Goodnight "Big Mommy!"

We told the kids that they would be having a baby brother or sister this spring way back in August or September.  It was kind of hard to hide the fact that I was feeling HORRIBLE from morning sickness for so long, so we decided it was best to explain to them what was going on.  They have been super excited about the new arrival, and can hardly wait for it to get here.  In fact, there have been several days that they have said, "I just wish it could be born today!"  Of course, I'm pretty sure they don't have much of a clue how much this will change their lives either. 
Over the past few months, they have really taken interest in my growing belly.  Kaylee LOVES to put her hand on it and wait for the baby to kick her.  She giggles with delight each time she feels it move.  Then, she kisses my belly and says, "I Love You Baby! I can't wait to meet you!"  It makes me so happy to hear that.  She has asked me at least once a week how big the baby is (from the time it was not much bigger than a lima bean).  She has been fascinated with it.  I know she is going to be a great big sister once again.  This time, however, her role will be more of a helper or a role model than a playmate.  (She and Braden are only 23 months apart, so they are usually best buddies).  Of course, we don't know the gender of the baby yet, so that will surely determine her reaction as well.  She already told her dance teacher that if it is a boy she will dress it up in a dress, put a wig on it and bring it to me as her "little sister."  Oh goodness!  I will have to watch her close!
Braden has been my little right hand man throughout the past few months.  He never got disgusted when I was puking my guts out.  Instead, he stood right there at the bathroom door and "coached" me through each time.  He would say, "Mommy, take deep breath-es.  Then, go get some of that medicine from the fridge."  (He was talking about Maalox).  I guess that was his way to show that he cared - never to leave my side.  We spent lots of mornings on the couch watching Bob the Builder, Mighty Machines, or All About Lumberjacks and trying to wait out the sickness part.  He was so sweet.  As I started to show a little more, Braden became more verbal about my changing body.  He never held back.  Sometimes, he would say, "Mommy, your tummy sure is getting big."  One day he looked at me and with those big brown eyes and a smile on his face he said, "Mommy, I Love you very much!"  I answered with, "Oh, Braden, I love you too."  Of course he then had to follow it with "No matter what size you are..."  I just had to laugh and go tell Matt.  He had no clue that he had said something that would send most women to tears.  He was just trying to be sweet.  Another day, he knew I was getting ready for a doctor's appointment and he said, "Mommy, go get the doctor to make sure that the baby is getting all of its parts put together the right way in there.  I know it is getting fat though, because your belly sure is getting HUGE!"  Yet again, another chance to laugh.  The other night he came in, looked me in the eye, and then rubbed my belly like you would see them rub a Jeannie's lamp on a cartoon.  Then he asked, "Mommy, would you PLEASE let me watch Bob the Builder tonight???"  I guess rubbing the belly is the way to get what you want????  Well, tonight I told him goodnight and said, "I love you big boy!"  He looked up at me and said, "I love you too Big Mommy!" 

The excitement never ends around here!  There is always a story and always a cute saying that these kiddos are coming up with.  I can hardly wait to see what number three is going to be like.  Braden already has the nickname at their doctor's office of "the little comedian."  This little guy or gal sure has some big shoes to fill. 

Just another "do nothing" day

There is never a dull moment in our house.  Today we stayed home and basically did nothing.  (Nothing productive, that is).  However, the kids kept me busy smiling and laughing most all day long. 

This morning, Kaylee accidentially hit her ankle on the wooden base of our bed.  She hit it right on the bone where it hurts really bad.  Of course there is really nothing you can do for that, except maybe some ice and time.  However, she decided that a bandaid would make it better.  So she went to her backpack, pulled out her "secret stashed bandaid," and put it on her ankle.  Seeing his big sister get to wear a bandaid made Braden decide that he wanted a bandaid, too.  He asked me for one and I told him "No, you aren't injured, so you don't need a bandaid."  I then went on making breakfast.  Within about 2 minutes, Braden came running to me crying.  He had a red face and huge crocodile tears.  I asked him what was wrong and he told me that he kicked the wall and then jumped off of the chair in the living room to get "injured" so he could have a bandaid too.  SERIOUSLY?  I guess that is a little boy for you.  By the way, he did not get a bandaid and forgot about the whole thing very soon.  I sure am glad I didn't say that he needed to be bleeding to get a bandaid - who knows what he would have done then.  

He really is a pretty smart kid.  He is pretty quick with his thoughts and responses, even though he is only four.  Today he informed me that he is going to be a "chef-cooker" when he grows up.  I asked him what he is going to cook and he looked at me as if I was the dumbest thing that ever walked on this planet.  Then, he responded with, "FOOD!"  (Duh)! 

This evening we were eating dinner and Kaylee started talking about the Christmas song, "A Baby Changes Everything."  I asked her if she knew that it was talking about Baby Jesus and she said it did.  Then, Braden interrupted and said, "they were going to pay their taxes and had Baby Jesus...  A tax is money that they take from you."  I have never talked to him about this so I assumed he learned this in school.  I asked if he did and he said yes.  Then he followed that up with, "so am I a genius or what?"  I have my hands full! 

Actually, they both love to learn new words.  Matt is really good about talking to them about the meaning of things and using every opportunity he can to teach them something new.  The other morning they heard the word "tradition" on TV.  Kaylee asked me what a tradition is and I told her it is something that we do over and over that not everyone does.  To see if I made any sense to her I asked her what some of our traditions are, like what do we do that is special at Thanksgiving or Christmas.  She responded with, "Taco Tuesday is one of our family's traditions!" 

Yes, there is rarely a dull moment.  When there is, or when it gets really quiet; one of two things has happened...  They are either asleep, or they are busy working on something that is going to soon become yet another "story" of ours. 

