Thursday, April 16th

Nothing fancy, just some pictures from today.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from our little egg heads Josh and Kip!



(My grandma made the eggs, including stands and knitted caps, for us.)

Thankful

As many of you know, the 81^st Session of the Texas Legislature is underway. I know this isn’t big news for a lot of people, but just hearing “legislative session’ makes me cringe. I guess that is a bit ironic when you consider that being the team leaders for two different legislative teams at the PUC was what caused Brian and I to finally speak to each other back in 2001. None the less, “session” = suckfest. The automatic worst 6 months of every 2 years. Hate it, hate it, hate it. By the end of May, Brian and I are always at a terribly low point – physically, spiritually, and relationally. And don’t get me started on the impact it has on the kiddos – newborn and all. Whew!

This go round, I challenged myself to change my perspective. Why should I automatically prejudge and focus on all of the “downsides” of session? How is my being bitter and resentful consistent with being Brian’s helpmate? Shouldn’t I be rooting for him during this endurance test? I resolved that this session would be different. I don’t want May to roll around along with my eyes every time I see Brian. It’s not healthy and I’m sure it doesn’t please God one bit.

All though my pregnancy with Kip, Psalm 37 was extra meaningful to me – do not fret. Fretting only leads to evil. I don’t want to fret. I don’t need to fret. I’ve carried that over into this season of “session” as well.

In an effort to help keep my focus positive, I’ve been keeping a list of things that I am thankful for, that encourage me, or remind me that God is helping us. It’s amazing what a change of perspective can do for the soul. I’m not 100% in my resolution, but I am moving in the right direction. Here’s what I have on my “thankful” list so far (in no particular order):

One cold and rainy day it was necessary that the boys and I go to the grocery store. When we arrived in the parking lot, the closest parking space to the door was waiting for us. We got the same space the next time we went to HEB as well.

The help of a stranger brightens the day. Once, an elderly man waited for me to put the kids in the car and load up my groceries, and then he took my cart for me. I naturally assumed he was going into the store. Nope. He put the cart away, walked to his car, and drove off. When we took our car in for a hail damage estimate, two men went inside the hail damage estimate location to ask a question to ensure that I was in the right place before I parked and took the kids out of the car.

When our water heater had a gas leak, we were able to get it repaired quickly. When the plumber arrived to install the new water heater, he discovered several things that needed to be changed to bring our 25 year old house up to code. He completed that work and refused to charge me anything above his original quote that only included the new water heater installation. He wanted to keep his word. What an awesome example for our boys to see.

Josh can make Kip laugh and smile like no one else can.

My wardrobe contains hand me downs from no less than four friends.

Brian’s late nights at the Legislature were few and far between during the first 2 months of session.

The boys and I have not been sick with a cold or virus since Kip’s birth despite it being the season for those sorts of things.

Kip sleeps. He gets up to eat, of course, but he always goes right back to sleep. No middle of the night parties for Kipper. Even on his worse "no napping and screaming in pain all day" days, he sleeps come bedtime.

Josh incorporates all aspects of life into his imaginary words. For example, he told me that the Decepticons (Transformers) live in Oklahoma because “Jesus put them there.” How cool that he applies the truth of God as Creator to play. BTW, he says that Jesus is easier to say than God and since God is Jesus and Jesus is God, then he will just call God Jesus. Oh, how do you explain the trinity to toddlers?

Although I loathe playing Transformers, Josh is relentless in including me. He hasn’t given up on me.

Josh says he wishes there were two of me. (I’m taking that as a positive.)

Josh says he needs to keep growing so that he’ll get big enough to hold me. (Should I prepare a mom-sling?)

We have numerous friends who care about us, pray for us, offer an ear to listen, and eagerly help when we humbly admit that we need it.

My dad mows the lawn and cleans up our yard when he visits.

My mom is coming to stay a week with us later this month. Help is on the way!

We seem to have figured out which foods aggravate Kip’s gut. Though it is a laundry list, there are foods that I can eat and he doesn’t scream in pain. I am thankful that we have identified his issue so early, that it can be managed so that his gut can heal, and that I feel really healthy eating the “Kip diet.” As I did with each round of the diabetic diet, I’ve learned more about nutrition, discovered new yummy recipes, and begun cooking from scratch – something I’ve wanted to do but haven’t made time to do. Now it is a necessity. Our whole family is healthier thanks to the path Kip has led us on.

The boys have an awesome pediatrician.

