Between Here and There

April 29, 2007 "I would like apple juice, dora yogurt, cheese stick, and water," Lillian says.

May 2001 - One month before the wedding. This is one of my favorite photos of Kyle and I even though I know it's a bit of a forced smile on my part (yes Rachel, I know). Dina took it on an OBX weekend camping trip we went on with her and Brian. Wow, that was quite a long time ago. This pic has hung on many cork boards over the years so I finally decided to scan it. In case you can't tell we were sitting IN a tree. "First comes love, then comes marriage..."

It's been raining almost constantly since yesterday. We got up this morning to head out to some yard sales/church sales but after we were out I realized that I'd forgotten my wallet. So we returned home. I made a pot of coffee, Jack settled down for his morning nap, and then Lillian and I cooked Egg Muffins and now we're working on Pizza Meatloaf . Actually she started crafting at the table, surrounded by paper, stickers, scissors, and glue. It's a perfect rainy Saturday!

Kyle is in Montreal for 6 days at a conference. He's reading his paper on Saturday. He's been looking forward to this for awhile not only because it's in Montreal but because he gets to hang out with his old roommate from Durham who now lives there with his wife. He'll have some free time to spend with them as well as see the city, though he really has to spend much of his time reading/studying for prelims which are a week after he returns! Kyle took the camera so we'll have legitimate shots of the city, etc next week. PS. L and J are currently (finally) sleeping in the same room tonight. We are going to get Jack sleeping through the night before Kyle's return!!!

This is a late congratulations for Matt and Hannah who welcomed Samuel Alec Hawkins into the world Saturday, April 4 at 11:47 a.m. PST, weighing in at 7 pounds, 5 ounces (one more ounce than his big brother) and measuring 20 1/2 inches (same as his brother). He has very light eyelashes and some dark hair, and looks a lot like his brother.

Lillian and I have been cooking together recently. She really enjoys stealing a lick or bite of the batter, especially when it contains chocolate chips. She also really enjoys the 'clean up' which means playing in the sink with water and assorted water tools. It keeps her occupied for quite awhile. I'm also adding another point to my Benefits of Two list. Lillian has been so good at entertaining Jack. On multiple occasions she has been able to keep him happy during his fussy or clingy time (about 5:30 - when I'm trying to cook dinner). Her trick of course is music and dancing. Video would not suffice but most of you will be able to see this in action within a couple months.

We headed down to Galveston Wednesday (Katie, Lillian and Jack) with some friends (Mary Mac, Adam and Ryan). We ended up only staying one night since the weather turned bad and we were all crowding into one room. Lillian and Adam (2) had lots of fun together riding in the car and playing games at the hotel. Jack and Ryan (2 wks older than Jack) did very well though as you can imagine it's not easy trying to get 4 kids to sleep at the same time in the same room. We managed. We woke up to some stormy weather on Thursday so we decided to head home and surprise our husbands with our early arrival. Our first visit to the Texas coast was way too short so hopefully we'll get another one in before another year goes by.

Lillian is getting better at catching, especially when she's paying attention.

Lillian's first haircut, March 28, 2009.

Some benefits of having two kids: Jack's crying sends her to sleep; Lillian's screaming sends him to sleep (currently in progress). However, Jack's crying wakes her up; Lillian's screaming wakes him up. Lillian is a big help in entertaining Jack: dancing, singing, making him laugh, even reading a book to him. Lillian realizes Mama has other duties besides maintaining her busyness and happiness. You always have something to do or in my case, to avoid doing. Cleaning, singing, feeding, cooking, walking, playing, driving, bouncing, reading, playing, feeding, cleaning, reminding, disciplining, cleaning, chasing, playing, reading, singing, sleeping... It takes twice as long to get ready which you always forget and therefore become known as the perpetually late person - especially by your husband. If only he would learn how to fix L's hair, things would move along faster. You spend a lot of time remembering what it was like with just one, or none. I'll think of mor...

"whatchoo said?" is one of the most heard phases from lillian currently. sunday, she found a small round object that resembled to her a stethoscope, so she came to kyle and i asking to listen to our hearts. then she followed up with "any questions?" we'd just visited the dr. two days prior. she's surprising us with her memory. here's the video from rach/craig wedding of phillip and lillian dancing, sort of.

I hope it's okay to post this. We'll try to remember to remove before he turns 15. He's talking up a storm these days.

I saw this on a friend's facebook page. I thought all you SAHM would appreciate this.

We decided not to go to Houston this weekend but we managed to fill the day up anyway. We headed out to the zoo first thing this morning. Today the gibbons were in a good mood, swinging around on our way in and singing on our way out. We also saw over a hundred buzzards (ugh!) that were not necessarily part of the zoo. I guess it was the place to be. Kyle and Lillian just got back from the Baylor men's game (don't ask the outcome). It was fun for them to get out just the two of them. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Last week Lillian decided to play next to an fire ant hill when we were outside doing the laundry. Before I could stop her they had called on to her hand and feet. I sat her in a cool bath to relieve some of the pain. However, 30 minutes later each bite (all 15 of them) was the size of a quarter and they have yet to heal completely. So we were outside again today and she ended up in the same spot - my fault for not giving her a teaching lesson last week and then for not preventing it today. But she had about 4 bites from one ant and it was obviously giving her pain. Tuesday David & Mandy had given her the Burt Bees Bug Relief so we tried it out today. I am pleased to say - an hour later - that the bites are gone. Yeah! Thanks D & M - and I strongly recommend this esp. for those living in Texas with around-the-year bugs - mosquitos and fire ants. PS. Burt Bees is made in Durham!