This one had almost everyone fooled!

The ultrasound was great. And there is no doubt about the gender...we got to watch him peeing on the monitor! Never seen that before. Of course, he was a stinker- as he always is with ultrasounds and heartbeat dopplers. They had to keep waking him up and having me roll over to get images of things they needed. We got to see him yawn and make little sucking lips movement. So cute!

The doctor (I saw a specialist today instead of my regular O.B.) wants me to start a weekly progesterone shot. Apparently, this shot can help stave off pre-term delivery. It is also very painful. Bed rest and/or painful weekly shots until 36 weeks. Yeah for me.

BTW- No name yet. We are not the kind who keep it s secret as I like to use the baby's name. We'll let you know as soon as we decide. And the placenta previa has cleared up. Yeah!

Cute Sayings

Kenny said he had to sit out for a minute at recess for playing light saber with a stick. I reminded that sticks can hurt people. He said, "Well, the problem is I got too close to the teacher. Next time I need to stay on the other side of the playground." Oh Kenny. I told him under no circumstances is he to play with sticks at school- even away from the teacher.

Nathan has a thing for cheeseburgers. Today, he took his sitter's hand and lead her to the door and said, "Hamburger." She asked if he wanted a hamburger and he said, "No. My tummy wants it hamburger." He settled for pizza and carrots sticks. After his lunch he said, "My tummy is happy."

Cute Cute!!

Look Out World- Here He Comes!!

Kenny started school today!

He was so excited and looked so small and sweet. I cried the whole morning until I woke him up. I was able to hold it together for him. I never thought this would be hard for me, but I have never turned him over to strangers all day and trusted they would take care of him (keep reading- my fears were not totally unfounded). When we finally got to the school he started clenching my hand a little bit tighter. I could see in his cute face face that he was excited and nervous all at once. He has a friend from his preschool last year in his class and he was happy to see her. I still have mixed feelings about him being so big but I can't hold onto him forever. They grow so fast!



Now for the dramatic part...

The school lost Kenny!!!!
And to make things worst- no one at the **** school cared!!!!!

What happened: I wrote on Kenny's dismissal tag that he was to walk with Emily and Daniel. I even put the grades of those kids. At dismissal, Kenny's teacher put him in the walker line as she was supposed to and went to do her duty. The walkers/car rider kinder teachers let him just walk on by. He walked all the way to his babysitters house, all alone, crossing the street, and when he got there he sat on the lawn and cried because no one was there. Ken and the babysitter were at the school to show him the way to walk home.

When Ken asked the kinder teachers on duty where Kenny was their idiotic response was, "Mrs. Wulf's class is in the 2nd grade pod and we don't know if she is out here yet." And then, instead of offering to help, or offering to get help for a parent with a lost kindergartner- THEY JUST STOOD THERE DOING NOTHING!

Ken went into the office to get help and the nurse worked with him and they found him. A nice mom found him crying on the curb and brought him back to school. I'm sure glad it was not some pervert.

When I called the principal to address the problem, her excuse was "Well, last year there were only 4 kinder teachers and this year it is 6 and they have only had 6 for a few days." I told that does not fly with me. I AM a kinder teacher and I don't care if the team has been together for minutes or days, they are responsible for each other.

Anyway, I was LIVID! They are lucky it was Ken dealing with this. He has an amazing ability to control his temper and emotions. I would have gone postal on them- as any normal mom would upon learning the school lost her child. I have been told by several people that the kinder teacher's at his school are awesome, but let me just say- as a parent and a fellow educator- I am severely disappointed in those teachers and I have no respect for them as professionals. This should not have happened!
And the only thing Kenny remembrs about his first day is that he got lost! Poor baby!!!

Anyway, here is a copy of the email I sent to his principal and teacher this morning just to clarify my views.

Mrs. Wulf,

I wanted to put in writing my concerns over the incident yesterday. Please forward this email to your principal.

First, I want to thank you for putting Kenny in the walker line like he was supposed to be. My concern is for what occured afterwards.

1. The kinder teachers who were on walker/car rider duty told my husband they didn't know where Kenny was because "Mrs. Wulf's class isn't in our pod. She is in second grade." Neither of those techers offered to help locate my son nor did they offer to get someone to help. They stood there and did NOTHING!

