The Early Family

March for Babies funny video...Drew loves this!

2009-04-25T11:29:00.000-05:00

Click here to help me reach my goal!

Emma is 3 months old!

2009-03-29T21:42:00.002-05:00

A day on the farm with Ross...

2009-03-25T06:53:00.001-05:00

2-month pictures...a little late

2009-03-12T00:52:00.006-05:00

Emma is now 11 weeks old! Yes, I am just now getting around to posting her 2 month pictures - Can you tell that I am back to work? It has been quite busy around here. I went back to work on February 6th. Emma started going to daycare at an in-home daycare with Danielle. She seems to be doing pretty well. Danielle keeps two toddlers (I think they are probably close to 18 months by now) and Emma full-time and two or three others part-time. So, Emma gets spoiled a little because she is the only baby! We took her to her 2-month well baby visit with Dr. Phillips on the 25th. She was 10 lbs. 5 oz. and 22 1/2 inches (50th % on weight and head circ. and 75% in length). They all kept commenting on how long she was. The nurse couldn't wait to measure her! She did very well with her shots. She only fussed for a minute or less and was fine after that. Last night she actually slept from 10 or 10:15 until right before 5 this morning. As you can see from the time of this posting, she isn't sleeping like that tonight (I am typing this as I am waiting to make sure that she stays asleep before I go to bed). She is pretty random about her schedule - unlike Drew was - but, it is pretty workable. Well, I need to get to bed. I will post more later if I have time. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Emma is 1 month old and has RSV

2009-01-26T16:41:00.005-06:00

Well, Emma turned 1 month old yesterday. She came down with a head and chest cold this weekend (Drew had it last week, I have the head cold, and Ben is getting a sinus infection). I called the after hours clinic on Saturday morning just to make sure that they didn't want to see her because she is so young. They said as long as she didn't have a fever to just keep an eye on her. Well, she has been doing ok most of the weekend but is still super stuffy and sick. When I went to my post-partum check-up this morning Dr. Foster heard her cough and acted concerned. I told her that I had planned on calling the regular doctor if it continued or got worse and that I had already called this weekend. So, I called and got in to see the Nurse Practitioner this afternoon. She checked her out and was acting like she was sick but doing alright...kind of like I might not have even needed to bring her in (but, I wanted to have it checked out before the storm hits tonight). She said that she would go ahead and check her for RSV while we were there but that it would take 15-20 minutes. So, I was waiting when someone came in to check her oxygen levels. I assumed that this was just routine. Then the Nurse Prac. came back in not realizing that the nurse hadn't told me that it was positive. So, I was a bit shocked. She went to check in with Dr. Phillips as to our plan of action. Since she was seeming to do so well at this point (however, we think she is struggling too much to breathe), we are going to keep doing what we have been doing at home (cool mist vaporizer, saline spray, nasal suctioning, holding her upright, and letting her sleep in inclined positions). We have to call back to the office tomorrow to give a report and go see the doctor on Thursday morning to check her lungs out again. So, keep us in your prayers that we all get well soon - and don't end up in the hospital ... we have had enough of that as Drew was in the ER last night due to a double ear infection after hours. We did manage to get some decent pictures of her on her 1 month birthday...Drew even copied the sign for me for the one picture. We hope you enjoy and that you are all avoiding this winter crud. Hopefully, we will all be well enough for me to go back to work in two weeks...

The one picture is of her sneezing...and her weight was 8 lbs. 4 oz. at the doctor today...

Kindergym at Acros

2009-01-23T19:24:00.008-06:00

Drew went to Sammy's birthday party this past fall at Acros (one of the gymnastic gym's in Evansville) and loved every minute of it. So, we decided to look into signing him up for one of the classes. The next session began this week...so, he is now enrolled in Kindergym on Thursday nights. He is one of three boys in the class (and I think the other two are twins - brothers at least). We are hoping that this helps with some of his after school energy during the winter. He had his first class Thursday night and said that it was more fun than the birthday party. Before we went, he said that he already knew how to do flips better than them...he learned how at the circus! Here are a few pictures of our big monkey...