When the HVAC man left our backyard gate open and Shadow ran out, he found Shadow and put her back in…while it was raining.

Josh’s preschool occasionally sends home snapshots of his day.

Josh helps me cook.

Josh sings to Kip, especially when Kip is upset, and Kip loves it!

Kip is generally a smiley baby who doesn’t mind being passed around from one set of loving arms to another.

The hail storm – what a sight to see, none of us were hurt, our insurance claims have been easy to deal with thus far, we’re getting a new roof, the kiddos have been great during the car/house estimate, repair, and contractor appointments thus far. There’s a whole list of praises wrapped up in there.

One day when I was feeling especially in need of some quality one on one time with Josh, Kip and I went to the “farm day” at Josh’s preschool. Kip slept in the stroller under a tree while I was able to get in the caged area with Josh and play around with him alone the entire time.

When I was driving home from an HEB 20 minutes away from our house quite stressed, God heard and answered my prayer. Let me paint the scene for you. Kip was having a food reaction, he had not nursed in 4 hours, and he had a very dirty diaper. Josh pee’d his pants in HEB. Brian’s arrival time that evening wasn’t looking good. The trunk was full of groceries. I wasn’t really sure how to do everything that needed to get done once we arrived home or even what order to do them in. Once home, Kip was asleep in the car and remained asleep long enough for me to get Josh in the bath and the groceries put away. When he woke up I was able to focus on caring for him while Josh played in the tub. Brian made it home just as we were reading Josh’s bedtime story. All was well.

Josh loves his preschool and is busting through his own personal social barriers there. Kip and I can rest and play together while Josh is at school.

Due to the “Kip diet,” we can’t eat out. Nearly every time we’ve tried he’s had a terrible reaction. I confess I have spent a fair amount of time stressed about eating – what to eat, when will I be able to cook it? Even more, how am I supposed to cook from scratch, take care of two kids, keep the kitchen somewhat clean so that cooking is possible, get to the grocery story to get fresh food, and oh, maybe shower every few days? It’s quite the pity party at times. I am thankful that I can recognize and choose to stop the spiraling thoughts. I’m thankful that I make the right choice on an increasingly regular basis. I’m thankful that Brian often cleans while I take a shower or run to the store in the evening.

I’m thankful that 3 and a half only lasts six months until 4 hits. I’m sure Kip’s birth and the change in Brian's work schedule have contributed to Josh’s behavior, but this 3.5 years phase has been a challenge. I could be so insecure if I listened to all of his “advice” on how I “should” do things. Geez!

Sometimes Brian surprises me with breakfast before he goes to work in the morning.

I have been remarkably healthy.

I shouldn't be surprised at the abundant list of blessings, but I am. I'll keep the list going as we press on till the end of May. Sine die, baby!

Brothers

It is certainly not all sweet moments like this one, but it is nice to capture shots like this to look at on the less deliciously candy-coated days.

More than meets the eye

Josh is very imaginative. We spend our days in alternative worlds that he has created. He assigns a role to everyone at our home whether they are eager to participate or not. In fact, I'm a bit concerned about Kip learning his name since he is called Kip just about as much as he is called Jake, Petri, or Ratchet.

This week, we're having a new HVAC system put in. We've has 2 different crews come through installing this and adjusting that. Today, Josh decided that we (Kip, Josh, and I) were Autobots and the 2 men working were Decepticons - Starscream and Lugnut, specifically. For those of you behind in your Transformers knowledge, the Autobots and Decepticons are sworn enemies both trying to find the All Spark, which happens to be hidden in our kitchen.

Since Josh remains fully in character, I feel the need to explain to strangers coming into our home why my son is growling at them and shooting his laser or stinger or whatever his chosen character's special talent is. (I'm already in too deep in this boy stuff!) Today, I casually mentioned what was going on to the workers. One guy understood and laughed (that would be Lugnut), but Starscream wasn't very interested. You should know, Starscream is an African American man of good size.

So, early this afternoon Starscream needed to do something in our kitchen, at which point Bumblebee (that's Josh) yelled, "Oh no, he's gunna steal something in the kitchen." Yelled loudly and clearly. Awesome.

Now, if Starscream had been attentive to our storyline, I wouldn't have been too concerned, but since he wasn't in the know, I immediately feared that he thought my dear 3 year old is a racial profiler. I felt a bit awkward.

Fortunately, I did get the chance to explain the role he was unknowingly playing in our day and thanked him for his hard work. He'll be back tomorrow. Hopefully the Transformers war will rage on without us as we pretend to be dinosaurs or dogs or something.

