Rockport 09

the water was really pretty. we stood knee deep and you could clearly see your toes. A didn't want to get in this time around.

the only pic i have of father & son this trip. they stayed in the water and played pretty rough. me and my girls stayed on the beach and soaked up some rays.

Baby K napping on the back porch while the big kids played in the little pool right beside her.

the trip killer--no it isn't Clark W. Griswold after they strolled through the slums of St. Louis. its my lovely flat, but not really a flat. it was the sensor in the valve that was leaking.


kids in the little pool. copano bay in the background...insert randy rogers song here. :)


very tired kids after a few hours at port A beach.

the sisters livin it up beach style. looks like they're throwin some signs.

rollin over at the beach!

takin it all in.

it was a fun little trip. our final goodbye to summertime. i will miss you dearly. we were able to hang out with old college friends and meet their kids. Kyle & Tiffani have a beautiful bay house on Copano Bay in Rockport. Our kids got along great and had fun playing! The men of course thought they were big bad fisherman, but notice...were there any pictures of some big redfish or any fish at all? ahh, no. They did catch 2 keepers, but that's it. Of course, it was all the weathers fault right. Have to wait and see whats in store for next year!

we are here

K's last pic with the sign. Their last night in our house. K helping us pack the last day.

We got one, but could have used 20!! The proud men that loaded the attic.

it's been almost a month! wow how our lives have changed. i missed several chances to blog, so let me catch you all up...

-Baby K is a chunk! at her 2 month check up she was 14 lbs, 12 oz!! i couldn't believe it. i knew she could fill out a diaper like her mom used to fill out the Rocky Mountain jeans! She was 24.5 inches long too. Needless to say it put her off the charts, over the 100th percentile in both categories. I was delighted since B&A were always somewhere between the 50th and 75th percentile. I tried weighing her at home just this week and she was just over 15 lbs. Other than not missing a meal, she is doing great. I had to start her in daycare full time just after my last blog. I cried. like a baby. for a while. But I had to do it in order to get our house packed up, plus I was already in my inservice week at school. She loves her teachers and we love them. Ms. Nelda is the best thing any mother could ask for. All of the ladies in her infant room are wonderful. I think they all secretly like Baby K the most, but I won't tell. She rarely cries...big sister still cries waaaaaaaaaaay more than Baby K has ever thought about crying. Tomorrow she will be 3 months old already. some of her milestones thus far: coos and talks to us all the time, starting to reach out for your face or objects in front of her, grasps onto her clothes/blanket and cuddles with it, blows lots of bubbles/drool, excellent head control, loves to practice sitting in her bumbo seat, sleeps and eats like a champ!

Baby K on August 6--2 months and 2 days old.

I took these on our front porch. It was the first time I put her in the bumbo to try it out. She did an exceptional job with her head. See...I was doing this kind of stuff and NOT packing like I should have been doing!

-C and I thought we had the whole move thing figured out. We thought it wouldn't take long to pack the rest of the house at the last minute. Boy were we WRONG! Thanking my lucky stars, the night before, my Dad had called to see what our moving plans were. He mentioned they might come help, but I didn't want to ask for his help. Neither of us wanted to ask for our parents help, WE are the grown-ups now and thought we totally had it under control. HA!! Thank God that Friday morning the door bell rang and there they were to help. I think we would still be packing had my Dad and Cindy not showed up. And I am very thankful for the loyal framer Chris has used during his time as a builder...Manuel. He and a few friends helped us carry and move tons of stuff. I am so thankful for them.

-it feels weird to be living in my inlaws house without them here. i feel like our stuff is everywhere and it kind of is. we've got tons of stuff in our Mobile Attic unit (they are much cheaper than pods), in the garage and dining room at my inlaws. For the first week, I had no clue where anything was. K needed a manicure, but she had to wait for a week until I could find the clippers for her! There have been several stories like that. In the meantime I thought I was going to lose my mind. Going back to work full time with a newborn, pumping schedules, nursing, crying Anna, big brother talking my ear off, laundry, dinner, cleaning, getting used to driving 35 mins one way to get to work and digging in boxes for a week--you think i'd be down at Betty Ford. Somehow I'm not. My mom came up the next weekend and occupied the kids so we could bring some peace to the boxes. I was able to do that, but still have my moments from time to time.

-big bro and sis are adjusting well. B gets it. We took him out to where the new house will be and he seems to understand that daddy is building us a new house and we cannot go back to his old house. he did have a short day or so where he seemed down, but he's ok now. after the second or third night at the inlaws, A cried and wanted to go home. she did it a few more times, but shes good now. their new dog Kopper is out at the farm and thats all she cares about...that and her new pink cowgirl boots.

yay for pictures

kiersten enjoying her spa treatments. she's 7 wks in this picture at 13 lbs.

this cracks me up! she's enjoying some time at the pool. look at that lytle hair line! i think she's going to favor chris and his family.

little miss drama enjoying the kiddie pool

two crazy kids in the bath! brady wearing his home depot safety goggles just in case he needs to build something in the tub.

brady showing off his mad swimming skills

where is summer?

so much has been going on. i don't have much time to blog these days. let me give a quick run down and then i gotta hit the sack.