A few random pictures

2009-01-19T11:00:00.003-06:00

Prayer Request

2009-01-11T23:17:00.002-06:00

We ended up going to church in Carmi this morning so that we could stop by to see my uncle this afternoon before he leaves for Barnes-Jewish in the morning. We found out on Friday that his stem cell transplant is no longer working. They got back the results from his bone marrow biopsy from the week before (at approxmitely the 100 day mark).

Here is how his oldest daughter described it: "The bone marrow biopsy showed only 15% donor, the other 85% is acute leukemia. Daddy received platelets and then they headed home about 3:00 ish. They report back to St. Louis on Monday morning to begin another round of chemo (stronger this time) and possibly some other treatments. Without treatment Daddy only has a few weeks to live, so they will be aggressive and do all they can to help him, but we know that God is the one in control."

They are leaving for the hospital at 6:30 in the morning to check-in around 9:30 for an undetermined journey that has been discussed as being a couple of months or so (if it works). They don't really know what the future holds...as none of us really does. However, they would greatly appreciate prayers from anyone.

Here is a list of names if someone would like to include them in their prayers:

Bob Lamp (my uncle - had myelodysplastic syndrome which has now progressed to leukemia)
Madeline Lamp (my aunt)
Dawn Lamp (my cousin's wife who is going to be with them on Monday and Tuesday)
Brooks and Anna York (my cousin and her husband who are traveling over on Tuesday night and returning Thursday night)
Barbara McArthy (my cousin who is going over on Thursday night)

Please keep these people in your prayers along with the entire family as they begin the next leg of this journey.

Thanks,
Kim

Emma Elizabeth Early

2008-12-29T05:05:00.002-06:00

Emma Elizabeth Early has arrived!

7 lbs. 4 oz.
21 in.
12/25/08
1:27 pm

www.deaconess.com
The Nursery
Visit the Web Nursery
kearly
DrewsBaby

We are all doing pretty well. We ended up having to take Emma to the doctor yesterday afternoon after she was sleeping way too much, eating less, and was starting to show signs of jaundice. Her bilirubin was high but not high enough for a bili-blanket yet. So, we are going into the doctor's office tomorrow for another weight check to see how things are going. We are not quite settled back in as Christmas at the hospital (because you know that Santa can always find you) along with a new baby has overtaken our world. We are just trying to figure out when to "finish" Christmas with the rest of the family. We are going to be "going" a lot over the next week or so as some of the great-grandparents can't really travel to see her. So, we will probably be heading to Carmi, Jasper/Dale, and Owensboro during the next week or so which will make us hard to catch (especially with added doctor's appointments due to the jaundice). Things should settle down after Drew starts back to school on the 5th of January. We will try to keep the blog site updated as time permits with the new adventures of Emma and Drew.

Wishing everyone the best throughout the rest of 2008 and a Happy New Year!

Kim (Ben, Drew, and Emma) Early

12/25/08 Pictures

2008-12-29T04:58:00.001-06:00

12/26/08 Pictures

2008-12-29T04:55:00.002-06:00

12/27/08 Pictures

2008-12-29T03:45:00.001-06:00

99.9% sure...Official Announcement of her name!

2008-11-09T19:38:00.004-06:00

We have decided that it is time to let you all in on what our new little girl will be called. We are 99.9% sure that her name will be Emma Elizabeth Early. We have purchased the letters (however, they are not on the wall yet). I took a picture so that you could see the "bumpy soft" bedding that we have for her (at least that is what Drew calls it).

As Drew was named John Andrew after family members, she to will be named after family members. My maternal great-grandmother's name was Mary Emma Fields; however, she went by Emma. Ben's aunt was named Elizabeth and was a very important person in his life. To top it all off, my Grandma Juanita's official given name was Eliza Juanita. She would have been proud to know that the "Eliza" would be incorporated in this great-granddaughter's name. Her other great-granddaughter's middle name is Juanita after both of her great-grandmothers.

