Saturday, March 10, 2012

Jack's Five Year Checkup

A couple of weeks ago, I took Jack to visit Dr. Garrison for his five year well visit. Most everything looked great! Jack continues to be in the 90% for height, measuring 45 inches tall. He weighed in at 48 lbs. which is also around the 90%. He impressed Dr. G with his counting skills as well as his monkey drawing skills. The fact that the monkey had ears and arms apparently demonstrated that his brain is progressing right on track. Who knew? His overall health is good, although we continue to deal with allergies/asthma this time of year so we're working on finding the right treatment for that.

The last test to be performed was the eye exam. I fully expected that Jack would need glasses at some point as he takes after me and I have horrible eyesight. However, I thought we would have more time as I got my first pair of glasses in third grade. Well, I was wrong. He failed the eye test miserably. We followed up with this by taking him to the eye doctor yesterday, where he actually presented worse than we even thought. His is far sighted with astigmatism which is odd considering my entire family is near sighted and Randy's eyesight is good. He demonstrated 20/80 in both eyes and will definitely need to wear glasses full time. We're a little shocked and disappointed that he has to deal with this so early, but of course glasses really aren't the end of the world. He's actually pretty stoked about it. I'm mainly concerned that we'll be paying for about 20 pairs a year due to them being lost and/or broken by him or Graham!! Anyway, next time you see Jack, he'll be looking handsome and studious sporting his new lenses! Can't believe he's been functioning at this level of eyesight so I'm excited for him to be able to see the difference!

Sweet Boys

I just love these boys so much. It's so sweet to have days like this where we can just watch them play, have fun, enjoy each other and enjoy life!








Brooklyn's Visit

Since most of Daniel and Adrienne's family and many friends live in Oklahoma and Texas, they decided that they needed to bring Brooklyn to meet everyone while she is still little. They came to Oklahoma first a couple of weeks ago and then drove down to Waco before heading back to Oregon. It was such a sweet visit! We loved watching our boys interact with her. They were in typical form- Jack was sweet, loving, and gentle, always wanting to hold her, feed her, fix anything that made her cry, etc. Graham was usually the thing making her cry, although he was also sweet, he sweetness came in the form of climbing on top of her in order to give her a big hug. We already knew but now have confirmed what we need to work on before our new baby arrives! :)Both boys were sweet though and really enjoyed being with Brooklyn and loving on her.

Brooklyn also enjoyed two Sip 'n Sees in her honor while she was in town, one for Dan and Adrienne's close friends and one for my mom and dad's friends/family. It was great to have everyone together as Toby and Jessica and Hayley and Nick came from Dallas. Also, Roger and Magen were there so we were able to see their sweet little one, Jacob, and introduce him to Brooklyn. They are only a week apart in age!

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend but we were super sad to see them go and really hate having to miss so many moments with her as they're so far away. :(

Here are some pics. My favorite is the one where Jack and Graham are both rubbing their heads. It was immediately after they bonked heads both trying to go in to kiss Brooklyn at the the same time!
















Saturday, February 11, 2012

Allie's Birthday

Last weekend, the boys got to celebrate Allie's birthday at Bouncin' Craze. They had a blast!







Chuck E. Cheese Party!

Jack had the best birthday party today! I have to say I was a little skeptical that I could enjoy a crazy, chaotic party at Chuck E. Cheese's but I have to admit that it was super easy and the kids had a great time. We had a wonderful party host and really felt taken care which allowed us to be free to take pictures and enjoy the party.

Jack had some wonderful, sweet friends and lots of family come to celebrate with him. We are so thankful for those that came. It sure made him feel special and loved!





















Friday, February 10, 2012

Baby Makes Five

I'll try anything once, twice if I like it, three times to make sure.
Mae West

Randy, Jack, Graham, and I are proud to announce that we are expecting baby number three in late September or early October! I had so many different feelings when I found out I was pregnant: 1. Thank you, God, for another blessing! 2. Wow, that was fast. 3. OMG, what have we done?????!!! Such a mix of joy, gratitude and fear! I hear moving from a man to man defense to a zone defense is quite a challenge but we are ready and know that God's grace will cover us and take over in our own human inadequacies. We really feel that one more child will complete our family and simply cannot wait to meet him/her and see what God has in store for us. Each child is so unique that we know we are prepared in some ways but in others, we could never be prepared! As for girl or boy, there is a part of me that really wants another boy. Maybe because I'm "used to" boys and feel like I would know what I was doing. Jack desperately wants a girl and is confident that the baby is a girl. He was adamant that Graham would be a boy so maybe we should listen to him! Obviously all of us will be overjoyed either way.

