Out shopping
A short diversion at Sam’s…
1 comment August 16th, 2008
Posts filed under 'Family'
Kennedy’s words - 16 months old
Our baby has become a motor-mouth. 
We have really noticed Kennedy saying so many words lately. Here’s a list of them, although I’m sure I’ll leave some out.
- mama, also known as mommy, mommy-ommy-ommy, and Aunt Alicia’s favorite, MA! (Aunt Alicia wanted Colby to call me this but he wouldn’t bite. She was so excited when Kennedy took it hook, line, and sinker. Just wait, Aunt Alicia. Your turn is coming.)
- dada, or dad-DY!
- Bubba (Colby)
- Dee-dee (Kennedy)
- Doc
- Behw (Belle)
- Gaga (Aunt Katrina)
- Yaga (Aunt Alicia) - I’m not sure how she came up with Gaga and Yaga, but she knows the difference and calls them accordingly.
- peesh (please)
- yesh (yes)
- shoesh (shoes)
- aht-shyde! (outside) This one can be quite emphatic when she really Really wants to go aht-shyde.
- ahp (up)
- deown (down)
- hold you (pick me up)
- fish (accompanied by puckering sound)
- beh-wee (berry, strawberry)
- rabies (raisins)
- ap-pul (apple) - Until recently all fruit were apples.
- pooper (Cooper) - all dogs are Cooper or puppy. Then she makes the sound - “wuf” and/or panting.
- poo-poo (Do you need a translation?)
- ME! (more) This one is quite emphatic at mealtimes.
- Me? (drink, water) - not to be confused with Me! (more)
- all dahn (all done) sometimes with hand signals
- boo! (peekaboo)
- eyesh (eyes)
- nosh (nose)
- dinky (binky/pacifier)
- binkit (blanket)
- bunny
- monkey (followed by sound)
- jewsh (juice)
- bah-bee (baby)
- Elbow (Elmo)
- feet
And of course, the most recent additions, and probably the most clear:
- neaweh (no) - You didn’t know that “no” had 3 syllables, did you? Yeah, we didn’t either.
- mine
Like I said, I’m sure I’m missing a lot of them. Kennedy loves to clap along with music and stomp her feet, wiggle around, etc. She loves to clap and say “yay!” as soon as a song is finished playing. Whenever the Aggie War Hymn is playing (or if Colby is singing it), she sways along to “Saw Varsity’s horns off”. She also has quite the knack for dancing, especially to music, but sometimes she has a song in her head and decides to dance to it! She’s got the rhythm, for sure. (I know, I know, and I’ve got the blues.)
Edit: I wrote this post a few weeks ago with the intent of getting some video to put with it. Since then, her vocabulary has increased yet again, so I’ll get video of her *new* words instead!
Add comment August 12th, 2008
“Now Reading” is now broken.
I can’t remember the last time I tried to update my Now Reading section, but it’s on the fritz and Kevin has tried to fix it multiple times. I might have to perform last rites and play Taps in loving memory…
IN the meantime, I will let you in on some books I just recently finished:
The Life You Want Your Kids to Live by Les Parrott, Sr. and Les Parrott, III
Fabulous. A quick read with powerful info.
How to Really Love Your Child by Ross Campbell
Campbell is the co-author of The Five Love Languages for Children, and I highly recommend both books to any parent, especially to those with school-aged children.
…Book of Christian Parenting & Child Care… by William & Martha Sears
The title is Really long but the book is Really good. I am liking the Sears’ books more and more… and it only took me 2.5 kids to figure this out.
Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way by Susan McCutcheon
Just for practice! I never heard of Bradley methods until I was well into my pregnancy with Kennedy (or maybe it was just afterwards..?).
Lord, Teach Me to Pray by Kay Arthur
I did this as a Bible study with some ladies from my Sunday School class. I enjoy summer Bible study and was glad to spend directed time in the Word.
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
Wow. A complete 180 from the other books listed above (actually, from ANY book I’ve ever read). I don’t trust an economist as far as I can throw him, but after reading this book, I do look at some things a little bit differently. I recommend this book, but it’s not for the faint of heart.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Another “different” kind of book… I didn’t agree with a lot of things in this book, especially her views on religion and family. But, it was a fun read. I DO want to visit Italy but not India or Indonesia. (And that’s not any different from how I felt before I read the book.)
