Baby Knox

Pictures!

2012-01-10T08:48:00.004-06:00

David and I got both kids down by 7:30PM last night. We had some ADULT TIME! Man, it felt good to just have David and Jessica time! Life is SLOWLY getting back to normal! And just as I type that, I jinx it. That is what happens in baby land.

Laine's new bouncy seat! Pretend you don't see the pile of laundry and makeshift trash bag hanging on our bathroom door. Gotta have a place for those middle of the night diaper changes! Ha!

Aidan at Anika's birthday party this last Saturday. I thought this was funny, he was one of perhaps 3 boys total. Hilarious.

Laine chillin on my lap! She squinted when the flash went off. I thought it was too cute. DON'T BOTHER ME!

Flowers from David on my birthday! Sweet hubby.

Great photo of Aunt Stacy and Laine! She came to visit after Christmas! It was WONDERFUL to have her here!

Fell asleep on the changing table. This kid sleeps CONSTANTLY. Except when we go to small group. ;)

First smile that we could catch on a camera! So sweet.

Beautiful baby. I know most parents think they have the most beautiful children in the world. :) I'm pretty sure it is true in my case. Ha!

And Aidan, Laine and I on our first walk. We had a couple days of really warm weather, and we took advantage! This picture also means a lot to me because it was the first day that I officially felt like myself again. The crazy was nearly over, the sun was shining, the baby was sleeping better. We were just settling into a routine finally (I mean, as far as routines can go with a newborn) and I just felt BETTER this day. I like to say that I came out of the FOG finally!

Laine will be 6 weeks officially on Wednesday. Here is the latest!

- she is sleeping pretty good! I am somewhat reluctant to post this, because when you PUBLICLY ACKNOWLEDGE something good that your baby is doing, it is guaranteed to change that day. So let's just say, we're doing better. HA! No seriously, for the past two nights, she has given us a 6-6.5 hour stretch initially, then a 3 hour stretch afterward. Sunday we had small group and we got home late (and keeping her out late was a DISASTER). She slept from 9-3:30am, then from 4-6:45AM. Last night, she slept from 7:30PM (a more regular bedtime) and woke at 1:15AM, then slept from 1:45am to 5AM after eating. So I'll take it. We didn't make it to bed until about 9:30AM last night, so I JIPPED myself of the opportunity to sleep for 6 glorious hours, but it was just nice to hang with David alone for the evening. So worth it! But we're proud of how she is doing. I'm sure there will be a regression soon, but whatever. Just HEADING in the right direction at this point is fine with me. :) Not bad for a 6 week old baby!

- naps. She sleeps CONSTANTLY still. Yesterday it was all day long. She woke from her last nap at 5:30PM and of course was fussy the remainder of the evening. She is SO FUSSY in the PM. SO FUSSY. All hands on deck. Aidan was this way too! This is the reason for the early bedtime. I have NO IDEA how some babies can stay up until 11 on purpose? The PM seems to be the witching hour for us, it is a miracle to just get the bath accomplished during this time! Off to bed, EARLY. I know it would make sense for us to put her down later and get the first stretch of sleep to align with when WE sleep, but we just can't make it. Even with a nap that runs into the PM, no matter how recent the nap, she is still horrendously fussy ANYTIME after 6! I'll be happy when we pass through this stage! Ha!

- smiles! She is starting to smile! We LOVE LOVE LOVE her smile. It isn't very regular or predictable at this point, but when we get one, it is OH SO CUTE!

- falling asleep on her own. She is doing fantastic at this. David is the baby whisperer for naps and bedtime. Me? Not so much. He can get her down awake without a single fuss. I'm seriously jealous. Tonight I am letting him put her down for bed and I'm going to OBSERVE so that I can learn. Not fair. For me, she fusses and it takes a little bit of time, she resists. And quite frequently, she starts to cry and I go to her and rock her to sleep. It's not ALL bad, sometimes I hit the jackpot and she just lays down and goes to bed without a single peep, but not as often as I would like. But I'm going to take notes from my amazing husband and try to do it this same way! I think I put her down TOO awake, David puts her down just BARELY awake and it could be making the difference. It's ok, no biggie. David is the bomb at putting a baby to sleep. But he doesn't have breasts! So I win. :) HAHAHAHA KIDDING I'm just thankful to have a husband who helps. We can always learn different things from each other!

- she moved to her own room and crib last week. She is a seriously LOUD sleeper sometimes and she seems to LOVE the comfort of her room for her naps (sometimes she konks out in there for 2.5 hours!) and so we took the leap a bit early. And boy are we glad we did! She is doing great, I think the consistency in sleeping locations is helping! And David and I sleep better, not hearing every little peep, although we can hear her when she needs us on the baby monitor! When she wakes in the middle of the night to eat, David gets up and gets her for me and I feed her in our bedroom still. Then after we are finished, I swaddle her back up, rock her for a couple more minutes in her room then put her back down. I think it is working ok so far! After the first night, I wasn't sure if we were going to keep her in there (she didn't sleep very well) but we stuck it out and she is doing beautifully now. FOR NOW. :) I reserve the right to flip flop on you.

That's all I can think of for now! David wants me to upload some pics from his phone this week, so there should be more coming soon. Also, we are doing photos with Jenn at Storyteller Photography on Friday, so I hope to get some great pics of Aidan and Laine soon!

Laine - 4 weeks on December 28th

2012-01-05T07:58:00.003-06:00

At her 1 month appt, Laine weighed in at 10 pounds, 6 oz! She is already growing like a weed! I want to try to document our joys/wins and challenges as we go. It has been amazing to be able to go back through Aidan's posts in 2006 and see what kind of challenges we had and at what age! This blog is seriously like a baby book on steriods! I need to get it printed and bound soon, there are over 5 years of posts on this blog!

So Laine was 10 pounds, 6 oz at her 4 week appt. She has grown out of her 0-3 months clothes and is wearing just 3 months currently! She swaddles now exclusively for bedtime and naps. Initially, she could do it either way, but not anymore! She fights the swaddle but can nap much longer (2 hours as opposed to 45 min, which makes for a much happier baby) with the swaddle and we haven't even really tried bedtime without it. Who wants to test anything out at bedtime? ha! She eats every 2 to 3 hours. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later. We just go with it! Her latch can be poor sometimes, causing her to get wind while eating and making spitting up a real problem. We are constantly readjusting, trying to improve. Some feeds are awesome, others are more challenging! Aidan was a total champ in this dept, so you can imagine my confusion with this learning process with Laine!

I would say the first 4 weeks of life for our little one have been a complete blur. BLUR. First, you come home and you are in a state of bliss! Then the baby settles in, gets a bit more used to you, starts to show signs of fussiness (especially in the evenings!). Then the job seems to get exponentially harder. And then the days pass and you realize that you've been in your pj's for 4 days straight and maybe only showered twice during that period! It's pretty tough. And it is pretty tough with a toddler to take care of on the side! People with 2+ babies, I am not sure how they do it. Sometimes, when David was at the FWFD, I had problems just getting Aidan his dinner ready! And we've had to skip books on occasion at bedtime. Sweet Aidan has been so flexible and helpful during this time though. He is such a great big brother!

So as of yesterday, Laine is 5 weeks old! Sleeping is going ok. Probably right on track for her current age! Some nights are better than others! Initially, she slept very poorly on her back. We used her Rock N Play sleeper a few nights and she gave us some 5 hour stretches in it. But I decided to kick that to the curb after her sleep went back to the 2 hour waking schedule and she seemed a bit uncomfortable a bit in it around 4AM. I think initially it gave her a secure feeling, but it isn't really a bed so I decided if she is sleeping the same amount of time in the Rock N Play as she is in the crib, I should probably stick with the crib to avoid any bad habits that might be hard to break later! So, we've been sleeping exclusively in the Pac N Play and has gotten better sleep with each passing week! We've gotten a few 5 hour stretches out of her and also had a few nights that were 1.5 hour stretches all night (HARD!)! So, I guess we just go with the flow and allow her to get some more age under her belt and she will do better! We put books under the legs of one side of the PAC n play to keep her elevated with her reflux and I think it helps. This too is temporary!

We have started encouraging her to fall asleep on her own for naps during the day. Now that things are SLOWLY settling down and getting into a routine, we decided to encourage naps in her crib, as opposed to her swing/rock n play all the time, per the recommendation of our pediatrician. Nothing crazy, but we swaddle, rock and cuddle until she is drowsy then put her down awake. She has fussed a few times but is learning to go to sleep on her own. Yesterday, during her afternoon nap she FLIPPPED out and so we aborted that mission quickly. But her morning nap went without a hitch or even a fuss. I imagine some days will be really easy and others will be harder :) But she is just 5 weeks old, which is far too little to have a war of wills, especially when crying is involved. But I think if we keep on keeping on and just continue to encourage, she will eventually get it, without any type of extensive CIO down the road. But I think fussing is ok. There is a big difference between fussing and wailing at nap time. Today, for example, she is napping in her crib as we speak and she fussed on and off for 6 min before falling asleep. I think that is pretty good and not too dramatic. I'm not above aborting though and letting her nap in the swing if need be. After all, we're just beginning. It would be great to report in a few weeks that she has picked up the skill and can nap and go down for bed without a peep! But nothing is predictable at this age, so I may report back that she is now exclusively napping in swing! ha!

She is a sweet joy, starting to smile already and beginning to be more content during wake times. And I feel like I'm slowly getting back to my normal self, bit by bit. I had a few days of feeling just exhausted and crazy and I'm thankful for friends and relatives who are understanding and let me bend their ear OVER AND OVER about how hard it is. I'm sure they are SO SICK OF ME!

Anyway, I'll upload more pictures this week. :) Hope everyone is doing great!

3 weeks old Wednesday, December 22nd

2011-12-23T09:11:00.005-06:00

So Laine was 3 weeks yesterday. I've attached some recent photos of her. The last one is a few weeks ago, but is a good one and I must have left it off the last post! So I wanted to include!
We are doing well! Laine decided on her 3 week birthday to go from waking every two hours to giving me a 5 hour stretch, so for that I am thankful! She gave me ANOTHER 5 hour stretch last night too! So she went down at 10, woke at 3 then slept until 8:30AM. I FEEL LIKE A NEW WOMAN! But I certainly don't expect it to continue, but WOW, I needed that!

So some things about Laine currently:

-She spits up constantly. It's pretty bad! She isn't uncomfortable, the doctor says that as long as it isn't projectile and is NOT causing her pain, that it is normal (?) so we're just trying to treat it as best as we can (burping, etc.) but it isn't unusual for us to change clothes 4-5 times per day! Ugh! And sometimes, we can pat her back and/or lean her over for a burp for upwards of 15 minutes and get NOTHING, only to have her spit up immediately after we set her down! It is a challenge, but I know it will improve over time. In addition to this, we have her sleeping in her Rock 'N Play for the incline. We were just getting uncomfortable putting her on her back in the pack 'n play and then hear her spit up all over her own face. And we know they won't DROWN in their own spit up, but it was enough that an incline was obviously needed! I do have anxiety about her getting used to the Rock 'N Play for sleeping, but we are more comfortable with the incline and it really seems to help. I'd rather the spit up end up on her clothes than all over her face. :(
-Her umbilical cord came off, she can now have regular baths! She enjoys them much more than the sponge bath! We are contemplating giving them to her every evening to wash off the baby spit up smell! And it helps get her to sleep a little earlier when we give her one. Her baby skin doesn't need it daily, but it seems to help in other ways!
-She is still napping most of the day away. Sleep, eat, sleep, eat, sleep, and eat. All day long!
-She has taken to the pacifier! She can't really keep it in that long, but it helps calm her down when she is fussy, especially in the car! Anyone have any secrets for teaching a baby to keep the pacifier in better? It usually falls out of her mouth after about 5-10 minutes.
-We've had so many friends come by with meals since we had Laine! Brittany, Brooke, Sarah, Jill, Krista and Shannon so far! It has been such a blessing! Just when I start to feel a little overwhelmed with doing everything and don't think there is enough time in the day to make a real meal for my family, another friend magically appears at my door! We are thankful for dear friends!

Aidan playing with his sister. He is just so sweet with her!

Aidan holding his sister!

Aidan the reindeer, at his school Christmas party!

Sweet baby toes!

Alert!

Sarah and Addison meeting Laine!

Another alert photo! Oh hi there!

Our bedroom! The make shift nursery! I wanted to include this for the memory. Pillows, sheets that have been peed on, diapers, wipes, spit rags, this is our nighttime battleground! Ha!

David rocking Laine this AM for her nap. And Scooter guarding David, like usual. ha! Loyal dog.

Aidan holding his sister again!

Self-portrait!

Nana and her two grandbabies!

Happy Birth Day, Laine! And the first week.......

