Bouncy Belly

Annabelle (or Belly, as she has come to be called around here--but Shannon says we can't keep calling her that because she can't go to Kindergarten with a name like Belly) has a new toy--Johnny Jump-up! She wants to stand up all the time, and my arms get tired, so I thought she'd like it. The first time I put it up, she just sat on her bottom. Rebekah jumped all around her trying to show her how to jump, but Annabelle just laughed at her. Rebekah can make her laugh out loud better than anyone! She did seem to enjoy sitting up and watch from a different angle, though. Poor Rebekah wanted to get in it so badly, but we had a nice talk about all the things that she can do that babies can't, so she finally felt better. The next day Shannon adjusted the height on the Johnny Jump-up (duh) so she had to stand instead of sit. She still wouldn't jump, though. She scooted around and pivoted on her toes, but she still seemed happy, so I think the toy is a success despite the lack of actual jumping. With a little more practice and sister's help, I'm sure she'll be bouncing soon. For now, it's a great chew toy.

Shannon's birthday

I found a USB cable, so now you're due a run-down of what you've been missing.
Shannon turned 34 last month, and in honor of the event, I made the same Superman cake he had when he turned six. I also made him a chocolate pizza, which turned out really cute.

boxed up

Don't let the silence fool you--a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. Our worldly possessions are now boxed up in a storage building, and we are in the condo. Lots of family came down to help us move. The girls started daycare. Shannon turned 34. I have taken lots of pictures, but we find ourselves in a predicament--we can't find anything! It's a miracle we have the computer up and running. The printer is not plugged in because we had to steal the power cord to plug in the TV. I've got lots of cameras in arms' reach--video, digital, 35mm, and APS--but not a USB cord in sight. I found my laptop, but not the power cord. I bought Rebekah a new nap mat for school because I had no idea where to even look for hers. Until the next day when I found it in a duffle bag in the bedroom, in pretty much plain sight. But we're managing just fine. We went swimming in the pool (well, Shannon and Rebekah did--I can't find my swimsuit!), and we plan to rent a boat next week and take a spin on the lake. Unfortunately Shannon can't use the golf course that is literally six feet out our door. It's a private club and there are signs telling us that we are not allowed to set foot "in or near" the golf course, even though the golfers drive their carts right up onto our sidewalk looking for stray balls. But the course does make for a lovely view from our gigantic window. I took special pleasure in watching yesterday as a sudden thunderstorm drenched the golfers. I have much to report, but I have to get to work--school has started!

Some crafty things

Worries over moving have led to insomnia, so what better time to blog? As always, my busy schedule has not prevented me from making little things here and there. Crafting is my favorite means of stress relief.

I've saved all of Rebekah's broken crayons for her whole life, and recently I melted them and made them into new fun shapes. I also made some tractor crayons for James. This is super easy. Just sort the crayons by colors--all the various shades of a color will mix into one shade--and melt them down. I used a pickle jar and set it in a pot of boiling water--they melt fast. Then pour the melted crayons into candy molds that you can get at a craft store for less then $2. Warning--I lost the purple ones because I put too much water in the pot and when it bubbled it knocked over the jar. So not only did I lose all the purple crayons, but I also had to wash them out of my pot.

I have also been saving wine corks for years and I finally did something with them. I painted a plain wooden tray, sliced the corks in half, and glued them down to make a wall decoration for the kitchen. If I were to do it over I wouldn't have cut them--that was tedious--but you'd need a lot more corks.

My favorite crafts lately have been greeting cards. I have found that I spend less time making my own cards than I spend at the store picking one out. I like doing these because if I need to wind down after the kids go to bed, I can just get out my box of supplies and make one. It's nice to be able to have a completed project in one sitting. Here are some I did for Mother's Day. The one with the picture of the girls is my favorite. Click on the picture to see more detail.

Yummy!

