HD LED TV

We changed our satellite arrangement this weekend. Of course, when I called to cancel they suckered me into another package. I have really enjoyed having the DVR for Aiden's shows and the thought of losing that did make my skin crawl a little. We really minimize the amount of TV Aiden watches at home, since the daycare lets him watch it so frequently (it kills me). But I have to say those television shows can be pretty convenient when I need Aiden entertained for a few minutes in the morning while I get ready, or in the evening when I need to make dinner. It's sad, but it's the truth. All I can say, is I don't do it every day.

The other draw into keeping satellite is that we've been with DirecTV for two years, which means we qualify for some things for free. (I remember signing the contract when I was pregnant with Aiden.) When we bought our HD TV, we tried to switch our satellite dish to HD. They were going to charge $300 and we just weren't willing to pay that. But now they are offering it for free!

I took them up on that offer and downgraded to the lowest family package. So now we're paying half of what we were before, but still getting the kids channels we use the most. In addition to that, we have six months of Starz and Encore for free. Since we still have the DVR, I have started recording movies. BEST OF BOTH WORLDS!

We'll probably upgrade again in the fall when football season comes around. I'm sure Travis will want to have that at his fingertips, especially now that we have HD. We've had several complaints that watching our TV makes people nauseous because the clarity of the LED is so amazing. I can only imagine what people will think now that we're actually getting HD channels! LOL!

Working on the yard

Travis and I have been slaving away on this raised garden dealy. It took Travis three trips in his truck to get the garden all filled up. The bottom third is rock, then a layer of mulched leaves to prevent the soil from quickly falling through the rocks, then two layers of dirt. The top layer has compost mixed in. For some reason, Travis did not want to use our compost yet. It's all degraded and ready to go, but he wanted to save it to mix in the soil for fertilizer later.

Here's how we did it:

Travis stood in the truck bed (or trailer, as in this photo) and filled a bucket full of rock or dirt. Then he dumped it over the fence into the wheelbarrow, which I pushed up that plank and into the garden bed.

Here's the final product (minus the plants) and our full compost pile (to the right):

When Travis picked up the final load of dirt, he borrowed a trailer so he could also bring home half a ton of gravel. We've had a couple puddles forming in our driveway the past few years that needed filling in. Muscle man took care of that all on his own, without even getting a hernia. Now I feel super tall when I back out of the driveway and wait for cars to pass.

Tuesday evening we proceeded to plant all our seedlings. Like I said days ago, I know were are late in the season for this, but it's still worth a try. Hopefully they keep growing to produce veggies for us. We have lettuce, carrots, onions, cucumbers and lots of tomato plants. We also got some dill and cilantro from the Ramby's overflowing garden.

Also that evening, we took some time to cut down our pampas grass. We planted it in the summer of 2008 and it has exploded in growth since then. We knew it was supposed to be cut down every year, but we didn't do it for a while because we wanted to make sure the plant was established before we trimmed it back too much. After a year or so, we never trimmed it because we didn't know what time of year to do it.

Travis finally took the time to look up when this trimming should take place. Google said somewhere from the middle to late winter. Since are are past winter and working our way into spring, we know we are late (as we are with everything in our yard), but we went ahead and cut it to a foot tall anyway. As we were staring at the two forlorn reed stumps, I had a moment of fear that they wouldn't grow back. The following day, our neighbor voiced the same concern. The grass has already proven us wrong by growing three inches in just over two days.

I found out, soon after planting the grass, that the reeds cause a nasty sting when it brushes across skin. (On a quick internet search, I also just learned that it is deadly if swallowed. Note to self...) I wore long sleeves, pants and gloves to tackle this task, but Travis only wore a t-shirt. Of course, I got a lash across the face because it was the only uncovered patch of skin. Travis' arms were covered with angry red lines by the time we headed inside.

Easy Sunday

Sunday was a much more laid back day. PHEW. That morning, Aiden played around the house while I attempted to coral the dog and cat hair that has taken over my house. I'm pretty sure everyone is shedding their winter coats. It's horrific.

