Chance's Many Faces

Chance is laughing, smiling, cooing and interacting in all kinds of fun ways.  He even smiles and laughes at his crazy sister.  

He is beginning to gain some control over his hands and is reaching for things that catch his attention

Despite the fact that Mikelle has been a little rough he still loves to be hugged and kissed by her.  She can always make him stop crying when I can't get to him

He is rolling all over the place now and really enjoys being on his tummy...when he is awake.

 

 He holds his head up like a pro and can even reach for things when he is on his stomach.

I didn't think Mikelle developed this fast, so I checked my journal.  She was rolling over at three months also.

 

He is the sweetest little boy and we all adore him.

Holloween and Harvest Fun

This month has been very eventful for our little family.  It started out with the buck hunt for Danny.  He spent all day the first saturday and almost every evening the following week hunting.  He finally ended up shooting a buck in his cousin Timmy's alfalfa field.  It was a decent sized buck, not a "big spread" in Danny's words, but a real fat one.  It hung in our garage, wrapped in a sheet for a week and then we spent a saturday afternoon cutting it up.  Most of it was made into jerky and the rest we cubed and canned.  We had some really good barbeque sandwiches last night, made of venison.  All new for me, but I am keeping an open mind. 

This past Wednesday Danny went Elk hunting with Adam and Aaron and shot a spike elk first thing in the morning.  We took that one to the butcher.  That may sound easy but I had to back a pick-up into a very confined space and lower the 200+ lb elk into the back from its hanging position in a barn.  It may not sound too hard but I was pretty terrified that I wouldn't get in it the bed of the pick up and it would fall out and I would be stuck trying to lift the thing back up. The head if which is sitting out in the garage.  What a life huh? 



sorry if this is little much for the faint of...stomach

Although I didn't get much canning done this year, I managed to put away some peaches, raspberry jam, grape juice, apple pie filling, deer meat, and hopefully some tomatoes.  Not too bad either way.

Despite the fact that it was a hard year for gardens we enjoyed some really yummy stuff.  Mikelle had her first go at corn on the cob and did a great job.  We had some blueberry crepes which also left their mark on her face.  She is such a good little eater.  











she is about to say "smile"



Mikelle helped me carve a pumpkin this week.  She just played in the goopey pumpkin insides the whole time but she enjoyed watching it light. 

 She is fascinated with fire.  I have learned that the hard way while also learning that I now need to "mikelle proof" my kitchen.  She found a small box of matches while I was in another part of the house.  Then she ran to me crying and I found a nicely burned match and a pretty scortch mark on the living room carpet. She was fine, just scared. Close call that we will not be repeating.  That girl is too smart for her own good. 

I took Mikelle and Chance trick-o-treating on Main Street last night.  There were throngs of people and I made the mistake of thinking I could just hold Chance the whole time and push the stroller just in case Mikelle got tired.  She was the laziest little trick-o-treater ever!  Just kidding, she was really intimidated by all the people and didn't feel comfortable getting out of the stroller.  So I had to push her to every door to get her candy while balancing my little bobble head Chance.  I think they both had a good time.  Mikelle got plenty of candy for a two-year-old and Chance was held for an hour straight (second child doesn't get that often).  My back hurts now but I am really glad we went.  I had a lot of fun dressing them up and I got a lot of comments on my chubby pumpkin.   

I was walking around doing some last minute straightening before bed a few nights ago and Chance fell asleep on my should for the first time.  He's not a big cuddler.  I had Danny take a picture.  Sorry the pictures are so blurry my phone needs a lot of light or it doesn't turn out very clear. 

It's a fun time of year.  We got snow on the mountains and flurries in the valley.  Thanksgiving is coming and I love decorating this time of year.  I made a dollar store run and put together a wreath for the door.  From a few steps back it doesn't look like it cost me four dollars.  I love the colors!

Family Update

Not too much has changed since I last posted.  Chance is really growing quickly.  I don't take as many pictures as I would like but have a few.

I'm not sure what the sneer is for.


Mikelle is slowly but surely adjusting to the changes, and I am slowly but surely adjusting to her.  She loves her little brother.  She has had a tough time learning how to play with him and love him without hurting him but she is getting better.  She loves to have him lay next to her.  Sometimes they lay in her crib together or on our bed together. 

Mikelle is pretending to sleep.

Her favorite thing is to have him lay on the recliner with her while she watches a movie.  She asks "Chance lay with you". 

watching Ratatoulle

She ocasionally steals his pacifier

The miracle is that she likes to share her blankie with him...rare.

She is starting to distinguish between "you" and "me".  She likes to tell me that she needs things.  She'll get a spoon and say "I need this".  She just likes to practice phrases that she hears me say.  She is now able to get in and out of the bath by herself.  Last night while I was rushing to get ready for mutual she decided that she needed her blankie in the bath.  I was on the phone when she got out and was dragging her blankie behind her asking me to pick her up.  It was Danny who finally noticed that it was sopping wet.  Although it didn't seem to bother Mikelle we had to wring it out and throw it in the dryer.  She is a lot of "fun" these days. 


   Winter is coming quicker than I would like.  The nights are frigid but we still have a few warm days left.  My tomatoes were partially frosted and so far only one tomatoe has ripened. 

 I planted lots of flowers this spring but only the sun flowers survived, and only one opened before it too frosted. 

A mysterious squash plant came up next to my sunflowers and a lone little squash grew before that plant also frosted. 

Least I had something to show for my gardening efforts this year.  Next year will be better I hope. 

