My first "boo boo"

Well, they say it happens to every baby eventually and although I'm not exactly sure who "they" are, their prediction held true with me. At only 10 months old I got my first serious boo boo - a black eye nonetheless. My mom and dad were pretty shaken up by it, but I did my best to calm them down and help them keep their composure. Here's how it happened....

See, we were all in the guest room and I was practicing my latest trick - clapping - with daddy on the bed, while mommy was checking her email. Daddy and I were playing patty cake and all of the sudden I lost my balance a bit and fell forward. Daddy didn't catch me in time and I bumped my head on the corner of the bedside table. Ouch! I cried pretty loud at first, but then I was okay after a few minutes. I got worried because mommy didn't seem to be taking it too well, so I tried to be tough for her. Daddy felt terrible too and said it was his fault, but I know it was just an accident and I'm glad I'm okay. They tell me I'll have a "shiner" for a few days... whatever that means. I just hope they stop putting that cold ice stuff on my face soon. Yuck!

A Trip To The Park

We managed to get to the park yesterday before the rain... a fun family outing.





Katie

More TWINS

It official......not only is Avery going to have one set of twin cousins.... she is going to have two sets. Yep. My big sister Fran is PREGGO with TWINS TOO.

She was home this past week to share the news and visit with her niece.

We couldn't be more excited.

The only problem is... Avery will surely ask where her twin is.

Around the Corner

Spring certainly seems to be around the corner... especially after such a beautiful weekend. Although I did hear that we should expect flurries by Thursday. Only in Indiana.

We managed to have some fun outside this weekend taking a "walk" around the yard.

She just keeps getting cuter!!!

Can you hear me now?

Many of you know this about Katie. It's one of her many charming quirks that make her so lovable. It's something that doesn't necessarily match her personality, but has been stiched into her DNA since childhood.

She doesn't do conflict on the phone.

In fact, she doesn't like to do much of anything other than chat on the phone. She doesn't even like to make her own dentist appointments.

Not anymore. Today was a big day. A breakthrough indeed. After months of being used and abused by Sprint and paying enormous cell phone bills, Katie called and set them straight. No yelling. No swearing. Not even a raised voice or a frustrated tone. She simply called and calmly, but firmly let them know that we were cancelling. She then proceeded to have the nice man at Sprint in the palm of her hand and not only did we get a completely new plan with rebates and discounts galore... Just for good measure Katie went for the jugular and got us each $280 phones for $29.

What a woman!

Waiting

It is Sunday afternoon. I am curled up on the oversized chair in my family room. Adam is asleep on the sofa across from me. Avery is upstairs taking the second of her 2 hour naps today.

We just got home from church. I can't say that today's sermon "spoke to me" in any particular way. And I am certainly not implying that they all should. I realize and recognize that church isn't always for the consumer, but sometimes we go to be consumed. Today was certainly one of those days.

Sitting here though, I started thinking about words spoken by our pastor a few weeks ago. Praise God that He tucked them away in my heart for a time when I needed to hear them, meditate on them, and put them into practice. Jeff, our pastor, spoke about how we as a society are always looking for the next best thing. We always have our eyes fixed on "the next place" we are going to go and the next thing we are going to do. We think about the next job just months after we have started the current, we daydream about the next vacation while still in Florida on this year's trip, and we spend this weekend planning next weekend's fun activities. In our desire to get our "next" questions answered- our next job, our next home, our next child, our next activity, we miss out on the blessings of the current situation.

I have to admit. I have been snarled up by this today and really for the last week. It seems that it has been a week of "waiting" for me. Just now I am thinking about all the things I am waiting on....waiting for them to change.

I am waiting for the snow to melt and Spring to come.
I am waiting for Adam to wake up so we can go "do" something.
I am waiting for our vacation 3 weeks from now and wishing it was next week.
I am waiting for some test results from my doctor.
I am waiting for someone to buy our house.
I am waiting for feedback from our realtor about why people aren't buying our house.

All this waiting has and is leaving me terribly discontent. I desire change. I desire to be in the next place, the next chapter, the next month or year of my life. And then I remember.....

The enemy of discontent is thankfulness

They are the words that my pastor spoke a few weeks ago that God reminded me of while sitting in this oversized chair waiting!!!!

There IS so much to be thankful for. I hope I can spend the next few minutes meditating on those things instead of "waiting" while my family sleeps.

Blessings,
Katie

All Grown Up...

