Tyler playing with his tunnel in a new way!

Here are my last two Myspace Blogs- I don't have it in me (or the time to take) to write a whole new one. :) Enjoy! Love and friends and thoughts and things... You know, I write blogs in my head all day long and when funny things happen I always think "Oh, I can't wait to blog that" and then I sit down and it's like my creativity is zapped out of me by the computer or something. Maybe it's in Effingham? God sent me HUGE blessings this weekend in the venue of friends and I'm feeling a lot better about life because of it. Actually, the past entire week has been good (with the bad of course...) First of all, Gary got home safely and since he left the coference 6 hours early he still got home earlier than expected in spite of it taking him over 4 hours to make the 2 hour drive. He had also ordered me flowers for Valentines day and bless his heart the poor old delivery man had to treck up my driveway wich was unshoveled because we didn't have a shovel for me to go do it! It's a red mug with carnations and roses and a balloon. Tyler thinks the balloon is his Sunday I got to see Jennifer at church which made it totally worth getting up and putting myself together! It's really pathetic to go to a church that size and only really know 1 person. The nursery lady knows me now and know's Tyler's name but not mine... i guess that is progress. Anyways, I was leaving thinking about how it's such a waste of an hour of my life to get all dolled up to go to church to see no one and I look across the hall and here comes this adorable woman in a pretty red coat and black hat with the cutest little blonde girl in her arms and ... It's Jennifer!!! The ONLY person in the entire church I know- who always goes to the service opposite us - was there! We chatted a little and I got to hear the green and blue pee-pee story (see her blog!) and went our ways. I got into the car and looked at Gary and I was like "what a blessing!" Yesterday we had to go to our summer cottage (the Mansfield house) because the wonderful, customer service oriented COLUMBIA GAS OF OHIO installed a faulty reader the LAST time they were at our house (when Gary's mom spent the day over there waiting for them). YUP! Good thing they could come when Gary already had a day off so I didn't have to go sit in the freezing house with Tyler by ourselves. Anyways I got to spend some time with my friend Bethany who's also pregnant and has a 2 year old son. Then on the way home (oh yea, the blessed CGoH was 2 HOURS late...) we stopped at my favorite McDonalds in all the WORLD because my Tajie works there and she was actually working!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Usually when I"m in there (which is now practically never) she's not because I'm not a breakfast person and she usually opens. So not only did I get to eat my favorite fast food, and they actually made the fries correctly (I still can't get over how some places manage to ruin McDonalds fries... do they not all train the same?!?!?!) but I also got to see Taj!!!! Now today I read that MI Jackie (not to be confused with PA Jackie) is sending me not only scrapbooking stuff (which if you've spent more than 5 minutes with me you know is the way to my heart... after McDonalds fries....and taco's... and sour patch kids...ok, ONE of the ways....) but also some CD"S!!!! Satan is totally going to throw something at me I can tell! It's always when I'm at my highest that he tries to bring me down. (CRACKHEAD LUCIFER!!) Now I get to look forward to a GIRLS DAY OUT SHOPPING TRIP!!!!!!!!!! WHOO HOOO!! Gary's freaking about it and I don't care. I'm going to go and have fun and hang out with my girl Lori and we are not going to let the annoying men in our lives ruin our day (ARE WE!?!?) You don't realize how badly you need friends until you see one at church or get to go to thier house and spend some time wtih them. Lonliness really stinks but I'm thankful that the people i DO have in my life are true friends who love me and would do anything for me and expect nothing in return. Sixth Month Alright. Who encouraged me to get pregnant again? You are so going down. The fatigue is back. The nausious feeling has returned. Baby Girl Bush is high and caues me to be unable to digest so I'm sick after I eat and have to get to starving before I can make myself eat again. My back hurts, my hips hurt, my belly hurts and I have my constant headache/sinus pressure still. Body falls alseep at night on whatever side I lay on so I roll over adn wait for the tingling to stop and go back to sleep, then I have to pee. I seem to remember that I LOVED being pregnant with Tyler. Was it because I had nothing to do but sit around and enjoy it or was it easier last time? Is it the extra emotional stress? I woke up at 7:30 this morning (which is sleeping in) and hoped Tyler would slep till 8. Then at 8 when he was awake I prayed he'd play in there for awhile. I'm such a bad mom! it's now 11:30 adn I feel like i have not slept in 2 days. I stumbled down the stairs this morning holding Tyler's hand and thought to myself about how in a few months I'll be doing this with an infant and getting LESS sleep. Ugh. Still, I can't wait! There are only 4 items in her closet and they are all PINK! I hope she likes to read and loves princesses and barbies and dolls and playing house. Tyler can sing Jesus Loves Me almost by himself now and I can't wait till he can teach his little sister to sing and pray... Poor Gary... he has to work all day, play with Tyler and clean in the evening and sleep with a flipping whale at night. He needs your prayers!

