Brian Sent Pictures

Well howdy doo to you! Brian emailed me some pictures so I thought I would post one here. He is "sporting" a mustache. I am not overly fond of it, but he says men in Iraq see facial hair as a sign of status. Anyway... here is the best one, but he sent me 10. Three were of his living quarters, it doesn't look that great, but it is honestly better than I had thought. Nothing else going on around here.... oh wait I do have one Avery update... I took her to the doc yesterday (she has an awful rash) and she weighs 12.3 lbs, almost a pound more than 10 days earlier. This is a relief to me, because she has been spiting up an awful lot lately, but maybe she has just been eating too much. Well I am off.

I hope there is fat free ice cream rain in your future weather report!!!

Added

I added some photos to pic site and deleted all but one of the old. Enjoy!

http://www.msnusers.com/PilchFamilyPhotos/shoebox.msnw

Sunday Treat!

Hello all!! We had a fairly relaxed weekend. We did a lot, but in a non-stressed fashion which is always best. Yesterday we decided to walk all our errands, which took five hours but nearly two were spent at a new park.

Today we cleaned house and I am so proud of the kids! Tristan, Sam and Keagan are all really big helpers and actually do a really good job cleaning. For those of you that don't know, we live in a stairwell. This means our apartment is one of eight that share the same stairwell (and washers and dryers). No one in this stairwell cleans the stairs (this is our third apartment here in Mannheim and at the other two we had a schedule and took turns). So, I pay my kids to clean it. Last week was their first time doing it, and it showed, but THIS week it looks like a grown up did it! REALLY clean!! So, every weekend that they want to do it, I am happy to pay them as I was honestly embarrassed by the condition of the stairwell prior to them cleaning it. Keagan doesn't do the stairwell cleaning, but he helps around the house and he is SUPER GREAT at cleaning up the playroom, putting everything away neatly (and quickly usually).

Avery is getting happier and happier and she talks SOOOOOOO much!!! I really have no idea where she gets that from (wait why are all those fingers pointing at me???) She loves to talk to us, but she will also talk to her mobile, her toys or whatever. I don't think we can take her to movies anymore she talks so much (though we are gonna try, cause Shaggy Dog comes to our theater this upcoming weekend).

Tonight we started what may become an occasional Pilch tradition. You are looking at it in the picture... sundays for dinner on Sunday!!! I let each kid pick an ice cream at the store (though they can eat all three if they choose), we made brownies to put under the ice cream and toppings to put on top (and a banana for Tristan and I). The kids and I LOVED it... but you would be surprised (at least I am) by how quickly they finish eating even when told they can have as much as they want. All of us ended up throwing away part of our dinner! Me, the ice cream LOVER threw away half of what I had in my bowl (and not because of any dietary restraint... it was just TOO sweet-didn't know that was possible). Anyway, it was great fun and easy cooking so maybe every third or so Sunday we will try it again. It is a nice way to end the weekend. Well, Avery needs a talking companion and I have just the person for the job...

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you don't have too many boogers in your nose (I am running out of things to hope for you).

Quick One

Really busy but wanted to share...

Avery is not as big as I thought she'd be. About 11 1/2 pounds (about because it was in Kg and I don't have the conversion right with me). Doc appointment went well besides the three shots... OUCH!

Tristan JUST (as in moments ago) lost his third tooth and that is the picture you are looking at.

Brian emailed... YEAH!!! I am relived to know he is okay and that the "no contact" time didn't last near as long as I thought it would.

Hope your day has lots of chocolate involved!!!

Back At It

Good morning all! Yesterday I finally got back to the business of running. I wont be able to do it regularly until September (when all three of the oldest go to school), but it sure did feel good to run. I ran two miles on a treadmill and it took me almost 22 minutes (whew I am pokey). Ah well.

In our last contact with Brian (via email) he let us know it was going to be awhile before we would hear from him again. So, I am running around like a chicken with me head cut off to make the time go by quickly. The kids and I have been outside daily (and it snowed again a few days ago, though it has melted since), I have been doing crazy projects around the house (like going through all the kids summer clothes to see what we have, etc.) and I am setting up a donation drive again (we did this when the deuce was deployed).

