Milestones: First roll over!

Today Kara rolled over for the first time from back to stomach. Any Mama knows that stuff like this is huge! She has rolled from her side to her tummy and her back but never from her back all the way to her tummy. Part of the reason I like staying at home is so I can experience these firsts. The funny part is that I was here but I didn't see it happen. I was walking around getting some cleaning done and layed her on her back. I walked back in the room and she was on her tummy just smiling away. I took pictures and a video just because I am way over the top like that!! I immediately stopped whatever cleaning I was doing and sat on the floor for like an hour trying to get her to do it again so I could catch it on video but she wouldn't have any part of it. I ended up filling my memory card with a million video clips of her laying on her back. LOL I ended up uploading all the video's to my computer so I could free up space just in case she did it again.


Here is what I have!

I also have a little clip of Kendall giving Kara her bottle. While I was making dinner I handed Kara over to Kendall to finish feeding her for me. Kendall is such a wonderful big sister. She absolutely loves helping me do anything for her sister. I know there will be a day when jealousy comes to play but that is not the case right now. Kendall is so gentle and loving with Kara. Kendall is like my little "timer" for Kara. What I mean by that is she tells me when she needs a bottle, when she needs a diaper change. She tells me to change her clothes and even reminds me to get Kara out of the car whenever we go somewhere. It is so sweet how she wants to include Kara in everything we are doing. I cannot even begin to put into words how blessed I feel to have two beautiful and perfect angels.

Also I have to include this video I took yesterday with my cell phone... Kara has really started to "talk" in the last 3-4 days... so cute!

Kara's 4 month pictures plus a few others

4 months old 9.15.08

I absolutely love how she sucks her fingers... so cute!

Kendall swinging with her Daddy (2yrs 7months)

Hurricane Ike from our house

Where to begin? Last Thursday morning I was sitting on the couch glued to the Hurricane Ike coverage on the news. You could tell it was serious because they had interrupted all regular programming to cover the storm on all the local channels. I was concerned for my Friend Addie who lives in Corpus and sent over a text to let her know she could stay with us if she needed to. By the afternoon the hurricane track had updated and it was inching closer and closer to the Galveston area.

The news was telling our area to hunker down with enough supplies to last 3-5 days in case of power outages. I had compiled a list of stuff we needed but had resistance to go buy it. In the middle of the night Thursday, I got out of bed to pack our bags. I couldn't sleep and decided it was better to drive up to Dallas now rather than after our power was out.

We watched the storm on Fox News Channel from Ricky's parent's house. The next day we woke up to see the damage and heard of all the power outages. It took a day to get a hold of our neighbor to find out what our neighborhood was like and if we had power. Our neighborhood was hit harder than I imagined it could being an hour and a half from the coast. Blue tarps line the roof tops up and down every street. Every other house has their carpet ripped out and on the curb. There are fences down everywhere, trees, and tons of debris. The pictures I took were taken six days after the storm, after most everything was cleaned up.

We were very lucky compared to our neighbors. Our only damage was the fence, which we are waiting for the insurance to come out and look at and minimal flooding to our master bedroom and bathroom.

It is all so surreal looking at the pictures on the news of all of the devastation. Many people are still without power (803, 000 people to be exact.) The news stations here are still doing continuous coverage of the impact and what to do now.

My heart goes out to all of those people who lost their homes and to those who lost family members. You don't think about how something like this has such a huge impact on lives until you see it first hand.

Goodbye newborn clothes... *sniff* *sniff*

As of Friday August 15Th, 2008 Kara is now 3 months old. With this new age milestone comes added work. At this stage they grow out of their clothes way too fast, some outfits getting one wear out them. So here I am already putting away the preemie, newborn, and 0-3 months clothes. I am not even kidding, last week she was wearing a 0-3 month sleeper and I tried to put it on her last night and it was too small... they grow before your eyes.

This is all so bittersweet. I want her to hurry and grow so she and Kendall can play together. I look forward to that more than anything. Having one child is great but having two is really special because it isn't just the bond you share with them as parents but the bond they share with their sibling that you get to enjoy.

On a lighter note, Kara was trying to roll over on her stomach last night. I had her on the tummy time mat on her back and she was really trying to roll. My days of laying her somewhere and walking away are almost over.

I would just like to report that Kendall is having GREAT success in her potty training adventure. We are so proud of her!! If I can give any advice it would be if you try to potty train and they do not pick it up, wait and try again.

