Probably Last Post Until he Leaves

Well hello readers and how are you on this fine day? Well, I heard from Brian this morning!!! He is in Kuwait, waiting for a flight home. We hope he will be home around mid-night tonight, but you know the army...it could still be a few days. So like the title says, this will most likely be my last post until he leaves again. I have deleted all the old (except for the family pic of course) and posted a bunch of new ones. Call it Avery's world cause they are almost all of her alone. The reason is, I was actually experimenting with lighting, flash(or no flash...blurry sometimes) and she was my subject (other kids playing). Some of the blurry ones are funny, so I left them in. There is one pic of Keagan with one of his trademark goofy grins. He is holding some gifts from Aunt Toni (and in the background is Avery grinning away). Also, Avery is eating fine now, no more getting sick after... so I have some of her happy/messy mid-feed. Can you guess what she was eating? There is also a couple of her in her fav toy... the jumperoo. The very last picture is of her watching Daddy read bedtime stories on TV. Sorry for Avery world, my other kids are cute and fun to take pictures of too, they just avoid me and my camera now... I am the mommarazzi.

The kids just got their new backpacks in the mail, except Keagan, his is still enroute. They are so excited about the backpacks it just cracks me up. We already have school supplies for next year and the school clothes (I think... will be checking after Brian leaves to make sure). We have been holed up inside for like a week now with temps reaching 100 (though mostly upper 90's and today back to 80's). Avery doesn't do well in the heat, so sweaty and heat rash. Our friends Eric and Tina hooked up an airconditioner in the livingroom, so we have been staying there. We are a little stir crazy from staying inside (except errands) so we may stay outside all day today waiting for Daddy. Actually we WILL no probably about it... picnic lunch outside too.

We are all healthy and injury free, and thankful for that!!! I better get going and take the little people into the fresh air!!!

Check out the new pics when you get the chance... HERE::

http://www.msnusers.com/PilchFamilyPhotos

Hmmmm... my standard goodbye... well
My wish for you today is that you can take a good C--beep--p and feel fresh again. OMGosh did I just say that??? It must be the Brian in me coming out... to maintain some balance in our home with him gone...lol.

side note: Just did spell check and the program did not recognize "livingroom" and offered lebensraum in its place. What the heck is a lebensraum?????

A Few More

On July 18th Keagan turned five!! I can't believe my baby boy is growing up!!! He'll be in Kindergarten this September!!! We had his birthday party last month since his best friends were going on vacation all of July. Anyway, as a family we went to the bowling alley, ate pizza and played a few video games. The first video game I ever played was Pac Man. I can still remember when I first saw it, I was in awe. It was in a table type of setting at a restaurant. Anyway, I had to take a picture of the birthday boy playing it!!! Also, my mild docile little Sammi girl was kicking ARSE in a "combat" type of game... she was soooo intense and beating the computer. I got some pictures of her face as she played and her tense arms...lol. Also you can see the other kids are amazed watching her kick butt...lol. I added the pictures, and had to delete a few to make room.


Oh yes... and the baby of all my babies is 6 months old today!!!!!


Hope your day includes some cool in this heat infested world...lol.

We had SO MUCH FUN

I feel like a hero, how cheesy is that???

I was excited, but REALLY nervous about driving my kids nearly 268.6 miles away to camp out in the sun/rain/heat/cold for 5 days in a foreign country no less. Well it went swimmingly well!!! Every single one of us (even Avery) had a fabulous time. Avery must love it outdoors cause she was in really good spirits and slept a whole lot! I have to admit I am so proud of me for taking the kids by myself and it ending up a huge success, that's why I feel like a hero. I gave my kids a good time outside of my normal comfort zone. I am proud of the kids too. Everyone came together to make it a great trip. I feel like a whole new person!!! While at the camp site, we went twice to the pool at the resort. We made smores every single night, told ghost stories one night. We cooked our own dinner twice (though we did eat out twice). We played Skip-Bo daily--side note: for those of you with children four and up, this is a must have card game!!! It is fun for all ages. We even had four kids that belonged to another family come over and learn how to play ages 13, 10, 7 and 7 (twins) and I love it too. We walked around and did some exploring and we just enjoyed each others company. May sound cheesy to you, but I am telling you, I had a hell of a time. If I could get used to the smell (we bathed, but you never completely get the campsite funk off ya') and the tics (Sammi and Keagan each got one), I could live like that. It was a blast!

