In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s been 2 months since I’ve updated our blog.  This is me attempting to get it back to shape.  October has been unbelievably busy for us.  Between school, work and all of the birthday parties for friends this month we have been going crazy!

Everett is almost 11 months old, he’s crawling and cruising around furniture.  On occasion he’s stretching really far, without letting go, to get between the furniture!  Emma is almost FOUR!!!  She knows her alphabet (by recognition of each letter) and all of the sounds the letters make.  If you ask her what letter a word starts with, she can answer you (correctly, most of the time ;)!  She’s loving preschool and especially her teacher, Mrs. Howe.  She’s especially looking forward to Halloween and “trick or treating” at school.

Tim and I are doing well.  In fact, we are both losing weight and we have changed our lifestyles a little bit.  Tim has lost 16 lbs and I have lost over 30 lbs.  In addition to being more mindful of what, when and how much we eat, I go to the gym regularly and Tim is using the Wii Fit in the evenings and continues to ride his bicycle to work.  Tim is actually doing a weight loss challenge through work, “Lose a turkey by turkey day!”  The idea is to lose 10% of your body weight in 10 weeks (by Thanksgiving) and he’s almost two-thirds there at the halfway point!  I have been on my B-12 injections for a few months and am truly starting to notice the difference.  I am doing them every week at home now so I don’t have to go into the doctor’s office during cold and flu season. 

Anyways…enough about us…onto the kids!

Grandma ReeRee came to visit:

We got the kids a bubble machine for the bathtub!!  They LOVE it!

Spencer’s Birthday

My friend Kelly’s son, Spencer had his first birthday this month.  I made the “OSU” themed cake for his party!

Photos taken by Joel Culberson.

Everett was too cute, we were supposed to wear our “team gear” to the party!

Little Everett…he’s into everything now!!

Obviously, he LOVES Baby Einstein!!

Emma and Lucas on the Trampoline

We have been hanging around the house…a lot…during the past few months.  I haven’t felt much like getting out with both the kids during the day, I have just been to worn out and run down and the heat doesn’t help the situation.  I am doing slightly better, I have been getting injections weekly and I think it is starting to make a slight difference.  I am optimistic that I will be feeling better in the next month or so. 

Everett is now 8 months old!  He sits up on his own, “lays out” gracefully (sitting up to laying down on the floor without whamming his head), has 2 teeth, and can now say Dada.  He said Mama for about a week, but real softly.  Now when you try to get him to say Mama, he just looks at you and grins and screams Dada!!  He’s getting closer to crawling (up on all fours), he can pretty much roll and scoot to wherever he needs to get though.

Emma is talkative as usual and has developed a 3 1/2 year old sassy attitude!  We’re working on that.  She’s counting and singing and doing anything she can to get attention :)  She is VERY excited about starting preschool in the Fall (well, end of August). 

Tim has been working hard as ever and since softball has ended is home a little more often!  Poor guy has gotten most of my frustrations and had to watch the kids a lot since I have been so tired and not feeling well.  He’s an amazing dad and both the kids light up when he comes home from work and home at lunch. 

Here are a few random pictures:

Everett playing in his potatoes at dinner:

Emma coloring:

Everett loves to watch the washing machine:

Emma was playing “kitchen” so she decided Everett needed to be the chef:

For those who don’t know, I have been visiting doctors rather frequently the past few months.  Complaining mostly of being terribly tired and unable to lose weight.  I have had a battery of tests run with no avail.  I finally went to a doctor that looked at the results from the other tests, and said that he wanted to run just one more test. 

Turns out, I am deficient in vitamin B-12 (normal levels are at least 1,000 mine were in the 200 range).  B-12 is an essential part of a healthy metabolism, without it, the metabolism functions like a car with 3 wheels (his analogy).  My body seems to be unable to absorb B-12 from the foods I eat or from vitamins.  Probably something associated with my stomach problems (I see the gastro on August 3rd and will learn more about that then). 

Therefore, I am getting B-12 injections every 2 weeks for 12 weeks.  Then, once a month for at least a year (unless it drops again, then back to more frequently).  Hopefully, I will only have to do the injections 4 times per year after that indefinitely.  However, if at any time the levels drop again(I will have lab work done a couple of times per year and he says that I will notice a drop in my energy levels) I will have to start the routine all over from the beginning.  He suggested that I learn how to self-inject so I don’t have to keep going in to the office!

