State of the Union 2012

Ok, so I'm a little late this year but here is my annual State of the Union address (I'll try to keep it shorter than that other guy's State of the Union address):

Timber

     Well, let's see.....  Obviously 2011 was a big year for Timber.  He learned to roll, sit, stand, walk, run, talk(ish), eat solid food, and got his first haircut.  It's hard to top that, huh?!  Maybe I should have saved him for last....  Timber is now 16-months-old and loves chasing Flora and Scout through the house.  He tries so hard to play their big-kid games and is usually pretty good at pretending to know what he's doing.  When he's not imitating Flora and Scout he is usually watching DORA!!, "reading" an animal book, or putting together his puzzles.  He has only recently discovered puzzles and can't seem to get enough of them.
     We recently discovered that Timber is allergic to peanuts and almonds.  On a scale from 0 (no allergy) to 6 (severe allergy), his blood test only put him at a 0.42.  While we're thankful for the low number, we're continuing to follow the doctor's orders to avoid all peanuts and almonds (and basically all nuts since there's so much cross-contamination, I guess) for a couple more years.  Apparently, peanut allergies can worsen with each exposure and we don't want that!  Before he starts school we will do another blood test and possibly meet with an allergist to do an exposure test in a controlled environment.  But that is all a long way off.  Right now we are finding it fairly easy to avoid peanuts and almonds.  And we have an epi-pen that we hope we never need to use -- just in case!

 Scout

     Scout is a little smarty-pants.  He's a scrawny little thing but tough as nails.  He's loud and fast and usually stinky -- basically, he's a boy.  Scout is using the big-boy potty as of last summer and, let me tell you, having only one kid in diapers is aMAZing!  Scout has been seizure-free since his febrile seizure in July.  Of course, he hasn't had a fever since July either but the doctor is fairly confident that he probably does not have a febrile seizure condition.  She said that kids with febrile seizure disorders tend to find ways to develop a fever more often than other kids.  Also, Scout thanks Jesus for Christmas EVERY TIME he prays.  

 

Flora

     Flora is completely out of diapers now!!  She is no longer wearing nighttime diapers and I am sooooo happy to have one child completely out of diapers.  She took a dance class last Fall and absolutely LOVED it!  She also started Awana at church and looks forward to "Awana day" all week.  I think we might try a soccer league next year just to change things up.  I'm completely torn about whether or not to send her to preschool this coming Fall but I think I'm getting close to a decision.  I think I will keep her home this next school year but enroll her in a summer preschool in Summer 2013 -- right before she starts kindergarten.  That's not THE decision yet, but that's what I'm leaning toward.
     Flora is very fancy.  She carries a purse with sparkly lip gloss in it around the house all day and it's not usual for her to pop into her room to change into a princess dress.  We're going to a Fancy Nancy program at the library this Saturday and she already has an "exquisite" outfit picked out to wear.  If you want to pay her the highest compliment, just tell her she looks "exquisite."  She's my girly girly girly girl and I love it!  Flora also participated in our church's Christmas program for the first time in December.  This is a picture of her at the program.  It was a cowboy/ranch themed skit.

 

Chris and Stefanie

     Well, we just aren't very exciting right now.  We did make some major 2012 resolutions that we hope to accomplish in the next 11 months.  Mainly, lose weight, get out of debt, and make my feet look pretty.  We each lost 10 pounds in January!  Woohoo!!  I've developed a deep and meaningful relationship with the treadmill.  I will update more about us when something exciting happens.  There's probably more I could tell now but I'm tired of writing and Chris just got home and I'm not feeling very creative tonight so it probably wouldn't be very interesting anyway. (This is us at our small group's ugly sweater Christmas party -- Chris doesn't usually look this sleazy and I don't usually wear turtlenecks.)

Oh, and my new blog layout includes this nifty LIKE button at the bottom.  I could probably remove it, but then you wouldn't be able to tell me that you LIKE my blog!!  Haha, but no worries, I can't see who LIKEs each post (and I DID remove the DISLIKE button!!).  :-)