MishAl and the Fam: August 2008

So, it looks like I'll be jumping on the blogging bandwagon for now. I don't know how good I'll be at it since things in our lives seem to be getting crazier and crazier with two little munchkins (sometimes three) and working full time. Free time seems to be hard to come by now-a-days, but we'll try it out so anyone who might care can take a look and see what we're up to. It seems this might be easier than trying to keep up those darn Facebook and Myspace pages, especially when everyone can't read them.

Anyway, we're doing well this summer. Jackson is getting so big and talking up a storm. He cracks us up all the time. He's turning into quite the little clown, loving to say and do things that he knows is going to get him a laugh. So, now I'll have two major jokesters on my hands (him and his dad!). He's also absolutely fearless. I'm sure it's only a matter of time until someone turns me in for abusing him since he's constantly got bruises on his face. I can't believe he's going to be 2 in just two short months. Absolutely amazing! He's also a really great big brother. He's so protective of Layla and always worried that someone is going to walk off with her or something. He's been sick the last few days, so that stinks. He will run a pretty high fever for a few hours and then he's fine once the Motrin kicks in. We're not really sure what's wrong, but Albie is voting molars. I hope that's all it is, we don't need another winter like the last one.

Audrey is doing really well also. She's getting so big! She turned 5 last December and graduated from Preschool this May. She will be starting Kindergarten on Monday! I can't even believe it. It's so hard for me to think back on when I first met her and she was so little...just a few months older than Jay is now. Crazy. We'll most likely see her next when we're going through Vegas on Labor Day and we can't wait. She is an old hand at being a bigger sibling, so she's really great at it also. She seemed to just fall in love with Layla when she saw her and talks about how much she's looking forward to teaching Layla how to talk. She's also getting ready to have another baby brother next month...that'll be four siblings in less than two years! I can't speak for Krystle, but I'm definitely thinking this trend can't continue!

Last but not least, our newest addition, Layla Joy, is growing like a little weed! We weighed and measured her last night (six weeks, three days) and she's at 11.4 pounds and 25 inches!!! That seems insane to me! I've already been putting her in 3-6 month clothes. It just is so amazing when Jay stayed such a little peanut for so long. She looks so much different from just a few weeks ago. I went back to work on the 18th, so Layla came with me for the week. She did so well! I wish I could bring her with me all the time, but I'm afraid I just wouldn't get any work done. She's been smiling for a few weeks now and is starting to coo and "talk" to us when we talk to her. She is so laid back and easy going. Her favorite thing is, on her daddy's days off, they just lie in bed and chat with eachother in the mornings. I think he's her favorite person. She can't even look at him without smiling.

Albie and I are doing really well, also. We had a VERY busy spring/summer of sod-laying, nursery-renovating and baby-growing. It kind of seems to be slowing down now (if Al and Jay's twice weekly golf outings are any indication) so that's kind of nice. We're getting ready to embark upon our family vacation to Colorado/New Mexico on Monday. After we make all of our stops, we should be looking at about 2000 miles of driving. I think we're crazy. We did purchase a dvd player for the car so Jay can watch all the Cars and Monsters Inc. that his heart desires as he's been somewhat difficult to travel with lately. I hope it goes okay and I don't end up having an anuerism. It should be fun, though. We'll be seeing Grandma Joy for a few days, then going to Eric's wedding in New Mexico. And I'll get to indulge my childish love of staying in motels a couple of times. After we get back, we'll start on our big fall project of putting a wood stove in our living room...eek. It'll be nice once it gets done, but it seems like it's going to be a lot of work.

So, that's it for this post except for pictures...I'll just post a few random ones from the summer. Hopefully this won't be our ONLY post and I will find time to keep it somewhat updated. I'm going to shoot for having one up in three weeks, after we get back from our trip and get settled.

These are Jackson's new boots that we got him for the winter. He loves them! Yeah, I know the picture isn't rotated...I put the wrong one on, and couldn't figure out how to take it off...blah.