By-doh Speak

Driving in the car Bethany says, "A pokey-pine spindle bit my pinkie toe." Translation.... she stepped on one of those spikey gumballs in the yard and it cut her little toe. James and I couldn't help but giggle over her terminology!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Whew, what a weekend! James has a April 23rd birthday while mine falls just 3 days later on the 26th. It always seems to be such a whirlwind with them so close together.

What is it with my kids and puke??

We're sitting at Chili's having a nice family dinner. Hope is done and playing with the baby sitting in her infant seat. She goes in for a kiss as she often does and what does Katy do?? She throws up in her face! Literally, Hope starts yelling, "ew ew ewwwwwwwwww!" Stands up and puke is dripping from her nose to her chin! Seriously?? Why do my kids find it hysterical to puke on each other and how the heck is Katy picking up this little family trait so quickly?? Must come from James's side! hehe See Evil Karma for past puking experiences. These are some sick sick kids I'm raising!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

This year we kicked off the evening of daddy's birthday with a surprise "party" I pulled together for the kids on my way home from work complete with presents, cake, and balloons. We had discussed taking the kids to the movies earlier in the week as a special treat and it had fallen through so he decided to go ahead and take us all to see Hannah Montana the movie for his birthday. We got our 50 cent popcorn.... still holding tight to our Indiana Jones bucket for those 50 cent refills!.... and candy and drinks and headed in to get out seats just as the movie was starting. As luck would have it we were the ONLY ones there! What do you expect on a beautiful spring Thursday?? It was great, perfect really. Everyone enjoyed the movie much more than we expected too. Kathryn did fantastic at her very first movie. And the girls were so cute running down front and jumping around screaming during the concert scenes. Heck we enjoyed just watching them! It was really a great evening! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES!!! You're the best dad in the whole world!!!

Kathryn's 4m Stats

Katy had her 4m checkup with Dr. Grossberg this morning. And drum roll please...........................................................................................................................

Weight: 11lbs even - that's the 10% percentile!!!!!
Length: 24 1/2 inches - 55%
Head Circumferance: 39cm - 10%

This is the first time Katy has made it ON the growth chart and she did so in a big way with a 4 week growth of 2 lbs!! Way to go Katy!!!!! She is meeting all her milestones and doing just beautifully right now.

On a funny note.... when the doctor went to check her length she stretches her out on the table and draws a line at her feet and at her head then measures that. Well, the original measurement was 24 3/4 inches and while that little quarter inch may seem insignificant it actually means the difference between the 70th percentile and the 55th. She was only in the 25% at her 2m checkup so that was an incredible jump! Determined to verify that the doc remeasured her about half a dozen times.... she was wiggling a lot, and doc got confused on which lines were which. That was cracking me up enough, but then on the last measurement she was flustered and went to measure at the top of her head and marked ON her head instead!!! LOL She felt awful and kept apologizing and swore she'd never done that in all her years of practice. Of course, being the reserved person that I am I laughed till I had tears in my eyes! LOL I can see where a lot of moms, especially first timers would be appalled by this, but me.... I just found it hysterical! LOL And Kathryn, well she didn't make a peep, just gave her this look like, "Aw man, seriously? You wrote on my head!" which made it all the worse for me! LOL

Day 2 in Texas

Well this morning we were supposed to sleep in and take our sweet time heading to Austin. James gave strict orders for no one to wake him up. So why is that Katy and I woke up around 6:30am and by 7 James was up, showered, dressed, suitcases waiting by the front door and waking up the kids to go! LOL Who's more excited to see those Sammons??? I'm not real sure today!

