Jan - Alex starts school Feb. - Tracey starts bedrest

Alex started preschool in January! Before he started school he knew the alphabet, could recognize any of the letters and even tell you what sound they made. He knew his shapes, colors, and could count to 20 but, I wanted him to start gaining some independence from me and have something in his life that wouldn't change when Kate arrived. I hoped by starting in January he would be really comfortable there by the time Kate arrived in May.

In February we moved Alex out of the crib and into a big boy bed! He made the transition so easily and it was so cute the next morning when he got out of bed by himself and came running into our room!

One night at the end of February while Tom was out of town for business, I woke up to find myself bleeding. Being 6 months pregnant this freaked me out. I called my Dr. who wanted me to meet him at the hospital. So I called my neighbor and asked her to come over and watch Alex. She was at my house in no less than 90 seconds! It was pretty funny because I opened the door and she said, "You did just call me right?" Her husband drove me to the hospital. I was kept over night "for observation". Praise God everything was o.k. at that point. I opted to get the shot of steroids to help develop Kate's lungs in case she ended up coming early. Tom came home immediately. My doctor put me on "modified bed rest".

Thankfully Alex was settling nicely into preschool.
He's still a mama's boy though!

March - Kate comes 5 weeks early!

Strike two landed me in the hospital for the weekend with orders for strict bedrest when I got home. Unfortunately for Tom, it was the same weekend as his annual trip to Vegas with the boys and he had to miss it. It's very hard to be on bedrest when you have a toddler in the house. Once I got home I did very little other than caring for Alex.

Strike three landed me in the hospital "until the baby comes..." Praise God for my mother who dropped everything, took time off from work, and flew immediately out to take care of Alex while I was in the hospital. I'm here to tell you that I am probably one of the most laid back people on earth so I thought bedrest would be a piece of cake for me. I had a couple of books to read, my Bible study to do, cable t.v. and a few netflix. After 48 hours - I was completely stir crazy! My Doctor and I were hoping that Kate would have made it to 37 or 38 weeks but, you know what they say, "If you want to hear God laugh, just tell him your plans!" Kate came at 35 weeks. Once again, praise God for my mama or else Tom would have missed the birth! Kate arrived on March 31st and weighed 4 lbs. 15.5 ozs - so almost 5 lbs.!

Alex was not too interested in the thing that took his mommy away for so long but, at the same time he was not mean to her either. She did come bearing gifts so he couldn't be too mad at her. She brought him a guitar!


A couple of days after we brought Kate home from the NICU there was a "changing of the guard" as my mom went home and Babcia and Dziadek came in to help out for a month.

April, May. and June went by in a blur of baby....

July - Alex is potty trained and turns 3

Our big July news is that Alex is potty trained! I debated whether or not to post pictures of him on the potty and decided to respect his privacy - who wants to see pictures of themselves on the potty on the internet? Anyway - it IS big news and he learned pretty quickly! I am so proud of him!
Also, Alex turned 3!! He had a party at school - do you love his birthday hat? Guess what is on it? That's right, trash trucks!

He also had a birthday party at My Gym with his friend Theo who is 5 days younger.
Grandma and Grandpa also came out for this party. Here is Grandpa reading Alex's favorite birthday present, a book about... a TRASH TRUCK!

Last but, not least, on Alex's actual birthday we took him to CHUCK E. CHEESE for the first time!!! He had a blast!!

August - Kate's 1st time on an airplane

In August, we went to Michigan to celebrate the 80th and 90th birthday of my in-laws! This was Kate's first time on an airplane and she did great! She loved it - she was held all day long and got to eat whenever she wanted!!

Tom, Iza, and I threw them a big party at a country club. My parents also came and brought a huge surprise for me - Andrew and Ally!!
How sweet is this picture??


What are these people doing? Waiting for the trash truck, of course!! Did I mention that Alex is obsessed with the trash truck, the recycle truck, and the yard waste/compostable truck!

October 2007 - Evacuted from Fires!

In October we had to evacuate our house due to the fires burning in San Diego so we stayed with Aunt T. in L.A. and went to the Zoo! Alex's favorite part? Getting to sit in the Zoo Recycle truck!

Alex had his first school Halloween party and also went trick or treating with his best friends from the neighborhood, London, and Gabe. What is Alex dressed up as you ask? A Recycle Trash Truck guy - of course!!

November 2007 - Thanksgiving and High School Reunion

In November, we traveled to SC for Thanksgiving and my 20 year high school reunion. We visited Grandma and Grandpa, Ally and Andrew (cousins), and Aunt Tammy and Uncle Drew.
Grandpa has a BIG John Deere Tractor that attracted Alex like a magnet.
Alex and Kate really enjoyed spending time with their cousins! In fact, Alex spent two nights away from mommy and daddy! One night at Andrew and Ally's house and one night at the lake house!



A rare picture of Andrew! Shown here with his girlfriend - at least she was when I posted this!


I also attended my 20 year high school reunion while in town! This is my best friend from high school, Sandy, who lured me into all kinds of trouble back in the day...
...

December 2007 - Alex's 1st soccer game & Kate's 1st Christmas

On Dec. 15th Alex played in his first soccer game! Sort of. Well, he chased the pack of 3 year olds chasing the ball all over the field, off the field, onto other fields...!

Santa stopped by Alex's school and I took advantage of the photo op. This was Kate's first time seeing Santa ever - she is checking him out. We don't talk that much about Santa at our house so Alex is still a little bit afraid of him. I tried to get a picture of just the kids but, they both cried when I moved away...


Yes, this is the picture that is on the Christmas card we sent out, but there is a story behind it!! Christmas just snuck up on me this year and I didn't have time to schedule a photographer for the family shot so I set up the self timer on my camera, propped on a stool and a couple of books and no kidding - THIS was the 2nd picture we took! You know how hard it is to get one kid to look AT the camera?? We were shocked to see that we got all four of us looking at the camera!!


We had a white Christmas in Michigan! Alex's first snowman!

After all the presents were open - guess what Alex wanted to play with? A box.

Kate was happy with a box too or rather IN a box!!
And these were my favorite Christmas presents this year: