Recent Picture Update

Animal Crackers

Happy belated 4th of July. We've had quite the busy week, and I didn't get around to posting on the 4th. We went a couple of different places and eventually ended up sitting on the driveway watching everyone else shoot of fireworks. N sure didn't seem to impressed with all the fireworks. That might be very different next year.

We also have seen quite the number of wild animals in the past week. We saw a fox on Monday as we were driving to pick N up from Patty's (our most lovable babysitter) house and then saw a deer on our way home. Thursday, we had two different bunnies run out in front of us, had a most unfortunate encounter with a black bird, slowed down for a wild turkey crossing the road, and watch a buck jump a fence. The next day we saw another turkey with several babies. I wonder if we'll see a giraffe walking down the interstate next?!?!

Help Please!

Oh the joys of parenthood. Yesterday evening was one of those times that you just hope and wish as a parent would never occur. We had our small groups over for Bible study and were getting close to wrapping things up. N had been downstairs with B and the boys for most of the evening. He finally decided to come join me upstairs with the girls. He got really whiney and cuddly suddenly. The girls had just gotten done ooohhhing and aaawwwing over how sweetly he was cuddling up to me. I was also thinking how sweet and assuming he might just fall asleep on me. Then out of no where came breakfast, snack, lunch, and dinner all over me. I was in complete shock as I sat there with grossness all over me (and him). Other than not being really interested in lunch or dinner, he had shown no signs of not feeling well. Luckily, the furnitured was spared thanks to me using myself to catch everything. He's doing much better this morning. You wouldn't even know he hadn't felt well. I'm wanting him to take it slow today, but there no way to tell a one-year-old to slow down. If only there was a way to avoid moments like that as a parent.

Boom

Good Morning!

It's about 9:30 a.m., and N just woke up. Why does he never choose to sleep in on a morning that B and I would also be able to sleep in? It's like he knows. Part of the reason he slept in could be the fact that he absolutely refused to take a nap yesterday afternoon. He screamed his head off in protest. (I was ready to scream also after listening to him scream for a while.) It also could be the fact that everyone around here thinks that the 4th of July is a several week long celebration. Every evening about the time that we try to put N to bed, the entire neighborhood and those all around decide it's time to start setting off fireworks and they go until at least 11:00. We're not talking about dinky little snaps and pops; we're talking enormous sometimes rattling booms and bangs. I'm sick of it. It ends up waking N up several times. We finally put a fan in his room last night just to create some noise that would help muffle the fireworks. I don't mind having to get him out of bed and rock him back to sleep, but I want him to be able to sleep restfully. Oh well, they have to run out of supplies sooner or later. (I've never been a big fan of fireworks.)

I am having one of those days where the clock just isn't moving. I swear it should be almost dinner time; the day feels as if it's been that long. I've been meaning to blog about several different things lately. Here are a few.

• Fire: Our next door neighbors got a firepit this winter. Friday night they invited us over to enjoy it and the new patio they just put in. It was wonderful. B ran to the store and bought fixing for s'mores. Delish! I want a firepit!
• Worms: Okay, technically caterpillars. They ate the few plants I successfully grew from seed this spring. So much for saving a few bucks by getting plants the hard way.
• Veggies: My child has always loved to eat anything you offer him. Lately though, he's refused to eat his veggies. It's turned into quite the battle of the wills between he and I. The winner of the battle varies from day to day.
• Fur: I love our Mags, but I hate her fur. I told B before we ever got a dog that I didn't care for long-haired dogs. I am so tired of her fur covering everything. I'm at the point that I'd love to shave her bald. (Okay, not really. That's a bit drastic. And she's too pretty.) Right now, I'm thinking our next dog will have very, very, very short hair.
• Feet: N is spending more and more time on his feet. He'll walk from one thing to another if it's a short distance. His prefered mode of transportation is still crawling or Mom for the time being.
• Grass: Two things here. One. Our yard is being invaded by weeds. We are continually walking around the yard searching for something else to pull. The crab grass is the worst. Two. N seems to be getting over his fear/utter dislike of grass. Previously he would just cry and scream when put on the grass. Now he will sit there for a minute, and then bear crawl (way too cute) to the closest lap. Once on that lap, he attempts to keep as much of himself as far away from the grass as possible. It's not perfect, but it's progress.