Time to listen

We are now in the fourth week of the school year.  It has gone by pretty fast.  I guess having somewhere to be every day of the week and only two days to recover really makes time fly.  I know Christmas will be here before we know it, then Spring Break, and soon after that we will be staring Summer in the face again.  Kaylee started Kindergarten this year.  WOW!  I am still in shock that I have a school aged kid.  I do not know exactly how to describe it at times, but I kind of feel like our family schedule is dictated for us now.  There are no last minute trips to visit family out of town (without absences and make up work that is).  Vacations have to be planned over breaks and holidays - when EVERYONE ELSE goes.  I guess you could say that gets me a little down.  I also remember how fast the school year flies by.  I know that before I know it, Kaylee will be done with her first year and we will be looking back at all that has been accomplished over these nine or ten months.  Right now, we are working on just getting her into the school building without a major meltdown.  For some reason, Kaylee feels major anxiety about being left at school and church.  Once she gets into her classroom and starts with the day's activities she is fine.  In fact, she is very social and adjusting fine academically.  She just does not like saying bye to her parents.  By the end of the second week of school it looked like a mini-WWF match in the hall outside of her classroom.  The participants were Kaylee and me, and spectators were Braden and her teacher.  I was trying to pry her off of my leg and push her into the classroom but the brakes were on and the death grip was in full force.  Finally, her teacher and I were able to coax her into the room and I was able to leave the school building.  Lets just say that Kaylee was not the only one crying that morning.  I think I made it to the car before shedding a tear, but I was extremely exhausted and defeated feeling.  The next week, Matt decided he would take her and see if he could break that cycle.  HA!  When they got to the school and he stopped at the front door, she lost it.  She told him she was not going to go to school and really thought she would be able to get her way.  Eventually, the Assistant Principal took Kaylee by the hand and they went on a little walk before heading to class.  Throughout that week, Kaylee became close buddies with the Assistant Principal, Office Attendants, Counselor, and I think even the head Principal.  I guess she does not want to be "just a number" at her large school.  The good news is that on Friday, for some unknown reason, she took off with a friend and was in the school building without even realizing what she had done.  I think Matt sprinted home that day.  He didn't want to give her a chance to think twice about what happened.  :)  This week, Matt has been out of town again, so I have to take her to school in the mornings.  After much prayer from our friends and family, Kaylee has actually done quite well.  There have been a few moments where she almost lost it and reverted back to the fits, but she has been able to get in the school without completely breaking down.  I am really proud of her and hope that she continues to get better at this. 
By the time I pick Kaylee up each day, she is having a great time, and is really not in too much of a hurry to leave her friends.  On our way home, I ask her about her day and what she did, but only get one or two things out of her.  She usually tells me about which "special" class (Art, Music, Library, PE) that they went to, if they got to use the computer, and maybe tells me about a letter that they practiced.  I have found that I have to just be patient and let her have some time to unwind before I find out about her day.  She never "spills all" at once.  Instead, I have to listen for little things that she says and does.  Sometimes, I hear her counting forwards and then backwards - something that I am pretty sure they practice each day.  Sometimes, she brings things up right before bedtime, or while we are eating dinner.  This evening, she was spelling different sight words and number words while we were driving home from dance.  This is the first time Kaylee has been away from me on a daily basis since she was 2 years old.  I am realizing that I have some influence on her, but she is also around other people for a great amount of her waking hours.  I have come to the conclusion that I now have to be extra careful to listen to the things she says and does, to understand what she is thinking and what she has learned. 
Now, Braden is a little different.  He is my independent and adventuresome child.  We decided to put him in preschool for two years before Kindergarten.  He has been dragged around from one activity to another for Kaylee over the past three years, and has really wanted to have something that is "his own."  When we got to his first day of school, Braden came into my room that morning and said, "Mommy, do I get to go to school and stay all day today???"  After being ready about an hour early, eating breakfast, and begging to leave every five minutes, it finally came time to take Braden to school.  On the way, he told me that I didn't need to cry.  He would be just fine and he wasn't planning on crying either.  We got to school, went inside and he took off into the room.  I had to beg for a hug as he tore away from me, and couldn't get him to even look up at me and say goodbye.  He had a blast!  When I picked him up, his teacher said, "Bye Sugar!"  He quickly informed her, "I am NOT a sugar! I am an alligator!"  She laughed and said, "Well, then see ya later alligator!"  He responded with, "Okay, Bye Sugar!"  She cracked up and went into the classroom for the next student.  Braden loves school.  He is growing up so fast and becoming so independent.  Of course, he loves to give hugs and kisses and tell me that he loves me, but he is able to do so much more on his own now.  I am really proud of him, too. 
We get a few minutes to talk on the way to pick up Kaylee and he tells me a little about what they did during the day.  I say a little not because the rest of the time is silent.  I say a little because he makes up A LOT about what they did.  He told me one day that he drove a fire truck to a fire, put out the fire, went down a fire man pole, and when he got done with that he drove a dump truck and let his friend sit in the back.  To say Braden has a creative imagination is an understatement.  His brain is firing so many thoughts and ideas each second that I don't know how he even gets a complete thought out.  This summer during vacation bible school he had me convinced that they provided his class with swim suits and they went swimming in little pools outside.  I say I was convinced because he was able to describe each child's suit in detail, and gave me a list of things that happened when they were outside.  I actually called his teacher and asked if I should have sent a suit.  They cracked up because they had done NOTHING of the sort.  Braden is quick-witted, and loves to tell stories.  Alot of the time, his stories turn into songs.  They are mostly rambling, but sometimes they are hilarious.  When I listen to him sing a song, or tell a story, that is usually how I tell what he has learned or heard.  For about two weeks, he kept repeating a song about "Herman the Worm."  From what I can tell, this is something they learned in music class.  Tonight I heard him retelling a story about "Five little Puppies sitting in a tree."  He told me today that, "I am a quick learner, Mom."  Uh, yes, is all I could say to that - he retold the story from this afternoon almost word for word.  He has also been walking through the house saying, "Septembiere" and sticking his tongue out as he says the last part.  I guess they are learning the months of the year in Spanish class.  It is cute to watch and listen to because although he IS a quick learner, sometimes things get a little butchered.  I'll close with a quick story about this week...
We have recently had a few geckos roaming the outside of our house.  Somehow, one apparently got in last week.  Matt and Braden were able to capture it and get it outside before I got up though.  Whew!  I really don't like those little things.  Anyways, I opened the door to let Gracie out another day and one darted off of the door and outside before I knew what it was.  Since then, I have reminded the kids to watch for the geckos when they open the door.  This morning, Braden looked outside and said, "I don't see any gettos, mom."  Yet another word butchered by my cute little preschooler. 

"I need a break"

Well, today was Braden's first soccer game. For the past two and a half years he has sat on the sidelines with me as we watched Kaylee take swimming lessons and take part in dance class. He was so excited that this year he would be able to do his own thing. Even more - he would be playing with his best buddy. As far as he knew it would just be the two of them out there playing by themselves and that was okay with him. Over the past few weeks he has told every one we come into contact with that he is going to play soccer. He got really excited when he got his new soccer shoes and his "knocker things" that I had to remind him are really called "shin guards." He has done a great job at not kicking his soccer ball in the house (because Daddy D says not to play ball inside). His first practice was quite interesting from what I hear. Actually, Matt described it as a "kindergarten fire drill." Since I taught kindergarten for one year, I quickly understood. However, I don't think anything could have totally prepared me for today...

