Developments

Well, this post is long overdue. Hopefully you aren't reading this and finding out for the first time that we are expecting again... we've tried to let people know, but I realize it probably should have made it to my blog sooner than this.

We found out in May and had it confirmed by the doc in June. Here is the baby at 10 weeks. I had a little morning sickness - not near as bad as I had with Wyatt - but now I am feeling really great.

Then at 19 weeks, we found out we will be having a GIRL. She is due January 3rd. This is a picture of her profile and torso. It really is amazing what all they can see in a sonogram these days. We took the kids with us to this appointment. Lila enjoyed getting to see baby girl move around; Wyatt had no idea we were even looking at something. He will figure it out soon enough :)

Here is a picture of me 21 weeks pregnant. I was going to wait and see if I could get Ben to take my picture... but then I remembered my tripod. So I went out on the back porch to take a pic.

It wasn't long before I had someone else who wanted in on the picture.

And then another little person joined us.

So I took the opportunity and got a picture of them together (yes, Lila is still in her pajamas... she had been playing in her room after breakfast... I thought I could sneak out and take a quick picture, but they heard the back door open.)

So sometime at the end of this year or beginning of next year, we will have a new little person to add to our pictures... and this blog, of course!

Zippity Zoo Day

Every year, TI offers an Employee Day at the Dallas Zoo. This year it was in July, so as you can imagine, it was HOT. We invited some friends to join us and planned to get there early. Even at 9 a.m., it was HOT. We walked around looking at animals first, with plans to stop at the Children's Zoo area when it opened at 10. We were drawn to the turtle exhibit (mostly because it was shady, I'm not ashamed to admit it... it was HOT).

I got a picture of Lila on the turtle statue.

Then the boys - Wyatt and Evan, his friend who is about 6 months older than him. While we were there, a zookeeper changed the turtle's water so there was some activity. The kids were all fascinated with the slow-moving, giant tortoises. I wish we could say we saw lots of other exciting animals, but it was mostly monkeys and birds (where we were at).

We made our way to the Children's Zoo. They have an exhibit where you can be in the cage with the birds. Wyatt wasn't so sure what to think about that!

All three kids enjoyed the large fish tank.

Then we went in to feed the goats. Here Wyatt is saying hello (or something) to one of the goats.

Lila thought it was pretty neat that the goat would eat out of her hand!

Before we left the children's area, we let the kids splash in the stream. Lila understood when we said, "Don't sit in the water."

Unfortunately, the boys didn't quite get it. So Wyatt had to go without his shorts for a little bit. (It didn't take long for them to dry in the heat.) We walked to the other side of the zoo where the big animals were - elephants, giraffes, tigers, etc. But by this time it was REALLY HOT. So we called it a day and left to eat lunch. In a nice air-conditioned building :)

Summer Fun

I thought I would share some random pictures I've taken over the summer. I don't know that these are in any particular order because they came off of different cameras.

For Lila's birthday, we gave her an art easel from IKEA that has a whiteboard on one side and a chalkboard on the other side. We put her little table next to it to create a little "art center". She loves it!

Wyatt also loves coloring at the little table, and he has a special attraction to markers! He spends most of his time pulling the cap off and then trying to get it back on. So I think he ends up with more marker on his hands than on his paper! Guess that's why we use washable markers :)

A picture I took of them one time when Lila was using the camera around the house.

A few months ago we drove down to visit Aunt Janina at work and eat lunch with her. We got sandwiches and ate them in the breakroom.

One time things were quiet so I decided to investigate. They were both in Wyatt's room, and Lila was reading books to Wyatt. This is what I heard:

Lila: "Wyatt, where is the clock?"

Wyatt: "Cookie!"

Lila: "Yes Wyatt, that is a cookie, but where is the clock?"

Wyatt: "Cookie!"

Lila: "No Wyatt! Stop saying cookie! Say clock!"

When I came into the room, something I said (I can't remember what now) struck Lila as funny and they both started giggling.

A picture Lila took of Wyatt in the car.

I took the kids with me to one of my doctor's appointments. We have to cross a skywalk to get to the office, so on the way back we stopped to watch the cars.

It was fascinating!

As a special treat, I let the kids take a bath in our garden tub about a week ago. Wyatt really liked the extra room to spread out!

After the bath, the kids like to stay snuggled in their hooded towels for a few minutes.

We've been using our backyard pool a little less frequently the past few weeks (due to the 100 degree heat!!), but one evening we filled it up - and even moved our toddler slide over into it. I thought Wyatt would love it, but he wasn't that interested. Lila thought it was great fun though!

George

Meet George.