Here are the books I have planned to read next:
The Shack by William P. Young
Kevin just finished reading this book. My mom and dad have read this book, along with my dad’s book club. They are speechless about it, apparently because they don’t want to give anything away…
Marley & Me: Life & Love With the World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan
My sister-in-law talked about this book a few years ago and I saw that a movie of this book is coming out soon. (I’m always the last to read things, but this time I thought I’d be proactive.)
And a book by Francine Rivers. I’ve heard she’s a fabulous author, so I reserved one of her books at the library. I think it’s called The Last Sin Eater.
These books are already on top of the ones I’m currently reading AND already have planned for next in the deceased Now Reading library. (May it rest in peace.) I’m on my way to 50 books for sure!
And in case you’re wondering, I’m trying to get them all finished before the Baby Girl makes her grand entrance into the world. Which, if you haven’t noticed, is roughly 8 weeks before the end of the year, and is roughly 7 weeks before Christmas… so I’m also trying to get my Christmas shopping done even earlier than imaginable.
Did I mention I’m 26 weeks pregnant now? I don’t want to think about what else I need to tackle in the next 14 weeks.. or 3 months… or 98 days… (give or take a few days)
4 comments August 9th, 2008
My Latest Game Show.
Ladies and Gentlemen, children of all ages, welcome to the world of pregnancy woes and throes!
Behind door #1 we have, *drumroll please*…… ching! HEARTBURN! That’s right! At approximately the same time each night before your head hits the pillow, you’ll have that burning sensation deep in your throat. And then when you take some medicine to make it feel better, your stomach will churn and groan, knowing that you had to drink even the tiniest sip of water to make that medicine go down. Congratulations! Audience! Let’s give her a hand!
And behind curtain #2 we have, *timpani roll please*…..BAAHHHHMMMmmm…. SLEEPLESS NIGHTS! That’s right! You just thought those were for after the baby was born, didn’t you? No! Instead you’ll be forced to use 4 pillows while you sleep, which may or may not make your husband want to sleep on the couch! You can put 2 pillows under your head, making your neck stiff, 1 pillow under your stomach, making you queasy, yes queasy!, and one in between your legs just because you don’t have anywhere else to put your feet. And as a bonus, you get another pillow free for your back, so you can be wedged into that bed (or fall out of it) at a moment’s notice! And, you’ll never know where to put the pillows each night because not only do you need to get up and go to the bathroom, there’s a constant need for you to turn over every hour! Congratulations!
……………..
Okay, so it’s really not THAT bad. The heartburn is starting to let up some and I’m figuring out how to deal. But for those of you that have ever been pregnant, am I lying about any of this stuff?
4 comments August 6th, 2008
When the cats are away, the mice will…
…watch movies! My sister Katrina is in the Texas Baptist All-State choir and this past weekend performed at 2 Baptist churches in the DFW area. (FBC Duncanville and Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas.) My parents and Alicia offered to take the kids with them to see Katrina and to stay a night with Kevin’s parents. Of course, we said no. Just kidding. Katrina loved seeing the kids, probably more than she would have loved seeing us (also kidding), and now Katrina is in Germany, performing with the TBAS choir, praise team, and drama team as part of a worldwide Youth Conference.
So, Kevin and I were blessed with the opportunity to have the house all to ourselves this weekend, so we decided to catch up on a favorite pastime of ours, watching movies. He and I rented so many movies during college and before we had babies, but now it takes us about 3-4 days to watch one movie with interruptions!
Friday night, before the kids left, I went and saw “Mamma Mia” in the theater with Alicia and a few girls from my MOPS group. I Loved it, even though it didn’t get good reviews. The main character, Sophie, was so cute and a very good singer.
Saturday, Kevin and I saw “The Dark Knight“. It’s sad that Heath Ledger won’t be around for a sequel, and my vote is for him to win the Oscar. The movie was incredibly good, and I’m not usually a fan of the comic book movies. Not for children, seriously… the subject matter really is dark and evil. Know the Truth.