I updated the pictures a few hours ago but I am only now getting the chance to do the blog. Here again is the link:

http://www.msnusers.com/PilchFamilyPhotos

Comments on the pictures...

--On our first night there, the resort had the Orlando Magic cheerleaders there. It was their last tour stop. That was a really fun show. All the pictures I took of the dancers came out poorly, so I didn't post 'em but you can see Tristan holding Avery in the seats.

--The view from the resort is just breathtaking!!!!

--You may notice in Sammi's close up shots that she has more red eye than just camera red eye. Well she has had the red eyes for 2 weeks now. We went to the doctor during the first week and they said pink eye (well there is no discharge AT ALL). They treated for pink eye and nothing... then on the morning we left to go camping, doc said Allergies (and yes she said it was fine to go camping). So all week camping we treated for allergies... and she is still not better. Her eyes are pretty red and itch her so badly... I'll take her to the doc again on Monday.

--You may notice that one day the kids are actually wearing collard shirts. Well, that is not our normal "camp attire" but we went into the hotel that night for a nice dinner. The whole time I tried to do whatever the kids wanted, and Tristan remembered that he loved the hotel food. So, I brought one "nice" outfit for each kid to wear to a hotel dinner.

--You may also notice that there are not many pics of Avery. Well, she was either sleeping or in my arms the whole time, so kinda difficult to get pics...lol

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!!!

My wish for you today will be super-dooper cheesy but I mean it from the bottom of my heart. I hope that today you can spend some time with your kid(s) that brings you both a lot of joy. And if you don't have any kids... be a positive roll model for someone elses... better yet, pet a dog.

Until next time....

I Posted Them

Okay, I got the new pictures up on the website. There are a few from Sammi's overnight Girl Scout Camp (the rest of the 4 rolls are of other people, or clouds, or a fire...lol). I have taken a bunch of pictures lately myself, so I posted them as well. I plan to update again after we get back from camping. We don't plan on doing much, just hanging out at the camp site, so they wont be too exciting!

Okay so a few words about some of the pictures...

--You can still see the red hair baby girl has, I wonder if it is going to last??
--The ones with the green dress are from her 5 month birthday
--There is one of Tristan at day camp... he is the blonde in the center. He was the "lead" in a group skit.
--There are a bunch of us having fun at a local park (off post) Buffalo Park for those of you from here. Avery almost slept through the whole thing...lol.
--Avery, on her own, got something stuck on her ankle and it entertained her for about 20 minutes... soo funny
--Finally, Avery got her first ride in a backpack and I LOVE THIS ONE... So cozy and snug for her and me. She also sat in her high chair for the first time. She looks so tiny in it. She has yet to eat in it though. I gave her rice cereal the other day and she gagged on every bite (yes it was very thinned). I don't know what I am going to ever feed her???

Well, I hope you guys have a smokin' hot (as in fun) July. I hope to post more on the 14, 15 or 16th. Coming up next month... MORE PICTURES WITH DADDY YEAH!!! He leaves Iraq in 19 days, we will see him in 22!!!!!!

Oh here's the link to the pics:

http://www.msnusers.com/PilchFamilyPhotos

More Posts to Come

I slowed down on the posts because I keep telling myself "You have more pictures, don't post until you update the picture site." Well, no more, because then I take forever. So, I should be posting a heck of a lot more often. That being said I will not post anything again until after July 14th. I am taking the kids camping in Garmisch, Germany (yup all by my ownself). We leave Monday morning. I hope to have a bunch of pictures to share when I get back.