George is Wyatt's must-have bedtime buddy. My Great Aunt & Uncle gave it to Wyatt when he was born, but it's only been in the past 6 months that he has formed an attachment to him. Lila loves stuffed animals, but she will have a different bedtime buddy every night; she doesn't care! Not Wyatt. When it is bedtime, Wyatt wants George and his water cup. When he wakes up, he gathers both things in his arms before you get him out of the crib. It is cute.

I usually try to make sure I put George in the crib whenever we have a babysitter, but a few weeks ago I forgot. So when she put Wyatt to bed and he started crying and yelling, "Dorge! Dorge!," she didn't know what he was talking about! Fortunately after a few minutes, Lila came out of her room and calmly stated, "he wants his monkey." Yay for big sisters! After he got George, he stopped crying, laid down and went to sleep. :)

Here's a picture I took of him sleeping with George. So sweet how he snuggles with him! I'm not sure what we will do if we ever lose that monkey!!

(Note: Lila took the top picture of Wyatt and George during one of her picture-taking sessions.)

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

About 3 months ago, our church had a Men's event where fathers and sons could go to a Frisco Roughriders baseball game. Ben took Wyatt. Included in the ticket price was all-you-can-eat concessions through the 6th inning. This included burgers, hotdogs, chips, popcorn and drink. I'm not sure how much Wyatt got out of the game (I'd put money on nothing, actually), but the food – that, he liked!

He also liked going up and down the stairs. And he pointed to the mascot several times and said "Elmo!" (I believe their mascot was a red bear... not entirely sure, but it wasn't Elmo.)

However, the BEST part of baseball for Wyatt was the POPCORN. (His first taste, too - thanks to one of the other guys who attended from church.) Doesn't that smile say it all?

Here's a pic of Lila when we took her to her first baseball game - she was about the same age as Wyatt is now.

Then about 2 months ago, TI sponsored a Roughriders night, so we went to another game as a family. We only stayed for 4 or 5 innings, but the kids had fun.

Wyatt: "Hand over the popcorn and nobody gets hurt."

Wyatt also thought it was fun to put his cup in and out of the cupholder.

Lila's 4th Birthday

This year for Lila's birthday, we celebrated in Wichita with family. I asked Lila what she wanted for her cake. She told me, very specifically, "I want a blue ladybug with purple spots." YES! No character shaped pans! Woo-hoo! Ok, so since we were not at home and I didn't want to lug all my cake supplies with me... I used icing from a can. Gasp! But I thought, it's a simple round cake. I can tint the white icing with some blue coloring, and I purchased a small tube of purple icing for the spots. Easy enough. I also used purple pipe-cleaners for the antenna.

It turned out pretty cute, I thought. Did I mention I decorated the cake the night before we were going to eat it? 'Cuz that's key to this story. Yep, after dinner while the kids were playing nicely, I decorated the cake. Now, some of you already know that canned icing is not as stiff as homemade icing but again, I wasn't trying to do anything fancy with it. Well, I don't know if it was the humidity in the air or what, but my cute cake the night before turned into...

THIS the next day.

Actually, I didn't even think to take a picture of what it looked like in the morning. This is actually what it looked like after I "repaired" it. Basically, the only thing left on top of the cake were the antenna. Everything else had slid down the sides. I was able to rescue the spots (sort-of) and we went ahead with our celebration.

Here Lila is blowing out her 4 candles.

She was very proud she did it all by herself!

And the cake still tasted good.

Wyatt thought it was finger-licking good!

He wasted no time at all devouring his piece of cake.

Then she got to open some presents. Here she is hugging a little puppy dog she got from Grandma and Grandpa Amey.

Before I go any further, let me tell you what I learned from this experience:

1. Always, ALWAYS, take a picture of your cake as soon as you finish decorating it (which I did). Lila also got to see it finished that night, so she at least knew what it was supposed to look like!

2. Canned icing is only for cakes that are still in a pan - where it can't slide off.

3. Cake will still taste good even if it's not so pretty.

4. If you are turning 4, as long as you get to open some presents, your birthday will not be ruined by a slightly deformed cake. (Phew!)

When we got back to Texas, we celebrated her birthday again (on the actual date) with Aunt Janina. We let Lila pick the restaurant she wanted to eat at - she chose Panera Bread. She loves their broccoli-cheddar soup! Here she is opening a present which came in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Brandt.

Wyatt wanted to check out the gifts too. He loves to play with Lila's "dortcake" dolls!

Some new books to read. (And she's sporting a new outfit from Uncle Duey and Aunt Sarah). All in all, a good birthday!