Anniversary Present?

August is a good month for weddings in my family. Ryan & Barbara got married August 8th. Brandon & Kim got married August 17th. My mom & dad got married August 18th. Tyson & I got married August 19th. It seems to be a theme. Actually, it is divided almost evenly. My 3 other married siblings got married in December. But, right now August is winning. Needless to say, I am a bit biased towards August. And there is yet another reason to biased about the month of August. Here is the story:

In mid-January, my parents came to visit, play with the kids, eat eggplant parmesan (my first time making it), and just catch up a little after Christmas break. That's what we did: ate, played, and chatted. Well, they had to be back to their house for some meetings and such (as is always the case with my busy, busy parents).

Before they left I told them that I had a 'sort of' anniversary present for them. They looked a little puzzled since their anniversary was not until August. But, I told them to close their eyes and hold out their hands. My mom dutifully obeyed because presents are always fun, right?!

I place a small piece of paper in her hands and told them to open their eyes. They looked, smiled at me, smiled at each other, and gave us hugs! Apparently it is a really, really good anniversary present! So, I guess it is time to reveal what it was they saw: an ultrasound for baby #3!

Yes, we are having another baby. Estimated due date is August 22, 2011. So, it is a 'sort of' anniversary present since nothing with a due date is 100% accurate.

Anyways, we are super excited and shocked that we are going to be parents of 3 kids in the near future!

Later that night, Tyson broked the news to his mom saying that she was going to have twin grandchildren (his sister is also expecting and due August 26th). She did not quite understand, but once he explained the difference in our due dates, she exclaimed, "I really might have twin grandchildren!" She was delighted as well.

As for me, I have been feeling the best I have felt being pregnant. I attribute that to the fact that I was in the best shape of my life before becoming prego and I am still exercising (at a slightly slower pace) just about everyday. I only feel sick if I wait too long to eat or eat too much sugar (especially eating sugar at night). So, life is good. So, who knows it may be an anniversary present for any number of people in my family!

Valentine's Day

Since Tyson has started working as an auditor Valentine's Day is not quite the same. It is right in the middle of his busy season (No, he does not do taxes. He is an auditor) which means that he is working until all hours of the night. If Valentine's falls on a weekend, I might have some luck of seeing him before 11 p.m. But, this year it was on a Monday = I didn't see him until 11 p.m.

I have also realized that Valentine's is important to me - I love getting flowers and sometimes chocolate - but not quite as important as it was when I was single and searching for a Valentine. I guess it's nice to have a forever Valentine. I also don't really like going out on that day just because it's February 14th. It is a little crazy with everyone else trying to do the same thing. I would rather spend a nice night with my family, some homemade Thai food (a little tradition of ours), and go out on another night with Tyson.

Anyways, Valentine's actually was a fun day for the kids and me. The week before, Reed, Eve, and I spent some time making homemade Valentines. I cut out the hearts and put the person's name on it. Eve colored with crayons on a few. Reed got to color with markers (if he wanted to) and glue on these little balls that I found at the store. It was amazing to see Reed in action. We cut out valentines for the kids in his preschool, my parents, Tyson's parents, Reed, Tyson, and Eve. For each one Reed would ask, "Does (so and so) love (named a color)?" He really wanted to make sure that each person got their favorite color. It was just so cute and thoughtful!

The valentines turned out cute and we distributed the preschool ones, sent off the one to Grandma and Grandpa Walker, and then I hand-delivered the one to Grandma and Grandpa Rowberry. We hung up the valentines to daddy, Reed, and Eve on our wall. I also made a collage out of all the hearts we cut out. Can't let the paper go to total waster, right? I actually think it turned out pretty sweet!

On Saturday, February 12th, my parents took us to the play, "The Carpetbagger's Children" at Ford's Theatre. It was an interesting play and only had 3 actresses in the entire thing. I really enjoyed it. It made me think of how different life is now - easier in some respects and harder in others. But, it was nice to be able to get out with my parents and Tyson. Tyson worked up until the time we had to go, but was still able to squeeze in those hours to see the play with me! He also bought me a beautiful vase with pink and red roses. I do love my flowers :) Thanks, Mom and Dad!

February 13th, Sunday, Reed and Eve wore their new presents from Grandma Walker. Reed got a new tie and Eve got a matching sash. They were a hit with Reed, Eve, and everyone else at church. It was fun to see them matching :) Thanks, Grandma Walker!

