And Friends are Friends Forever

Last weekend, Tate and I flew to Dallas to meet up with a bunch of my seminary girlfriends. We were pleasantly surprised by my cancelled flight (which had included a long Atlanta layover) being replaced by a direct flight that made getting there so much easier. We met up at Christina Walker's new house in Dallas, TX (now a fellow manse-dweller) and had so much fun chatting,eating, seeing a movie, shopping, etc. It wasn't a terribly long trip but a much appreciated change of pace for me and a much needed time with great friends. Here's a picture of us: Ami (8 months pregnant and really cute), Christina, Laurie and Kristina. We missed you Brandy!!

Tate's New Trick!

Watch this video on youtube of Tate performing his latest trick (he's training for the circus) More to come on this as he progresses ...

How we spend our days ...

Since Tyler's started school, Eben and I have spent a lot more time together. That means he's my #1 laundry assistant. Here he is "helping out"

We have a playground!

A wonderful volunteer group from Minnesota had a little time on their hands so they decided to build us our playground. We had bought it a few weeks ago but didn't have the manpower available to assemble it. About a day and half after they'd begun, tah-dah! we have a playground in our backyard! Tyler and Eben spent the bulk of the day on it. Then, tonight we hosted a Mardi Gras party for the families in Rebecca's Mom's Group. So, we were able to break it in right away with a bunch of toddlers trying it out. Beware, the slide is fast!

Better pictures coming soon - for now, here's an idea ...

We found ourselves on YouTube!

Last night a group that visited from NYC sent us a link to a video they'd posted on YouTube documenting their trip here. They built our backyard fence so we appear in the video here and there. Then, we looked over at "Related Links" and saw a video of our house while still being constructed! It's kindof strange to see a video camera walk through your house and it's on the internet without you even knowing! Anyway, here are the links.

The NYC video was taken last week and includes looks at the devastation right here by us that still exists, lots of shots of our new fence (hooray!) and the interior of the church as well as several of the kids. This group was just here last week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMJNrdNHgXY

These two are from a group that came back in October. The first is a walk through of the house (looking a little different than it does now). The second is a quick 360 of the church property.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk3GydvJLro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvMSE13fvtI

Little Man Tate ... not so little

Tate had his four month checkup today and weighed in at 17.1 lbs and 25 inches. He's at about average for a six month old. Then the doctor said, "Do big heads run in your family?" And I just laughed!

This is a picture of him at the doctor's office while we were waiting for Tyler's diagnosis (he was very worried for her). Read more on that below.

The sick little thing!

While at the doctor today for Tate's four month checkup, Tyler coughed (she's had a cough for 36 hours or so) and the nurse says, "Well, that's quite a cough" the naive mom that I am (and always the optimist) says, "Yeah, do you think we should have you guys look at that?" She says definitely, gets a count of the oxygen in Tyler's capillaries which is very low and within minutes, Tyler's sitting in the doctor's office having her first breathing treatment! I took this picture with my phone so I could show her what she looked like and try to make her laugh. It didn't work.

The verdict is: walking pnuemonia. The doctor says her lungs sound like Rice Krispies and the breathing treatment did help but not a ton. Now she's on an antibiotic and something to loosen things up in her lungs. She's also watching TV 24/7. I miss her spunk!