We go back to the doctor again tomorrow to find out how things are going. With a due date of January 3rd, we are hoping to make it well into December this time around if all goes well.

Boo at the Zoo!

2008-10-26T18:44:00.003-05:00

We took Drew to Boo at the Zoo in his "Fun Fireman" costume. He was quite tired; therefore, pictures were a luxury. Hope you enjoy these. Notice the flames on the back of the boots at the top (you can see a little bit of it in the last picture)...I think that they are his favorite part of the costume.

Adrian...for Uncle Bobby!

2008-10-11T14:56:00.002-05:00

Prayer Request for my Uncle Bobby and Cord Blood Info

2008-09-27T16:14:00.007-05:00

Drew, my dad, and my uncle (at Corn Day 2007)

My uncle was admitted to Barnes-Jewish in St. Louis this past week to start a vigorous course of chemo before his anticipated stem cell transplant. He has Myelodysplastic Syndrome, a condition that affects the blood and bone marrow. He will continue chemo until Monday, have "the day off" on Tuesday, and will get his stem cell transplant from an unknown international donor on Wednesday. I ask that you all keep him and his family in your prayers.

Here is their CaringBridge website if you would like to know how he is doing:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/robertlamp

As Uncle Bobby was going through this process, his doctor mentioned the fact that he had "weird" German blood and unfortunately he didn't match either my father or my aunt. Luckily, someone somewhere had registered and was a perfect match for my uncle. Please consider donating blood and being added to the registry if you ever hear of a blood drive that is also typing people for the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry. I was unable to participate this time because I was pregnant. However, anyone can request the tissue typing be done for approximately $52. http://www.marrow.org/

As for saving the stem cells from cord blood...here is some information that you might not be aware of.

Most of the cord blood programs that advertise on television and in magazines are private donation centers. They cost between $1700 - $2000 to collect and around $125 per year to store your child's cord blood privately. Most people do not know that there is another option available. The National Bone Marrow Donor Registry site has a link as to how to donate cord blood to a public bank. However, Indiana does not currently have any participating hospitals. There is an option to go through Cryobanks International Inc. that will accept cord blood donation from throughout the United States for either public donation or private storage. http://www.cryo-intl.com/ My sister and I have the registration paperwork on the way for participation in this program. They only ask that you register early in your pregnancy so that all of the paperwork can be submitted in time. Please consider telling others about this program as most people only know about the private banks. Why not donate the cord blood to a public bank? Otherwise, it will just be considered medical waste...

Our little painter...and chalker...

2008-09-07T21:10:00.002-05:00

While I was gone to San Antonio for the week, Grandpa descended upon our house many nights to help paint Drew's new bedroom (one of the colors was red and took four coats - Grandpa really loves us because he hates to paint red). Drew is moving to the front bedroom which has been an office/storage room for the last few years so that the baby can be in the closer bedroom. Drew is all excited because he will now have the bedroom the both his dad and Aunt Riah had at one point. When we were moving things out of the room, he was convinced that the CD's that were in there on the CD stand were Mariah's from when it was her bedroom. He is just a little confused...but, excited to be moving into his new room. We bought him the new bedroom furniture for his birthday. However, we haven't gotten the room fixed up due to the busy summer that we have had. Dad doesn't like me to be around painting while I am pregnant...so, he painted the room (with help from Drew) while I was gone. Drew even said at one point that he was a better painter than Grandpa. Grandpa didn't mind.

To keep him entertained while I was gone, Ben allowed Drew to sidewalk chalk the world...or so it seems being that we haven't had much rain since then and it is all still there. One of the drawings is in the photos below. Ben asked Drew what it was...he said, "A rocket." So, Ben made him put flames coming out of the back...for reasons that you will surely understand.

It's a Girl!!!

2008-08-22T18:59:00.006-05:00

As many of you know, Drew has said that the baby was a girl from the beginning. He said that God told him that it was a girl. Well, I guess you can't argue with God and a 4-year-old! He really wants a sister! We were happy to find out that we don't have to tell him that God had made a mistake when we found out on Thursday that it is a GIRL! We are telling him tomorrow morning (Saturday) as this is the first time that we will all be home at the same time and awake since we found out.

