We are expecting baby #2! We are soooooooo excited!! We are about 17 weeks along, so hopefully we'll find out in about 3 weeks whether we will be having a boy or a girl. I've been quite a bit sicker this time around, even with anti-nausea/vomiting medication. But hopefully that part should go away soon. Otherwise, things have been great and we are so excited for Caleb to be a big brother!
We've had a few changes at our house recently.
Today my brother Kip and his wife Bridget (who were staying with us for the summer) left to go back to law school. We are so sad to see them go! They were such a huge help around the house, made great treats and meals, and it was just fun to play games, watch movies, go out to eat, and just have fun with them! The summer just flew by! Caleb keeps asking if "Dip and Bibbets" are at work. He just doesn't quite understand...so sad! We love you guys and we'll miss you tons!
The next change is a good change. Chris takes his LAST final tomorrow night! I can't believe he's completed his second masters! It really did go by fast. Looking back. Caleb and I are so excited to have him around in the evenings again!!!!!!!!! Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our other change is a new trick that Caleb has. Today I had put Caleb down for a nap and decided to go read a book. I fell asleep and the next thing I knew someone was tapping me on the back. Scared me to death!!! So Caleb has decided to climb out of his crib again. A long time ago he tried and fell out and hurt himself and much to my delight, he hadn't tried again. I knew once he tried again it was over because he is an excellent climber. So today I rocked him for just a minute and he fell right asleep and took a nap. As soon as he was done sleeping he scared me to death again by popping into the room. So tonight he has climbed out about 10 times since 8pm. I'm hoping I'm not in for a long night. Any advice for convincing a 2 1/2 year old to stay in his bed?!?!
To me, one of the definite drawbacks of living in Texas is all the nasty creepy crawly stuff. I've never lived anywhere with quite the variety, size, and quantity.
Caleb had his first experience with fire ants the other day. A few of us had gone to the park to play a game and Caleb was just running around having fun. He went over to this fence and was standing on a dirt pile that ended up being a big ol' fire ant hill. He just stood there with this grimace on his face that will be forever ingrained in my memory. We ran over and the fire ants were all over his feet and crawling up his pants. The poor kid is a trooper though. He didn't even cry, just made this sad little whimper as we yanked his flip flops and pants off and swatted away the rest.
Maybe I'm just a wimp, but I think those things seriously hurt! My first and only (hopefully!) encounter with them was last summer when I was buckling Caleb into the car and inadvertently stepped in a pile on the edge of our driveway that I didn't know was there. They swarmed my foot in just seconds and it really did feel like my foot was on fire for like 10 minutes.
The picture is kind of gross, but here are Caleb's poor feet. He had these nasty marks up and down his legs and on his feet:
Caleb and I just got back from a couple weeks in Washington state. Unfortunately, Chris is wrapping up the summer semester and was unable to come. But he was able to get a ton of stuff done for school and work, so that is good. But we missed him tons!!
But Caleb and I had such a blast! We got to stay in a palace on the hill (a.k.a my brother's family's palace). We stayed with my brother Kerry and my sister-in-law Christy and their three cute kids (although they're not really kids anymore!). My sister, Kaylyn, also lives fairly close so we spent lots of time with her too. My dad was able to come up for a few days too. How could we not have tons of fun?!?!
My family has lots of July/August birthdays, and we were able to celebrate 4 while we were there. Here is Caleb helping my brother blow out his candles. (Hmmm...there sure are a lot of candles on that cheesecake... :)
We went swimming, to the park almost every day, miniature golfing, and of course played tons and tons of games. This time the favorites were Rage (a VERY fun card game and appropriately named) and Settlers of Catan, although we still fit in tons of others. Oh, and what's a visit with family without eating out?!?! A TON!
Growing up we were always playing games in our backyard. One of our favorites was croquet. So of course we had to break out the croquet and play a few "friendly" games. :)
The weather was a bit colder than I expected, but a nice break from the Texas heat! I was surprised by how early it got light in the mornings--it was fairly light by 4:30a.m. The first couple nights we were there Caleb woke up at 5am and must have thought it was daytime. We had a great view from our room with a balcony and at 5am Caleb was exclaiming, "Oh wow! Mom! Trees! Tall trees! Oh wow!" So after that we had to cover up our great view and keep it dark and had no more problems with early risers. :)
My niece Kathryn was in this awesome dance festival put on by like seven area stakes. It was awesome! And Kathryn did a great job! And of course, Caleb enjoyed every moment of it too. Here is sample of how much Caleb liked it:
He was so funny because he was trying to imitate each of the different dances. When they were dancing and clapping he was dancing and clapping, if they turned in a bunch of circles, he turned in a bunch of circles. When the crowd cheered, he would bow and say thank you--he was convinced everyone was clapping for him.