3 months ago...

Three months ago today, our sweet Kip was born. I never got around to posting his birth story, so here it is. The following talks about my cervix quite a bit, so the "TMI" crowd may want to skip down to the next post.

We arrived at North Austin Medical Center at 6:30am, on Friday, December 19, 2008. It was a cold, foggy and wet morning. We checked in at the front desk and were escorted to admissions. The admissions staff then took us up to the labor and delivery wing. Our induction appointment was at 6:45am, so we had to wait while the nurses changed shifts. I changed into a gown and rested in bed while Brian rested on the couch. We waited and waited and waited.

Our nurse introduced herself, we completed a 3,000 question survey (and commented on the inefficiency of said survey, especially since nearly all of the information had previously been submitted to the OB’s office and during our previous visit to the same hospital a month prior), and an IV was started. It was already 8:30am.

Around 8:40am, our midwife from the OB’s office came by to check on us. She empathized about the hospital’s slow pace and encouraged the nurse to get things moving. The midwife examined my cervix and broke my water. A loose 2cm, 50% effaced, and Kip was at -1 station.

One of the highlights of the induction was the opportunity to get labor started naturally before Pitocin was administered. The midwife planned to return around 11am. Until then, we were encouraged to do whatever we could to get labor started on its own. Brian and I put on our shoes and began walking laps around the labor and delivery wing. We walked and talked and laughed and received comments from the nurses whenever we passed them. Some asked why we were walking; others commented on our fast pace; and still others thought I should be in bed. Every 30 minutes we had to monitor Kip’s heart rate and my contractions for 5 minutes. There were some contractions – most 6 minutes apart – but they were not progressing in strength or consistency. We walked for a couple of hours at which point we decided to stop. I needed to conserve energy to make it through labor, especially since I had been on the diabetic diet for so many weeks and was starting off hungry. We returned to resting in our room. Although labor didn’t begin naturally, I am very thankful that we tried. Walking about with Brian was one of the highlights of the day.

Our midwife was delayed and returned around 12:45pm. We decided to begin Pitocin to help labor progress. She encouraged me to eat some lunch and nap before active labor began. I called room service and ordered chicken noodle soup, cucumber slices, and sugar free Jello. This was identical to my diabetic lunch at least once a week during the pregnancy. The nurse started Pitocin at 1:15pm. After lunch, I got out of bed and swayed and paced as far as the IV and monitor cords allowed so that gravity could help Kip move down.

The contractions began, progressed in intensity, and labor was moving along. I was able to relax through the contractions and enjoyed resting and chatting with Brian and our midwife between contractions. I paced my breathing with the sound of the IV pump. At 3:31pm, our midwife checked my cervix - 4 cm, 90% effaced, and Kip remained at -1 station. She also checked Kip’s position and suggested that I change positions to my hands and knees, leaning on a birthing ball, because Kip was posterior. The midwife, applied pressure to my lower back during contractions. Later, Brian took over. (Thankfully, Kip rolled over prior to his birth.) The contractions kept growing.

Later in the early evening, I switched to a seated position with heat on my back, and our midwife checked my cervix again - 7cm, but able to stretch to 9cm. We were really close. The contractions required a lot of concentration at this point, however, they were only “unbearable” for about 5 seconds during each one, so I counted to 5 in my head whenever we reached that section of a contraction and internally celebrated as each one passed.

At this point I knew that Kip would not be born in time for Josh to come up to the hospital that evening. I was a little sad as it was the first day of Josh’s life that I did not see and talk to him. Brian called my parents and let them know that Josh could go to bed and should plan to meet his brother first thing in the morning. Labor continued.

Up until the last thirty minutes, I was really relaxed throughout labor and carried on a conversation or joked around between contractions. However, once transition hit, I was focused on getting Kip out so that labor could end! When it was obvious that my mood changed, our midwife checked my cervix again – 9 cm with a lip on the top – and felt to see what my cervix and Kip did during the contraction. She could hold the lip of my cervix back and Kip would move down to 0 station during the contraction. I asked her if we could begin pushing and she agreed that everyone could get the room ready and then we could push. I didn’t feel the overwhelming need to push that I experienced during Josh’s birth, but I mentally needed to change my task.