That's all. Carry on.

Happy Birthday Matthew Al!

. . . with an ocean view . . .

B and I were blessed this evening with Patty wanting to babysit N so that we could have a date night. We absolutely love her for wanting to make sure we have time to spend together without our little guy. With my broken toe bothering me, we decided to go see a movie. It's not an easy to make a decision on what to go see when we are in the middle of the summer movie boom. There were at least 5 or 6 that I really would have enjoyed seeing. We decided to narrow the field by which we could make it for a matinee of. (Gotta love the cheap seats. If only they had matinee snack bar prices too.) We decided to go Ocean's 13 over Spidey 3 (sorry Aaron). Ocean's 11 - great. Ocean's 12 - not so impressed, actually bored by. Ocean's 13 - wonderful!!! It was a lot more in line with what made the first one work so well. B and I were laughing on and off again throughout the entire movie. It is definitely a must see. (Dad, I'm talking to you.)

will work for food

The above title is N's new motto. It's amazing what he can be inspired to do when food is involved. In the past few days he has learned how to sign that he wants "more". Along with this comes something along the lines of "mawh". He also has a sign for "all done" or "all gone". I'm hoping to help him learn more signs in the coming weeks and months. Ginny loaned me her book on baby signs. It's nice for him to be able to communicate before he's able to say all the words to express his needs, wants, and feelings.

I also discovered another power of the cheerio today. I'm ready for my boy to walk. He can crawl faster than lightning already. It'd be nice if he wasn't always getting his hands and knees so dirty. (Although I am aware that that does just come with having a boy.) I was able to get him to take about 40-50 unassisted steps over a 10 minutes period today by enticing him with cheerios. (Up to about 8 steps in a row without going down.) He hasn't taken any since then without the cheerios, but at least it's progress. At one point he looked down at his feet after taking several steps with an expression that read, "did those thing just do what I think they did?"

I'll let you know about our progress with both the signs and steps. Cheer on the little guy!

Rainbows of color

I thought I would share some of my newest flower pictures. All but two plants here are ones that either Mom or I bought last week. I love all the colors! I'm letting things fill out a little more before I take a picture of the entire garden. I have to say that I am so proud of all my flowers. The glad bulbs that Mom planted last week have already started to come up. Hopefully they will be blooming in no time since they add a lot of height and color. My butterfly bush is also getting ready to start blooming. I've got flower buds on both the mums and the clowns too. I love it!!! (Thanks again Mom for all you did to help with my garden! I used my new too last night.)

Precious

Happy Father's Day to our favorite Dads!

Love,
B, A, and N

Stand Back - I'll Get You!

Sleep anyone?

It has been quite a busy week, but I wouldn't change anything about it. Mom, Ginny, and Camryn got here Sunday evening. It was constant activity from the time they got here until they left. (constant at least compared to normal) We spent Monday around the house for the most part. Camryn really seemed to enjoy the park that is just down the street from us. We did spend some time and dollars at the local flower nursery. Mom helped me fill up all of the empty spots in my garden. (Thanks again Mom!) It looks really full and colorful now. I'll have to post a picture soon. Tuesday was our shopping day. I ran into Camryn when she stopped suddenly and ended up breaking my little toe. OUCH! We vetured to the outlet mall in the morning and the outdoor mall in the afternoon. That was a lot of stroller time for the kids! B got home from Mexico on Tuesday night. I sure am glad to have him back. Maybe I can convince him to post about the mission trip to Mazatlan. Wednesday my hubby had a big day. He turned 30! Happy belated one! We were suppose to go to Arbor Farm in Nebraska City, but the weather didn't cooperate. Instead we found ourselves shopping once again. (What did you expect?) Ann and Don came over that evening to help celebrate B's birthday. Unfortunately I managed to hurt my poor toe yet again. It was quite a painful experience. Again. Thursday I was forced to go get my toe checked out by the doctor. That afternoon we went and ventured around work and then headed to the zoo. It probably wasn't the best decision with a broken toe, but I really wanted to take them. Today they headed home. Sadness. It was a great time. We all went and took a 2 hour nap after they left because we were all so worn out.