2. If those teachers on duty had read his tag they would have seen it was CLEARLY written that he was to wait for the V******* children. What is point of having tags if they are not checked? Their oversight and lack of interest or care is severely disappointing to me.

3. The excuse that the team has only been together for a few days is unacceptable. You and your class are NOT second class citizens because they are not housed in the pod.

4. No one notified administration that a child was missing. They should have been the first people informed.

I hope these oversights are addressed so something like this never again occurs.

Thanks You,

Back To School

We had our special family Back-to-School dinner tonight. We had the table all decorated and wrote the boys letters. We had cake for dessert, packed the lunch boxes, and they each had a blessing before bedtime. We're ready for tomorrow!

This is a poem I printed for the parents in my class to give out at Meet the Teacher night tomorrow (my district starts on Tuesday.)

First Day of School

I used to be little, but not anymore

Tomorrow I’ll get up and walk out the door.

I’m going to school.

It’s the first time for me.

It’s great to be big, but I’m scared as can be.

My tummy’s in knots.

Do you want to know why?

I’m thinking that maybe, just maybe, I’ll cry

When Mom and Dad leave the school

And I’m there all alone.

I’m thinking that maybe I’ll want to go home.

But wait, Mommy said I’ll play lots

Of new games.

And meet lots of friends

I can learn all their names.

The first day of school

Oh, there’s so much to do

There’s painting and books and a big playground too.

I used to be little, but not anymore.

Tomorrow I’ll get up and walk out the door.

I’m going to school.

It’s my first day you see.

It’s great to be big

I’m so glad that I’m me!

Reader Beware!

As I was cleaning the living room I found this behind the rocking chair.

You are looking at a granola bar wrapper graveyard. The culprit- a certain little Jedi wanna-be who roams our house looking for bad robots.

This picture got me thinking and wandering down memory lane. I can't fault Kenny for hiding evidence as I used to do the same thing. The worst time was...

Childhood Confession Time- Turn Away If You Are Easily Squeamish:

We were living in Indiana. This was my precocious time. I was somewhere between 6-8 years old. My siblings and I spent our summer days wandering around the woods and trying to train the chickens to do tricks. (They won't by the way. And it traumatizes them so much they stop producing eggs.) Anyway I came running in one afternoon because I had to go to the bathroom- the "big job". I had been far out in the woods and it took me awhile to get back to the house. I had to go so bad I didn't even look to see if the toilet seat was up- which it wasn't. I think you can guess the rest.

Now that wouldn't so bad in and of itself but my mom had put a mint green fabric toilet seat cover with little white flowers on that particular toilet. As an adult I can look back and realize I would not have been in trouble for what happened. Unfortunately my innocent child reasoning skills were not quite so logical. I knew I had to do something with that toilet seat cover. I racked my brain to find a place where it wouldn't be noticed. I finally settled on the back of my brothers bedroom closet. That way, if discovered, they would get blamed. I wasn't smart enough to just tell my mom, but I was smart enough to keep it out of my room. We discovered that seat cover a year or two later when we moved.
As you can imagine their room always had a lingering smell to it. Not strong, but present. I think it was just chalked up to the fact that they were boys.

Nice story- I know. You have my permission to think less of me as a person. And to my brothers- sorry. You can add this to the list of other things I did to you during those years.

And just to end this post on not-quite-so weird note, I included a video I took of Kenny today. He lives in that imajination.

Cupcake Crazy

The boys made strawberry cupcakes tonight. They made the batter-including cracking the eggs. And they did the decorating.

The best part!

As Promised

15 weeks 4 days
Taken Sunday after church.

I started work today. I am tired! This is going to be really interesting when I have a classroom full of kids next week. I spent the day trying to log onto a computer e-course. Our district devised an internet course to train all the staff on our new lesson planning software. All elementary and middle school teachers were to take the tutorial this morning. Great idea- not so well executed. It took me three hours to log onto the course and about 8 minutes to take it. But I learned what I needed to learn and had a chance to get a few little things done while waiting so it wasn't a total waste.

Sound Familar?

For those of you with children who do not yet speak...enjoy that precious time! You'll never, ever get it back.

PS- No. I am not a Family Guy watcher. I got this on an email from a co-worker.