On Valentine's Day the day was pretty normal. I went grocery shopping, I taught 7 piano lessons (and gave out suckers for Valentine's Day), made Masaman Curry for dinner, and watched "Chuck." When Tyson did get home he gave me a Symphony bar, which is always so good! My parents gave us some books: a parenting book and a children's book (titles below). It was a quiet Valentine's, but pretty enjoyable.

I actually forgot to give Tyson his Valentine's present, so he got it on the 15th. He got some 'Valentine's' movies: "Ever After" and "Fool's Gold." I thought they were valentines-y since they are chick flicks! Yahoo for movies!

Our entryway

An example of the valentines we made.

My flowers!

The books

New tie and sash from Grandma Walker

They got lots of positive comments! So cute!



Preschool in Fast Motion

So, I keep meaning to post meaningful posts about each preschool week, but time has simply gotten away from me. Instead of feel bad about it, I am just going to give small highlights from the past several weeks! Reed, overall, has really been loving preschool and seeing his friends every week! He tells me, "Mom, I like preschool. I love my friends." So, the social part (which is the main reason I wanted to do this preschool) is really working for all the kids! They are learning so many different things about being in groups, sharing, transitioning to different places, and taking direction in a group. I love it!

Week 12: Oceans

They read the rainbow fish and Reed loved it!

Week 13: The 5 Senses  

I taught this one and really had a blast doing it! I could split the senses up over weeks, but I only had 1 day. So, we had a brief run-down, made 2 fun crafts and air-popped popcorn onto a sheet. This was the favorite thing ever! The kids thought it was so much fun to hear it, watch it, smell, it, touch it, and taste it! All 5 senses in one snack-making activity. Woo woo!

This is our touching turtle - filled with so many soft and squishy things!

We also listened to a story about an Elf with 3 pairs of ears. We painted our own set of listening ears.

Week 14: Groundhog's Day

I taught this as well. It was a fun day learning about groundhogs, where we got this crazy holiday from, and we even made our own groundhogs! We also played 'find the groundhog.' 

Reed holding his groundhog that he made (left) and the picture that he colored (right).

 Week 15: Valentine's

The kids made fun little valentines and even made jell-o gigglers in the shape of a heart!

 Week 16: President's Day

Reed learned about Presidents and President's Day. He even colored this flag in, of course, green.



#12

Well, tooth #12 broke the skin February 21st 2011 - President's Day! Happy birthday Lincoln and Washington :) Eve got a new tooth just for you.

Oh and I can see tooth #13 (bottom R) in her gums already. She may have all 16 teeth (and maybe even the full 20 with the 2-3 year molars) in the next few months! Teething....always great.

Legos!

Well, I am not expert on Legos, but I heard about a Legos exhibit at the National Building Museum and thought it would be a pretty cool thing to check out. So, Saturday, January 15th was the day to check it out.

I was definitely right about it being awesome! They built the most amazing replicas of buildings that I have ever seen built out of Legos! They even had the specs of each building, the specs of the Lego building, how long it took to design, and how long it took to build. Pretty amazing!

They had replicas of the twin towers, sears tower, the tallest building in the world, the white house, and some other buildings that I am forgetting at the moment.

After you saw the buildings, there was a huge space set aside where you could go and build stuff with Legos. Reed was so excited (and I must say Tyson was pretty stoked)! Eve liked knocking everything down, which is always a good time. We stayed until our parking meter ran out!

We also saw an exhibition on Andrea Palladio. I was shocked at how much influence his designs had on our architecture in the United States. It was truly amazing to see where certain ideas for buildings came from. I think architecture is simply amazing!

We also saw the water fountain and just admired the architecture of the building. I thought it was so beautiful! I am sucked for columns and arches, though. :)

A great morning in D.C.!


Replica of the tallest building in the world



I still can't believe they made these buildins out of legos!

 

Showing off his first creation

Reed and Eve joined in on the building action

I just think this building is awesome!



Love the fake smiles



Everyone was mesmerized by the water fountain, of course.

Teething Woes

Well, the 2nd and 3rd weeks of January were not very pleasant at our house. Eve, as I mentioned previously, was going on and off with fevers and just being super fussy. She wasn't sleeping very well (very uncommon for her) during the day or at night.

At first, I thought she was getting sick. But, after a few days I realized that she was just getting 5 teeth at once - 4 of them being the first set of molars! Yeah, so she was not the happiest camper on the block. But, as soon as some of the teeth broke the skin, Eve went back to almost her normal self.

