Boys, Boys, Boys!

Well, based on the picture, I guess you can clearly see that we are having another boy! Kris and I are both pleased. I thought it would be so neat for Kale to grow up having a brother so close to his age. I think we have already managed to agree on a name...Liam David Helling. Liam is healthy and was a little larger than they were anticipating, which caused them to adjust my due date, again! The ultrasound tech set it for December 18th. We haven't seen the dr. yet, so we will see what he has to say. The baby is currently breech, which doesn't matter, since I planned to have a C-section anyway. Liam did have the hiccups the entire ultasound and wasn't very cooperative in the picture-taking process. He did not want to uncross his legs, which almost made this momma have a heart attack! We are so thankful for a healthy baby boy!

4 Years

While in Iowa, Kris and I celebrated our 4th anniversary. We went to dinner and out to see a movie, which is not something we get to do often. For our present to each other, we decided to go on a weekend getaway in August. We are going to Santa Fe to stay at a resort and casino. We have a sitter so Kale will stay at home. I am looking forward to having a romantic weekend, but know it will be hard to leave my baby.

How life was changed in 4 years! We both have new jobs, a new house, a new city, a "new" baby, and one on the way.

Kris-I'm so happy you chose me! I am such a lucky girl to have such an amazing husband. I love you!

Look at that baby bump! 18 weeks! We find out the gender this Thursday. Check back for updates!

Vist to Iowa

We recently spent a few days in Iowa to visit Kris' family and attend our niece, Scarlett's baptism. Kale LOVED riding the lawn mower. He got to go on several rides a day. Grandpa quickly became his favorite person.

It wasn't as fun to just sit on the mower, but it was better than nothing. He even had the mower sound down pat.

We went to the pool one of the days we were. As usual, Kale had a blast in the water.

The slide is always his favorite part.

We took Kale to the park close to Kris' parents' home. Kris almost got sick on the merry-go-round, so I had to go with him.

Kale loved driving the fire truck.

Kris attempted to take Kale down the huge rocket slide that he spent so much time on as a child. He didn't fit nearly as well as used to.

My happy man!

Look at those pearly whites!

We spent a lot of time in the car and Kale did surprisely well considering he doesn't like to be contained these days.

This picture cracks me up. Kale looks like he is laughing, saying, "Ha, ha, I outlasted grandma!"

We went to dinner with all of Kris' extended family.

Kale and Brady got to drive the car while we waited to be seated.

The church where Scarlett got baptized had a basketball court. Kale enjoyed slam dunking the balls.

Unfortunately we didn't get many pictures from the baptism. I had to go back early for a job interview and left Kris in charge of taking pictures. Something is wrong with the camera and he wasn't able to get good photos.

Since I had to go back early, I had to be away from Kale for 36 hours. It was quite difficult. I have only left him once since he was born and that time, I was in the same state. When I got back to Amarillo, I went to go get the dogs, but the kennel was already closed. For the first time in years, I spent the evening and night completely ALONE--I didn't even have any dogs to keep me company. I didn't really know what to do with myself. It's hard to remember what I did before my sweet boy.

Meeting Sweet Scarlett

Kale got to meet his first cousin , Scarlett last week. He was so funny with her. In the beginning, he kept going up to her and patting her chest and back. Then he took her paci away. I told him no and to give it back. He did, believe it or not...but not for long. He kept pulling it out of her mouth and putting it back in. I have a feeling he will be a real "help" with the new baby.

Kale was slightly jealous when Grandpa was playing with Scarlett. He had to be part of the action.

Visitors

My brother and mom came to visit us for a few days. It was so nice to have some company since Kris was out of the country again. Kale enjoyed playing with gram and Uncle David.

Notice, Kale is trying to put David's shoe on. He loves to wear our shoes around the house.

I tried to get a good picture of Kale with Gram, but it is almost impossible to get him to sit still.

Dinner at a Mexican Restaurant

David thought it would be a great idea to give Kale the lemon from his water. Kale made the most awful faces but just kept eating it. I am not sure why, but he seemed to have a love/hate relationship with the lemon.

Since Kale has learned to use utensils, it is impossible to keep him out of your food.

For Daddy

I took these pictures on my phone so the quality is awful. I found Kale a church outfit with some seersucker pants on clearance the other day. I immediately had to try them on him and send Kris a picture. ( I knew he would think the pants were ridiculous!)

Kris asked me to blow up the pictures and put them on the blog so he could see them better, so here they are! I think he looks adorable!

This is what happens when I am left to my own devices...I shop!

What We Are Up To...Part 2!

Kris is gone again...this time to Paris (once again I am terribly jealous!). Kale and I are getting creative in order to keep ourselves busy. Spending 24/7 with a 1 year old can make for long days! I admire all you stay-at-home moms out there!

Kale has gotten quite good at throwing the ball for the dogs. They love to catch it, but don't like to give it up, so he takes it out of their mouths for them.

I set up his baby pool so he could slide down the slide into the water. (He loves doing it at the "big" pool at our fitness facility, but I can't let him do it when I am alone, as there is no one to catch him.)

On this particular day, I blew up the pool, filled it with toys, hosed down the slide, put him in swimming trunks with sunscreen, and got set up outside for a "day at the pool." However, Kale wasn't as inclined to play in the pool as I thought he would be.

He spent about 5 minutes splashing then decided to climb the slide (which is a new trick he learned at gymnastics.)

After a total of 10 minutes, he decided to feed the dogs, his favorite activity! Our dogs are going to get fat at this rate, but it keeps him busy!

One happy boy!

In other news, I have definitely started to feel the baby kick! We will find out the gender in two weeks. My mom and brother will be here to visit on Tuesday, so it will be nice to have some other adult company.

Learning to use Utensils

Kale has started to use a fork and spoon and is actually not too bad at it. He is kind of a better eater when I let him use utensils...kind of. He is so funny with the fork. If he can't get the food to stay on the fork by stabbing it, he will pick it up with his hand, put it on the fork, then put it into his mouth. He also thinks he should be able to eat anything with a fork...including potato chips. Buy hey-we are getting there!

Examining the food...

Going for it!

He is quite proud of himself! Of course we have to cheer every time he successfully gets food from the fork or spoon into his mouth!

My Cute Man

We had to buy Kale a belt to wear with his church pants because he can't keep them up! I think he looks adorable!

Kale's Chores

We believe in starting chores early at the Helling house. Kale swiffers the floor every morning. It takes him about 45 minutes to do the whole thing, but he eventually gets it done.

Kale also feeds the dogs twice a day. The dogs don't enjoy having hiim feed them though because he feeds them one kibble at a time.

Walking very carefully to avoid a spill.

Truthfully it's been amazing to me how much Kale has started to imitate us the past few weeks. Anything I do, he wants to do. The dogs get a little extra food whenever he feeds them, but hey, it keeps him busy!

He actually cries when I make him stop swiffering or feeding the dogs.