Annabelle had her first taste of solids today, and boy was she happy! Rebekah was not interested in eating from a spoon until she was at least seven months old, and she never liked cereal, so we didn't expect much. But Annabelle was raring to go. I made some very thin rice cereal, and at first she couldn't seem to figure out how to close her mouth, as you can she in the picture. Once she got the hang of it, I couldn't get it in fast enough, and I mixed more cereal in to thicken it up. She ate the whole bowl! Her eating habits are so different from Rebekah's. When Rebekah was a baby, she would nurse all day long if I let her. A feeding session would last forty-five minutes, and she was happy to live on milk for most of her first year. Annabelle nurses for five to ten minutes and is done. I fed her a bottle with a stage 2 nipple, and she guzzled it down, but Rebekah cried when we gave her a stage 2 even when she was a year old. Rebekah cried the first time we tried to give her cereal or baby food, but I could almost hear Annabelle thinking, where has this stuff been all my life? The funny thing is, Annabelle is growing at almost the exact same rate as Rebekah did. I guess babies just know what they need and are good at telling us about it.

making lemonade

We're taking our lemons and making lemonade. We are moving into a resort condo on Lake Conroe until our house is done. It's furnished, all utilities included, and a month to month lease, so it's ideal for our less-than-ideal situation. It's on a golf course and it has a swimming pool, so we can pretend like we're on vacation for awhile (except for that whole work thing). All of our stuff is going into storage, so I have the task now of figuring out what we need on hand and what we can live without for an undetermined amount of time. And now back to packing.

Annabelle's stats

Annabelle is four months old today! She is not a happy girl right now because she has a little cold and a bit of a fever, and she had four shots today. She weighs 15 lbs. 10 oz., almost double her birth weight, and she is 26 inches long. Like her sister, she is in the 90th percentile for weight and the 95th for height--we have some big girls. She will not lie on her back when we put her down. She rolls right over onto her tummy before you know it. She tried to roll off the scale and the exam table today. At night I still swaddle her to sleep because if I don't she rolls right over and pushes her head up and looks around. It's like she doesn't know how to be still, even though she is so sleepy. The doctor said that since she sits up so well, we might try to give her solid food. I remember being really anxious to give Rebekah solid food, but the thought hadn't even crossed my mind for Annabelle. Now I'm excited about the idea, and I think we'll try it tomorrow. Maybe she'll spread out her feedings a little--she rarely makes it two hours without wanting to be fed. Of course, she sleeps twelve hours a night, so I certainly can't complain.

look at the tickers

This is only true for a couple of days, so look now. Rebekah is 3 years and 3 weeks old, and Annabelle is 3 months and 3 weeks old. Just thought that deserved acknowledgment.

The Blog has a name

Finally, the blog has a title. In anticipation of our move to the land where everyone has two kids and two cars and all the houses look alike, we give you Suburban Utopia. (Title inspired by a recent viewing of the movie Over the Hedge, which could have been written about our neighborhood. Except in the the movie, they have electricity.)

Need advice

Bad news--the house is not ready, so we have to move into an apartment for a time until the electricity is in. (To clarify the problem, the whole street is new and has no electricity at all. There are ten houses all built and ready to go that don't have electricity.)

I'm concerned about how Rebekah will respond. She is excited about her new house and has seen it a few times, but we will have to live somewhere unfamiliar to her and then move her again to the house she's been looking forward to. How can I explain this to her in terms that she will understand? What can I do to make the transition easier for her? I have some ideas myself, but I would also like to hear any suggestions you might have.

Thanks. And pray for us--this is stressful and we're trying hard not to let it worry the kids.

Bekah-isms

According to Bekah, in the day time the sun is in, not out. At night the sun goes out and the moon comes in.

