Austin is a 2 wheeler now!

We took Austin to the greenbelt down the street for his first attempt to ride without training wheels. He did GREAT! We took them off his old, smaller bike first. Once he has gotten really good there we will take them off his new bike.
He fell down quite a lot, as should be expected. But he got back on every time. I think the biggest hurdle he has to overcome is learning to look in front of him, instead of down or behind himself. As long as he's looking ahead he does great.
Here is a clip.

I am now at 37 weeks. I don't even know what to say anymore that isn't blatant complaining.
"Jesus, please just get me past this week, then I don't care what birthday he has."

I have a cold, again. Third time in 2 months. (yeah, I know, whining. whatever)

Darryl is an amazing man. Did I ever tell you that? He is taking such good care of us and is putting up with so much. I am not exactly a pleasant person to be around these days. Can you nominate someone for sainthood just for being married to me while I'm pregnant?
He is at his Lasik evaluation right now. I pray that he will be able to have the surgery. Oh, the difference that will make for him.

Austin needs my attention right now. He's been a little needy himself lately.

More later.

8pm
Hooray, Darryl is good to go for the Lasik. We may even be able to schedule it on Thursday the 3rd. The relief is physical. I am so happy for him.
We'll let you know how it goes.
Thanks for the prayers!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning 2007! What a beautiful day. Austin let us sleep until 8am. That was our Christmas present. He was so excited to see the beautiful red bike that Santa left for him. Here's a link to the video of him riding his New Bike for the first time.
He's super anxious for us to take the training wheels off but that will have to wait until he practices a little on his old bike. We are taking him to the big greenbelt down the street so that all the falling that will happen can be on grass. I have my band aids and kisses ready.
He also got a TON of Hot Wheels. He and Darryl have been doing some serious bonding over them. Darryl picked up a case of his old Hot Wheels from when he was a kid from his Mom's. It is a beautiful thing to watch.
We have had a very full week and hope that today will be nice and quiet.
On Thursday the 20th we met Mimi and Papa and Aunt Carrie to go looking at Christmas Lights on Cherry St. They always have such beautiful displays.
Saturday we had our big family get together at Laurel's new house. What a beautiful home! It was a wonderful evening with family, food and a tornado of kids plowing through wrapping paper. Everyone had a wonderful time. Thanks again to Laurel and Barb for hosting such a nice evening.
Sunday we went to Mimi and Papa's for dinner with Uncle Rod and Danielle and Maci. Austin and Maci had a wonderful time playing ball and coloring with chalk. Austin received a wonderful Cowboy Dress-up costume from Aunt Danielle. He LOVED it! Uncle Rod knew just what to get when he picked out the Hot Wheels Race Track. It's a Hot Wheels year.

Christmas Eve we hosted Mimi, Papa, Aunt Carrie and Grandma Shirley. It was a lovely evening with good food and another flurry of presents. Austin is one loved kid.
We set out some cookies and milk for Santa. When Austin woke up this morning he found his new bike, some half eaten cookies, an empty milk glass and a thank you note from Santa written on the art easel that Austin received from Aunt Carrie. He was impressed!

Darryl has to work tonight and we will be going to Mom & Dad's this evening. Austin gets to spend the night because his school is closed for the week.
I am working as much as I can these days. That's not a lot lately. With only 3 weeks to go, as of tomorrow, I am pretty uncomfortable most of the time. I am almost to the point that I had delivered Austin, 3 more days. I really don't look forward to these last weeks. Sleep is interrupted every hour with bathroom breaks, a stretching baby and indigestion attacks.

Well, this has turned into quite a book so I will end now with some pictures we have taken recently. Enjoy...

Austin (and I) created a Playdough frog with his Christmas present from Aunt Jaime.

Austin has to be in every Picture!!
Click here for a Cute Frog Video

Austin's New Bike!!

More Hot Wheels!!

Now remember, I am 8 Months Pregnant! I'm supposed to be swollen!

Water Heater problem solved!

Short update. I plead my case with the Home Warranty company today and voila, we have a brand new water heater, installed and running. Hooray!!!!
That really solves the biggest worry I had this week.

36 Weeks

4 Weeks to Go!!!!!!

We've gotten quite a lot done this last week. Darryl got some new glasses. Austin stepped on his last pair days after he picked them up. We also made his appointment to get evaluated for Lasik. Please pray with us that he is a good candidate!
We had a great night on Friday with our Bible Study familys. Christmas lights and Hot Chocolate. What could be better. Austin just LOVES playing with all the other kids. He's going to be an amazing big brother.
On Saturday we visited with some friends and played a little poker. I stayed in through at least 10 hands, that's pretty good for me!

