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_____________________________________________
November
`01
news
Craig's company (Sprint)
had some pretty substantial
layoffs. About 3000 people.
His department was hit pretty hard, but
he wasn't impacted much. Although
his manager and director were let go,
Craig has pretty much the same job, just
with a new boss. It took the
company one month to announce who was
being layed-off after they announced the
3000 number. It was a very
stressful month at our house.
Melanie was afraid she might have to go
back to work...
Peyton has a new
favorite food... "instant mashed
potatoes". She just
loves them. And she can eat a ton
of them. Peyton is
walking alot now. She finally decided
that walking is better than crawling.
And she is just now starting to cut her
top front teeth. Until now, she
just had two teeth.
Blake has been having a
little trouble at school. He is
going through a phase where he won't do
what the teacher says. He has had
to go to the office twice this
month. He even got in trouble at
"Cubbies" one time.
Hopefully this will be a short
"phase".
We took Blake and Peyton
to ride the Trinity Railway
Express. A real passenger train
that travels between Dallas and Fort
Worth. Blake loved it. He
just loves trains.
_____________________________________________
October
`01
news
The first weekend of
Oct, we went to Orchard for the annual
Faichtinger Family reunion (Craig's
mom's side of the family). We had
a great time on Saturday, but Blake woke
up Sunday with a stomach virus. He
was puking all morning. We didn't
get to spend Sunday visiting with
Craig's dad's side of the family like we
had planned. Instead, we started
the 4 hr trip home. Blake made it
almost all the way home without being
sick, but then less than 10 miles from
home, he puked all over the car.
It was a tough weekend. But it was
good that Blake was better the next day.
Peyton started
walking. She started out really
slow. She only walks when we
prompt her. She still prefers
crawling.
Peyton had her first
birthday on 10/23. We had a party
for her a few days earlier. Family
and friends joined us for catered BBQ
and plenty of cake, fun, and
presents. Peyton did a really good
job eating her cake. It was all
over her.
Blake received his first
patches from "Cubbies".
Grandma sewed the on his vest. He
is so proud.
Craig and Melanie
celebrated their 7th wedding
anniversary. We spent the evening
at "Boo at the zoo" in Fort
Worth. It's funny how the kids
rule your life. But we don't
mind. They are the greatest things
we could ever have.
We all went to the Texas
state fair. We did the typical
kiddy rides, corny dogs, etc. This
year was a big treat for Blake because
Melanie let him ride the BIG faris wheel
with Craig. He loved going
"up up up... so high".
We ended the month with
the church Halloween carnival.
Peyton was a little young to enjoy it so
much, but Blake (as usual) had a great
time. He played in the
"bounce house", maze, spin
wheel, etc. Blake even won a cake
at the cake walk. Boy was he
excited to win.
_____________________________________________
September
`01
news
Blake started a
children's bible study program at Lamar
Baptist Church (not our regular
church). It is called AWANA
Cubbies. He really likes it.
His good friend KeithJames goes there
too. They learn bible verses and
stories from the bible. The
program is really cool. All the
kids wear a vest with patches that they
get for learning each story/verse.
We went to Six Flags
again. We have definitely gotten
our money's worth out of our season
passes. Blake loves going to
"Six Flags over
Texas"... he says it so cute.
Blake went to the zoo
with MiMi.
Peyton got sick.
She had an ear infection. Then she
was allergic to the medicine. Her
allergic reaction wasn't evident until 7
days into taking the medicine. By
then, she had so much in her system that
the reaction was really bad. She
had a high fever and a terrible rash all
over her body. She itched so bad
that she couldn't sleep. It was
horrible. We finally got the
doctor to prescribe some steroids and antihistamine
that worked almost immediately. We
hope we never have to go through that
again.
The weather in Sept this
year was pleasantly cool. No 100
degree days...
_____________________________________________
August
`01
news
This was a BIG month for
us!!!
Blake is totally potty
trained. Once he decided that he
wanted to, it was a "done
deal". He doesn't even have
accidents at nap time or at night.
He got a prize for being such a big
boy. He got a wooden train set and
table. He had always wanted one
and we happy that he enjoys it so much.
Craig turned 32 years
old.
Blake stayed the night
away from us for the first time.
He stayed the night with MiMi (Mel's
mom). It was actually the first
time that we had let him ride in her car
too. It was a big day.