Our midwife manually held the lip of my cervix out of the way for a couple of contractions and then the remaining lip disappeared. Finally, the end was near. As I did with Josh, I couldn’t look. I kept my eyes closed and focused on pushing. Our midwife did an amazing job of directing my pushing – small push, stop, bigger push, stop, another small push….. Fifteen minutes of pushing and baby Kip was born. When Kip was placed on my belly I immediately said, “I’m so glad that is over!”

Kip was born at 7:15pm. Ten hours after my water was broken; six hours after the Pitocin was started. (Josh was born 6 hours and 44 minutes after Pitocin was started.) Kip weighed exactly 7 pounds and measured 19.5 inches long.

With both births, I have been amazed at how quickly the overwhelming, “I think I might die, yes, one more second of this and I will die for sure” pain immediately subsides when the baby is born and is replaced with an overwhelming peace. The contrast is Indescribable. I’ve experienced the same thing when we’ve miscarried. Once the miscarriage is complete, the pain is gone, and it is almost as if a veil is lifted and I can see colors with new brilliance. (Of course, a birth is more satisfying and joyful than a miscarriage.) In my opinion, that peace, a renewed closeness with Brian as a result of our intense team work, and the baby are all prizes for running the race. I consider both birth experiences a gift. I think about them often. I’m amazed at how God designed my body. I’m amazed at how God has used the births to teach me that through Him I am stronger than I perceive myself to be, that the pain and difficulty of circumstances on earth are temporary, and that hard work often returns great joy. Praise God for using these experiences to add to our joy and wisdom and hopefully further mold us into His Son’s image.

The boys

Here's a few pictures of the boys from the last couple of months. You may have to turn your head on a few. I haven't flipped them.

Preschool Birthday Party

Although on "spring break," Josh played with some of his preschool friends today at a birthday party. It was a great chance for me to meet some of the other parents and to watch Josh play with his friends. A few of the families attend our church, but are in a different Sunday school class. Who knew? Seriously, isn't the picture of him holding hands with his friends shocking? Very cool! True to form, Kip slept through the party.

what's going on?

I need sleep far more than I need blog posts, but I thought I'd quickly share some of the goings on around here.

Josh LOVES preschool. He goes two days a week but asked if he could go everyday. Yes, I am that boring. There are 11 other kids in Josh's class. Each child has a numbered cubby. Not surprisingly, Josh has memorized each kid's cubby number. This morning when I dropped him off, a little girl walked past us and Josh said, "Mom, there's #9." No Josh, her name is Cora. We're all excited that he enjoys his class and is socializing with the kids more each week. The downside to preschool: Josh misses his brother.

Today I asked Josh to explain to Kip how he will get teeth. Josh told Kip that someone will take their teeth out and bring them to Texas and put them in Kip's mouth. Clearly, my dad's mom's dentures made a lasting impression on Josh.

Yesterday Josh asked me why Jesus had to die and if he was one of the mean people who made Jesus die. Wow. It was a cool discussion that I hope will be continued. I'd love to know how he processes it all.

Kip isn't sleeping in his reflux contraption anymore. He likely doesn't have reflux at all (yay!), but instead had refluxish symptoms caused by protein intolerance. It seems Mr. Kip can't digest certain proteins right now - he should outgrow it. I've removed dairy, eggs, and soy from my diet, which has helped and will need to remain out for at least 4 more months, but there is more in my diet that is causing him trouble. The pediatrician (per the GI doctor) advised me not to investigate the "other" too much as it often results in malnourished and depressed moms. I can soooo see that in just our few short weeks of food journaling. I think all our babies should have the middle name "trouble." Or maybe "mystery."

Kip recovered from his vaccinations. After a 6 hour nap on Sunday afternoon he was all smiles again. So, I'm smiling again, too.

Brian is surviving the session. He's sitting in hearings, analyzing bills, wearing a suit everyday...ya know, making sausage. We all look forward to June.


Oh, the baby calls.

sweetness

Since getting his 2 month vaccines, Kip has been fussy. Not the mild fussiness that the papers that the nurse hands you warn about, but nearly non-stop crying if he is awake fussiness. He does quiet down for short intervals when he naps or we temporarily find the right balance of patting, pacing, and swaying. I'm sure it will pass.

This afternoon, as I held a crying Kipper, Josh came over and said, "Kip, you can always ask God to help. Just say, "God, please help me stop crying" and He will help you." Then Josh put his hand on Kip's head and said the above request for him. (Josh has a certain way of making Kip "talk.")