2011-12-08T08:44:00.006-06:00

Well, we are home and adjusting! Life is dramatically different than it once was! If I think too much about this, I get anxiety. But if I just roll with it and not give it too much thought, I can easily remain in a state of bliss for days on end! Laine came into this world on November 30th, 2011. She was a big girl, weighing in at 9 pounds, 1 oz with a full head of black hair. She is extremely TINY though, and I have a hard time believing she was 9 pounds when I am cuddling/holding that sweet baby girl! But you know what they say, bigger babies eat better and sleep better and I have to say that is true. I'm officially on the big baby bandwagon!!

So we had Laine via planned c-section. This was pretty much one of the more scary experiences of my life. I think it was so scary because I was totally alert and oriented throughout the entire process. With Aidan, I was heavily medicated and very tired after 12 hours of labor. The C-section then was just a blur. This time was very, very different. The spinal caused me serious claustrophobia and I was nearing a panic state almost the entire time. But I am so completely blessed by my doctor and staff who did the C-section, they were so compassionate and caring and so ATTENTIVE. The CRNA who administered by spinal was so confident in his ability, kept me calm, reassured me, held my hand. He was AWESOME. My doctor was just the most AMAZING human on the planet and talked to me throughout the entire procedure. I get teary when I think about the teamwork and SINCERELY CARING from the medical professionals I received that day. I was on the verge of a near panic attack the entire time and the only reason why I didn't completely LOSE it is because of those individuals in that OR. I'm BLOWN AWAY. I chose the right doctor, the right hospital and it made such a huge difference for me/us.

So onward with the c-section details! Laine was born at 10:59AM, 9 pounds and 1 oz. Her body temp was a bit low so I didn't get to hold her immediately afterward, so here is a pic of just me after the c-section. Usually, this pic includes a baby, but they were very focused on keeping her on the warmer to get her body temp up! Ha so here I am.

So Laine came into this world with a head full of black hair and screaming her lungs off. What a joyous sound those screams were! We went to recovery following the procedure and all the family who was there got to meet little Laine for the first time. We started breast feeding right away. It was a slow go at first. As you know, there isn't a lot of "milk" right away, only colostrum. And being that she was already 9 pounds, she was HUNGRY. There was initially obvious irritation at the breast. Looking back on how things went, it seems so clear now, how she was showing frustration while breastfeeding. But at the time, we just were doing what we thought was best! As it turns out, it wasn't quite enough for her and she started losing body weight (which is pretty normal for babies anyway, but she ended up losing a lot). On day 3, she had lost over 10% of her body weight and everyone started showing signs of concern, so we scrambled and got the lactation consultant in as soon as we could. She taught us methods for increasing and moving our colostrum down quicker, thereby bringing in our milk quicker. She was EXCELLENT! Anyway, we had a new strategy and plan, Laine was getting more to eat at each feeding and was feeling much more content. However, we had still surpassed the 10% loss mark and while she was indeed getting more, it wasn't enough to turn it around in time for discharge. We were thankful though that my milk came in the night before we left and our pediatrician was pleased with how she was eating and how many wet diapers she was having, that he went ahead and discharged us home. BUT, with strict instructions to come in for a weight check on Sunday (yes, our new pediatrician has weekend hours! IS THIS SO AMAZING!!!). So we made it home, continued to feed frequently and by Sunday (the day after discharge) she had gone back up to 8 pounds 8 oz (from her lowest of 8 pounds). So all is well! But that was pretty stressful and worrisome for us at the time! Anyway, we had few days that CENTERED around pumping, feeding, measuring output. Here is a pic I send David of the colostrum I pumped. I know this may seem gross to some of you, but David is my biggest supporter in the breast feeding arena, only he would get excited to get texts like this! Ha! This isn't milk, it is colostrum. And colostrum for babies is usually nursed in amounts smaller than teaspoons, so you can see that this is like an OCEAN of colostrum! That lactation consultant really knew what she was talking about!

So we made it home. Laine is doing beautifully. She sleeps pretty much non-stop. Sleep, eat and poop. Rinse, lather and repeat! Her night times are great so far (although I am WELL AWARE of how quickly this can change!). So far, we only have to get up twice a night to nurse. And she doesn't even really wake up for this, just kind of fusses a bit from her bed and I get up and feed her. Twice a night is so awesome at this point. I think she would go longer, but newborns are not really SUPPOSED to sleep through the night at 1 week old and given the weight issues we were having, I'll continue to get her up until our doc gives us the green light to just let her sleep. I'm sure once we make it to her 2 week appt and she has a great weight gain, I'll feel more comfortable being more lax at nighttime! David went back to work on Tuesday. My mom is here helping, cooking, just being a pair of extra hands around the house, which has been WONDERFUL! My sister was here through the weekend. But things are now starting to settle into a routine and with David making it back to the FWFD, it seems that life is finally getting back to normal! Friends from church have started bringing us meals which has been nice so far! We have amazing friends, I'm thankful for them and how sweet they are!

Aidan loves his new little sister. He calls her Baby Laine and loves to kiss, touch and talk about her! We've been pretty focused on keeping life as normal as possible for Aidan and giving him special attention from each of us, so that he doesn't feel like he is being lost in the shuffle. So far, so good. He seems to really be adjusting well! He is very sweet to his little sister and I know he is going to make a GREAT big brother!

So that is the scoop on our new little bundle of joy. Here are some quick facts about her so that I can remember what she was like and how she was different than Aidan at this age!

1. She can sleep swaddled or unswaddled. She seems to have more control over her arms than Aidan did. We always swaddle at night time (not my preferred time to test the unswaddled theory) but afternoon napping she does unswaddled. It is amazing!
2. She spits up constantly. Aidan never had this problem. It is an adjustment for me. Burping, burping and more burping after every feed!
3. She hates diaper changes and usually screams through each one.
4. She hates her bath. And usually screams through each one (we've only done two sponge baths at this point!)
5. She only eats from one breast during feeding so far. We've given her both and she seems to over eat a little, and spit up more. I think 1 breast is the perfect size meal for her and makes her the most content. She can do 2, but I only do it if she is really showing signs of wanting to eat more. But it usually ends with massive spitting up so for now, just eating on one side!
6. We are pumping regularly and getting ready to introduce the bottle! No rush there though. I just want to be able to leave the house in the future sometime! Ha. For personal reasons. Maybe a pedicure in my future? Or dinner with girlfriends? Sounds like fun to me! :)
7. She has blue eyes like mommy but we are wondering if they will turn brown like Aidan's did. I hope not! I'd like to match one of my babies. David and Aidan each have brown eyes!

Here are some recent pics of our new little bundle of joy!

We are feeling so blessed and thankful that God gave us the opportunity be parents to this little baby girl. Our family is now complete, the four of us and we could not be happier!

Halloween Pics 2011

2011-11-05T20:44:00.001-05:00

Pictures from Trunk of Treats at our church!

And then on Halloween, David was on shift, so it was just me and Aidan! So we invited ourselves over to the Logan's so that Aidan could walk around with his friends. The Randall's came too, and I stayed behind to hand out candy on behalf of the home owner. HA! Anything to get out of a 1.5 hour walk around the neighborhood at 35 weeks pregnant. :) I had to throw in this cute picture of Carissa dressed as a mouse! So sweet!

It sure is nice to have such a great friends. :) Have I mentioned this lately?? Love them.

35 weeks pregnant TODAY! YIKES!

2011-11-03T20:52:00.004-05:00

4 weeks left, we are having our c-section at week 39 on December 1. Wow. It is nearly here. Freaking out! Aidan has been sleeping in his bed that was converted FROM his baby crib. It has been working good for us this entire time. But, we decided to get him some big boy furniture finally, and reassemble the baby furniture for little Laine. We SO waited until the last minute! But that's ok. Like I've said before, baby #2 preparations definitely seem more chill than preparations for baby #1! ha! Anyway, here is the latest cliche photo I took of myself to document my belly at week 35. I also happened to go to work today, so that's why you received the luxury of regular clothes and makeup! Ha! I feel like a MONSTER. Huge.

Baby Laine at 32 weeks. The sonographer (sp?) said, "look at those gorgeous lips!" Ha!

New bunk beds for Aidan. Christmas came early for this kid. He was so excited. We still need to rearrange his name on the wall!

And turning Aidan's furniture BACK into baby furniture and moving it into the next room for baby Laine! Still have some work to do! But it is progress!

I'm NOT getting around good at all. My sciatic nerve pain in my left hip is almost unbearable. The chiropractor has helped for many, many weeks, but I think I'm at the point now where there is just a big baby sitting on that nerve and there isn't much that can be done about it! I'm sleeping ok. Some nights are better than others. I'm just ready to be able to function normally on a physical level. I'm FINE AND READY for the things that come with having a new born (sleepless nights, etc), but if I could just WALK again, sleep on my tummy again, get up off the couch on my own, all would be right in the world! Ha! I'll be better soon, just gotta hang in for a few more weeks.

Aidan turns 5!

2011-11-03T20:25:00.006-05:00

It was a relatively LOW KEY birthday this year, to say the least. I am just not like normal mommies right now. I can't really do anything! I feel somewhat disabled, being this pregnant! Ha! Anyway, we had a quiet dinner at home with Nana. Here is a cute video from dinner!

And for his big "party" this year, we just picked up a few of our favorite friends and spend the afternoon at the Children's Museum in Fort Worth. We spent 3 hours there and had lunch together. It was so fun! David and I had NO IDEA how much stuff there was to do there, we could have spent 8 hours exploring the place! Anyway, here is a cute photo of Garrett, Kate and Aidan at the museum.

And then Aidan trying to shoot me with his MONSTER NERF gun that he got from Kate! Ha. I have never seen a Nerf Gun this big!!

Leap Pad reading with daddy (gift from Aunt Stacy and Uncle Darin)

It was a wonderful birthday celebration with Aidan. Not your standard, but it definitely made for some sweet memories! We made it last the entire week! Wondeful gifts kept coming in the mail from our out of town relatives! Stacy and Darin got him a new Leap Pad learning system which he loves! Ama and Art got him a Leap Pad IPAD, and GeGe and GeGePa sent a big bean bag tick tack toe game that we've been playing nightly in our living room, along with some awesome Cars coloring books. Thank you everyone for the sweet gifts!! Aidan has enjoyed getting stuff in the mail! Every day now he asks, "is there a package for me?" Ha!

David has some more birthday pics and videos, as soon as I sync his phone, I will attempt to get them up on the blog. :) Happy 5th Birthday sweet Aidan. You are the sweetest child ever and we are so blessed to be your parents. We couldn't ask for a better kid. For a little reminder, here is Aidan on his BIRTH day, 5 years ago, our first real meeting.

The upstairs!

2011-10-31T08:05:00.004-05:00

Well, the upstairs is finished! Nearly. I still have a bit of decorating to do, but 99% of it is finished. So now, we have a mother-in-law suite with a full bathroom upstairs! Wow what a big job that was. It seriously took us 6 months to finish. Mostly because had we done it all in one sweep, we would have gone broke! Ha! It was expensive. Even new linens for the bed made me feel anxious! Anyway, here are a few of the best pics I took. You can't really see the sectional, or the area where the desk will go, but I think you get the idea anyway. The sectional was major drama. David was CERTAIN it would not fit up the stairs, but he, Blake and Roger got it up there and it fit perfectly. So now we have an awesome seating area for all that extra space. I just need a standing lamp and a cream throw blanket to finish it off! Anyway, I think it will be nice for our out of town relatives to have a place to "retreat" when they visit. And then, when it is not in use, we can turn the temp down and save energy on the extra unit outside. Elaine and John are coming for Thanksgiving and will get to break in the new room (greyhounds and all) and mom will be staying here for 14 days after the baby is born, so I hope they enjoy! We are super excited!

And THEN, we moved the office OUT of Laine's new room, and into the old guest bedroom. I had painted the office walls a muted yellow (iphone doesn't do color well) and so we have picked out crib linens and curtains that will go with this color. As most of you already know, I DETEST feeling drowned in pink. I'm not painting my walls pink, I have no pink bows, actually, keep large baby bows as far away from me as possible. Ok? Thanks. :) I know pink is in my future, and if baby Laine wants pink when she can think for herself, she'll get pink. But as long as I'm the one thinking for her, we're going to MUTE the pink a bit and do other colors, like yellow. :) I'm ok with pink clothes, etc. But I'm also trying to mix up other colors so that we are not DROWNING in pink. So below is the emptied "nursery" and below that, is our new office spot. We have only gotten so far as to move furniture in there and the treadmill. No decorating yet and I may not get to that for awhile. I just need it to be functional at this point. :) We got Aidan some new "big boy" furniture and it comes Wednesday, then we will take all of his furniture (which is his baby furniture by the way) and move it into Laine's nursery. We are trying to save as much money as possible, but dang, it doesn't feel like it!