Be back next week...

2008-07-06T18:47:00.003-05:00

We are finally leaving on vacation...Drew still hasn't stopped asking when we are leaving...less than two hours to go. We are leaving at night so that we can drive while Drew sleeps...at least that is the hopeful plan. We are going to Orlando for three and a half days and then to the beach for 3 days before we drive back. My parents, sister, and brother-in-law are driving down with us. They are doing Disney World with us on Tuesday then driving to Key West to see the Dry Tortugas (something about going to as many National Parks as possible). They will drive back on Friday to meet up with us at the beach (Treasure Island - the Tampa/St. Pete area) for the weekend before we drive home. We are going to do Disney again on Wednesday and Sea
World on Thursday before we drive over to the beach Thursday night. All Drew knows is that we are going to Florida and to the beach. We haven't told him about Disney World for good reason...to keep our sanity. We aren't planning on telling him until we get there. It should be an amazing reaction as he is a huge Mickey Mouse fan!!! Anyway, I am sure that we will have lots of pictures and videos when we return.

P.S. Hopefully, my father gets to finish out the vacation (or maybe not). We are anxiously awaiting the test results of his stem cell match test for his brother who has Myelodysplastic Syndrome and is in desperate need of a stem cell transplant. So, keep them in your prayers as we hope that my father (or his sister) is a perfect match for my uncle.

End of June...

2008-06-28T02:43:00.003-05:00

Today, I had an appointment with Dr. Foster. Ben went with me. Everything was just fine. She decided to use the ultrasound to find the heartbeat because she said that it was sometimes hard to find with doppler at 13 weeks (they found it that early with Drew...but, I wasn't going to argue). She tried to get a "picture" of the baby. However, each time she got a profile view of the baby..."it" would move. "It" is apparently a wiggly little one. This is no surprise as Drew never cooperated for ultrasounds either. She kept apologizing about not getting a picture. I said that I didn't care as long as everything looked alright. All this and she didn't even tell me the heartrate...

We went to what was supposed to be the Balloon Glow tonight at Tri-State Aero (part of the Freedom Festival). Drew was disappointed when we had to leave due to the impending storm with 60-70 mph winds. He didn't understand why the balloons didn't blow up. Mariah told him that if they went up now that they would be torn up and he wouldn't ever get to see them again.

I will attach a few pictures of him getting his blanket ready, the red airplane that he loved, and him dancing...he is crazy!!!

Ultrasound Pictures...Actually at 8w4d

2008-06-10T19:59:00.002-05:00

Drew's Fun at TeenPower's Burdette Swim Party

2008-06-07T09:43:00.003-05:00

Drew's TeenPower Fun 2008

2008-06-07T09:33:00.000-05:00

Drew's 4th Birthday!

2008-06-07T09:05:00.005-05:00

Drew turned 4 on May 30th! He is really excited to be 4. We took the day off of work and took him to the "green slide park" for a picnic lunch and to play. While we were at the park, we let him open a present. It was his "I'm going to be a Big Brother" scrapbook. He didn't get as excited as we expected...mostly because he wanted to go play on the playground. We then had a party at the "brown slide park" with a bunch of family and close family friends. Drew enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs with his special ketchup, all kinds of fruit from Nana, and special Mickey Mouse pasta along with special lemonade and sweet tea that Susan and Holly brought. He got a purple phone (the one that used to be Mommy's and Aunt Holly's when we were kids) that he really wanted for his birthday. His favorite color is now Purple instead of Pink as Pink is not in the rainbow! He even got a special present from GiGi that we found when we were cleaning out her apartment...she hadn't missed a birthday party yet! He couldn't eat his birthday cake. So, I attempted to make a Mickey Mouse shaped cake. Well, Drew will tell you that it broke into a million pieces. Luckily, Drew was happy with eating Mickey's feet for his birthday and eating the pieces for the next few days!

Official Announcement!

