Well, It's Official...

I have become a soccer mom. I must say, I fit the part pretty well :) And, I also must say that Ben has the cutest soccer team I have ever seen. He had his first soccer practice on Saturday, and he CANNOT wait for the first game. As we were leaving practice, he was asking when he gets to play in a game. Unfortunately, his first game is actually right during his birthday party. I haven't told him that yet...

First Day of Preschool

Ben started Preschool on Tuesday of this past week. He did great the first day, but was a little clingy the second day. All in all, he said he likes his teacher and is making new friends.

Labor Day Weekend

After we met Levi, we had Ben's "little birthday" party (as he referred to it). We celebrated with our family who lives in the Panhandle. Ben had such a great time at his party at Mr. Gatti's....and the "adult kids" had fun too (but I'm not posting those pictures!)


Here is what Lindley did all weekend:

We are so glad that we finally got to meet our nephew. He is just so precious, and we miss him already!

A Note on my Previous Post

I just wanted to clarify something about my last post titled, "'Best Birthday Ever!'" Just a note: I chose that title because Ben had said several times that it was the "best birthday ever!" And, it was a fantastic birthday...better than many birthdays I have had in the past (especially the one where I went to Sonic by myself). However, just to be clear, I was simply quoting Ben with my last title.

"Best Birthday Ever!"

Well, we celebrated my last birthday in my 20's this past Saturday. Next year is the Big 3-0! I have a lot to do between now and then!!

To quote Ben, it was the "best birthday ever!" Lanny and I got to have a really fun date night on Saturday thanks to our very gracious friends offering to babysit (for free!). Then, on Sunday, my best friend in the whole world and her family, who lives in College Station, surprised me by coming over, treating us to dinner, and then spending the night. I really was surprised because Lanny had set me up by telling me we had plans with other people. While I was getting ready, Ben came and told me, "They're here..." Me: "Who's here?" Ben: "Caleb..." I ran into the living room, and it was Caleb! With the rest of the Skow clan of course :)

It truly was such a great birthday!

She Did It!

Lindley crawled tonight! She has been trying so hard to figure it out, and tonight she did it! I'm sorry that the video is a little long, but you can see the progression...you have to wait until towards the end to see her finally make it. And, in one of the clips, I had a "monkey" on my back, so it is a little bouncy. Sorry!

Click on the picture to see the video.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

What She's Doing Now

I never posted on Lindley's 9 month birthday, so I thought I would go ahead and "record" what she is doing at 9 months before she turns 10 months ;)

At her 9 month check-up, she weighed 20.1 lbs and was 28.25 inches, which are both in the 75th percentile. Her peanut head is in the 25th percentile.

She is now waving hi and bye; signing "all done" (which looks alot like hi and bye); she has one bottom tooth; she is so close to crawling, but just can't make it work; she is actually doing some sort of snake/swim crawl which looks like she is working really hard to do, but she is actually getting somewhere when she does this; and, she is making this really funny "breathe in/out through her nose" face (I'll try to get a video of it).

Another Installment of Ben-ism's

If you are wondering what a Ben-ism is, see this post.

Here are some recent funny ones:

- While I was making Ben clean up, he says, "Mommy, who is coming over?"

- "Mom, IDK means I don't know."

- He has started using his middle finger to point at things. I have no idea why...I am constantly reminding him to use his "pointer" finger

- While we were driving along talking about all the things that God created:
Me: "And, God created the trees..."
Ben: "And the leaves..."
Me: "And, God created the birds.."
Ben: "And, Sonic!"
Yes, he is my son!! And truth be told, we were driving up to Sonic when he said that (shocking, I know).

And, here are some more serious ones:

- "Mommy, did God make the angels?"

- "Was there a real Pharoah? Did Pharoah die?" "Are we all going to die?" This led to a conversation about going to Heaven when we die and how we can pray to God and tell God that we believe Jesus died for our sins. Then Ben said, "I want to do that!" (meaning pray that prayer) "But, Mommy, I will need some help."

- "Mommy, did God die?" I think he was trying to figure out how God got to Heaven.