We did stick around long enough to head down to the hotel lobby and enjoy some breakfast. Over practice I pretended we should do something on our trip other than going to Austin. "So, who thinks we should head back to the beach today?" no takers "hmmm..... how about we go to Dallas instead?" home of the Cowboys?? NO WAY! "Who wants to go back to JSC today?" no one "How about the aquarium you all wanted to go to?" nope, nada For awhile I wasn't sure there was anything they'd rather do than go see Josh and Madison, but finally I began to crack them all with their weaknesses...... "Hope, how about we go shopping today? No limit, buy anything you want as much as you want. An unlimited shopping spree!" that was met with an almost violent heading nodding till the boy roped her back to team Austin and B reminded her they could shop anytime. The boy's a tough one seeing as how Josh is his best friend and all, but after awhile I got him to falter too.... "Why don't we head south and go into Mexico for the day?" oh you could see the struggle on his face then finally a "I guess Josh could wait another day, okay, but then straight to Austin!" Bethany fussed at him and he too changed his mind. "Bethany, how about we take advantage of Texas and spend the day horseback riding!" no hesitation at all... forget Austin we're off to see the horses! Sorry Josh and Madison horses beat all! hahaha Of course daddy stepped in and whined that he wanted to see Mr. Jason so we all agreed to stick to our plans and after breakfast we loaded up the van and headed for Austin. Roman took a bezillion pics in route!

Once we got to Austin we found the Sammons house with relatively no issues..... Angie sucks at directions! LOL Since Josh and Mad were still in school we met there and sprung them. Having been 2 years since we last saw them it was cute and downright hysterical at moments watching the dynamics our children with the Sammons. As Josh walked out with a huge cheesy grin on his face he stiffened up a bit and sorta looked around as the girls ran and hugged him and he sorta patted them on the back. Then he ran full force to Roman and for a second we thought they were gonna jump in the air and chest bump or just grab each other in an obnoxious frat boy style hug, but no at the last second they both stopped and just looked at each other with this sudden flash of 'oh crap, it's not cool to hug another guy in public'. LOL For a second there I thought they might even shake hands, but no they just stood and grinned at each other, then started talking and as usual it was as if they had never been parted. Madison was different too. She ran up and hugged the girls without hesitation, but got a little shy and backed off with a cute little smirk when she came face to face with my boy. Wow are these kids growing up, all 5 of them! Of course, once off school property and in their home, all bets were off and it was just 5 little goof balls loving every second of being together with the occasion, Bethany did this, and Madison did that, and Get out of my room girls!

Everyone in life should be blessed with at least one true friend they can be 100% themselves around and despite distance, or time lapse, or life changes, that friendship holds tight and as if you just saw them yesterday, as if picking up in mid sentence even, life rewinds and erases all obstacles. I have been truly blessed in my life with 4 absolute friends... or 2 friends then Angie and Jeni, my sisters of the heart. It warms me to the core watching Roman and Hope and even Bethany to a slightly lesser degree (she's everyone's little sister!) develop and grow this type of lifelong friendship with Josh and Mad. It is an amazing thing to have in one's life. It is even more amazing to watch it develop in your children's lives! And I can not begin to put into words the enormity of having it come from just 1 single family! The Sammons will always be treasured by us Trettels and we are so happy to be able to spend this week with them!

The Honey Mustard Mystery

On our way back to the hotel we planned to stop for a nice family dinner at Cheddar's to see what exactly Kari and Kermit rave about. As we arrived I went to pick up the baby's seat and underneath it was a big blob of dark yellow mustard looking something. It actually looked like someone dumped honey mustard out of one of the little dip containers onto the seat. Roman went in for a closer looked, smelled it and said, "Yup, it's honey mustard alright!" The quick thought was I had sat the seat on a dip container.... Hope investigated the bottom of the seat and confirmed it was all over the bottom and that "Yup, it's definitely honey mustard!" Problem with this theory as I quickly pointed out..... we hadn't picked up any food since we got the van! Where did the honey mustard come from?? So James went in for a further peak. It wasn't honey mustard at all, it was POO! Kathryn pooed and it blew out her diaper so massively that it covered the bottom of her car seat and dripped through the seat belt loops plopping onto the seat below. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! I spent half the night cleaning her infant seat and we felt incredibly bad about the fact that she crapped more than her weight in poo and no one even noticed!