Here we have a photo of me at 26 weeks, one of Tyler eating his Valentines Day cupcake at Grandma Bush's house, one of him standing in the tunnel, and a picture of him riding his rocking horse.

We are still alive. :) Somehow the more we have going on the less time I take to write. The main issue these days, if I'm honest, is that by the time I'm done checking my myspace and email my back and rear hurt from sitting in this chair!! I need a wireless keyboard to go with our new wireless mouse! he he! Gary and I recently read Debt Free Living by Larry Burkett and have moved on to the Journey to Financial Freedom through Crown Financial Ministires which is run by Howard Dayton. The Bush's expressed intrest on getting some of the materials you can purchase online so we have borrowed some of what they got and purchased a money map for ourselves. We are reading the book Your Money Map: A proven 7-step guide to true financial freedom. It will take us a lifetime to reach the goal since the final one involves retiring with enough to live comfortably and being generous with what you have left over... but hey, it's a goal right?!!? We have decided that we need to plan the rest of our lives around our current situation rather than what we hope our situation will be soon. For example, we hope to sell the house wich will cut our debt by more than half, however we can't count on that debt going away or the extra monthly income we'd get by simply not paying for it anymore- so we have to budget as if it'll be there forever. We've also decided that it's time to have an actual savings account. The last time we had one was when we both worked and saved money to buy the house= then we used the money in the account as a downpayment and went back to living paycheck to paycheck when my school contract ended and I stayed home. I guess we've simply been convicted to be better stewards of God's money and possessions he's entrusted to us. So, with a housepayment, credit card debt and school debt to tackle we've decided to stop looking at houses and make this rental home so that the next time we buy- we can do it right. We don't regret our decision to buy before but we feel a little wiser now and wnat to be more careful and intentional this time. All this talk of money and reading about how people used to live before credit was so readily available has made us realize that our attitudes and thinking were not reflecting Christ. It's also brought us closer together. It's interesting that most couples fight over money (us included) and it is the thing most blamed for divorce in America (did you know that a divorce happens ever 7 seconds in our country? With more and more people chosing to live together and not even get married that stat is even more scary!). We are trying to prevent money from becoming a hot issue in our marrige by communicating, plannig ahead, and keeping our focus on Christ, not our own "earthly" wealth. We'll see how we do in the future huh? :) Last week Gary went to Columbus for a technology conference and had a wonderful time. I found that I do have the strength to do things by myself and the endurance to keep Tyler alive for 4 days but i can't say I enjoyed it! I was reflecting all week on what I missed about Gary... the way he steals covers at night forcing me to cuddle with him when he's alseep and doesn't even know it... the way his loud breathing covers the noises of the neighbors and Tyler moving around and provides white noise to help me fall asleep... even his smell i missed! I know that sounds rediculously corny but it's true! No one to reach the dishes on the top shelf or the cereal above the fridge... no one to fill the gas tank or shovel the 12 inches of snow we got (I would have done it but guess where our shovel is??? MANSFIELD!!!!)