- "Will I get to Heaven on a rocketship?" "How are we going to die?" "I want to see God in Heaven."

It's so interesting to us that Ben is asking so many questions about death. I guess it is somewhat of a new concept to him. We struggle with how much to "water down" for him versus teaching him the "whole" truth that is found in the Bible.

Levi Shane Turner

Is he not the most precious thing? And, he looks JUST like his daddy!!!

Nephew udpate

9:41 p.m. : Levi Shane Turner has entered the world! He was 6 lbs 13 oz and 18 1/2 inches! We can't wait to meet him!

8 p.m. update : Still no baby...

Lanny's sister is in LABOR!! Her water broke at 1 a.m. last night!! Her due date was 08.08.08, so we are really surprised by the early arrival. We should have a new nephew sometime today!

Schrib Family Happenings

We have made a few changes to our "situation" as we know it:

- Three weeks ago, Ben and Lindley left their daycare and are now staying with a nanny three days a week. So far, this has gone really well. The kids seem to love and trust her, and we do too! Her hourly rate is fairly reasonable; she is a Christian (and not a casual one!); she is very even-tempered; and when we get home, they are bathed!!

- Because of the nanny situation, my commute has gotten shorter. Now, instead of having to go North to drop off at daycare (when my office is South), I just head on downtown. This is probably a time-savings of about 20 ish minutes each way.

- Lanny and I are now carpooling when I go into the office (currently twice a week). We'll see if our marriage can survive my morning grouchiness, his edgy driving, and his smacking his gum. Although, it is nice to actually have a few minutes to talk without being interrupted (unless it is about the budget).

In other news, our best friends came to visit last weekend, and we had a blast!

Celebratin' Small Town Style

A Global Perspective

Brad recently returned from traveling the world with Passion World Tour, and we got to see him this past weekend. He brought Ben a bunch of coins from all of the different places he visited. He knew that Ben would be a little bit too young to understand, but also knew that one day it would be a special thing for Ben to have. Here is the conversation:

Brad: "Look, Ben, I brought all these coins back from the places I visited..."
Ben: "Oh, I have some coins, too!" (Ben goes to grab a cup full of Chuck E. Cheese tokens)
Brad: "Those look like tokens. These are coins from other countries around the world. See, this one is from Sweden..." (Brad starts spreading out the coins on the table)
Ben: (Dumps out tokens on the table next to Brad's coins) "And, these are from the Chuck E. Cheese country!"
Brad and Missy: (die laughing)

Lindley is 8 months

Yet another month has quickly passed by. Here is what I want to remember about Lindley on her 8-month birthday:

- She is finally starting to cut her first tooth. I can barely see the pearly white, but it is coming!

- She has become a tummy sleeper. She has started moving around a lot in her crib and seems to like sleeping on her stomach. We used to have her crib elevated at one end because it really seemed to help with her drainage. I had to stop doing that, though, after I found her sleeping upside down the other night!

- She is very aware of my comings and goings, and she gets upset if I walk away from her.

- She still doesn't love her baby food.

- She is trying really hard to learn how to crawl. I can tell she really wants to figure it out, but she just can't make it work!

Here are some recent pictures of our summer fun. By the way, she does NOT like the water!

Hasta La Vista Paci's

I'm a little embarrased to write this post because: 1) yes, Ben is almost 4 and 2) no, we had not taken his paci's away. I'll spare you my excuses for not having done this yet.

Last Friday, Ben came to Lanny and I and declared, "I'm 23 years old, and I'm giving up my paci's." He then proceeded to gather his pacifiers from his bed and handed them all to me. Okay...we'll see how this goes.

He had a hard time getting to sleep that night, but he never asked for a paci. The next night, the kids stayed with a babysitter (that is another post), and was asleep by the time we got home.

We had been talking about giving up his paci's soon, and that we would have a paci party whenever he did. So, on Sunday night, we invited his (and our) neighborhood friend over and had balloons, cupcakes, and fun. He had such a good time, and thought it was his birthday!! At one point, I busted out an old cheer, "We are proud of you, say, we are proud of you *clap *clap..." I later heard him playing with the balloons in the living room saying, "We are proud of me..."