I am really feeling pretty well so far and this pregnancy seems very different from the others. I have had some different issues such as shortness of breath and my heart racing. I'm already struggling a bit at the gym which did not happen with the other two. On the bright side, I am not nearly as sick as I was with the boys. Anytime I have felt sick, I've just eaten something and then I've felt better. With the boys, NOTHING helped! Hoping it continues to be this manageable!

Looking forward to the journey!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Jack turned five years old today. Five. Wow. He is so grown up and independent and I just could not be prouder of the big boy he's become. He truly is so special and Randy and I feel incredibly blessed and humbled to be his parents.

I've never seen Jack quite so excited as he was to turn five. He has been counting down the days for over a month now and just seemed to think this was the most special event in all of history. Last year I don't think he even gave his birthday a second thought so this surprised us but we made a big deal of it with him and we all had a great day celebrating. We started off the day with a Happy Birthday banner, a special breakfast of doughnut holes and chocolate milk, and Daddy even went to work late so he could see Jack and wish him happy birthday right when he woke up.

The celebration continued at school where Jack was prayed for and sung to in chapel. Miss Jill shared with everyone why she loves Jack and what makes him special. Then we went back to his classroom and shared "angry birds" cupcakes with the class. Jack requested these after his friend, Brayden, had brought angry birds cupcakes for his birthday. He got to show off his cake to the class and even take the first bite!

We finished the day by going to small group, sharing the leftover cupcakes there, and of course they all sung to him as well. Jack is truly blessed to be loved by so many people and we are so grateful to each person who cares for him, loves on him, and prays for him.

Jack has grown so much over the past year. I think my favorite quality in him will always be his tender and loving heart. He has such a sense for what others need in a given moment. He often says to me out of nowhere, "Mommy, I love you" or "thank you for being such a good mommy" or "you're so beautiful, Mommy." Although Randy and I try to model encouraging talk, I really think that God has just blessed Jack with this sweet spirit. He is so encouraging and helpful with Graham as well and loves him so much (not that he doesn't wrestle him to the ground sometimes as well!)

Jack is also so independent now. He is able to play on his own for awhile because he has the best imagination. He can dream up all sorts of scenarios for his toys to play out and it is so cool to hear these creative stories!

Some more fun facts/milestones at age 5:
- Jack loves to play with friends and has really bonded with a few in particular. It is fun to see him develop real relationships and watch him bond with people on his own. Right now his best buddy is Austin and they enjoy talking about outer space and the color green. :)
- His favorite color is green. This has been his favorite color for the whole year so I'm interested to see if it ever changes.
- He loves to eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch and his favorite dinner is chicken, messy green beans (green bean casserole), and rolls.
- He really loves lions and one of his favorite games is imagining he is Daniel and is being thrown in the lion's den. This game usually consists of him yelling, "Heeeeeeeeeeelp!!" really loud at the park so that everyone turns around and thinks he is in some real danger.
- He LOVES the science museum. His favorite part is going in the rocket ship. He was scared the first time but has done it twice since and really enjoys it.
- He can read! I am so, so impressed with his reading so far. He can read entire (pre-k) books to me. This is a very recent development and I am so proud of him.
- He still loves reading Bible with Daddy and has memorized some scripture. He says his favorite verse is John 3:16.
- He likes being read to. I just finished reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe with him. He really enjoyed it and I was impressed with some of the themes he is already picking up on (e.g. "Aslan is kind of like Jesus...")
- He loves school and can't wait for kindergarten when he will go ALL DAY FIVE DAYS!!! I on the other hand, am not ready to give him up. :(
- He continues to show us in so many ways how smart he is. We are amazed by him every day!