Oh Baby!

This is me.

It has never been this bad for me in the past with my other babies. But this one is already a little trouble maker. He/she LOVES to use my bladder as a trampoline. I must have a gymnast on the way. I will be going along just fine then suddenly I feel this tiny little bump and I have an overwhelming urge to run to the bathroom.

This baby also likes to hide. I had an appointment on Thursday and they couldn't find the heartbeat-AGAIN! I was glad Ken was with me because I started to panic, again. After a second try a few minutes later they got the beat-160-and I felt much better. My "big" ultrasound is Sept. 2nd. They wanted to do it on August 26, but that was the first day of school and I cannot leave early on the first day of school.

The baby seems to be doing great. I am rather round for how far along I am. I'll take a picture tomorrow, but please remember this is my third baby and I have only gained TWO pounds-despite eating every hour around the clock. (And I really mean around the clock. I am hungry each of the 3-5 times I get up to pee at night).

(Bump!) Gotta sign off now. (Bump Bump!) Surprise, surprise, (Bump!) I have to pee again. (Oh just give it up already, I'm going, I'm going!!!)

Palm Beach

We took the boys to Palm beach with our member cards to Moody Gardens. It has white sand beaches but fresh water pools, splash pads, and a new water playground. It is lots of fun for little guys and this was our last hurrah for the summer. It was raining the entire time we drove down and I was worried. When we got to the pool they said their pools were closed due to weather and about 2 seconds later the PA system said the pools were open. The sun eventually came out but the place never got crowded which was AWESOME! Nathn was quite the little dare devil-as usual. He climbed right up to the top of the slide and went right down without having a clue what to expect. Kenny was...well...he missed the dare deveil genes-completely. But after I convinced him to go down the water slide once with me while wearing a life jacket he loosened up. He realized he was not about to die and this could be fun. After that we couldn't get him off the slides. After drying off, we ate a bit of dinner and took in an IMAX show-Wild Ocean 3D. Kenny loves 3D movies and we have seen all but one of the shows playing at Moody Gardens. Nathan usually doesn't use the glasses, but Daddy put his baseball cap on the little guy backwards and used the cap to hold on the glasses. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed some great family time before I head back to work on Monday and Kenny starts kinder in a week.
Enjoy a few more pictures!

Looking Forward To Winter

This is the trailer to Twilight- coming out Dec. 12. And Harry Potter 6 is coming out as well. I better not be on bed rest because no matter what I am going to see both those movies!

Interpretation

Nathan's speech has come a long way, but he still has some minor difficulty expressing himself. Kenny has taken it upon himself to interpret.

Examples:

Nathan: Tenny, don't e it.
Kenny: Mama, Nathan doesn't want me to ever eat again so that I die.

Nathan: I have it light saber?
Kenny: Mama, Nathan wants to have all the toys in the whole house all by himself and I will never ever get any!

Nathan: Tenny, blah blah blah (we couldn't tell what he said).
Kenny: Mama, Nathan said he is going to hit me and hit me until I lose all my bloods and have to go away forever.

We are fairly sure Kenny's not making direct translations. Your thoughts?

Just Another Monday

I started the day with a load of dishes and breakfast for all. I took my mom to an auto repair place to drop off her car. Next, I went and un-enrolled Nathan from preschool. A lady from our ward is going to watch Nathan this year. Last, I took both the little monkeys to get haircuts. It was Kid Cut Monday so we got a discount. Kenny did great- as always. Nathan wasn't happy about the situation but he didn't cry through it like usual. I tried to get a picture but they won't hold still long enough.

After errands it was home for lunch and a nap for Nathan. I got to do laundry-ugh. I hate doing laundry. I wish I was rich enough to just buy new clothes. Then I took the boys to the pet store to get cat food and over to the mall to check out the new Lego store under the STRICT understanding we weren't buying anything! While I was there my mom called to say her car was ready and I took her to pick it up. Home to reheat dinner (leftover Korean fried rice) and listen to my kids go stark raving mad and scream their heads off as they always do from 6:00 till bedtime.