Pregnancy - Week 32

2011-10-08T09:59:00.004-05:00

Well, it is going much faster than I anticipated! 32 weeks this week and wow, where has the time gone? Our little girl will be here on December 1st, we are doing a scheduled C-section. I'm thankful for this, as I still remember VERY VIVIDLY the horrific labor we went through with him before finally doing a C-section! So when my physician asked if a scheduled C was the route I wanted to go, you can imagine my response!

So my symptoms have been somewhat similar with baby Laine as they have been with Aidan. My swelling seems to be less though, which is good. I'm not blowing up like a balloon yet, which is awesome! But I've gained lots of weight, just like with Aidan. I had some severe sciatic nerve pain, starting as early as week 25. I've been seeing a chiropractor weekly and it has made all the difference in the world! I seriously was beginning to think I was going to be in a wheelchair before week 30. What a difference! I am able to get around and be a functional human being again! A friend had made that recommendation and boy am I glad I looked into it!

So we have nearly finished our upstairs, it has taken FOR-EVER! It was a slow process because it cost so much to finish an entire room! But the walls are painted, the carpet laid, the fixtures in and the full bath done! Last thing to do is move the guest bedroom furniture up there, move the extra sectional that has been sitting in our foyer for 8 weeks (ugh! So annoying! ha), and then do a bit of decorating. And then from THERE, we can move the office into old guest bedroom then make old office into baby Laine's room. We chose that room because it has the jack and jill bathroom connecting Aidan's room, which will be really convenient at some point, when baby Laine is actually using the restroom on her own! ;) But we may not get all of this done before she gets here, which is also fine. We know it will be quite some time before she needs to sleep in her crib. So no pressure there!

I think I am going to register soon. I wasn't going to do it, we already have so much of the "essential" baby items, and since it is baby #2, I didn't want to be excessive with needing/asking for things! But as it turns out, there is quite a bit of small stuff that we don't have! Like onesies, a bumbo, a boppy, etc. It is amazing how many of the items I had from when Aidan was a newborn have become non-functional over the course of 5 years, or just flat out disappeared! :) So planning to have a small registry so that my family and friends who have been asking know what we need. Thankfully though, it will be a small one and just small items! We are going to have a small shower in November with friends from church, but nothing major and it will just be dinner/shower type thing either at a restaurant or at a friends house. Low key, casual. We may just piggyback on a small group Sunday or something. I'm very much NOT wanting to make a big deal out of it! So please don't be offended when the baby gets here and you realize there was no big shower invite/celebration. Because I'm all about simplicity at this point and would rather skip the big shower plans! So small was the route we chose, as my girl friends wouldn't let me get out of it completely!

Here is a picture of our "new" infant carrier (Aidan's with a new girl friendly cover that I bought online!)

Isn't it SO CUTE??? His infant carrier was totally still useable, just the cover was a bit beat down and old. So you can get new ones online! Saved us quite a bit of money by just getting a new cover, instead of a whole new seat/set! :) I feel so thrifty!

Here is a picture of our 6th van that we got for our company! 6! Did you hear that? God works in mysterious ways. The timing was PERFECT, as we had some mechanical issues with our other vehicles that required some time in the shop! Had we not had this van, we would have been up a creek! In addition, we have gotten some new contracts and could NOT have made it through September without 6 vans! I continue to be amazed at God's timing in all things that involve our business. We are so blessed and thankful. Things are going so well and I'm thrilled that we have made it this far and that this business has helped support us and allowed me to be home with Aidan and now also with baby, Laine! Blessed.

David, after doing a break job on one of our vans. Is he not the best looking mechanic you have ever seen? He saves us so much money! I love a man that can get dirty! :)

And a picture that Aidan took of Scooter. Our other little girl. :) Isn't she cute?

And this is one of my besties, Brooke with baby #3, Carissa. She now has THREE GIRLS! Bless her heart. I'd lose my mind! I think God provides us all that we can handle at the perfect time. Which is why he suggested I wait 5 years to have baby number 2. HA! Now BROOKE, on the other hand, has the talent and patience to handle three little ones in quick succession. Her girls are precious. She is an awesome mommy! :) So thankful to have her in my life. I am so blessed to have made such wonderful friends at church/play group/small group. I wouldn't have had the opportunity to get to know them and become close with them had I had a regular 8-5 job. Another huge blessing that our business has provided us! Our children are all friends and we do so much together. We watch each others kids, call each other in times of crisis, pray for each other as we experience struggles. I can say with certainty that my life is better, both mentally, physically and spiritually since I met these wonderful women. I'm blessed to call them friends. They're more like FAMILY.

Aidan's first day of his last year of pre-K! Hard to believe that next year I will have a real kindergardener! Time is going so fast! Sorry he was squinting! The sun was blaring that morning!

A sneak peak of our mother in law suite upstairs! Don't be scared of the color. It is indeed green, but I chose this color for a reason, so keep your opinions to yourself and feel free to LOVE your own white walls and shout it to the rooftops! Ha! It is going to look amazing with the items/furniture we have going up there, so I can't wait to show you more! Baby steps!

Taylor Swift in LA!

2011-09-20T18:47:00.004-05:00

So I did something a little crazy! Well, as crazy as you can get for being 25+ weeks pregnant! I'm about to brag on my LIFE a little bit so just hang with me a bit! Spent a ridiculous amount of money on a Taylor Swift ticket and bought an airline ticket to fly to LA for her concert with my friend Liz and her husband David. But no worries, I had free accommodations on the most comfortable couch in LA, so it didn't totally break the bank. ;) Once Liz and I realized we were both fans, you can imagine how quickly I jumped on the offer to fly out there for a bit of Taylor Swift fever! And WOW, for a 2 day, 1 night trip to the West Coast, I had the most AMAZING time ever! David (my David) was so sweet to encourage me to go and the timing worked out that he was off both days, so he kept Aidan home with him while I went on the trip!

Here are some of the fun photos from the trip. Sorry I didn't get more pics of Liz, David and myself at the show. *shrug* I seem to take more pictures of things and places then actual people, and the PEOPLE are what matter the most! We snapped one pic of Liz and I from the show, it turned out kind of dark. But it is still cute!

Our tickets were in the VIP section. I know you can't see Taylor from the photos, but hopefully you get the idea on how close we were! Also, we were up a level and on the first row of that specific level, so we didn't have ANYONE in front of us! And the seats were like movie theater seats and the clean VIP restroom was just 1 minute down the hallway. This section/seat was definitely "pregnant lady" friendly! Ha!

And of course there were CELEBS at the show that night, and we got to see them in the crowd via the big screen! This is NO BIG DEAL to peeps who live in LA. But to little ol me from Texas, it was quite exciting! Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Shannon Tweed and Gene Simmons were all there. Hilarious and so fun! Especially funny to follow these celebs on twitter and have them show pics from backstage! I kind of felt like I was there!

Taylor Swift put on a GREAT show. She is such an awesome performer and I just adored every single minute!

We ate at Drago before the show. It was HEAVENLY. I have YET to eat a meal that hasn't been mouth watering, in the few times I've hung out on the West Coast with the FO girls! They know how to feed you! Liz did a much better job documenting the meal on her blog, click ->HERE <-to get to her post. She has a bit more experience with really capturing a great food moment. ;)

But BEFORE dinner and the show, Liz and David took me to The Grove, in LA and we walked around, bought some wine (to ship home and enjoy after the little one is here!). We shopped, visited, ate, and just had a great time. It was a little warm but nothing too extreme. It was so fun and relaxing.

And then in the morning before my flight home, we had brunch at Canele. It was such a small, intimate type restaurant, with the most AMAZING food. It was empty when we got there, but before we left, there was a line out the door! Of course, I couldn't pronounce anything on the menu, but I wasn't scared to just try something, ANYTHING! And I was not disappointed. I had an egg dish, for the life of me I cannot recall. I should have posted sooner. But the memory of the food surely won't be forgotten. Liz posts a bit about this restaurant too on her blog, I'm going to link again, because I just can't do it justice! -->HERE<-- We sat at the bar and watched them cook our meal, it was so neat.

It was such a memorable weekend. I won't soon forget it. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Elaine, John and David could have come with me to enjoy it. So fun!

Cooler weather!

2011-09-17T09:23:00.001-05:00

And reason number #456 why labs are the best dogs ever! :)

YouTube Video

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Aidan swimming lessons!

2011-09-01T19:45:00.002-05:00

Aidan has done so well in swimming lessons this year. It's amazing how fast they learn the older they get! He and Kate did it together this year for 13 weeks and we just signed up for another 13 week session at Aqua Kids in Keller. It has been such a great program and they advanced so much in their first class, we wanted to keep it going so that they don't forget what they learn right away! Anyway, I took a short video the other day and wanted to share it. He has now promoted up to the level 2 and he and Kate are both doing AWESOME!

Baby Update - 26 weeks today!

2011-09-01T19:09:00.003-05:00

Eh. It's going ok. It isn't comfortable. I'm not just an easy going pregnant gal. I'm having sciatic (sp?) nerve pain down my hips so bad. It hurts, sometimes just to walk! I'm 26 weeks today, so I still have a WAYS to go. My feet are starting to swell already. I ordered maternity compression socks today to help with this. I'm not going to get into the same position I was in with Aidan. Remember THIS? I'm very, very moody. Lots of crying. Lots of laughing. Up, down, up and down. It is quite exhausting. But this too shall pass. And our little baby will be here and it will all be worth it! The bottom picture, I was 24 weeks. I'm not sure how far along I was in the top photo, but it was earlier on. It was the best I could do at organizing photos that document my changes. Ha! The ultrasound is when the baby was 21 weeks. It's a SHE if you haven't already heard. :)

Anyway, just wanted to include some pictures to document the pregnancy. We haven't done anything to get ready. Not a single thing! Yikes! It is time to start thinking about the nursery, change some rooms around, etc. It is definitely different with baby #2. Ha! Things are just so busy for us, we'll get to it when we can! But the good news, is that the upstairs is finished, with the exception of carpet. Paint/fixtures, bathroom, everything is done! But I'm not going to take photos until it is finished. I chose a green for the walls and everyone is FREAKING about it! So I'd rather wait to show the finished product, so that people can see the method to my madness! So we have a new, private suite area for Ama to sleep when she comes down for the birth and then for all other family who come to visit in the future! So excited! But we can't move the office into the downstairs guest bedroom until the guest bedroom can be moved upstairs, etc. So these are the things that are keeping us from getting ready! Anyway, I'm sure we'll get started soon!

Pictures from the summer

2011-09-01T18:42:00.004-05:00

Pictures from the 4th!

2011-08-29T21:56:00.003-05:00

Grandma and Grandpa Wagner were here for the 4th! I've been meaning to update but things have been CRAZY through the summer! Anyway, we had a great 4th. Dad and Cindy were here for a couple days and we enjoyed some family time and didn't have anything major on the agenda, except spending time together! It was a relaxing weekend! And I also included photos from our neighborhood fireworks show. Living outside of city limits, we get to have our own fireworks show and enjoy it with lawn chairs in our own yard! Our own show is much smaller, but we enjoy watching the big ones that our neighbors set off!! :)

Some cute photos!

2011-07-08T17:04:00.001-05:00

Grandma and Grandpa Wagner were here for the 4th! I got a few cute pictures from their visit and will upload this weekend! In the meantime, here are a couple cute pics I got on my iPhone recently!

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Stacy, Darin, Samantha and Ben visit!

2011-07-04T15:19:00.006-05:00

David's sister Stacy and her family came to visit in June! I am absent in most of these pics because I had an employee off and had to miss most of the daytime festivities! :( But I realized from the few pics I'm in that I'm already looking pregnant, plump and SO tired so it worked out better this way. Ha! But we got some good photos and Stacy uploaded a bunch to facebook so I was able to snatch those from her! ;) Anyway, they did lots of fun stuff, like tour the Cowboys stadium and visit the Dallas Aquarium. I got to see them mostly on the weekend while at Roger's and during a pool party at Derrick and Katrina's house. And one evening we had dinner at our house. It was great to have them here! Aidan especially enjoyed it!! ;)

Swimming Lessons

2011-06-14T21:45:00.002-05:00

I just snapped a few pics of Aidan's swimming lesson. He really lucked out having all girls in his class. His favorite, of course, is Kate, in the yellow on the left. One of his best friends. Do you notice a trend here? We tend to do all of our things with our friends these days! Just makes it more fun. And helps pass the time when I can chit chat with Brooke during lessons!

Anyway, I hope to get more pics later, but we just started so there isn't a ton going on just yet!

MDO Graduation

2011-06-14T21:30:00.003-05:00

Well, not a REAL graduation! He has one more year of MDO before starting kindergarden, and they celebrate a graduation every year at Grace Place! We are so thankful to be part of such a wonderful MDO program! Aidan loves it, loves his friends and his teachers have been so wonderful!! Anyway, graduation was May 26th and I'm just now getting around to posting these pics!

Holding their bubbles (stay quiet). We do this in bible class too. LOL too funny.

Getting his certificate from Stephanie, the director!

