Kyle's 1st Christmas!

Well, since it's been a month since I posted, I figured I'd better get busy with the updates.

Kyle's first Christmas was wonderful!  He had a lot of fun and was so overwhelmed with all the toys that Santa brought him!  He must have been a good boy this year!  Santa also brought Kyle his two front (top) teeth for Christmas!  He now has four and is chewing on anything he can!  He is cruising along all the furniture and we are hoping he will take a few steps by his birthday.

We have been in Dallas for the past week and a half and will be here for another week.  It is so nice to be able to spend time with our family and friends.  Kyle is enjoying his grandparents, great-grandparents and cousins.

Today is his 11-month birthday!  One more month until our sweet, little man turns one!  I can't believe how fast this year has gone and how many changes we have been through.  

As usual, I will get some pics up as soon as I can!  I've been a little under the weather with a yucky stomach bug for the past few days.  

We hope everyone has a safe, healthy and happy new year!

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

Happy Thanksgiving!  I just wanted to take a minute to express what I am thankful for.  Here goes.

I'm thankful for...

... my family and friends.  Without their constant love and support, I wouldn't have been able to get through the last 2 1/2 months.  

... my wonderful husband.  He encourages me everyday to be my best and to remain positive even when it is difficult.  He is a wonderful father and will do anything for his son.

... my beautiful son.  He is the reason I am here.  He is such a joy to watch grow and I am in awe of him.  

... my new apartment.  I feel so lucky to have a new place to live and new things in my home.  After such a devastating hurricane, I almost cannot believe we are back on our feet so quickly.

... all of the countless, daily blessings that God has provided me.

I am certainly thankful for much, much more, but duty calls and I'm off to get my littlest blessing out of bed and in a clean diaper! 

Picture Time!

I'm so excited!  Today, Greg and I are taking Kyle to have his Christmas picture taken for our Christmas card!  We have the cutest little-man outfit for him to wear, complete with a sweater-vest and loafers!  He's been up since 6:30 this morning with no real nap so far, so I hope he does well and smiles big!

We've all kind of been under the weather this week.  Greg gave me whatever he has and Kyle has had a stuffy, runny nose for a few days.  It's not bad, but the scratchy throat is annoying.  

Kyle, Sophie and I will be packing up and driving home to Dallas on Monday!  We're so excited!  A whole week with Mimi and Grandpa!  Greg will be flying in on Wednesday and back on Friday.  Thanks to Hurricane Ike, he has a final the Monday after Thanksgiving.....

I'll post the Christmas pics as soon as I can!

Happy Tuesday!

I should be doing little things around the house while Kyle is napping, but this is more fun.  It's been so gorgeous outside!  I love looking out the window at the golf course and watching all the retired men play.  I'd love to take Kyle out on the course sometime since he loves the outdoors so much.  Greg said we could join him sometime.  I'll be sure to take pictures.  When Kyle is old enough, well get him his own set of clubs.  I can picture how adorable he'll be!

I went grocery shopping yesterday with Kyle.  He is so great in the store.  He just sits in the cart and I hand him something to play with and he is a happy kid.  It becomes a little challenging getting the groceries from the car, up the stairs to the apartment.  Our apartment faces the golf course, so we have a little walk from the car, around the apartment, up the stairs and through 2 doors.  I was exhausted yesterday from doing that with a baby on my hip (for a few trips).  

Anyway, I got a ton of groceries because I dug through all my recipes and picked out a bunch to make this week.  Since it's been cooler, I've had cravings for soups and comfort foods.  I am going to make Baked Potato Soup and Chili this week.  I made my Mom's meatloaf last night and it was good, but definitely not as good as her's or Meme's.  I'm also going to make Chicken Tetrazzini and my friend Sara's recipe for lasagna. 

I don't know where all this energy is coming from, but I like it and I'll go with it!  

 

Pictures of Kyle

I FINALLY got some recent pictures of Kyle up.  Click the picture of him (in the blue shirt with the sippy cup) on the left to view them.  Enjoy!

That is where I'll post new pics as I get them on the computer....

YAY for Friday!

I'm so glad it's Friday!  The weather has been gloomy and rainy this week, but I think it is supposed to cool off and be a lot prettier this weekend.  I'm hoping to spend some time outside.  Kyle loves being outdoors, so I need to research and find some parks in our area.

