Kailee has been on the move army crawling and can get to wherever she wants to go quite fast. She is also pulling herself up into a standing position a lot lately. She thinks she is pretty cool that she can do it all by herself, she usually just starts cracking up at herself. The only problem is that once she is up she is "stuck" and doesn't know how to sit herself back down (unless Mason "helps" her by knocking her down). I can always tell when she does it in her crib, at first there are only giggles then the tears follow shortly after!

I remember Mason going trough this stage I am just not sure how long it lasted. She is going to be walking before we know it!

Kailee is 10 months old and as you can see, she is very curious and on the move. She wont even sit still for her monthly pictures anymore!

My St. Patrick's Day cuties :) (Kailee trying to wiggle out of Mason's arms).

Mason proudly wearing his hat that he made for St. Patrick's Day!

Kailee is NINE MONTHS OLD

She...

*is 17 # 12 oz and is 28 1/4 inches long (32nd percentile for weight & 75th for height)

*is clapping

*is saying mama, dada, (and Andy swears he heard a "mommy" but I think that was coincidence!)

*is scooting all over the floor and can really get to what she wants now (Mason is NOT a big fan of this!)

*is learning sign language, Mason is my assistant teacher :)

*is going through separation and stranger anxiety

*loves baths

*has 7 teeth

*is no longer interested in baby food and is eating table food and LOVES everything-Praise God!

*still taking 3 naps a day

*is very curious

*sucks her thumb at night and likes her pacifier only while she is in her car seat

*FINALLY has enough hair for a little pony tail YAY!!!

*is such a huge blessing to our family! She and Mason bring us so much joy everyday!!

My little Valentines...Mason already celebrated Valentines Day at preschool with a fun party!

Here he was playing his favorite game, Musical Chairs!! I was volunteered as the room-mom and stayed for his whole party (Kailee was not as excited about it as I was, that meant she had to stay in her car seat for 2 hours). It was super cute seeing all of them get so excited passing out their valentine cards and treats. They had a huge feast toward the end of class where they got all sugared up right before they sent them home :)

Kailee has mastered the art of clapping her hands together! It is so cute to watch her because she gets so proud of herself, SO cute that I thought I would share it with you step by step!

Step #1 (above)-concentrating very hard to make sure it is successful!

Step#2-already proud of herself as her hands come together for the first time!

Step #3-cracking up laughing because she is so proud of herself!

Step#4-All done and making sure Mason and I are still watching before she attempts it again!

Step #5-she repeats steps #1-4 MULTIPLE times a day which makes for a very happy girl!

Pre-earrings...VERY happy girl!

Right after getting them...very blotchy from crying (she gets that from me)!

Getting used to them :)

Last Friday after I got home from work my mom and I pierced Kailee's ears! I have been wanting to do it for a while, but kept forgetting about it. After one too many "oh, what a cute little boy" comments about her I quickly remembered! Poor Kailee one day she will grow some hair!

Grandma Char gave her a cookie as a distraction and we put her in the bumbo chair on the counter. I would definitely not say she was a fan of getting them done :( It was really hard to watch her go through it because she kept looking at us like 'why would you do this to me'. After they were both done she kept a very close eye on us just to make sure we were not up to anything else.

Thankfully she will never remember it and they are darn adorable :)

Mason coloring while waiting for his dental appointment :)

Ready and excited to start!

Holding "really-really-really still".

LOVING Mr. Thirsty

All clean...look at those pearly whites!

Mason had his first dental appointment on Monday (1/25/10). He did great! He was so excited as we waited in the back lounge for Mrs. Darlene to come and get him. Every time he would hear someone walking in the hallway he would ask "OH! Is that Mrs. Darlene?" When it was time he proudly walked down the hallway and climbed into the chair. After guessing that he had 3 teeth, they counted them and then shined them up with cookie dough toothpaste. He picked out strawberry for the fluoride and loved it! He did so well he got to pick out prizes and then was spoiled by getting a beanie baby from Mrs. Darlene!! Hope he doesn't expect all of this special treatment every time ;)

Children are a gift from God. Psalm 127:3 proclaims that "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him." As believers we are called to recognize that children belong first and foremost to God. God in his goodness gives children as gifts to parents. They not only have the awesome responsibility of caring for this gift, but also the wonderful privilege of enjoying the gift. Because children belong to God and are given by grace as gifts to parents, it is only proper and appropriate that children be dedicated back to God.

Today was such an exciting day...it was Kailee's dedication!! We went to church last night so that Kailee would be nice and rested, feed and happy for her special day today. We got there just in time however pastor Bob must have been a bit long-winded this morning because the main service got out really late which meant that the dedications started really late! Thankfully Kailee was such a good girl she just looked around, played peek-a-boo and was plenty entertained by trying to rip my necklace off! She did great during the actual service as well :)

We are so blessed to have Kailee in our family and today we made our official promise to God to bring her up in a loving, Christ-centered home. We are so thankful to be surrounded by great family and friends who love and support us. Please pray that we would have wisdom and grace as we raise her.