Just a funny pic that David snapped during the ceremony!

Aidan and his teachers, Michelle and Leslie!

The three of us.

I synced David's iphone!

2011-05-30T19:03:00.002-05:00

And hit the video/photo jackpot! I will upload some more stuff later!

Video of Scooter!

2011-05-30T09:08:00.002-05:00

She is too sweet. I'm very confident that the reason why she is so well behaved is because she gets so much exercise. Our neighbors have a new lab who has chewed their drywall in their house! I'm no Dog Whisperer, but I know exercise makes a big difference with behavioral issues. It's the obvious recurring theme Victoria uses on It's Me or the Dog. Scooter is usually so pooped after multiple ball and frisbee sessions outside, she would rather nap than gnaw on anything indoors. Ha. We also may have chosen our pup well. But I am not sure how much you can tell at 8 weeks.

Anyway, please forgive my failure to hold her accountable to "sit" in this video. She loves to play so much. "Sit" and "drop it" are a work in progress when there is a ball involved. No joke.

Isn't she the most gorgeous yellow lab you have ever seen??

Baby Knox #2 - 13 weeks

2011-05-29T21:47:00.004-05:00

This is our 11 week photo of baby Knox #2. He or she has made it through the first trimester! Although this picture was from week 11. We decided to wait the full trimester before spreading the good news. For those of you who don't know, we had an early miscarriage in January of this year. We were about 7 weeks along when we lost the baby, so this second pregnancy, we decided to wait to tell the good news, for obvious reasons. I'm so thankful to have made it this far! But still worry daily about this little baby! But so far, all looks good and we're right on track our doctor says!

I will tell you though, that my symptoms with baby #2 are SO much worse than what it was like when I was pregnant with Aidan. No morning sickness, thank goodness, but my hormones are ALL OVER THE FLIPPIN MAP. I'm having highs and lows like a bipolar with a bipolar disorder. DOUBLE YOUR FUN, bless my sweet husband for surviving this time with me! And bless my girlfriends for the sweet tolerance they provide me 2-3 times per week. I've never been so thankful for girlfriends in my entire life. Imagine these sweet girls giving me a nice little pat on the head with a sincere "its ok" look on their face. Its ok! *pat pat* Seriously, I've never been so thankful for girlfriends! Ha! I'm hopeful that as I progress in the pregnancy, the hormonal swings will lessen and I will feel more like myself. I do NOT recall feeling this way while pregnant with Aidan. Maybe I did and I repressed the memory? HA!

We are 13 weeks this week. Our next appointment is on June 10th and we will be about 16 weeks? Not quite early enough to predict the gender, but possibly early enough to predict the gender, so we'll see what they say! Anyway, while I work through the hormonal challenges, might I recommend that you not honk at me while on the freeway, k? Thank you!

Soccer!

2011-05-29T21:39:00.003-05:00

Aidan finished his first year of soccer! It was totally fun. Not sure really if soccer will be Aidan's thing long term (ha!) but he is only 4 so no need to worry about getting a college scholarship for soccer just yet. ;) He loved it. It was a bit chaotic, but so sweet. So glad we did it with his friend Garrett. It helps the kids really jump in if they can do it with their friends! Also, it gave mommy the chance to socialize with Brittany for 2 hours every Saturday. Anyway, the season blew by! Sad that it is over. Aidan learned a bunch and we may even do it again next year! But also going to try t-ball too. He may enjoy t-ball more since it doesn't require you get inside a big pile of kids and kick! Ha!

Anyway, on to summer swim lessons. Looking forward to a quite enjoyable summer. It is starting to get hot here! Ugh! 100 degrees this week! I am not ready for 100+ temps! Spring was so short!

Scooter - 7 months old!

2011-05-06T08:13:00.001-05:00

Sweet dog!!! Getting all grown up. She can chase a frisbee or ball for HOURS. Seriously, HOURS. She is such a sweet girl. I think David might love her the most!! She is like a 10 year old dog, so quiet and well behaved! It might also help though that she gets to play Frisbee every day in the backyard and gets tons of exercise!!!

This picture was taken this AM as the construction workers were going in and out of the house! She wanted so badly to go say hello! But she stayed for us, cause she is a good dog! Can you see the yearning in her eyes? Ha!!

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Progress on the bonus room!

2011-05-06T08:00:00.001-05:00

It's getting fun now! David and I picked out fixtures and now I am most excited about picking a wall color!

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The joys of being a mommy!!

2011-05-06T07:58:00.001-05:00

Aidan had his mother's day celebration at school. It is the sweetest event ever!! Here is what he surprised me with!

Soccer week 2!

2011-04-09T14:09:00.001-05:00

Aidan won the Respect Award today!! Sweet boy. Each child wins an award at some point before the end of the season. It's so nice that everyone gets recognized!

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Random iphone photos that I downloaded.....

2011-04-05T20:06:00.003-05:00

The Bonus Room

2011-04-05T19:54:00.002-05:00

We are finishing the bonus room finally. We should have just done this when we built the house, but we were trying to be reasonable during the build and save as much as we could. But now looking back, had we just finished this room as part of the build, it would have probably only increased our house payment by like $20 per month! Anyway, you live and learn, right? We got our first quotes on this project early last year and then passed on it, because we were getting ready to start our business. And so we've had it on our mind this entire time and circled back around with the contractor AGAIN this year, and wouldn'tcha know it, the quotes had nearly doubled! We are seriously banging our heads over this. Arg! So we are finishing the room, bit by bit and paying a little bit as we go. But what is MOST exciting is that we decided to turn the half bath into a full bath up there so that it could be an honest to goodness mother-in-law type suite! We plan to be in this house for quite some time, so when people come to visit and stay, they can have their own private little area. I am pretty excited about this! Anyway, we are doing a bunch of the stuff on our own, like the PAINTING! So I'm sure I'll have more pics to post soon! :)

Aidan starts soccer!!

2011-04-05T19:24:00.003-05:00

Soooooo cute. What can you say about 4 year olds playing soccer? It is DARLING. SIMPLY DARLING. Some of the kids have obviously played soccer before, some of them haven't. You can tell the difference between the two pretty quickly. The kids who haven't played soccer before constantly try to pick up the ball. Apparently, you are not supposed to pick up the ball when playing soccer! Who knew?? ha! And you are supposed to run and kick the ball into the goal. Not much of this happened either. Aidan is EXCELLENT at running and kicking the ball, but a few times, he kept running and kicking the ball onto the other field. It was pure awesomeness. We cheered the whole time. I was so proud!!

We waited quite some time before putting in Aidan in sports. It just wasn't time until now. He is old enough to follow directions and tell us if he WANTS to do it or not. I think this is kind of important. Also, weekends have always just been our family time and it has been so great to enjoy this time together as he grows. No time frames to abide by, no rushing out of the house to get somewhere on time. I mean, WEEEKENDS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE WEEKENDS! So to finally take the sports leap, we wanted to wait until he could really tell us that this is how he wanted to spend his time. I just made a commitment a long time ago that I would NOT overfill his weekend schedule until HE could tell me he wanted it to be filled! If you know what I mean! Not that there is anything wrong with a crazy hectic schedule, it just isn't a good fit for us. Quite frankly, it causes me anxiety!

So finally we are doing soccer. And it helps that his friend Garrett from small group/play group is in soccer with him. They are just too cute together. We are doing I9 sports and both practice and games are on Saturdays. Practice first, then the game, then it is over. So we aren't dragging ourselves to Keller multiple times per week! Its a great fit. I hope to get some video this next Saturday, and maybe a better pic of Aidan in his actual uniform!

Thomas the Train!

2011-03-27T16:43:00.001-05:00

It was soooooo cold and drizzly! 90 degrees yesterday, 50 today! But we are glad we made the trip, the boys love Thomas. We went with the Randall family, Aidan and Garrett are buds! Kaylie tolerated it as best as a girl can! ;)

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Best Buds!

2011-03-27T08:24:00.001-05:00

It's hard to believe that Scooter is almost 6 months old! She is such a calm, sweet girl. We love her!

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Playing with scissors.....worrisome?

2011-03-01T20:25:00.002-06:00

Second video is shaky because I am laughing so hard at how casually he discusses how much he enjoys playing with scissors. We do NOT allow our children to play with adult scissors at play group! LOL. In case you were worried.

Yes, it's a bit crazy!

2011-01-25T20:01:00.001-06:00

But they are just too cute not to love!!

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Little Ginger Lou

2011-01-22T20:34:00.003-06:00

had a bladder/urinary infection. I started to get worried about the INSANE FREQUENCY with which this pup was squatting, both indoors and out. So I took her to the vet just to check. And turns out she was a sick little girl.

And now she is doing better. And housebreaking patterns are definitely more recognizable. And she is doing awesome, already going to the door. Scooter started doing this after about 1 week of training too.

Our pups are so smart! :) It is still a bit crazy with the roughhousing, but the fence is almost complete and we've been able to put them outside for major duke-it-outs and things indoors are so much more calm. :) The puppy can get out under the fence though (do NOT ASK they are coming to fix on Mon) so we have to supervise any time Ginger is outside!

Also, Scooter ADORES the frisbee! A 20 minute game of frisbee = 2 hour nap on the dog bed. Ha! It is so cute.

Aidan's trip to the dentist!

2011-01-19T09:41:00.001-06:00

He was a trooper! The dentist doesn't bother him at all! He even had his feet crossed like he was relaxing in the last pic! ha! Cute boy.

Pretty pictures of the snow we had recently!

2011-01-19T09:26:00.001-06:00

I love our front yard. It is purty.

AND...........there were two.

2011-01-19T07:14:00.004-06:00

Here is our little Angel. Almost exactly 12 weeks old. She is huge. We can't pick her up anymore! She is a 10 year old dog in a 12 week old body. Seriously chill!

And our #2, Ginger. This little Brittany Spaniel was dumped with her litter mates behind a Dairy Queen in a box. They were rescued by some people who were eating lunch together, one of which is our neighbor to the West. Each person took 1 pup home, but our neighbor couldn't keep Ginger because they already have two dogs. But they were determined to find a home for her. They took her to the vet where they gave her her first shots and estimated her age to be 6 weeks (I would say younger, but I don't really know) and also determined that she is a purebred Brittany. Her tail is docked and her eye and nose color support a purebred, but we also don't really know for sure! But isn't she the cutest?

The two just chillin'. We call this our "down" time. We like.

So, how are things going for the Knox family currently? Well, let me tell you a little bit about each dog individually. Scooter first.

Scooter B:

Housebroken in 4 weeks. Now, mind you, anyone who has a dog knows that NO DOG is housebroken in 4 weeks. What I mean is, that she goes to the door and no longer willingly has accidents in the house. She is also trained to ring a bell by the door (SUPER EASY TO TRAIN) so that we don't miss her "telling us" that she needs to go. She is still a pup, and goes out frequently, but she consistently rings the bell and gives us the signs. We are so proud of her. No accidents in weeks! She is the best!

Loose leash trained! This took a very long time. She started out willingly walking on a loose leash (like I spoke about earlier in the blog), then decided to pull on the leash and we have been working on this ever since. 6 weeks of daily walks before consistent success. Walks are such a joy. An occasional redirect for pulling (reverse directions).

Crate trained and walks herself to crate at bedtime when directed. Sleeps soundly all night long!

Trained to sit at the door when visitors come, rather than race OUT the door when greeting visitors. This is still a work in progress, but she is now consistently doing as asked. It is funny how David comes to the door over and over and pretends to be a "visitor". Lots of training opportunities happening!

Sit/Stay/Down - doing well with all. But can't yet consistently STAY for extended periods of time. Working on staying in longer and longer increments.

Ginger:

Not trained for anything, except collar broken.

Currently walking around the house with a leash attached to her collar to get her used to the leash.

Currently crate training and potty training. She is doing great, but still needs to get up X2 each night. Her little puppy bladder is just so small. Again, we don't really know how young she is. Based on her bladder control and teeny tiny teeth, I would guesstimate 4-5 weeks.

She allows us to put her in her crate at bedtime without whining. This is a dang miracle, as it took Scooter 5 weeks to quit crying in the crate. All pups are different I guess!

Challenges of having two:

#1 - Roughhousing. So annoying. We allow them as much as we can tolerate, because we know it is good for them, but WOW so annoying. I have to separate them quite a bit and use Kongs to distract them from each other. On a positive note, Ginger takes super long naps after a good session of roughhousing with Scoot.

#2 - Potty training. The dogs want to play when outside, so we can't take Ginger out to "potty" with Scooter. Scooter tries to play and we need to TRAIN so the dogs have to go out separately. Time consuming and annoying. But necessary. Also, Ginger's bladder control is SO WEAK. We can't trust her at all at this point, and when up and about, she has to go out every 20 minutes, NO EXCEPTIONS. SO EXHAUSTING, but also temporary.