In our last convo (and only phone convo to date) Brian said he wants kids clothes, blankets, shoes, etc. and school supplies to give to the Iraqi kids. This is part of the reason I went through all our stuff. I went to Sammi's Girl Scout troop leader and she sent out an email to all the parents, so they are doing a drive and I went to Sam's school teacher and she is seeing if they are allowed to do a donation drive (I am waiting on this info before I approach Tristan's teacher). If YOU would like to donate some of your old things please send them along to Brian (perhaps write "donation" on the outside of the box, so he knows it is not a personal care package). You are also welcome to send him school supplies, but it is free for me to ship to him (thanks to the Military Postal Service). So if you would like to, you could send me money and I will happily spend it all on school supplies and then mail them in your name. I will keep 10% of the funds though for my labor.... JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!

Well, that is it for now. I will be updating our picture website sometime this weekend and I must say I have some cute pictures to share.

Oh wait, how could I have forgotten... Avery went to bed last night at 930pm and did not wake up until 6am. Wee haaa... and I only got up once to make sure she was breathing (yes, I am improving). She is a much calmer kiddo, she sleeps a lot, doesn't cry much and she smiles all the time. She has a doctors appointment on Monday (her two month, on her two month b-day). I will update again then.

Thanks for stopping in.

CONGRATULATIONS RHODA!

Our congrats go out to Rhoda and her family on the birth of new baby girl Kati who weighed 9lbs. 4 oz and was born on March 11th. She joins big brother Dylan. Good job Momma!

We have some news around here too. Brian called last night (this is our first phone call since he left). He is doing fine, he really likes the people he is working with. It was absolutely fabulous to hear his voice. He did get to talk to the kids. Keagan told him about the video game he has been playing on XBox, Sammi told him how chubby Avery is and Tristan asked to see a picture of him with his guns (which by the way Brian said he would take and send to us. When we get it, I will post it). It meant so much to all of us to get to talk to him and I am sure it meant a lot to him. He didn't talk much about it "over there", he wanted to hear about home. It does look like his R&R visit may be a little sooner, it now looks like it might be beginning of August, but you know how the army is... it could easily change.

Okay so, I did it. Not the night of my last blogger like I planned, but I did do it. I put Avery down to sleep in her bed last night. The above picture is the "proof." That is her at about 1030pm in her bed. She had no problem. She is such a big girl! I fed her at 930pm, put her down awake in her bed at 10pm, she fell asleep around 1015pm and didn't wake up again until 530am!! I am so proud of her. It was a rough night for me though. I couldn't sleep until almost 1am, but I got up only once to check on baby girl. I really missed being able to look over at her during the night. Well, at least I have at least 18 more years where she will be sleeping in my house, but I am sure that time will go by quickly as well.

I hope you cherish the time you have with your loved ones today!

Still a Bit of a "Sicky" Family

From the title, you know we still have sick among us. Actually Tristan has made an almost full recovery. He has no fever, but still has a runny nose and cough. Keagan also has no fever anymore, and also still a runny nose and cough. Poor Sammi has a runny nose, cough, sneezes and a fever of about 102 when the meds run out. Thankfully Avery is doing fine and I am too, so far.

The picture you see is of a knight and a dragon that my son Tristan drew for his father (it will be going out in the birthday package we send on Tuesday). I am posting it not only to share with all of you, but to share more in particular with our friend Julie. She bought him the big poster board to draw it on and all she wanted was a picture to see it... so Julie there you are. I think Tristan is a marvelous artist!

Avery has gotten too big to sleep in the little contraption I bought for her to sleep in next to the bed (not quite a bassinet). So, today I am putting her in her crib for every nap time ('till now she has only slept in there three times), so it wont be a shock to her for bed tonight. I am hoping I can do it tonight. I love to look at her at night to make sure she is okay, and now I'll have to go all the way across the hall! I may break down and put her in the contraption tonight anyway. she can fit, she just can't stretch out. I'm selfish I know... I'll try the crib.

I don't have much to post about Keagan and Sammi today, they are pretty much resting and trying to recover. Poor Sammi really got the sickest out of them all, she is just miserable. She doesn't even like Gatorade (I bought 4 flavors to try) and she is not eating really well, but she is drinking a lot of water. I have been making her favorite food to try and get her to eat, and she does... but only a few bites. Keagan is recovering by pretty much sleeping. He has gone to bed REALLY early (one night it was around 5pm) and sleeps all night and takes short naps. Hopefully we will be done with all this sickness on Monday and have a somewhat normal week.

