One of the Reasons...

This is one of the reasons we love living in Arizona... while my parents are visiting brrrrr Ohio that had snow flurries today, we were outside in our 80 degree weather enjoying the sunshine... We took a walk and then we planted ourselves outside on the lawn to hang out. Isaac loved looking around and watching Chloe explore nearby. There were so many things to see!

Howdy, Neighbor! Doesn't it look like Isaac is waving to a friend? So cute...

First Little Chomper and No Gagging

It's just peeking through the gums yet, but Isaac's first little chomper has arrived on the scene! He has hardly fussed at all, which fits his happy-go-lucky personality. For the past couple of months he has drooled and chewed incessantly, so we knew it was just a matter of time. Sure enough, his lower right front tooth is now showing its so far translucent and tiny head.

Of course you can be sure I'll be posting a picture as soon as it's actually visible to the camera. For now... here is another story.

Now that Isaac is over his bronchitis, we attempted the rice cereal again. I know every child is different, so we're not supposed to compare to other babies too much, but I have been feeling like Isaac is behind in the subject of eating baby food. While other babies around his age I know are chowing down on things like squash and carrots, our little guy is as content as ever with his familiar bottle.

Well, as of today's lunchtime, I feel a sense of accomplishment and pride as Isaac took on another round of rice cereal and finished the whole two-tablespoon serving! This time we mixed it with apple juice, which proved to be a success. He loved it and by the end was actually opening his mouth for more!

Getting started with the spoon

Not so sure about this... Isaac was a little tentative at first since the last foreign thing we fed him was his yucky bronchitis medicine.

Okay, this is different... but not bad....

All done! That was actually pretty yummy!

Eyes On the Tiger

So Tiger is back! Kevin and Isaac watched his debut together, and Kevin reports that Isaac paid attention to Tiger and watched him play all by himself. Kevin took video just in case we have a golf prodigy on our hands. Then we'll be able to pull out that footage to show our little guy watching Tiger at 6 months old.

Look What I Can Do!

So maybe I can't crawl yet, but I can do this!

Isaac can balance all by himself! What a fun surprise! And he just loves to stand now that he's figured out how to do it. Tonight he stood there with a huge grin on his face (what's new?) as we had fun looking at each other eye to eye. Then he looked down, and I wish I could have caught his expression on film. His adorable look of amazement seemed to say, "Wait a minute... those are my feet down there! I've never noticed them from this perspective before! Is this what they do?" He looked up at me with an even bigger grin (if that's possible) in sheer delight at his discovery. His bright eyes seemed to echo, "Isn't this awesome, Mom?!"

Breathin' Easy

Isaac is doing much better! He's back to his old shenanegans and is as cute as ever!

Thank you for all your prayers! He's breathing easy and sleeping through the night again - much to everyone's relief!

Bronchitis and Flirting: A Natural Combination, Right?

Isaac experienced his first trip to the ER today. He’s had a nagging cold since last week, and finally Wednesday it seemed he was doing much better. But suddenly Wednesday night it took a turn, and he started coughing an awful cough and breathing very rough. After waking up a few times throughout the night from the sound of his cough, I ended up sleeping on the floor in his room because I wanted to be close by to keep an ear on his breathing.

Early this morning I called his doctor’s office and was able to speak with a triage nurse. After describing all of Isaac’s symptoms to her, she recommended that I take him to the emergency room because there was no guarantee how soon they would be able to get him in to see Dr. Kronborg. Going to the ER has always seemed like an alarmist thing to do, but in this case I didn’t want to mess around with breathing problems! I have a co-worker whose baby came down with pneumonia recently, and she said that it only started with a cough.

So off we went… they listened to Isaac’s breathing and took his vitals. He had an x-ray taken of his lungs, a test for RSV, and a breathing treatment to loosen up the congestion. There were a few moments when the bright lights and flutter of activity around him seemed to frighten Isaac. But it wasn’t long before that charming smile lit up his face. Despite his wheezing, he didn’t hesitate to flirt with any female nurse that happened by. They were all swooning at how adorable he is. What a little charmer… even bronchitis can’t rob him of that smile!