2008-06-06T06:21:00.003-05:00

Some of you may already know. However, we haven't been able to tell everyone yet...we are expecting a baby with a due date of January 3rd, 2009! We found out that I was pregnant in late April. We decided to wait until after my doctor's appointment to tell Drew on his birthday. So, we only told our mothers on Mother's Day weekend (along with Kimberly's father, our sisters, Uncle Aaron, and Caleb). We slowly told others that were going to be a Drew's party (and a couple of others) when we knew that it was safe that they wouldn't see him before the party. We went to the doctor on May 28th, informed Kimberly's work on May 29th, and told Drew at the park after a picnic on his birthday, May 30th, by giving him a scrapbook to make about being a big brother! Don't think that we forgot any of you or meant to leave you out on the announcement. We have been extremely busy during the past few weeks. Kimberly's grandmother (Judy's mom) passed away unexpectedly on May 20th. We had a lot to deal with on that front (and still do). After getting through the funeral and Drew's party, Ben has been at High School TeenPower Camp this week. I will be in training in Evansville next week and Atlanta the week after. When I get back, Ben will be involved in Middle School TeenPower for half the week. We will then have a little over a week before we go on vacation to Florida. It has been a busy summer and we don't see a slow down anytime in the future! We will try to get the Ultrasound pictures scanned in this weekend so that we can post them on here.

Easter Sunday - Early Style

2008-03-29T18:17:00.002-05:00

Easter Sunday - Tempel Style

2008-03-29T18:07:00.001-05:00

Easter Saturday

2008-03-29T16:42:00.004-05:00

Sorry it has been so long...Ben started 2nd shift a few weeks back. We have been really busy!

As for Easter, we have to spread it out because we can't make 3 places in one day. Since Ben actually had this weekend off, we decided to do Easter Egg Hunts on Saturday morning and afternoon before heading to Carmi for my family's Easter dinner. We went to Gentryville and Owensboro on Sunday after church for Easter with both sides of Ben's family (that will be the next post).

The first Easter Egg Hunt that we went to we chose because it said that it had a food allergy friendly section. Drew had already said that he wanted to do Easter Egg Hunts this year even if he couldn't have the candy (he said that he wanted to give it to his mommy). We thought that we would give this one a try way out in German Township (the Northwest side of Vanderburgh County). The food allergy friendly section was only chocolate and peanut free...so, we opted for the age group hunt instead. This was hosted at a church that has a puppet group. They put on a show for the kids that were eating their egg cookies and drinking Capri-Sun. Drew was eating his Honey Bees and drinking water. Drew really enjoyed the show. After the show, we lined up for the Easter Egg Hunt. He really had a good time...even though he looks mad in the picture. It was just colder outside than we thought.

We moved up the the full winter coat before we went to the West Side Nut Club Easter Egg Hunt where Drew got to see the Easter Bunny and hunt the "millions" of eggs that were there (actually there were 12,000 - Drew just said that there were millions). This hunt only lasts a matter of seconds...but, it is a lot of fun.

After the 2nd hunt, we headed to Carmi for dinner with my family. We made Jello Jiggler Eggs, dyed eggs, and fixed two meals (one for Saturday night and one for Drew for Sunday). While we were gone to the nursing home to see Grandma Rosalene (my dad's mom that recently went in because she has two broken vertebrae), the Easter Bunny visited mom and dad's house and left a lot of eggs filled with money. Drew had a great time finding all of the eggs. He really liked cracking them open to find out what was inside, too.

Figuring out Food Allergies...

