First haircut...okay, trim, really

On Monday, July 28, I took Aaris to Great Clips to get her first haircut. One of the hairstylists there goes to my Mom and Dad's church. I told her that I like Aaris having long hair, but that I needed the damaged, uneven parts cut off. Aaris was VERY excited and had been talking about this for months. Yes, that's how long it took me because I just love her long hair. Not very much length came off, but it's healthier and even. Aaris then got her hair dried with a hairdryer for the first time. Her hair looked so pretty all blown out straight. So, it wasn't much of a cut, but it was the official first time.

First Sleepover

Friday night, Aug. 25, Aaris had her first sleepover here at our house with her dearest friend, Sara Poppe. I guess Titus did, too, since we also had Samuel for the night, but they didn't sleep in the same room. The girls were non-stop from the moment Sara got here. We all had a great time. The Poppe's kids are just so sweet hearted and obedient. The girls pulled out every single piece of dress up clothes and normal clothes there are in Aaris's room and tried them all on. They imagined great stories and pretend play together. The boys were boys and just played with any toy they could get their hands on. We ordered pizza and watched about 40 minutes of the movie "An American Tale". At bedtime it was just adorable to see the kids play together in the bubble baths. As I was taking the picture of Aaris and Sara brushing their teeth I noticed that they had switched toothbrushes and toothpaste, but it was too late to stop it. Oops. I put a monitor in Aaris's room so that I could try to be a fly on the wall for the conversations that the girls would have when going to sleep. It was quite hysterical at times. And all of you who know Aaris will get a kick out of what Aaris told Sara for why she didn't want to stop talking: "I like to talk. It's just what I do." Aaris slept on the top bunk and Sara slept on the bottom, but only by promising that next time Sara could sleep on the top. They finally fell asleep around 9:45 that night. The next morning the girls were up bright an early at 7:15 because they were so excited to play together some more. Again, they tore up Aaris's room pulling out everything they could dress up in and play with. I also went to the donut shop and brought home donuts for everyone. They were jumping with joy. The boys had a great time and actually started to play together. Aaron took them outside for some basketball and wore them out I think. Our sleepover ended around 11:30 with both Aaris and Sara being truly sad that it was over. Aaris is already asking me when Sara is coming over again. Oh, and I must say that I adore girls and their emotional openness because one time the girls were in the middle of a game and running upstairs when you hear Aaris just say out of the blue, "I love you Sara." Then, Sara instantly said back, "I love you the best Aaris." Makes my heart melt.

The Results Are In

Today we had our ultrasound for our third little baby. And after having both the assistant and the doctor look and check, it appears as if we are going to be having another girl. Yes, I said girl. I have to keep saying it because I was 99% sure it was going to be a boy. Aaris is really excited. I think she will be a very loving and helpful big sister. And, Titus, well, I hope he will follow Aaris's lead. I had a boy name picked out, but not a single idea for a girl. So, my search must begin. Also, if anyone out there has baby girl clothes they wouldn't mind passing down, we would love to borrow them. I have boxes of baby girl clothes in my attic, but they are for a summer baby. Anyone planning on having a girl in the summer time? Anyway, I also am 21 weeks (5 months) along now and needed to take another belly shot, so I included that as well. Oh, and I get to see our baby girl again in another 3 weeks. Since Aaris had heart problems they want to do a complete in-depth heart scanning and ultrasound at 24 weeks. The doctor said we can confirm that it's still a girl then as well. I think he could tell that I was still in shock and having a hard time being convinced that it was not a boy. Overall, I'm just thrilled that everything checked out well and right on track today. Thank You God for blessing us with another angel from heaven. (Oh, and in the ultrasound picture above, yes, those are her LEGS, fully extended, stretched out straight over her head! lol)

June Travels - #2

At the end of our stay with my brother and sister, we were joined by Aaron. His dad's side of the family is really close and they still find a way to get together every year. We have started a Christmas in July tradition, but it was changed just a little this year to be Christmas in June for a very good reason. Aaron's cousin, Jason, was getting married to his fiance, Michelle. So we all gathered for a wedding/reunion. As usual, it was a fantastic time. We all got loved on tremendously (especially the kids), ate great food (especially the cook-out feasts), played games, went swimming, and witnessed a beautiful wedding. Aaron's cousin Alicia and her husband have a precious girl named Bethany who is 6 years old. Aaris and Bethany were inseparable. Titus just tried to keep up with them. He also got to play with his cousin, Cosette, who is Aaron's brother, Alan, and his wife's little girl. I truly hope that Aaron's and my siblings and nieces and nephews stay as close knit at this family does. Oh, and just a side note about the wedding. Aaris feel in love with Michelle, the bride. She just thought she hung the moon. She wanted to watch her all night long, and she even pretended to be her. What little girl wouldn't think that a beautiful woman all dressed up like a princess wasn't the greatest thing ever? :)