Here are some pictures that I took Friday of the girls. Their Grandma sent them the outfits so I took a few pictures. It was much harder to take their pictures together. If one was looking at the camera, the other one wasn't.

A few pitctures from today... I have a new addiction to photobucket

08/08/08 A big day for Kendall

We had a big moment in history today... no it wasn't the kick off of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing... Kendall used the big girl potty for the first time all by herself. This has been my hardest parenting task thus far. It really is true that all children are different and go at their own pace. We bought Kendall's potty chair when she was 18 months old. I have read books, searched the Internet, asked parents who have successfully potty trained and nothing I did would get her to use that potty. I bought m&m's, I tried Lolly pops and nothing worked. Today I put her in her big girl panties with the determination that she wouldn't still be in a diaper at her 3rd b-day. I actually forgot and put her down for her nap and she woke up with no accidents! This evening we went to the park and when we got back she went and got on her potty all on her own. When she was done she was so proud and let me know she went in her potty.

Way to go Kendall!!! As much as I don't want you to grow up just yet, I am so proud of you!
MUAH! Love Mommy and Daddy

PS I have a video but think I will save that for her own viewing... that way she will still like me when she gets older! ha

Kara is 12 weeks old today!

Well it is official, Kara is 12 weeks old and that is the cut off mark for being a newborn. After today she graduates to being just a baby. I guess this means I need to get my butt into gear and lose this weight because I no longer "just had a baby!" lol

I just had to share this pic with Kendall. She is the cutest little girl. Now that I am taking so many pictures of Kara she wants to be in them too. She came in the room while I was taking pictures and asked if it was her turn. She jumped on the bed and got in front of the camera. Doesn't get any cuter than that! I would have taken pictures of them together but Kara fell asleep.

You're Gonna Miss This...

Yesterday was one of those rare days where I actually had a moment to myself to take a shower. Ricky had off of work due to the tropical storm that didn't happen to hit us. Usually when I take a shower I put Kendall in there with me so she can play and it is easier to get her bath in that way. I also put her in the shower with me because if I don't she is outside the shower pulling the curtain back and throwing all of her toys in. Needless to say there is nothing relaxing about bath time for me.
So while I was sitting there letting the hot water beat down on me this song by Trace Adkins popped into my head. I had CMT on a few weeks ago while I was cleaning and happened to see the video. All I could think about was how one day not too far off I am not going to have a 2 1/2 year old yanking down my shower curtain trying to get in. It may seem like I never get a moment to myself but there is going to be a day when I wish I had my little girls tugging away at me for their every need. All of a sudden it got very lonely in that shower.
One thing I have learned since having children is life flies by when you have something to gauge time against. I feel so blessed to be able to stay home with my girls while they are young. I know this time will be over before I know it and they will be independent young women.

We have been busy!

Let's see here, we have been busy over the last week and a half. Last Monday Ricky's BFF Miles came into town and we did the whole tourist thing with him. We took him down to Galveston since he had never been... boy was he impressed! lol Actually we went down to see the Titanic exhibit at Moody Gardens. They have lots of the recovered artifacts on display and a story to go along with it. They recovered over 5500 items but do not have them all there to see. They didn't allow camera's so I only have a pic of Ricky and Kendall walking in. The thing I found to be cool was the recreation of the rooms for the 1st class and 3rd class. It is surreal to walk through there and to know that stuff is actually from the Titanic. For some reason the Titanic seems like a story until you see real items from the ship.

We also went to game 3 for the Houston Astro's against Cincinnati. This had to be the best baseball game experience ever since it was indoors!! Can we say air conditioning!?!? They have a big train that moves when they score that Kendall got a huge kick out of... too bad we only got to see it start up once! Another cool thing was getting to see Ken Griffey Jr. play his last game with Cincinnati... the next morning he was traded.

More great news to report: My sister from another mother Yalonda and her husband Brandon had their first son Bralyn Scott Klein on Wednesday. I am so happy for them. I have known Yalonda for the better part of my life and it is hard to believe that we have children that will be in the same grade together.

And last but not least our little Kara Beara is 11 weeks old. She has been sleeping 10-12 hours at night and is drinking between 4-6oz. Kendall cannot wait for her to get big so they can play babies together!

11 weeks old!

Brangelina has nothing on the Wacks!

Seats overlooking the Astro's bullpen

Minute Maid Park

Introducing Bralyn Scott Klein Born July 3oth 7.1lbs 20in

The Titanic Exhibit - Moody Gardens

Our View at lunch - Galveston