Later that night, he ceremoniously threw his paci's in the trash (that I dug out later just in case), and of course, Lanny wanted to try to save those for Lindley (yuck!). He got a present and went to bed fairly easily.

The next morning he woke up with a fever, felt pretty rotten, and he stayed home with me that day. He never asked for his paci's. I was shocked that even when we was so sick, he didn't ask for them.

So, here we are, no paci's, and he hasn't asked for them yet. What is it like, 17 or 23 days or something, that it takes to break a habit? So, we have a few more days before then....but, for now, I'm really surprised and impressed at this development. Maybe we were somewhat justified in not forcing him...(and maybe I'll eat those words later). Who knows?

Here is a picture of Ben and his friend shooting off rocket balloons at his "party"

No News is Good News?

Lindley had her series of tests this past Friday as well as a follow-up appointment with the pulmonologist. We didn't get a whole lot of "news," but what we did find out was mostly good. Her upper GI showed that everything was normal; her chest x-ray showed a little inflamation, but was also considered normal. Her swallow test showed that she is still aspirating, and we were actually told that she needed her milk thicker than what we had been doing (we were hoping for less).

I was confused as to how we could have been using a certain thickness for 4 months now without a problem and all of a sudden, need to go thicker. What we learned later was that her swallow study could have shown a different swallowing technique because she was sick (double ear infection diagnosed on Monday). So, the plan was to make her milk a little thicker while she is sick, and then go back to the consistency we have been using when she is well.

Both our pediatrician and the pulmonologist want to give Lindley about one more month on the ear infections before we consider tubes. However, if she continues to have problems throughout June, we need to consider putting tubes in sooner rather than later.

In other Lindley news, I succumbed to the pressure and cut off Lindley's Amish curls. You would think that would be easy but....Just kidding! I didn't do that bad of a job; her hair is blending in to the table cloth in the background. Here is another picture...

And, thanks to all of those who pressured me, people now ask me if she is a boy. So, thanks.

Here is one more recent pic...

We Left on a Jet Plane

I'm really late in posting this, but we went to Canyon for Mother's Day weekend. The purpose of the trip was three-fold: 1) to help my beautifully pregnant sister-in-law register for baby stuff, 2) to celebrate my step-dad's "milestone" birthday, and 3) to celebrate Mother's Day. It was a fun trip - the airport was a little crazy with two kids, but we managed to make it. Ben got a little scared during takeoff, but both kids really did absolutely great on the plane itself.

Here is Ben standing in line to check our bags:
Mom, stop with the pictures! Ben had his first experience with the ice cream truck:
Happy Mother's Day! Me with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law (Meme and Aunt Lollie) By the way, Aunt Lollie is expecting Levi Shane on 08.08.08.
The Schrib boys...
I have a picture of Steve at his birthday party, but I'll refrain from embarrasing him since I did enough of that at his party.

On the way back (when I was by myself with the 2 kids and barely made it to the plane on time), the cockpit door was open and Ben said, "Mommy, look...pilots!" And, he was of course wearing his "Jet Setter" t-shirt. So, the flight attendant took him and introduced him to the pilots while I got settled with Lindley. She didn't bring him back until he had greeted all of the people getting on to the plane, and made an annoucment thanking her "special helper."

I also have to say that I am going to write a letter to Southwest about their incredibly stupid new policy of families boarding after all of the A group (unless you have an A boarding pass). It's just not right!!!

Needless to say, fun was had by all.

Brad

My brother is doing something so absolutely awesome this summer. He is basically traveling the world in three segments with Passion World Tour. From what I understand, he is taking care of most of the details for Louie Giglio and the bands (either Chris Tomlin or David Crowder depending on the place). I'm adding Louie's blog about their tour to my links. We miss Uncle Brad, but we can't wait to hear all of the stories he comes back with...

(this is an old picture)

7 Months

Lindley turned 7 months old this past Sunday. It seems like it was just a week ago that she turned 6 months. How does the time pass so very quickly??

