that we went to the zoo with our friends from church and had a wonderful time looking at snakes, baby giraffes and elephants, and fish. I didn't overdue it today, but I certainly was grateful for the 2 hour nap the kids took! :)

That's all for tonight! Later taters!

For fear of being flogged with a wet noodle...

2007-02-07T20:56:00.000-06:00

...I'm going to blog. Thanks AJ for the kick in the pants!

Traveling
This spring and summer is shaping up to be quite the traveling time for us. The kids and I drove to NW Arkansas for our nephew's two year old birthday. We had an AWESOME time together with Michael's family. Probably the second best thing of the whole trip was spending the night in Dallas at an Embassy Suites...thanks again, Uncle Matt!!! It was an amazing hotel...so much so that we had to take a walk around (9:00 p.m.) and see the fish ponds and "Ooooh" and "Ahhh" appropriately. It was fun!

The kids have spring break March 12-16th so we are planning on driving to KS City to visit RoRo and PawPaw (Michael's folks). The following week we'll go to San Antonio for our first "Just the four of us" trip...we are headed to Sea World and we're going to get to feed the dolphins, have a special pre-open tour, and we're going to eat beside the whales one night for dinner!!

Then our fitness forum is having a summit in April in Little Rock. May will take Michael away from us for a trip to Myrtle Beach to play golf with work buddies. June will leave us at home, and then in July we're going on the Wilson's 29th annual family vacation in Osage Beach, MO.

Wow! That makes me tired just typing all that!! Thank goodness for the DVD players that we bought for the van at christmas!!!

Julian
On the baseball batting cages of Westbury high school, sits gang graffiti. It hasn't been there 1 day, not 1 week, not 1 month, but VERY CLOSE to 2 MONTHS. I have called 311 (Houston's help center), the school directly-TWICE, and have spoken with one of the Houston ISD police officers about when it will be removed. I have spoken to our city council woman's chief of staff. And still it sits.

I was aggravated before, but since the woman at the school told me that "that student's death hasn't been ruled 'gang related'" I have become quite livid about the whole situation. I am certain that Mr. Ruiz would NOT be pleased at the lacidazical manor that this is being handled in. If need be, I believe that I can call Cynthia Cisneros and maybe she could help me get some attention and focus on this.

Our city council representative was supposed to have a meeting today with Principal Coleman and the police at our neighborhood police store front. Hopefully, I'll hear from her chief of staff tomorrow.

Samantha
Wow! This kid is growing leaps and bounds! The thing that has impressed me most is seeing her calculating certain things in her head. For instance, holding her jacket or backpack she calculates which arm needs to go in which hole for it to fight right. Amazing! I know it seems small, but watching her process the reversing process in her mind is fascinating.

And we've made a decision about what to do for her schooling. We're going to leave her where she is for the 07-08 school year and then in January of 08 we'll start the "Magnet" process to get her into the school that she wants. Whew! This is loads off my mind!!

Jack
The best news about Jack is that he's sleeping again! On our trip this past weekend, he and Samantha had such a good time sleeping side-by-side that I decided to give them a try sleeping together at home. It seems to be working like a charm. His ears are also clear (finally) so sharing a room may have nothing to do with his better sleep...but who's going to look a gift horse in the mouth? Not me! :)

His new favorite thing is "Whas dat?" We are really enjoying teaching him about his world!

The Rodeo
Every year the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo are a HYOOOGGGE event, and it starts next weekend. With the way our kids LOOOVE animals, we'll probably end up buying season passes for Samantha and me (Jack's free) and make it a weekly trip.

People come from all over the country doing "trail rides" and land in our backyard (literally, they stay on the baseball fields behind our house) on this evening. Tonight we took a walk after supper to see the horses and all the people. Needless to say, I think the kids will sleep well tonight!

Well, I think I am working on a blister on my left hand from all this typing, so I am signing off for tonight! :)

Later taters!

Jack's new words/sentances/communications

2007-01-29T21:31:00.000-06:00

"I unt to go." Where, you ask? "Show me," he says as he walks off with a parent in tow.
"Noot naks" = Fruit snacks
"I unt to hold you."
"Coo-Coos" = Blues Clues
"I shoot" and "my turn" all related to "baketball"
"Tratter ride" "Tratter key" = Tractor ride and tractor key

Can I just tell you that I looooove communication? There's just so much more you can do with a kid that can communicate!

Nite-nite!