Then we went to Blockbuster and rented 3 movies. That night we watched “Charlie Wilson’s War“. A good historical movie but too many uses of the f-word.
Sunday after church we watched “The Bucket List“, which was really good especially after the first 30 minutes (I was sleepy anyway, it WAS Sunday afternoon during my nap. :)) I highly recommend this one if you haven’t seen it.
Our back-to-back features were complete with “License to Wed” with Robin Williams, Mandy Moore, and John Krasinski. Most of the cast of “The Office” had small roles in this movie, no joke. Very funny.
And to complete our journey, we went back to Blockbuster to rent “The Kingdom“. Kevin wanted a loud, action, guns blazing, fire and smoke movie, and he got it! We’re usually so concerned with how loud the movie is to not wake up the kids. Didn’t have to worry about that! I liked this movie too.
I realize that most of these movies are old but you have to realize we haven’t seen many movies in the past 3+ years! We enjoyed our weekend and missed the kiddos immensely. Oh, and my house is so clean now! We are so blessed to have family that loves their grandchildren (and niece and nephew!) so much and takes such good care of them. Colby and Kennedy came back from the weekend exhausted and ready for sleep. Good job!
UPDATE: Kevin went back through and added images and got link happy with links to IMDB.
1 comment July 29th, 2008
“Anything you can do, I can do better…”
Ever heard that song? “…I can do anything better than you.” Now picture Kennedy saying this to Colby, and then Colby answering back:
“No you can’t.”
Kennedy: “Yes I can!”
Well, I’m sure you get the point, but that is the motto for the Fearsome Twosome right now. They take turns chasing each other, playing with each other’s toys, hitting and pushing each other, talking with each other, and laughing with each other, which is the most fun thing to listen to. I love that my kiddos are so close in age and that they have a built-in playmate. This is especially going to be fun when Baby Girl gets here and figures out her role in the mix of things. Both kiddos love looking at babies and talking about babies, and we’re trying to do our best to prepare them for their baby sister to be here, as much as we possibly can.
On another note, we just returned from vacationing in California! I’ll let Kevin post pictures, but we had a great time and I would love to go back anytime. Kevin says he would love to live there if he could, meaning weather-wise it was so much cooler and the scenery was beautiful too. Plus, we had a really great time being together as a family, and my parents and sisters were there to help shoulder some of the burden of baby-handling so that it really did feel more like a vacation. We will update you with stories and pictures as soon as we can!
Add comment July 22nd, 2008
Roomba, Roomba, Room-BAH!
Oh, Roomba, oh, Roomba, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…
For those that have never heard of this wonderful contraption, I’ll spare you all the technical details and tell you about my love affair with the Roomba. If ever I could marry an appliance and have robot children, this would be The One.
I told Kevin a few weeks ago that I was tired of constant vacumming… between the 2 kids and 1 dog (plus 2 messy adults :P), I would vacuum one day and the next day you couldn’t tell I had even touched the vacuum. So, I asked him if I could get a Roomba for my birthday. Being the wonderful husband he is, who fully understands and loves my desire to keep a meticulously clean house most of the time, he told me to look online and order what I wanted. He knew I’d find a good deal, which I did! And, he knew he wouldn’t have to get me a birthday present on his own! (Who cares that my birthday is in late August? Not me!)
Soooo, I got the Roomba in the mail yesterday. I opened it and read the manual (very short, a plus for me) and then pushed the “Demo” button. It worked! It was so cute and so functional! Colby watched it work and then the darling little Roomba worked its way to the docking station, so it could charge the batteries. (Hey, I need a docking station every now and then so I can charge MY batteries…) When the Roomba had “landed”, Colby and I clapped and said, “Yay!!” Then Colby asked if he could do it again.
Colby and Kennedy sat next to the Roomba and ate their snack while the Roomba charged. I should have taken a picture. So that the battery could fully charge, I had to wait until today to run the Roomba’s first full cleaning cycle. (Maybe I should buy the Roomba a baby book and put all its first milestones in it…) But, the Roomba cleaned my entire wood floor and my living room rug this morning. When the kids wake up from their naps, I’ll get it to clean the rest of the house. Now if only it would fold laundry and do the dishes too…
4 comments July 10th, 2008
Baby Ticker
I don’t know if there’s a better term for these, but I found this one at Baby-Gaga.com. I like the little snippets it gives of what Baby Girl is doing right now.