... no one to run out and get me that one little thing at the store...no one to take out the trash or hog the remote.... it was just weird!!! I did find that my mom is right- Tyler is better company than I realize. In the past when he's gone out of town (which thankfully is not very often- once or twice a year at most) Tyler has been very little or not born yet and it's been just me. Now I have a little person to spend my time with and I'm still needed which is nice. I think it was good for me to see areas where I take Gary for granted too so I can appreciate him more when he is home. God kept us both safe and I'm unfathomly greatful. I'm also a little jealous that I was not the one in the fancy hotel with free meals that i didn't have to prepare.... Baby #2 is growing growing! I had an appointment today and things seem to be right on schedule. My ultrasound a few weeks ago was fine and the baby measured at or one week ahead of the due date. I guess that means she'll be early, or big, or (like Tyler) both. great... I'm hoping for small and a little early but I trust the Lord. Last time there was an obvious window that was very convenient for Tyler to come, not as much so with this one. I'd like to go early so I have time to recover before we go to the Outer Banks in July. :) Other than my back pain and the CONSTANT KICKING in places I didn't realize could hurt from inside, I'm doing well. She's carrying high but kicking low so i'm not sure what her deal is. I'm beginning to think she's pushed all my organs up into my lungs wich is why I can't breath and why I feel sick every time I eat. My digestive system seems to be squished and things just aren't getting through! She's clearly taking energy out of what I eat though because I can feel her side to side and up and down and I swear she's either trying to look out my belly button or climb my spine. If her movements are any indication of her personality she's going to be very much like her brother- only with hormones and (hopefully) a love of shoes! (although Tyler is a bit obsessed with shoes to be honest!!) By the time she's ready to face the world my insides will be bruised for sure. It will be so worth it though! I can't wait!!! (oh, but I'm also so scared that I CAN wait!) My grandpa still has cancer and is back in Ohio from Florida. hes' been in the hospital a couple times sine his return but a recent diagnosis indicates he could have another 8 months to live. This is actually a priase becaues several times it has sounded to me like he's not had more than a few hours or weeks. I just pray every day that he is not in too much pain, my grandma is able to take care of him without hurting herself, and if they have not already, they will both find Jesus Christ as thier personal Lord and Savior. I'm sure there is more but I know that those of you who do read this have other things to do so I will let you get to them. My couch and blanket are calling to me. I love you all and would love to hear from you either by blog or by email (or even phone call for the daring! HAHA!). Love and Prayers, In HIS Grace, Heather