2008-03-01T16:04:00.003-06:00

As many of you may know, we have been battling the question of food allergies for the past few months. Drew started breaking out in hives all over his body in October of last year. We started tracing it to certain foods by Thanksgiving. We started seeing an allergist just before Christmas. It has taken us a while to figure out what is causing the hives...but, we finally have an answer. We have known for a few weeks that he has a milk protein allergy. However, he was still breaking out quite a bit. This was compounded by the fact that the boys in Drew's preschool all came down with Fifth's Disease this winter which comes with an intermittent rash. After thinking that he was allergic to just about everything, we started tracing it to corn after a head to toe breakout from eating Oreos (they don't have milk in them). We were able to stay off of the allergy medicines for one week so that we could do skin tests rather than blood tests (which Drew hates with a passion). Dr. McLaughlin did a full complement of skin tests with corn as the replacement for the milk (as we already knew that he was allergic to milk). We weren't able to do all of the skin tests at the first appointment in December because he had a rash that morning. Anyway, the moral of the story is...Drew is also allergic to corn. This is the first true corn allergy that she has ever seen. Apparently, corn allergies are a pretty rare thing. Eliminating both corn and milk from Drew's diet has been pretty challenging (we are also avoiding bananas and vanilla). We are slowly adding colors back in by way of Jello. However, sugar-free boxed Jello contains maltodextrin (a corn product). We just have to be very careful! Lucky for us, Drew will eat a variety of fruits and vegetables which has made this so much easier. I can't imagine trying to do this if he was a picky eater.

Snow Day #2

2008-02-13T22:57:00.004-06:00

On snow day #1, Drew and I ventured out to Target in the afternoon. We ended up getting snow shovels because our old one is good for shoveling leaves...but, not snow. Drew got his very own snow shovel as well. He kept talking about going outside to dig. However, it was too late after we got home and ate supper to dig Tuesday night. On snow day #2, Ben came home from work and went to bed. We decided that he would try to sleep until around noon then get up to watch Drew for me to go to work. So, I woke him up a little after noon so that we could go dig for a little bit before I headed for work. I ended up leaving by 1:00. I stopped by the vet clinic to get some more meds for Owen and got to work around 1:30. I worked until 5:00 and found out on the way home that school was out on Valentine's Day for snow day #3. Luckily, Ben is off tonight and can keep Drew tomorrow so that I can go to work before we go to Jasper for Ben's birthday dinner with his family (his birthday is actually Saturday - but, we have a lock-in for Youth Resources Friday night and a wedding to go to on Saturday afternoon). Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures of Drew working hard at shoveling the ice ladened snow. He is lucky that he didn't freeze his tongue off.

Icy conditions...

2008-02-12T11:43:00.002-06:00

Well it finally happened...we had an early dismissal from school and actually got snow and ice. Ben picked up Drew from school yesterday at 1:00 due to the icy forcast. I came home a little early to beat the afternoon rush. The roads were snow and ice covered for the most part at that point. We continued to get more ice through the night. Ben had to work so he took a nap in the evening and left a little after 10:00 to make sure that he got there by 11:00. They had already cancelled school for today last night. I was planning on staying home at least 1/2 day to let Ben sleep. However, it has turned into a full day as he had to stay over until 11:00 this morning because two people didn't make it in. When he got home this morning, we took Drew, Owen, and Glori out to play in the ice (we had to wait on Daddy because I am known for falling). Drew had fun crashing the ice chunks on the ground. Owen had fun eating them. And, Glori just had fun running around. I guess that buying the snowsuit for this year was worth it (I would have rather had just snow though)!

Rewind - Last Weekend

2008-02-10T16:59:00.001-06:00

Last weekend we went to Bloomington to visit Mariah at IU for her birthday (which was this past Friday). She was very excited to see us...and we were excited to see her as well. We ate lunch at her apartment after a long drive up there then headed to the WonderLab (Bloomington's children's museum). We all had a blast. We went back to Mariah's apartment for a soy milk fruit smoothie - Drew thought that it was pretty cool.

Later on that evening, we took Mariah to Roots (a vegetarian/vegan restaurant). Drew was excited that he got to eat in a special restaurant - vegan food avoids all animal products therefore eliminating milk and butter. He liked the herbed mashed potatoes and sweet potato fries, tolerated the Seitan (wheat meat) nuggets, and loved the chocolate soy ice cream as you can see from the pictures. Ben thought that he would have to stop for a cheeseburger on the way home while Drew was sleeping...but actually enjoyed his Seitan fajitas. Mariah loved her Mediterranean plate. I thought that the creamy pesto linguine with portabello steaks was wonderful (but can you really mess up mushrooms?).