Greg had a mid-term this week so he will have more free time to hang out with us.  Yay for Daddy!  Kyle loves his Daddy.  His face absolutely lights up when Greg comes home in the afternoons.  I need to try to get a picture of it.  It is priceless and it melts my heart.

We're planning on a relaxing family weekend.  Hope everyone has one as well.

  

9 month check-up

Kyle finally had his 9 month check-up....2 weeks late.  We had to reschedule due to the hurricane.

He is currently weighing in at 20 lbs. 6 oz. and is 28 1/4 inches long.  Both are in the 50th percentile.  He's our long and lean boy.  He is pure muscle and only has one roll on each of his thighs.  

Of course he decided today (the day of his doctor's appointment) to try to get into the box that my new laptop came in and it left a scratch on his cheek.  I like to say he got in a fight with a cardboard box and the box won.  He is definitely a "rough and tumble" boy.  That's what I wanted and that is certainly what I got.  He falls all the time and just gets back up without a peep (unless he's tired and then a meltdown follows).

He loves Sophie's food and water bowls (which have to live in the bathroom or else Kyle would be bathing in them).  I sometimes forget to close the door and if I turn my back, he's splish-splashing in her water.  

He's busy and I love and hate it at the same time.  I'm exhausted, but in a good way.

I guess that's all for now.

All Settled In (Mostly)

I know that it's been a while since I've updated and a lot has happened.

We have officially been in our new apartment for 2 weeks today.  We love it and it feels like home already.  My parents helped out tremendously and we couldn't have done it without them.

Since we lost all our furniture, we have have slowly been ordering and getting our place furnished.  All we lack is a bookcase, a dresser and chest for our bedroom.

We got Kyle some beautiful new furniture.  He thanked us by using his two bottom teeth to chew on his crib.  He is now pulling up to standing and crawling (the right way, instead of always army crawling).  He is adjusting well to our new apartment and has plenty of room to explore.  We have designated the dining room as his playroom and he has plenty of room in his bedroom to play as well.

We love our view of the golf course and Greg has even gotten to play once already!  

We are so excited to see everyone at Thanksgiving in a few weeks!

I can't get pictures up yet because I am still trying to hunt down a USB cable for my camera.  Soon, I promise.

A New Tooth and A New Home

It's official!  Kyle has his first tooth on the bottom (middle right).  It hasn't fully emerged, but it is there and it is sharp.  He no longer gets to chew on Mama's cell phone (he scratched it up yesterday).

He is now crawling even faster.  I cannot look away for a second.  It's still an army crawl, but it works for him.  He gets up on all fours and "creeps",  so he'll be crawling the right way soon!  He also loves to try to pull up on furniture and gets frustrated when he can't do it on his own.  

He is such a funny little boy and has kept me smiling through all we have gone through this past month.

We move into our brand-new apartment on Saturday, October 25th.  The lady who leased it to us assured us that it would be ready!  I've never lived in a brand new place!  YAY!  

It is located in League City (a southern suburb of Houston) although our mailing address is Dickinson.  It is on a golf course and has so many beautiful trees.  We have a view of the course from our apartment.

We are ready to be back into our own place although it has been wonderful staying with my parents.  They are such a help and have been so supportive.

I know Greg is looking forward to being back in school.  He's going to be so busy catching up on a month's worth of studying and getting ready for his Medical Licensing Exam in June.

That's all for now.  I'll post some newer pics of Kyle a little later!

Not Good News

It's as we expected.  26 inch water line on the outside of our house which means that the water line inside was 19 inches  (our house is up one step from the ground).

All of our furniture is ruined.  There is mold all over the furniture (the wood and the fabric).  The floors have a layer of mud on them and the whole house (and the entire city) stinks.  It's a smell I'll never forget and may never get out of my nose.

We were able to save our pictures (wedding album, most framed photos, diplomas).  Kyle's baby book was fine, thank goodness.  We also saved the beautiful quilt that Janet hand-made for Kyle and the special blanket that Becky had embroidered for Kyle.  They were up high on the back of a chair.

There really isn't much else that we can save or that we care to save.  All of our clothes and bedding is ruined.  Even the pieces of clothing that didn't have mold (yet) on them will forever stink.  

Greg drove back down today to meet with the insurance adjuster.  We'll see how that goes....  He is going to try to move some furniture out to the curb (which serves as the dumpster) and possible bring some more stuff back.