N played in his pool this afternoon. I'll try to post the video after a while.

Our trip to the Henry Dorley Zoo

Trip Pictures

It took Christiana a while to warm up to me, but she was a lot of fun once she did.
With the ocean being so rough, we found the pool to be a better water option. (Thanks Becky for letting us come stay with you at the condo.)
The humidity was unbelievable! I did love the cute curls it produced in Nate's hair though.
Just a cute picture of Moriah and Nate playing on either side of the glass door.
Moriah is a cutie. You have to love her perfect curl. I agree with Corrie that I hope she keeps them.

Just Beachy

N and I just got back today from a trip to visit a childhood friend of mine, Corrie. We had a great time hanging out and playing with her, Moriah, Christiana, and Eric. It was amazing to see how much clean up has been done after Hurricane Katrina but also how much rebuilding is left to do. I didn't realize just how close (just a few blocks)they were to so many houses that were completely lost. We took a side trip over to Gulf Shores, AL while down there and went to the beach. N didn't really care for the ocean because the waves were huge that day (red flag day) and it was so noisy. He did love his first swimming pool experience. We're glad to be back home again though. There will be no traveling in our immediate future. It's so much work to travel with a baby! We do look forward to Mom, Ginny, and Camryn coming into town tomorrow! I'll post picture of our trip later. I've got to do some picking up around here, and I promised Mags I would play ball outside before it gets too dark.

Drinks, Rocks, and Blooms

Happy 21st Birthday Tori!!

What is it about boys, dirt, and rocks. They just can't stay away from each other. N was loving playing with the dirty chunks of concrete we were digging out as we did more landscaping in the front yard. I didn't quite approve of the dirt eating he was quite fond of, but he didn't seem to mind.

I've been hard at work wishing my garden to take off and be filled with tons of blooming flowers. It's not anywhere close to as bloomy as I'd like it to be yet, but I'm thrilled with what's there. Here are a few that have made for good pictures. daylily
lantana
daylily
asiatic lily

Hopefully there will be more flower pictures in the near future.

Stop and smell the roses

N has been fever free now for a while, and we were glad to see that pass. Unfortunately he's still quite a crank and has now developed a rash on his upper body. I took him to the doctor today and she said that he has roseola. The good news is that he's no longer contageous and B and I shouldn't catch it since it's something kids under the age of three get. (Your body develops immunity to it as a child.) I'm just really hoping that he's back to his normal happy ways, sleeping through the night again, and eating normally tomorrow. The rash should be gone in the next couple of days. If he's in a good mood tomorrow, we might just take a trip to the Children's Museum. Thanks for keeping him in your prayers.

Here's a pic of the little guy's back. Hopefully it'll be gone soon. Luckily it doesn't seem to bother him at all.

hot-hot-hot

Happy Memorial Day to everyone!

I feel as if I really struggle to find time to blog lately. I have to remind myself several times that I need to post again before I get anywhere close to actually doing it. We've been enjoying our long weekend though. I've finished a book I've been reading for several weeks and started a new one. B and I shipped N off to his grandparent's house for a night away from us. This was the first time that I have ever been away from my baby boy overnight. I missed him a ton, but it wasn't quite as hard on me as I expected. He seemed to have a good time and even got to spend some time with Grandpa in the tractor. He couldn't be away from Mom though without giving her at least a little bit to worry about. Sometime Saturday he started to run fever. (He never would have gotten out of the house if I'd known.) By yesterday afternoon when we got home with him it was 104.7!!! We took him into a Pediatric Express place at a local hospital. Turns out that he's got a viral infection of the throat. Viral = mom and dad you're just going to have to tough it out. We thought he was doing pretty well this morning, but woke up from his afternoon nap with another high fever. Ugh! If it's not gone tomorrow we'll go see the pediatrician. Hopefully that won't be necessary though. Right now he's quite adorably sleeping on the couch and can stay there as long as he's quiet and comfortable. Keep the little guy in your prayers. As much as I love all the cuddle time, I want my boy to feel well.

