Major Update

We have out of internet for quite some time so that's why I haven't been able to post anything.

Ok, where to start? We had an enjoyable summer until my mom had to move to Houston last month for a job promotion. She was safe during Ike and so was her apartment located downtown.

Jimmie has a new job installing biomedical equipment (surgical lights and other equipment)in surgery rooms. For this week he is working in Hondo, but before Ike hit, his boss got a huge contract with the Methodist Hospital in Houston. He will being heading over there next week staying about two weeks at a time, and coming home on the weekend.

I have also received a job located on the east side of San Antonio. The company, Texas Service Industries, manufactures fluid pump trailers for clients pumping fluids into big wells, usually oil wells. My job is a mechanical draftsman's assistant. I am currently helping the Sales Engineer catch up on projects that are getting ready to go out, so that he can concentrate on new projects coming in. It's a temporary position right, but further down the road it might develop into a full time position. So as of right now I'm only working M/W/F. Luckily I was able to find a car through our next door neighbor who works at night and letting me use it during the day, and able to find respectable, trustworthy childcare at an affordable and reasonable rate. God is truly blessing us with everything just falling into place. I new that if I took this job and it was meant to be that everything else would be taken care of. I'm really glad that I only work three days a week because I will be able to attend the Ladies Bible Study at our church on Tuesday mornings. We are going through Beth Moore's very first Bible study, A Women's Heart: God's Dwelling Place, revised after 10 years. This is the second study that I have done since we moved to San Antonio. The first one I did was on the Fruit of the Spirit. Then on Thursday's I am able to take the kids to our weekly lunch bunch activity with other mom's in the church.

Kaden is now starting to talk more, learning new words to associate with specific things or people. He has also started potty training a little bit as well. He will follow one of us into the bathroom, take off his pants and diaper, then sit down on his little potty. He hasn't actually gone in the potty yet, but I'm not worried about that. I don't think he quite understands the sensation of having to go and then sitting on the potty to go. No rush. He'll figure out.

Benjamin is getting so big now. I can't believe that he is going to be a year-old at the end of next month. He's army crawling around all over the house, usually following his brother. Starting to get up on his knees and self-feed. No standing yet unless I'm holding him under his arms.

Well, I guess that's about it that I can think of. Now that I have the internet, I'm going to trying my but to keep updating the blog. Hopefully I can post every night or sometimes during the day.

I've put some pictures from this summer.

Sorry About My Lack of Posting

So I guess I'm a bit behind on blogging; 7 months behind! Here's what has happened in those few months that made me seem like I had fallen off the face of the earth. Over Labor Day weekend, we went to San Antonio to visit my family, ended up staying for a week, Jimmie got a job offer. When we got back to Michigan, we almost had the chance to leave earlier than planned, but decided to wait until after Benjamin was born and stick it out with our lease of the apartment. October 25, Benjamin was born. Then 10 days later we moved to San Antonio. The kids and I stayed with my mom while Jimmie was traveling for work, then on the 15 he return to Michigan to get all of our things out of the apartment and U-hauled it down to our new house that we are renting from my grandparents; this house has been in the family for over 50 years. Christmas was a lot of fun. Kaden was trying to figure out the whole tearing open the presents thing. We tried to get him to take a picture with Santa at the mall but he was a little freaked out about that. However, Benjamin was totally relaxed (and sleeping)see pictures below.