Also, she uses word ol' as an adverb to amplify her chosen adjective, as in, big ol' bug. She also repeats adjectives to amplify them, as in, big big bug. Separately, those are not that funny or unusual. But it was pretty funny when she saw a "big big big ol' ol' ol' ol' wasp" outside.

fussy girls

It has been loud in this house. The formerly pleasant and content Annabelle has lately become Miss Fussypants. She fits right in with her big sister, Miss Sassypants. Between the fuss and the sass, Mommy is tired. But now that they are asleep, the house should be peaceful until about 5:00 a.m. That's when I can expect Rebekah--that's right! the three-year-old!--to wake me up to start the day. The three-month-old will not awaken until 8:00. I put Annabelle to bed and she stays there happily for eleven, even twelve hours. I put Rebekah to bed and she wakes up three times before midnight. What's that all about? I'm hoping the fussiness and the early waking are phases that will pass in the next few days. The sassiness? That is here to stay.

moving update

The progress on the house is still stalled by the utility companies, and we don't have a move-in date yet. The good news is that we can stay in our rent house for a few more weeks, so hopefully that will give us enough time to get into the new house. The problem is the rain, and it's not letting up any time soon.

Thanks to our good friends Courtney and Tom, who babysat the girls, we were able to go out for our anniversary dinner on Thursday. We both appreciated the chance to enjoy being together and to get our minds off the stress of moving for a while.

babytalk

Annabelle has something to say.

Five Year Anniversary

We haven't done anything to celebrate yet, but Shannon brought me some flowers last night. Since we've been married, we've had two kids and moved five times. I'd say it's been a busy five years!

Matching dresses

Here are the girls in the matching dresses that G.G. and Great-Papaw Evans sent them.

Rebekah is 3!

Happy Birthday Rebekah!
She had her three-year-old check-up yesterday. She weighs 40.5 pounds and is three feet three and a half inches tall. She's still in the 95th percentile for both height and weight. She got one shot, and she didn't cry or even day "ouch"--she seemed almost happy about it, especially when she got a brightly colored band-aid. She finally got the Dora birthday cake she's been talking about for months, and she also brought some cookies to school today to celebrate with her friends. Shannon was happy to be able to make it home from work in time to cook hamburgers, in the Peters tradition. When he told her he was making her a special birthday burger she asked if it was going to have cake on it. We have one more special day planned for her on Sunday when we will take her to Build-a-Bear Workshop.

The Singing Bee

That last post calls for a happier story. I mentioned this on my other blog, but I'll elaborate here. The Singing Bee is the best game show ever! We were all stressed out last night over the many things happening in our lives, and then this show came on.

It was about half an hour past Rebekah's bedtime, but she was still up because she had just finished calling all of her grandparents so she could spell her name for them--that's right! Rebekah can spell her name--accurately and consistently! I didn't even know it. I picked her up from school and her teacher told me that she had told her how to spell her name when the teacher was writing it on her art project for the day. Rebekah was so proud of herself and we laughingly bragged that she could spell her name at two years old--she won't be three until tomorrow!

So, we were all still up and started watching the show and singing along and jumping around and dancing. Rebekah thought it was the funniest thing ever to see Mommy and Daddy dancing and singing, and she got all riled up, too. I can't imagine what Annabelle thought of the whole thing! Rebekah didn't get to sleep until almost 11:00 last night, but it was worth it to have an unplanned evening of fun. We've been so stressed out lately that we all needed to relax and be silly. I recommend watching it and playing along--adults and kids.

After Rebekah went to bed, Shannon and I stayed up making and coloring icing for Rebekah's birthday cake. Shannon remembered learning how to make roses when he was a little boy watching his mom decorate cakes, so he tried his hand at that last night. They weren't half bad. I won't be making any roses, but I think the cake will turn out nice. I'll post a picture after I finish it.

Stalled

Bad news on the house--it may not be done by the end of the month. The builders have done everything they can do, but they are waiting on the utility companies to come and put in the meters and whatever else has to be done to a new house. The builders can't finish until the utilities are in, and they can test to be sure that everything works. So everybody's just sitting around waiting. We are in a rent house now, so we have no leeway--someone is moving in here on August 1. So we have quite a pickle. We will literally be homeless. Everything will work out, but it's going to take lots of planning and lots of money that we really needed for other purposes. But moving is always expensive (believe me, I'm an expert on this topic). The best possible scenario is that it will all come together at the last minute and we can move right into our house. We're exploring our other options and trying to keep our heads on straight in the process. Pray for us!

Hello Annabelle!