Samantha's prayers

2007-01-29T21:14:00.000-06:00

Sometimes she says the funniest things and tonight it was this:

"Dear God, thank you for Jack's virus and thank you for medicine that isn't working. Please help it to do something. Amen"

She obviously heard me talking to the doc today, complaining that the decongestant was decongesting anything. She is so observant and very clearly mimics Mommy, some days that is good and some days (today) not so good.

Exercising is really helping me with my mood and confidence. I like to lift heavy stuff...I do it all day with Jack already, but the focused, purposful lifting is rewarding, too.

Later!

Everyone's better! Yeah!

2007-01-15T13:37:00.000-06:00

Jack and I are doing much better (except for the little cold he has)!

Today at swimming (we normally swim on Wednesday, but we've added another class for Samantha so that she can finally clear a hurdle she's been struggling with for a while), Jack saw his Wednesday teacher and kept saying: "I unt bow bubble wit Sondra" and at the end: "Bubble wit Sondra Wedday."

As you can see, he is really talking up a storm. Another popular saying is: "I unt da Mommy/Daddy."

Hope all my friends and family in cyberspace are doing well out there. It's getting cold here! FINALLY!!!

"See ya!" <-- Another new Jack sentance.

Jack's fall

2007-01-12T21:41:00.000-06:00

Well, today at Sam's Jack decided to take a header out of the shopping cart! never again will he ride in the back of the basket; Samantha NEVER rode back there until she was at least 3, and now Jack will be under the same rules. I immediately took him to the Doctor who looked him over good and said he thought he would be ok. We are supposed to keep watch over him for a good 24 hours waking him every 1-2 hours while asleep. We may not do it that often, but we'll definitely be checking in several times. He didn't lose consciousness or vomit which are all really good signs. Here's pics of his boo-boo...we actually didn't see it until bathtime--neither did the doc.

Picture time

2007-01-12T20:59:00.000-06:00

These are from our anniversary on Tuesday:

My work over the past month
These are the new shelves that I put up in our bathroom:

This is the new drawers I put in our upstairs closet. There will be linens in there ASAP!

The following pictures are from the downstairs:
Harry Potter closet

Shelves between two book shelves, they used to be covered with "stuff" that's now located in the Potter closet! Yahoo!

My Sid Dickens tiles; see how odd it looks with the big hole on the right?? :)

I think I've really hurt myself

2007-01-12T07:52:00.000-06:00

Yesterday as I was playing "organizing" in my closet, I bent over to put a drawer in (no worries AJ, pics will be coming soon; thanks for the idea) and it was like my SI joint gave way and I collapsed forward. I didn't fall down, because my gut instinct was to stand straight up and so I did. The pain was over a few seconds after I stood up, but the desire to throw up continued for a few minutes. I was able to move all day and most of the evening, but I got really stiff and sore in bed...the ibuprofen didn't seem to do anything. This morning I'm ok if I don't move...not good seeing as my day job requires constat movement. :)

Hopefully over the weekend it'll get better and I can be back in the gym monday morning! I had been soooo good this week to go and exercise!

Later taters!

Change 12 things and you'll change your life

2007-01-06T15:50:00.000-06:00

Well, I am WELL on my way to changing my life (not that I thought it was bad) after this week. The Container Store puts its elfa storage systems on sale for a while each January and I have been doing serious damage to our bank account there this week! Our "Harry Potter" closet downstairs has had its useless shelves ripped out (I got to do the demolition! woo hoo!) and have replaced them with elfa drawers...MUCH BETTER!!!!! Now we have art supplies drawers, electronic stuff drawers,etc. I love it!

Upstairs has had the following changes:

We're taking out Jack's changing table and I've installed two acryllic shelves to hold diapers/wipes and toiletries.
We've removed the bottom shelf in our hall closet so that the filing cabinet slides back and I can get the vaccum and ironing board in too!
Next for the hall closet is installing a drawer on one of the shelves that will slides out, so that I can store linens and not have to pull all the stuff out to get something in the back.
I installed a new towel hook in the kids bathroom and need to get one more so it will be balanced.
I installed a new hook row of hooks to hang baseball caps.
I bought some hooks for the hats in Samantha's closet.

And I finally hung the Sid Dickens tile that Michael gave me for my birthday (July)! Too bad it left an asymmetrical whole on the wall that's gonna need to be filled! :)

I still have a small list to purchase at the Container Store, but it's small...or maybe medium.