Brian emailed, I am not sure if I put this in the last post or not (and I am too lazy to check before I post this) but he is at FOB Union III in Iraq. He is not sure if they will be staying there or not. He is doing well. He got a haircut from a young Iraqi kid the other day and he says it was probably the best cut he has ever had. The kid charged 1 dollar, Brian payed him 2.

Other than the sickness, we are all actually doing really well, in good spirits and finally getting into a routine. Everyone is less sensitive and there are a lot more smiles going around. We talk about Daddy everyday, but it doesn't make anyone cry anymore. We just talk about how we miss him and love him, though we could do without his stinky feet...lol! Everyone proudly wears a yellow ribbon pin everyday and Sammi of course wears her locket with a picture of Daddy in it. So while he is certainly not forgotten and is always on our minds, we have finally gotten down to the business of adjusting. We REALLY look forward to seeing him again for R&R sometime in September.

Just Your Average Update

Heard from Brian today via email. He is at Camp Union III. He is still pretty busy but he told me he might be settling in and he may be able to contact us more often, which is GREAT!

Other than that... ummm... Tristan is a little sick, low grade fever for the past two days with headache, so he is home with me. I did originally send him to school today because he did not have pain/fever this morning. However, a few hours later I got a phone call to pick him up. He is doing better in the fever department this evening, but he has a really runny nose.

The other kids are all fine and healthy and I hope that lasts. Avery is a little porky... she is getting awfully chunky and smiles an awful lot these days. She was really demanding there for awhile, but she is taking it easy now and relaxing more. Keagan is just a ham, always wanting to be in the videos... he dances, does "tricks" and flips. He has been really helpful while the big kids are at school. Ah yes, he started back to pre-school. They canceled the program last year and just started back up, today was his first day. Samantha is always thinking about Daddy (we all are) and she tells Avery about him and shows her pictures. Well, I guess that's it for now.

One more thing, I would like to wish Rhoda luck in having her baby soon... like NOW!

Snow, Snow, Go Away

Nah, we actually somewhat enjoy the snow. I guess one last snow dump is okay. I must admit though, that I am ready for warmer weather... talk to me again in the summer when it is really hot and we have no air conditioning! Anyway, yesterday we took a walk to the movie rental place and played in the snow on the way back. The kids also got some extra time in the snow once we got home, then we ordered pizza and had pizza/movie night. We just finally got around to seeing the new Herbie movie. The kids were cracking up almost the entire movie. It was a pleasant evening.

Other updates... not much. We haven't heard from Daddy since the last post, but he is really busy. Also my 8 1/2 year old son just lost his second tooth... bless his heart... he is so happy to be "catching up" to the other kids in the tooth department. Actually, I added (but did not delete the old) some pictures to our family picture page. There is one of Tristan and his other missing tooth. However, the new tooth was already growing in slightly behind the baby tooth, so in the pic you can see the two permanent teeth coming in towards the back. We called him shark mouth, because at first he was upset about needing braces (which he may not, both teeth are slowly moving forward to the proper location), but he liked the nickname.

pictures: http://www.msnusers.com/PilchFamilyPhotos/

I guess that's it from our house. How goes it with you?

Heard From Brian

Well, I got an EMail from Brian yesterday. I didn't expect to hear from him for awhile because he is in training in Iraq, learning more about his new job. He didn't have a lot of info to share, just wrote that he is still in training. I was just thrilled to hear from him. Really if he just sent one liner email's I wouldn't care.

On a side note, I did get him a very late wedding present. He has been asking for it since we got married... but I never remembered about it until tax time. I let him know I finally got the present and he is quite happy. What is it? For the past twelve years of marriage, while it has been correct on my drivers license, I.D. card, on bank accounts, credit card accounts, etc. etc.... my name has been "wrong" on my social security card. That's right, for 12 years my SS Card has had my maiden name on it!!! Two days ago I got my NEW card and now I totally, officially, completely carry my husbands last name!!! Took me long enough!!! The only time it ever mattered was when we filed for taxes, because I had to file with my maiden name on our joint filing. So, once a year I actually signed something with my maiden name. NOW next year we will share a form AND a last name... weee haaaa!!!!! It was a pain when I earned income, even the Alaska dividend, because all my money came in my married name, but tax guys knew me as maiden. So we would have to send a copy of our marriage certificate in with our taxes. Not that I earn any money anymore...lol. Still I am happy to finally make the change...lol.

How's the weather where you are (am I old now that I "talk" about the weather)? It dumped a bunch of snow here last night... it even STUCK. We plan to play in it after school. Do you have any weather activities planned for today?