In the past week, Annabelle has really opened up and shown us her personality. She's so expressive now, and she smiles and coos all the time. I brought her up to the office today, and someone said she's like a little kitten who has just opened her eyes. I took a ton of pictures yesterday (trying to capture a smile--haven't gotten it yet) and I played them on a slideshow on the computer. Annabelle loved watching the pictures and started cooing and reaching out like she was talking to the baby on the screen. We may be biased, but we're pretty sure she's the cutest baby ever. Or at least the cutest baby since Rebekah!

Surprise visit

Between our two trips last month, we got a surprise visit from even more cousins! Mikka and Chris (yet another Uncle Chris) stopped by on their way home from a trip to Houston, and the kids were excited to play together. Here's a picture of Kade, Kyra, Rebekah, and Annabelle. You can definitely tell which ones are siblings--Kade and Kyra look as much alike as Rebekah and Annabelle do.

More cousins!

Sarah and the girls went up to visit the Evans side of the family last week, and in addition to lots of attention from Granmommy and Papaw and Uncle Chris (one of them), the girls got to play with even more cousins. Rebekah and James played on the slides while Annabelle and Lily...well, pretty much just stared at each other. Rebekah got an early birthday cake and a new bicycle with training wheels. We have big birthday plans for next week, too, so she's going to think her birthday is supposed to last for weeks!

house progress

We all visited the house- in-progress a couple of weeks ago, and it's looking good. Shannon stopped by again this week, and the paint and tile are in now. We should be moving at the end of the month.

Edited: Sorry if you missed the picture. It occured to me that it might not be a good idea to publish our house number for the whole internet to see. Maybe I'll put up another one later with our house numbers edited out.

Boo

My rocking chair broke :(

Annabelle's stats

Annabelle had her two-month check-up today. She is 23 inches long and weighs 12 lbs. 8 oz. She got four shots and an oral vaccine and is not pleased. She needs extra snuggles today. Turns out she has mild torticollis, like Rebekah had. Torticollis is a (not painful) condition in which the neck muscles on one side are short, so the baby's head is cocked and she turns her head only to one side. We just have to do some easy exercises to stretch her muscles back out, and it should be gone in a few weeks. It's very mild--you can't even see it in her pictures. Rebekah's was more severe and took longer to diagnose, but since we knew what to look for, I was able to tell the doctor about what I'd noticed and we don't have to go to any other doctors (Rebekah's caused some drama with several trips out of town to see a specialist). Even though it's not hereditary, both girls were born with it. It was likely caused either by neck injury during delivery or by a tight fit in the womb that caused their necks to be scrunched up. They were the same size at birth, so it's not too surprising that they had the same condition. She also got her first prescription for antibiotics today because she's had some serious sniffles for three weeks. I took her to the doctor for it twice and it just looks like a cold, but since it has hung on so long, we're hoping that the medicine will kick it out. In related news, Shannon and I are still sick even though we have finished our medicine. We either have new colds or particularly persistent infections that need even more antibiotics. We've all been sick for a month! It's June--we're not supposed to feel so bad in the middle of the summer! The good news is that Annabelle does not have an ear infection, which is a miracle since her nose has been stuffy for so long. So that's it for now--hopefully I can soon report that our various ailments are cured.

Faces of Rebekah

Not to be outdone, the diva demands attention of the camera.

Faces of Annabelle

Happy Father's Day

Rebekah helped with Daddy's cupcakes.

Camping trip

We had such a great time on our camping trip. It was a huge family reunion, and tons of people were there. We spent time with aunts, uncles, and cousins we hadn't seen in years, and some I had never met before. All of Shannon's immediate family stayed in a 3-bedroom mobile home at Lake Ouachita for the weekend, which turned out to be a tight fit. Everyone managed to clear their schedules to be there at the last minute, so we had 21 people in the mobile home, which included ten children and eleven adults! It's not very often that everyone is together like that. The first night we met up with the rest of the family for a cook-out and then everyone stayed up late goofing off and singing--everyone except for Annabelle and me--we went to bed! Rachel (aka Roo-Roo) is in cosmetology school, and she practiced giving pedicures to Mikka, Randi, and Vicki.