Nearly five hours later, we were on our way home with a couple of prescriptions in hand. Now that he has some medicine, we’re hoping that he can kick this thing soon! Please be praying for him if you think of it. Pray that God will heal his little body and that he’ll continue to breath better. We are so thankful that it isn’t something worse like pneumonia or RSV, but bronchitis can still be a little scary!

Have You Seen It?

Have you seen the movie Fireproof? If you have, what did you think? If you haven’t, I couldn’t be more adamant that you see this movie! It is another great film made by Sherwood Baptist Church (creators of Facing the Giants and Flywheel). Kevin and I watched it last weekend, and we were both deeply touched. We are not struggling in our marriage (thanks to the Lord), but we see the potential for a dangerous slippery slope since having Isaac. We have to be much more intentional about spending time together and continuing to pursue each other and building our marriage. We now see how easy it really is to center everything around the kids and lose sight of each other in the process!

It dawned on us just the other day that our FIFTH wedding anniversary is just around the corner! Our marriage has been blessed beyond words, and we are more in love today than we were on our wedding day. However, it’s so easy to fall into a rut and get complacent. The great storyline of this movie has compelled us to never give up on learning about each other and staying vigilant with the Lord about guarding our relationship against sneaky attacks by the enemy (called “parasites” in the movie).

I cannot say it enough – this is such an excellent and praiseworthy film. It is such a great love story!! You must see it!!

6 Month Stats

Isaac had his 6-month appointment yesterday, and just wait til you hear his stats!

He is 28 1/4 inches tall - that's about the height of an average 1-year-old! According to his growth curve, Dr. Kronberg estimates he'll be 36" (that's three feet!) tall by the age of 2! Are there any tall people in his family? Hmmmm. ;)

He's 18 lbs, 8 oz - far above the 17 lbs we were guessing - in the 95th% for his age. Hmmmm, a growing football player?

Good news is that he's finally growing into that head of his. :)

Other news is that he's going to need some physical therapy for his slightly crooked neck. He has always favored turning his head to the right, and while we accomplished training him to turn his head both ways to avoid a flat spot, his head still tilts a bit.

He has his first cold right now, poor baby, complete with a fever. At the same time, it seems he could be cutting his first tooth too. So if you think of it, please keep him in your prayers. He's pretty uncomfortable... but extra cuddly because of it, which I don't mind! :)

I just thought I'd share a few fun pictures from the last couple of weeks for your viewing pleasure... :)

I just love those cheeks and that pouty lower lip!

Watching basketball like a true boy!

Playin' with Daddy one day

A rare trip out to eat at the Farm Grill in my dream neighborhood Agritopia.

Trying to chase the singing turtle, but so far all he can do is pivot!

A shout out to our Hawaiian roots

Sweet moment at bedtime

Even his first cold can't squelch that smile!

PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW

You guessed it! KEVIN GOT A JOB!! With much anticipation and a lot of excitement, he's returning to The Legacy Golf Resort. He's starting in outside services temporarily and will be transferred back into the pro shop in a matter of time.

We first of all have to praise God for His constant goodness and provision. It's been a tough time for us these last few months. Challenging to say the least. But God has continually met us during this trial, and He has taught us a lot. The more we sought Him out, the closer we felt His presence and reassurance. We know without a doubt that God carried us through this time and we are so thankful for His personal nature! He poured out His blessings on us in the hard time as well as now in the great time! Our faith has been strengthened, and this joyous end to the trial brings such a reward to look back at our unwavering trust in His provision. God is good - ALL the time!

We also thank you for your prayers and constant support. We appreciate you! You have been a source of encouragement!