The game was at 1:00. We planned on leaving at 12:00 and being there 45 minutes early, but I wanted him ready early. At 10:30 I put his shirt and shorts on him. Kaylee came in and laughed because "Mom - he's so cute - it looks like he's wearing a dress." (Yes, the smallest jerseys are still huge on the 3 year olds). I tightened his shorts and walked away for a few minutes. When I came back they were on the floor and he was just standing there looking at me saying, "Mommy my shorts fell off." Okay - we already had a wardrobe malfunction at Kaylee's dance recital last year and I was not about to have my little boy on the soccer field run out of his shorts. We still had an extra hour, so we loaded up and went to look for some smaller black shorts. He walked through the store holding onto his shorts because he was afraid he would lose them, and whining the whole time. Finally we found some shorts, and were on our way. I even let him change into them in the Target bathroom so he would not have to hang onto his shorts any longer.

After sitting in traffic forever - apparently everyone around here plays soccer on Saturdays, waiting to find a parking place and a half mile hike to the field we were ready to play. He got out there and did a great job at kicking the ball when he got close to it, not the best at going in the right direction, but we'll work on that. After about 4 minutes of playing he said he was ready for a break. WHAT?!?! You're kidding me, right? He was DONE! We took a quick trip down to the bathrooms and then came back to play again. He said, "Nope - I'm just going to sit over here and eat some cheetos and take 3 breaks!" Finally, after a few begs and pleads from his coach and myself, a phone call to Daddy for some extra encouragement, 3 cheetos, a few threats and a bribe for a sno cone on the way home he decided he would finish the game. Geez, I never knew that you had to be a psychologist to get kids to get out there and play. By the time it was all over I was spent. (And we still had to hike back to the car).

Where was Kaylee during all of this? Well, you see - she decided that she would climb on the kitchen counter this morning and get her finger nail polish from the top of the refrigerator. (The child has NEVER been a climber and she decides that she's going to do this now?) She was sitting off to the side with her friends and being pretty good. However, I noticed that she had a purse full of goodies and thought I should check things out. Yeah, it was too late - she had already painted her nails and a few of her friend's nails as well. Oh, joy. (There's a reason we have not signed her up for soccer. I'm pretty sure that nail polish and a purse are not part of the standard uniform). :)

Well, it's all about the memories and hopefully a few good pictures along the way. Here are a few from today...

This reminds me of a song, "My Buddy, My Buddy..."

Waiting patiently for the okay to kick the ball.

Determined to kick the ball really hard.

After it was all over.

The infamous "phone call to dad"

"Good game Buddy"

A New Year and A New First

Before the flight...

A little nervous, but at least Dolly was here...

So excited he could hardly contain himself...

I know that I have completely skipped all Christmas and holiday event pictures. Those will come soon. However, I had to go ahead and update from today before I forgot the kids' comments.

This morning we got a nice surprise. Matt called and told me that he would be flying from Florida to Nashville to Addison (just north of Dallas) and then had a short ferry flight to Dallas Love Field. That NEVER happens. Today was day 6 of his trip, and typically day 6 takes him to places like Southern California, New York, or Timbuktoo... Then, he gets home late on day 7. Since he was going to end in Dallas the company would allow him to come on home for the night. The big surprise was that they were going to allow me and the kids to ride with him from Addison to Love Field - the kids have never gotten to ride in one of his planes when he was flying, so this was going to be quite a treat.

So, Matt called his mom and asked if she would drive us over there - so we wouldn't end up having to go back later to get our car, and she thought that would be a great idea. We didn't tell the kids about going for a ride until right before getting on the plane. Of course they were thrilled at that point - they got to see their Daddy in the middle of the week and go on a ride in his Hawker 800 XP (as they tell everyone). :)

We loaded up in the plane and Matt and his Captain prepared everything up front while I tried to keep the kids from being too loud or out of control. Braden sat in his seat patiently watching out the window for things to start moving, and Kaylee got a little more nervous by the minute. She asked how high we were going to go and if we would get close to the sun or not. Thank goodness for the left over sprite from her lunch. I kept offering her sips of that to take her mind off of her nerves. Once we finally took off, the kids squealed at every turn or movement we made. Their comments from that point on were priceless...

