HELPER IN TRAINING

Since we have a "new one" on the way, we are trying to ease Kaleb into being a helper. The other day he was "helping" me cook spegetti...I was stirring the meat when I was interrupted by Kaleb who wanted me to help him get the last can on top of his tower...as you can see in the corner of the picture
Next, he was helping me do the laundry...as i was putting things on hanger he made sure they were all color coded...as i went to put some away i came back and Kaleb had put some of jason's underwear and socks on hangers....well, don't you hang up your underwear and socks?
So, we are getting the feeling that Kaleb does not want a little sibling (or competition)...you say, what makes us think that? Well, the other day he "took" the baby out of my belly (thru my belly button) and put it in his mouth, ate it up and then spit it out....hmmm, what is his little mind thinking?...it doesn't look good!

Kaleb and I were playing doctor the other day and he took the light and shined it in my mouth and said "It doesn't look good mommy" and proceeded to take the scissors and cut my tongue off! Who's idea was it to put scissors in that doctors kit anyway....well, we'll just have to watch him carefully after the second one arrives or he/she may not have a tongue!

MY EXCUSES...

for not blogging much at all since January.

#1: We are building a house...it has been fun watching it built from the ground up and getting to choose the details to make it our own. For example, we got the garage two feet deeper so that our boat would fit in straight (as of now, ours it caddy cornered in our garage and we cannot park any cars in it). The new house is not taking up too much of my time, but trying to sell our house is...We have to keep the house spotless everyday "just in case" we get a showing. That is not to easy when you live w/ a 2 year old.#2. I went to Africa..as I've already blogged about. But, it took some time to prepare for it and then recover from it.
#3. And for my biggest and best excuse...I'm 13 weeks pregnant!...and who wants to blog when you're extremely exhausted and nauseous! Little did I know that when i went to Africa i was pregnant...So when I went for my 8 week ultrasound and it had arms and legs, we were very surprised...I was actually 10 weeks and I can not describe how excited I was that I was two weeks more thru my first trimester than I had thought.
I am still tired but it is getting better. Last time that got better around 15 weeks, so I'm holding on until then. I've been less nauseous than with Kaleb. I am so happy that I'm not working full time (except full time as the mom of Kaleb)...I've been able to rest more in the middle of the day and have more time to cook still, so I've been eating healthier. I'm trying hard this time not to gain 50#s. So, if anyone has any special intuitions if its a boy or girl...I have no idea...some days I think girl, other days, a boy...only time will tell.

So, I hope I will be able to keep up my blog as I grow, b/c I love having this journal of the kids lives to one day show them.

The Legend of the Easter Cow

We had a long easter season, but it was filled with lots of excitement. It first started with a trip to Knoxville. Amanda and Grandma thought it would be fun to dye eggs...i was thinking to myself "are ya'll crazy"...as the day played out everyones ideas were right. We dyed eggs outside (thank goodness) and Nylah calmly colored one egg at a time in a very gentle manner...Kaleb on the other hand...liked to drop the eggs into the dye from about a foot up...cracking the eggs and also splashing it all over the place...he moved so fast it was hard to stop him..here we are shielding the area from Kaleb disaster...Here the cousins are counting their easter eggs...
On the Saturday before Easter we went to a community festival where they had a helicopter that dropped 20,000 eggs over a field and let the little kids have at it... Kaleb had so much fun b/c they had inflatables and his friend Abby was there too.
Here they are posing with the Easter bunny which was a very brief encounter...and now starts the story of the Easter cow...Chick Fil' A was there providing lunch and they had 2 cows too...Kaleb chased the cows around all afternoon and just couldn't stop thinking about them....
So, the next morning when Kaleb explored his Easter basket we asked him who he wanted to thank...and he exclaimed "Thank you Easter Cow"...we tried to correct him, but it was just too funny...we'll see if he remembers the Easter Cow next year.
On Easter we had our 2nd annual Easter lunch and egg hunt with some friends who also do not have family in town. The kids enjoyed each other and all the chocolate.

AFRICA!

Welcome to beautiful Tanzania! I went to visit my sister, brother in law and new and adorable niece this February. It was quite a trip. I went by myself while Jason and Kaleb fended for themselves at home. My parents were there at the same time but we travelled there separately.The first full day we were there we went to church in a small village. This is one of the women standing by her house.
When we arrived at the church they had seats prepared for us at the front facing the rest of the church. We were "guests of honor". This is the church choir singing away. They sang one song that we actually knew..."Nothing but the blood of Jesus". We sang in English while they sang in Swahili. It was pretty cool to know we had something in common with this people that were completely different from us in so many ways. Church lasted 2-3 hours and then they invited us to stay for lunch...sooo, about 3 hours later we were finally sharing a meal of rice, dagu (small fish) and a tomato (but looked like eggplant) dish with our fellow Christians. It was neat to get to know them even though we couldnt communicate with them unless Brett or Christie were right there. They were so friendly and giving. They owned nothing but spent 3 hours cooking and providing lunch for us.
Christie and Brett had only moved into their house a week before we got there. It is not even finished, but livable. They had a beautiful home and although they had spotty electricity and concrete floors and walls, I was very happy to have a hot shower!
So our big vacation part of the trip was going to Robundo island that is situated in the middle of Lake Victoria. The plan was to drive an hour to the shore and take a 30 min boat ride to the island...BUT...we took our hour drive, but when we got to the shore we had to wait 2 hours for a storm to pass...well, we thought it had passed and got into our little boat (w/ precious Baylor in her car seat) and headed off...well, right way it started raining off and on again. 3, yes 3 HOURS later we were all miserably wet, exhausted and frustrated when our boat driver said "look ahead, you can see our beach from here"...then capoo! we ran out of gas! ahhhh!! we were in the middle of the lake, and as you can imagine, cell phone service in africa is not so hot, so we could not get a hold of anyone to tell to bring us gas or come save us....at this point i was seriously thinking that we may have to spend the night on the boat...we finally floated to where Brett got some reception and waited another hour in 6 ft swells for someone to come bring us gas. Ah, once we got there we literally wanted to kiss the ground.
Once we got to the island, it was pretty fabulous. We took a walking safari tour that morning and saw huge hippos (shown above), crocadiles, bush bucks and many tropical birds. They fed so so well! It was delicious and we stuffed ourselves at every meal. Below is the bandas that we stayed in. I got one all to myself and the first morning I woke up to monkey running across my roof. Apparently they had been sitting on my front porch when Brett saw them and came to take a picture and they all ran.
This is my adorable little niece Baylor taking a dip in Lake Victoria! She had the best cheeks!
This is saying goodbye at the airport. It was such a great trip and I have many more pictures for anyone thats interested, just give me a call...i love to share my pictures! Thanks for a great trip Brett and Christie!!