-we sold our house in less than 3 wks. yay. but there have been hiccups with the buyers however we are set to close on aug. 18th
-i go back to work on monday aug 17th--boo!
-we are going to pack up and move out by aug. 15th so we can try to unpack at our new temporary home--my in laws house
-they are packing up and temporarily moving into their little farm house. Thank you Lord for allowing them to be so giving and gracious to us. we are taking over their home while we build our new one.

somehow in the midst of it all i am trying to get all of these things done....
-get the house packed as much as possible by august 14th
-get my classroom ready for Meet the Teacher on august 20th...when i go "back to work" as a teacher that means three full days of workshops and trainings. then you get one 8 hour day to prep your room for Meet the Teacher--that is after being off all summer long. so if you read between the lines that means you have to go in during your own free time to actually get a good head start on work. not to mention summer school was at my campus so all my stuff is packed up high and put away. lucky me.
-prepare for first day/week of school starting august 24th
-continue to have enough milk (aka pump as much as possible) to supply her habit. yep her habit is a 6 ouncer of breastmilk (shaken, not stirred LOL) every 4 hours or so
-put my baby K in day care/school! insert a crying mommy here--that's me
-i'd love to finish reading twilight--people you can put the book down when you've got 3 kids interrupting you every 5 minutes!
-i'd also love to start reading my teacher book that i said i would get to this summer. ha!
-K goes for a check up next week. will post details at some point. btw...i weighed her last week at the breastfeeding center and she was a hefty 13 lbs at 7 weeks.

i'm rambling now. just wanted to let you know i am trying to blog and i have some pictures to post, but just not there yet...

first smile

i had to come blog this rather quickly. just a while ago i fed Kiersten and was doing the whole mommy thing--talking to her and being all googly-eyed to her. all of a sudden she cracked the sweetest smile and a bit of a giggle/coo. it was the sweetest face and sound. i wish i could capture that sound and face and keep it forever. i feel so blessed to get to hear those soft, joyful little coo's one more time. she has been cooing for quite a while and somewhat smiling, but this was a true reaction to me. YAY! if i can get it rigged up, i'll try to get a video of it for the grandmas out there.

Ozark has come to an end

We came back from Galveston on a Sunday. That evening a couple looked at our home. On Tuesday we received their very nice offer for our home. By Thursday a deal had been agreed upon. And Friday the option period began meaning it will be a done deal in one week. Now, the inspection is complete and we wait for this Friday to come. Once the option period is over, I don't think they can back out. Well, I don't see them doing so. She came by to measure for rugs and window treatments...already getting fabrics. WOW. We will close Aug. 18, my second day back to work.

I can't help but reminisce for a moment about our home. Chris and I were so lucky and blessed to have built this home together while planning our wedding. Just after our wedding, we were able to move in. It is the home that he carried me over the threshold and we looked forward to many good years here. Good years here is exactly what we have had. We had lots of parties with our close family and friends. Lots of memories can be made in 6 short years. I will never forget getting our home ready to welcome our first born. We were so excited to welcome our son. Shortly after, we were so blessed to welcome home our daughter. The 4 of us have had lots of laughs, giggles, tears, scrapes, bumps, hugs and kisses shared in this home. Finally we completed our family here by welcoming our second daughter to the family. She will not know of this home nor the good times we've had here. I do know she will hear lots of stories and see lots of pictures (on the computer) of the times we've had.

As one chapter closes, we new one must begin. Chris and I are thankful for this home and all of our family and friends that have shared a moment here with us. Now, we must build a new home for us to raise our 3 sweet children and welcome even more friends and family. We are looking forward to our new home and community to raise our children. I tear up as I think of leaving, but can't help but smile knowing what is yet to come.

Summer Vacations (109 photos), by Jenny Lytle

First came the pictures, now the actually words since all 3 kids are napping. for the 4th this year we decided to head up north to OK to see Mike and Christy's baby bump! yep, if I haven't told you yet they are expecting Baby Allen coming this January 14th (or some time around there). Mike and Chris were in desperate need for therapy. Their therapy is golf with beer. They were able to squeeze in 2 games while we were there! Christy, the kids and I just hung out at the house. There isn't much a girl can do with 2 crazy kids and a 4 week old. The kids loved playing with Lexi, hope she did too. We were able to meet some of their new found friends in OK as well. If you see the pictures, you can see that B and A were also in need of an Aunt Christy and Uncle Mike fix as well. And yes, B did get to show off his new golf clubs and his skills to Uncle Mike. Our last stop was an awesome Italian restaurant. It was the best Italian food I've ever had. I think I will need to go there every time I visit. While we were there, we received an offer on our house. It was our first decent offer too! We began the back and forth game only to have them withdraw a week later. It was a good deal, but not a great deal. I knew something better would come along.

Shortly after the OK trip, I decided I could pull it together and take K to Galveston. She is a wonderful baby! She sleeps anywhere, any place and rarely cries. I knew she would be good for us so why not go. I am so glad we did. The kids just love the beach. B would jump waves all day long and A would play in the sand all day if we let them. K slept all day long on the beach or in the back of the Acadia. There's pictures in the album (click the link). We went to the beach everyday for some low-key fun. One night we got dressed and went for the annual Rainforest Cafe trip. It is a fun place. We did our usual--River Adventure Ride. This was the first year that B was a scaredy-cat! He was in my lap burying his head most of the ride. The previous 2 years he wasn't scared at all. A was a little skittish, but not like her brother. And K well, she slept through the ride.

The kids had their first crab hunting night. They all had little flashlights and tried to hunt for the little transparent baby crabs. They had fun for maybe 10 minutes. It stopped when we spotted our first jellyfish. Several had washed up on shore that evening. We scooped them up and put them in the trash, but the kids we still worried about them. Then, they wanted to fight over the flashlights, someone looked at someone wrong, etc. etc. The typical fights of a 5 yr. old, 2-4 yr. old and a 2 yr old...there's always next year and more crab hunting!



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