family happenings

especially for great-grandma Shirley: Here are photos from Kyle and Jessica - highlight the web address, copy and paste into the address bar, then scroll over the top of each picture. There are captions to each picture. The boys are getting so big!

http://picasaweb.google.com/kharms2/YearInReview2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCIyG2p-gs-bpyQE#

"normal" baby

To anyone who has spent time 24/7 with a fussy baby, you have my condolences! Maddie is still pretty well-behaved, but is now awake for brief periods (and sometimes the whole period) in between feedings. At some point during her wakefulness she finds some reason to scream, and I can't imagine trying to console a baby who does that for hours on end! Maybe Maddie would be the same way, but all of you who recommended "Happiest Baby on the Block" - your advice has been a godsend. :)

sleeping

Even though Maddie is the spitting image of her father, she sleeps like a Thornton (well, at least her mom and Uncle Brent)... rolled up in a blanket and head covered at all costs - blanket, hat, whatever. Even if it means bare feet!

baby pics

For all the friends and family who don't live nearby, here are some pictures of Maddie. :)

It's a girl!

Madeline Leigh Wilkinson was born at 7:19 pm on Thursday, December 3. She weighed 7 lb. 9 1/2 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. She looks just like her dad, and no, she isn't always this crabby. :) Just happens to be the only pic just of her we have right now - will post more in a few days! Thanks to all for the well-wishes, food, flowers, and visits. So far so good for all 3 of us!

Christmas is here!

Thanks to my parents, today we got all the autumn decorations taken down and put away, and the house is fully festooned for the Christmas season (no surprise to anyone who knows my parents!) Plus, Kevin and mom both did tons of shopping this weekend, in addition to the things I'd gotten earlier. So... I've been wrapping gifts upstairs, mom is working on her stash downstairs, and we've already filled the space under the tree with gifts. :)

Kevin and I are both waiting, rather impatiently at this point, for the baby to come! It seems like we have lots of things ready to go, although the thought of going to the hospital NOW is still a little overwhelming. My brother would have preferred that the baby be here already so he can meet it before he goes back to Memphis, but I'm pretty sure that's not happening!

We hope everyone has had an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday, and we look forward to seeing many of you during the holiday season!

What we've been up to

Hi all,

It's been quite awhile since we've blogged, and to be honest I'm not sure if we've been really busy or not. I know that sounds strange, but it feels like we're both at work a lot, finalizing projects at home, running errands, meeting with friends, seeing our new niece (who, by the way, is adorable), and doing church stuff. But on the other hand, that's pretty much how our life usually is, so I'm not sure why it seems so busy! Either way, our hats go off to the girls' cross country team for their 7th place finish at the state meet and to the volleyball team for their 3rd place finish at state! You were all fun to watch compete, and we were especially impressed to see the volleyball squad at the fall play mere hours after their final volleyball game of the year (and for some, for their high school career). The kids we spend our days with are pretty awesome.

Whenever this baby decides to make its appearance, y'all can come meet him/her as well as check out Kevin's handiwork. He's been installing all the woodwork he's made in the last few years and it looks great! From what we can tell, the only "original" pieces to the main part of the house are the windows and the carpet in the living room, and we've had our fingers into everything else. I'm obviously biased, but I think it's turned out well. :)

Speaking of the baby, I need to pretend that I hate shopping. I tried looking for a few things this weekend, and the crowds (apparently due to some big sale at Younkers) were CRAZY, not to mention that my stamina for shopping has now maxed out at about an hour. The thought of holiday shopping is still fun, especially for baby things, but I think I'll stick to the internet from now on.

Hopefully this finds everyone doing well and looking forward to the holidays. We're excited at the possibility of seeing friends and family when the baby comes, especially since it'll be Christmastime. We'll most likely be sleep deprived, so if anyone wants some one-on-one time with a baby, we won't turn you down! :)

Nursery

Thanks to various members of both our families, the nursery is complete! Thanks everyone for all your help painting and wallpapering, and for letting us borrow so many different things to get the nursery ready for "James Dennis," as the grandpas-to-be have named the child. :)

new floor

A few weeks ago, Kevin found some hardwood floor at an auction (I know, surprise surprise!) and this past weekend he installed with Denny and Brian's help. Looks great!