We were also able to attend my niece Karalee's baptism. We very much enjoyed it and it was very special.
Caleb was spoiled ROTTEN. Ok, we both were.
Unfortunately, I didn't take very many pictures, but my brother promised to send me some of his. So when I get those, I'll post them too.
Last weekend we went to Seaworld in the evening so we could see the different shows they have going on at night. After a couple shows we had to stop and feed the flamingos and ducks. Then there was a little band that came out to play and Caleb ran over and sat down by them. He didn't sit long though...who can sit when you can dance along? So even though it was getting late, he was having so much fun that we stayed until the band finished. And then we turned around to get our stroller and it was GONE! LAME!! I was sooooo bummed!
I asked one of the workers where to go if a stroller turns up and she said to just talk the customer services at the front. I was walking through the park thinking about how many times I had left my stroller at Seaworld in various places as they don't let you take it into the shows and how I've never had a problem before. I was also thinking about how expensive that stroller was and how often I used it! I used it to go on walks, to the zoo, Seaworld, the mall...pretty much EVERYWHERE. We got to the front and they told us that no strollers had been turned in and that we could check back the next day if we wanted to. Um, yes, I wanted to. As we were busy doing that, my brother and sister-in-law happened to ask a security guard who happened to know that they just located a stroller. There was another family there who were trying to claim it though. But it happened to be our stroller and we happened to leave a receipt in it with our names on it! YIPEE!! So we got our stroller back! Apparently the stroller had been "left unattended for quite some time" so the security guard took it. Hmmm...aren't strollers left unattended all the time at Seaworld? Like for each and every show all day every day? But whatever. I'm just glad to have it back. :)
We've had some fun visits the past couple weeks. No pictures, though. I'm lame.
First we got to have Sal with us from Vegas for a couple days as he was here on a business trip. It was so fun to hang out with him and we wish it could have been for longer. We also wish that JoEllen and Little Sal and Jazmin could have been here too! For sure, next time! Thanks for making time for us, Sal!
The day after that, my sister, Kaylyn, came from Tacoma for several days. We had so much fun! We did lots of stuff like, Fried Food Fest on Friday the Fourth, a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, watching fireworks, going downtown, doing the mirror maze, going to Seaworld, and eating at lots of our favorite places. We always love a good visit from "Nyn!" And we are always so sad when she has to go home!
We are usually totally up for visitors, but our last visitor was very unwelcomed. It was a stomach virus. Caleb ended up with a really bad stomach virus and the poor kid was soooooooooo sick! I always feel so bad when he is sick. Luckily he slept a lot, so that helped. One night I put him down at 7:30pm and he didn't get up until 1:30pm the next day! Poor little guy. He was a trooper though and is better now. And I think the rest of us managed to avoid it. Knock on wood.
Before we had Caleb, I was a little bit nervous about quitting my job and staying home because I have a tendency to go stir crazy sometimes. However, that has never ever been a problem. How could you go stir crazy when you have an entertaining kid like Caleb?
Who needs toys?!? Caleb's favorite toy these days is the big red bucket:
He turns it over, uses it as a stage and entertains us with his made up songs:
Except now Caleb has a new skill. Bowing. So now he likes to turn over the big red bucket and use it as a stage, sing us his awesome songs, and then bows and says "thank you!" In this video, he had Chris, Uncle Kip, and Aunt Bridget all cheering him on! What a ham!
We've had a bit of a different kind of fun the last week or two.
Did you know that if your fridge is too cold that this can happen?
Let's just say it was a HUGE mess. It exploded ALL OVER our fridge! I later learned from my dad that they have these nice cheap thermometers that you can put in your fridge and freezer to make sure they are at the correct temperatures. Good to know!
We have these little kittens and their mom that have taken up residence in our backyard lately. Well, one of the local dogs got a hold of one of the kittens in our backyard (he comes and goes through the fence as he pleases). Let's just say that we had to close the blinds for the day because the local animal life enjoyed it. It was so sad and GROSS!!!!!!