I also had Gary take some pictures of me today to show off my growing belly. I'll include the one from Christmas morning to compare....

Expensive Date! Gary had Stephanie watch Tyler this afternoon so we could have a date! We had lunch with Gary and Stephanie then cam eback to the house, put Tyler to bed and left. We decided to go to the mall to walk around and we found Ohio State players were there signing autographs!!! of course we ran into 3 players, bought the autograph of Antonio Pittman and a picture for him to sign. Then we walked through the rest of the mall and realized there were a bunch more!! Including #7 Teddy Ginn Junior!!!! So we just had to get that one too! I think we would have only gotten Ginn if we'd have seen him first but we didn't . Then of course we forgot to ask Ginn how his ankle was and we kicked ourselves for that. Pittman shook both of our hands, thanked us and told me congratulations on the baby!!! They were both nice but I thought Pittman was nicer. Of course I was all upset b/c we could not afford to get all the signatures... and I think most of the people in the mall were the same way because several guys just sat there and I felt bad for them. Anyways it was so awesome to meet someone we actually spent so much time watching all winter. It was rediculous how much we had to pay for the autographs and of course, the first time I did NOT have my camera in my purse so I didn't get a picture. BOO! It was still fun.

Have you ever been undescribably happy and devistated at the same time about the same thing? I have. Apparently pregnancy only makes it worse. Wednesday night we were "out on the town" because we had to take back library video's and were looking for a toddler airbed we saw online. The site indicated our target had it in stock- not true. In fact it did not look like they had ever had them. Usually when something is out of stock there is a big empty space on the shelf and the item's price thingy is there all alone- not the deal. Furthermore no one seemed to know if they ever got them or if they'd ever get them again. "We get a truck every other day and no one knows what's on it until it gets here and we uload it." HUH?! Apparently I have no buisness savvy because that sounds rediculously stupid to me. Or, huh, here's a thought, the lady did not want to bother finding us real answers. ANYWAYS we've been talking about buying Tyler a big boy twin bed now instead of for his 3rd birthday- not because he needs to be out of the crib but because he's grown out of his playpen. We do enough traveling overnight that he needs to learn to sleep on the floor or a bed so we decided to bite the bullet and look for a bed. Gary's mom had coupons so we went to a mattress store (they should let you rent those places out for sleepovers!) and found the one we liked and bought it. 90 SAC baby! :) last night gary and his dad went to pick it up in big Gary's van and they brought it home. Gary also went out yesterday on his way home from work (yup- snow day and he went into work. ONly for 2 hours though) and got the rails we had seen at big lots. So Gary's dad leaves after dinner and we are playing and Gayr's like- So, we going to do it? I"m like "What?" "Put the bed up" At this moment it hit me how much I really was not prepared for it! Thankfully Gary is more adventuresome and prepared for change than I because sure enough, we took the crib apart, moved the pieces into what will be the baby's room, and put the big boy bed together! I just happened to have a set of twin sheets because my mom was going to get rid of my favorite set from when I was a kid at a garage sale and I took them. We still need a mattress pad and Tyler needs his own sheets that are more exciting than plain old white, but it works for now. I cried when Gary took it apart. I was so sad. I remembered him and my dad putting together my old crib when I was pregnant with Tyler, then someone giving us a much newer one and us switching them... I remember when we moved out of the Mansfield house and Gary took it apart... putting it back together here... and now taking it apart again because he's a big boy. :( I was not prepared for how emotional i'd be about it! I mean I got 10 inches of hair hacked off and didnt' cry yet putting my baby to bed in a BED made me lose it. We did our regular routine, and put him to bed just after 8:30 and he cried. That's when my heart just broke. My poor baby was up there scared! I let him go about 10 minutes and then we went back and re-tucked him in and he went to sleep! He slept all night! I had the monitors on and the gate up in case he got out and so I heard him every time he rolled over or made a small crying sound.... i've not listened to him so intently since he was a baby. It made me think of the nights ahead where I'll lay awake listening for the new baby... anyways he woke up at his normal time this morning and waited in bed until I went to get him! He just called for me like always! I was so proud of him last night and this morning. So proud and happy and thrilled... yet a piece of me is still a little devistated. I keep thinking about sending him off to school and other things ahead that I don't allow myself to dwell on in the day to day routine. It's a small step and a small thing, I know, and there is plenty of room for craziness in the future (like nap time in an hour) but for this moment I wanted to share just how happy, sad, proud, and devistated I am. Most of all I'm thankful to have a strong husband who made me do it!