In related news, I went to the doctor today. Baby’s heartbeat was strong and it looks like she’s good til her due date - on or before the 19th of November. If I had to guess, based on our previous babies’ deliveries, she’ll be here on the 15th. Here’s “what she looks like”!
Add comment July 8th, 2008
It’s Raining, It’s Pouring!
Well okay, maybe not pouring, but we Finally FINALLY got rain this morning between like 4-5 (somewhere in there, and I’m so vague about it because I didn’t actually hear it; Kevin did. But the ground was so wonderfully moist this morning when we woke up.) We hadn’t had rain at our house for almost 2 months, seriously. And we did our part to help it along by watering the grass last night. (I know, God doesn’t need our help, but my next step was to wash my car in the driveway while doing a rain dance.)
Sooo, something else that got a little watering was our brand new LANDSCAPING! (insert Price is Right announcer’s voice there) We tried and tried for the 6 years we’ve lived in our house to get something to grow in our front flower bed but nothing was working. Whoever designed the front flower beds was either a dreamer or a schemer, because there’s an odd mix of 5:00 blaring sun and complete shade in our front yard. So Kevin called in the expert; one of our friends from church owns a landscaping company here in town and was able to help us get just exactly what we were dreaming of having. It really looks very nice and I’ll promise that Kevin will have pictures (and maybe explanations of the flowers since I have no idea…) up later.
This weekend we were graced by the visit of our friends Gregg & Erin. My due date and Erin’s due date are within 2 weeks of each other; we are both having little girls, and this is G & E’s first baby. We could not be more excited for them and can’t wait to see them again. It’s been a very very long time since we’ve seen them; they hadn’t met Kennedy, and I think the last time we saw them was 2.5 years ago, when they moved away from BCS. Even more shocking is that they only live 45 minutes away from us, and I didn’t even realize it.
Plans are in the works for the next time we will see them, which is good for our blog readers, since we spent all day together talking and eating Wings N More and the boys getting JJ’s snocones…. and we didn’t take ANY pictures. We even got Kevin’s camera out and Erin played with it for awhile… I am ashamed of us. I blame mine and Erin’s pregnancy brains AND the snocones.. they play tricks on your mind. :) I always like hanging out with Erin and Gregg; we don’t get to talk to them a lot, but when we all get together it’s like we’re just picking up an old conversation again. I love how candid and personal we can be with them.
That about wraps up the weekend. That, and we all took a very very long nap on Sunday afternoon. Hooray. And, Kevin and I are going to get massages tonight. Double hooray.
Add comment June 30th, 2008
Boy? Or Girl? We tell…
UPDATE: I’ve unprotected the post so the world can see it.
Jenna and I had the big ultrasound appointment today, and now we have the results. Thanks to all that participated in our vote, it was a lot of fun for us! We actually had the polls going on in two different places. The first was here and the second was on a local Mamas forum that Jenna regularly reads and posts on.
Anyway, the ladies on the forums really threw the vote in one direction… towards the girl result. The total between the two was 65% for girl, and 35% for boy. See figure 1, the beautiful pie chart: ooooh, ahhhh!
So who was right? Drumroll please! Wait, not just yet… let’s do the “funny” item I referred to in my previous post. We had some funny commentary come along with the votes, and I wanted to share a few of them.
“I say a boy because you are carrying like me - and that’s what I think ours is. No other reason.”
- Erin J
(Erin and Gregg found out two days ago that they are having a girl… hmmm…)“Girl - Kevin and Colby are enough man for one house.”
- Kyle G.“The new child in Jenna’s womb is a boy.”
- Thomas S.“I have mathematically determined the sex of your child!! This was done through multiple tests of the theory of probability. The majority of the time the result was GIRL!!!”
- Clay S.
(Clay then proceeded to go into a long mathematical explanation. I’ll spare you.)
You guys are pretty funny. Lets reveal who got it right in the KevinAndJenna blog vote. These people voted correctly:
- Suzy J.
- Ashley S.
- Tiffany R.
- Shala S.