Sammi took a 35 mm camera to her Girl Scout Camp (overnight for 5 days, did I talk about this already?) and I have gotten the pics put on a disk. However, I have tried to get the few that actually had her in them loaded onto our picture page website... but according to the "wizard" I am not online???? LOL. SO I guess I'll just have to do that another time. It is frustrating though.

Beyond that I have discovered Ross "The Intern" Mathews website. You know the guy on The Tonight Show? I am temporarily addicted and visit it whenever I have a second. He doesn't have a huge following yet, so he has actually mentioned my name in one of his posts... yippie! LOL! Well, I am going to go take a nap as I didn't get a lot of sleep last night (just nervous energy over the trip).

I hope there is a lazy nap in your future!

WOW A lot Has Been Going On

I see a long post in my very near future...lol.

Where do I begin... I will begin with June 11th, the last time I made a post. Later that day we (my good friend Tina and I) rushed Avery to the ER in a local German hospital. She is okay but let me tell you about it. She was fussy all evening and eventually threw up. I wasn't too worried, she has reflux (which is VERY common in babies her age) so she honestly throws up "a lot." I laid her down next to me and she violently threw up again, this time choking on it and for a VERY short while was not breathing... so I called my good friend and her husband who live 1 block away and both, bless their hearts, dropped everything and came over. Eric stayed with the kids while Tina sat with Avery in the car to watch her breathing. So we got the hospital and she violently threw up 2 more times while there. They decided she had better stay the night. Tina went to my house and bless her, she took care of my other three children so I could stay at hospital with Avery. In the late morning the doctors said she seemed fine (they had her on a heart monitor all night) and there was no indication further tests were needed, so they let us go, suggesting perhaps she was fighting off a bad cold (well there were no signs of a cold). 5 days later she had another "episode". This time she never lost her breath, but she just kept throwing up until, bless her heart, her stomach was contracting and nothing was coming up. So, since there wasn't the breathing "issue" we (this time all the kids and I) took her to the American hospital that is about 20 minutes away. Turns out my little girl is having a reaction to single grain baby cereal (the oat kind). Both times she had the "episodes" were the first times she actually swallowed any of the cereal I had fed her (it was time 4 and time 5 she had anything new). So I can't give her anything but breast milk for the time being. I have an appointment on Monday to see a doctor to work out what Avery's food plan is.... because my plan is NOT to nurse her until she is 18 years old...lol. Other than that my dear girl is doing really well.

On June 18th I sent my other daughter away... sniff sniff. She went to an overnight summer camp for FIVE DAYS!!! I couldn't talk to her for FIVE DAYS!!! It is a girl scout camp 2 hours from here. Samantha is so AWSOME!!! I am so proud of her. When she first said she wanted to go, she didn't know any girls going and knew none of the camp councelors and she still wanted to go! Before she actually went though, we found out that 2 girls she knew were going. Anyway, when I dropped her off, she gave me (and the kids) a tight hug and kiss goodbye, turned around walked away and didn't look back. It was a GREAT moment because I realized that she has far more confidence than I ever knew. While the 5 days she was gone were really hard on me, she had a fantastic time, took 4 rolls of film in the first three days...lol!!! Can't wait to see those crazy pictures...lol.

On June 19th, Tristan went to a 5-day DAY camp just about three blocks away from the house. It was a boy scout camp. He also had a fantastic time. On the way home the first day he told me "Mom, I am learning how to be a man." When he said that I looked down at his hands and noticed that they really aren't little boy hands anymore, they are mini-man hands. He has the popping veins and his fingers are thicker and not baby-ish anymore. He actually shot a BB Gun and a bow and arrow (both activities made me slightly cringe inside... but "ya' gotta let go a little Meghan" I thought) and he made rockets and did some art work.

On June 21st, Keagan learned to ride a bike without the training wheels. I promised him I would teach him the week both the big kids were doing cool stuff, and I did. He did a GREAT job and learned really quickly. He didn't have a lot of confidence at first, but I realized it was because of his shorts. He was afraid of leg injury. As soon as he changed into pants he was suddenly so well balanced and taking off. My friend Tina came up with the perfect place to go to continue to build his confidence and it worked great (it was a really large circular "track" he could ride on).