Day 1 in Texas

Today Katy awoke bright and early at her usually 5am, which means in Texas it was only 4am and being that we didn't get to bed till after 2:30 this morning, I was EXHAUSTED! Fortunately she ate and went back down. At the real 6am Bethany woke up ready to start the day.... remember they had all slept 3 hours on the plane, I had not! Somehow I convinced her to go back to sleep. At 7:30 Roman awoke and I gave up! Of course James slept through it all! Men!!! SHEESH!!!!

We waited around a bit to see if anyone else would get up and a little before 8 decided we'd sneak down for breakfast. The mere mention of the word and Hope shot out of bed quickly. LOL She woke Bethany who in turn woke Katy. And of course getting 4 excited kids out of the room quietly was impossible and soon daddy was up too. So at 8 we all headed down for breakfast. It was a nice buffet with make it yourself Belgium waffles, and hot foods like sausage, eggs, and fresh biscuits on top of the normal continental breakfast fare.

After breakfast we all got ready and headed out for Johnson Space Center. I thought ahead and bought tickets online at half price and printed out directions from our hotel to JSC. The roads and highway system was a little confusing at first, but once we made a U turn or two and got our barrings straight we found that the roads are layed out very logically and easy to follow.... not at all what we're used to back home in VA, hence why were we so confused at first! LOL We finally got off in the right direction, following the print out from MapQuest we get to a point where we can see the space center grounds and the directions tell us.... "Now make a U turn!" LOL Must have been to another gate we assume, but it still cracked me up. We found the visitor lot on our own without issue and walked right in with no wait for tickets and all.

JSC is nice, but tiny compared to Kennedy Space Center which we did last year. We took the tour of the original mission control center and sat in on one of the shows that did a video of actual takeoff and slight simulation (nothing compared to KSC) and then discussed in detail the current missions and what's going on in space. Roman enjoyed it but I was surprised at how much Hope Elizabeth got into it! Space Center Houston is definitely geared more towards kids, so that was nice. We had a lot of fun! There's an enormous 2 story playground that the kids loved. There was an entire section of hands on kid fun. Things like lunching a shuttle simulator by muscle power, lifting weights on various planets, scales to see what you would weigh on different planets, a wind tunnel, and there was a simulator seat to try and dock a shuttle at ISS but Hope and I couldn't get it to work.... yeah we felt like retards, but whatever! We found one section where they mined for gold, searched for items with little metal detectors and piloted a submarine camera, stuff like that. Roman and James flew full motion simulators. And everyone tried to land a shuttle with a video game simulator.... Roman actually did land successfully on his very first try! James did too, but the girls crashed and burned. They all tried an MMU trainer which is sorta like a hover craft that moves around in this contained area. You can maneuver it with hand controls to go up and back or spin around, and there's a board hanging over head with different tasks that you have to complete while on this moving chair of sorts like pressing buttons and cranking things in circles and whatnot. James got on and did pretty well - the chair kept pulling to one side and away from the board, Roman did great, then Bethany took a whack at it.... she was really too small and was hysterical to watch. She actually drew quite a crowd with her determination! Then Hope stepped up and must have taken notes from B cause she used some of her tricks and knocked it out faster than anyone I think! Overall everyone had a great time at Johnson Space Center and we were kicked out at 5:30 after being told they had closed at 5. LOL Oops!!

Being 5 o'clock, having eaten a late lunch at JSC, and having some warn out babies, we went for a drive and ended up in Galveston. Katy and Bethany were long gone and fast asleep. So we drove for awhile looking at the hurricane damage still painfully clear and in awe of the accomplishments that have clearly been made since last fall! Eventually we ran out of road and came to the beach. They have parking right up next to the beach so James parked there and stayed with the sleeping ones while Roman, Hope, and I went out on the beach and stuck our feet into the Gulf of Mexico for the first time (yup, even for me!). We collected a bunch of pretty shells for B, chased some birds and just enjoyed the beach. It was really pretty and relaxing. I think we could have spent the entire week there! But we had other things to do..... so back in the car and headed back to Houston. We were going to stop at Kari's favorite restaurant - Cheddar's - on the way back, but that didn't exactly work out and worth a full post of its own! So we picked up Jack in the Box through drive thru and headed back to the hotel for a picnic dinner, baths, and some silly family time before calling it an early night!