Not a whole lot has changed with her in the last month, except:

- She is more "curious" in that she wants to have her hands on anything she can get (especially paper)

- She does not like her baby food anymore and will purse her lips in protest

- She is way into playing with her feet

- The medicine that the pulmonologist put her on has worked wonders!! She is a totally different baby as far as wheezing and coughing are concerned!

Here is a picture of her with my Granddad. We saw everyone this past weekend on our trip to Canyon. That's another post altogether...

Imagination Station

Ben has really gotten into using his imagination lately. Most of the things he pretends to do include some form of sports event. Two quick examples:

Today, I threw him an imaginary football that he caught for an imaginary touchdown. Then, at his insistence, we both had to sit in red chairs and watch and cheer for the "blue team and the green team." According to Ben, the blue team won, in case you were wondering.

Then, later tonight, Lanny was playing with the kiddos, and Ben kept running back and forth between Lanny and one of our doorways (which serves as the goal for most sports that we play in our house). He would run back and tell his Daddy, "I winned! I winned!" After several winnings, Lanny commented that maybe he could win if he knew what the game was! Ben assured Lanny, "Don't worry; they will tell you." "They?" we ask. "The players..." we are told.

Lindley Update

Lindley had her appointment with the pulmonologist this morning. We didn't get a whole lot of "news," but he did change some of her medications. He also ordered a chest x-ray, upper GI, and a repeat swallow study (the swallow study is the same thing we have done twice before which showed her aspirating milk). We will get those procedures scheduled sometime soon.

Basically, what we learned is that the fact that she "comfortably" retracts when breathing means that she has to work harder than most people to breathe normally. And, she doesn't have a whole lot of "reserve." And, since she doesn't have much reserve, she can get into respiratory trouble really quickly.

So, we are doing the upper GI to first of all, see the extent of her reflux, but more importantly so he can observe her anatomy. He thought it was possible that there could be a vessel that is compressing her airway.

The good news was that she can use inhalers with a spacer. So, we don't necessarily have to be tied down to the nebulizer machine, unless we just can't get her breathing under control.

It's so amazing how none of this seems to phase her in the least! She is just the sweetest thing...

How do they know?

This seems to be a very common occurrence in our household...I swear this happens more than is really even funny.

So, after we've put the kids to bed, I'm in the kitchen doing dishes, getting stuff ready for the kids to go to school tomorrow, etc....not bothering to be too quiet or anything. After I've finished all the "chores," I go to sit down and maybe (just maybe, hopefully, please God) sit down for a few minutes before it's time to feed Lindley one last time. I kid you not, as soon as my bottom touches the couch, I hear a noise. Surely, that was the t.v. or something. So, I go ahead and get more comfortable. Then, I hear it again. You've got to be kidding me, right? Sure enough, "Waaaaa!" Lindley is waking up. HOW does she know that I sat down? How does she know that I was trying to relax for just a few minutes?!?

This is going to be one of my questions for God when I get to Heaven. How (and why?) do kids just know?

Lanny thinks that I must sit down too loudly...careful, buddy! :)

Spiderman

We went to a fundraiser event at Ben's school. He actually got his face painted this year. In previous years, he has been deathly afraid of kids with painted faces (to the point where he was having nightmares).

I was really impressed with the lady who painted the faces. She did this in about 3 minutes....pretty amazing.

6 Month Dr. Visit

Lindley had her 6 month check up on Monday. She weighed 17 pounds and 2 ounces and was 26 1/2 inches long. She is in the 75th percentile for both height and weight! I really didn't think she would be as big because she was so little when she was born. Her head size was in the 30th percentile.

Developmentally, she was doing just okay. The doctor said that "she seems to be consistently about 2 weeks behind..." Which makes me wonder if she was just born too early since I was induced about 2 weeks ahead of my due date. I realize that it is fruitless to think about those things because you never know. But, I can't help but wonder. He said that if she isn't sitting on her own and rolling from back to tummy(she does go the other way) by 7 months, then we might need to have early childhood intervention come out. Other than that, she was doing everything else. I told the doc that it's just so hard for her to get over that belly!!

The doctor was also going to try to get our pulmonologist appointment moved up (it is now scheduled for May 16). And, we are going to have her head measured to see how asymmetrical it is to determine if she needs to wear a helmet.