I am a very lucky woman. Life has not always dealt me a stellar hand (has it for anyone?) but here I am, the mother of four fabulous, entertaining, confident, smart and I must say good looking kids...lol... and I am married to one stubborn, smart, successful, loving, talkative (yes he is talkative if given the chance) handsome (he helped make those great lookin' kiddies), courageous hero of a man. I do complain about things from time to time, but often I wonder, what the heck do I have to complain about? Ah well, I'll think of something to complain about tomorrow...lol.

I updated the pictures again and here is a few words about them...

There is a picture of Sammi receiving an award from her teacher for reading the most books (every kid in the class got a unique award).

There is also a picture of Avery and another baby that was born on the same day as Avery. Her mother is my friend Dara and she is Dara's third child. We were friends before the babies were born. Her eldest was in a 1st grade class with Sammi and her middle child was in a pre-school class with Keagan and she and I are the same age. We were due on different days, but both of us delivered on the 20th of Jan, her in the 8am hour and me in the 8pm hour. I actually called her house to tell her my water had broke, and her mother answered and told me she had delivered that morning.

Anyway enjoy the pictures at:

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

My wish for you today is this.... I hope your day is going SOOOO well that you find time to complain about the little things.

Thanks for stopping in!

Clarification

In my last post I mentioned tht Avery got her first non-breast milk food. I had a friend say she thought I meant I was giving her formula and wondered why I was doing that. I am not giving her formula, what I meant was is this:

The pictures are of her reaction to the first new taste, which is something other than breast milk... it is breast milk mixed with single grain cereal. Also, the bottle Tristan is giving her is a bottle of breast milk. Just wanted to clarify for anyone else who was wondering. Have a fantabulous day!!!

Wow a Whole Month!

I can't believe a whole month has passed me by. I am glad I have been busy as the days go by quicker. Brian will be coming home for two weeeks of R&R (Rest and Relaxation for you non Army types) in less than two months. I wish he was coming home for good, but he'll have to go back to Iraq. He is doing well, but is awfully tired. The last time I had contact with him he had only gotten 3 hours of sleep in 48, but G-d bless him he IM'ed with me anyway... now that is love.

We have been doing well, wrapping up the sports season this weekend. School is out on the 15th so there has been A LOT of end-of-year activities. I have FINALLY updated the pictures on our family picture place, please check them out if you'd like at

http://www.msnusers.com/PilchFamilyPhotos

There are many but I'd like to tell you a little about a few:

--There is Avery's first non breast milk feeding
--Tristan trying to give Avery her first bottle, she never took it
--Mom and Avery napping on couch
--Sammi's hair cut, she cried a little but has since recovered
--and some pictures of the kids at their field day events today

I hope you enjoy them

Well my wish for you is an odd one but here goes... I hope when you rest your head tonight you do not smell urine...lol. Just a wee little joke matey.

How's It Going?

Hello all and how are you on this fine day??? We are doing well. Not too much new going on around here. We have started all the kids sports practices and have had a few games. It has been hectic but great fun! I have updated our picture website. Please visit it at:

http://www.msnusers.com/PilchFamilyPhotos

There are some sport pictures there as well as other adorable pictures (at least I think so). There are a lot of Sammi at her first t-ball practice, since it is her first season. As you can see, I got more pictures from Brian. This is him with his team. I really like the swords in the background (but I love the guy with the goofy red mustache...lol). Well busy me, I have much more to do today (and the sun is beginning to set), I better be going.

Hmmmm... today's wish: I wish for you a beautiful sunset in your future.

Thanks for stopping by!