#3 - Getting up at night with Ginger. Also temporary, but we JUST GOT OVER this stage with Scooter. Momma is kind of tired. ;)

#4 - David frustrated and concerned with how this is going to work out. It is definitely a handful, but we are getting by. Each day shows small improvements. David didn't think Scoot had to go out every 20 minutes when she was house training (she did) and he thinks she was more predictable with her potty training (she wasn't). The roughhousing is especially challenging. Our fence is currently "under construction" so we can't just let them out to tire themselves out. So its all hands on deck. But David has promised to keep quiet until he sees what I have accomplished in 4-5 weeks (hello, have you met me?) We have been talking about plans to get a new pup in the future (far future) so that Scoot could have a friend. We ended up doing it a little bit earlier than anticipated, but SERIOUSLY we would be facing the same challenges THEN as we are NOW so lets just pull up our big girl panties and get the worst over with, yes??

On a positive note, both dogs are extremely wonderful with Aidan and he has been loving the excitement around the house. He helps with our training, helps keep an eye on the pups. Fun times! HA!

Anyway, this the current state of the Knox household. Pray for us. Hehehehehe I am glad I can do most of my work from home, it allows me the opportunity to train these pups and still get done what I have to get done on a daily basis!

My only question is (please offer advice):

1. Will the roughhousing get better? Can I successfully train the pups to "settle" from roughhousing? What is the best way to do this? I know tons of people with 2+ dogs and they seem to live an enjoyable life together. Did they experience this roughhousing stage as well? Both seem naturally quiet and calm when not playing together. Scooter has always been so chill, kind of like a 10 year old dog in a 12 week old body! ;)

Christmas!

2010-12-27T07:02:00.005-06:00

Twas the night before Christmas!

Aidan helped make Santa's cookies!

Cookies, Reindeer Food, Milk......I think we have it all!

Nana came over and enjoyed Christmas Eve dinner with us and stayed the night so that we could all open presents together in the morning!

Almost bedtime!

Whoa! Santa must have come while Aidan was sleeping!

Cute part of the Christmas Morning video where Aidan sees what Santa brought! :)

Opening presents!

And finally, bacon and eggs with my favorite boys!

Pat Green at Billy Bobs! December 11th, 2010

2010-12-26T08:11:00.003-06:00

Laine and I went for sushi before the concert! This was the only photo I got, but it was a good one. She broke her iphone about 10 seconds later. All other photos show her with a sad face. :(

Sisters!

Thats the stage, and those are Pat Greens feet. In case you were wondering how awesome our seats are! ;) I gave Laine my front seat so she could really enjoy. She swears Pat was singing to her. Just to her. ;)

Sheila and I. *heart*

There are some more pics with other friends on FB, I just haven't moved them over to my iphoto, so this will have to do. :)

A few fall/winter pics I couldn't forget to upload!

2010-12-26T07:31:00.007-06:00

Aidan and David riding the train after visiting Santa at Ridgmar Mall. David looks like such a manly man in this photo! ha!

Scooter chillin'. She has no shame!

Christmas party with our small group. Hibatchi! Yummmm!!!

Aidan the reindeer!

Cookies and coffee at the firestation? Ha no, it was milk.

C-shift, Station 24 - What good lookin' guys!

Garrett, Aidan and Jake at bible class. I am a helper in this class every other week. Its a tough job. Seriously.

Parade of Lights with Karina and Anika! I didn't take enough photos though! It was COLD! But fun!

Aidan has his light saber that Anika "bought" him. ;)

Things I love about Christmas!

2010-12-18T07:55:00.001-06:00

Christmas cards in the mail daily!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Testing out my new app that alls me to blog from my phone!!

Las Vegas for Grandpa's Birthday!

2010-12-07T20:08:00.002-06:00

A few quick snapshots! A trip to remember!!

Newest member of the family - Scooter

2010-12-04T08:45:00.004-06:00

Well, we have added a new member to our family. Her name is Scooter and she is a yellow lab. I would have posted sooner, but having a puppy is kind of like having a new baby. I can't blog when I am watching her every move! Ha. No, I am being totally serious. She has been with us almost a week and it has been a handful. But not in a bad way, just in a "what responsible puppy owners do" kind of way. Does that make sense? Seriously, it is a full time job!

So on to Scooter. We have been tossing the idea back and forth. David wanted a big dog, I wanted a little dog. We compromised with a lab. Big dog for David and the only type of large dog that I have a decent amount of experience with and that I believe can be trained to be calm and gentle and easy going and a good inside dog. I have seen others, but they are usually an exception to their specific breed, as opposed to the norm. Or they have awesome owners who took the time to show them how to behave! But, scratch that. I have also seen crazy labs, so this could also be an owner operator error, hahaha! So anyway, I just know they are super smart and can be easy trained! (Grandma and Grandpa Cacace had labradors! We could probably call Grandma a lab whisperer! Their dogs were AWESOME!). Anyway, along came Scooter. She has been with us one week as of Saturday. Look how much she has changed in just 1 week! The first photo is day one, last photo is today. HUGE DIFFERENCE ALREADY!!

Anyway, she is doing excellent with her house/crate training. She can already sit, walk on a loose leash and we are currently working on sit/stay. Sit/Stay is going to be HUGE with children and family coming and going. This is my biggest priority next to potty training. SO SMART. SERIOUSLY SO SMART! We still have a long way to go though. She is not perfect at any of that yet, just a work in progress, it has only been a week after all. During leash training, she gets distracted by LEAVES, of all things. Ha! Todays leash training session was a complete disaster (I had to pretty much "be a tree" the whole time), but yesterday, she walked all the way around the house with me right by my side. No pulling or anything! We are doing leash training about 3 times a day for 5-10 minutes per session (it really helps that I work from home) and we are doing sit/stay just around the house whenever we feel like it during the day. Some phrases that we hear in the house often these days: NO BITE! Scooter potty? Mom, Scooter is awake! (Aidan alerts us to this which is wonderful and helping with potty training!)

She is also very calm and relaxed. We met her mommy, who was also very calm and relaxed. And when we saw the litter, we purposefully chose the chubby little girl that was laying around, instead of nipping at our feet. I think this was a good move. She is a seriously chill dog. Sleeps constantly. This could also be a puppy thing, and she is still adjusting to our home. When she does wake up and seems playful, that is usually the best time for training, I have found. It wears her out, then she comes back in and wants to nap some more! Ha. She is going to be an inside dog, so I must do this right. And I am so happy that I can be consistent since I work from home. So, pray for us. Thankfully, I have the Cacace gene and age and responsibility behind me now so I hope to check back in around 6 months with the most well behaved, trained dog you have ever seen!

Happy Birthday, Aidan!

2010-11-11T10:24:00.004-06:00

Well another year went by in the blink of an eye! We had a low key party at the house again. This is SO my preference these days. Every since we started our business and I am home more, I just want to simplify my life in as many ways as possible. And just having our friends and family around, with hotdogs and a bounce house......is perfect. Here are a couple pics of our favorite little man at his birthday party! His birthday was on Oct. 20th, but our trip to NV and Halloween and FWFD shifts caused us to decide to move back to the first weekend in November! Aidan didn't really know the difference. In fact, it was like he had two birthdays!

This first pic was the morning of Aidan's birthday. Pancackes and he got his first bike! I can't find a pic of that! I wonder if I didn't take any pics! Ugh!

And the party!

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-11T10:08:00.003-06:00

Better late than never! I chose not to dress up this year. Or, ahem.....I was a photographer. Ha.

Fall - a few pictures

2010-10-16T21:28:00.004-05:00

Picture of Aidan and Garrett at play group. He is definitely one of Aidan's best buds. We LOVE our weekly play group. Not sure what we would do without it! And I ADORE my dear friends I get to see at least weekly. I had no idea I would love these women and children as much as I do. I have some new best friends who I cannot imagine my life without!

Aidan at Austen's birthday. Austen is another kiddo from our weekly play group. These kiddos are also in our weekly small group, so we see each other often!

Pictures of Aidan in the Chuck E Cheese car photo booth. He thought it was a "ride" so he kept putting coins in it. When I finally came to check on him, I found all these pictures waiting for me! It was hilarious!!!

Aidan playing air hockey with Garrett. This would be a better picture if I got Garrett in it! Seriously! When you are only taking pictures with your phone, you forget these things!

Aidan and Mommy passing time this week while daddy was working OT and off camping with his buds. I have found that it can be kind of hard finding things to do when it is just us!! :) So we came up with some ideas, with the help of friends!

And sweet baby, Noah. Got to see Sheila, Aaron and Noah this week. So fun. Adult time, mixed in with new born baby drama. hehehe. He was an angel. As long as he got to eat. ;)

Happy Fall everyone! We are SO EXCITED for our trip to NV that we are taking this week! Aidan is especially excited about riding on an airplane! :) Pics to follow soon!

Mommy Blogger does FOOD!

2010-10-16T20:39:00.003-05:00

So, I've been busy. And stressed. Stress does odd things to me. I worry. I obsess. I freak. Being a business owner has made me pretty nutty. But in a good way. And when I say good, it means.......I am not stressing while commuting two hours a day. I am not stressing while spending 10+ hours away from my family. THIS stress, is manageable. Especially when from home, with Aidan. But it is easy to forget how things used to be, and get consumed by the stress of my current situation. When I feel like I am in the pit of despair, I try to remember that ANYTHING is manageable when I am home with my family. Life gets hard, but at least I can pick Aidan up from preschool. At least I am home when Aidan is sick, and I don't have to call in to ANYONE....EVER!

And I thank the Lord daily for what I have been given. Home with my family. Girlfriends, play dates, relatives to call upon 3 times a day when things get tough. Life is hard. But so good. SO GOOD.

But one thing I LOVE to do is bake. And cook. So......this post is about my baking. And my cooking.

Tonight I made some chocolate cookies with CHOCOLATE MINTS on top. They looked AMAZING!

I haven't actually eaten one. I pigged out on the chocolate mints prior to cooking, so I have no idea if they were good because I had no desire to eat one. But Aidan said they were awesome, if you can't tell from the pic above. Most of these cookies will be sent with David to the firestation on Monday. Because HELLO, if I keep them around, it will not be pretty. I am sure they are awesome, so just take my word for it. Mint Cookies

And I made THESE cookies for play group a few weeks ago. It was Brittany's birthday, and I couldn't let the day pass without some kind of SPECIAL dessert to celebrate her big day. Score. Another amazing recipe. Everyone went crazy over them!

The thing about my cooking and baking is that none of it is original. Everything I make is from a recipe I either found online or that I got from someone else. I tend to seek out recipes from www.allrecipes.com and find what I'm looking for, and ensure that it has 300+ five star reviews. This typically means that the recipe is out of this world. This strategy has not failed me once.

So I'm not necessarily a great cook or baker, I just am FANTASTIC at reading a recipe. ;)

And the next pic is from the AMAZING CHOCOLATE CAKE I made for small group, dinner with family, and for an employee who is obsessed with cake. Everyone went CRAZY for this cake, and my employee called it, "slammin'". That was pretty much the most amazing compliment ever. I hope everything I make is.....SLAMMIN'!!!!! It requires nothing with it, except a little powdered sugar on top. But if you feeling especially crazy, it goes well with ice cream!

And last but not least, I MUST MUST MUST link to a few recipes that I got off The Pioneer Woman's website that David simply went NUTZ for. David is a very southern, country cookin' kind of man. I am a very HIP, HEALTHY EATING, turkey meat, kind of woman, so we often don't meet exactly in the middle when it comes to food!

I made The Pioneer Woman's Fried Round Steak and her Restaurant Style Smashed Potatoes that David said was one of the best meals I've ever made for him. Both EASY as all get out! Not the healthiest, but such a joy for me to make because I LOVE to knock his socks off with something awesome! Its hard to please my country man!

I think I will try to take more pics and post more links as I do my cooking. I LOVE to cook, and I've been doing so much of it lately.....I need to include it on my blog! Seriously, pilates, yoga, and cooking are how I get through my stressful times.....so why not share that with y'all???

Happy weekend, everyone!

Trip to Nebraska - Labor Day Weekend

2010-10-09T09:08:00.006-05:00

We went to Nebraska for Labor Day Weekend to celebrate Grandma Wagner's 90th birthday. It was a wonderful trip. Nothing besides the party on the agenda. We relaxed and enjoyed time with family. The party was fun. Grandma wanted a "no fuss" kind of event, so we had KFC and birthday cake on the lawn of the home place. She doesn't live at the farm anymore, but Uncle Bill keeps it up and we were able to pull out lawn chairs and have an AWESOME afternoon! It was a party to remember, for sure! We are so happy we could make it for this event! The video below is what I took with my iphone while singing happy birthday to Grandma. I haven't figured out what I am doing wrong that causes the videos to look to small on the you tube screen. Perhaps I need to hold my phone sideways for more of a full screen video? Anyway, it still got the job done!

Next up, Grandpa Cacace birthday celebration in Nevada! We are so excited!!

