Long Kids Update

Kylee turned 9 months a little over a week ago. She weighs 18 lbs 4 oz (50th percentile) and is 28 inches long (75th percentile). She is as active, mobile, and curious as ever!! She still does the army crawl thing instead of the traditional crawling method but it doesn't seem to slow her down one bit. She can go from laying to sitting, pulling herself up to standing, and walks around the furniture while holding on. She finally cut her first tooth which explains why she has been so fussy lately. She also LOVES table food!! She eats everything from lunchmeat, cheese and crackers to spaghettios, lasagna, and grilled cheese. We're hoping she is as good of an eater as her brother! Hanging out in her crib teething on her fingers

Seriously Mom? You're making me wear this hat!!

It doesn't even match my shirt!!

Tried swinging for the first time and had a BLAST!!
Laughed outloud the whole time:)

Now for an update on Chad...About a month and a half ago I noticed that his thumb on his left hand could not stretch out all the way. I tried to bend it backwards but it just wouldn't budge. He said it didn't hurt so I waited until Kylee's 9 month check-up to have his pediatrician look at it. We discovered he has "trigger thumb." There's a big explanation for it but to put it simply, the tendon in his thumb cannot fit through a certain "tunnel," therefore preventing it to stretch all the way out. We were referred to a specialty hand doctor and had an appt today. Both the physian and his assistant diagnosed Chad with "trigger thumb" and recommended a simple outpatient surgery to correct it. Since it requires him to have a small incision with a few stitches that cannot get wet for 2-3 weeks, we are going to hold off on the surgery until fall.
Here's Chad attempting to give "thumbs up." Apparently we must not be "thumbs up" kinda people because he had no idea what he was doing at first. Notice the thumb on his left hand is bent at an angle (his trigger thumb). Not fingers up goof...thumbs up!!!
Chad's good thumb up... Whew..finally! Two thumbs up!!

Just thought I would add a photo of one of the many talents Chad is blessed with..lol! And, we didn't even show him how to do it. We were all eating dinner and then out of nowhere, Chad turned his head and this is what we saw. I think we've got ourselves a class clown!

Drywalling Complete!!!

I am SOOOOOOOOOO thankful that drywalling is DONE!!! I have never seen so much dust in my life (and believe me, I'm not one of those people who dust all the time)! It took about 2 weeks for John and Bill to apply the drywall mud, wait for it to dry, sand it down...then do it all again, and again, and again until the walls looked straight and the nail holes and corners patched. The walls have been painted but need some touching up in some areas. The baseboards have been nailed in place and the two doors installed (will post these pictures another time).

This is what John looked like everytime he came upstairs during the drywall stage. He had to wear glasses since the dust kept getting in his contacts. Notice the drywall dust on the floor below the door leading to the basement. You can only imagine how much dust there was downstairs and throughout the entire house!!

Drywalling complete. Walls painted.

Chad loves going down there and checking out all the tools

(with strict supervision of course)

Kylee Learns How to Army Crawl

Lynn's Birthday

Last Thursday, John's parents came over to celebrate his Mom's birthday. She opened her gifts and then we had cake and icecream. On Sunday, we went to Abuelo's with them, and my parents, to conclude her birthday festivities. Chad, John's Mom & Kylee
Kylee and her Grandma Lynn

Kylee eating a saltine cracker. She's really beginning

to love all kinds of table food now.

She can pull herself from sitting to standing now. And

she especially loves this Leapfrog table.

Basement: Insulation & Drywall

Over the past two weeks, John and his Dad kicked it into high gear and accomplished a lot. Everything has been framed and insulated; and all the wiring and lighting installed. They had to re-route some of the plumbing and dryer vent in order for the ceiling to fit properly.

Drywall is up with beginning stages of patching started

Even after all this time John has been in home sales and going through the new home building process before, I still had know idea how much goes into finishing a basement, make less, an entire home. I am so proud of John and grateful for his Dad to put in so much time and hardwork. Right now, they are finishing the drywall stage which I think is the messiest, time-consuming, yet most crucial part of the whole process. I have never seen so much dust in my life!! There is still a lot to be done but it's really coming together now.

Kylee-8 Months Old

Kylee had her "8 month birthday" last Thursday. With every month that goes by, it becomes more and more difficult to take her picture in the rocking chair. She is so squirmy and curious these days and can't sit still in one spot for very long. She army crawls all over the place and this week has started getting up on her knees. I'm sure it's only going to be about another week or so before she starts truly crawling. Yikes!! She already scouts out all of Chad's choking hazardous toys or the toy he is playing with at that moment (which does not go over too well with him!). I'm hoping our basement will be finished within the next few weeks before she becomes too mobile.

Pulling off the wicker pieces (inevitably to stick in her mouth)

Valentine's Day 2010

Sorry its been a couple weeks since the last posting but you know how I mentioned bad things usually come in three's...well that particular week it was at least 4, maybe more. While searching the internet that Friday, somehow our computer got infected with a virus and stopped working. We're not much of the "techy" people so once we try to back up the old files (hopefully we still can), we'll get it repaired. In the meantime, we are fortunate enough that we're able to use one of John's Grandpa's old (but new) computers..if that makes sense.

Anyways, we had a wonderful Valentine's Day. I worked that weekend and brought home doughnuts Sunday morning...which is ALWAYS a bit hit!!! After I woke up and showered, John and I took the kids to Abuelo's mexican restaurant (my favorite!!). I thought Chad would be horrible because he hadn't napped all day but he ended up falling asleep in the car and slept sitting up in the booth for the majority of dinner. Kylee was good as usual and loves sitting in the high chair.

After dinner, we went to John's parents' house.

Kylee and I with her new toy

A couple cute pics of the kiddos from a few weeks ago