The next day we all went to the beach. I forgot to put sunblock on my legs and I sat on the beach with my arms draped across them. The result was a crazy sunburn that will leave stripes on my legs for the rest of the summer! (You'll just have to take my word for that! I won't be posting pictures of my legs for the whole world)
Here are Rebekah and Kade playing at the beach:

And here are Juran, Chris, Shannon, and Derek acting like little boys:

That night we had a fish fry, and Rebekah and Shannon went fishing. Her line had a small plastic fish on the end instead of a hook, so she got to practice casting and we didn't have to worry about losing an eye! At the campsite she was playing with her pole around a little Yorkie, and it ran and caught her fish. She was traumatized! We got the fish away from the dog and calmed her back down. So Rebekah didn't catch any fish, but she did manage to catch a puppy--not everyone can say that. By the way, Mom, I know what you're thinking--Rebekah is not wearing a life jacket because the boat is tied to the bank and not actually out on the water.

The next morning we got up for a big pancake breakfast with the whole family. Kyle and Chris played their guitars, we sang hymns, and Derek gave a message that had everyone in tears. As you can imagine, wrangling all ten kids is not easy, so we didn't manage a picture of all of them, but we did get one of all of them who could stand up (we're missing the three baby girls: Kyra, Grace, and Annabelle). Of course, they weren't the only kids there, but I felt accomplished just getting the first cousins together. In this picture, left to right, are: Rebekah, Gracie, Drake, Wyatt, Tyler, and Siera; Kade is in the front. The picture is cloudy because it was so hot that the lens kept fogging up.

So where is Annabelle during all of this? Well, after the first night when she smiled and cooed and just charmed everyone there, she was worn out and slept for the next two days!

Great-grandparents

Annabelle met her great-grandparents for the first time this weekend. We stopped on the way up to visit Grandma Cox and on the way home to see G. G. and Papaw Evans.

Rebekah's take on the trip

We're back from our camping trip, and we have a lot to report and pictures to post. For now, though, click here for Rebekah's report on the weekend.

big weekend

This weekend we found a place to live! Shannon's new job starts at the end of June, and we'll be moving very close to Houston. We're buying a brand new house--so new it's not even a house yet, just a slab. There are a lot of plans and preparations still to make, so we'll keep everybody updated.

Mom and Dad came out to visit this weekend and we had a great visit. We showed them where our new house will be and where Shannon will work, and the girls loved having all the attention. Bekah was so happy to play with Granmommy and Papaw, and of course to get the presents they brought her. She got a great art kit and has played with it every day. The first thing she wants in the morning is her new art box. She is also learning how to use scissors and is obsessed with it. Even Annabelle was full of smiles when her grandparents held her. Annabelle smiles a lot now, and she lights up when she sees her big sister. These girls already have a strong connection, and I am so proud when I see how much they love each other. Rebekah says that she is the best big sister of all. Dad also bought me a cake decorating kit, so I can make cakes for Rebekah's and Shannon's birthdays this summer.

Annabelle update

Annabelle is doing great. She had her first cold already, but she is over it and happy as she can be. She has started smiling, especially when you kiss her. Rebekah helps out a lot by covering Annabelle with her blanket or giving her a pacifier--even if she doesn't need one! Annabelle likes her big sister and will often stop crying when Bekah talks to her. As you can see from her round little cheeks, she is growing well.

social butterfly

Bekah had not one but two birthday parties last Saturday. Her time is in high demand. One of the parties was at a children's gymnastics studio and they let the kids play on the gym equipment and other toys. She had a great time with her first experience on a trampoline.

flower update

Rebekah's first gardening venture has been quite successful.

Rebekah's preschool program

Rebekah sang in her preschool's spring program on Friday and she was great! Some of the kids were shy and cried or just stared frozen at the audience, but Rebekah was happy to perform and loved the fact that everyone was looking at her. I'm having some issues uploading from my video tape, so this video is not from the program. I was able to upload a video I recorded yesterday on a memory card, so here is an encore performance at home. She doesn't finish the song because she is too distracted by the camera and watching herself--you'll see her run off in the middle of the song saying, "Let me see!"

