An update...finally

Okay, I know you may be thinking that I am a terrible blogger...well, I have no excuse other than to say that I must be. Please forgive me. We have been quite busy. I will give you a quick update and some pictures (the pictures are my favorite part :))
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In October the kids and I went to Louisiana and spent most of the week. We had a great time and were able to see quite a few friends and work in a few mule (ATV) rides for Karl Mikal. He absolutely loves being at Modder and Poppy's house. We also had two cousin birthday parties to go to as well. And in October Karl Mikal was in the hospital with bronchialitis. We only spent one night, but that was enough. He is doing much better now and has only needed the inhaler a few times since.
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November was also busy with Thanksgiving. We went to Lubbock to visit family and had a great time there.
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This month we have celebrated 2 cousins birthdays and are looking forward to Christmas. We also just got back from the allergist office for a 1 year follow up and to get some testing done for the Oral Desensitization Therapy we are scheduled to start on January 14th. I will write more about that later.
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On to the pictures...here are some from October.

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Heidi posing with our (mine and hers) namesake. This is the original Gwili. Heidi can already tell what a special lady she is.While in Abilene for my nephew's birthday party, we stopped by ACU for homecoming. Karl Mikal enjoyed sliding down the slide in the bounce house. He did this several times.

Do you see the crayon on his face? Thank goodness they are non-toxic!

Posing at a Halloween party with Daddy. Heidi is a flower and Karl Mikal was Thomas the Tank Engine.

Isn't she the cutest flower you have ever seen? And from November:

These are two of my friends from college and their kids. We had a great time at the Arboretum in Dallas.

Heidi slept a lot of the time that we were there.Karl Mikal loves being outside! He really enjoyed "helping" me rake the leaves. He used a small broom. It was a little less dangerous that way.The kids with Daddy.Heidi was 4 months old in November. What a big girl! She was in the 95th percentile on length! Wow!

And finally December...

It just isn't a party unless the whole gang is here! He even fit the yellow bus in the rocker.

These toes are just too irresistible! I like to nibble them too!Karl Mikal loves to read! It isn't unusual to find him reading a book on his own. I really hope that I can keep that going.

Both kids have inspected the ornaments on the tree. This particular day I was trying to get some pics for our Christmas card.Heidi is looking at one of the ornaments that Karl's parents made. There are some really pretty ones in the bunch.And here is the best part of Christmas cookies...SPRINKLES!!! And mom wasn't looking. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I will try to keep the blog a bit more up to date. Don't give up on me.

Glamour Shots!

Here are some pics of Heidi I took for the Baby Blessing Day at church recently. We had to send them a picture of our little one to put in a slide show. What mom doesn't just love taking pictures of her baby? So here they are....Enjoy!

I soon realized that keeping Karl Mikal out of the picture and off of his sister was a bit of a challenge. So I trapped him...needless to say he was not too amused.Oh well, he got over it.

One year and a week ago...

One year and a week ago we were in the Emergency Room at Trinity Medical in Carrollton after Karl Mikal had a severe allergic reaction. I will never forget that morning. It was a one of the longest mornings I have ever had. Everything from the blueberry muffin that kicked it all off, to big Karl passing out, to the ambulance ride to Children's is forever in my brain.

Over the last year I have felt a full range of emotions about living with food allergies. I am sure that there will still be a full range of emotions as we continue to live with food allergies. I am always so excited when a recipe works, but frustrated when the exact same recipe doesn't work again. I sometimes get so tired of having to pack up a lunch for Karl Mikal everywhere we go and I find myself irritated that we can't just go through the drive thru line and pick something up. My heart lights up when I make something and Karl Mikal looks at me and says "Yummie". I am sometimes embarrassed at the scene I feel like we are making when we do eat at a restaurant. I find myself wanting to explain why we are wiping the table down and the highchair and bringing our own food in for him and using a disposable place mat even after we have wiped the table and when Karl and I eat everything with a fork/knife including the bread that was made to tear and be eaten with your hands. And even after all of that we are still a stress case because everything in the building we are in feels contaminated and dangerous for our little guy.

But at the end of the day I say a prayer of thanking God for my little guy. I wouldn't trade him for the world!!!

Here are some pics from that day .

You can see the IV in his arm. That was no fun at all! The pink on his arms are hives that came back after he got sick just after we were told we were about to be released. This changed their minds and that is when the IV went in to give him more meds since he just got rid of the ones that they gave him earlier.

Things weren't exciting enough, so Big Karl decided to liven things up by passing out when Karl Mikal got his IV. He was told to sit and was given oxygen. This is after sitting for a while.

Here we were getting ready for the ambulance ride. Karl Mikal's car seat is strapped onto the bed.

Here we are getting ready to go inside (I was able to ride with him). Too bad Uncle Jamey couldn't be the one to drive us over (my brother is a paramedic).

As I said before I would not trade this little guy for anything! He has brought so much joy to our lives. We are truly blessed!

