livy and kaitlyn

So this past weekend livy went with my cousin Eric and her little girl Kaitlyn to a pumpkin patch they had a lot of fun. It was her last time to hang out with her and she loves playing with her. It was fun to be close to my cousins and I will miss them.

Heather and Abbies trip!

I had my sister Heather come and stay with us this past weekend. We had a lot of fun hanging out and getting to know my neice Abbie better. She is so adorable and looks so much like both of her parents. I am glad to have family it rocks.

livy loves her brother

So I thought I would update you on livy and easton. Olivia loves to smother her brother with kisses. She cannot stop kissing him. It is so funny because when she kisses him on the lips he thinks it is a binki and starts sucking on her and she thinks it is hysterical so she keeps on doing it. He sucks on her cheek her nose and her mouth he will suck on anything. He is so cute. She loves to help mommy and grandma feed the bottle but doesn't get the concept about keeping the nipple in the mouth and she gets mad if you help her so then we have to take the bottle away from her and she throws a tantrum. She likes to help burp Easton, comb his hair, and help give baths. She is such the helper. I am so glad she loves her brother and always worries when he cries. Easton loves her big sister. Easton is such the sleeper, the pooper, and eater. He sure knows how to shoot himself with his peepee and has done it quite a few times now. I just love to give him squeezes and he is such a good sleeper. Well there is your update.

You may call me Lynn, Easton Lynn.

So mommy and daddy kept telling me they are too tired, and too busy to post pictures of me...blah blah blah. They really need to check their priorities. So I decided to get on and post some pictures myself. Luckily my big sister did it when she was little so she was able to help me out. I hope you enjoy these pictures of the best day in the history of the world (my birthday for those of you that may be confused).


This is my hot mommy right before I came into this world. She was tired and ready for me to come out, but I was so worth it.

This is me getting weighed for the very first time. I apologize for my nakedness but I didn't have much choice in the matter. I really am a very modest young man. As you can see I was a whopping 9 pounds 1.5 ounces. Livy may have been a little taller, but she's got nothing on my weight. I guess I am just like daddy, stocky. (No Uncle John, not fat.)

Here is my first picture with mommy and daddy. I was a little cold after being naked for so long so they had to bundle me up. My mommy is quite cute, I'm not sure how daddy got so lucky on that one, but I am glad he did because I am adorable.

This was after my first bath. I hear that big sister likes to take baths a lot, and after my first one I can see why. They gave me a full body massage, and warm water cascaded through my hair. (As you can see my big head contains a large brain already filled with quite the vocabulary. ) The experience left me with a smile on my face just like it would have for anyone who enjoys the finer comforts in life.

I am so excited to be with my family now. I know that they have been waiting for a long time. I am also glad daddy was able to be there with us before he left to get his orders for the Air Force. We are all going to miss daddy a lot and I am sure he will miss us too. Mommy and Livy are lucky that they have such a great man to take care of them while Daddy is away. At least we get the weeked to spend together, and I get to watch my first BYU game with daddy before he leaves on Monday.

I will post some more pictures when mommy and daddy get around to taking some. Thank you all for the well wishes for my mommy. She is doing great, and we are all excited to go home tomorrow.

single for a week

So my husband and daugther left to utah without me this morning. I am a free woman for a week and half. It reminds me when I had no worries about taking care of nobody and I must say I am pretty excited about it. I remember I would go to the movies by myself cause I love it, I would go out to lunches with my single friends and just watch tons of movies. I must say that sounds superb to me. I have all these little projects in the house I need to finish up to so hopefully I will get it done. I will miss them a ton especially livy (no offense sweetie) this will be the longest time ever away from her. I am happy Dave gets to finally do this hike he has talked about every summer before he leaves he deserves it. It will also be good for my daughter to spend time with her grandmas and grandpas. So I am going to start watching movies now yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!

livy fell

So Olivia was playing at the playground the other day and head planted first on the cement and ended up getting a bad scar on her nose and under her nose. The poor thing it was so sad. She always runs to fast and then trips over herself. She is a trooper though and it didn't bother her until she wanted to rip the scab off and felt the pain from that. She drives me nutts how she always wants to rip her scabs off. She is so happy all the time and it makes me happy that she is. She definitely throws her fits and has so much energy but thats what you get with a kid. Here is some pictures of her face and her friends Caleb and Nathan who she just loves.

Feeling Down!

Last night I put Olivia in the bathtub and she loves it so obviously didn't want to get out. So when I pulled her out by one arm not under the armpit I here two pops and then my daughter started screaming. I yelled for dave and because I was sure I popped her arm out of socket I was scared but her arm wasn't just laying there and she was holding her wrist where I pulled her out. I was freaking out and started driving to the ER. I didn't want to go to the ER since we have been there a million times this month and it may look like I am abusive. So livy was totally happy she just wouldn't let us touch her arm. When we got there we sat in the parking lot trying to decide if we should go and with some phone calls we made to other people we decided to opt out and just see how she does through the night and just get her ice cream which she was totally excited about.