Regardless, Greg will start school again on October 20th.  We are looking at possibly living on the mainland about 30 minutes from Galveston.  It's not ideal (what we had was ideal), but we will make it work.  

Our house in Galveston is definitely not livable and really needs to be gutted if not leveled and rebuilt.  Our landlord will get to it eventually but he has his own home and another property to deal with.  I don't trust him to repair it and it be safe for our family.  

We have a ton of pictures of the "damage" and we will get them up soon.  

Update on Kyle

Well, since this blog was supposed to be about Kyle, I should probably talk about him at least every now and then, right?

He is doing wonderfully!  He'll be 8 months on Monday the 29th.  He is unofficially crawling.  It's more like scootching or army crawling.  He still rolls everywhere and is most definitely mobile.  There goes sitting him on the floor for a few minutes to run to the restroom!

He is babbling (a lot).  DaDa is the phrase of the month.  I love how he looks at ME and says "Dadadada".  He has said "MaMa", though.   I DO realize that he doesn't associate these sounds with Greg or me yet.  

He's also drooling like crazy and I'm hoping he pops a tooth soon.  He's been waking more at night and needing comfort to fall back asleep.  

He reaches out his arms to be picked up and wants to stand on my lap.  He also loves standing up and holding onto the coffee table.

He's a beautiful, healthy, growing little boy and we feel so blessed!  

Going "Home"

Greg and I are leaving tomorrow (Sunday 9/28) to drive to College Station to stay with some friends.  On Monday we are getting up early and driving to Galveston to check on the house. Neither one of us is looking forward to what we will find.  We heard from a friend that the water line on the exterior of our house was between 2 1/2 and 3 feet.  Not good.

I"m sure there will come a sense of relief once I know what is salvageable and what we have to throw away.  There is something so sad about having to sort through your own "life" and decide what you can keep.  No one should ever have to do that.  We're not sure that any of our furniture made it.  We're hoping to get our wedding pictures, other photo albums, Greg's (very expensive) medical reference books and equipment.  

I'm dreading going into Kyle's nursery.  That is (was) my favorite room in the house.  It was only about a year ago that Greg and I so lovingly painted those walls and set up his gorgeous baby furniture.  It can all be replaced, but it still breaks my heart.

We will be coming back to D'ville on Monday afternoon.  Our house isn't livable and won't be for some time.  We're not sure if we'll ever be able to live in our little house on Tuna St. ever again.  

We're really not sure where we'll live.  It's all so uncertain right now.  That is what is so hard about the situation.

We're strong and we will get through this together.  We have to for Kyle.  I'll try to post pics when we get back.  Wish us luck!

Update

Well, we're still in Duncanville.

They're officially letting people back on the island today.  I've heard that there is a long line and that it is not moving.  Greg and I will be waiting to go back until this weekend sometime.  Kyle and Sophie will stay here with my parents.  It's just not safe/sanitary down there right now.  

We are really not sure what we will find.  We know that our house is standing and that it has a roof, but we aren't sure of the flood damage.  I'm trying to prepare myself emotionally for what I might see.

We will be taking pictures for insurance and bringing what we can back to D'ville with us.  

Greg is tentatively scheduled to start school again on October 6th, but that seems very optimistic in our opinions.  Greg said that the administration is trying to sound very upbeat, but we all know that it could be months before anyone will have a livable home or apartment.  

We are just so thankful to have a place to stay.  We are also appreciative of all the thoughts and prayers.  We are hanging in there and are staying strong for Kyle.  He is our #1 priority.

WOW!

What can I say other than, "Wow!"?  It has been a fast-paced, fun, scary, emotional past two weeks.

Greg and I were on our cruise (to Cozumel and Progreso) from Saturday, the 6th through Thursday the 11th.  We had a blast and got really sunburned!  We now have peeling skin to prove it!

My mom and grandmother picked us up at the cruise terminal at 9:45 a.m. and we went immediately home and packed a bag for Kyle and loaded the car.  We left our house at 10:45 a.m.  We took a detour around Houston to go through College Station because traffic was already at a slow crawl on I-45.  Greg noticed that the car was overheating (in NW Houston on Hwy 290) and we stopped at a Wendy's for lunch.  There was an auto repair place right next door.  

