Fort Worth Cats

Stephen's last day of school was Saturday, and we kicked off our summer of family fun (that also includes a long list of projects!) Sunday evening with our first baseball game as a family. We went with some friends to see the independent baseball team in town, the Fort Worth Cats. I miss my Cincinnati Reds, but the kid-friendliness and smaller atmosphere was great!

 A picture before the game. You can tell by the red, sweaty faces that we're well into our Texas summer!

Evie was giddy!

 She loved watching the Cat mascot and pointed to him all evening. Nate got to spend the evening with his friend, Adelia, which made the game even better for him.

All the kids get to run the bases at the end of the game.
Here's Nate running towards home.

Backing Up

Let's back up a little bit. Here are a few pictures that should have been posted earlier.

First, I know this isn't a great picture, but I love it because it's a good picture of our life. We spend A LOT of time playing outside, and a lot of that time is spent dribbling, kicking, throwing, or hitting a ball. Nate has been working hard on his basketball skills, so here he's focusing hard on dribbling and Evie is in the background kicking the soccer ball. This is what we do. We're excited for Stephen to install our new basketball goal next week!

Nate ended up having a good soccer season. He even kicked a goal, although we're pretty sure it was an accident. Right place at the right time! He got over his fear of playing about the same time others were tired of playing, so it worked out well.

 One final attempt at a team picture. Nate was standing next to Bruno, the Brazilian superstar. Seriously, if you could go pro at age 4, I think he'd be drafted.

Coach giving Nate his trophy.

Evie's 2nd Birthday

Evie turned two last Wednesday! She visited the doctor on her birthday, and she's a healthy little girl. I'm also happy to say that we've reintroduced milk into her diet and she's doing really well with it. I guess it was a temporary lactose intolerance, so we're very thankful for that. Here are some pictures of my sweet birthday girl:

 Eating french toast for her birthday breakfast.

 Nate needed to be in the picture too!

 Opening her gift from Aunt Liza - a baby feeding and diapering kit. It's definitely the new favorite toy around here!

 Her baby went mysteriously missing when we opened the gift, so Teddy had to wear the bib and diaper and eat baby food!

 I made a teddy bear cake to match Evie's teddy bear. My creativity was running kind of low this birthday, but I was happy with how it turned out. And she loved it!

We had a small party for Evie Friday night, but we only have video from that. I made sure we got our picture taken together with the cake before the gang arrived!

Baby Blan #3

I'm pregnant! We've been telling our good news for almost a week now, but I've failed to post it here. Baby Blan #3 is due to arrive December 16th. And I can finally give my real reason for a recent lack of posts: fatigue and nausea. First trimester gifts! I guess baby #3 means three times the fun? But I'm almost 11 weeks now, so it should be ending soon.

The following picture is obviously not a recent one, but we've had a serious lack of picture taking lately. And I've been thinking about my big, round baby bellies, so this one came to mind. We were sitting next to the Bosphorus in Istanbul about a month before Nate arrived. Sweet memories.

Soy Cheese Doesn't Melt

One of the reasons I haven’t blogged much in the last few weeks is that I’ve had the extra task of figuring out what to feed my probably lactose intolerant/possibly dairy allergic daughter. We’ll visit a pediatric gastroenterologist on Thursday to try to get some answers.

Anyway, a couple months ago Evie had an awful stomach bug that completely wiped her out. But after she was over it she continued to have diarrhea, going through at least ten diapers a day. That continued for three or four weeks while I continued to talk to the doctor, giving stool samples for parasite analysis and to see if she had an intestinal infection.  Everything came back negative, so they finally told me to eliminate milk and anything containing milk from her diet.

When we returned from Kentucky three weeks ago I started her on a milk-free diet, and within three days she had normal bowel movements. So we’ve just been waiting for her doctor’s appointment (and you know you can’t see a doctor in a reasonable amount of time in America) to know what to do next.

Meanwhile, I’ve had what has been one of the most challenging tasks – to eliminate milk and cheese from Evie’s diet. Baking with soy milk (yuck!). Substituting oil for butter (isn’t butter a super food?). Fixing cheese-free meals. Enduring fits because I’ve tried not to alter Nate’s diet more than is necessary, so she doesn’t understand why he gets to eat cheese crackers and yogurt and she doesn’t. Eating out even less than our rare outing because I’m not yet up for figuring out what in the world doesn’t have milk in it, and then deciding what she might eat from that small selection. The list goes on.

So, to anyone out there who has experience with lactose intolerance, I’d love some advice! I’m still hoping this is a temporary thing, but until then I could seriously use some help. I’ll keep you posted.

Getaway

The kids and I escaped to Kentucky last week. I, once again, braved a couple flights by myself with the kids and visited my sister for about 6 days. It worked out perfectly for us to be there last weekend because we got to spend Easter with my brother and his wife's family. I can't remember the last time the three of us were together on Easter, but I know it's been at least 8 years. Besides leaving Stephen behind in Texas, it was a really good visit.

As usual, I didn't capture many pictures. But Mom's piano is at my sister's house now, so I did get some pictures of Nate and Evie playing it. It's always a lot of fun for them. I can't wait for the day we have a piano here! Maybe then I'll actually get a chance to play too. Little piano hogs!

Their first duet!

Nate giving a music lesson.

Singing and playing ...

You know she's serious when she takes out the pacifier!

Date with Dinosaurs

Today was the first day of Dinosaurs Unleashed at the Fort Worth Zoo. It's a temporary exhibit that includes 12 life-size dinosaurs who open and close their mouths, roar, and move limbs. And they all once lived in Texas. There was a special zoo member preview this morning before normal zoo hours, so Nate and I made a date of it.