Chance Ty Kerns

Most of you already know that Chance was born on the 18th of August.  I was a lot better prepared for labor this time and it didn't catch me off gaurd that it is the most painful thing IN THE WORLD !!  It was long but worth it and after about 26 hours, with an epidural that barely worked, we got a healthy, happy handsome little boy.  I'll spare everyone the hospital pictures, they rarely look cute when the baby is just all red and puffy.  He is home now and happy and Mikelle absolutely loves him.  We're getting adjusted and things are getting back to normal...well are approaching normal. 

This is Mikelle first real look at Chance the day we brought him home.

Just a few days old and already spends most of his awake time looking around and taking in the scenery. 

We spent an afternoon outside when Chance was about a week old. Mikelle couldn't stop kissing him.

This is my favorite face that Chance makes.

Finally Summer...

We had our first hundred degree day yesterday. Although I am aware that the eastern part of the country has been cooking in that kind of weather for months now, we have had a very late summer. We had snow in the end of April, endless cloudy days through May, and torrential flooding rains in June. The beginning of July was breezy with some occasional hail storms. From July 5th on we have had nothing but sun and hot. Being pregnant I am grateful that it took a little while to heat up, but my big horticultural plans for this summer were ruined. I had started beautiful tomatoes, squash, watermelon, pumkins, and cucumbers that didn't make it. They just couldn't wait so long to be transplanted, I had no idea the warm weather would take so long to show up. So I had to settle with some potted petunias and some tomatoe plants that I got from a local green house. Sigh, oh well, maybe next year. Our grass is really green and the freshly planted wheat around our place is looking lush and beautiful. I am really getting used to this place, maybe not the gigantic hail on our tin roof, but the rest is pretty nice.

Mikelle had her second birthday about 3 weeks ago. We had a few friends over and she played outside in the sprinkler and had some cupcakes. We celebrated her birthday a week before the real thing, on Danny's birthday.  She got so used to everyone saying "Happy Birthday" that when her Daddy got home that afternoon she kept telling him "Happy Birthday Daddy!" He loved it. Suprisingly her picture eating cupcakes looks almost the same as when she was one.

Two Years Old

One Year Old









It's hard to believe but she sure acts like a two year old. She talks all the time and is getting more and more independent. Some days she just doesn't want to get dressed and I just don't feel like fighting her.

When we were visiting Ruth and Anna's families in NC we picked up a pair of Dollar Store sunglasses. They broke about a week later and I just had to get her another pair. Now she wears them pretty constantly.

I am trying to keep her entertained this summer despite my lack of energy. We go to the library about once a week. They have some toys and we pick up new books to read. We got a kids songs CD and she asks for it all the time "turn on radio, wheel bus". She sings a lot and knows the words to rock-a-bye baby, twinkle twinkle, popcorn popping, happy family, and lots of others. It is really fun to hear her singing as she plays.

We also spend a little time each week playing in the sprinkler outside. The only trouble is she doesn't like to take her swim suit off. I got a nice shot of her plumber's crack after a playing outside for a little while. Danny and I couldn't stop laughing about it.

She is still a good sleeper and has funny ways of showing that she is tired. I will find her in the most random places laying down with her blankie. The other day it was the top of the couch. Silly girl.

We are patiently, or not so patiently, waiting for this little man to arrive. I am unbelievably huge. All the clothes that lasted my whole pregancy with Mikelle are not cutting it this time. It's getting a little tough. I can't get comfortable no matter what position I am in. Danny is gone a lot. He worked 77 hours last week. He goes to bed at the same time as Mikelle and is out of the house by 5:30 am at the latest. It's the summer though, and I knew it would be this way. At least we have sundays. I am just trying to make it through the rest of this pregnancy without crying everyday about how much I want it to be over. Staying busy helps. And having a wonderful silly daughter helps too.

Home Sweet Baker

Most of you know that we spent six months in Durkee, the most remot eplace I have ever lived.  We moved back to Baker this past weekend and it is nice to be back.  I would have included a great picture of the beautiful views we have here but we woke up to three inches and counting of snow...yep May 5th and we have snow.  Eastern Oregon is pretty nuts.  I am trying not to be up set that the sunflowers I planted yesterday are now lying in an icy grave, but at least I didn't plant my tomatoes yet.  That would have been depressing. 

Despite the snow we are happy to be back.  There are no stairs in this house and my knees now carrying almost 20 extra pounds ate glad for that.  Mikelle loves her new room and we moved most of her toys in there so she plays in there more often.  The has a new hair cut courtesy of me and it is very flattering, those crazy curls really go nuts the longer her hair gets and I can't keep up with it.  Danny's sunglasses are too scratched now so Mikelle wears them for fun...all the time.  I always catch her posing in them. 

                I finally got new glasses after losing my old ones to Mikelle and the garbage can almost a year ago.  I love them.  One of the gilrs in young women's told me they look like I have always been wearing them, like one of my facial features was missing with out them.  I am not sure if that was a compliment or not.

Danny's last big project in Durkee was to update some corrals.  That required digging a lot of holes and setting a lot of post.  He was only about a half mile from the house so Mikelle and I went to see him a lot during the day and I tried to help him where I could.  Mostly I would stand there and hold a post of try tuse the level for him.  Mikelle helped out a lot too but mostly she just played with her new best friend Sally.  Sally is what we finally decided to name our six month olf border collie.  She is a very good dog and very gentle with Mikelle.  They played so cute together.