If this was a cartoon, they'd sparkle

I was looking through the hundreds of Will pictures that Matt and Lindsay had been keeping all to themselves, and I found this cute picture of him. So often the little man is so serious. Luckily, I was able to meet him last week and find that he knows how to have fun from time to time. This picture makes me think that he's planning some serious trouble for his mom and dad! I have to say congrats to the little guy also; Mom, mine not his, informed me that he's getting his first tooth! What a hug accomplishment. Guess that explains all of last weeks gnawing and drooling.

Speaking of teeth, B and I went to the dentist today. I love going to the dentist. There is nothing better than feeling your clean, smooth teeth just after a cleaning. The hygienist told me how important that flossing is, but I sure do hate it. Maybe I'll try once again to get into the whole flossing habit, but only time will tell.

Go brush your teeth!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

The Natural State

I've been slacking on the blogging over the past week but not without good reason. N and I just got back from a week long trip to see my parents and siblings. Yeah, unfortunately B had to stay at home and work. There was a lady from church going down, and she didn't want to make the drive alone. She loves N and asked if we wanted to keep her company. It was a perfect situation for me since she wanted to drive the whole way there and back.

We had a great visit with everyone. Matt, Lindsay, and Will flew in a few days after I arrived. It was great to finally meet Will. I spent some time at work with Mom, and also went out to lunch with my former youth leader. Dad worked from home quite a bit, and I loved having him around so much. Mom took a day off work which was great. I got to see several different friends and their children. It was perfect on Saturday when everyone was over and Mom and Dad's for dinner!

N did fairly well with the traveling. That long in the car would make any child scream a little. He just doesn't seem to like napping in the car as much now that his car seat faces forward. I miss the days when he would sleep as long as the car was in motion. That made for some easy trips! B still doesn't think he need a dvd player for the car, but he might change his mind eventually. You can only watch N arch his back and throw a toy while screaming so many times.

I'm glad to be back at home now though. N was definitely ready to be home a couple of days before we actually headed home. He reached a point of only wanting myself or Grandma. We're working to get back into our normal routine around here. He was thrilled to see all of his toys and familiar surroundings.

He's still not walking. I was afraid he would start to walk while we were away from B for 8 days. He's proven a couple of times that he can take a few steps, but he just would rather crawl. He gets mad if you try to make him walk without help. I know he'll be walking in his own time, and I should enjoy him not walking. I'm just anxious for my kid to learn such a big thing.

Okay, that's enough for tonight. I think I'd rather go to bed than post pictures now. I'll try to get around to it in the next few days. If you really want to see pictures you can link to my parents site and find close to 300 there.

Tuesday Times

N has been hard at work the past week and a half. After figuring out that he can stand unassissted, he's been practicing quite a bit. Twice now, once last Wednesday and again last night, he has taken 3 steps before plopping down on his bottom. He would still rather be holding onto the tip of someone's finger. He'll walk long distances so long as he has that one fingertip. Cheer him on and hopefully he'll be a champion walker soon. (I'm tired of the anticipation and waiting.)

I just want to say that I have one heck of a little sister. She is something speacial. I feel so lucky to have a sister like her. I tell you, she's just amazing! I don't know what I would do without a sister like her. Everyone should have their very on Tork. (When contemplating what to blog about, she told me I should blog about how great she was. It doesn't sound too fake does it???) :)

I don't wanna grow up. . .

I've spent a lot of time lately thinking of just how fast my little guy is growing up. Just this weekend he began to discover that he can stand on his own. He doesn't seem to fully realize what that means, but I'm sure he'll soon figure it out. Once he gets a bit more confident, those first steps should be soon to follow. I'm actually really hoping that he starts to walk this week. (or at least is taking his first steps)



He doesn't like to fall asleep while I hold him anymore. I was craving holding my sleeping boy in the worst way last night. I finally decided I had to hold him even though he'd gone to bed about 2 hours before. I was able to get him out of his crib without waking him and held him for 15/20 minutes before I went to bed. It was the nicest and most peaceful thing. He's such a busy guy that I don't get to share many of his peaceful moments with him.

