The good, the bad, & the ugly

Leah is now 18 months old! I can hardly believe it. She is full of words and says everything she sees. She puts together a lot of two word sentences, "I book", "Hold you", "I juice". We hear that last one a lot. On Friday we had her biggest sentence yet, "Mama said hold it." She wanted to give me her snack trap after I offered to hold it for her.

She had her 18 month check up on Wednesday. Leah is all of 21 pound and about 32 inches tall. The doctor is happy with her progress & her stats. Before the appointment I took her for her lead follow up. At 9 months, Leah had elevated lead levels. Not high enough to be considered "lead poisoning" or to be too concerned with, but the source was unknown and that was concerning. This time her level came back normal, and we are very happy to hear that.

Three weeks ago, our old fridge died. It was making a noise for a long time and I accidentally left the freezer cracked overnight, and that was the end. We thought we could fix it with a simple replacement part but it turned out to be the compressor. On Saturday, our new fridge was delivered! Yay for cold sodas and milk in the house (instead of in the cooler outside).

Work has been turbulent. There have been layoffs of both hourly & salary workers, but Joe and I still have our jobs. The only impact we have felt so far is they are cutting all salary worker's hours back 10%, which also means a temporary 10% pay cut. We have to take 2 unpaid days off for April, May & June and then the company will decide if they need to continue this policy in June.

Joe & I are trying to look on the bright side of this, with it being summer it means we can get to the zoo and other places and maybe avoid the weekend crowds. It might save us vacation days, too to use later in the year. It is hard to stay focused with all the change but we are thankful this is the only change we have to adjust to. Keep your fingers crossed for us over the next few months!

We hope everyone is doing well & have a great week.

I couldn't resist sharing this. This is Cooper's first taste of rice cereal. How great is that? What an animated little guy! I love it!

Sweet Tooth

It is no secret that Leah has a sweet tooth. Last weekend Joe made some cornbread muffins, and all we've heard all week is "Cupcake! Cupcake! Cupcake!" from Leah. So the other night I decided to just give her one at dinner, she had them the night Joe made them but apparently forgot what they were. I told her it was a muffin and set it on her plate. She went to town shoving half of it in her mouth before she realized it was cornbread and not a cupcake. Out came the muffin, all over her bib. The look on her face was priceless.

This week was our last swim lesson the this session. I think we are taking a break from the Saturday morning activities for now and will pick something up again later. Leah loves the water and did great, even when we dunked her. We are really looking forward to this summer and hitting the pools!

Potty Training!

We are ready to start potty training! Any advice, tips or suggestions would be appreciated.

Tex Ecks - Part II

Cousins! Cooper, Alex & Leah

Riding the train.

I forgot how hard it was to get a shot with two babies looking at the camera.

Leah meets horses.

This weekend Leah and I made a trip down to Austin to see Pete & his family. It was a great trip & we had a lot of fun. The weather was a little cooler than they forecast, but that's probably a good thing because I would have a major case of spring fever if it had been!

We got in Friday before dinner and Saturday went to Zilker Park. We rode the train there & played on the playground. There were a lot of dogs at the park which thrilled Leah. That night we made a quick stop by Melissa's dad's place. He has horses, a cow and two dogs. Guess which Leah was the most excited about? Then on Sunday we went to a nice park by their house before we had to get on the plane.

Despite his rough start, Cooper is a smiley 6 month old developing just like he should. His next surgery will probably be before April. Alex is 14 and is your typical teenager. Pete & Melissa were wonderful hosts & let us break in some of Cooper's things. :) We want to make another trip sometime with Joe and check out more of the sites in Austin.

Elaine Marie

Wow, what an eventful couple of days I've had but it doesn't compare to Crissie & Steve's. Wednesday night Pete, Alex, Leah & I drove up to Chicago because Crissie was being induced the next day. We were going to watch the girls for them and I think everyone expected the baby to be here sooner rather than later. As luck would have it I forgot the memory card for my camera at home so I only have pictures from other people & not of the fun we had waiting for Elaine.

Crissie was there all day and I went up to the hospital to say hello after the girls were in bed. About 20 minutes later at 10:04, Elaine was here! I had great timing. It was a neat experience to share with Crissie (and Steve). She is a big girl, 9 pounds and 7 ounces, 20 inches long with a rather large head. She is a sweet baby and Katie and Anna were very excited to welcome her home.

The Tex Ecks - Part I

Pete & Leah at the City Museum

Jake & Alex

Leah & Jenni climbing

Pete, Leah, me, Em, & Jenni