So far we're off to a great vacation!

Everything's BIGGER in Texas!

Okay I just have to post this.... Last night when we arrived at Alamo Hope really had to pee. So she goes to the bathroom while we're signing the papers and she comes out jumping around and all excited. "Mama, you're never gonna believe it.... you know how our bathrooms back home have the 2 toilet paper rolls? Well here in Texas they have 4!!!!" I refrained from laughing in her face, and all I could say was, "Well, honey, everything IS bigger in Texas!" LOL

We're in Texas!!!!

The Trettels are finally in Texas. Yesterday was one VERY long day. Nothing seemed to go right in the morning, but somehow we managed to finish packing and get everyone to the airport by 2pm for our 4:15. That was awesome! Anyone who knows us knows that's also a miracle. LOL The staff at Airtran in Richmond, VA are incredible! Everyone we met along the way of this trip was pretty great actually. We started off being greeted by Miss Hope at check in. She quickly identified our little Hopey. She also let the kids weigh themselves on the luggage scale. The good thing was our large suitcase that I had overpacked and said screw it at the last minute and planned to pay the over weight fee and be done with it, weighed in at 49.5 pounds!!! There's a 50 pound weight limit. Yikes! No suveniurs to be packed in that one for return! We then made our way through security with relatively little issues.... James got randomly pegged for a full body scan, Roman actually read all the little signs one of which apparently says to take off glasses, so they all did. Hope dropped her tray and when we came through security her glasses were not on the other side. They had bounced away from the rest of the stuff and she hadn't noticed. The guard found them for us, but not before they were stepped on. They are little bent, but fortunately no major damage was done! Katy's formula and bags went through with no issues and I was complimented by the guards on being an insanely great packer.... as in they couldn't believe how much stuff was crammed into that diaper bag and how much formula one person can squeeze into a standard lunch box! :) After we boarded we were informed of a 20 minute ground delay due to delays in Atlanta, but otherwise it was an uneventful flight. One of the stewardesses was a Katie and the kids have been on the look out for "Bethany".

Once in Atlanta we had a 3 hour layover, so went straight to dinner without checking our status. After blowing a good hour and a half we mosied over to our terminal only to find another plane there. Check the status board and we were at a different terminal and delayed till 10pm. We were suposed to fly out at 8:50. We took up camp on the floor and the kids kept busy playing video games and talking with other passengers. One girl in particular was a college student heading home for Easter in Houston and all 3 of the big kids took to her quickly and pretty much harrassed her all night! She was apparently the oldest of 6 and used to it so was very sweet and good with the kids. They got a little rambunctious here and there, but a walk for ice cream and multiple trips to the trash can and bathrooms also kept them busy. Overall I am so so so proud of my kids! They were FANTASTIC, never really complaining, no fighting, a little bickering maybe, but nothing serious. They were just awesome. We got so many compliments from the passengers. Especially about Katy who was a total trooper through it all. In the end our flight took off around 11pm EST. It is roughly a 2 hour flight so got us in Houston around midnight Texas time. The kids (and James) slept the entire way. Not a peep out of any of them!

Once in Houston Hobby the kids woke up quickly and were practically bouncing off the walls with excitement. They LOVED the airport there and were thrilled about everything little thing from the NASA photos on the wall to the new marble floors, just everything. It was too cute! We found our luggage quickly but also discovered that the Alamo desk at the airport was closed, so caught the first shuttle we could find and were driven to the offsite Alamo dealership. They got us through fairly quickly and painlessly and we were soon off in our new Caravan trying to find the hotel.