 First things first - complimentary Krispy Kreme donuts and milk for early comers.

They looked very real. I was impressed!

 Nate refused to get any closer than that to this one. I guess he was extra scary!

 Members also got to ride the carousel and train for free today.

We took advantage of it and rode both. I'd rather stand in a long line to ride for free than pay any day. Nate would beg to differ!

N-A-T-E

I've been teaching Nate to recognize, spell orally, and write his name. We bought these Super Why learning game cards, and he's been using them to spell his name and other words (with my instruction of course). And I've printed some traceable letter sheets from the internet so he can practice writing his letters. Here's a picture of his name written with sidewalk chalk. The one he wrote is closest to him. Not bad!

Sick Girl

Evie has been sick AGAIN! Maybe it's because Nate so rarely gets sick, but it seems like Evie is sick all the time. And she has a really sensitive gag reflex, so when she gets sick it usually involves lots of vomiting, which involves lots of mess! She's been in someone's arms or in her bed since Sunday night, but she's FINALLY happy and playing a little. Stephen stayed home today because I'm on the edge of craziness after the last couple days. No comments please.

I put Evie down for a minute on Monday to change the laundry, and this is how I found her when I came back. This is just the second time one of our kids has fallen asleep in the living room. Maybe they're a little too trained to only sleep in their beds!

Botanic Garden

Last week was Stephen's spring break. We stayed in town and did a whole lot of nothing (except for stay up too late watching movies). But we did spend one morning at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, where Stephen captured these sweet pictures of the kids. Thankfully we visited the pond before Nate chased the soccer ball through muddy grass and soaked his shoes and jeans with muddy water, or these wouldn't have been taken!

First Game

Nate had his first soccer game yesterday. Here's the recap:

 He was really excited before the game.

 He was a bit disinterested once we got to the field.

He played for about three minutes the first quarter, and then he spent the rest of the game with me on the sidelines crying because he didn't want to play anymore, begging for Evie's snacks, and playing in the grass. He said he was afraid of the purple guys (the other team was purple). Maybe he's too young to play after all!

Biker Chick

When Nate got this little motorcycle for his second birthday, his legs were barely long enough to ride it. Evie will turn two in May, and she's already tall enough to ride it! She's a little slow still, but I'm really glad to not be pushing her around anymore.

 It takes a lot of concentration to get those legs coordinated.

 Stopping for a cheesy smile.

Soccer practice

I never understood why parents would make their kids start playing sports at such early ages. Until I had my own kid! Nate LOVES anything that involves hitting, kicking, or throwing a ball. So he's playing spring soccer for a YMCA team. He had his first practice last night. Here are the pics:

 I put Nate's shin guards and cleats on early and told him to go run around to make sure they fit well. Evidently they do. He couldn't stop running!

 Nate was supposed to put his arm around Evie's shoulder for the picture. 

I think he confused her neck for her shoulder.

 At practice.

Showing off his skills.

Scooter games

Yesterday, while I was fixing dinner, Nate came riding into the kitchen on his scooter with a book in hand. He sat down on the scooter to "read," but Evie had a much better plan. She came up behind him and started pushing - most likely in an attempt to torment him - but it turned into a fantastic game! I think you can tell how much fun they had by the looks on Nate's face. AND I got to finish fixing dinner to the tune of laughter instead of the normal whiny meltdown. Thanks, Evie!

I think you should know

We found out I was pregnant a few weeks ago, but unfortunately the news I'm sharing is that I lost the baby. We hadn't told that I was pregnant yet, and because of the bad weather last week my doctor's appointment was canceled. I suspected that something wasn't right, though, because I was having a lot of cramping and spotting. So I wasn't surprised when I miscarried Saturday night.

I've missed my mom a lot this past week. This is one of those times when moms know what to say and do. And my mom also miscarried between her second and third children, so I've wondered how she felt and how she'd comfort me. But I'm still learning that God knows best how to comfort His children and that there is no greater comfort than His.

Throughout the past week Stephen and I have talked about my first miscarriage and how the Lord was so near to us and how He guarded our hearts. The coolest part of that was that my mom just happened to be flying into Istanbul for her first visit to Turkey on the same day that we were flying into Istanbul for me to have a d&c. So she was there the whole time. And after the procedure we got to spend a few days in Istanbul showing her our favorite sights until I was cleared to fly back to our city.

Even though we can't see all that God is doing now since we're still in the midst of it, I do know that it was really good of Him to allow Stephen to be home all week last week while I was cramping and spotting and nervous about what was going on. AND my sister is pregnant! I could not be more thrilled and excited for her! We have so much to rejoice over and be thankful for that it really is hard to be sad.

So, because I can't blog without posting a picture, here's one from that visit with Mom. This was taken after we flew back to our city. That's Mt. Ararat in the background - one of our very favorite sights!

Snowed In

I was kind of dreading this week because Stephen was going to be working long hours and getting home late every evening. But, what a surprise! We had an ice and snow storm Monday night that closed school for the rest of the week. Instead of him being gone all week, he was trapped inside with a rambunctious preschooler, a whiny toddler, and a hormonal wife. I feel kind of sorry for him. But selfishly I'm SO glad it didn't turn out to be the long week I was expecting. And we've had some good family time. Here are a few pics from the week.

 Nate making a snow angel in the driveway.

 Evie couldn't move very well with all her layers.

Nate has been riding his scooter in circles around and around and around the house.
He stopped to pose for a picture.

 Finger painting.