Pernicious Anemia is quite rare and there is no cure, only a treatment with injections.  Luckily, the injections are VERY effective and I should start feeling better in the next 3-4 weeks.  I am just glad to finally, after so long, have a diagnosis.  Praise the Lord for awesome doctors!!!

We just wanted to congratulate Andrew and Kellie on finding out of that they are expecting their second child the end of October!  We are very excited for all of you and are sure that Aidan will be an excellent big brother!

No baby yet!  Everett is hanging in there but the doctor told Steph today that his arrival is imminent.  Her body is ready to go and the baby is too.  Doc said he would be very surprised if she didn’t go into labor within the next two or three days.  We had talked about a possible induction tomorrow (Tuesday) but apparently the hospital is already booked for scheduled deliveries.  So if Everett decides it’s “go time” we will just muscle our way in, come what may!  Doc also said that if Steph starts to have bleeding or contractions then to go on to the hospital and he won’t send us home.  Our backup plan is a scheduled induction early next Monday morning if we happen to make it that far.

Steph is doing very well considering.  She’s definitely 9 months pregnant, and the big joyful news is that Everett and she both seem very healthy and Ev is officially not going to be premature (we were concerned since Emma came so early).  Steph and Everett will be 39 weeks next Monday.  Steph is uncomfortable most of the time and is trying to rest as much as possible but is in her usual turbo cleaning mode prepping for the big event.

Unfortunately, Emma is not feeling so well.  She has had stomach issues since Wednesday of last week, which has subsided as of a few days ago, but along with that she had what we thought was a bad cold but the pediatrician told us today that she has the early signs of croup.  He gave us an antibiotic and some other medicine so we are trying to help her get better and hoping she will be feeling well for when the baby arrives.

I am hanging in there and doing my best to be a good daddy and husband while fighting a minor cold/sinus issues.  Work is really busy but going well.  I’m still riding my mountain bike to and from work; even though gas prices are low, you can’t beat that kind of fuel economy!

We appreciate everyone’s thoughts and prayers and will try to keep everyone posted as much as possible.  Be sure to check the web site often for updates.  I’ll try to get some pictures posted of our new baby boy as soon after he arrives as I can manage (after tending to mom, baby and Emma, of course!).

Take care and God bless you and yours.  We all have so much to be thankful for, especially our freedom and our troops!

Everyone is doing well and the main news is preparing for Everett's pending arrival (due December 8th).

Steph still looks beautiful as ever but is quite often uncomfortable.  I have yet to notice any peculiar cravings thus far but she does occasionally have a case of "pregnancy brain" (forgetfulness).  Steph has not had a migraine headache in a long time, which is great.  It was pretty rough for her for a while.

These past few weeks she's been baking cakes like crazy.  She's still watching our friends' son, Lucas, three days a week.  He and Emma generally get along well but it's hard for Steph to get out of the house with the two of them in her current condition.  So I try to help out and play a lot when I come home for lunch and with Emma in the evenings.

I recently finished designing a birthday invitation for some friends of ours and am now working on Emma's 3rd birthday invitation, Everett's birth announcement, and our family Christmas card.  I'm also working on a new "theme" for our web site that will hopefully look more unique but more importantly, make it easier for people to find information who are not familiar with blogs.  And one of these days I'll re-post those 2 years worth of photos that were on the old site but aren't yet transferred over!  Unfortunately I have to do it manually so it's taking a while.

I'm still riding my bicycle to work (as long as it isn't pouring rain) and am trying to watch what I eat more carefully to shed a few pounds.  Work is going great; I'm constantly learning new things, developing new applications, and even teaching other people some of what I've learned.

Steph and I painted our guest room, moved furniture around, and now officially have Everett's room ready for him.  I will take some photos soon and post them.  She bought a bedroom set from Kellie's friend and the design is cute little bugs with blue and green as the main color scheme.  The furniture is all white, except for the green and white gingham glider that Tim and Kelly bought us for Emma.