Been Awhile

Hello all my silent viewers...lol. It has been awhile, I have been very busy AND my camera broke. Well, I bought a new one and there are pictures on it, but I have not read how to load them on the computer yet. However, I finally recovered the last pictures I took with the old camera and I plan to post the last few to our family photo website (I have already deleted all the old, except for one).

http://www.msnusers.com/PilchFamilyPhotos

News about Avery... she has officially begun her life on the move. I laid her in her crib for nap time. She never did fall asleep, so I went in to check on her when I heard her calling for me. She was on the other end of the crib, sideways!!! So I guess she scoots around on her back. I am not surprised, for the last week when I lay her on her back she raises her entire body--except her heals, her shoulders and head--up off the ground. Really I am proud of her enthusiasm for life, but I do wish she'd slow down just a bit...lol. She's not rolling over though, which my other children had done by now, I guess she is more motivated to "back scoot."

The other kids are all anxiously awaiting the start of the sports season here. The first practices are this week and we have been contacted by everyone EXCEPT Sammi's T-Ball coach! She is disappointed by this, but I have assured her we will get the call (probably a half hour before the first practice, but ah well). For those that celebrate, happy Easter. I did give my kids a HUGE chocolate bunny, you know I could not deprive them of the treat, but no Easter bunny visits our house. I just hope the kids don't ruin it for the other kids (as they know the "truth" about the bunny).

Brian is doing well. We have had sporadic contact, but any contact is great to me! I have a web camera now, so he was able to see us and hear us in our last online chat. He really enjoyed that. A few days later we chatted with Gumpa (Brian's Dad) via the camera and he said he enjoyed it as well. Us camera hams love it! Brian has been excitedly receiving the donations for the Iraqi kids. He keeps telling me to send it as I get it. The Girl Scout troops here have really been giving me a lot to send, thank goodness it is free to mail...lol.

Well, I guess that is about it for us.

For those of you who DO celebrate today's holiday, I hope you have some delicious food and great friends/family to enjoy. For those of you who DON'T I still hope you have some great meals and great company today. We are taking advantage of the yummy meal they will be serving at the DFAC (Military Dining Facility) for lunch. Time for chow...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Today is Brian's 33rd birthday (now don't go saying he is old, because I am OLDER than him). He doesn't get the chance to check this blogger (the internet connection is slow-he hardly checks his email), but I still wanted to shout it to the world. So "happy birthday" to my husband!!! I sent him a corny but heartfelt poem today and I just checked my email and he read it and responded. So, while I would have liked to do it in person, I am glad to know that he got our birthday wishes. Here at home we can't just let the day go by, so we are making cake and having cake and ice cream in his honor tonight. We are going to video tape singing "happy birthday" and blowing out the candles. I have been making him a home video for Fathers day and will include the evenings festivities. I have posted another one of the pictures he sent us. It is similar to the first.

What is new around here? Well I took myself and Avery to the ER this Saturday (everyone went but we were the patients). I thought I had strep throat (I didn't) and was worried that Avery's lingering rash was a strep rash (it wasn't). Additionally, Avery was having a heck of a time with a cold (which I now have) and I THOUGHT she had been having trouble eating because of it. Apparently I was wrong, because she weighed even more than she had just a few days before. As of Saturday she weighs 12 lbs 8 ozs and that was before she was fed. She has now caught up to what Sammi weighed at this age (and Sam was 2+ pounds more at birth). However, she is still much smaller than both of her brothers at this age (I looked all this up in their baby books Sunday). It has occurred to me that since Avery's birth at least one member of this family has been sick. I hope we are at the tail end of that streak. On the upside regarding that, Avery's rash is finally almost completely gone. It is no longer on her head or face, but some lingers on her trunk (as in body, this is not a negative reference to her nose...lol).

Tristan, Sam, and Keagan will be getting on their sports teams this week. We got the phone calls for the parents meetings on Friday. Samantha will get assigned to a T-Ball team tomorrow (Tues.), Keagan will get assigned to a soccer team Wednesday, and Tristan gets a soccer team on Thursday. We are gonna be busy people this spring, but I am really looking forward to it. When I used to dream about having kids, those dreams always included me going to their "events." whether it be sports, plays, or musical events. It brings me great joy to watch them having such a good time!

Well, enough outta me. Happy birthday again to my hubby and I guess my wish for you visitor today, is that someday almost all your birthday wishes come true. I wouldn't want all of them to come true, then you'd loose the joy of wishing.

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?