What a sweet lesson for him to teach his brother. How awesome to see that Josh has the confidence that he can always ask God for help. It was a nice moment in the midst of a trying couple of days.

Misnomer

For the past several weeks, we have referred to Kip as "Kippopotamus." He surprised us with his weight gain every time we took him to the doctor's office. Well, when you look at the record books, it seems he isn't so big after all.

Kip at 2 months:

11lb, 13 oz (4lb, 13 oz gain from birth)

22.25 inches

Head is 75^th %

Josh at 2 months:

12lb, 14 oz (6lb gain from birth)

23.5 inches

Head is 75^th %

Kip is indeed the "little" brother. I suppose an apology is in order. Sorry Kip. We'll stick to Kippernicus and Kipper from now on.

His Real Name

This morning at church, Josh introduced his brother to someone and called him "Kipper." A funny conversation ensued between Brian and someone who shall remain anonymous.

B - His name is Kip but Josh calls him Kipper.
? - So what's his real name?
B - It's Kip.
? - Just Kip?
B - Yep, just Kip.

The whole exchange made us smile.

It's not mundane anymore

I went to HEB yesterday. I know, big news, but I went alone with both boys! I've delayed leaving the house alone with both boys because anytime we left while Brian was home with us I ended up needing to feed Kip while we were out. I just haven't figured out how to nurse Kip and wrangle Josh in public without getting some indecency citation yet.

My confidence was built a little last week when Josh convinced me that we should meet some friends at a park for a picnic lunch. So, I fed Kip, got us all dressed, packed a picnic lunch, loaded us up in the car, and blammo - the car battery was dead. I unloaded everything and considered it a good dress rehearsal. It is possible to at least get us all in the car.

So, back to yesterday, I thought we could at least get to the HEB less than 2 miles from our house, even if we had to immediately turn around and come home. We needed to try. The "after bedtime" shopping trips are tough. So, we went and got all but one item! (We decided to nix the baking soda - when I remembered I didn't want to walk back across the store.) I was very impressed that we made it through the entire store (39 items) and that I was even able to do some coupon shopping (8.5% savings). We were gone for an hour and a half, which was nearly too long as Kip began fussing as we were walking out of the store.

When we got home I ended up feeding Kip before taking the groceries out of the car. Putting up the groceries delayed dinner for awhile, too. Oh well. It's all a work in progress - we'll get better. My plans for improving our performance are two fold - to accept the offer to help me out with the groceries and when possible, to shop while Josh is in preschool (he starts in 2 weeks, which is worthy of a whole other blog post). If someone loads the bags while I load the kid(s) we can improve our speed and my sanity.

Kipilicious

In honor of the 1 month anniversary since Kip's birth, here are 10 things we have learned about Kip in his short time with us on the outside.

1. Kip likes to sleep. Thank you Jesus! The polar opposite of his big brother, Kip sleeps morning, noon, and night. I envision him being our just-5-more-minutes snooze button loving son. Josh just cannot get his mind around why Kip sleeps so much.

2. Kip likes to eat. If he's not sleeping, he's likely doing one of two things - eating and #3 on the list. At 4 weeks, he weighed 9 lbs, 9 ounces - 136% of his birthweight.

3. When Kip is awake, he usually has the hiccups. It is the sound that he makes most often.

4. Kip has good taste in music. His favorite is Caedmon's Call. This is an improvement over Josh's musical preferences during infancy.

5. Following in his brother's footsteps, Kip has reflux. Despite all the 2nd child hand me downs that he will surely endure, he can at least cling to the fact that he has a new handy dandy reflux wedge to sleep on that his poor brother never had.

6. When Kip is overtired, he flails his arms and bobs his head around. He gets overstimulated and can only relax in a very dark and quiet room. If he falls asleep during the "magic window" that all parents read about, then he can sleep like a log anywhere - regardless of the noise or light.

7. Kip loves being in my homemade Moby wrap. I predict that the wrap is to Kip what the sling was to Josh.

8. Like his big brother, Kip's birth heralds another Super Bowl for the Steelers. We shall swaddle him in our terrible towel.


9. My favorite face that Kip makes thus far is when he makes his lips into a tiny circle. He does it often and it always makes me laugh. He can make them nearly disappear.

10. Kip is laid back. He is much more like his dad (who also shares his ears, I think) than Josh or I (the slightly higher strung, anal duo).

It really is hard to believe that a month has passed. It feels more like 2 weeks. Of course, Kip has only been awake for the equivalent of a couple of days - not that I'm complaining!