Aidan's First Day of Mother's Day Out!

2010-09-09T21:00:00.002-05:00

I only got a couple of photos because the business phone was running off the hook on this particular morning, so this is all I have for you. Isn't he the cutest kid EVER?! He is growing up so fast. My sweet baby boy.

More pictures from the summer!

2010-09-09T16:00:00.000-05:00

Nana, Mimi Kay and Derrick over for a visit.

Adults love the go-cart too.

Spray park with our play group! Fun!

Aidan making "stairs" in the bathtub. He is a genius! :)

Mommy and Aidan on the Trinity Train.

Minature golf earlier in the summer. Just the three of us!

The Knox men! At the birthday BBQ we had for David on his birthday weekend. August 18th, David turned 33!

Catching up, in photos......

2010-08-23T21:34:00.004-05:00

Because I have FAILED at blogging this summer. Blogging FAIL! So here, summer pics uploaded from my iphone. This weekend, I'll download photos from our camera and try to post more. :) It has been a busy, fun summer.

Have a lot to catch up on!

2010-08-04T19:11:00.004-05:00

But it will take more than a 20 second blog update, so for now, here is a pic that Cara took of Elaine and I while we were in LA!
Sorry I have been a blog slacker this summer, it is not intentional, we are just so busy with the business! I will try to do better. More pics and posts to come this week!!

It's Summer!!!!

2010-06-28T14:13:00.004-05:00

We are having a summer unlike any other summer in the history of the Knox family. Seriously, OUR LIFE HAS CHANGED DRAMATICALLY since I quit my job. I get to be more of a mom than I have EVER been before. The business keeps me super busy and super stressed, but it is a very different kind stress, compared to having a regular job. For ME, it is a much better fit. For others? Probably not a better fit. But I've known for the last 5 years that I wanted to get out of the rat race so that I can have more of a life for myself and my family. And that is exactly where we are at today. It is amazing. WE ARE THERE, but still have a long way to go. I am happy that the business is running well, exceeding our expectations and starting to be profitable. In the meantime, we will just keep doing what we are doing and enjoy the new found flexibility we have as the result of hiring our 4th full time driver.

GOD has been very good to us and has been watching out for us this entire time. It probably doesn't hurt things that I've been on my knees like 800 times since starting this business. :)

Anyway, on to the summer. I have been such a slacker with my camera lately!! These were taken from my iphone!

Happy Father's Day! I know this is so belated! But we've been so busy I haven't had a chance to blog! David had to work this day, so we made a trip to the station to visit him. We made cookies and brought them to the guys.

David and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary on the 20th! This photo was taken at our wedding. I cannot believe how time flies! 7 years! CRAZY! David has been such a fantastic husband and father. We are so blessed to have him in our lives. I just love and adore our little family. We make such a great team, the three of us! We are celebrating this Saturday, Aidan is staying at his Nana's and David and I are going out on the lake with some good friends! Can't wait!

NRH20! We got season passes this year. We went with Elaine and John on this day, it was awesome! I think I may be going with Karina and Anika later this week! Hopefully!

Playgroup at Brittnay's house! This has been another HUGE blessing for Aidan and I this summer. I joined a playgroup with girls from church. We meet once, sometimes twice a week to get the kiddos together. It is seriously so much fun. The kids play well together, despite the occasional toy grab, fight, and meltdown. LOL. We let them play and we (the mommies) just talk and talk and talk and talk. Seriously, besides my sister and since having a kiddo, I've never had girlfriends that I do stuff with regularly. Like 3 times a week regularly! Last week, we did play group then the next day did a pool afternoon at Heritage Community Pool. We've done the spray park and backyard pools (like in pictures below). Most of these girls are in our Sunday evening Small group too, so we really get to see each other a lot. Last night they all came over to our house for small group, then the kiddos and dads played outside on the go-cart while the girls stayed inside and talked, and talked and talked. It is so awesome to be part of this group and to have time like this with friends. I feel so blessed. And it is SO MUCH activity for Aidan!

And this last picture is of Aidan after leaving Paw Paw's house on Saturday. We were 1 driver short for the afternoon and couldn't get it covered, so I decided to help out and Paw Paw and Blake watched Aidan for about 5 hours! He was so pooped. I thought this picture was cute. Yes, I can drive a van. I am actually really great at it and can keep up with the boys! I will admit though, that the first time I came on the radio and said I was doing a pick-up, I think they were all shocked. HA! Now they are used to it. Often, we get late discharges and either David or I do them. We can't really justify a full time evening driver so we help out on our own when we can to help save on salary cost.

Anyway, besides all that I mentioned above, I've been going to the gym like 6 days a week. This has been such a great way to relieve stress. Tomorrow, I start training to do my first 10K with Brooke from our small group. It is an 8 week program, and we are going to run a 10K together when we are done. Brittany is doing her own "couch to 5k" plan and she is totally way ahead of us and we need to catch up. ;) I hope it is cooler by race day! LOL! Anyway, I am also doing power house pilates and the gym and it is REALLY getting me in shape. Pretty much the hardest thing I have ever done, physically, but it is SERIOUSLY changing my life and my mood on a daily basis. There is NOTHING that is so stressful or worrisome that a pilates class can't make better. Seriously. :) Anyway, happy summer y'all!

Short hair again!

2010-06-08T13:46:00.002-05:00

Its summer, time is short, life is a little crazy. Time to simplify!! From 30 minutes of hair time, down to 5. Yes!

How am I related to such talent?

2010-06-01T13:45:00.003-05:00

Office BEFORE. I woudn't even call it an office. I'd call it the junk room!

And office AFTER. The JOY of this room is the table, that my sister and her husband, John MADE for me. Did you hear that correcty? MADE THE TABLE. AMAZING.

A closer look at the table. Gorgeous, no? GORGEOUS! Hand crafted with love. Seriously, these two individuals have more talent in their left picky finger than I have in my entire body!!

I still need to dress the walls, and possibly add a window treatment over the blinds just to add more dimension. And hide the cord. But Elaine loved these photos and gave me permission to share, even though the room isn't completely done.

YAY!!!!

The Go Cart....

2010-05-27T22:27:00.004-05:00

Paw Paw handed down a go cart to David. It has been fun. We've only ridden it a few times though, Aidan is a little bit scared of it. Even though he has been on it before!! Hopefully soon he will try it again. In the meantime, David and I will enjoy it around the square!!

Aidan's Mother's Day Out Graduation

2010-05-27T21:41:00.002-05:00

Aidan had "graduation" today from his Mother's Day Out class. It was simply the most precious event EVER! I was able to crop this video down to just Aidan's part. Hope you enjoy it. Also, this photo is a picture of Ms. Jennifer. Aidan adores her. He has friends at school, but when I ask him who his BEST friend is, he often says, "Miss Jennifer is my best friend!" Melt. My. Heart.

Trip to Nebraska

2010-05-27T21:39:00.005-05:00

Dad got a new house. These first pictures are from his backyard. Aidan's new favorite place to vacation! Their house is on a small lake, and they have a beach in their backyard! And they also have the neighborhood playground right next to their house! It was awesome. We had such an enjoyable week in Nebraska. We had hired our 4th driver, which allowed us the opportunity to actually LEAVE Texas for a small vacation. It was heavenly, and much needed!

Aidan can cast a fishing pole pretty well for a 3 year old. We still weren't really comfortable with putting a hook on there though, so......

First cousins! Elaine, Anne and Jessica

Dad and his sister Barb.

Elaine and Grandma......we had a GREAT evening visiting on the porch. And Cindy had dessert wine. David did Aidan's bath this evening because all the women were chatting on the back porch until almost sun down!

It was a fantastic trip. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Wager for hosting us. It was so awesome to see everyone!!!

Preschool Class Photo

2010-05-13T15:41:00.002-05:00

Aidan turned 3 in October, which is right after the September birthday deadline for the 3 year old class, so he is in the 2 year old class. Same applies at church. And I only explain that to you because some of you will be confused about why it says 2 year olds on this. So he is the oldest of the 2 year olds, ha! There are actually other children who have October, Nov and December birthdays in this class! This works out well for us, because I never have to worry that he isn't as "ready" as the older 3 year olds. :) We LOVE Grace Place Preschool. And we ADORE his teachers. Miss Molly and Miss Jennifer. I think this photo is PRECIOUS!

Mothers Day

2010-05-09T22:11:00.003-05:00

Mothers Day Out had a special Mothers Day Celebration that I got to enjoy this year. It was wonderful! I didn't get to attend last year. Not sure where I was or why I couldn't attend, but I'm sure it had something to do with my job. I am sad when It think about missing this event last year. All the mommies were there, which meant that last year, I wasn't there!! Ugh!! Anyway..can't change the past but THIS YEAR, I was there. It was wonderful. I was on the verge of tears the entire time. Aidan was so excited to see me there and so excited to show me what he made for me. I can not describe the joy in my heart to see him falling all over himself to see me and show me what he had made for me!!! It was by far the highlight of my week, if not the entire year! This sweet angel, he loves his momma. So proud to be his mother and so excited to be there!!

Anyway, my sweet baby boy is just growing so fast! I can't contain my joy when he sings new songs or tells me how much he loves his friends Tanner, Samuel and Cade from school.

It was also "crazy hat day", which is why he was wearing his conductor hat in these photos! I couldn't get him to wear this EVER, except for this event at school. He wore it the WHOE DAY!! Precious sweet boy!

Quick update!

2010-04-27T20:36:00.004-05:00

I thought that quitting my job would mean MORE time for blogging! Boy was I wrong! :) But on a positive note, the business is doing AWESOME and we are busier than EVER! Busy = good, but being the CEO of a hospital was easier, quite frankly. Isn't that crazy? But being home is worth all the blood, sweat and tears. Definitely. We have been so blessed! But no one said the road would be easy.

My mom gave me this little plaque with a little quote on the inside that says: When you come to the edge of all the light you have known and are about to step out into the darkness, FAITH is knowing that one of two things will happen.......there will be something to stand on or you will be taught how to fly.

How TRUE are those words?

Anyway, here are a few recent pictures! Hope you enjoy!!

David washing one of the company vans. We have 4 now! We started with 2! YAY!

Aidan fertilizing. HAHAHA

More work for the toddler. ;)

Aidan playing!

David wearing his new Quartzite Fire t-shirt sent from Grandma and Grandpa Cacace! He loved this gift! Thank you!

Easter!

2010-04-04T19:53:00.005-05:00

Aidan and I enjoyed Easter just he and I this year! David signed up for overtime and got it! Thats twice in one month! Amazing and such a blessing for us since I just quit my job. I hate that he worked on Easter and we didn't get to celebrate this day as a family, but OT only comes around once in a while and when it presented itself again, he just couldn't say no! Anyway, I have been a little under the weather today too, so it was a good day for him to work. I think I may be fighting something off. Not sure really but I woke up feeling completely ZAPPED of energy and I literally could NOT get moving until almost 10. I planted Aidan on floor in front of the TV and brought my pillow and blanket to the living room and just laid there watching cartoons with him until I started feeling better. Blah. We did not make church and I was bummed about it. :( But we were able to get up and moving in the afternoon. Aidan and I did a little Easter egg hunt, just he and I. It was precious. But this day has been pretty quiet otherwise, just the two of us. Anyway, here are some pics from egg painting yesterday and our little Easter egg hunt today in the backyard. Thanks to GeGe and GeGePa for the package they sent for Easter! More pictures to come soon!

Almost Easter already?

2010-03-28T21:20:00.005-05:00

We went to Denton today after church to hang out with Nana! Some friends from her church have an Easter celebration every year and WOW what an event it was!! So glad it was a pretty day so that we could really enjoy it! There were over 4000 eggs for the kids to hunt! And the Easter bunny, a "train" made from barrels, wheels and pulled by a John Deere lawn mower! It was so cute!! The last picture is priceless! Aidan didn't have a nap today so he fell asleep on the way home with a Hershey's Kiss in his hands. When I turned around, it was EVERYWHERE!!!

Thanks for a fun day, Nana!

San Francisco!

2010-03-16T19:47:00.005-05:00

I have already uploaded these to FB, but wanted to ensure my relatives who are NOT FB pros got a chance to see them! San Francisco was so totally awesome! I am so happy that Elaine invited me to tag along with her girlfriends. There is really something amazing about this group of girls. I was so honored to get a sneak peak into their secret society. ;) I have already invited myself to the next event, so I hope that works out for me! It was a much needed break from everyday life. We ate, ate some more, and threw a little bit of wine in there for good measure. Her friend Liz was such a trooper and so excited to take us everywhere to see the sights! It was a trip to remember!! These pictures do NOT DO IT JUSTICE!!

A few more pics of the February snow!

2010-03-16T19:40:00.001-05:00

Stolen from Mom's blog - 2007

2010-02-26T20:52:00.001-06:00

Not sure why it keeps going sideways, but WOW this is a great video! :) Maybe just to the relatives!