It was after 1 before we checked into the SpringHill Suites Marriott. James had fussed a bit over me going with a suite instead of a "regular" hotel until we walked through the doors and now I'm not sure I'll ever get him back into a plain old hotel or motel! LOL The man at the desk greeted us by name (well a butchered version of it, but close enough!) and had everything set to go. James was surprised at the space when we walked in and the kids loved it, except that they said it smelled like and old person's house. LOL Just a little musty and they got over that part pretty quickly once we turned up the air for better circulation. No cramming into beds or splitting girls and guys as we've done in the past. James and I had our own bed, the girls shared the other bed and Roman slept on a pull out couch while Katy spent her first night still sleeping in her carseat.... they're bringing a crib in for her tomorrow.

It is now roughly 2:30, the kids are starting to settle down, and we're all heading to bed after a VERY long day!

Cooped up too long!

After 5 weeks of insane sickness, we're all on meltdown right now. Last night it started boiling to the point of no return. Bethany's smart mouthing everyone thinking she can get away with whatever she wants. Hope is off in lala-land and not listening to anyone. Roman is an emotional mess crying at the drop of a hat. Even little Katy is cranky, along with mommy and daddy too. We've been cooped up together for far too long with no escape. Soooooooooooo as James and I are about to hit our breaking point we decide, it's time to get out! So off to ChuckE Cheese we went! The kids know how much we despise the place, and never in a million years dreamed we'd take them without a lot of begging on a random Monday night, but we couldn't think of a more theraputic outlet for us all. It was a great time. The kids played and played. We all needed the change of scenery, and by the time we got home we were all ready to drop!

Soccer Soccer Soccer

Wednesday nights and most all day Saturdays the Trettels can be found out on the soccer field! Roman is playing in U10's this year and there is truly no living with that boy as he has earned himself the position of forward. Roman has ALWAYS been a dominate defensive player with great ambitions of being a scorer, but never quite fast enough to keep up with the natural forwards. He has an amazing foot and could send the ball the width of a full size soccer field by the time he was 6, so naturally every coach has played him back. Coach Bill sees something different in him and is using that foot to get the ball in the goal! His first game this past weekend landed him 1 assist.... though we're not 100% sure if it was actually his assist or his goal with his team mates assist! Here's the play, you decide..... the ball is passed to Roman with him in clear line of the goal. He goes for the kick to take the goal as his teammate rushes to the net signaling he is there to accept a pass. Too late, the ball goes soaring, hits his teammate in the head and bounces into the goal! Regardless of assist or goal, Roman was on cloud 9! His team won 6-1. It could have gone a lot higher, but at half time with a 5-0 win his coach asked them to back off the goal and practice their plays and passing instead to give the other team a chance.... they were very obviously the dominate team. We discussed a lot about that call on the way home. Yes they could have run up the score, but why?? His coach is awesome, we are thrilled with him. He is fair, loves the game, and instills that love in his boys.

Hope too is playing this year in the U8 division. James is coaching her team. There's a lot of individual talent on the team, but we got our work cut out for us getting them to act like a team! They lost their first game, but in the 3rd quarter James paired Hope up with the other little girl, Haley, on the team as forwards. Now I'll admit a gawked a bit at the sight. Haley is a good soccer player, when she stays focused. She easily bores or gives up mid stream. And Hope, well, she's our Hopey Hope, but God love her she is just not the most athletic one in the family. Still those 2 together were great! That was the most soccer I've seen Hope truly play ever!

A funny story about Hope this season..... on her first practice James had them all practicing goal kicks with each player taking turns as goalie. So Hope's the goalie and the first kid comes up to take a kick and she stands there as the ball rolls in not 2 feet away from her watching all the way into the net, then she begins clapping her hands and jumping up and down cheering him on. "Yeah, woohoo! Way to go! That was a great kick!" .... ummm, Hope.... let's discuss the job of the goalie again! LOL

And this year we add Miss B to the game! Bethany met her coach finally on Saturday morning just minutes before her first game. As crazy as that sounds, she and her team did fantastic! They kicked some butt on the field and had a blast. This age group is just too cute for words!