We won some tickets to
"Hurricane Harbor" (a water
park close to our house). Craig
had actually never been there
before. We took Blake and he loved
it. He even rode some of the big
slides with us. Blake especially
like the "wave pool" which
mimics the waves in the
ocean.
Peyton isn't walking
yet, but she sure crawls fast. She
has a new nickname this month..
"motor boat". She likes
making that type of noise.. "bbbbbbbbbb"
Craig had a physical for
the first time in a long time. He
is in pretty good condition. His
cholesterol was ok. He just needs
to exercise a little more a lose a few
pounds.
_____________________________________________
July
`01
news
Blake and Craig when to
the Arlington 4th of July parade.
This is the second year that we've gone
there. It was ok, but Blake wasn't
prepared to sit through a 3 hour
parade. Mel and Peyton decided to
stay home in the AC.
Peyton got her first
tooth and second tooth this month.
Blake is going through
phase where he doesn't want to get a
haircut. The best we could do was
a half haircut one week and the second
half the next week.
_____________________________________________
June
`01
news
We went to SanAntonio on
vacation. For the second year in a
row, we went to SeaWorld and stayed at
the Hyatt Hill Country Resort.
Craig was asked to take
a new role at work. It involves
alot of Project Management and has
almost no technical aspects to it.
Probably has too much administrative
stuff. He'll try it for a few
months and see how he likes
it.
Had a great father's
day.
_____________________________________________
May `01
news
Peyton crawled for the
first time. She also pulled-up to
a standing position for the first time
(all on the same day).
Blake is still not potty
trained.... 3 and a half years old
(and counting).
Peyton fell off our
bed. Oh were we scared. The
bed is high. We were very lucky
that she only had a little bruise on her
cheek.
We took grandkid
pictures of Blake, Peyton, and cousin
Haley. It was an adventure.
Trying to get 3 kids to pose nicely at
the same time is almost
impossible. Blake was especially
difficult. He just didn't want to
take pictures. We did get 2 good
pictures out of it. Grandma
Rosielee was very happy. We gave
her a big picture of the kids for
Mother's day.
On Mother's day we took
Melanie to brunch (an expensive one at
the Holiday Inn by our house). She
has been wanted to go there ever since
we moved to Arlington over 6 years
ago. It was nice. Melanie
got a charm, lotion, bath stuff, and a
dress for Mother's day. She loved
it.
_____________________________________________
April `01
news
We had so many Easter
parties. There were 5 Easter Egg
hunts (before Easter) and then another 3
Easter Egg hunts on Easter Sunday.
We had our own hunt at home and then
went to Craig's parents and then went to
Melanie's Dad's farm.
Blake got a bat and ball
from the Easter bunny. He is
pretty good. We knew that he could
throw the ball well, but now we know
that he can hit pretty well too.
We have lots of fun playing
baseball. Playing on the swings
outside is a fun activity for him these
days too. Almost as much fun as
the sand box.
Peyton is 6 months
old. She started eating solid food
(baby cereal). She LOVES it.
Oh crap! We forgot
(Craig's brother)
Jonathan's birthday. This was the
second year in a row that we
forgot. Boy did we fell bad.
We must have been distracted by the big
tax refund that we were expecting.
We bought season passes
to Six Flags. We have already been
there several times. Blake loves
it.
Blake loves to sing his
ABCs. Really loud sometimes
too. People often look at us
funny....
Our niece, Haley, turned
one year old. She had a fun party.
We got a new car.
A GMC Yukon XL. It is really
nice. We needed a bigger
car. The 4Runner just wasn't big
enough for 2 kids, a stroller, and
suitcases for vacation trips. We
sold Melanie's Camry. She was sad
to see it go. It was her first new
car. The GMC dealership only
offered us $2000 for the Camry. We
just laughed at them. The car was
in perfect condition with very low
mileage. We sold it for $6000
after advertising it in the paper for
less than a week.
_____________________________________________
March `01
news
Blake went to his first
"play". It was "The
Little Mermaid". It was a group
outing with his friends and their
mommies.
Melanie hurt her back
while picking up Blake. She could
barely walk for a day. It took 4
days for her to recover. The
doctor didn't really help.
Finally, a massage seemed to do the
trick to get her back to normal.
It was a busy month for
Blake's friends birthdays. One
weekend, there were 4 parties.
Peyton is now sleeping
in her crib. Yippee! We are glad
she isn't going to sleep with us for her
first 15 months like Blake did.
Blake still loves
school. He continues to learn new
things every day.