So then there is me. I felt so bad I couldn't believe I did that and should know better but it has been hard for me now to bend down and pick her up and was being lazy. I got home and just bawled because dave and I weren't agreeing upon stuff, I hurt my daughter, my hormones are so out of whack, and I blamed it all on me. I got in the tub and sobbed and sobbed. Dave came in feeling really bad and told me things like this happen don't blame yourself. He also apologized that we were getting mad at each other about the situation and tried to make me feel better. I must say he got me to stop crying but this morning even when I wake up livy and she is using that arm now like nothing happened I still feel horrible and just want to cry that I almost accidentally hurt her. I don't like being a mom right now to many emotions and I love her so much I want nothing bad to harm her. God reassured me and let me know everything will be okay last night but it doesn't make me feel like a bad mom today.

Some San Diego Pictures

Spiders

So our poor daughter in the past three weeks has been bitten by two spiders. I hate spiders and I am so scared of them. The first time we had to take her to the ER because her hand swole up so bad and you can still see where that disgusting spider bit her. The doctor did not help me with telling us how disgusting the spiders mouth is and how much bacteria is in it. It gives me the shivers everytime I think about it. She then ends up getting antibiotics to take by mouth and then the next day went to our doctor and got two shots of an antibiotic in both thighs at the same time. Then today she wakes up from her nap and low and behold her ankle is all swolen up and is blistering just like the other did and she limps wherever she goes. We still have some antibiotic left so we started giving it to her again and benadryl for the swelling to go down. My poor baby but she is such a trooper. So Dave and I spent the afternoon swarming our apartment with spray and cleaning everything out. If we didn't catch the spider by now I have no idea where it was at. We found one in the window in the living room that was pretty big but I don't know if it is poisnous or not who can tell. All I know is insects and arachnids like my daughter to much and I hate them all. I had to suck up my fear though and kill whatever spider I could find for my daughter (dave was really the ones to kill them) which in the end we only found one small one and one pretty good size one. We hope that was it but man they do a lot of damage to you and stress me out that it will get into her blood. I always wonder why god had to make those horrible things.

We got our date

Dave just got his OTS date for Sept. 14 Which means he is on his way to Alabama as am I. My brother and sister in law are letting me stay with them so I can have the baby there and dave will most likely be able to see the birth which will be good. Let's just hope my health will stay good until then and no complications so I can go out there. He will Graduate Dec 16 and then be on our way to move to Pensacola, FL. I can't wait to be back by the ocean I love it.

So an update on Olivia she likes to copy Daddy and I's every move. Whatever we do she will do. It is cute but gets annoying at times but she is learning and that is what I love. She loves to go swimming. Yesterday her and I went in the pool and she is not afraid to jump in the pool even if it is in a dangerous area by the steps and then she counts 1,2, 3 and I dunk her under the water. She loves it. She tells us all the time when she is peeing and poohing so I am guessing she is showing signs of potty training but I have no idea. I want to buy a little toilet soon and see if she will go but when I put her on the big potty. All she does is say pee pee and then makes the sound pssssss as if she is peeing. So she has no clue how to do it. Maybe I'll rent some potty training movies from the library and see if that helps her. She is such a joy and makes me smile all the time.

A Tentative Date

So Dave got an email yesterday getting a tentative date for Officer Training School for Sept. We were excited to finally start making some decisions. Our family has been so great at supporting us and the decisions we are about to make. We have had to make decisions where my family is going to be helping us out a lot with this baby coming in September. I feel truly special to have them in my life. So the recrutier said most likely the tentative date will be a for sure in about a month but hey it was something. It was so crazy too because this week I have been so down on myself because of not having enough patience and faith that this was going to happen that I was just about to give up until I prayed and told him I give up and he told me just look at it as if it isn't going to happen right now but I promise it will eventually. So as I was driving to work yesterday a thought came across my mind that we were going to find out something today and lo an behold we did. God knows us so well and it will be very humbling during the three months we will be apart that I know he will always be there for me. We have some plans for baby #2 to come but waiting until they are for sure and the tenative thing is taken away. For now figuring out insurance with me losing my job the end of may I have to go on Dave's insurance which isn't as good as mine but I should be glad I have something. We could still end up having the baby when Dave is on tricare and then end up paying $14 dollars for this little guy. That is what is awesome about the military their insurance. I hope that works out but we will see. Being a grown up sucks sometimes.

Guess what it is!

