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.