That's all we know for now! She's still just a happy little baby!

Lindley is 6 Months Old!!

I can't believe it! Time goes by so fast with your first one, it's hard to imagine that it can be any faster. But, it is!! Things Lindley does at 6 mos:

-She smiles literally all the time. Sometimes she will even be smiling when she is trying to fuss!
-She talks alot! Sometimes it's more like a scream, but she really has stuff to say!
-She loves her big brother. The biggest laughs I have heard from her are when Ben is talking to her. Ben is still having a hard time understanding that he has to be gentle, but we are getting there...
-She blows raspberries all the time now; especially when she is full or bored.
-She is working really hard on sitting up. It is hard for her to stay upright because she likes to wiggle so much. She ends up falling backwards because her legs are moving so much!
-We are a little worried that her head is flat in the back because she truly hates her tummy time. That's on my list of (many) questions for the doc on Monday.
-She rolls from her tummy to her back, but not back to tummy. I think her tummy is too big to roll over!!

She is such a blessing to our lives!

My Friend the Photographer

We are so lucky to have a good friend who takes such great pictures. She took these one day when we were just hangin at our house.



She took some of Ben and Lindley together, but man, it is hard to get both kids to smile and look at the camera at the same time!!

Easter...finally

What an Easter weekend we had! I have been meaning to post about our Easter for a while now, but in all the craziness I haven't had a chance to.

Our Easter started off with an Easter hunt for Ben at school. They were each supposed to get 8 eggs each. Ben was really good about stopping when he had 8. Then, then all got confetti eggs that they were supposed to crack on their own head. None of the kids wanted to actually hit themselves in the head, so they just kind of cracked it with their hands and let the confetti fall in front of them!


On Saturday, we went to our dear neighborhood friends house for an Easter egg hunt and TONS of confetti eggs! The boys didn't really want to crack them on each other, and they ended up having the most fun throwing them at the wall!

Granna and Pappa came to visit, and we had an incredible Easter dinner on Saturday night! The Easter bunny visited the next morning. Ben had fun hunting the eggs that the Easter bunny left, and Lindley liked the pink grass and eggs in her Easter basket. Ben was a good big brother and hunted eggs on her behalf :)

Then it was off to church. It was colder than I had expected, so Ben didn't get to wear his "official" Easter outfit, but looked handsome nonetheless. I was afraid Lindley wouldn't have grown into her dress since I bought it before she was born, but she did!

Last but certainly not least, we hunted eggs again with our neighborhood friends. The moms hid eggs for the boys, then the boys hid the eggs for the moms, then the dads. Lindley had fun hangin' in her saucer during the hunting.

Click on the picture below for more Easter pictures.

Easter

Quick Update on Lindley

Lindley is doing much, much better! We saw the doctor on Monday, and he said that her ears were totally clear. And, you can just tell that she feels so much better. She is and always has been a smiley girl. And, even though she kept smiling through all of her sickness, her smile is a lot "happier" now!

March Madness

Lindley had her first (and hopefully only!) visit to the ER last night. She had been breathing really rapidly with fever starting on Wednesday of this week. I took her to the doc on Wednesday; he diagnosed her with a sinus infection, said she wasn't wheezing and sent us home. At 4 a.m. the next morning, she was breathing even faster, and I of course was freaking out. So, I talked to the doctor on the phone, who said sometimes kids breath fast because of fever. He told us to give her Tylenol and just watch her. Lanny stayed home with her on Thursday because I had some stuff at work that I couldn't get out of.

After lunch, her fever started to break, and we thought she was getting better. But, then she slept the whole afternoon and kind of stopped being herself. We talked to the doctor on the phone one more time about the breathing and he said if she stops eating or if her fever comes back, then we need to take her in (our doc's office stays open until 9p.m.). Of course, when we hung up the phone, she wouldn't take her next bottle, and her fever was back. So, we took her in to see the doctor that evening. He was concerned about her breathing because the pulse ox test (that measures the amount of oxygen in the blood) was a little low. He was also concerned because her soft spot was sticking up, and he said "it feels a little full..." SO, he sent us to the ER to be tested for MENINGITIS!! I honestly don't even remember what time we got to the ER. She had to have blood work, urine tests, an IV, and a spinal tap. I totally left the room for the spinal tap; I couldn't handle that. It was hard enough watching them put an IV in our poor little girl. She was such a trooper, though, and was even smiling at the nurses. She is such a sweet baby girl...

