Attention Deficit

Koebe is apparently not getting the attention he needs. Or, we're losing our hearing. Either way, Koebe has decided that the old tried and true method of getting our attention has ceased to yield fruit. So, what praytell is he doing to get our attention?

"Mom! Mom! I'm bleeding! Mom! Mom! I'm bleeding!"

We turn around, Koebe is sitting at the table, coloring, wanting to show us a picture he has drawn. Blood is nowhere to be found. But hey! He got our attention! :O

The Season of Busy

October seems to be the month that officially kicks off the busy season. The month started off with me being gone for the first week in San Diego. Then we went camping (yes- with a 10 week old. What can I say? Ape is committed!). Then it has been go-go-go on the weekends, a week full of Halloween activities, festivals, McKinney's Scare on the Square, baseball practices, baseball games, birthday parties, baptisms and Experience McKinney at Boyd High School.

We were able to free up our weekends going forward as today was Koebe's last baseball game. He really enjoys it. It is surprising for someone who is so easily distracted, that he can sure focus when he wants to. He has gotten really good at being up at bat. Motivation works for him, so he knew that if he could hit the ball to the outfield that he would get to run to second base. For the 2 out of 3 times he was up at bat today he did just that. The first time he did it, he was so excited he ran all the way to second and then was jumping up and down screaming, "I made it to second base! I made it to second base!". The second time he hit it into the outfield he decided he was going to second base anyway, might as well make a beeline to it- so he didn't even round first but cut a quick path over to second- like I said- focused!!!

He is just a funny kid and we love him. Today he wanted a snack so we threw out some options- yogurt, apple, etc. Some kids would want chips or fruit snacks or whatever, right? Koebe goes to the fridge and rummages around and what does he come up with? A cucumber. And not like- hey, slice-me-some-cucumber-and-give-me-a-big-bowl-of-ranch-so-I-can-drown-it-cucumber. No- he takes a whole cucumber and just goes to town on it. Ask Kalee what she wants for a snack and she quickly replies, "chocolate". Alas, at least one of our children has the genes of their parents!

As for Kaiya- she is a pond of serenity in a sea of chaos that is our family. We were gettting a little concerned because the creamsicle wasn't sleeping through the night as early as her sister and brother (Kalee- 8 weeks and sleeping 9-6!!!). But, she has come along and usually falls asleep around 9 pm and will go at least to 7, or on a good day 9! She just goes with the flow and has started to coo and laugh and smile. Tonight was no exception as we took her on our little date and she slept the whole time, came home at 11 pm when we changed and fed her (all whilst she was still "asleep") and put her to bed- not a peep. She's just a ball of buttery love.

Kalee. Kalee loves school and anything to do with animals. Her teacher wrote home in her progress report that, "I [teacher] am pretty sure she could run the class schedule most days! She is bright and is eager to share her knowledge." Translation? We'll leave it up to you to interpret and decipher! But, she is very excited about letters and every week there is a new letter and every week there is show and tell. So, Kalee has taken it upon herself to bring to show and tell a different stuffed animal each week that begins with the letter of that week. The past three weeks have been "I", "J", and "K" for which she brought an iguana, jaguar, and kitty. Next week she has already decided to bring a leopard. I'm now realizing that we may just have one too many stuffed animals. However, if this is the tradeoff for not having a "live kitty" (as Kalee would describe it), then I guess we have a few more letters worth of animals to buy!

Yes, We Had A Baby

Yes, we're painfully aware that for having a new baby, our blog is rather disappointing. So, here are some pix of the squish. Enjoy!

Newborn, and already working on her tan w/ the billi lights

Up To No Good

It's true, but I don't care. I have been up to no good and it has been a lot of fun. Due to the recent economic crisis, while the company I work for is doing great, we've gone through the same drill as everyone else- cuts in budgets, etc. So one of the first things to go was internal lunch meetings and no food at department "all hands" meetings. Kind of a drag- but whatever.

That was until this past week when a few of us from marketing walked up to accounting and noticed their out-of-character outstanding Halloween decorations. Well, one of the guys ended up chatting it up with our controller who unwittingly offered up that that was the work of the "Fun Committee" (original, right? but heck, it's accounting after all!)? Fun Committee, eh? What's that? Oh, you know, said the controller, we have a committee that has a $250 monthly budget for "fun". Excuse me????

Well, my colleague offered this information up to me and he being more reserved than I left me to do with that information as I pleased. So what did I do? I formed "The Justice League" (take that Fun Committee!) and we plotted to kidnap their skeleton. Were we successful? Judge for yourself.

Needless to say, accounting was completely flummoxed this morning when they realized Bones was gone. Not to fear- we left a note. I don't recall what it said, but it left the department buzzing all morning, until The Justice League sent the following email from a dummy GMail account with the photo above:

Bones is doing just fine,
His accommodations are divine.
But why has he been snatched?
And from whom would this plan have hatched?
Our motive is simple and true,
We seek the fun that is enjoyed by you.

If the first note didn't get them buzzing, then this certainly helped kick it into overdrive. By lunch time, the building had been plastered with "Missing Bones" signs wanting information on his whereabouts. I'll have to give them credit- at least they were playing along. Fortunately, we had Security in on the whole thing, so they won't show them the security video (not that they would think to ask) or indicate if they saw anything.

As the chatter was reaching fever pitch, we sent another email:

Bones has finally spilled his guts.
Just one STA "fun fund" is completely nuts.
His ransom is small but deliciously sweet,
We want equality for our peeps.
If you want Bones back in a jiffy,
We would like our monthly $250.
Reply within 2 hours with “Fun For All”,
if the Controller intends to pay- so do not stall.

