Back to the Time-Line Driven Blog here - 2008 begins

The year 2008 dawned with us continuing to settle into our new house, recover from the holidays, and pray that I recover from the flu. On January 3rd, 2008, we welcomed a new baby into the family...but this time, our grandchild! Lukas, second born son of my step-son and his wife, was born bringing the current total of little boys in our immediate family to 8! A healthy baby, a happy family, and almost our own baseball team...what better way to start the new year!

On January 8, 2008, for the very first time, unassisted, at 10 ½ months, our middle son, Austin, took his very first steps! What a big boy he was. He really took off after that...by January 13, he was completely walking everywhere on his own, but then it was on to climbing, climbing and more climbing. On his second day of walking, he discovered climbing, and even managed to get up onto the bathroom counter!

January 8, 2008 was a big day for another reason: at 1:45 PM, we had the final hearing for Andrew's adoption! He was now and forever officially ("fish-al" according to Alex) OURS!

A week later it was time to celebrate my birthday, and I must have been really sick for the last few months, because my entire family took enough pity on me to get me almost a year’s worth of spa gift certificates! Oh, the massages I was gonna get with those! Relaxation here I come!

Alex is such a good big brother to Austin (rooti-tooti) and Andrew (mody), his nicknames for his brothers. He used to get a little jealous sometimes, especially in the mornings when we would get the babies up and carry them in to the kitchen. Alex wanted to be carried in to the kitchen, too. But at 43 pounds, he was just too heavy to carry anymore. So I would try to get him to hold hands and walk, but some mornings, he just didn't want to. So he'd stand in the hallway and cry, "But mommy, you have to carry me! I'll fall if you don't!" I'd tell him, "No, you won't fall. You're a big boy!" So he'd take a couple of steps, then with such drama and exaggeration you would not believe it, he'd throw himself down on the hallway floor, start crying and say, "See, mommy, I told you I'd fall down!" And the wailing, sobbing and whining begins. What drama! The Academy Awards committee needs to keep their eyes on him. Where does he get it?

During the first weeks at the new house, we watched a lot of HGTV for ideas on projects for our new house. You hear on HGTV a lot phrases like "3-bedroom, 2.5 bath", or "4 bedroom, 3 and a half bath''; "Living room, dining-room, den, curbside appeal" , etc. Alex really picked up on a lot of these phrases and began to walk through our house counting the bedrooms and bathrooms, saying "curb-side appeal", "large lot", and other real estate lingo. And, at other people's houses, or even just driving through the neighborhood, he'd say, "that house has 4 bedrooms, 2 and a half bath!" Or "that house has play room!" If Hollywood doesn't work out for him, real estate may be his thing!

Along that line, he woke me up early one morning to watch cartoons. It was still very early and the infomercials were still airing on television. He must have seen one about credit counseling, because he woke me at 6 AM, saying "have too much credit card debt? Call us now or apply online!" I was just praying he didn't catch a late-night or early morning Viagra commercial...and then with my luck, start talking about erectile disfunction as church or school!

Yup, 2008 was starting off to be a banner year at our house! The year of the Triple A Threat!