I started exercising again today! Yeah for me! It's gonna take some getting used to for Jack. I gathered that he cried the entire time I was away today--20 minutes. So, we'll just ease back into a routine so that the DOMS aren't too bad for me and the seperation is too bad for him. Samantha loves going to the Y 'cause they have looots of cool dress up dresses.

Kiddos took GREAT naps today so Mommy got some rest too!

Tomorrow, Michael and I celebrate 8 years of marriage. This past year has been the hardest on each of us, but I think our marriage has been better in '06 than any other. Michael, I love you and the family we have created together. I love our life, and everyday I am glad that I chose you. Your humor and smile keep us going when we think we might collapse in tears and your strenght of character is a beauty to behold. Thanks for your loving arms that surround us with grace and mercy and bring us closer to God each day. You're my man and I am so proud of you!

Later taters!

A good team

2006-12-30T21:40:00.000-06:00

Michael and I would like to announce that we have finally become a good team! Yahooo! Just kidding! We just had a really good day and it could have turned out equally as bad--and we were the deciding factor.

Jack was up a 6 (* read: Mommy and Jack were up at 6*) this morning and Samantha decided to join him at 7:15. After two minutes of playing with him, she screams from his room, "Mommy! Jack is awake!" Oh dear! That did NOT make Mommy happy as she KNOWs she is not to go in his room in the morning unless she KNOWs Mommy is in there. And then, to wake Mommy up by screaming at her...NOT GOOD! So, we had a rough start and then at breakfast (her favorite place) she just was irritating us, although not on purpose. So, after fussing at her for a minute, I just looked at Michael and said, "We just need to stand down." I used this terminology because it was fresh on my mind (we watched TWO Battle Star Gallactica episodes last night on DVD) and because I knew she didn't know what that meant, so we could back off without loosing face. Michael heard and agreed and from then on we had a GREAT day!

Jack's new words:

Ba -- Gramps
PLEEEEEEESSSE -- Please, Mommy may I have some gum?
Blue balls -- blueberries
Chair
Hep -- Help
Car wet -- This morning as he was trying to get in his "Cozy Coupe" he looked at me and said this. I was amazed!
Snaak -- Gerber baby fruit snacks
Caker -- Cracker
Saw -- the power tool
Duck
Play
Fie-fiss -- Butterfly
Toothbrush
Flush -- like flush the potty
Dink -- Drink
Hi

That's all I can think of for now. There's nothing really that he can't say...it's just that some things have meaning while others are just repeating the syllables. This is also a stage where he comes to us and takes our hand to show us what he wants! AWESOME!!!

Hope we are able to do something fun outside tomorrow, this crazy "I'm might rain any minute" weather has been tough. Maybe we'll hit their new sand box Santa brought?!!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Later

Tomorrow's gonna be fuuuunnnn!

2006-12-21T21:47:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow is going to be a blast! Here's the schedule: 9:20 Samantha swim class, 9:40 Jack swim class, and 10:30 4 children and 1 adult arrive at the Wilson's for the ULTIMATE play date. Don't ask me what we're gonna do, but it will be fun! That is for sure! You can't help but have fun with 1 five year old, 2 four year olds, 2 two year olds, and Jack! I sure do hope it's pretty outside! :)

Jack is talking up a storm! "Chair" and "Putting" (pudding) are new words. This morning when I told him Daddy was home he spoke an entire paragraph about "My Daddy hum!" It was supppper cute! The sorta bad news is that his bi-lateral ear infection is NOT gone after 10 days of antibiotics, so we got a new one...that's almost gauranteed to upset his tummy! Boo!

So, can I ask WHY would you put a SCARY snow monster in the Rudolph claymation movie??? Samantha was TERRIFIED that this horrible creature was going to eat Rudolph's mommy and daddy. She must have asked Michael the same three questions 1500 times before bed. Luckily I knew the "God is bigger than the boogey man" song from Veggie Tales and we sang that tonight before bed. Bless her heart! I'm guessing there will be no "Polar Express" video after all this year! Now I am worried about taking her to see "Charlotte's Web"...how's she gonna deal with them wanting to eat Wilbur?

I really didn't realize that my four year old would still be so sensitive to movies and visual things. I wonder if Jack will be different?

If I don't get to wrapping soon, I am going to be so tired Christmas morning that I may just sleep while they open gifts! :) Just kidding...but I gotta get started!

Later taters!