By now, accounting was regularly coming downstairs "looking" for Bones like we'd leave him out in the open! I was even told that while I stepped away, the Controller himself came down and looked in the direction of my vacated cube. This is too stinkin' good.

The clincher is that they all believe it's marketing, but can't prove it and they think we're going to drag it out till the end of the month and then show up wearing Justice League outfits- maybe we will! Justice will prevail!

Party of Five

It has been 8 weeks since the Lamberts have officially become a party of 5. What is wierd is that it should have only been 4 weeks to date, but Kaiya had other plans and showed up a little early. When it is all said and done, it was a blessing that she did come when she did. It was a blessing that Aprille was finally feeling good in the days leading up to the unexpected arrival. It was a blessing that her mom jumped a plane and came out a few weeks early. It was a blessing that Kaiya, despite being 4 weeks early, outside of jaundice, was completely healthy. It was a blessing that despite having no "family" near us in the technical sense, our friends became our family and stepped in in more unexpected and surprising and unselfish ways then I have room on this page to share. To them we owe are are deepest and most heartfelt thanks.

So, how is the little squish? We're thinking of having her go as Sleeping Beauty for Halloween because sleeping is her favorite. She excels at it. If sleeping were a job, I could quit work and live off my daughter. For the record, we do know that she has blue eyes. That she LOVES baths ('cause she sleeps during them) and HATES getting out of the bath ('cause she wakes up). She is gaining weight and likes to chat (well, at least look) at her Grandma and Grandpa on the webcam.

In other news, Kalee has professed that she loves Little Saints, her pre-school, because she loves to learn. Apparently she is learning the fine art of negotiating because it has become increasingly more difficult to persuade her to wear something other than a dress to school everyday. She continues to hold true to her mantra that she began uttering at the ripe old age of two, "I can do it all by myself". That, my friends, is Kalee.

Koebe is growing up and he too, is learning. In the short time that we have joined the 21st century and got DVR (yes, almost shameful to admit it has taken this long), Koebe has already figured out how the remote works and asks me to pause TV. And to think when I grew up, I was lucky to get 4 channels and hope that I could make it home in time to maybe catch some Scooby Doo.

As for the parental units, Ape and I are trucking along. It does seem surreal at times to think we have kids, let alone 3 of them now. Our camera was lost, but now found so I'll post some pix next time.

Home Improvement

Since being in school is no longer an excuse for NOT doing things around the house, to say I've been playing catch up would be an understatement. Lots of painting, lots of yard work, lots of fixing this and that. This past weekend was no exception to the joys of doing a little home improvement. My brother-in-law, Russ, came out this past weekend to help me with a "little" project. I have a feeling he may have second thoughts about ever accepting an invitation to come and help me again. But it's cool. I'm used to people not being that excited about coming over to my house.

Growing up, we lived in "the country" on a little piece of land- but large compared to that of my friends who lived in "the city". So, weekends were spent mowing for hours, weeding for hours, and all sorts of fun stuff! Unfortunately for my friends, when they stayed over that meant a Saturday full of chores- yeah! I remember one particularly eventful Saturday when my unsuspecting friend was duped into staying over. Unbeknownst to him, the next day my parents had planned to remove all the old insulation in the attic. Did I mention this was in the summer? Double yeah! So the point is- Russ- it's cool if you don't want to come back- I understand.

Well, I'm am truly GRATEFUL that he did come out. One of the things we have been meaning to do is upgrade the lighting in our house. So, this past weekend, we did just that. We went from 3 lights in our kitchen to 8, 1 light in our family room to 8, 2 lights in our entry way to 4 and the hallway stayed the same. Needless to say, the recessed lighting looks awesome. I'm available by contract. Hourly rates are negotiable. (Seriously though, Russ did all the hard stuff- THANKS Russ!).

So feast your eyes on all this wattage and try not to be jealous.

Before & After

Where am I?

I had such high hopes for this summer. Normally, my "busy" time at work (long trips away, working weekends and late nights) tends to fall in the September-April time frame. Usually, I can breathe in the summer and recoup some of the sanity lost over the course of the previous 8 months. Having finished my MBA in December, this was to be my first summer that was school-free. An occurrence that has not happened in almost four years. So, needless to say I needed this summer. My family needed me to need this summer. Well, it all pretty much went in to the crapper.

Why? Let's begin with....Ridgefield Park, NJ, Sonoma, CA, Las Vegas, NV, Chicago, IL, St. Paul, MN, Bloomington, IN, Washington D.C., State College, PA (where I lost my drivers license), Syracuse, NY (where I begged TSA to let me through using an expired license, a social security card and an airport badge b/c I lost my license in PA), and then this week....Jackson, MS, Columbia, MO, and Lubbock, TX (I've got a passport as plan b, so I'm good!). I am omitting Alabama and a second trip to Minnesota that I didn't go on due to the unexpected early arrival of our third child. The constant travel has had me literally making me question what state I am in (not mental- although that is arguable) and what state I am going to next. It would be one thing if I were going to some cool places, but 20 passenger planes (I use that term loosely) flown by a 24 year old making $12,500 a year somehow doesn't say "cool." Se la vie...

The only good thing this summer, besides squeezing in a vacation (barely), is the birth of our new squish, aka Kaiya, aka Sleeping Beauty. She is going on 2 weeks now and is in the 95th percentile for sleep. Seriously. Who sleeps while getting a bath? Kaiya does. She went to her two week check up and the doctor asked what color her eyes were and Ape responded, "We're not sure. She hasn't kept them open long enough for us to see!". But, an inch of growth and 1 lb 2 oz in weight gain assures us that there is nothing to fear. She would just rather look at the back of her eyelids than at the parents who gave her life. Whatever. We'll get it over it. Someday....in the meantime we just stare at her for hours because she can't tell us that we're freaking her out....yet.