After Aiden's nap, Travis headed out to play disk golf with some buddies, while Aiden and I went to visit the Ramby's. I thought it was strange that Travis didn't come with us, but that evening I found out that he thought Chris was still gone on a training trip.

Chris watched Aiden for me while Alexa, Skylar and I ran to Walmart to purchase some outdoor goodies for their backyard and to pick up a pizza. When we got back, we walked over to their neighbor's house to check out all the Bluebonnets in her backyard.

I just started some Bluebonnet seeds a week ago. They are just now poking their heads out of the soil. I know it is really late in the season to be starting seeds of just about anything, but I figured it was worth a shot. If they grow big enough to drop seeds, then next year we should have more flowers at the correct time of year. We'll see!

The Grand Kids Festival

This past Saturday Zach and his mom, Merri, got Luke out of the house and met Aiden and I at a kids festival in downtown Galveston. Travis was working and Linsey stayed home with Kenley. Of course, the first thing we noticed when we walked in were the pony rides. I always feel so bad for those ponies, but I knew Aiden would really enjoy it. Merri treated us to the rides and Luke rode the pony right in front of Aiden's.

As the pony trotted along, Aiden slowly tilted to one side or the other, then I would center him back on the saddle. There were a couple moments when Aiden whimpered. I don't know if the ride was painful, or if he was afraid of falling off, but then the moment would pass and he was thoroughly interested in riding this animal. Of course, when it came time to get off, Aiden started crying. I was having flashbacks to the Houston Rodeo Carnival.

It was only $5 to get in, but Zach and I were laughing that everything that interested the boys the most were the free things. They loved the petting zoo, although it wasn't as neat as the one at the Rodeo. These guys were coralled separately and you had to feed the animals through the fence. That meant you couldn't reach some of the animals, some were usually being fed by another child already and the rest were full. Aiden still enjoyed it. I think enjoying facing fears was the theme of the afternoon. Neither of the boys wanted to get very close to the Nesquik rabbit, but they both were interested from afar. After growing accustomed to the large strange bunny, they were willing to give him a high five. Then Luke kept going back for more staring from a distance.

They had various simple things for the small kids to enjoy: a sandbox to play in, banging pans (see below, Zach is touching base with Linsey)...

... and of course the bubble station was right next to the sandbox. Aiden kept touching the bubble wand to his mouth, so he was a sticky mess by the end of this exhibit. At least he had fun!

After walking around and collecting free hacky-sacks from another exhibit, we settled down for a moment to eat corn dogs and watch some extreme bikers. Then we headed to the Strand to cash in on a buy-one-sundae-get-one-free coupon for the Nestle store. I have not been in there since they opened, so I was pleased to see they offer a sundae with a fresh baked cookie (you choose the flavor) at the bottom. Ugh, makes my mouth water just thinking about it again!

Again, it was Merri's treat. It pays to have grandparents in tow. ;) We shared our sundaes with the boys, and sadly Merri dropped her cone on the ground the second she stepped out the door. At least she had a fresh baked cookie to turn to!

Aiden ran all the way from the festival to the Nestle store and back. Needless to say, he was rosy-cheeked and worn out by the time I plopped him in his car seat for the ride home. A little girl stopped us just before we got in the car and offered her flower balloon to Aiden. It was so sweet! I was ecstatic to have something to entertain him with the crankiness quickly approaching.

When we got home, I let Aiden play in the water outside while I watered the plants. Then we went inside to give him a bath. We still have the windows open, so it was a little warm in the house. I let Aiden run around in a diaper while I went through the goodie bag from the festival. I wish I knew how to load videos from my camera onto the computer. I got the funniest video of Aiden playing with the Easter Bunny Nano Bug. It's a little robot bug that moves by vibrating. It looks (and acts) like a colorful cockroach wearing bunny ears. Aiden jumped out of the way every time it came near him and more than once he attempted to smash it with the egg it came in. Oh man did I laugh.