Happy 1 Month Kip!

The power of 10

Last year, my friend Tamber donated her hair to Locks of Love. I was impressed and wondered if I could ever do that. I decide that I'd give it a try, but wasn't ready to commit. Well, once my hair grew a couple of inches past my shoulders, and I found myself with fast growing pregnancy hair, I decided to press on to 10 inches. Last week it dawned on me that I had enough hair to donate now. Wow! So, today I cut it off. Sweet! I get a baby-friendly hair cut and someone else gets a new hairdo too! Here's the before and after.

Brian told me that I look like Erin J. This was after Joshua pulled me aside in a different room and said, "You have Seth's mom's hair." Pretty funny. I guess I'll call it my Erin cut.

A Visual Representation

Joshua, on his own initiative, decided to create a visual representation of Kip's name - well, Kip's name according to Joshua: Kip Octain Gain Robert Lloyd


Kip = Kip himself
Octain Gain = the orange race car
Robert = my dad in the photo
Lloyd = he identified 3 Lloyd options - the picture of their dad, the picture of Joshua, or Joshua himself. I do not count because apparently my last name is "Mae Lloyd."

Joshua often reminds everyone that Kip has a very long name. Joshua is even bold enough to suggest that Kip's name is the longest name in Texas.


Needless to say, Joshua remains in love with his brother. He tells us that he loves Kip best - more than Brian and I. No problem with me.

Here's a recent picture of our sweet Kippernicus. He's 25 days old today and probably passed the 9 lb mark now.

Two weeks

Two weeks in and Kip still haven't lost his shine in Josh's eyes. Last night Josh told me, "Baby Kip is the best baby in the world." Tonight, when I asked him what he wanted to do tomorrow, he said, "Play with baby Kip all day." Don't get me wrong, Josh has issues with the transition, but fortunately he is taking all of that out on his parents and not the "little guy" - as Josh calls him.

Andy Schmandy

Eye can't believe it.

Proof that the Kipper does in fact have something beneath those eyelids. Thanks for stopping by. See you two same time tomorrow.

Mom and Dad's Christmas Present

Looks like this roughly 22 outta 24 hours of the day.

Name that Baby

Which is which? The top photo is Josh. The bottom photo is Kip. Brothers for sure!

Kip's Birthday

Kip Robert Lloyd was born last Friday, December 19th, at 7:15pm. He weighed 7 pounds and stretched out to 19.5 inches. (2 oz heavier and 1 inch shorter than Josh) We've been blessed with a very content baby and a wonderful little brother for Joshua.


Josh was over the moon when he met his brother on Saturday morning. He left the hospital in tears when he figured out that he couldn't take Kip home with him.

I hope to get more pictures up soon. Stay tuned.

Bros 4 Ever

If you're going to be serious about this...

...you've got to be serious about nuclear.

I totally fed him that line.
-J

It's been awhile since I posted any eye candy. Here are a few snippets of life with Josh lately.

Here's Josh the thinker.

- Yesterday we were looking for Roman Dunes (No Stall 123's crew chief). I suggested we look in Josh's bed since he occasionally sleeps with a car. I checked the bottom bunk and didn't find Mr. Dunes. Here's the rest of our conversation:

J - Maybe we should check the top bunk?

M- I didn't think you put cars up on the top bunk, Josh?

J- No, I don't. But I like your thinking, Mom!








- Over Thanksgiving weekend we braved the mall. Josh asked to ride on Thomas and we agreed. Typically, "ride" means sit while the machine stays still. However, for the 1st time ever, Josh actually wanted the machine to move. Brian and I were baffled and pulled out some quarters. Josh asked to ride it a second time and Brian quickly agreed telling me, "Consider it $1 invested in his social development."











- Yesterday we had an OB appointment. Josh picked out his own clothes for the day. He really wanted to dress like his dad so he put on his tie. It was all business at the OB's office.

Hopefully that will hold ya'll over for a while until we have some big brother/little brother pictures. We're counting down the days!

A Full House

On our way home from Bible study last night Joshua informed me that when he grows up he wants to have 10 kitty cats, 20 dogs, and 10 kids. Wow! This morning, as I reminded him to drink his milk, he asked, "Do I need to drink my milk so I can grow up big and strong and have 10 kitty cats, 20 dogs, and 10 kids?" Sure, buddy. Maybe he needs to hook up with one of the Wilcoxson girls - with triplets on both sides of the family they may have a chance at the 10 kids part, at least.