Oh - and we have yet to see what happens with the Mesa School District! That would be the cherry on top! :)

Score? We'll See!

Kevin’s meeting with the Mesa school district went well today. Thank you for your prayers! He left them with a packet of information about the program, and they are going to review it this week. No answers today, but they seemed interested, which is the least we could hope for.

Please continue to pray this week! We should hopefully have an answer by Friday.

Happy Half-Birthday Isaac!

It's Isaac’s half birthday! Can you believe he’s already 6 months old?! Wow.

From the first moment we saw him on that ultrasound screen, this little guy stole our hearts. Ever since, he has filled our lives with so much joy. We are so thankful to the Lord for blessing us with Isaac, and we look forward in anticipation to watching him grow!

The half-birthday boy….


Isaac is always surprising us with new skills. Two new things just in the last week…

~ He is officially baby-talking! It seemed like he just woke up one day and knew how to babble. He will ramble on in lengthy “conversations” about ba-ba-ba-ba’s and ma-ma-ma-ma’s. I’m always sure to respond to him as if he called me over when he says “mum.” I guess I won the fun competition with Kevin because Isaac hasn’t come close to saying Da-da! :)

~ And just yesterday, Isaac started to scoot! Well, pivot actually. He kicks his legs as well as he can in an attempt to lunge forward, and yesterday he figured out how to straighten his legs and stick his butt straight up in the air. It’s just a matter of time before he gets coordinated enough to use this new skill and his mini pushup together, and he’ll be on the go!


Isaac’s Top Ten:

10: Playing with my new little friends Gunner (1) and Addison (21 mo.) at Miss Mindy’s house

9: Looking in the mirror.

8: Banging things together to get the loudest noise.

7: Splashing in the bath!

6: Tickles and smiles.

5: Chewing on anything and everything I can get my hands on.

4: Sucking on my toes, and kicking my legs as hard and as fast as I can.

3: Practicing new sounds, like ba-ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma-ma, and sometimes wa-wa-wa-wa. And razzing with my tongue. When that gets boring, I resort back to my always fun high-pitched scream.

A Close 2nd: Cuddling in bed with Mommy & Daddy in the morning… with my warm bottle breakfast in bed!

And #1! Getting hugs and kisses from Mommy & Daddy…. And giving them back!

A Possible Breakthrough!

A couple of weeks ago, Kevin signed on with a CA-based company called Better Golf Academy. In addition to several other operations in the golf industry, BGA has an afterschool program that they offer to elementary schools. Their 8-week program is renowned in the golf industry and has been very successful in a handful of states throughout the U.S., most recently in Hawaii.

Kevin operates as an independent contractor, so this is a commission-only position. So far he has done a lot of footwork in contacting the school districts around the Valley, hoping for at least one bite. He quickly discovered that there is usually one After School Program Coordinator for each public school district, which can be a double-edged sword. If this one person says yes, then Kevin has access to all of the public schools in that district. However, if they turn him down, then that district is shut. There has been a lot of interest but so far no one ready to sign up.

After several phone calls and voicemails, Kevin finally heard back from one school district this week. The Coordinator for the Mesa school district wants to meet with Kevin on Monday to discuss the program that BGA is offering, and they are very interested because they don’t have any programs like this right now. This is great news!

Would you please pray?

Please pray that their meeting goes well and that Kevin is confident in his presentation. If Kevin scores this school district, then he will have over 100 schools at his fingertips, which has the potential to be very lucrative. This would be more than enough to provide for our growing financial needs. To give you some perspective, only 3 schools would get us by for two months! We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but this would be a MAJOR answer to prayer!

Since this is a commission-only job, Kevin has also continued his job search for a more steady income. Among other possibilities, he has been looking in the restaurant industry to start serving again. He’s done a lot of footwork this week, so please be praying that his efforts will be fruitful and he’ll get an offer soon.

Thank you for your support and for remembering us in your prayers! We appreciate you!