It turns out that the radiator in our car was cracked and it took about 3 hours to have it replaced.  So we (Greg, Kyle, my mom, my grandmother and our dog, Sophie) sat in the waiting room of the car repair place for 3 hours.  Thank goodness it was air-conditioned and the restrooms were clean!  

We got on the road again a little before 4 and headed home.  We drove through College Station and Waco and made it home to Duncanville at 9:30 p.m.  Eleven hours of driving with a 7-month-old, a dog, your mother-in-law, your grandmother-in-law and your hysterical wife may have been too much for the average man to take.  Greg handled it very well.  He is my rock and I love him for that.

We have been here at my parent's house in Duncanville for the past week.  We are doing well and are very comfortable.  Kyle has his own little room with a crib and Greg and I are next door in my old room.

We have gotten to spend time with our friends and family which has been wonderful.  My 28th birthday was this past Monday and it turned out to be really special thanks to Greg's family and my family.

I'll update with any news that we have soon!

Pictures!

Here are the promised pictures of Kyle. He is so wiggly that it is hard to take pictures of him. He is SO active. When he is awake he wants to be doing something, whether it is climbing up his Mama, grabbing Sophie, or eating the remote. It is exhausting, but I'm trying to enjoy it before he starts crawling. I know I'll be in for it then.

Here he is getting an open-mouth kiss from Emeri:


Being sweet and smiley for the camera:


Giving Sophie a little nibble:


Hanging out in his swing:


Sitting in his crib:


Controlling (eating) the remote:


Playing on the floor (he rolled from his playmat in the top of the picture):


With Mama (please excuse the "big" hair):


With Daddy:

Hurricane Kyle??

Well, I've been looking online at everything having to do with Gustav (who is currently a category 4 hurricane, boo). There was a link to see the names picked out for potential Atlantic hurricanes for the 2008 season. Guess what name is on the list....KYLE! He is next after Ike and Josephine. Of course I hope that if he does become a storm that he will be "nice" and will not do any damage.

As far as our plans go, we are staying put for right now. There are no plans for Galveston to be evacuated (as of today). The weather is beautiful and sunny and we are taking advantage of it and cooking out.

I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. (I promise to get pictures up soon!!!)

Hurricane Gustav

He looks like he may be headed right toward Galveston. No matter where he hits, we'll probably get some nasty weather.

Greg really wants me to pack up later this weekend and head to Dallas with Kyle and Sophie. I'd be fine with that as long as he was with me, but he has finals. The last one (Edouard, which was really just a light rain and some wind) came right when Greg had mid-terms. Now Gustav may show up during finals. Lovely.

It's just so hard travelling with a baby. He is great in the car, but that drive is not a short one. I know that it will be fine, but I'm a planner and I need more notice (especially having to pack for a 7-month-old). I usually fill my SUV to the roof with miscellaneous baby gear.

We'll see what happens in the next few days, but I think it's pretty much a given that at least 3/4 of this family will take a road trip. I know Greg will be fine, but I guess it's just my mama-bear instincts that want to keep us all together.

I'll keep y'all posted.

Oh, and Happy 7 month Birthday to Kyle (I'll post some pics later today) and Happy 25th Birthday to Clayton!

Getting Started

Well, I thought I'd try this blogging thing. I intend to update this several times a week with pictures of Kyle and little blurbs about his day-to-day activities. I guess it is also a place for me to ramble a little about how humid it is in Galveston or how horrible the mosquitoes are. The posts may seem disjointed or random, but keep in mind who is typing.....

He is currently napping in his swing (where else?) and I am not in the mood to do any housework (surprise, surprise).

I can't believe that my little boy will be 7-months-old tomorrow. I remember that first car ride home from the hospital, so proud and terrified at the same time. My sweet, little baby, so tiny in that little infant carrier. He's now my sweet, big baby who has now moved into his convertible car seat.

I'm still proud and terrified. I don't think that will ever change.

He wants to crawl so badly. He'll get there (probably when Greg and I are on our cruise next weekend). I'm so excited about the cruise, but I'm so scared to leave him. He will be in wonderful hands (Mom and Meme's), but I have this irrational fear that he will forget me. He is my little appendage after all. It will be good for all of us.

Well, I'm all done with this first blog. It wasn't too painful. Let's see if I can keep it up. I'll post a few pics of Kyle and try to get some new ones up soon!