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Whew! I'm exhausted already! My brother came home last tuesday evening and Friday when we got to my mom's I FINALLY got to see him! He looks so good I must say! So friday night we had dinner just the 5 of us- yum. I've always loved my mom's cooking but now that I have to cook myself it's even better when someone else does it. We just pretty much relaxed and hung out, did Christmas and I got fabulous earings and some other things, Gary got the wireless mouse he wanted (this thing is freaky i gotta tell you but Gary will NOT be slamming it into the desk like the old one!) and we, together, got TIVO!!!!! i've not figured out how to use it yet but it's neat so far! Tyler got a tent, a puzzle, book and a BIKE! it's so cute. It's a tricicle that has this handle in the back that raises up so you can push him and he has to steer and then he can pedal to but dosn't have to. He's not got the steering thing quite down yet.... but he loves it! Saturday we got up and went to look at a house my brother had seen and it was really cute. I love giong to look at houses. I"m not sure my brother's all that serious about buying in that area right now but it was fun. Then we got back to mom's and mom and I left for me to get my hair cut! I did it! I donated 10 inches to Locks of Love and it was SO short in the back!!!! She did this massive ponytail, braided it and then snipped it off! I seriously lost like 4 pounds. It was longer in the front and short in the back so she did some long layers and kept the front long and razored it and then gave me side bangs to frame it. My hair seems SO much darker this short! Ineed to get out in the sun man! You can't tell but the front kind of curls under and the back and sides all flip out and it's pretty fluffy on top. I love it. I took a pic of myself and it's not great but it'll do... (I should have powdered my nose first! whoops!) I washed it last night when we got home from my mom's and it took like five seconds and hardly any shampoo... i totally over conditioned it, it feels like silk. You don't realize how unhealthy the bottom 10 inches of your hair are till you are left with the top 10. :) I love that it's drasticly different and also a STYLE. I've not had a style in ages! It was so nice to go and be pampered. The lady even gave me a lip gloss to try. I didn't get it though.. $13 for a lip stain gloss? Sorry... not right now! Later that day Gary went to the mall to talk to the Altell people because on Friday when I got done talking to him on the phone I shut it jus tlke normal and the screen went blank. No time, no contacts list... no display at all! Do you know how hard it is? My dad is like "yea, all phones used to be like that" and i go, "Yea, and people used to have all thier numbers written down on paper too!" Gary went and somehow got a new phone but we have like 4 numbers in it now. :) That evening we had dinner with friends of my mom and Julie and then went to Dave and Busters where we saw the other Julie! It was SO MUCH FUN to get out without Tyler!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus I had my hair all done fancy- I kept thinking, If I were with Jackie (myspace jackie) she's be running around introducing me to people going "This is my friend Heather. Isn't she the shit?!?!" (you know you would!!!!) Tyler was left with my friend Danielle adn of course he was not at all interested in bedtime so she let him stay up and watch Thomas and was sleepign only like 30 min before we got home. :) It was so weird to get into the car to go out at 8:15. How sad that going out at 8:15 is late now! The last time i was out that late was driving to the Kelloggs after seeing Lori at the mall at Christmas! We are so pathetic- us old married people with kids. But we love it. Sunday morning is a bit of a fog- they let me sleep in instead of all of us going to church... i'm not happy that it was blamed on me but it was nice to sleep in! That afternoon the Pierre's came to visit and Julie again- her family was supposed to come but her brother had a little accident at work.... the story we got was that he cut half of his thumb off and they lost it in the salad where he works but by the end of the night it was that he just cut it deep and had to have it stiched. It was a fun evening regardless adn then of COURSE at 8 we had to watch 2 hours of 24 (not my 'cup of tea') as usual when someone is diong something fun without him Tyler would have none of going to bed so I was with him most of the first hour and read a Glamor magazine the rest of the time. Gary and my brother were in Heaven. My mom FINALLY got a real TV and also got DISH so we got to watch more than 3 channels the whole weekend. No, let me rephrase that, we had the OPTION to watch more than three channels... however I doubt that the 4 football games, one hockey game, and 6 doses of SportsCenter were on more than 3 different channels. Thankfully my brother is a big old softy and when Tyler got crabby he was happy to put on cartoon.s :) ok, so we watched like 5 channels... out of 300 or so... :) Monday my mom worked in the AM and we had to leave to go to mansfield to get the house listed with a realtor in another attempt to sell sell sell! The roof was leaking AGAIN so we got a new guy to fix it. He came right away to look at it, gave us the estimate, said he'd be back tomorrow (today) and have it done and bill us. SWEET! I wonder if he's there though.... It's always nice to have friends help out when they can but this time we needed someone in and out and to get it done quickly. It turned out to be a small thing but we were freaking out when we first got there. :) We finally got home (after a pit stop at Best Buy to buy the 70$ gizmo we needed to make the Tivo work), ate dinner, hooked up the Tivo, gave Tyler a bath and got him to bed. Whew! I have not even unpacked because this morning was my ultrasound! SO exciting!!! But, that's another blog....