We are having a b0y! So excited I gave Dave a high five when we found out. We all know it would end up being his fault if it wasn't a boy so he did a good job. So if you have anything to tell me about raising a baby boy let me know and all hand me downs I will take gladly.

Visitors

In an effort to keep our blog more up to date I thought I would write a little bit. I also am at work again and have nothing else to do, so why not. That is also the reason there are no pictures, though we should get some up this week as we had a lovely photographer take some during our adventures this week.

Livy and Amanda have both been a little sick recently. It started in the little one and carried into mommy who is getting the worst of it, hopefully, right now. With Amanda being pregnant it just makes everything worse, but she is a great sport about everything so she is fighting through.

We have been lucky to have my littlest sister Natalie come and visit this week. It has been fun having some company for a change, and Livy loves the new playmate. We are not the most exciting hosts and have mostly spent time watching movies and such. My work schedule also causes me to sleep through the day most of the time, so that hurts things too.

We did have a lot of fun on Saturday though as we went to the Dr Pepper Museum in Waco. Natalie is a big fan, and we enjoy it too so we though it would be fun. It was created in Waco, and it was kind of fun to walk through the original store and learn a little about it. I had no idea that it is actually the oldest of the major sodas beating Coke by a year, and Pepsi by 12.

The highlight of the trip came at the end when we purchased Dr Pepper floats made fresh from the soda fountain. Now if you have never had one where they put syrup in the cup and add the carbonated water, let me tell you, you are missing out. They also have a special type of Dr Pepper as it is made with pure cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. Besides it being more healthy it makes an already fabulous beverage absolutely amazing. Natalie referred to it as the necter of the Gods. We bought a few bottles and cans of the special recipe to take home, as well as Dr Pepper BBQ sauce and A&W BBQ sauce. The Dr Pepper sauce is amazing, and we have yet to try the A&W.

We will be sad to see Nat go on Wednesday, but she will be followed by my other little sister Mary on Friday. It is so fun to have other people come and visit. It is especially good for Amanda as I spend most of the time that she is home asleep. Hopefully we will get word from the Air Force soon and we can move on from this wretched schedule.

I really love the Wii Fit Plus! (and other musings)

Sorry there are no pictures, but I am at work and it is the middle of the night so I don't care to find any.

I thought it would make my wife happy if I posted something though since we aren't very good at it.

So as the title says I really love our Wii Fit. I spent about a month looking for a store that had one with no luck. Then on the night that I just said screw it I am going to get the EA Active instead there just happened to be a Wii Fit at BestBuy. Mind you I had been there earlier that same day and they did not have one then. Needless to say I was quite happy.

I have wanted one for awhile so that I have something I can do while Livy takes her naps since I obviously can't just leave her to go workout, and the weather here is so hit and miss. If it isn't raining, it is cold, and soon it will be too bloody hot. So this seemed like the perfect solution.

After a week of using it, I must say I am extremely happy with my purchase. I haven't had a chance to explore all of it yet as there is tons of different stuff, but it works up a decent little sweat. I have not gotten truly worn out, which I would enjoy, but I also haven't done a lot of the strength training exercises, and I think once I do I will feel more fulfilled.

It has been good though because the little games are fun, and the fact that it tracks your progress helps keep me motivated. I am also looking forward to geting more games that use the balance board because it is fun to use.

Now some other stuff...

As I mentioned in the beginning I am working again back out at the airport. We were hoping to avoid this, but the Air Force is taking too long and we couldn't go any longerif we wanted to pay our bills. So I am working overnight and taking care of Livy during the day. It can be brutal at times, but the peace of mind knowing our bills will get paid is worth it.

Livy is getting smarter everyday. She copies almost all of our words, and actually says please and thank you, most of the time. She can put all of the pieces in her alphabet puzzle in, thank you Aunt Andrea for the puzzle. She also loves to say hi to everyone which is fun because it brings a smile to everyone's face.

She has started to try and throw more tantrums but for the most part we are good about ignoring her when she does so hopefully that will start to go away.

We also decided to start to take away her binky. Saturday night she slept without it, but we also got home a little late, and she got worn out with her friends. We tried again last night but she just whined and talked for a little while. So we decided to try an idea other people told us about and we cut the tip off the binky, and then you just keep trimming it down until she doesn't want it anymore. We will see how that works, but I would love for the binky to be gone for good.

We are still waiting on the Air Force, but my physical has been approved so I can now be assigned a class date. The next set of class dates should be released in the next week or two so hopefully we will find something out shortly thereafter.

We are also excited to have Aunt Natalie come next week for a little visit. We love to have the company, so it should be fun.

Livy is growing up so fast now!