Emma is now sleeping in a "big girl" bed (the full bed from the guest room) with a rail guard and a stool at the end.  She adjusted to it so well; we were (and are) so proud of her.  She sits in a chair all by herself when she eats (no booster), knows most of the main colors and the basic shapes, and is communicating in phrases and sentences more.  I'll add a second post with some more of her funny sayings.

Her potty training is going splendidly.  She now does "high five, poo-poo!" as well as "high five, pee-pee!", but we have to sit with her in the bathroom for quite a while to get her to go #2.  She tells us whenever she needs to go #1 now, does her business like a pro, and very rarely has an accident.

Emma will be THREE in just a few short months!  We can't believe it.  Time flies when you're raising a family!

God has truly blessed us richly and we are so thankful.  We hope that all is well with you and yours and look forward to hearing from you!

We had a great visit with several members of our family over the 4th of July weekend.  Emma did really well with ReeRee (Ga) and later with Cheral (Guma) during her "summer camp" experiment.  She slept well and didn't fuss much and really didn't seem to notice that we weren't there.  Thursday night when we arrived at the farm she had a lot of trouble going to sleep but we think that was because of all the different people she was seeing and so many things changing on her at once.  Friday night we saw (Papa) Tim, Kelly (KK), (Uncle) Marshall, (Great Papa) Bud and Nancy (GiGi) and went to the local fireworks display with a concert beforehand.  Emma had a great time playing with everyone and we really enjoyed visiting.  Maryann (Aunt May) came to visit over the weekend as well, and (Uncle) Chase and Megan came out to the farm for dinner with Cheral (Guma).  Emma showed them her new jumprope and had fun playing outside with them.  Emma also really enjoyed playing with (Papa) Joe and wanted him to sit on the floor in her room and play with her toys, all the time.  He obliged and had a lot of fun too, despite his aching jaw and impending root canal.

Tim turned 25 over the weekend.  Cheaper car insurance, here we come!  Thanks to everyone for the cards, gifts, well-wishes, and whatnot.  Steph made a birthday cake in the shape of and decorated like an Uncle Sam's patriotic hat.  Not only did it look great, it tasted great too!  Tim bought a used bicycle, along with a lock and a new seat, with some of his birthday money and has been riding it back and forth to work every day.  It is great exercise, saves on fuel, and is actually pretty fun.  The total distance per day is around 2 miles, so not too far.  He typically comes home for lunch so it is 4 trips total of 0.5 miles each.

Steph is due in December with our second child, as many of you know.  She has been having migraine-type headaches that Tylenol alone can't help so her OB/GYN has prescribed her something stronger that won't affect the baby and we are waiting it out to see if we can pinpoint the source.  It may just be her body reacting to the pregnancy but if we can isolate an environmental factor that we could minimize then that would be even better.  The medication at least helps get rid of the headaches but makes her extremely tired so she only takes it when I'm not at work.  Other than the headaches, she is doing well and we are both excited about the new baby.  We find out the gender in a couple of weeks.  It would be nice to have another girl because we saved almost all of Emma's baby clothes and the seasons would even line up but we want several more kids (at least at this point) so a boy would be just fine too.

We've had an interesting experience with what turned out to be a small sewer leak under our house that finally seems to be fixed.  All told we had two different A/C repair companies, one plumber, and one duct work cleaning company involved.  Steph noticed a bad smell coming through the air vents in the floor.  We didn't realize it was sewage until later but one of the cast iron pipes had rusted out in the bottom and was slowly leaking sewage into our crawl space (the house is on a hill so luckily half of the crawl space is tall enough you can easily get around in it, which made fixing the problem a lot easier than it could have been).  To compound the problem, there was a 3 inch gap in the return air duct directly above the sewage pipe's rusted section (as well as some other loose duct connections).  After involving the different companies everything seems to be a lot better now but for a few weeks it was pretty stressful and a bit smelly.  Sorry to those who came over and just thought we hadn't cleaned!  Of course, anyone who knows Steph knows THAT isn't the case.

That's pretty much all I can think of for now.  Sorry if I left anything out for those involved in the great weekend we had; it was great to see everyone.  Hopefully we can do it again soon!