Kaleb Happenings

Yes, I know, it's been an extraordinary amount of time since I have written, as I am sure you are all waiting on the edge of your computer chairs to see what Kaleb has been up to for the last 4 months. Well, here are just a few. For about a week, Kaleb decided that the tree in his room by his bed was "scary" and he made us take it out every night. Luckily, it didnt last forever. But he is starting to think things in the dark are scary now. Somehow, I will use that to my advantage...One night we were sitting in the kitchen eating dinner and all of the sudden Kaleb jumps up and runs to the dining room and says Hi Big Bird! Hi Elmo! Hi Oscar! We said "where are they Kaleb?" and he directed us to each of their chairs that they were sitting in. For a few nights he was consistent on who sat in what chair. This was the first incidence where we realized he was imagining. Ah, man, he's growing up!
Crocagators! as Kaleb calls them....While I was gone to Africa visiting my sister (another posting) Kaleb became obsessed with crocagators and took them everywhere he went...he read to them...
He bathed with them...
and he slept with them (not pictured)....i'm glad he has so many friends!

Kaleb has been saying his ABC's for a while...we have those ABC fridge magnets that sing and he loves them. He sings with such vigor!

He also loves to sing other songs such as Jesus loves me, itsy bitsy spider, row-row your boat, he's got the whole world in his hands, twinkle-twinkle, monkeys jumping on the bed...and the list goes on....

One day we were grocery shopping and he was being very irritating...throwing things out of the cart, climbing out of his seat, whining...you know, typical 2 year old...i had about reached the end of my rope and he started singing Jesus loves me in his little high pitched voice...at first I thought "yea, he's the only one that could love you right now" but then my bitter heart melted into his innocence...i needed that moment.

Christmas with the Wades

For Christmas we went to Virginia to my parents house. We missed Christie, Brett and Baylor! It was a short but enjoyable Christmas (b/c you can see below that Kaleb got all the attention) Welcome to the Kaleb and Papa show!

It looks like they are both very musically inclined, but photos can be deceiving! Ha! They sure did have fun though.
Papa and Kaleb make cookies for Santa. Notice the shape Kaleb made them into (a choo choo). He is so obsessed with trains. He will line up anything in the form of a train.
He was so excited to leave cookies for Santa that he didn't even want to eat them himself. We went to see Santa at the mall at home. He sat on Santa's lap and didn't even cry. He did however stare off into space and not answer any of Santa's questions. I think he must internalize his fear.

During the night Kaleb woke up several times wanting to go downstairs...I was surprised he got the gist of it so soon. The next night, he woke up wanting to go downstairs and open more presents. I had to disappoint him and tell him Christmas is only once a year.

Another cute story: Outside of Kaleb's daycare they have a Nativity Scene that we always stop and look at... he always says hi to baby Jesus and the shepherd...One day we drove in the parking lot and Kaleb shouted "Jesus!" like he was in a charismatic church. It was so funny!

Now he always wants to pray to baby Jesus, kind of like in the movie Talledega nights with Will Ferrell....anyway...
Kaleb got really sick while we were in Virginia, which was a major bummer b/c they got 12 inches of snow the weekend before we came and we were planning to have so much fun in it. Instead Papa brought some snow in the kitchen and he still had a blast.
Later in the week we were all getting cabin fever so we went to the train station and Papa took Kaleb in a couple cars. He was in heaven.
One of the best things I got for christmas was to see my Dad on the floor with Kaleb about 90% of Kaleb's waking hours. They had so much fun together and really bonded. I have since tried to go thru this tunnel myself and am really impressed they my Dad could get in and out of it.
Flip side...
I got to meet with some of my high school friends on Monday morning for breakfast and it was so good to catch up with them again. During that time everyone else went to the park where they had some old train cars that you could climb on.
Besides the sickness we had a really good Christmas. I got almost all the "Twilight" series books...the real reason I haven't blogged in a while (I'm obsessed).

Christmas with the Bruns'

Well, like always there were enough presents under/around the tree that all of Santa's elf got paid overtime this year. We went to Knoxville the weekend before Christmas to celebrate with Jason's side of the family.We thought Kaleb had enough trains, but obviously more made him very happy!
Granddad and Grandma in their Christmas spirit.
We thought it would be a lot of fun to have Christmas with two toddlers this year...and it was, it just seemed to also be very stressful. Kaleb and Nylah wanted to open each others presents and then fight over the toys once they were ripped open... like their weren't enough to go around.