- Grandmom (Kevin’s mom)
- Chris H.
- Kyle G.
- Clay S.
- Granddad (Kevin’s dad)
- Rachel S.
- Doug S.
Can you tell I am dragging this out? Well for all you smarties that looked back at the quotes above and compared them to this list, I’m sure you figured out we’re having a Girl! Everything with her looks great and she was a very wiggly girl. She’s estimated to weigh about 11 ounces right now and the due date is now November 17th (as opposed to the 19th). We told Colby and Kennedy this evening, here’s the video:
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
And finally here are some pictures. As I said in the previous post, we were pretty disappointed that we didn’t get to do the video of the ultrasound this time. The technician did print out a lot of pictures, but most of them weren’t that interesting. Click on them to enlarge:
^ Profile Shot ^
^ Screen measuring the hearbeat ^
^ And finally, the “proof” that we are having a girl. ^
Thanks again to everyone for playing, we had fun with this.
8 comments June 25th, 2008
Last chance to get your vote in!
Well today is the day of the big reveal. Thanks to everyone who has participated in our vote so far, it is turning out to be an interesting contest. I’m going to say that the voting polls will be closed at 2pm today, so if you haven’t voted already, click here to find out how to get your vote in now are officially closed!
Just to entice you a little bit, here a few things that we are planning for those that participate in the vote (no matter if you guess correctly or not):
- Access to a secret post sometime this evening revealing the sex of the new baby
- Video of the sonogram showing the baby and the “proof” of the findings
UPDATE: They’ve stopped doing the VCR recordings of the sonograms… so sorry, no sonogram video. But there will be pictures. - Video of us telling Colby and Kennedy that they will have a new baby brother or sister
- UPDATE: Full poll results with graphs (insert “oooooh, ahhhhh”)
- UPDATE: Something else kinda funny, but can’t reveal at this point
- Anything else cool that I can think of between now and tonight…
Remember, those who vote will get all of these things (at least) a full 24 hours before the rest of the world. And its free… What a deal!
Ok folks, that’s all!
UPDATE: Polls officially closed. The votes are being tallied and the winning answer has been discovered. All voters will receive an email tonight with details of how to view the secret post. Thanks for playing!
Add comment June 25th, 2008
“Happy Fahder’s Day!”
Ok yes, I know it’s not Father’s Day anymore, but I’m just getting around to posting. So I had a wonderful Father’s Day. Jenna, the Kids, and I went down to Galveston to stay at the beach house at Crystal Beach. Jenna and the kids went down with her parents on Thursday night and Cooper and I went down after work on Friday.
The weekend was full of fun. We went to the beach a few times in the mornings…
We also went to the beach at night…
Just hanging out after fishing…
And my most favorite part actually on Father’s Day, I had two kids both wearing shirts that said “My Dad Rocks”. I loved it. They wore them to lunch, on the ferry ride, and all the way home!
2 comments June 23rd, 2008
Boy? Or Girl? You guess…
Ok, so Jenna and I go for the big ultrasound appointment next Wednesday and we want your thoughts on whether baby #3 is a boy or a girl. So, we’re having a contest. There’s not really a prize since everyone has a 50% chance of getting it right and there is the potential for “multiple winners”. So, we’ll just say we will put your name here if you get it right. The glory of your name being on this wonderfully famous blog *cough cough* will be your prize. We WILL do another contest later once the sex is determined to guess the name. We will probably have a prize for that contest.
So here’s a picture from tonight for all you folks that think you can guess by looking (click for a larger view):
So, here are the rules:
1) You must submit your guess before the actual appointment. We’ll say the deadline is next Wednesday 6/25 at noon UPDATE: 2pm UPDATE: Voting ended.
2) Enter your vote by using the Contact Us form on the blog. Jenna and I will both receive the email and log your vote.
3) Add a comment to this post, letting us (and everyone else) know that you posted a vote. It is up to you whether or not you wish to reveal your guess.
Everyone that submits a vote will find out 24 hours before a blog is posted. You will be notified by email, so be sure to enter it correctly when you use the contact us form to enter. Everyone else will find out via the blog.
Alright, let the voting begin! UPDATE: Voting ended.
18 comments June 18th, 2008