I don't remmeber if I mentioned this but we came home from my grandma's on Christmas eve and went to the evening service with Garys parents at thier church. It was mostly singing with a drama and a small message. They offered no child care and we decided to take Tyler anyways. He seems to love music and I thought since he'd been hearing Christmas music for a month maybe he'd enjoy it and kind of sing along. I thought... famous last words! He did love the singing... especially the fact that his very own Pops was one of the singers on stage! Oh and they had drums! You could just see that he wanted to be up there so badly, not in the back row playing quietly, eating crackers or coloring! I had been thinking before this that it was time to begin taking him into church with us for the praise time so that he could begin to learn to be seated around other adults, experience the music, and maybe learn a thing or two about being quiet. Today, we finally did it. We took him into the service. He was enthralled by the little pencils but didn't wnat to color. He liked trying to figure out why when he sat back in the chiar it folded on him. And then the music started. I was right! My boy loves music! I had him stand between us and he could see fine and as I began clapping he looked up at me, and around at others and began clapping too. It was too cute. My little mimic. Then he happened to spot his dad who likes to sing with his hands in his jeans pockets rocking on the balls of his feet. SO, little Tyler busied himself shoving his little hands in his pockets and bouncing as well as he could without falling over. He was just too cute. After the first song someone sat in front of us so I held him and he clapped and I tried to point out the drums and piano and guitars. Then Gary held him some too ( that extra 30 pounds got to me!). He folded his hands and was totally silent throught the entire prayer time between songs- and it was longer than usual. He also enjoyed looking at the TINY newborn seated in front of us (which of course made me cry- saw about 10 babies- cried at every one...) but didn't yell to the baby or rock the baby's chair or anything... maybe there is hope he won't hate his baby sister/brother! As it turned out he did really well and I think he really liked it! He also went into the nursery just fine like any other week! yea! As I left to take him to nursery it was greeting time and it turned out that Gary went to school with the girl who was behind us and he told me she said Tyler was the cutest little boy she'd ever seen! Awww!! That totally made up for a hot chick talking to my Gary without me there.... ;)

We are going to California!!!! We purchased the tickets yesterday! Can you belive Gary found tickets for under $250? We are so thankful!!! It will be so nice to spend time with Joshua and Mom! This will be Gary's first time west and my first time in Cali. Yesterday was my first day babysitting a little boy named Matthew. He and Tyler played REALLY well together! They probaly wouldn't do so well if it was every day but I think the once a week will turn out to be just right. :) It was nice to see Tyler interact with another kid again- it seems so long since he's played with other kids and me get to see him. They always tell me in nursery that he's really good, but I know they just say that so you'll bring them back and stay at the church. :) Yesterday also was the first time Gary could feel the baby's kicks through my belly! For a week I did not feel any kicks and got very anxious that something was wrong. I'm also not growing much and my belly is not hard like it was with Tyler. However now my littel girl/guy is on the go quite a bit. "she" seems to especially like story time at night when we put Tyler to bed. It kind of makes it feel as if we are already a family of 4. I'll be 20 weeks on Saturday- halfway! 6 days till Joshua comes to OHIO!!!

We spend the last day of 2006 and the first day of 2007 at the Bush Cabin on Leesville Lake. It was wonderful. Praying you all had a safe, happy and healthy New Years Day! Sorry you didn't Hannah! :)

Tyler and Grandma playing with the new train table Tyler playing with Tyler, Lauren and Michaela (my cousins) Tyler and Daddy playing with new recorders Christmas morning. Our Christmas tree Christmas morning. WHY IS IT SIDEWAYS?!?!?! Marie: I could not get a good picture of the whole living room like you posted awhile back. I did try though!