Drastic Changes

Before: After:
We tackled landscaping last weekend. Thanks goodness it's done!!!!! We didn't build a 10 foot wall (Everett!!!), but we did exactly what we wanted. It seems to add just enough. It's hard to tell too much of a difference from the pictures, but we have gotten a ton of compliments from people walking by and our neighbors. One neighbor said he priced getting someone to do what we did and the estimate was $800!!!! I now understand why though. Getting that bottom layer of stones level on the ground and with one another is horrible. I've forgotten any future plans I might have had to use these in the backyard. Did you notice the cutie at the door in the picture? Now I just need to get more flowers to fill it up!!!

An up-close look at the stones we used (ignore the dying tulips):

We've been having some very summer-like weather the past 2 days. (Highs of 90!) I thought it would be a perfect time to let N try out his new sprinkler. The first attempt to get him to play failed, becuase he was way too tired. After a rest, he was ready to give it another shot. This time he was willing to play as long as the water was turned on very low. I think in time, he'll get very use to it and have a ton of fun.

Just Like Summer

A place to rest my head

Since my baby boy is becoming more boy and less baby, I decided it was time for him to get his own pillow. He loves to play with the pillows on our bed and the pillows on the couch already. I picked up a travel pillow from Walmart and headed to Hancock Fabrics to pick out material for pillowcases. It was a pretty easy project, although I had to do some resewing since they were too big. They still look big in the pictures, but it truly is the pillows fault. When you only spend 3 dollars on a pillow, it's not stuffed very
evenly, and the corners are completely empty. That all leads to a pillow that's quite misshapened. Oh well, I'm proud of my little project. (Lindsay, how did you deal with the misshapenedness (what a word) on yours?)
Aren't those monkeys adorable????

Holdin' Hands

What a blessing! We had a date night tonight. N went to see his babysitter, whom he absolutely adores. B and I went to go see "In the Land of Women". Cute movie; no Oscars in it's future, but I didn't mind it. After that we went and walked the outdoor mall that's right there. It was a gorgeous night for being outdoors. They are predicting a high of 87 on Sunday and 89 on Monday. Yikes! What's up with the extremes? Can't we spend some time, more than 2-3 days, happily in the middle? (Where you don't need the heat or ac and can save a few bucks?????)

That's all. ta ta!

Just a couple of birthday wishes to send out.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Ko!

Happy 3rd Birthday Camryn!

Happy (one day late) Birthday to my favorite Momma!

2 am wake up calls

It's been a bit longer than I intended, but I'm here to blog now.

We think that N is getting his 12 mo. molars. He's not slept through the night for 2 nights, and has a runny nose. We gave him some medicine before bed tonight which will hopefully help. We should get a break from the teething for a couple months once these come in. He's already gotten 4 teeth since Easter weekend!

I can't wait for the coming weekend. We are going to add landscaping stones to our garden. It'll be nice to have some height to the garden. I'm sure I'll post pictures once it's done.

Here are a couple of recent pictures:


N loves to play with his animal magnets on his new magnetic board.
Check out one of N's cool new gifts we gave him for his birthday! I am so excited for it to be warm enough to play with! I had to get it out and make sure it worked alright; I couldn't wait for it to get warmer.
N has always loved to play with the door on Mags's crate. Today, he decided to venture inside. It was pretty cute.

From the frontlines of the battle

Here is just a glimpse of two of the biggest battles currently taking place in the K household. N loves the tv, N loves the VCR, N loves the DVD player. He loves anything with buttons. We keep a wall lined with toys in our bedroom, but somehow the electronics see a lot more playing time than anything else. I thought I would block him from getting to his favorite stuff. He'd never attempted to climb onto/into his block table before. He'd never even thought about trying, as far as I know. Yet, in less than 2 minutes time he was up and more happy than ever playing with the buttons. (I guess the show I had on at the time was appropriate: "Surviving Motherhood" on TLC.)