Braden during Takeoff

Kaylee just after takeoff...

As soon as we could start seeing houses from the air, Kaylee informed me that she was pretty sure she saw our backyard (nevermind the fact that we were 45 miles from home). I'm not sure who said the next thing, but they informed me that they were pretty sure that they could see China - or at least the Ocean. About 5 minutes before we landed Kaylee asked me, "Mommy, where is that lady that comes out and gives me snacks?" (She later told us that she thought that maybe the lady was getting snacks ready for us in the bathroom or something). I guess she is used to the airlines or something. It was priceless and when I told Matt he made sure to tell the Captain that his daughter was a little dissappointed that the flight attendant never appeared.

Snacks???

We got a lot of pictures and enjoyed our day and have already started 2009 by experiencing some more "firsts."

Ouch!

Well, December is half over already! As I sat with the kids tonight and watched a bit of Mary Poppins, I realized that the last 3 or 4 weeks have just flown by. No, actually the last year has flown by. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were watching the "25 days of Christmas" on ABC Family and the gingerbread man cell phone commercial was playing. Crazy, huh?

I haven't written lately because I guess we have been completely consumed with all of the events that take place during the holiday season. I'll try to fill in as many stories as I can tonight, and then hopefully get back to it soon and finish up.

I guess I can start with little man, B. . . He has given us a few excuses to laugh this past month. I mentioned earlier that we have gotten back into playing golf, and that the kids go with us to practice at the driving range. Well, a few weeks ago we took both kids and of course there was only one small club for them to share. We tried to lay down some "rules," but apparently were not that effective. The biggest rule is that they are not to walk up to anyone while they have a club in hand, and they are not allowed to swing a club anywhere but in between the ropes (while we are supervising, of course). Somehow the rule of not swinging a club escaped little K's mind for a short moment, and she decided she was going to "work on her swing." As she pulled the club back, her little brother ran right into the head of the club. Luckily she doesn't have the strength to swing that hard now, and he wasn't running too fast. Nonetheless, he ended up in tears and she felt very bad. Matt was concerned, but also a little embarrassed that something had happened, so I took B to try and calm him down while he spoke with K. The calming down took a while, and finally I was able to get him to explain to me what happened. His explanation was priceless...

"I was walking around and Kay Kay hit me in the head with a golf club... And I'm not even a golf ball!!!"

I tried really hard not to laugh at the moment and just remember the story for later so that I could share it with Matt.

We ended up having Christmas a few weeks early with Matt's parents and Grandma since we will all be in different places over Christmas and wouldn't see each other for a while. K and B's gift from Matt's parents will hopefully solve some of the fights over the one golf club, and give them both something to do while at the range... Here are a few pics...

"Thank you Jesus"

A few weeks ago I was making cookies with our mixer that my Grandmother gave to us. I normally don't allow the kids to lick the beaters because I have this problem with fear of them getting food poisoning from the raw eggs. This day, I decided we would go ahead and let them have a little. You would have thought it was Christmas by how excited they were. Pretty soon, I heard Braden singing his dinner time prayer with a new twist. Here is how it went...

"Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus
For these things, for these things,
Now we get some cookies, now we get some cookies,
when they're done, when they're done."

I thought it was just too cute and had to take a picture. Here it is...

The honesty of a 3 year old

Yesterday, Matt was putting Braden to bed and he asked Braden, "do you have a tractor in your bed?" Braden replied, "No Daddy I don't have a tractor in my bed." Matt knew he was not being truthful, so he said, "are you lying to me?" Braden said, "No, Daddy." Matt gave him one more chance to tell that he had a tractor in his bed and then pulled the covers back. He looked at Braden and asked, "Well then, what are these?" Braden answered with, "I don't have a tractor in my bed Daddy, I have three!" How do you discipline that?

After school, we picked up Kaylee and Braden was practicing saying his words that he is not supposed to use. He called Kaylee an "idiot" during this process. Of course, Kaylee didn't hesitate to tell us that he called her an idiot. When we got onto him for saying idiot, he quickly replied with, "Mom I didn't call her an idiot, I called her a "Bidiot!" Right, and bidiot is an appropriate term to use in our house??? I guess we will now have to say that you can not use certain words or even words that rhyme with those words... AHHHHH!!! He's only 3!