As you know, my grandpa has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Since he could have weeks, months or even a year, I wanted to be sure to get some photos of him and Tyler. We added me for one and intended on getting one including Grandma and Gary and my dad but we forgot. Hopefully when my brother comes home we can get a few good ones of all of us. These will still always be cherished.

We went for a weekend in Pittsburgh to see friends and Josh and Jackie took us to a train display near their house. Tyler loved it, especially the area that had Thomas stuff. :) Here are just a couple photos- on of Jackie and I (both of us pregnant and sick!) and one of Tyler watching the larger Thomas train.

Here is a cute photo taken during one of Tyler's bubble baths. I just like the expression. :) I'm not sure why it's sideways or how to flip it!

These are some photos from early December when we went to a Christmas party for a young couples small group at the Bush's church. We went to the local Fire Department and got to see and get inside all the trucks! As you can imagine Tyler LOVED it! My camera died but my friend Melissa took over 100 pictures of the group! These are my favorites of the ones we were in.

Whew! The Christmas whirlwind is over! Tyler did especially well this year and all I have to say is I hope we don't get this much stuff every year for every kid because there is simply no place to put it all! that being said, of course, he LOVES every single gift he got!! I've posted a picture of what the dining room looks like. As you will see we don't use it as a dinning room!! What you can't see in the pictures is the drum set that had to be taken to the basement already! :) The picture is of him playing it at my grandma's house. The last picture is him in his Thomas blow up train that came with balls! I'll try to post more family pictures this weekend. We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and we look forward to a Happy New Year!!

A special Thank You to Marie who is faithful to read and comment! Some days I feel I only do this for the two of us Ree! But that's ok. :) To others who may read, I hope you enjoy keeping up with us!

Tyler has developed some new personality traits the past few months in addition to his terrible two routines. He's becoming a climber for sure... He's still pretty obediant though and has kept off of all the restricted furniture. :) I think when the baby comes his big gift will be some sort of climbing apparatus (if we sell the house of course) that can be put outside or brought into the basement during the winter. We've started to learn about obeying and still working on the Jesus loves you thing. He seems confused by the endless Jesus being born stories we read and tell him and the information that there is a baby in my belly. :) He does kiss the baby and is getting better wtih being gentle and not kicking me as much but clearly he really does not get it and I don't expect him to. We dont talk about it much (only when he's being too rough) because it's still so far away and frankly he's just too little. He started to do a crazy dance yesterday wher he basically bounce/squats and runs at the same time stopping occastinally to swing his arms and clap. It's the funniest thing iv'e seen in a while. While I still have no doubt about the sinful nature at birth thing Tyler has reafirmed my faith in the ability for people to have compassion and selflesssness. Tyler's happy sweetness was evident from when he was born. he just always seemed to have a contented and happy look in his eyes and when he started smiling, his whole face smiled- sometimes his whole body! He'd wiggle and sqirm with delight when someone he loved was near and talking to him, later he'd jump and soon enough the running arond and showing off came. Now that he's learning better to speak in sentances he's begun to show concern and compassion. No matter what I'm doing if I make some sort of odd sound or drop anything he comes running and asks me "You alright?" or "You hurt" If I say I have a little owie he tells me to brush it off and gives me a hug or kiss or grin, sometimes all three. Today he drove his train into a door and when it wouldn't go anymore he bent from the waist, cocked his little head and said. "Train. What are you doing? uh oh! You hit door! You okay?" It just was so cute I had to write it down. Last night I didn't feel well and told him I wanted to watch "mommy TV" and he could play by himself or watch with me and he did a little of both. He may not be able to count objects correctly or care very much about sounds and letters, but he's learning and I'm learning too. I love him to bits and I'm so thankful for him, and for friends that I can share the joys of my life with.