Busy Spring

For those who have visited us in the last nine months, here are some pictures of our new family room. Since Easter our house has been a mess with several house projects, the largest being converting attic space into living space. So now we have a toy room adjacent to a family room. Everyone is enjoying the new space, especially Mama since this means all of the toys can stay upstairs.




























































Preston has taken to riding with his siblings in the F150. Spence has to keep it in slow gear while he has a baby on board. And Aidyn isn't allowed to drive while Preston rides.

9 months

All over the place this month. One of his latest acts is trying to stand up in middle of a room. It's pretty funny to watch. He can climb the stairs about as quickly as he can crawl so life is fairly demanding on all of us now as we try to keep our eyes on Preston at all times. He has always been easy to put down for sleep time but in the past week he has developed some separation anxiety and now he cries when we go near his crib and he is wanting to be held more. And you'd think the carseat was a bed of nails if you saw his reaction to the thing. As we begin to place him in the seat he contorts his body and bucks up high so that none of him is actually touching the seat. He is still a happy boy though with smiles always at the ready.

Mr. Fixer

I was sitting in our backyard, holding Preston and talking on phone to our contractor, when Spencer dropped a cup on the patio and broke it. The cup was mine in 1980 and the kids like it because it has Smurfs on it. When I got off phone I looked up to find that Spence had glued the handle back on the cup. So he had gone into house . . . moved bathroom stool to the craft cabinet . . . opened craft closet doors and got glue stick out . . . then gone back outside to smear glue onto the cup right where the handle should go. I found him pressing the handle into the glue wondering aloud if this glue would be strong enough. He placed it inside to dry and the handle actually held for about a week. Is he a little three year old version of Grandpa???

Aidyn update

Many of you have called or emailed us to check on Aidyn, so I figured I should add an update here for everyone. Aidyn went to Bham in March to see a pediatric endocrinologist. Results of her bone exrays show that she is within the normal range in that her skull is the size of a 12 month old when she is 26 months old. Her bloodwork showed that her IGF1 was low . . . . not really sure how to explain this. Our friend Angela did a google search and sounds like this means an indicator associated with growth hormone is low and that results in Aidyn's small stature. Aidyn's doctor in Bham scheduled another appointment for autumn 2008 to do more exrays and more bloodwork to see if anything has changed. Our hope is that Aidyn will do some "catching-up" over the spring and summer and that she can avoid going on growth hormone. Her preschool teachers say that Aidyn is on target with the two year olds in her class and she is the only one potty-trained, so we are blessed that she is adapting well to life in the states. She loves her brothers and is becoming a good helper for Mama by wiping Preston's nose whenever she sees a need, bringing him clothes, and feeding his bottle to him. She seems to enjoy his mobility and thinks it funny when he stands and plays beside her. He is stronger than she is and can easily pin her to the carpet but she is taking it pretty well so far. Her speech is rapidly progressing and she should be talking in sentences soon. Hooray!!! She still has a wild temper but each month she is learning to curb it a bit more and is becoming more loving and playful, a right little monkey girl and hilarious to watch.