It's official.
After a few months of attempting to sell our house by owner, we decided to list it with a realtor last week. The sign is in the yard and everything. And after our first showing turned into a same-day 2nd showing, it turns out we made the right decision.
Having a real big-boy house for sale is just another thing that reminds me how "grown up" life has become. I say life has grown up because, well, I clearly haven't. I mean, in some ways I have, but even when caring for our little angel and her double ear infections, meeting with a financial advisor, racing off to work and doing everything I can to be a dutiful husband, I still can't help but feel like a 12 year-old kid whose stress level is equivalent to his record in Madden Football.
Although the stresses today are a bit more real and life-altering, I can't help but bask in my surroundings. The more crazy life becomes the more I appreciate having someone so wonderful to go through it all with.

Blessings,
Adam

Snow Day

A "snow day" proved not to be a "thing of the past" in our house today as the whole family settled in to wait out the Blizzard of 07 (a title the weather folks have given this latest round of snow). We are still getting slammed with snow at 7 pm and if my memory serves me correctly, it has been snowing since about 1 am last night. We probably have about 10 inches of snow on the ground- give or take an inch.

For many reasons this snow certainly is a pain in the butt. Adam wasn't able to get down to southern Indiana for work this morning (oh darn), we have been out with the shovel a few times trying to keep up with the snow, we are having to beg and plead with our 10 pound princess, Bella, to use the bathroom outside despite the frigid temperatures, and most notably we have been stuck "inside" all day which is a mixed blessing with a little person. Avery's toys loose their shine and intrigue after about 3 hours of playing with them.

But we managed to make the best of the situation. Well, I shouldn't even say that, we ended up having a great snow day together. We ordered pizza, watched a movie and brought a little of the "outside" indoors for Avery's playing enjoyment. We figured a bowl full of snow was about as close to braving this mess as we wanted her to experience. And I think she probably agreed... just like her toys, the snow was old news after about 5 minutes of sticking her hands in it.



Blessings,
Katie

PS- We added a couple of pictures from the Rally at the Dome for the Colts following their Superbowl victory under the Super Bowl Champions entry for those that are interested.

Family Fun In The "Bus"

At long last, we met our beautiful nieces and Avery's first two cousins, Lucy and Addison, this weekend. After having to delay our trip over to Columbus a couple of weeks ago due to a cold Avery caught, this weekend proved to be worth the wait as we all got our first glimpses at the "girls." And even though it was just 8 short months ago that we had our own little newborn, Adam and I couldn't get over how small and delicate they both were....and how much they slept!!! We had a wonderful time holding them, cuddling them and feeding them and even more fun listening to Scott and Amanda recount their experiences of the first few weeks of parenthood.

And while we had been anticpating the first meeting between cousins, it was rather anti-climatic as none of the three girls seemed all that interested in the new faces. Avery did show some mild interest in Lucy on Sunday morning and crawled over to where she was peacefully sleeping. What we thought was going to be a "sweet" moment turned into Avery trying to take some swipes at her innocent cousin and eventually turned into some attempts at crawling onto the vibrating seat with Lucy. Nonetheless, all of us couldn't help but think about how fun they and we were all going to have with one another as the "girls" get a little older. Amanda said it best when she imagined a conversation she might have with one of her girls, "I am sorry you aren't getting along, but you are going to need to go work it out yourselves, Mommy and Daddy and Aunt Katie and Uncle Adam are having some drinks on the patio right now...." Ah, yes, the things we have to look forward to.

Some of the highlights of the weekend...

1. Of course, getting out first look at at Lucy and Addison for the first time.

2. The photo session we tried to create to get a picture of all three girls. What ended up happening almost every time we got all three arranged....Avery got bored and started to crawl away just as we were trying to snap the photo.

3. Avery meeting her new best friend for the weekend, Murphy, the family dog. And Murphy sure did know how to play nice, he shared his toys with Avery. From his mouth to hers all weekend long. And yes, I am a horrible parent, I didn't even stop them or "wash" the toy before Avery put her mouth all over them. So she came home with an increased immunity to dog saliva. No big deal!!! :)

4. Reuniting with a wonderful friend from Miami. Courtney, a fellow teammate and friend, dropped by for a visit. It was wonderful catching up with her and introducing her to Avery.

5. And, of course, hanging out with family...what could be better.

Super Bowl Champions

The Colts did it- Super Bowl XLI Champions!!

We're headed to the parade and rally at the RCA Dome on Monday to cheer on the Colts for all of you "out of town" Colts fans.

Go Horse!!!

A few pics from the Rally at the Dome...