We played LCR (Drew's favorite game) at Mariah's apartment and played with his Lightning McQueen remote controlled car before heading home. It didn't take him very long to fall asleep after we gave him his "Snuggle Puppy" Chief in the car.

On Sunday, we went to church then came home to let Ben sleep a little before we headed to Dale to watch the Superbowl with Jim's clan and Kathy. We wanted to make sure that everyone got to see Ben and Drew before Ben goes to 2nd shift at the beginning of March resulting in 7-8 weeks before he has another weekend off.

Trip to Carmi for a birthday party and more...

2008-02-10T12:09:00.000-06:00

It is hard to believe that Elizabeth and Olivia (my friend Misty's twins) are going to be 6 years old this week. Misty was pregnant with them when she was my Matron of Honor in our wedding. They really are cute "little" girls. They had a Hannah Montana Dance Party birthday this weekend. I took Drew over for the festivities. By the end of the party, he was dancing by the table. There were just too many new people for him to be comfortable on the dance floor early on in the party. He did really well dealing with his food allergy issues. He didn't ask for the chocolate candy on the table and didn't complain about not getting birthday cake - he had his own "special" cupcakes.

The party was from 6-8 pm. However, we went over to Carmi early to cook with Grandma and Grandpa. We are now eliminating all milk, cinnamon, and honey from Drew's diet - which is somewhat challenging. He is still breaking out at times...so, we know that there is probably something else that we are missing. Anyway, Grandpa makes the best pancakes in the world. So, he made some "special" pan-a-cakes (that is what Drew calls them) for us to freeze for breakfast. Of course, we split a couple for dessert after lunch. After making the pancakes, I made cupcakes to take to the party in Drew's Spiderman cupcake liners. The main dish was up next on the list of our cooking party...Chicken & Dumplings. Being that Drew's foods have been restricted lately, I decided that we should cater to him on Saturday by making his favorite food - Dumplings. So, mom and I made dumplings (without butter of course) while dad watched Drew play. While they were cooking, mom took Drew on a walk over behind our neighbors house to play on the merry-go-round (they bought the playground equipment from my elementary school when it closed). On their walk back, Drew informed my mom that she was his "new" grandma. She asked what he meant by that and he said, "My old grandma died...her name was Kristi Farmer...you are my new grandma." Mom really didn't know how to take it...but, it was a funny story. Drew has been obsessed with death a little bit since Kelly's funeral. After they go back from the walk, we ate supper and got ready for the party. Drew ate an entire plate of chicken and dumplings. He has been eating like a horse since we restricted milk. After the party, we stopped by Holly and Aaron's house to put on his pj's. I stopped by Mom and Dad's house to run in and grab the stuff that I left there and headed home. I had to make it home before Ben went to work so that he could get his Chicken and Dumplings that he missed out on. He had TeenPower interviews again on Saturday and slept during the afternoon because he had to work Saturday night.

February cMOE trip

2008-02-10T11:50:00.000-06:00

As many of you know, Drew has a "date" on the first Thursday of every month at the cMOE (Children's Museum of Evansville) with his daycare buddy Emma. They attend different preschools now but still love to play with each other. Since Jennifer (Emma's mommy) and I both work, we have their play date when the cMOE is open late on the first Thursday of every month. They have a blast! This month Emma brought Phoebe, a friend from her school. As we were leaving in the car, Drew started talking about "PeeWee". I about lost it. He told Ben the next morning about "PeeWee". (Ben didn't get to go this month because he had TeenPower interviews.)

Welcome to The-Early-Family Blog

2008-02-10T11:39:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone,
Ben said a while back that he wished that we could put together a website to highlight specific pictures for people to see - in case they didn't want to spend so much time looking though the thousands of pictures that we take. So, I thought that we would give this blog thing a try. We hope you enjoy it.
Kim (Ben and Drew)
P.S. Drew chose the "pink" background.