My girls

toddler terminology

Rebekah calls tears "eye drops." And when she knocks something over, instead of saying, "it fell," she says "I felled it."

first trip to church

Today we made our first trip to church since our baby shower four weeks ago, and I had to take pictures of the girls in their pretty dresses. Rebekah has a new dress from her great-grandmother, but Annabelle couldn't wear the one that matches it yet because it's still too big. In fact, all of Annabelle's clothes are still too big, even the newborn sized clothes. Rebekah also got to feed Annabelle a bottle today. When I nursed Annabelle later, Rebekah kept insisting that the baby likes the bottle better because she wanted to feed her again. She also wanted to give her a bath again even though she just had one last night. I've let Rebekah help take care of the baby as much as possible, and now she wants to take over!

flower update

The flower that Rebekah "made" bloomed yesterday.

Bekah's flower

Rebekah planted a pansy several weeks ago, and yesterday she was delighted to find a bud. She has been diligent in caring for it, and she is so proud. We'll share another photo when the bloom opens.

Growing baby

Annabelle had her two week check-up this week, and she is growing well. She weighed 8lbs. 14 oz--well over her birth weight and a full pound larger than her discharge weight taken at the hospital--and she is 21 and a half inches long. Her length is between the 90th and 95th percentile and her weight is around the 75th percentile. She's tall like her sister, and I'm sure her weight will shoot up to the 95th percentile in the coming months, too. Her umbilical stump finally fell off yesterday, and she has an outie belly button. It's cute :) It will probably go in eventually. When I have to take her with me to take Rebekah to school, Rebekah stands between Annabelle and the other kids protecting her baby sister. We won't let the other kids touch the baby, of course, but today one of them got the idea that if he washed his hands he could touch the baby. That led to a chain reaction, and all the little children were lining up to wash their hands, only to be told that they still couldn't touch the baby. Rebekah is a rock star now at school because she has a baby and she's the only one allowed to touch it.

Burrito Baby

The happiest baby on the block ;)

Lots of news

Last week was certainly eventful. Of course, Annabelle's birth was the most important, but I also got some good news from school. I received a $300 teaching award from my department and a $10,000 national scholarship to help with finishing my dissertation. I also found out last month that one of my essays is going to be published in a book next year. I still have some changes to make on that piece, so now that we're getting settled in with the girls I'm getting right back to work (while Annabelle naps, of course). It's a little overwhelming for all of these things to happen at once, but it is great news and I wanted to share it with you.

Baby face

Annabelle's pictures

Click here for Annabelle's pictures from the hospital.

More baby pics

Here's a few more pics of Rebekah and our little Annabelle.

Baby Annabelle is here!!!

Well, its been a busy couple of days for Sarah, so I decided to attempt this post so that she could rest. Annabelle arrived at 4:51pm on Easter Sunday. She weighed 8lbs. 4 1/2oz. and is 21 inches long. Mom is doing well and ready to go home tomorrow. I'm going to try to upload a couple of pictures for everyone. I hope it works. We will have more soon. Rebekah has been great about being a big sister. She is so excited about bringing her home.

Still hanging in

We're still waiting on Annabelle. This week after church our Sunday School class gave us a baby shower, and Rebekah opened all the presents with me. She wasn't jealous that the baby got all the presents--she just had fun opening them. My corsage was made of ruffled baby socks--I will definitely have to take it apart and see how it's made so I can recreate it.
I have another doctors appointment today and after that I am taking Rebekah for a special sibling tour of the hospital. She's been there a few times in the past several months to visit friends who had babies, so I hope that it will be fun and exciting and not scary for her. She already tells everyone that she has a baby sister, but she also says that she is a big brother. We've been reading "The Berenstain Bears' New Baby" and in that story, the brother bear gets a baby sister--so Rebekah is a big brother!