I used to think that people blamed teething when there were actually other things going on. Reed hardly fussed when he was teething - maybe a little, but it never really kept him up at night, he only got a fever when he got the molars, and he was just a content little guy. Well, my experience with Eve has taught me that teething can be a brutal beast.

It's interesting because now I can tell when she is teething because she is more cling/fussy during the day and at night. If it were just at night, I would be hesitant to just blame the fussiness on teething. But, since it goes on throughout the day, I am reassured that she is definitely in pain. Poor little miss!

Thankfully, her molars have all broken the skin. Those things are huge and take forever to come all the way in! But, Eve is not cutting another tooth! Yeah, she is sprouting teeth like crazy! This will be #12 and she is going to be 14 months on the 23rd of this month! She went from having 4 teeth on her 1st birthday (December 23rd) to having almost 12 only 2 months later! Here is a rundown (at least as close as I can say) of how the teeth all came in (all teeth are described as if you were looking at her teeth from my perspective/straight on):

December 29th - tooth #5, bottom L next to middle tooth
January 13th - tooth #6, top R next to middle tooth
January 15th - tooth #7, top L molar
January 17th - tooth #8, bottom L molar
January 18th - tooth #9, bottom R next to middle tooth
January 22nd - tooth #10, top R molar
January 24th - tooth #11, bottom R molar
Any day now - tooth #12, top L next to middle tooth

Man, January was rough for little Eve! Thankfully, we only have 4 more teeth and 4 more molars to go. We are past the halfway point! Good luck Eve!

Home for a week....

The first week after being home was pretty much a wash for all of us. I think we were all just very tired and worn out from all of the playing. Wednesday, January 5th, Reed still went to preschool, but we showed up super late because he did not even stir from his bed until 9 a.m.! We were all still on PST. But, he went nonetheless.

He had a really great time learning about igloos, snow, snowmen, and all the fun winter stuff! He was mostly excited to show me his snowman and the glasses on his snowman. Funny story about the 'glasses': The mom in charge gave everyone the same piece, but did not tell them where to put it on the snowman. Without any help all of the girls (there are 4) put it as a bow on his neck. Reed and Brooks, the 2 males, both put it as sunglasses. That just made me laugh and smile :)

Reed was also excited that daddy was home so that he could show off his craft! Tyson, thankfully, took the day off to kind of settle in before heading off to busy season!


Reed showing off his snowman.

A few days later, Eve was helping me unload and load the dishwasher. I walked away for a minute to use the bathroom. This is what I found upon returning to the kitchen:

This is what happens when Eve helps with the dishes.

Friday, January 7th, Eve had her 1-year check-up. Things looked good, except she lost a little weight. I kind of thought that would happen since she had been a little sick and all during vacation she went up and down the stairs. Literally, that is all she wanted to do! It took her 1 day to figure it all out. After that, she just wanted to keep doing it over and over. So, I was not surprised in the least. Here are her stats:

Weight: 19 lbs. 6 oz. - 40%
Height: 29 3/4 in. - 70%
Head Circumference: 18 in. - 50%

Looks like we may have a tall one on our hands! Keep your fingers crossed :) (I believe Eve has made up all her ounces lost in the past month. She has been eating like a maniac!)

The next Wednesday, January 12th, was my turn to teach preschool. Originally, I was January 5th, but realized that wouldn't work with Christmas vacation. So, I switch to January 12th. Then, on Monday and Tuesday, Eve had fevers on-and-off all day! She was being fussy and just not herself. Turns out, it was due to teething (in a later post), but she just miserable. So, I switched again to January 26th. Thankfully, Katrina was able to fill-in for me at the last moment!

Reed loved going to Juliet's house for preschool. They learned about teeth and even got to paint their teeth with toothbrushes! Reed is pretty obsessed with toothbrushes and toothpaste, so I can only imagine how excited he was during their little lesson!

He also informed Katrina (the mom), that he loves green, so his googly eyes had to be the green ones. He is really on a green-kick. Everything is better when it's green. He probably tells me 10 times a day, "Mommy, I love green! It's my favorite!" Then he will go through his preschool friends and name their favorites. 100% of the time he is right. Smart kid. :) So, here is Reed with his magnetic tooth that has green eyes!

Reed was very excited to brush his tooth with white paint.

The rest of Christmas break....