Oh yeah, and about the pantless-ness, diaper changing has become quite a battle of the wills. It includes quite an unbelievable amount of kicking, screaming, and rolling over. Sometimes, it's a victory just to get the clean diaper on; forget the pants. (I guess that ups our battle numbers to three.)

The other battle has been going on for quite some time now. He loves to play in Maggie's water. Unfortunately for Mags, this means her water dish spends a lot of time sitting up on the counter. It's one of those things he already knows he's not suppose to do because he always looks at B or I on his way over there. It doesn't stop him though.

Other than that, it was a gorgeous day here. We went down to the park and played for a while. N had a good time watching a 2 year old run all over the place. I loved getting to have adult conversation during the daytime hours. Maybe we'll have to spend more time there!

Bottoms Up

B, N, and I ventured out to the local outlet mall here earlier in the week. There's not really much to see at our outlet mall, but there are a few stores that can be fun to spend some time in. One such store is the kitchen gadgets store. As we were walking the aisles, we came across what were known as "beer bands". Come on, how many times have you been hanging out with friends and forgotten which bottle/can is yours? (Come on Tori, how many times???) :) Not that we have too many big beer guzzling parties in our old parental age, but we couldn't pass them up. The labels on them were pretty good and gave us a laugh. Hopefully we can get some people together and find a use for them in the near future. Otherwise, I might be forced to use them to keep bottles and sippy cups straight at playdates! :)

Happy Birthday Dave!

Feeling Blue

Check out the cute new onesie we picked up earlier this week for N. We both loved the cuteness and simplicity of it, and then we saw the back side. The star says, "and mommy loves me". We made sure to get it nice and big so that he can wear it for a while. He's got it on today (with long sleeves underneath), and although it's big, he's adorable. On a side note about the kid, he got his 12 month shots today. Poor kid has been pathetic ever since. (He's 23 lbs. 1 oz., which is less than one pound more than he was at 9 months. He's also 30 inches long.)

Happy Birthday Super-Andy-man!

Happy 1st Birthday N!

Pre-birthday, birthday celebrations

Yesterday was a busy day at the K house. We decided to celebrate both Easter and N's 1st birthday together. It was a good time, but not without some tears. N enjoyed getting to see everyone, but his recent stranger anxiety caused a few freak out sessions. He loved eating his cake, especially the icing. He ended up heading straight to the bathtub after cake was done. He loves all of the cool new stuff he got and is paying attention to only it right now. Thank you to all of you who were able to be here. We didn't take nearly as many pictures as we should have, but here are a few.

Happy B-day!

I'm a little behind on the birthday wishes and thought that it's about time to get caught up. This time of years seems to be birthday crazy! Lots of spring chicks out there!

Happy 60th Birthday Kay! (march 26th)

Happy Birthday Grandma Knorr! (april 1st, no fooling)

Happy Birthday Dad! (april 4th)

Happy 3rd (not 2nd) Birthday Reilly! (April 5th)

Happy 2lst Birthday Nathan! (today!)

Happy 1/2 Birthday to me! (today)

I think I covered everyone that I missed. There are many more to come in the upcoming weeks.

This hurts

From bumps and bruises to wind and flurries, it's been a crazy couple of days around here.

What child should have a first birthday (can you believe he'll be one in less than a week) without having first had a boo-boo. N had had his share of bonking his head and lost balance. He topped it all this morning. He has gotten rather wiggley on the changing table recently. This morning I had put him on the changing pad and was getting the diaper and wipes ready. I turned my head to look at the window because it was so sunny. The next thing I knew he was on the floor screaming. In the matter of a second or two he had flipped over and off to the floor. No major hurts out of the whole thing. He scared himself pretty bad and has a boo-boo on his cheek from hitting the open drawer on the way down. He decided about an hour later to crawl over to me and flop onto me. Not uncommon, but this time he hit his mouth and busted his upper lip. Poor kid just can't catch a break today.

Winter has decided to get one last laugh here in O. I knew it was going to be cold, but they keep lowering the high for the day. It's currently only 34! Tuesday we had pretty constant winds of around 30mph. It also was flurrying yesterday morning. Hopefully this won't do too much damage to the perennials that had started to come back up.