We have taken turns being sick the last couple weeks. Caleb got it the worst, I think. He finally initiated our house by puking in our bed on my pillow. (Couldn't he have chosen Chris's pillow?!?) Up until now, I thought he could only puke at my parents house. The last couple trips up there he has initiated like every room in their house!
One day when Caleb woke up from his nap his fever had spiked really high and we were somehow out of medicine. So I grabbed him and headed to the store. He actually fell asleep on my shoulder in the store and for those of you that know Caleb very well, you know he must have felt miserable! He doesn't do that! Ever! Anyway, I grabbed the medicine and put him in his car seat and gave him the medicine and went home. Later that night, I realized I had left my wallet in the shopping cart. Thank goodness for honest people in the world! I called the store and they told me someone had turned it in and I went and picked it up! And everything was still there. Amazing, huh?!?
Then there are our cars. Kip was lucky enough to have something break on his car in the middle of downtown coming home from work. He had it towed and it was actually a quick and inexpensive fix. My car has been having some troubles, but we also figured out that is an inexpensive fix too. Then yesterday, Kip and Bridget had a flat tire (on their brand new tires!). But it was still under warranty and so they fixed it for free. I'd say we were pretty lucky considering what cars can cost to get fixed sometimes!!
It's actually nice to have all the little inconveniences and weird things sometimes (after the fact!) to help remind me how good things are when your car works and when you are healthy, etc. And we have still been able to have lots of fun playing games, watching movies, making treats, etc. We love having Kip and Bridget here!
It's been awhile since I've posted. I'll have to do a catch up post later.
For now, though, here is a message from Caleb to Chris for Father's Day:
(translation--blowing kisses, "luv u dad", and "whoohoo, dad!")
Chris truly is the best dad to Caleb. My favorite thing to do is to watch them be together. Hope you have an awesome Father's Day, Chris! We love you!!
We were trying to get Caleb to sing the "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home" song on video because he's really cute when he does it. But tonight, he decided to make up his own songs. So, here for your viewing (listening?) pleasure--Caleb's songs titled, in order, "The Dad Song", "The Mom Song", "The Caleb Song", and "The Bear Song."
The lyrics sound kind of similar to each other, huh?!? He can make a song about anything! Caleb has really been into singing songs for us lately. He seriously cracks us up!!
And to my dad and Chris's dad, and all those who have been like dad's to us--Happy Father's Day! We love you and miss you so much! Thanks for your great examples and for all that you are to us!
p.s. To the Giani Mob: Chris has decided he is done mourning your leaving and is trying to make yummy meatballs tonight for the first time since you left. Yeah, he started at 10pm. What a nut! I'll let you know how they turn out. :) We know they won't be awesome like yours, but we can hope that they will suffice in your absence.
Things have just been so busy lately. Especially for Chris. (Then again, are they ever not so busy when you are a full time dad, full time project manager, full time student, and full time church stuff?!?)
To add to the fun, last Thursday we had a leak in our living room that turned into a pipe bursting. It made a big mess, but luckily Chris acted fast and minimized the damage. I always knew Chris was a jack of all trades, but I just didn't realize how much so. He is quite the plumber, carpet layer, and dry waller, etc. After some time with no air conditioning, no water, and our whole living room in our kitchen, we are back up and running and thankful it didn't cost us tons of money. We had someone come look at it and test for water damage and he basically said we are very lucky and all the stuff Chris did totally saved us some major damage. As a side note, for some reason, we kind of found it fun to sit on our big ol' couch in the kitchen. :)
Here is Chris Thursday morning when he ran home from work and started cutting into the wall while still in his suit and tie. I must say, I was a bit nervous when he started cutting. After all, how do you know where the leak is? Apparently he did, because he found it first try.
Our nice whole in the wall:
Here Chris is re-stretching the carpet. He laid new carpet pad, and then re-stretched the carpet.
So there is our mess. Now for the mess up.
Our mess up happened tonight when we were double checking whether Chris's classes start next week (like Chris thought) or the week after (like I thought). Uh, yeah. They started this week. Already missed two classes this week. Oops. And the summer semester is already short and condensed. Oh well. Just this last 10 week semester (make that 9 1/2 weeks) and then he is FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!! Yahoo!
It's a good thing Chris has a good sense of humor. I think I'd be crazy with all the stuff he has to keep track of, take care of, and deal with! :)