We have really been in awe recently of how quickly Livy has been growing up. Every day we just look at her and can't believe how big she is and all of the things she is learning. She loves to help with anything you do. From doing the laundry or dishes to throwing things in the garbage (we think we may have lost our DVD remote this way) she just loves to be a little helper. Even with other kids she is great. She loves to feed other kids snacks, and is surprisingly good at sharing most of the time. She still rarely cries, and the only real tantrums she throws is when you try and hold her hand while walking through a parking lot.

Her new favorite thing is talking. She almost never stops. We went by Amanda's work for lunch today and she had to stop and say hi and wave and blow kisses to everyone she walked past. It was quite adorable. She also loves to talk on the phone whenever she sees mommy and daddy doing it. She almost had a real conversation the other day. She said hi, then rambled for a minute then said bye and hung up. Unfortunately, we weren't done talking and had to call them back, but it is crazy how smart she is and all that she is learning.

She did get her first knee scrape today, but she fought through it like a champ. As soon as she grabbed daddy's sunglasses off his head she stopped crying, and then played with the scrape the whole way home. I was so proud of my tough little girl.

She has been able to climb up on the chairs for quite some time, and anytime we ar on chairs she has to be too. She will even drag them into the kitchen to help you cook. It is a little scary when the stove is hot, but we don't let her get too close.

This is her, "Daddy, I want to wear blue not purple and pink," face. I for one am sick of the limited color selection for girls.

Livy loves to point and make faces. She just has so much personality it is a lot of fun. She definitely has her mommy in her.

She loves to stretch with me after I exercise. She will bend down and touch her toes, and do all kinds of stretches. It is quite amusing until you try and do a pushup and she lays on your back, or a situp and she sits on your stomach.

Livy always makes us smile!

There are so many times that Livy just seems to drive me nuts, but then she pulls some funny stuff and you can't help but laugh at her. Even if you tried to be mad you couldn't because she is just so funny. One of her favorite things to do is to laugh hysterically when you laugh. She has been doing a lot more mimicking lately. The other day Amanda yelled at me jokingly and Livy turned and pointed at me and started yelling too. Then when we started laughing she just laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. Enjoy some cute pictures.



Livy loves to eat like a big girl now. She often won't eat unless you give her a fork or a spoon. She loves waffles too, and this time she ate almost as much as mommy.

Apparently we don't feed her quite enough because she felt the need to lick her plate clean. Then again maybe she just liked the sugary syrup.

For some reason Livy was really frustrated and just wanted to take her clothes off. She didn't quite succeed, but it made her happy to know that she could look like her cousin Curtis. I think her plumber crack is cuter though.

I think Livy knew how special this blanket is because she picked it up, carried it to the couch and cuddled up with it. I tried to take it away when it was time for her nap but she got super mad with me so she took it in for her nap and has been sleeping with it ever since. I took my fair share of naps with it, as did my Grandpa Drechsel. It is a super special blanket that my mom made.

Livy has become obsessed with sunglasses recently. She likes to wear them even when it is dark outside. It is quite funny because she will take them off and then go to mommy and want them back on. This pose just shows that she knows how cool she is eating her popcorn and drinking her juice.. We all hope to be that cool someday.

livy!

So my daughter had one of her friends come over and dave caught this picture of them watching tv together. Apparently livy liked to sit in Nathans lap while he was in the bumbo because he was sitting in it which is quite funny. Then the other picture is of my adorable daughter dressed in a new dress from her Aunt Kristine. We just love it when we can get the cheesy smile out of her it makes life so great.

Christmas Trip!

So we just got back from our christmas at my brothers house and we had such a good time. Besides the fact of giving the stomach flu to all her family but they said it was worth it for us to come but we still felt bad. We got there on Christmas eve pretty late and woke up early to open presents. The kids got so much stuff and Andrea has no idea where to put it all and I don't blame her from having a house to an apartment is pretty hard. We ate tons of yummy food while we were there. Dave and I went on two dates together and Rhyan and Andrea got to go out to. We also got a babysitter one night and went out as couples. We played shuffle board, pool, and went to dinner. We did a ton of laughing that our stomachs would hurt because my brother says the most hysterical things especially on new years he is seriously a dork sometimes but I love it about him. Olivia and Brooklyn played so well the whole trip until the last day and Brookie just was not liking Olivia. The kids loved playing the Wii that Dave got for christmas that when we left yesterday there parents went out and bought one for them. I thought that was pretty funny. We saw some great movies at the theater Chipmunks, Sherlock Holmes, and Blind Side. They were all great and would recommend them to all. We went to this really cool science museum for kids and the kids loved this really cool burp machine of course. All in all it was very fun and not stressful at all. We did get stuck on the freeway for 3 and 1/2 hours coming there because stupid Arkansas (that I vow I will never go back to again) but it was great. Thanks so much for such a great trip!