I have my next OB appointment on Thursday. Not expecting anything unusual.

Lots of anniversary's this week! Jaime and Marcos on the 16th, Mom and Dad on the 21st and Gigi and Barey on the 22nd. Whew, with those and all the birthdays (you know who you are), plus the actual holidays, December really kicks my butt!

Our drama for the week is the Water Heater. It's been getting ready to go out. Hot water lasts less than 5 minutes. So, we had the Home Warranty company send out a plumber. First he replaced the elements. Still not working. Then he came back and poked around, called his boss to consult and decided it was something inside called the "Test Tube" that was not circulating the water. Essentially only the water right around the element gets hot. "I need a part. Be back in 20 minutes" turned into an hour and then a phone call saying that the part needed to be ordered and would not be in until Friday. When he came back to turn on the water heater again, a little hot water is better than no hot water after all, a hose was leaking and he said he couldn't turn on the water heater at all until the part came in and he could replace the leaking hose. I have no hot water at all until sometime Friday, God willing the part comes in then. I can't even use the dishwasher because it is only hooked up to the hot water line. We're going to be Paper plate and plastic cupping it this week.

A sweet thing today was that our dear neighbor, Mr. Hatley, from across the street stopped by and gave Austin a Red Cowboy hat for Christmas. He loves it!! Don't they look great? Austin loves to talk to Mr. Hatley when he is out for his walk. I think Mr. Hatley enjoys it just as much.

Almost 35 weeks

A thought occurred to me as I opened a Christmas Card I received today. I am so not going to get cards mailed out this year. I have had to take a chain saw to my "To Do" list and wheedle it down to the bare minimum. I hope that nobody feels slighted, especially those wonderful people that have sent a card to our family. Thank you!!
We are enjoying the birthday parties and such that we can commit to. Little Nic turned one and we had a great time celebrating at Peter Piper Pizza. Next week Ben turns 3 and we will party with Chuck E Cheese.
I am in between doctor appointments this week so there isn't anything really new to report on that front. Same old Heartburn, contractions and exhaustion as always.
Austin did have his school Christmas performance yesterday and it was amazing! The school/church did a fantastic job with the set decorations and the chorus. And the kids were so sweet to watch. I am adding pictures to this post. At the bottom of the page is a really short video. I'm still figuring out all my technology.
Austin was the most charming, handsome and well behaved child I have ever seen. He just melted my heart. After the show he got to visit Santa and he asked for a new bike and some new toys. I don't think that Santa will find those requests unreasonable.
Have a great Monday!

34 weeks

An eventful week. Last Tuesday I got to spend a few hours in the Banner Desert Triage. I was having a lot more contractions than normal and Evan was not moving like he should. The hospital did a Biophysical Profile to test for some specific things like, Movement, Fluid, Heartbeat and Practice Breathing. He did well on everything except the Practice Breathing. The contractions slowed down and he went back to his normal busy self that night but Dr. Seymann wanted me back to repeat the test today. Evan got a perfect score. And, I got some more really great pictures of him. The newest one is the top one on the right side of this page. Doesn't he look just like Austin! That nose is unmistakable.
I seem to be doing great with everything else, blood pressure is perfect, very little swelling in my fingers but none in my ankles or feet. My weight is, well, appropriate for my condition.
Austin is suffering from a cold right now and he was kind enough to share it with me. I am anxious to get rid of our cough and runny noses.
Sunday is his school Christmas performance. I have to pick up a little suit for him, he'll look so sharp! I promise to get some pictures posted afterward.
Darryl is home for the week. He is taking some much needed and deserved vacation time and we are enjoying spending it with him.
More later!

33 Weeks

We're really in the home stretch now, only 7 weeks to go. The BH contractions are still a pain but I have decided that there are probably here until the real ones take over.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Mom, as usual, made an incredible Turkey, and dressing and gravy and sweet potatoes and anything else you can think of. It has been one fabulous week of leftovers.
We were also lucky enough to have Shirley join us this year. It was such a nice evening. We hope that next year will be the same.

Austin has had a rough month. We aren't sure if it is a natural 4 year old thing or because of the impending arrival of Evan or both. We have not had so many "Time Out" sentences in his whole life. Between not listening, open defiance, screaming fits and the occasional swing he has taken, We are a little frustrated.
He always seems excited to talk about Evan. We'll see once he gets here...