blogger slackers

Soooo sorry to anyone who checks this blog at all - it's been way too long since I've updated! The end of our summer when by quickly, between mentor/mentee meetings and the usual professional development before the kids come back to school. Nevertheless, we found time to paint and carpet the nursery (although we are still working on finding a home for all the office stuff that used to occupy the spare bedroom)! Will post pictures later, as I've been using the nursery as "Gift-Wrapping Central" as I try to get the nieces' and nephews' birthday gifts ready to go. Aunt Erica isn't the greatest at getting those things done unless it's all done at once. :) Kevin also escaped a car accident almost completely unscathed, and has since purchased hardwood flooring that he wants to lay in the dining room and kitchen sometime in the next few weeks. Like the thoughtful guy he is, he asked if I'd like to help... seeing as how I can barely bend over to tie my shoes, I politely declined the offer to spend a weekend on my hands and knees installing flooring. :)

Summer Projects

Here's to the end of Kevin's first summer NOT fully employed and/or taking months of classes! He might not feel like he relaxed much, but it was great to get things done around home. Kevin got a yard rake and sprayer, so he's helped me with landscaping (and so has cousin Amy - thanks!) We hired a paint crew to paint the barn and a shed, then Kevin and Brent painted the other shed - all non-sided buildings now have paint! Yay! The paint crew is also coming back to paint some of the tin roofs that have begun to rust.

Kevin also got the cabinetry in the living room to a usable point, and it looks awesome! The only pieces left are to build the drawers and doors. It's hard to believe that all he bought was rough-cut oak, stain, sealer, and a few bits - he literally made all the woodwork himself. He's also made enough mopboards for the entire main floor, and is working on new door and window trim. So whenever we get the front door and windows replaced, we'll have new trim for everything!

Next up - moving the office to the basement (and emptying a desk so Brent can take it to Memphis) then painting and carpeting for the nursery. We seem to be quickly aquiring lots of baby "stuff" and it needs a home! :)

Kiddo's First Pics

OK, grandmas, here you go... the ultrasound pictures! As far as we know, everything looked normal (well, as normal as Kevin's and my child can be!) Sometimes I think I feel movement, but I've been told that in a few weeks there won't be any question - can't wait for that!

We had our first baby shower, courtesy of the Thornton clan - thanks a bunch everyone! And Kevin and I have decided how to decorate the nursery...now to find the time to move the office out and the baby stuff in. We may even have consensus on names, but no, we're not telling you. :)

Enough procrastinating, back to packing for a week and a half in New Mexico! Hope to have some fun stories and pictures to share.

Later -

Las Vegas, here we come!

Kevin and I just returned from a vacation to Las Vegas, and it was awesome! We stayed at a great hotel, ate good food, saw a really funny variety show (and had drinks in those gimmicky plastic glasses with blinking lights), enjoyed the assortment of pools, worked on our tans, and saw the Vegas classics - the fountains at the Bellagio, the pirate show at Treasure Island, the erupting volcano at the Mirage, the show on Fremont St., and we went to the top of the Stratosphere for some great aerial nighttime views of The Strip. Oh, and we managed to donate some money to the Greater Las Vegas Casino fund. :)

The funniest part of the whole trip was our experience on the shuttle from the airport to our hotel. To start, we landed at 11 pm local time (which felt like 1 am). Then, the shuttle line was so long we had to wait for the 3rd bus to arrive before we could finally leave the airport. When we sat down, a group of 3 women sat just in front of, and next to, the four of us (our friends Kara and Jeremy were also on vacation with us). We had just gotten on the highway, when woman #1 exclaimed "Ooh, look at those lights. What hotel do you think that is?" Woman #2 replied, and correctly, "That's the parking ramp of the airport." You see, every structure on or near the Strip in town is adorned with lights of some sort. Then, we passed a billboard for a show called "Thunder Down Under," which was obviously meant for women. Woman #2 saw the billboard and said "Oh, I have that tape!" Well, our group was trying not to laugh at this, as the woman was sitting there with her fanny pack and a pillow covered with snow-skiing polar bears - not the stereotypical strip club attendee. Then, she continued with "...except my tape is just called 'Australia.'" Now we were really struggling to keep the laughter to a minimum. Woman #1 then chimed in to explain, in detail, to Woman #2 just what "thunder down under" means. I don't think I've ever heard anything so funny at 2 am.