Katy-bug Update

It has been up and down for Miss Bug, but as of yesterday at exactly 3 months and 4 days Katy weighed in at 9lbs 1oz! That was up from her 8lbs 6oz weigh in 2 weeks earlier..... 11 oz in 13 days. We'll take it!!! That means that she has been growing within normal range for her age for 3 weeks straight. Go Katy!!!! She is still well below the growth curve for babies her age, but at least she has a curve now and not just a slightly sloping straight line. She is smiling like crazy, cooing, and has rolled over a few times now. In fact she did so for the doctor yesterday rolling from front to back and freaking her out a bit as she hadn't had a hand on at the time, and fortunately Katy at least rolled towards the wall and not off the table. LOL I don't think Dr. Grossberg will underestimate the bug again! She may be small, but she is mighty!!!

On the mend!

Well it's been almost a month to the day since I last updated. Since them we've battled 2 more stomach viruses, one of them lasting 19 days, and a round of influenza strain A. It's been a FUN month in the Trettel house!!!!!

Fortunately Miss Bug did not come down with anything more than a slight cold and a couple cranky days!

As of right this second **knock on wood** we are all healthy at the same time!!!!

Evil Karma?? I think so!

So we have been sick and battling some sorta stomach bug/flu thing that's going around. It's been a good solid week now with ups and downs. Every time we think we're all better someone throws up again!

Bethany is notorious for not sleeping in her bed and often sneaks in with Roman, Hope, or even us in the wee hours of morning. So Tuesday night she starts off in her bed and ends up in hours. Meanwhile Roman wakes up in his bed covered in PUKE! He swears he didn't do it and B eventually confesses that she had snuck in his room, got sick, cleaned herself up and came to bed with us. She didn't want to wake him. Ewwwwwwww!

Hope and Bethany share a room and have a single over double bunk. Hope is on top and Bethany on the bottom in the bigger bed that is wider than the top bunk. So Wednesday everyone goes to sleep in their own beds and Hope wakes up feeling sick but can't get out of bed fast enough from her top bunk, so she leans over the side of the bed and pukes.... straight down on a sleeping B below!

Roman meanwhile is sleeping in the nursery on the guest bed as his bed is airing out from B's puke-fest the night before, so James cleans up the girls and sends Hope to bed with him and B to bed with us since both their beds are now puked on. Around 5am the scream came.... Roman threw up in bed!

So, Bethany pukes on Roman, Hope pukes on Bethany, and Roman pukes on Hope. Is that evil karma or what?!? Of course little Katy is not to be left out of this fun. She just pukes on EVERYONE!

Treeing Walker Coonhounds

On April 1st our crazy psychotic hound turns 2. We adopted Trooper in June of 2007. He was just a little guy at the time. We were told his mom was some sort of small hound and father unknown but that by all appearances he looked very much like a purebred beagle. GREAT! That's exactly what we wanted. Fast forward a year and it was clear that Trooper was a very LARGE beagle. LOL Fast forward to modern day and James is watching a Nascar special in which Elliott Sadler is discussing his dogs, all 26 of which are walker coonhounds, and lo and behold, there's Trooper on the screen. He asked me to do some research on them and this is what we found per Wikipedia and backed up by numerous other online sites:

Appearance


Walker hounds stand between 20 and 28 inches at the withers, weighing between 50 and 70 pounds and their markings are bicolor or tricolor with smooth short haired coats. (Trooper is tricolor and towards the small end of this scale for both height and weight) They are extremely powerful, especially throughout the shoulder region, and have large ears compared to head size. Their legs are straight and lean, not well muscled. Some people have mistaken them as being very large beagles.

Temperament

Treeing Walker Coonhounds are great with children and get along well with other dogs. (Yup, that's Trooper) They love to nest and cuddle. Getting a walker hound out of your bed,off your couch or away from your fireplace will be a feat in itself. (Most definitely!) They love to sleep after a long day and are the perfect dogs for watching television. Generally easy to train with little trouble, (yes, he learns quickly when worked with regularly, but he's still quite irony too) they make excellent pets if well exercised. <--- if well exercised!!! This is a key that unlocks a LOT about our boy!