I have no idea what gets into them at this time of night. It's like they know bedtime is approaching and they have to get all their playing in fast before lights out. Bedtime was it's usual hassle and I decided not to wait until the second or third time I went up to tell them to get in bed to use my mean voice. After I initially shut the door I stood outside until I started to hear them getting up and playing. I banged the door open and just about scared the pants off both of them. I then informed them I was not going to put up with their games tonight and consider this their last chance before punishment started. I left them both crying in bed but they didn't get back up. That is not the way I usually like to handle things, but I really needed a little peace and quiet tonight. Now I'm going to sit down and put my feet up like I supposed to be doing all day (yeah right, have you met my kids and husband who is at work all the time) and watch the Olympics.

A Little of This And A Little of That

Ken: He is working. As usual. And while I was in Austin, he fixed the dining room wall and hung a chandelier! The wall has had a hole in it and has been a total wreck since the beehive incident last summer (click here). Now I have a beautiful and completely painted kitchen and dining room! I love that man.


Nathan: He is acting like a three year old. Instead of answering "no like" to everything you say he says "no wait, wait." And he wants to do everything himself. It takes forever! I have to patiently remind myself that this is how he learns. Let him do it himself. He says the cutest things all the time and melts everyones heart with his big eyes and sweet little voice!

Tonight he got out a book of stickers and spent about an hour carefully placing them on his leg.

Finished product!

Kenny: He spends his days in his little world of imagination either being Wall-E or some Star Wars character. He has kept busy with his Legos and has built some amazing ships. They look like the kind you buy at the store but he is inventing them on his own. He ability to design and build things is so far beyond his age group. He even helps me put things together and he's better at it. I have seen him look at a set of instructions written for an adult and without being able to read them he puts the thing together. He's not very athletic, mostly due to his size, but he has the mind of a scientist and a problem solver. Kenny is also getting into the Olympic Games. they really open up a lot of discussion about different sports, working as a team, and various cultures. PS-You can also see the finished wall in this picture! Piper: She's the only girl I have and will finally let me put bows in her fur and keep them there. This pink bow has been in for about 5 days now! It's the little things that make me happy.

Me and the Little Love Bug: I am feeling pregnant. I'm basically over being sick as long as I eat every hour of so. My belly popped out about 2 weeks ago and I am now wearing only maternity clothes which is fun. I like having a cute belly. I have been having a lot of pain in my lower back and round ligaments (the side ligaments supporting my belly). I am looking forward to about two months from now when I am big enough for the belly to rest on the pelvic/hip bones and take the pressure off my abdominal muscles. I still have contractions but things are okay at this point. The baby is doing fine as far as I know. I have a doctor appointment this Thursday. I am able to cook again which will help our budget a lot. I have one more week until I go back to work and I plan to make the most of it- as much as I am physically able.

All I Want For Christmas Is My One Front Tooth!

Kenny lost his first tooth! As you can see from his puffy eyes he was hysterical and terrified. The tooth was ready to come out, but he wouldn't wiggle it. Daddy tied a piece of floss to his front teeth and the other end to Kenny's tooth so they could have a "tooth tug-of-war". Kenny walked backwards and before the string even tightened the tooth popped out. Kenny was very happy it didn't hurt. He said he won't be afraid of losing more teeth.

And he is very on board with the whole tooth fairy thing. He wants to lose all his teeth in the next week so he can get a big Lightening McQueen. I told him it didn't work that way. He was a bit disappointed.

Capes

It is no secret that my boys like Star Wars. And they love to run around the house pretending to be Master Jedi's. They are always asking for me to tie their blankies around their necks to make capes, but the blankets never stayed on and I have to keep tying them. I called my mom about how hard it would be to make them a real cape and of course she was able to whip up these caped in less than an hour. The boys got to pick their fabric and they just love them!


Nathan doesn't call his cape a "cape". Even though I have told him what it is he refuses to use the word. He calls it his (insert Darth Vader music hear). And that is the name. He brings it to me and asks, "You gets me (insert music) on." Very cute!As for the storm, it stayed a tropical storm, which is good, and at the last minute it jogged north a little before making landfall which put us on the south side of the storm which is not as bad. So we won't be losing any tree limbs. We are grateful for that because we still have two limbs on the ground from the last big storm. We have lost two banana trees (they broke in half). I could care less about those trees. We thin them out by about 75% every year and they always triple in quantity. Those trees grow like weeds and propagate like bunnies!