Snow in Texas!!!

2010-02-13T09:04:00.003-06:00

Snow in Texas! It's not that we haven't seen snow, its that it was record breaking snowfall for Texas! 12 inches in 24 hours! Crazy! Here is a picture I took with my iphone and some video we took yesterday!

You know it is bad when David's truck gets stuck in the driveway!

Found this video!!

2010-01-23T08:39:00.003-06:00

Did I post this video after Aidan lost his tooth in September?? Well, if I did, you can watch it again. I think it is so precious. Sweet little boy lost his tooth (um, anyone shocked at the SIZE of the thing? Yikes) and this is after it was extracted. He is still a little sedated in this photo!!

Videos and Pictures from Christmas!

2010-01-23T07:50:00.004-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas in Texas this year! We got snowed in on Christmas Day. Daddy had to work that day but got to stick around long enough to open presents! Aidan and I enjoyed our day stuck inside, playing with Christmas presents! It definitely wasn't the worst way to enjoy Christmas. We stayed in our PJ's all day! Nana came down from Denton that weekend to celebrate a belated Christmas once the roads were clear! A few of those photos are near the bottom. I am very behind with my blogging. Thanks to family and friends for understanding why and knowing that I will do my best to keep this blog more current!!!

Christmas Morning! We took more video this year than photos!

And this video is for GeGe and GeGePa! Aidan learning how to use his Zippity for the first time! He is now a professional and plays with it all the time! Thank you so much for such a wonderful gift!

Merry Christmas!!!!

2009-12-23T20:32:00.005-06:00

Meet Scout, our newest holiday tradition. He keeps an eye on Aidan and reports back to Santa on whether he has been good or bad! And he "mysteriously" reappears in different locations of the house each day. So cute and fun. Aidan gasps each morning when he spots Scout for the first time!

Our tree. This is our first Christmas in our new home, I found all of our ornaments and decorations finally. The Christmas boxes just got thrown in the unfinished upstairs when we moved! But thankfully I found everything, just in time!

Our stockings!

Aidan received packages from Ama!! This is his first year to really understand what is happening, from start to finish. This was such a joy for me to watch because Elaine, Joe and I used to do the same thing each year when we received packages from Grandma and Grandpa Cacace!! So precious!

And it wouldn't be fun unless we spent the evening playing in the boxes!!

Wrapping presents with Daddy. For the record, those are MY presents they are labeling!! :) YAY!

More presents for mommy!!

And making spritzer cookies tonight. We are going to the Knox Christmas tomorrow night, so we had to make cookies for Santa TONIGHT so that when we get home tomorrow, we can put them out. Santa gets VERY hungry traveling from the North Pole! And we had to make enough for the reindeer and elves!

Merry Christmas everyone!! Sorry for the month delay in posting.

Thanksgiving.....short on pics, but this will have to do!

2009-11-28T18:26:00.003-06:00

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Elaine, John, John's mom Debbie from Kansas, David, Aidan and myself celebrated together. I must admit, the turkey was OUTSTANDING! We did the Kidd Kraddick Brown Bag turkey recipe and it was totally wonderful! Would have been even better if we didn't accidentally take it out 45 min. early, then have to put back to finish cooking! Despite that, it was still one of the juiciest turkeys ever!! Go Elaine!! Then of course we over indulged in pumpkin pie, and more pumpkin pie! A relatively low key Thanksgiving,but I was still pooped after it was all over! Anyway, here are a few pictures!

What I'm thankful for this holiday season......

2009-11-25T22:35:00.010-06:00

Prayer changes things!

2009-11-09T18:19:00.004-06:00

My Charming Kids <----click!

Joy.

Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T21:45:00.007-05:00

Carving pumpkins......my idea. David was reluctant, but we had a BLAST!!!!

Testing out the Jack-O-Lantern in the bathroom. It wasn't dark outside yet!!!

Hmmmm, right spot, Mommy??

Dad and Cindy. Dad is gonna kill me for this one! But I could NOT wait for Cindy to upload her shots before I could post this fun post!! WE LOVED having them here!! So fun!! They came in on Friday and we had dinner on Friday night with Elaine, John, Joe and us at Pappadeaux's!! Then they spent time today with Elaine and Joe then came back in time for dinner and Halloween!!

Yes, David the illegal alien. Sorry!!!

On our way to Trick-or Treat!

And the reward afterward!!!

Our neighborhood is just so wonderful! It was like a big party around the square!! Kids, candy, everything you can imagine!! We are so blessed to be in such a wonderful neighborhood with wonderful people. We trick or treated around the square then came home to spend the rest of the evening with Grandma and Grandpa Wagner!! What a great weekend!!

Pics from the birthday party!!

2009-10-31T17:36:00.003-05:00

Our little man turned 3! The party was great! The weather cooperated, which was a miracle in itself!!! Here are some pics!!

Happy 3rd Birthday sweet Aidan!

2009-10-20T19:16:00.004-05:00

Today is October 20th, and 3 years ago today, our sweet boy was born. We are so blessed and love him more each day. The big birthday party is Saturday, but Starr bought cupcakes to celebrate today and we had a mini-party today when I got home from work. Starr never misses a chance to celebrate a birthday! Daddy is working today, but we plan to really celebrate as a family on Saturday!

At 3 years old, here are my favorite things about you!

- You are so quiet and sweet. You are so sensitive and get frightened by wild kids who snatch your toys or get too much in your face. I actually already have heartache when other children grab things out of your hand or when older children try to exclude you. But I love your gentleness and caring nature. You are the sweetest angel child I have ever laid my eyes on! You are a blessing from God!

- You are a super duper sleeper. Mommy and daddy are very rested, as you go to bed at 8PM and wake at 7AM. You also still take a nap everyday, sometimes up to 3.5 hours. You are a developing boy!!!

- for an only child, you are wildly independent. You walk right into bible class without a tear, pre-school is the same way. You are sometimes shy at friends homes and birthday parties, but you typically warm up after a bit. How did you learn to be so strong and independent?

- Your best friends are Gabby and Jacob. You see them usually twice a week and you LOVE your weekly play dates. You pray for your friends every night, "Thank you God for Balella and Jakey," is a standard in our evening list of things we are thankful for! God loves the way you pray for your friends!

- You are a daddies boy, and enjoy spending many afternoons each week with daddy. You go to home depot, you play in the yard while daddy mows. Mommy is not nearly as fun and can't play as well, but she is the one you call for in the mornings when you wake up or when you are sick in the middle of the night. You now seem to love each of us equally in your own special way and prefer each of us for different reasons. Mommy loves this!

- You love to spend the night with Nana. You are so independent that you can go to her house and sleep in her guest bedroom. She lets you stay up past your bedtime and lets you take really long baths! You love staying at Nana's! Mommy and Daddy get date night when you stay at Nana's!

- You can do all of your ABC's and you can count almost to 20! You also do fun things like say, "there's Lowe's!" and "there's Chili's!" and "there's Walgreens!"

- you have yet to poop in the potty. But you will ask for a diaper just so you can poop in it. Mommy is wondering when this will end!! You have also pooped on the floor. But again, not in the potty!

- You do prayers each night and have prayed for things such as the stars, the playroom, the animals, and school. You never cease to amaze me with the random things you remember and the random things you pray for! God loves the way you pray!!

- Your daddy is strict parent and mommy is laid back. Daddy would NEVER forget your vegetables. Mommy sometimes excludes them on purpose. But we balance each other, which means you are one well rounded kiddo!!!

- you love to hug, hug, hug. This is mommies favorite thing EVER!

We love you so much sweet Aidan. We can't even remember what life was like without you! You are a blessing and we thank the Lord each day that we get to celebrate life with you!

Love Mommy and Daddy!

New Mexico

2009-10-06T19:45:00.005-05:00

We went to New Mexico for a work trip! It is an annual trip we take each year and they invite our spouses to attend! My first year it was in Florida, then Colorado the following year, and then New Mexico this year. It was wonderful. Aidan stayed with Nana and David and I almost had a mini-vacation, if it weren't for work meetings sprinkled in between our vacation time! No really, it is a great work event that I look forward to every year. Next year, Aidan will be old enough to tag along, so we have that to look forward to! New Mexico is beautiful this time of year (well, ANY time of the year really) and the balloon festival started on Saturday. It was blistery cold in the mornings so we didn't make it at 4:00AM, but I did snap a few decent pics of the balloons while on our way to the airport!

Wow, things have been crazy

2009-09-22T21:29:00.007-05:00

Aidan lost a tooth. He face planted off his scooter while playing outside with daddy. I was home when this event occurred, but LITERALLY on my way out the door to catch a flight to Birmingham. When I left, I thought it was a tooth chip. Aidan was doing fine, feeling better. But daddy, being the cautious dad that he is, decided a trip to the dentist was in order, just to make sure. And wouldn't you GUESS that the tooth was cracked all the way up in the back. And yes, it would require an extraction. And not only was an extraction necessary, David would send me the text to tell me this news AS I AM BOARDING A PLANE to Birmingham. Ugh! So it was a pretty traumatic experience for Aidan and daddy. VERY traumatic for mommy, as I was hundreds of miles away at a corporate meeting. Sigh. Anyway, it ended well. Aidan is better. But wow, I was one very anxious woman all day Thursday. I had a dinner at the Birmingham Museum of Art and I was totally distracted with Aidan's boo boo and texting daddy the whole time. Hated that I wasn't there. But he is better. Just looks a little funny. I am not sure yet if I am used to this new mouth! Yikes. Just in time for 3 year pics and holiday family portraits! Oh well. We will laugh about this someday, right? More photos to come soon.

Here are some more random photos to catch you up on life!!

Daddy and Mommy out with friends. We SO needed time out to relax after Aidan had been sick for so long and not sleeping well. Yes, we usually try to wait until he is sleeping through the night again before we drop him off at Nana's for an slumber partyt! ;) We met two couple friends out that night. We had dinner and did karokee! One of our friends, Jon, is seriously like a professional signer. He is AWESOME! I did a few songs. Goodbye Earl, by the Dixie Chicks and Redneck Woman by Gretchen Wilson. I dedicated them both to my redneck friend, Sheila. *snort* Kidding Sheila! You are not really a redneck!

Aidan riding his dump truck. Really. Cracking us up! This is not a toy that you ride!

Below, two cute photos from Hayden Bowyer's 3 year birthday party. Man our boys are growing so fast! They were born about 6 weeks apart. Aidan Charles and Hayden Charles. Hilarious how those names almost matched! Love our Keen friends!

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Haircut before his first day of school.

One of 4 visits the doctor in the last 4 weeks. Seriously exhausting.

Visit to the fire station!

Riding the lawnmowers, together. Precious.

More updates later! David is turning out lights and I guess that means it is time to turn in! Catch you later!

Not much to update!

2009-09-11T21:17:00.004-05:00

Aidan is STILL fighting his cold/allergies/ear infection, whatever he has. Still congested. Still having bouts of sleeplessness every few nights, but they are fewer and far between so we hope we are past the worst. We worry. It has always been tough for him to kick his colds. He is a chronic bronchitis type of kid. Flovent helped so much, but the doc recommended we take him off it since he was doing so well. We are considering taking him back to the specialist to see if he thinks we should resume the Flovent through the fall and winter season. It could also be allergies. Family and friends have suggested this, but I have YET to try an over the counter childrens allergy med. Maybe I will try this weekend.

On the bright side, he hasn't a fever in almost 2 weeks and is finishing his second antibiotic for his ears! I keep hoping we are rounding the corner.

Preschool is going so well for him! He loves it. But he isn't napping there. Odd that he did it on day one, but hasn't since! Makes for a VERY fussy kiddo come 6PM. He still takes a 3 hour nap each day when at home, so on the days he is in school, we have our hands full in the evenings. We have pretty much moved bedtime up on ALL nights to compensate. It helps. Our tired kiddo even had difficulty waking up at 7AM this morning! And then he took a 4 hour nap for Starr today! Crazy! Oh, and was in bed and ASLEEP by 8PM! I think his little body is adjusting to the change in schedule!

Anyway, we are just pluggin along at the Knox household. I have a trip to Birmingham this week but also have scheduled vacation for Friday to compensate for what work travels take out of me! ;) Also really looking forward to Hayden's birthday party on Sunday! We LOVE little Hayden!

Here are some pics from this last weekend. We were feeling restless and looking for something fun to do with Aidan so we took the little train that rides through Trinity Park. It was fun! And no, I will not post pics of myself. He was up 3 times the night before and I could hardly find the motivation to shower and be presentable! Baseball hat and sunglasses were how I rolled THAT day! :)

1st day of school!!