Training must be consistent as Walker hounds are extremely intelligent and will take full advantage of loopholes in the training regimen. These hounds have been known to use objects as levers/tools and often manipulate their environment to accomplish a task (e.g., moving furniture to climb over gates, using household objects to manipulate kennel mechanisms, etc.). They love to carry plastic soda bottles. (I don't know about the soda bottles, but the rest of this is right on! Trooper is like a canine houdini, and very manipulative. He has busted out of his crate, twice now!)


Because they are eager to please, loving, intelligent and confident, they make a splendid companion dog for an owner willing to give them proper exercise. Because this breed requires intense exercise to match its energy levels, this breed can not settle for mere walks in the neighborhood, <--- Again back to that excercise stuff!


Most Walker hounds are capable of scaling fences in excess of 6 feet so a proper yard system whether fence or electric fence is a must. (People think we're insane we tell them we can't let Trooper out back by himself or he'll climb over the fence and excape! And he's manipulated the electric fence too, so with a fully fenced backyard and a full parameter electric fence he STILL can't be trusted on his own for too long as he just seeks out trouble!) They bury bones and dig if they are on scent. In general, they are oblivious to commands when trailing a scent, (leash training has been a great task and a very looooooooooong process that we're still working on because of this) much like a beagle or basset hound so it is imperative for a walker hound to have serious training and a safe running area free of cars or other potential dangers. They have strong tracking instincts, which is why they are popular as hunting dogs. They can be quite adept at catching small varmints such as squirrels, roof rats, opossums, and skunks. They are also known for their ability to tree raccoons, bobcats, cougars and bears when hunting in packs of two or more.

I don't have a great pic of Trooper on this computer, but here is one with the kids from Christmas 2007 and I'll try to update with a more current one later:




And here are a few pics of a Treeing Walker Coonhound found on this site:





For those of you that know Trooper, the pic above and below this are NOT him, just random pics of other Walker hounds. The one above looks nearly identical to Trooper and I'll try to capture a similar pose of him to post up later. This next one looks very much like Trooper in the face....

Coach Trettel

This spring all 3 of the big kids are playing soccer. This will be Roman's 8th season, Hope's 4th, and Bethany's 1st. We have been out of soccer for 2 years now due to fall football and last year Roman's insistance on trying baseball. I am really excited to be back to soccer though and I know the kids are going to enjoy the new league we finally decided on.

So, with this being a new league and all James asked if I minded if he volunteered to assistant coach and if he did would I agree to being team mom for his team. I said sure, so he went online to fill out the paperwork only to find them asking for his social security # which he refuses to give out ever! So with that in mind he x'd out and we had sorta decided we'd just step back and just relax and check out the new league this year instead of diving in head first as we have a tendancy to do.

With that said, you can imagine my shock when I receive an email today to "Coach Trettel" consisting of his U8 Roster for this spring! LOL Apparently he got far enough along in the application portion that he was tagged and they are in need of coaches at Hopey's level! Not assitant coach as we had originally discussed, but head coach. Soooooooooo, SPLASH! Head first into a whole new league and all new rules once again. It's been 2 1/2 years since he last coached soccer. Wish us luck!!!

Katy's 2 Month Update

Yesterday we had Kathryn in to see Dr. Grossberg for her 2 month well baby checkup and weight check. She only weighed in at 7 lbs even, up a mere 4 oz in 3 weeks and just 1 lb above her birth weight 9 weeks ago. Doc wasn't pleased and I'll admit I was a bit surprised, but more just disappointed. She did grow 2 inches in the last month and 2cm in head circumferance too. She is meeting all her milestones and doing fantastic except in the weight department. Still, she was officially marked "Failure to Thrive". That isn't a title any mom wants to hear! Dr. Grossberg still believes it's a supply issue on my part and inefficient nursing on hers. I asked if she felt we should give up nursing and switch her to formula and she said NO. She's not ready to give up on us just yet, especially with her progressing wonderfully in other areas.