State Fair

The Texas State Fair was recently in town and so off we went. On the way to the fair and several days leading up to the day we picked to go, I couldn't help but think of all the fun Karl Mikal was going to have on the kiddie rides. He is so into driving his little Cozy Coupe and sitting in the driver's seat of our car, that I just knew he would have a blast riding the little cars, boats, and motorcycles at the fair.

So as soon as we got into the fair we bought our tickets and quickly found the kid rides. Now Karl thought it might be best to start off with a ride that one of us could ride with him. However, I thought it would be best to start with something he would enjoy like the cars. Karl Mikal spotted the little boats and was so excited. Karl took him in and set him in the boat with the red sail. (He didn't want the blue sail.) As Karl is buckling up Karl Mikal I begin to see to look of fear come across my little boy's face. Karl looks to me and I motion for him to come on out and lets just give it a go. Well, all of my happy images of Karl Mikal loving the rides quickly go away. By the time he made three laps in the boat, he had taken his binkie out, and was wailing. The whole time his head is shaking NO! NO! The kind man operating the boats stopped the ride for us to get our screaming child off. Needless to say, we didn't ride any more rides.

This is the boat that he picked out.
He really didn't think this was any fun!
Sweet, sweet Daddy! He ran on the outside of the fence all three laps trying to encourage our little guy that this was really fun..

Daddy to the rescue.
Bubbles were much more fun.

This is my sleeper. She slept most of the time.

Despite the rough start we did a have good time just walking around the fair. We looked at the trains that are all around Big Tex and watched the bird show. It was a good day. I look forward to next year when maybe the rides will be more of a hit.

Happy Anniversary

Just about a month ago Karl and I celebrated our 4th anniversary. Sometimes it is hard to believe that we have been married 4 years and other times it seems like it has been longer (in a good way). Thinking back to where we started and where we are now is a lot of fun for us. Let me see if I can highlight the details:

• Set up on a blind date in Abilene, TX - dated a few months and decided it just wasn't going to work out


• Almost two years later both of us moved to Dallas (without the other ones knowledge) and saw each other on I-20 - traffic was slow, so we rolled down the windows and exchanged numbers


• Finally went to dinner about 5 months later - Karl said, " Wouldn't this be a great story to tell our grandkids?" Without much of a pause, I told him that I wasn't going to date him again.


• After about five months of just being friends, we started dating again.


• Dated about a year and a half and decided to get married


• Got married during Hurricane Rita - the all outdoor wedding was moved indoors in about 24 hours - our preacher cancelled and my uncle married us - and we left a day late for our honeymoon...fun times and many good memories


• Celebrated our first anniversary at Mount Rushmore


• Celebrated our second anniversary by going to see the Lion King at the State Fair


• Celebrated our third anniversary by going to see the Eagles in concert


• Now our fourth anniversary and two kids later we had a nice dinner at home with Winnie the Pooh on in the background and Pooh singing, "I'm Just a Little Black Rain Cloud" and Heidi nursing.

I wouldn't trade it for the world!

The small plates on the corner belong to Karl Mikal. And yes, this will be a great story to tell our grandkids. :)

Karl Mikal and Heidi

I can't believe that our sweet boy is 20 months old and our baby girl is almost 2 months old! Time has certainly flown by. Since this is our first post, I thought that I would fill you in on the kids and how we are adjusting. Here goes...

Karl Mikal is a great big brother. He loves his little sister. He pats her on the back, helps change diapers by getting wipes ready, carries her binkie around the house, and loves to be on the floor beside her. We haven't seen any negative behavior towards his little sister. Thank goodness!!! Of course, adding a new sister to the house didn't come without any changes from him. Karl and I both agree that for a while things became more dramatic. A fall that used to just be a fall, was a big deal. He gets louder and louder if you don't answer him right away and the funniest thing is that he will lay on the floor and wimper for attention. If that doesn't work, then he bumps his head (on purpose) onto the wall until a soft thud is heard and comes looking for lovies. A little hug and kiss-then he is on his way. For the most part though, he seems to have adjusted well.

Heidi is great! She is really starting to "wake up". When we talk to her she finds our voice and responds with a smile. She has dimples on both sides of her cheeks that are just so sweet. I can assure you it completely melts her daddy's heart! She rolled over once when she was 4 weeks old and hasn't done it since. Now when she is placed on her belly she either fusses or goes to sleep. I am not sure that belly time is supposed to play out like that. We will keep trying. She is a big sleeper. Most nights she gives us a 5 or 6 hour stretch. We certainly can't complain. As I say often, she is a keeper!

As far as Karl and I, we feel so very blessed. God has blessed our lives with two beautiful and healthy children. Although we are more tired than before and it seems that we haven't had "us" time in a long time, all the smiles, giggles, and love in our house makes us feel very complete.

Here are a few pics to leave you with:

Heidi's first picture with mom.
Heidi's first picture with dad. First family picture.
Karl Mikal sharing his bed with Heidi.

Karl Mikal sharing the bouncy seat with Heidi.