Lullibies

Who needs toys when you can just play Rock Band and Guitar Hero with Dad?!
What a nice soothing activity right before bed :) Yes, I was even talked into playing it for the first time but was only trusted to play Bass guitar. I hate to admit it, but it was kind of fun.

Seven Months

I know, I know it's freezing outside, but I had to snap Kailee's 7 month picture in her onsie to share with you her cute chubby thighs (please also note the sock indentations on her legs)! I LOVE them!!

Mason went on his very first candy cane hunt last Saturday morning! It was FREEZING outside and for some reason I thought it would be inside since they had switched it from park to the elementary school. At least Mason had his hat and gloves! Thankfully it only lasted 15 minutes!! I'm not sure what he liked better...the hot chocolate or running around looking for candy canes!

Since the candy cane hunt only lasted 15 minutes, we decided to head over to Three Cedars to check out their winter wonderland. I thought everything was absolutely beautiful and could have stayed way longer, but Mason was kind of nervous of all of the motion activated deer, snowmen, etc. If it moved, he was afraid of it :(
He did enjoy looking at the Nativity!
On our way home we stopped at the bike shop in South Lyon where we saw Santa and a real reindeer! (sorry all of the pictures are on the good camera that wont upload to my laptop)
What an exciting weekend!

Kailee had her very first teething biscuit today and definitely had a good grip on it! There was no confusion on what to do with it!! However, we did have many tears when I took it away. Praise the Lord that she and Mason are opposite when it comes to eating :)

BLESSED

Tonight Andy and I headed downtown to volunteer with some members of our small group (thanks Caleb, Theresa, Becky & Matt) at the Detroit Rescue Mission. We got there at 4:30pm and helped do a little bit of dinner-prep work. Our duties were then to serve the meal, fill water cups, pass out pie, bread, plastic wear and napkins. Most importantly I think just being there to smile at them and let them know that they are worth our time was the most rewarding job! It was so heart-breaking to see how many residents are there due to their lives falling apart and loosing everything they have whether it be due to the economy or poor decision making; either way still so sad. I came home feeling very blessed! I can't even imagine losing everything. We are SO thankful to have jobs, a home, basic necessities, family and friends who are there to love and support us, and especially thankful for the money we paid the babysitter for the evening!!
I hope we can continue to pour into the lives of people who need it! With Thanksgiving coming this week it has been great to reflect on what I truly am thankful for!

SIX Months

My BIG girl is 6 months old!! I have been packing baby clothes away like crazy lately,she is getting so big SO fast! She is squirming around (not crawling yet), sitting up by herself for brief periods of time and saying "DA-DA"! We are continually working on Mama, but for some reason she doesn't want to say that yet. Her favorite thing is still watching Mason run around the house and she LOVES chewing on anything that she can get into her mouth!

BIG Helper!

BIG helper on the ladder :)

Mason and I tag-teamed to talk Andy into hanging Christmas lights outside (even though we had to promise we won't turn them on until AFTER Thanksgiving)!

Now we just need to talk him into letting us put the decorations up INSIDE!!!

Out of Commission

Last week was pretty rough for all of us! Mason woke up with a really high fever and cough last Saturday. I called his pediatrician on Sunday after a sleepless night and surprisingly they did not even want to see him in the office they just called in an Rx for Tamiflu with all of this Swine Flu hype. Thankfully it did help almost right away and he seemed to improve pretty quick. I unfortunately came down with Bronchitis on Monday and then Kailee was at the doctor on Thursday after she came down with the same high fever, runny nose and cough that Mason had.
Thankfully Andy stayed healthy during all of this (I have no idea how!) and was a huge help. There is nothing harder than having two sick kids when you are sick yourself :(

This week hopefully all will be back to normal-back to preschool and back to work. Kailee is still on the mend, but getting better each day!

Mason is still doing really well with the potty training! I think the fish really helped! Unfortunately we have already had to replace a couple of them but Mason does not seem to be bothered by it. He is enjoying feeding them and watching them swim around.

He definitely keeps us on our toes. The conversations around here have been hilarious! He asks some crazy questions...I need to start writing them all down to share.

Our Newest Additions

A week ago I told Mason that if he started going to the bathroom like a BIG boy then I would buy him 'real' fishies! One thing you have to understand is that we have been trying to get him potty trained for so long that I thought this was just going to be another failed motivational tool (I know, my positivity has been overflowing with this whole potty training ordeal)! When we started this summer we tried all kinds of motivation: first stickers, then M&M's, followed by movies and then the prize system all to no avail (he would tell me he "did not like these things anymore"-oh dear!) I was actually told by my pediatrician to give up for a while and then restart weeks later because he was obviously not ready. So, when we started this back up again I promised Mason if he filled in the reward chart then he could go to the store and pick out 2 fish. Since I was totally convinced that he would walk down the isle getting married in a pull-up since he is too stubborn to be potty-trained (OK, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration) I really did not think that we would end up owning any fish. Well on Thursday he had filled in every square on his sticker chart, so off we went to buy his fish!

Here he is showing the "man-helper" which ones he wanted :)

Just a bit excited! He could not wait to get his hands on everything!