June Travels #1

Towards the end of June the kids and I took a road trip to the Dallas area. Both my brother, and sister and brother-in-law had purchased their very first homes at the beginning of April. With Aaris's surgery we were not able to see them until now. We first went and spent a couple of days at my brother's house. We had fun with our old family tradition of "pizza and movie Friday night". Then on Saturday we went and swam at his community pool and it really is the day that Aaris started truly swimming strongly all on her own. We also fed ducks at the pond in his community, had food from his grill, and just had a wonderful time. Oh, and I can't forget that he has two brand new kittens and the kids just had a blast playing and petting them. Then, we headed to my sister and brother-in-law's house for a couple of days. We got spoiled with homemade meals every night and the most delicious homemade decorated sugar cookies ever. One day we went to a train museum in Plano where they live. The kids had a blast. They liked the motorized train set and getting to get on a true authentic train as well. The next day we went to the Dallas Aquarium run by the zoo. It wasn't very big, but oh my goodness the kids were so excited and just had the best time. Aaris still remembers the sting rays we swam with 2 years ago on our family cruise, so she was ecstatic to see them, but the shark was their favorite. Right outside the Aquarium they had the biggest lily pond I had ever seen and some beautiful bridged pathways over the pond the kids liked walking on. While with Aunt Hattie and Uncle Mark, we also went to their community park which is the most gorgeous park I have ever been to. We played games with the kids in their backyard and even got to go swimming at Mark's parents' house. The kids had never jumped off a diving board before. Titus couldn't get enough. Aaris just wanted to use it as a way of getting deeper in the water to swim. I always joke now that Aaris will be my swim racer, and Titus will be my diver. I love my brother and sister dearly and treasure any time that I get to spend with them.

Moment not to forget

Titus and Aaris have been fighting a bad virus for the last 4 days. Not only had they been having soaring temperatures during the day, but at night as well. Titus had been up the last three nights with 102 or higher temperatures. Last night was no exception. He woke me up at 2:00 am and his temperature was 103 under his arm. I had been worrying already, but that really started to get me anxious and overly concerned. We went downstairs after taking some Motrin and Titus drank from his selected drinks: juice, "ice" water (he repeats ice so I understand), and Soy milk. He drank and drank and drank and just sat and laid on me for about 45 minutes on the couch in front of the t.v. Towards the end of our time he started saying "pway". I thought he meant "play". But, that didn't make any sense because he was not feeling well. He repeated his request several more times. Finally, after realizing that I was not understanding him, he sat up off of my chest, grabbed one of my hands, looked me in the eyes and said "pway". Oh, my goodness, he meant "pray". I asked him if that was what he meant and he said "yea". So, I said a prayer, "Dear God, please break Titus's fever and let him start to get all better. In Jesus's name we pray, Amen." He then said, "more", so I repeated the same prayer over and over and over again because he kept asking for more. I probably said it a little over 20 times before we stopped. I really don't know if that was Titus asking me to pray, or if God knew I was really worrying and needed to remind me to focus back on Him and hand my worries back over to Him. Either way I was greatly touched by the moment and don't want to forget it.

Happy 4th of July

What a fantastic 4th of July we had!!!! It started off with breakfast at the donut shop where both Aaris and Titus decided that they wanted to just eat the icing off of their donut and then ask for some of mommy's cinnamon roll. Then it was off to the movies. Mimi and Papaw (Jessica's parents) had invited Aaris to go see "WALL-E" with them, but Aaron, being the biggest movie buff in our family, decided that it would be fun for all of us to join them. It was a fun movie. Aaris did her normal thing and asked questions throughout the movie. Titus sat still through the previews and first 10 minutes of the movie, but then decided that I would be his personal gymnasium the rest of the movie. He never cried so I call it a success. He did talk just a little and otherwise he was entertained by feeding me popcorn or crawling all over me. It was a fun time for everyone though. We wrapped up our fun time with Mimi and Papaw and my grandmother by heading over to Culvers for lunch. The kids went down for a nap and Aaron and I rented "The Bucket List". I really liked it and seeing it on Blu-Ray was beautiful because of the spectacular scenes it had. A little after 5:00 pm we headed downtown. We got a great parking space and then headed over to Schlotzsky's for dinner. We were in no rush so it was nice. After we finished we walked two blocks down and went to Butler District Park. They just installed this great water fountain play area for the kids. It's really big and it shoots up water at different heights, times, and patterns. There are 10 minute breaks between the run times and the kids all run to the wading pools around the fountains to play and splash. We stayed there for about 1 1/2 hours while the kids played and all the other people started to come in for the big show. After the kids got dried off we sat down for another snack. We found the PERFECT spot to sit for the fireworks show. It was on a hill right by Butler Park and our view was Town Lake and the Austin skyline. The weather was really nice. Aaris decided to try rolling down the hill and had a blast. Then the kids and I walked to the edge of the pond and had fun sticking our hands in and letting all the little minnow fish come up and nibble/kiss our fingers. The music concert put on by the Austin Symphony Orchestra then started at 8:30 pm. The fireworks started at 9:30 pm. They were AMAZING. It was so long and so HUGE. Most were bigger than the buildings when they exploded. A lot of them felt like they were just going to come down and cover us. Aaris really liked them even though she kept her hands over her ears the whole time because of the noise. Titus got scared right away. He just crawled up on my lap, laid his head on my chest and held on tight. He told me he was scared for about 5-10 minutes but then was completely silent the rest of the time. Never cried. I got him to turn his head one time to still see the fireworks but after about 15 seconds he turned it away again. After the fireworks we did some sparklers of our own. Aaris and Titus were both timid, but after Aaris tried it once she was hooked and didn't want to stop. Titus was brave enough to try once, but just liked watching me after that. We got home around 11:00 pm and everyone went right to sleep and even slept in this morning. It was a great day.