Katy is very alert and active. She sleeps through the night already. She can hold her head up well, and nearly rolled over at the doc office for one of the nurses who was quite surprised to see this tiny creature twisting and turning all over of the table. Her head circumferance is only at 5% and her height at a small 11%, so overall Katy is just SMALL. In otherwords, although she's been labeled "failure to thrive" she is still thriving overall, we just need her to start gaining weight.

This week's plan of action.... lots and lots of pumping (Ick! Mooooooooooo!). She'll be getting almost all expressed breast milk (EBM) that we are fortifying to increase her caloric intake. Breast milk on average is 20 calories per oz. We are fortifying it just enough to bring that up to 24 calories per oz. This will help to get weight on faster. We are logging her eating habits, and although the doc says it's not necessary, I have started logging mine. I'm finding that when I'm at work especially that I get busy and often forget to eat or drink throughout the day. When I'm at home I tend to snack a lot all day and drink water constantly. So, if nothing else, this is keeping me accountable for proper nutrition and hydration on my part.

So far today I have managed to pump 2 oz over what she has actually eaten, which is great cause I've been pumping less than she requires and we've depleted my freezer stash already. Maybe all that Fenugreek is finally kicking in??

Although we are obviously concerned that Katy is not gaining, we are thankful that she is otherwise very healthy and happy. Just the sweetest little baby girl ever!

Next checkup is in 1 week for another weight check: Monday, March 2nd at 10:15. Let's pray our plan of action for the week puts some meat on her bone!


..... James just called, Katy is on poop #2 for the day! (she's only been pooping once every 3-8 days since birth!)

It Takes a Village....

The old saying goes "It Takes a Village to Raise a Child". In our case it would seem it takes a church to raise a child. Trinity Church of the Nazarene has not welcomed a new baby in quite sometime. Never could we have imagined how excited they would be to welcome our baby girl with open arms. And I do mean open arms! LOL

James and I both play in the church band. (no snickering please... I can at least fake a half way decent bass!) So that ties us up on stage for the first half of every service. Although there are 2 toddlers and one other little baby born just a few days after Katy, that occasionally attend services, she is the only regular baby/toddler in the church right now. So, needless to say, there is not really a nursery for her to stay during the service. They're working on getting one up and running but for now, my good friend Miranda or her wonderful mother, Mary, will snuggle with Katy while we're on stage. Or she just gets passed around as EVERYONE always wants to hold a Katy-bug, and never need I worry about finding someone to hold her for the first half of service. Jim, our sound tech, is about to become a first time grandfather and is getting lots of practice in as he now shows up on Sunday earlier than ever to ensure he gets her first thing while we practice. Two Sunday's ago Jan, another lady in the church, asked to hold her for services, and now I am attacked at the door to see who gets to hold her this week! LOL So although it shouldn't be a complete surprise, I still almost peed my pants laughing when my mom came to church this past Sunday and Ms. Betty.... this tiny little old sweetheart of a woman... approached mom and informed her that they take turns holding the baby each week and this week was HER week, then scooped Miss Katy right on up and went to sit down. LOL

It takes a village to raise a child, and Kathryn is so fortunate to have her very own "village"!

Report Cards are in, drum roll please ***********

Hope Elizabeth brought home straight E's!!!!!!!!!!! Roman not only made A/B honor roll, but was only ONE B away from straight A's!!!!!!!!!!!! We celebrated at Kabuko's. It was the kids first Japanese Steakhouse experience and they had a ball. Bethany was thrilled with the onion volcano and wowed by the fire. Roman couldn't get enough of the food, especially his shrimp, and dad's steak, and my chicken, and any other meats thrown his way. And Hope was in awe of the decor and took back a whole list of "must haves" from Japan for Aunt Kari and Uncle Jay. And James and I couldn't keep from grinning at our 4 wonderful kids whom we couldn't be prouder of!

Keep up the good work Roman and Hope!!!