We finally have the nursery finished! I don't have any pictures yet because it is hard to take pictures of such a small room. The furniture is beautiful and Mimi and I put the wall appliqués up. All I need now is a chair for the room.

Darryl has been working so hard, lots of overtime. We are looking forward to next week when he will be home. He's taking it off for some much deserved vacation time. I am really looking forward to spending some quiet family time together. Pretty soon, our family will be permanently changed.

Finally, feeling good...most of the time

You know that little boost you are supposed to feel when the 2nd trimester starts? Yeah, not this time. I start the 3rd trimester on Tuesday, which is also Darryl and my 8th anniversary, and am just now starting to feel pretty good.
I am getting as big as a house and need new clothes again, sigh. But there are worse things. I am happy to report that the BH contractions are much more scarce than they were.
Austin came home with a good note from his teacher, Mrs. Gifford. He was quiet on his mat during the first hour of rest time and got to play quitely for the last hour wit puzzles and books. This has been a struggle. He is not a napper. Hasn't been for a long time. But he does have to at least be quite enough for the other kids to get to sleep. We're working on it.
Darry made a nice big deal out of the good note. Took him for an Ice Cream and put the note up on his door to show it off.
I hope that things are turning around.

We have a very busy week, Yesterday we went to game 1 of the NLCS. Dbacks and Rockies. I'm sure you heard what a dissapointment it was. Not only did we loose but a select few fans went overboard on a bad call and started throwing water and beer bottles onto the field. They had to pull the players off for safety. Embarrasing!

We have a birthday party on Saturday and Darryl and I are going to the fair on Sunday. We're going to see Chris Daughtry in concert. Looking forward to it. I will need a whole day to sleep to recover but it will be worth it.

More soon!

Only the important stuff

So, I am 21 weeks pregnant and we are having another boy. We picked the name Evan Michael because it was the only one that we both completely agreed on. I love the sound of it now. Austin and Evan. It just flows.
Austin seems to be quite content to have a little brother but he's not happy that he can't climb all over me like he used to.
We are looking at furniture and room decorations now. We have to get it all done soon because I so won't be in the mood in November and December. Evan's due date is January 16th and I just pray that he doesn't decide to come too early. We just don't need more holiday birthdays in this family.

I did have a small episode this morning. I have been having some of the Braxton-Hicks contractions and they began to get stronger and more frequent in the last couple of days so I called the doctor. He sent me right to the hospital to be poked, prodded and monitored. All is well. Most likely culprit was dehydration and heat and too much running around. So, I am drinking like a fish and sitting on my butt. It's not as much fun as you'd think.

The ultrasound pictures to the right were taken today. One of his finest moments!

I will update again later!

Austin's turning 4? Already!

Yes, it is true. Austin will be 4 years old in little more than a week. We are a little behind on getting his party together. I will be sending out formal evites today. We will be celebrating on Saturday June 2nd at Peter Piper Pizza on Power Rd.
He is so anxious for his Spiderman theme. I guess that means we'll be looking for a Spiderman costume this week.
I hope to see you all then.

I think I'm figuring out this blogger thing. I'll keep adding pics as I go.

All kinds of things are starting to come back to me, like pure exhaustion. I didn't really remember how tired this baby growing was. I'm gonna have to make sure that Austin starts to take naps again soon, or I'm in trouble.

Austin isn't totally sure what all this new baby business is about. He is either asking to see the baby or talking about how it means that it will be his birthday. Which is coming up. He'll be 4 on the 3rd. We are still planning the logistics of it but the party will probably be on Saturday the 3rd or Sunday the 4th at PPP.
I can't wait to be able to show him pictures.
Darn! I just realized there are some people I can't send this too yet because we'll be telling them about the baby on Friday. That's OK.
I think we've told just about everyone except the bible study, I just can't keep it to myself.
I'm sure they will all forgive me on Friday.

What more could we ask for?

As you have all heard by now, the McKinney's are moving again. At one week this news now takes a backseat to our most recent update... We're having another baby! What a wonderful Mothers Day present to see that stick turn blue. It may be a month or so ahead of our schedule but who knows best after all? God does!
I'll be getting into the doctor next week but my prediction is that my due date will be January 13th. We'll see how close I am.
As you can guess, Momma is THRILLED! I think she's going to explode with this news.
Now we just have to pack, close a sale, close a purchase, paint and floor, move and unpack. All in the next month.
We are crazy aren't we.
On top of it all, Austin will turn 4 in less than 3 weeks. My baby isn't a baby anymore.
OK, gotta go pee and get to bed. More later..