Is it finally our turn?

In the 6 years we have been living close to the Gulf, we have never had a hurricane. They have hit all around us. We have had several tropical storms. And in 2005 we evacuated for Hurricane Rita, but missed it. And right now, Tropical Storm Edouard is projected to make landfall at Galveston as a Cat. 1 storm tomorrow. We aren't worried or anything. We have our hurricane supplies in order, though I probably ought to get some more batteries for the flashlights. Chances are we will lose power at some point. We are ready to ride out the storm and stay inside for a day or two. My only concern is the wind. We have a huge- and dying- tree close to the house that loses limbs in a regular thunder storm. Even a Cat. 1 storm has 70-90 mile per hour winds. We also have a very weak back fence. It was teetering in the wind from a little storm last night. So we will see.

All this storm talk has made me think about Hurricane Rita. At the time we left the city, Rita was a Cat. 5 storm- the third strongest in history- and headed straight at us. We lived close enough to the water and in a lower lying area that the storm surge from a storm of that magnitude would reach our front door. As we know now, the storm turned and hit the Texas/Louisiana border. But at the time we left, we did not know that was going to be the outcome. Just weeks before we had all witnessed the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Living in this area we talk about evacuation preparedness and emergency procedures often. Our church has a whole system in place to track where everyone is and make sure everyone is safe in the event of a storm. We had our plans in place and once the family (us and my parents) decided to go we did so fairly quickly. Despite our planning, I found out it was much harder to actually follow through than I had thought. We found out we had holes in our plan, things we never even considered before. It turned out to be a good trial run.

It was a surreal and very humbling experience to pack up and leave home, not knowing what, if anything, would be left for you to come back to. Only the most critical items (food, clothes, water, etc.) and those things too precious to part with got to come with us in the car. Everything else stayed. The mood in the city was tense. You could feel it in the air. We got out early and were able to avoid most traffic problems. Luckily, my dad knows his way around well and we caravaned with them. My in-laws in Utah kept us up to date on the weather and took care of finding accommodations for us while we were driving. It was hard to get a cell phone signal because the airways were jammed. Not one of the high points in my life.

But we learned a lot from that time. We are more prepared than before for a natural disaster. I have made a evacuation checklist to make sure everything gets done and done quickly. And I now know that I am strong enough to walk away understanding the chance exists that I could lose everything. I gained a new appreciation for what is really and truly important in life and the rest is just fluff. I like the fluff, but I could do without it. Since that time I have found it easier to keep the proper things as priorities in my life.

All right, I'll stop the trip down memory lane. We need to bring in the patio furniture and potted plants.

Do Not Disturb- Reading

It's finally here!

UPDATE- Finished the book Sunday afternoon, and no, I didn't skip church. It's a long one. The same length as Harry Potter 7. Great end to the saga. I loved the character development and of course, it was very romantic! I'm just going to have to read it again. Maybe I'll start today.

Austin Trip

Let me start by saying, I hate driving. I have never been on a trip alone before. I have never actually driven into the city alone before. (For those who are confused, we actually live 20-30 minutes south of Houston, closer to Galveston and the gulf.) And after driving through the city, I hate driving even more.

Anyway, I got to my friend Tiffany's safely. She has three kids, but her middle daughter was here with her grandmother. Logan and Kenny are about 6 weeks apart in age and have been friends since 4 months old. Nathan and Michaela (2) played some, but she tried to give him a love and he spent the rest of the time running from her in a panic. It was funny to watch this little girl chase him around just to make him squeal. It was a great game!

We ditched the kids both nights I was there. On Monday, we went to see Mamma Mia! I'm a huge musical fan, and I love the music of Abba so I really enjoyed the show. I even bought the soundtrack. On Tuesday night we went to a restauerant called Z Tejas. Super yummy! It was nice to have seom girl time.

During the day we went to the children's museum and swimming. And the kids played, and played, and played!

On Wednesday, I went over to my sisiter's house and spent the day with them. We went to Walmart, made dinner, talked, and watched Little House on the Prairie. It was a lot of fun and the first time I have had the chance to see their cute house.

On the way home we stopped at the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory in Brenham for a tour and a cup of the good stuff! We got back yesterday afternoon and I have been grocery shopping and unpacking today.