Recapping is always so hard and I never do quite an adequate job, but at least I can look back and sort of know what we did. :) I don't mention all of the game-playing that happened, but that was a daily occurrance for both the adults and the kids. We definitely were always playing some sort of game! So, here it goes - the rest of Christmas break:

** I forgot to mention one of Tyson's favorite presents (or at least the one I was the second most excited to give him): Carcassonne! We are always looking for new games, and we had played this with some friends. It is so much fun. **

12/26 - Church! The kids wore their Christmas stuff from Grandma Walker: a tie for Reed, and a little dress with a belt that matched Reed's tie. When we got home we had a 'nice' family dinner. We put out china and all stayed dressed up. It was nice :)

12/27 - We went shooting and Reed got to shoot his first .22 rifle with the help of Uncle Adam. Reed and Vance mostly played in the truck while the rest of shot clay pigeons, old pieces of wood, dead trees, and the sides of dirt mountains. Then, we went to see the movie "True Grit" with Tyson's family. Then, we went to Shauntelle's house to eat dinner and play our new game - Carcassonne! It's always great to see John, Shauntelle, and the girls (Mary, Evyn, and Isla).

12/28 - Water fountains and the garden at the Bellagio - I have really been looking forward to seeing the water show with Reed. He is just such a huge fan of water! He was a little scared at first, but really loved it after a few seconds. He wanted it to keep going. (See some fun pictures below) I also love the garden area there. It is always decorated so nicely. I am always impressed at what they do with flowers! It was a Christmas/winter theme with penguins, reindeer, and polar bears. Beautiful!

12/29 - Drew Crew reunion! We met up with some of Tyson's old high school friends and hung out for a bit. Though it is called the Drew Crew, Drew (and Katie) were not able to make it. We missed them!

12/30 - I believe this is the day that they did lawns. Reed and Tyson went with the crew (Kimber, Jared, Vance) and I stayed back with Reed and Eve. I could be mistaken about that, but they did do lawns one day. Hmmm....I might check on that one. We went to John and Shauntelle's for dinner and games. My oldest brother, Michael, his wife, Sarah, and their kids: Julia, Gabe, Jason, and Rachael, were also able to come! They were in town visiting Sarah's sister and so we planned a Rowberry night of fun :) I am so glad that I got to see them - it had been way too long - over  2 years! They had never met Eve. So, it was a good time had by all :)

12/31 - I stayed with napping children while Tyson and his family went to set up for the single's dance. They blew up and tied an extrememly large amount of balloons that were dropped at midnight. Apparently, it turned out great. We had a "New Year's Eve" game night. We played and played, did some Singstar, made homemade root beer, and ate way to much of Christy's delicious dip and bacon-wrapped turkey. We saw the fireworks, which is always so great! I just love how they time it so perfectly and how it is set to music on 94.1 FM. Then, we came back and the street was lit - Walker family tradition. Dave lights the street on fire with whatever year it is written in gasoline. Also, there are always 2 lightings. This year they added the bonus of leftover fireworks from July 4th. With the little bit of dry ice left, the boys tried to make a dry ice bomb, but it ended up not working. It got way too late too fast, and we went to bed.

1/1/2011! - I don't remember! Aaahhh...I am sure games were played and fun was had!

1/2 - Church! It was more of a low-key day.

1/3 - Jared left to back to school. It snowed!!! Reed and Mackenzi played with Grandma and made a snowman. Eve was a little unsure about the whole thing, but liked watching. The snow melted before noon! we spent the majority of morning/early afternoon packing our stuff, weighing our bags, and doing laundry. We got everything to fit and were fine with all the weight limits! Phew! That night we played games with Tyson's parents.

1/4 - We got on a plane back to DC. Our flight left at 7:30, so we had to wake the kids up to get ready to go. Luckily, the flight back was awesome! The kids slept for at least half the flight, it was shorter, and we did not even have to touch down until we were all the way back at the airport in Baltimore. Sadly, we got in during rush hour, so it took us forever to get home! But, we eventually made it back! We were all glad to be out of the car and out of the plane!

** I don't remember which day I got sick, but I ended up getting sick sometime in the second-half of our trip, probably from lack of sleep. I hate being sick on vacation - it is the worst! I just felt no good. Ugh, but I did get better, eventually! **

Water Fountains at the Bellagio!

It was some sort of a hilday song, but I can't remember which one!

Reed loved it when the water went high.