New Year's was also fun. Jimmie and I went to my aunt and uncle's house to watch one of the last football games before super bowl. My uncle is a die hard Giants fan. Kaden got his hair cut in December as well, unfortunately I can't find the pictures right now. He only got a trim, you can kind of see it in the Santa pictures. Also in January, we found out at Benjamin's 2 month check up that he has plagiocephaly which is a condition characterized by an asymmetrical distortion (flattening of one side) of the skull. It is a common finding at birth and may be the result of a restrictive intrauterine environment. The unusual head shape in plagiocephaly is caused by pressure in the womb giving a "diamond" shaped head when seen from above. So the doctor referred us to a neurosurgeon to see if the is anything we can do for it. April 10 i was finally able to go to that appointment. Turns out that he would need a special helmet that will relieve the pressure of the flattened side of his head so that his head can grow into the symmetrical shape that it should be. This past Monday, I went to get his head molded for his helmet, I we should be getting it fitted within two weeks. I think it looks really cute from the pictures that I've seen of kids wearing it. Plus there were like 20 different designs that I could choose from to kind of decorated with. I chose the wild jungle animals, so cute! I'll try to remember to post some pictures of it when we get fitted. He will have to wear it for about 2-4 months (24/7 except when taking a bath) depending on how well he progresses. Kaden is starting to talk, his vocabulary is growing almost every day. Words that he can say right now: uh-oh(first word), ma ma, da da, bubba, wow, yay, bye-bye, night night, all gone, hi, please(the newest one today).

Kind of a side note: My 92-year-old grandfather is not doing too well. Last Thursday he had a stroke and has been in the hospital unconscious ever since. They had to put a feeding tube in on Saturday so that he could get some nourishment. He was moved out of ICU but I called to check today and it doesn't look like he's doing any better.

I will try harder to keep up with blogging so that the next time we visit Longview, people wouldn't be out of the loop on some things in our lives. ;)

Such a Big Boy

Kaden is really starting to walking now, and we are so excited about it. It's so cute how he holds his arms up straight in the air to balance himself. We're so proud of him and the can't believe how much he's grown.

Birthday Party!

This afternoon we celebrated Kaden's birthday at Jimmie's Mom's house. It was very interesting to see him try to open his presents, and also stuff his face with cake. Here are some great pictures for your enjoyment.

Baby Becomes Toddler

Wow! I almost cannot believe that it has been a year since Kaden was born. It really does show you can quickly they grow up. For the past few days he has begun to take a few steps on his own and standing by himself with no support from furniture. I'm so proud of him. I'm also excited and nervous at the same time because now it is going to be even more challenging keeping up with him during this pregnancy.

A little side note on his well checks. For the past month and a half we have had to visit the pediatrician every week because of Kaden lack of weight gain. At his 9 month check up he actually decreased in weight instead of gaining or remaining the same. She was hoping he would be on the curve at that point. So, in an effort to figure out if it was an intake issue or a digestive problem, she put him on a specific nutrition bust diet with 24 oz of formula: 8 oz at every major meal time, and a minimum of two snacks. During these feedings, she wanted us to stay away from the traditional baby food jars, and give him "people" food. Basically, whatever we were eating he should be eating, with the exception of eggs, peanut butter, and milk. For the first couple of weeks we were seeing a steady growth in his weights. Then, one week his weight didn't change but an ounce. So, she had us keep a food log of everything he was eating so that she can see if there is any reason why he should be gaining the weight he needs to. This past Friday after looking over our food log for the week, the doctor still wanted to see him eating more then he actually was. this discouraged me a little because when I try to give him more than usually he has gotten to the point where he is either full, or just distracted and wants to play with everything. But I'm trying to give him as much as possible. At the beginning of all this he only weighed 15 lb 12 oz now he is at 17 lb 5 oz. I'm just hoping that he continues to gain the weight he needs.

Saturday, August 4 we will be celebrating Kaden's birthday at Jimmie's mother's house with the Fitz(Jimmie's Dad) and Strawbridge(Jimmie's Mom) side of the family. Then on the 11th will be celebrating his birthday with the Benton(Jimmie's biological Dad) side of the family. I will be posting pictures galore of the event probably the Sunday or Monday after.

New Baby

I may have forgotten to mention this, but we found out a couple of weeks ago that we are have a

BOY!!!!!

Walking Around the Coffee Table

Yesterday we went down to see Jimmie's family, only an hour away. After dinner, the boys we're playing with Kaden and making him "work" for want he wanted.



This is the only walking that he can do right now, I'm wondering how long it's going to be before his starts actually walking. :P