thespicelands.com

We had lots of fun last weekend in Hot Springs, AR with Papa and Nana! It was Heidi’s first time on the lake and Tru’s second. Tru caught three fish with Papa and went tubing with Nana. Mike and I water skiied for the first time ever. Mike was much better at it than me. He stood up 2 out of 3 times. I tried 10+ times and only got up 3 or 4 times. Nana was a pro. Heidi was thrilled with the ducks and still keeps asking to feed them. She says, “Dut? Dut?” Mike has video that may go up here later, but for now, you will have to make do with the pictures.

Hello, all, if anyone is out there anymore. I see that we have only had one new comment in the past month and a half. I’ll try to do better about posting updates if you guys will post comments so that we know this website is worth keeping!

Tru and Heidi both had regular checkups last week. Tru is 39 inches tall and 36 pounds. She had her first vision and hearing tests. She performed perfectly on the hearing test and did very well on her vision test, too. Dr. Zbell was very impressed that she could jump on one foot (a 5 year developmental milestone) and praised Tru for becoming involved in soccer. Tru proudly told Dr. Zbell about the two goals she’s scored in the last 3 games. Tru got her first set of shots in the last 2 years and her last until she is 11 years old. Tru developed a fever in reaction to the shots and had to miss two days of school. She’s fine now, though!

Heidi was 23 and a half pounds and 31 inches long. Dr. Zbell was impressed by how quickly Heidi can walk and by how many words she can say. Heidi also had to have shots and reacted badly to them. She developed a fever, a runny nose, and spots. The spots were a reaction to the chickenpox vaccine. She is still a little sick, and I am going to call the doctor tomorrow to see if she needs to be on antibiotics from an infection secondary to the reaction. Hopefully we’ll have that all cleared up before our vacation on Thursday! Heidi can say many, many words now. She can say Mama, Dada, Tru, dog, cat, bird, flower, water, baba (bottle), night-night, bye-bye, cheese, Cheerios, car, that, light, get down, up, cuddle, and more. We’ve enrolled Heidi in a very nice educational daycare facility, and she will start going there after we get back from our vacation, at which time I will also begin working more.

New pictures of Tru and Heidi in matching outfits, Tru’s first soccer practice, and Tru’s first soccer game. Both teams did great, scoring about 4 goals each, and Tru scored one for her team!

Time for another update. Heidi is officially walking! She started about 2 weeks ago, and now she can take 20-30 steps by herself. She can say lots of words, too, even if few of them are discernible to people outside our family. People outside our family would be able to understand night-night, bye-bye, cheese, baba (bottle), Dada, and Mama. We can also understand more, Tru, dog, bird, Cheerios, car, down, up, and diaper. However, mostly when she says these words, she’s repeating after us.

I have had irritational (industrial or environmental) bronchitis since July 4th — that’s 10 days now! We shot off fireworks of our own after the city-sponsored fireworks, and the smoke got to me. I’ve had a sore throat and have been coughing and hacking. I bought a bottle of chloraseptic spray about 4 days ago, and half the bottle is gone already. I can’t wait until my throat heals. Fireworks are SO not worth this. Next year, I’m staying inside or wearing a face mask.

Tru starts Pre-K/K4 in 27 days! She has a bookbag and a lunchbox with matching thermos, and she is so excited. Her teacher is young and excited about teaching, and we already know that one boy in her class is the son of the 3rd grade teacher at the Christian private school she’s going to. I can’t wait, either!

We are in the process of performing some much-needed home repairs and upgrades. I began tiling both bathrooms today and hope to be finished within the next 4-6 days. After that, we’ll be getting new countertops, getting a new backsplash, and repairing the deck that I almost burned down last year.

Happy birthday to my twin sisters Allison (Ally) and Kerri! 26 — WOW! Happy birthday to my stepmom, Melissa!

We haven’t done a real update in a while, so I thought I’d just post a few things. Firstly, Heidi took her first steps yesterday! She was in the church nursery, and Mike was there with her. She’s taken a few more since then, 1-2 steps at a time. She’s getting huge! She’s over 23 pounds. She’s in the 90th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. She’s wearing 18 months clothes already, which is perfect. Tru was 18 months old during the summer, so all the clothes are the correct season.

Tru is going to VBS at our church this week. She’s too young still to go by herself (church policy), so I’m volunteering in the nursery and Heidi comes with me. Saturday is the open house at Tru’s new school, so we’ll register her then. I can’t believe she’ll be in Pre-K in the fall!

This picture of Tru was taken at dinner tonight. Look how old she looks. I can’t believe she’s growing up so fast!

Tru, 4.5 years old.

We went to Atlanta to Ally’s house, and Kerri, Melissa, and Daddy met us there. Here are the pictures from our visit.

Heidi and Tru “swam” for the first time today. I bought a blow-up swimming pool at Target, but I didn’t realize how small it was! We may have been better off swimming in a flower pot! I let the water warm up in the sun, and then they had fun in it. Tru did a wonderful job of helping Heidi in and out of the pool. There are pictures available on page 2 and page 3.

There is also video of the birthday party and the swimming that Mike will put online as soon as enough people bug him about it!

Here’s the video!

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Mom and Dad said that as soon as I was able to ride my tricycle well enough I’d get a big girl bike. See, they got this tricycle when I was 2 years old and couldn’t reach the pedals. My tricycle may have been pretty and red, but it was hard to ride. Even after I figured it out, it wasn’t very fast.

Tru on her new big girl bike

My tricycle days are over! I’m cruising in style now on my pink princess big girl bike. It was just different enough to pedaling the tricycle that it took me a little while to figure it out, but after a day and a half, I’ve mastered it. My dad tied his remote controlled car to the front of it to help me go up hills. I don’t even need that anymore!

What’s next? I still need to figure out how to stop. I hear that if I pedal backwards it will put on the brakes and stop, but hey, one thing at a time. For now, I just turn off the sidewalk into the grass, and that does the job. Also, Dad has just been running after me (sometimes with Heidi in a stroller). Pretty soon, we can all go on a bike ride together!