2009-09-01T15:02:00.003-05:00

Today was a big day for Aidan! He started his first day of preschool (pre-preschool, aka Mother's Day Out program!). Where has the time gone? Our little man is almost 3! Crazy! He was totally ready and did awesome. He even slept on his nap mat during nap time! Crazy! He isn't so little anymore! He didn't have any separation issues. I am so glad we waited until this year, because he was ready and walked into that class all on his own! Remembering back to this time last year, it probably would have been a little harder! Always best to go with your gut on these things, I have found. Because each kid is different!

Here are some pics. He wasn't a fan of the backpack when it was actually ON his back. *shrug* so this is the best we could do!
What a big boy we have!!! David also enjoyed a little bit of time off! He ran errands on his own, got his oil changed, did some work around the house! Secretly, I think he enjoyed it a little! ;) Thursday is his next day for school!

Sick, sick, sick!

2009-08-30T09:00:00.006-05:00

Aidan as been sick since early last week! If I remember correctly (it really is all a blur really, especially since he was sick 2 weeks ago too!), he spiked a random fever last Tuesday. Then a few days later he has a major bout of congestion! Then BAM, the boo boo's in the ears appear (ear infection!). We took him to the doc on Tuesday and he is on antibiotics, but he still hasn't rounded the corner yet and the weekend is almost over! I called in to work on Thursday, had vacation scheduled for Friday (I love these unexpected blessings, don't you?!) and we have been cooped up in this house since Thursday! He has not sleeping well due to congestion and fever, and this morning, he woke up with his little eyes glued shut with mucous! Ugh! Had to use a warm wash cloth to wipe them clear. Poor baby! But on the bright side, he slept all the way through the night finally so we think this could be almost the end. Seriously, for the past 4 nights he has gotten up at least once or twice for runny nose, fever, or just because he is sick. I forgot what it is like to get up in the middle of the night with a little one!

We have watched Thomas the Train and Cars more times than I'd like to admit. In this household, movies are almost as potent as a good medicine. No joke. A few times, he was so ill and upset in the middle of the night that I turned on Nemo at 1:00AM to help drag him out of his upset emotional state. Then once he calms down, we can blow noses, take medicine, and go back to bed! You know! Just 10 minutes of Nemo in the middle of the night! Whatever it takes, right? No one said this job was easy or fun all the time! I try to keep it real on this blog, because parenthood is NOT all peaches and sunshine!

Anyway, I have had a lot of time to do laundry, clean, sanitize, and even paint. Yes, I painted another wall this weekend during Aidan's naps. Here is a pic below. What do you think? Accent wall with the windows. I have to do accent walls only in this house because we have the rounded edges, which means if we want to paint more than just one wall, we would have to paint almost the entire house.

Pretend that the bed is made a little better. I blame it on David. This is how a man makes a bed. Confession, I NEVER make the bed, so why am I complaining how HE makes the bed? Rude!

Here it is! Subtle. It really warmed up the room. Elaine didn't even notice it when she saw it for the first time yesterday! But she loved it. The room is mostly warm, dark colors anyway, so I couldn't be overly aggressive with the color!

Oh and then here is the other accent wall I did awhile back! I am still most proud of this wall!! In case you have forgotten! I am obsessed with HGTV. I could be on Color Splash with this one!!

Paint is the cheapest way to change the look of a room!

Aidan helps daddy fertilize!

2009-08-30T08:53:00.001-05:00

Gabriella's 5th Birthday

2009-08-26T20:45:00.007-05:00

This sweet girl is 5!!!! Found this picture today and wanted to upload!!

She had her 5th birthday party this last weekend. So much fun! If you don't remember, Gabriella is Starr's daughter. Starr is our dear friend who has been watching Aidan for us since he was 6 weeks old. She watches him 1 or 2 days a week when David and I are both working and she brings Gabby and Jakey with her. Party! And we LOVE them. Such a huge blessing in our life! Cannot believe how fast these kiddos are growing up. First it was Starr and Gabby coming over to watch Aidan. Then Jakey was born and it was the three of them. Now Gabby is 5 and in kindergarden so it is just the two boys and Starr, as of this week!

Here are some pics from her 5th birthday! What a blast!

Perks. Jeff is the Captain at 27's and "stopped by" with the fire truck! He was on shift that day, and his station was close to the party! Yes, it pays to be friends with the FWFD! HAYYYYYYYY! :)

Observers. Such good observers.

The birthday girl, first to spray the fire hose!

Because I don't have enough pictures of the two of us! He isn't smiling, but it is still cute! Look at those eyes!

Anika! Her daddy is the captain at 27's. Her mommy is Karina (in the pink dress jumping from the water in pic above) Good friends to have! *snort* (Anika's daddy is the one to the right, not the one helping her with the fire hose!)

Jakey, doing what he does best. Eating sugar? And being cute. This is one of Aidan's best buds!

The "older" girls. And birthday cupcakes!

Aidan and his prom date, Anika. She is hiding behind the freakishly blonde hair! True Luv!

What? You've never blown up medical latex gloves and used as balloons? What planet are YOU from??

Juice, Mommy can I have juice? More juice? Juice please!

And it wouldn't be a party without swimming!

Happy 5th Birthday, Gabriella! We love you!

Visit to the fire station to see Daddy!

2009-08-22T14:11:00.000-05:00

We don't do this near enough! I snapped these pics last week with my iphone. Thank goodness for my iphone and my iphoto. They may not be the best quality, but I can upload them with the rest of my home pics and I can keep them all together!! Anyway, here are pics from our most recent trip to the fire station!!

Birthday parties, birthday parties, birthday parties!

2009-08-17T13:45:00.000-05:00

We are LOVING summertime!! And we love summer birthdays! Toddler age is awesome. They can play independently, eat independently! I LOVE this age. I love to go to birthday parties and watch them interact as children! So fun. Also, it doesn't take much to entertain kids. As you can see below, a baby pool will occupy for hours!!

These first three are from Brook's first birthday party! HUGE party! Everyone from church was there! It was great. I only had my iphone so I only caught a few shots. The first is Brooks (birthday boy) with his daddy!!! We go to church with the Paulk's! She made the neatest cake and cupcakes....of course I forgot to snap a pic!

Aidan and one of the Staple's boys. Liam, I think! Or Landon? The Staple's have 4 kiddos, I am bound to mix up their names! ;)

More pool.....

This weekend was Krista's 2nd birtday! We are in a small group with the Pierce's. They just had their 3rd (yes THIRD!) baby, Jillian!!! She is the one swaddled in the picture below. She slept through the entire party! I guess you learn to sleep through ANYTHING when you have older kids (2 and 3 years old) in the house!!! Anyway, here are a few shots I took!

We had a lot of sugar this day......

Creative cupcake ideas. I would never think of this! Shelly would though! ;)

More fun with a baby pool!

Krista the birthday girl!

Jillian

Bedtime routine......

2009-08-16T14:18:00.003-05:00

So we have this routine that can be irritating in the Knox household. Aidan MUST have a toy to sleep with every night. This would be fine if it was the SAME toy preference each night! But that rarely happens. Instead, he randomly decides that it MUST be this CERTAIN toy and things will NOT BE THE SAME unless it is this specific toy!! So occasionally, we walk around the house looking for said toy at bedtime. What to do? What to do? Where is the toy?! Ugh!

So I documented the process with my iphone on Thursday night. On this specific night, he was looking for the BABY TRUCK. He named this truck baby truck all on his own, not sure how he came up with it. Anyway.....

Where's the baby truck, mommy? In the play room? In the play room, mommy??

Still don't see it, Mommy! Where is the baby truck!!

The baby truck is outside, mommy? Outside, mommy? (Manipulation at its finest)

Here is the baby truck! Found it, Mommy!

I think it is hilarious, and really not a big deal. He has been sleeping through the night since he was 6 months old, so while this is probably not promoting the BEST bedtime habits, I don't care. It is cute. He sleeps through the night with his toy! Who are you to judge me anyway?!!! ;)

Ranger's Game!

2009-08-16T13:39:00.003-05:00

We had so much fun at the Ranger's game with Elaine and John! We were celebrating David's birthday a little early! I am sure we will still celebrate at home on the 18th with Aidan, but we also wanted a night out and Elaine and John were awesome company!

Popsicles....and other stuff!

2009-08-02T21:07:00.003-05:00

So we had popsicles today. Started out pretty good, as you can see. I had good intentions, with that towel and all.

Still doing pretty well. But towel now missing. Not sure what I was thinking!

And the end result. I must admit, this picture does not do justice to the actual mess! But it was fun, nonetheless!

Mommies train track making skillz.......I can do amazing things with this track! We recently bought more parts! i put David to shame. Elaine and John would be proud!

And then I throw this last picture in because I find that it accurately describes how I felt the entire weekend! Ugh! I think David and I got a bout of food poisoning on Friday that hit us Saturday morning. Pretty much knocked us out the entire weekend, today included. David had it worse than me. We have not eaten the entire weekend and have been sick sick digestively! We are both finally coming around, but our symptoms hit EXACTLY the same time and we are pretty sure we have nailed it to the IHOP we ate at 10:30AM on Friday. In addition, Aidan had a mysteriously unexplainable fever Friday night that kept us up most of the night. Saturday was better though and he kicked the fever by 4ish PM. Still no idea what that was about! No sniffles, cough or anything. But he is much better. We feel like the two things are completely unrelated, since Aidan has not been sick for an extended amount of time and never had any appetite or digestive issues. Anyway, it was a tough weekend for all of us. I never thought I'd say that I was ready for Monday to be here!! :) Anyway, the picture below shows me to look as beat down as I was feeling by the time we at the popsicles today! ha!

Aidan sings his ABC's!

2009-08-02T21:04:00.001-05:00

Only when he doesn't know he is being recorded of course!!!

Visit with friends!

2009-08-02T20:53:00.004-05:00

We were so excited to finally meet the newest member of the Bowyer family! Little Cason is so precious. We love him already! And it was so good to spend time with our friends down South. We don't see each other near enough! Having babies really changes things, huh!!

Update on life!

2009-07-19T21:34:00.001-05:00

I have been a little overwhelmed with traveling for work lately so I've been totally slacking on my blog. This month, I've been to San Antonio, Washington D.C. and this week, Birmingham, AL! It is an odd month for me, as I rarely travel in this position! Anyway, that is my excuse for being a slacker, hope you understand! Any kind of travel, no matter how near or far, sucks the life out of me so I have been very tired, missing my boys and having a hard time keeping up with this house! But after this week, it will all be better!! Thanks to Nana who is helping us pick up the slack while I have been out of town. And David, for being so ridiculously flexible and understanding when things come up with work. I am so blessed to have a husband who is such a hands on kind of dad.

Anywho....I uploaded some videos tonight after Aidan went to bed and thought I'd update my blog that way. Blogging hasn't really been my priority lately, just having quality time with family is trumping everything at this point! But I had some time this evening and wanted to update.

Hope y'all are having a fantastic July! It is SO HOT here. DREADFULLY hot. We had a little bit of rain today, along with a short-lived breeze, but otherwise, it has been simply miserable!!

Love from the Knox family!!!

For the Great Grandparents in Vegas!

2009-07-19T21:30:00.000-05:00

This is a video of Aidan opening a present from Great Grandma and Grandpa Cacace in Las Vegas. GeGe brought it with her when she came to visit in June and I wanted to share so that Grandpa can see how much he enjoyed the gift!!!

Funny video I have been meaning to post!!

2009-07-19T21:29:00.000-05:00

This little piggy........I thought this was too precious. No, you are not expected to understand what he is saying, but hopefully you "get it". ;)

My first painted wall!

2009-07-08T07:49:00.000-05:00

Risky? I LOVE!

4th of July

2009-07-08T07:34:00.001-05:00

Elaine and John come bearing gifts. Big gifts, that get in everyones way! But ones that Aidan LOVES! ha! He LOVED this gift! We have tried to "relocate" the dinosaur into the office/playroom. So huge! But so fun for Aidan!

This is our first year living in the county for the 4th. Downside: they pop fireworks every night for weeks prior to the 4th! Upside: you can watch the most AMAZING fireworks shows from your own backyard! No joke here, our neighbors must have spent $$$$$ on fireworks, because it was almost as good as being at a stadium watching a show! Also, they are ALL AROUND you! Front, back, behind.....they were everywhere! As you can see in the pic below, we pulled out our lawn furniture into the backyard and watched the show! Joe was even here for the evening. So fun. David on shift this day, so he missed it! But we are thinking this will be the location for family get togethers each year! Aidan was asleep by 7:45PM this night because he didn't take a nap that day (eek!). He hit his wall at about 7:00PM so we couldn't keep him up for this! Poor baby slept through every boom!!!

NRH20! Our first time!

2009-07-08T07:19:00.000-05:00

We went to NRH20 with Karina, Jeff and Anika and we just had a blast. David was working OT so he missed out on the fun! Aidan loved the slides, the wave pool AND the lazy river! They have a toddler area that is fun. We had so much fun, can't wait to go again, especially with Anika! Aidan wasn't sure of what to think of it all at first, but then really had a great time! ESPECIALLY in the wave pool!