Watching "Nemo and Dorothy" swim around as he explained to them they could not have a snack if they did not eat their dinner!

...and more watching!

Since we almost had a near casualty with them already we had to set some rules:
-NO hands in the fish bowl
-NO sliding the bowl across the counter because we don't want them on the counter
-NO feeding them unless an adult is around

So, even though I did not think we would end up with fish, it is fun to see how much Mason enjoys them! Hopefully I am better with fish than I am with plants :)

Fall Snip-its

Our kiddos! They are such good buddies now that they can interact with each other. Kailee lights up every time Mason goes zooming by, it is so cute to watch! I can no longer put her to bed without Mason kissing her head first and he is the one who "needs" to wake her up in the morning. He has definitely turned into her protector and is such a big helper!! They are both amazing kids!

Kailee started eating cereal now that she is 5 months old!! Although it is time consuming (since we recycle the same bite about 5 times), it has been fun to start this new adventure with her. She on the other hand has made it perfectly clear that we have to feed her the cereal AFTER her bottle because it is just not fast enough when she is really hungry...a concept we have no experience with but love!

Her 5 month picture! Happy as always :) She is rolling over like crazy, scootching around (mainly just in her crib) and is working on sitting up. She is content to just hang out and chew on toys but mostly loves when she has someone to talk to!

Stacy and I took the kids to the Zoo-Boo a couple weekends ago and had a great time! Mason was a bit confused as to why were at the zoo, but not there to see the animals but he sure enjoyed collecting all of the candy. It was chilly, but we were so happy it did not rain!

One of our very close family friends Jodi got married last Friday! She is one of our 'girls night attendees' . Wendi, Jodi, Stacy and myself all get together about once a month to hang out and chat. We are looking forward to our November night out to hear all about Jodi and Eduardo's honeymoon :)

Our fall has just been SO busy! I hope things slow down a bit but with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming I am not holding my breath!!

Basement

We started a project a couple of weeks ago...finishing our basement!! One of my patients who is currently laid off from his carpentry job came in to get his teeth cleaned and he was ready and willing to do any kind of work to help him pay some bills. We have wanted to get our basement done for a while, but just could not afford it so this worked out great for all of us! We worked out a great deal and he got started on it that next week!
Mason loves "helping" when we go down there to paint, clean up, etc. The other night we told him we had to go down to do some work and he ran into his toy room, grabbed his 3 hammers and his hard hat and told us he was ready to work! He has really enjoyed this project!
It is going pretty fast, we had wood floors installed yesterday and our carpet should be installed tomorrow! It will be less than one month from start to finish!! WAY faster than doing it ourselves :)

Noah Luke

Here he is!! SO cute!

My First Nephew Has Arrived!

Congratulations to my sister-in-law Sarah and her husband Marc as they welcomed their little baby BOY into the world today! Noah Luke was 8# 1 oz. She had him via C-section and is recovering from HELLP Syndrome. They expect Sarah to recover and be out of ICU tomorrow. Please pray that she would have no lingering effects of the syndrome so that she can start to enjoy their family of THREE!

We are all anxiously awaiting photos of little Noah. I will share them when I get them!!

A Look Back....

Our handsome little man was born on 9/28/2006 at 10:34 am. He was 8pounds 8ounces and 22 inches long!
The poor baby was SO colicky due to a horrible case of acid reflux. Little did we know that it would land him in the hospital with a feeding tube when he was 6 months old :( He struggled with a food aversion until he was over 1 year old. Looking back, it was only the grace of God that got us all through this very tough time.

Mason at 1 year old. Look at those chubby cheeks! He was much happier once he could get around and see the world. He is still SUPER nosey today!!

At 2 years old he was talking in full sentences! At his 2 year check up his pediatrician said he had a 3 year old vocabulary. Such a smart little guy. His food aversion at this point was a thing of the past!!! Praise God!!

And now...our BIG 3 year old!! So much has changed in the past year! He amazes me each and every day with the things he says, does and understands.
We had so much fun today! He came down the stairs this morning and immediately spotted his present sitting on the kitchen table. I have never seen him come down the stairs that quickly before (Christmas is going to be a lot of fun this year). He started tearing into it and found a bag full of new trains!! He was so excited. The bad news...he could have cared less about breakfast, but eventually he made his way into his chair and crowned himself with his birthday hat. Thankfully he was excited about the muffin (or maybe just the candle) and ate in record timing so that he could get back to playing with his new toys again.

Grandma Char came over to watch Kiki in the afternoon so that we could go out for a special birthday lunch at McDonalds just him and I which included ice cream and all :)

Our neighbors Sarah with her daughter Kaydence and Carrie with her son Noah came by in the afternoon and evening to wish him a happy birthday and shower him with fun gifts.

Thanks to everyone for all of the birthday wishes, phone calls, and presents. It is so hard to believe that he is already 3 years old! He has been such a blessing to our family. I don't know what we would do without him.

Stay tuned for more pictures after we have our family party on Saturday (Thomas the Tank Engine-themed of course)!