Brand New Human

Kenley Malia Yeager

March 30, 2011

4:25 pm

6 lbs, 10 oz

19"

Linsey went in for her weekly OBGYN check up last Wednesday to find out she was already dilated to 4 centimeters. Her doctor told her to head over to the hospital for the delivery and to ask for the epidural as soon as she got there since this one was going to go quickly! She stopped at work on her way to tie up some loose ends, then headed to the hospital with Zach.

While she was at work, one of the girls (Michelle) handed her some lab bench diapers to sit on for the drive in case her water broke. I laughed so hard when she told me that. That is the lab equivalent to what the hospital put under me when they broke my water when I had Aiden.

I believe Linsey told me she got to the hospital around noon. She pushed about three times over the space of 15 minutes and out came Kenley! She spent two nights in the hospital, then Aiden and I went to meet the new addition to the family that afternoon.

I cannot believe how tiny she is. It's so funny how when you have a baby, you look at him and think, 'Wow, that came out of me?! He's huge!' But then once he grows into a monster toddler, you look at newborns like they are impossibly small. I mean, look at her in that swing!

Her middle name, Malia - pronounced like Maria, is a Hawaiian name meaning "calm and peaceful". It was Zach and Linsey's way to pay homage to her conception while they were on a child-free vacation.

Linsey's mom is staying with them for a week to help them transition at home with a new baby and a growing toddler. Zach's mom comes by frequently to help out with Luke. When we got to the Yeager's house on Friday, Luke was watching videos on YouTube with Linsey's mom. Aiden quickly joined in the fun.

We had a nice little visit. Linsey said she feels soooo much better than she did after she had Luke. She said all-in-all, it was a better experience than with Luke. The recovery is going quicker, Kenley is much more easy going than Luke was. I suppose those are both great things since they have to take care of Luke on top of this huge change. I can only hope that my next one will be easier than the last!

Only 7 more weeks!

I especially love that the first thing they do after they wake up is check the roof of the building.

Aiden, sans nap

Our photo booth shots from Gatti Town:

We were laughing so hard during all these photos. I think we were all delirious by this point. Sara was on the verge of a panic attack, so it must have been going around.

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Aiden just keeps making leaps and bounds. He learns new stuff everyday, stuff I don't even realize until he surprises me. For instance, when he takes a bath, he points at our loofahs and says "Daddy" (points to Travis' loofah) and "Mommy" (points to my loofah). He's so observant!

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Lately he's been using "K", as in okay, instead of 'yes'. Sometimes it works:

"Aiden? Do you want to go outside?"

"K."

Sometimes it doesn't work:

"Aiden? Do you like your macaroni and cheese?"

"K."

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For the past couple of weeks, Aiden has been saying "Ohreally. Ohreally. Ohreally." He doesn't say it like a question and I could never figure out what he was talking about. But then when he got up Saturday morning at Sara and JR's, I was picking him up out of his travel crib. He started saying it again, and it got more frantic, the farther from his crib he got. I put him back in his crib and said, "Show me Ohreally." He picks up Mr. Lion and says, "Ohreally." Like, DUH Mom.

I was sooooooo excited to have finally figured that one out! For the most part, I know all of Aiden's vocabulary. Occasionally he'll use a new word, but I can quickly figure out what he means, based on what we're doing. But he has been saying "Ohreally" all over the place lately, like in the car or when we're playing outside. These are not places where he's allowed to have Mr. Lion on a regular basis. We try to save him for bedtime only. Although he has been getting him and bringing him out to the living room after daycare lately. I guess he loves his Ohreally. And his soft blanket, and this new bear with a flower mane from Alexa... He likes soft stuff!

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Aiden calls Callaway 'Wally'. Except he says it with a British accent, so it sounds like 'Wah-lay'.

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Final story, with this post anyway... One night last week, Travis had a handful of Mardis Gras beads in his hands and he asked Aiden which one was the green one. Aiden pulled out the green beads. Then Travis asked which one is the red one. Aiden pulled out the red beads. This could have been shear coincidence. That said, he does know the difference between a red light and a green light. So maybe it wasn't a coincidence? I guess we need to repeat the experiment to see if we get similar results.

;)