Anyway, after all that, we found out that she does NOT have meningitis, but she did have 2 bad ear infections and brochialitis. So, the pumped her up with antibiotics and motrin and sent us home. We got home a little after 2 a.m. Needless to say, we are pretty tired today since being up with her since 4 a.m. the previous morning. We take her back this afternoon for a follow up appointment.

Many, many thanks to all of our family and friends who stayed up praying for Lindley. Maybe we will know someday if it was their prayers that kept Lindley from having meningitis. We certainly felt their prayers. We are also so thankful that this happened on a weekend when my aunt and uncle and grandparents happened to be in town if we needed them. Brad drove from Arlington to stay with Ben so Lanny could come to the hospital...Much love to all.

Princess Diaries

The other day we were cleaning out a closet and Ben saw a picture of me in my wedding dress. He said to me, "Mommy, is this when you used to be a princess?" It was so sweet, and one of those "this is all worth it" moments!

Speaking of princesses, one of Lindley's favorite places to sleep is on my pillow. I don't get it, but she sleeps so well right on my pillow. Usually, she will sleep in her bed until about 6 am or so, and then she will sleep for about 2 more hours if I put her on my pillow. Since she has started cereal, though, she is starting to sleep longer in her own bed.

Lindley Eats...Cereal!

Lindley ate rice cereal for the first time last Sunday (3/9). Here is her "before"...


and "after"...
Do you think she likes it?
Here are some more funny cereal eating pictures...

A Singer and a Dancer

Benjamin got a guitar for Christmas, and we get concerts ALL the time! Santa did a good job this year! Here is a video of him singing and playing. After Ben sings, you can see Lindley dancing and laughing...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Perfect Peace (but not so perfect hair!)

Lindley just looked so peaceful when she was sleeping, I had to snap a picture. Of course, that disturbed her perfect peace, but it was worth the picture! Now, as for her hair, Lindley has had the craziest hair since Day 1. She has the hair line of a balding old man, and her hair itself is so crazy that it can stick literally straight out sideways (think Pippy Longstocking...).

Ben-ism's

Lanny and I like to keep a list of some of the funny things that Ben says or does. We call them "Ben-ism's." Here are a few of our favorites:

- One night I accidentally got the chicken a little to "brown" (read, I burnt the chicken). Ben sits down at the table and says, "But, I don't like chocolate chicken!"
- When Ben moved to the older class at school, there was already a Ben in that class, so his teachers started calling him Benjamin. I guess that confused both him and the kids at school because he now goes by "BenjaBen."
- He pointed at Lanny's nose and said, "Daddy, is that a nest in there?"
- He can't say Lightning McQueen very well, and it comes out sounding like "Wipin Na Queen." He said that very loudly in a store one day, and I almost died!

There are so many of these; he really keeps us laughing.

Re-Blogging

We started our blog a long time ago, but you can tell from the date of the last post how good we were at keeping it updated! So, here is our second attempt at blogging. Hopefully, we will be better at it this time around!

A lot has changed since our last post. We moved to Dallas in July 2006, and Lanny changed jobs when we moved. He really likes the company.

Benjamin is now 3 1/2, and he is all boy! He loves all things sports and is very active...here is a recent picture.

We also added another bundle of joy to our family! Lindley Kate was born on October 11, 2007. She weighed 6 lbs 1 oz when she was born, but she has grown really fast! At her four month check up she weighed 14 lbs!!! She also recently started rolling from tummy to back. This picture was taken by one of my good friends (she is an excellent photographer).

I (Missy) still work for Deloitte part-time. I have really appreciated the opportunities that Deloitte has extended to me with their flexibility.

I have enjoyed reading my friend's blogs when I have a free second (which isn't often), so hopefully with this second attempt at blogging, you can stay in touch with us!