Hello 2010!

After reading my friend e's blog today.  She called me a LAME-O!  I realized I do need to blog more often. It's the start of a new year and I'm going to blog my little heart out. 

I have several goals for this year.  I always talk big, but this year I am going to live big.  I guess it shouldn't be to hard..  I am a pretty big guy.

Goals for 2010
1. Write and preform a stand-up comedy act.
2. Lose 60 pounds (I hope before my 10 year high school reunion)
3. Take a picture everyday.
4. Blog at least twice a week.
5. Be a better Dad and Husband.

I am going to work hard on doing these things, and I plan on reporting to everyone in my blog posts on how I am doing. 

When I was in school, we were given a project to do a week long photo journal.  I kept it here on my blog.  I am going to do a photo journal one week out of every month.  I love photography and feel like I am good at it.. but I have not been able to do much after college.  No more excuses!  Be looking for that first post starting next week.

And The Tie-Breaker

We are expecting another girl! Chris and I went to an ultrasound appointment last Wednesday. All is as it should be; the baby seems very healthy. The only trouble we have is picking out a name.

What should the name of our baby girl be?

New Baby Update

Well, Baby #3 is on its way! I had an appointment yesterday with Dr. Stamps of Primrose OB/GYN here in Springfield, MO. For those of you in the area who need an OB/GYN, I highly recommend him. We listened to the heartbeat, which my doctor said was "perfect." I gained 7 pounds in the last few weeks since my last appointment, but he's not worried. Neither am I. I don't feel overweight for this pregnancy...yet. Maybe that will happen the last month or so. :)

I have an ultrasound scheduled in a couple of weeks. Hopefully, we will be able to find out the gender of the baby! Actually, I suggested to Chris that we wait until the baby is born to find out (since we have both boy and girl stuff), but he said absolutely not! He hates surprises. That's OK. We are excited to for our "tie-breaker" baby to be here!

Here We Go Again!

Chris and I are expecting our third (and last) child! I am about 9 weeks along now and definitely feeling the morning sickness. My appetite goes up and down like a roller coaster; it's unpredictable. I usually don't want to eat anything in the morning, but the rest of the day, I don't know what I am going to feel. I either feel nauseous or I am starving! So, because I am feeling somewhat sick like I did with Micah, I'm wondering if it's going to be a boy. I didn't hardly at all feel sick with Paige.

What do you think I will be having?

Our Kids (No Longer Babies)

Well, I have said a lot about our new house, but I need to catch everyone up on the real important stuff, the kids.

Micah: He is such a handsome boy. He turned 3 last July, and he is SO independent. Seriously, he wants to do everything by himself. It's interesting. I've obviously gotten myself into a habit of helping him with the little things since he couldn't do them before, like pouring his milk. Here, let me share with you a typical breakfast meal. We go into the kitchen, and he has to turn on the lights. He gets his own cereal or oatmeal, milk and juice out of the refridgerator, and spoon. The only reason I get his cup and bowl is because he can't reach it. He sits down in his chair and pours the cereal or oatmeal, milk, and juice by himself (with my supervision.) I just watch to make sure he doesn't pour too much or spill. When he's done, I ask him to put his dishes in the sink. (It's funny how I have to ask him to clean up by himself.) After that, he has to be the one to push a dining chair to the sink to wash his hands (and face if need be.)

Going to the bathroom is similar. I get him started by turning on the light (the bathroom is really dark,) and helping him pull down his pants. Once he starts going, though, he asks me, "Please go." So, I go, and let him do the rest. I'm not complaining about him doing things by himself, because he needs to learn those things. Sometimes I do get annoyed when I do something for him, and he has a huge temper over it, like I can't do anything at all for him anymore. Wow, kids want to grow up so fast.

Paige: Our little girl is a feisty one. She has a temper like Micah's; her screams can blow up your eardrums! (Seriously, it's loud.) She likes to hit things (and people) right now, and throw her toys. She's just starting to learn how to put herself to sleep. For awhile, it was WWIII if I didn't rock her or rub her back to help her go to sleep. She is very much attached to her mommy. Honestly, sometimes it's annoying, but most of the time, it's really awesome. Paige is completely off of baby foods; she graduated to adult food, just in much smaller bites. She has also recently stopped using a bottle, so she is using whole milk in just her sippy cup. Now, I need to focus on getting her used to more juice and water. Milk shouldn't be her only drink, I don't think.

Paige took her first step last week! She hasn't done anymore by herself since then, but it was one step closer to learning how to walk. Right now, I think she feels just fine with crawling. It gets her where she needs to go.

Finally...

Below are the pictures I said I would post of our house (with Micah on the driveway.) Yesterday, I described what was finished on the inside the last time we looked at it almost 2 weeks ago. However, our realtor (Laura Roberts of Carol Jones) called Chris today, and she said that our house is done! Sweet! We will make an appointment with her to take a look at it, since I'm sure the house is locked up now.

New House Pictures...

will be coming soon! I keep putting it off for some reason! We're really excited, and we want to show everyone how it's coming along. We believe they may even be done already! In the last post, we showed our house as just a frame. Since we last took a gander, they finished the siding, roof, driveway, and our part of the sidewalk on the outside. On the inside, they finished painting the walls; texturing the ceiling; putting linolium (sp?) on the floor; installing the cabinets, appliances, sinks, toilets, and bathtubs. If we go back to look at it, we may not be able to go inside if everything is done! Our contractor is also seeding the land, so we don't have to put in our own grass. We will eventually have to purchase a fench, though. Still, it's awesome to see everything coming along!