Blake is riding his bike
alot more often. We got him a
helmet. We had to buy an Adult
small because the kid sizes were too
small. He has a big head.
Going downhill is fun. Going
uphill is not. Especially for
daddy since he has to push. Oh my
aching back!
_____________________________________________
February
`01
news
Peyton is 4 months
old. She had to get another 4
immunization shots at this
checkup. She didn't cry on the
first one; she whimpered on the second
one; and cried on the last
two. Blake was there too
just to get his ears check since he has
been a little under the weather.
Mel took Blake out of the room while
Peyton got her shots. That way
neither one of them had to watch.
Craig had the baby holding job again.
Peyton is rolling over
from her back to her stomach and vice
versa. She is a really happy
baby. It is really easy to make
her laugh. She is so cute when she
laughs.
Peyton is really showing
the signs of being a very spoiled little
girl. She wants someone to hold
her all the time. She is sleeping
in the bed with Craig and
Melanie. Craig isn't so
happy about it, but his opinion hasn't
mattered this time just like it didn't
when Blake was sleeping with us for the
first year either. Maybe there is
still hope, but only time will tell.
We bought a new computer
just for Blake. His computer is
now better than our home computer and
Craig's work computer. He
loves playing educational games.
He is really good too. He has been
using the computer mouse since he was two years
old. He has Blues Clues, Reader
Rabbit Toddler and PreSchool,
PajamaSam, PuttPutt the car, and more.
Potty training Blake
isn't going well. Wet and dirty
pants don't bother him. Some days
he shows great promise and the other
days he has no interest in using the
potty. Most of his friends are
already potty trained. Blake just
has a mind of his own.
_____________________________________________
January
`01
news
Blake started going to
school (parents day out at Most Blessed
Sacrament Catholic Church) twice a week
starting in January. He really
likes school and he was learning so much
that we thought he was ready to go
another day. He can count to 10
and he pretty much knows his ABCs.
He is really smart. We are so
proud of him
Peyton pretty much lost
all her hair. Just like Blake did
during his first few months. She
still has some longer hair in the very
back.
Craig had to go to
KansasCity on
business. But it was just for the
day.
Melanie turned 32 years
old. Wow, she's not a spring
chicken any more.
_____________________________________________
December
`00
news
Blake turned 3 years old
on the 16th. He had a roller
skating party. All of his friends
came. They had llots of fun
running around the skating rink.
Not many skated. But it was so
much fun.
Blake and Peyton were
both sick this month. Blake had a
pretty bad ear infection. And
Peyton had RSV (a pretty bad virus that
effects the lungs). We were really
concerned, but she recovered within a
week or so.
We had several Christmas
events.
Dec 4 - Walker extended family
Dec 17 - Mel's side of the family
Dec 23 - Craig's side of the family
Dec 24 - Thompson gathering
Dec 25 - Macha immediate family
Dec 25 - Walker immediate family
That's not even counting
Blake's school and Melanie's club
parties.
Craig had a week of
vacation between Christmas and New
Years.
Peyton had her 2 month
checkup. She had to get 4
shots. She did really well; cried
less than Blake did when he was her
age. Melanie never takes it well;
she cant' watch. Craig is the one
who holds the babies when they get
shots.
_____________________________________________
November
`00
news
We have been really busy
with two kids. Wow, we only
thought we never had any time to
ourselves. One of the kids always
needs something. They definitely
keep us on our toes.
Blake is doing really
well as a "big brother".
He loves his baby sister. He talks
about her all the time. He always
introduces people to her. He
almost likes her too much. He
likes to hold her and touch her alot.
We have probably washed our hands and
his hands more this month than the last
10 months combined.
We received several
visitors during the first few weeks that
we were home. Friends from church
and Melanie's MOMS Club brought us
dinner for three weeks straight.
Wow, we had alot of food. Thanks a
million.
Blake went to the circus
with Papa and Elvie. They said it
was so much fun. Blake talked
about the elephants, tigers, bear on the
motorcycle, and dogs that did
tricks. This was Blake's first
time out without Melanie or Craig.
Melanie was a little nervous at first,
but she made it ok.
As usual, we made the
rounds for Thanksgiving. Two
places Thursday and one on Friday.
_____________________________________________
October `00
news
Craig and Melanie
celebrated their 6th anniversary on Oct
22.
Peyton was born on
Monday, October 23 at 1:02pm. She
weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. and was 18˝ inches
long. Melanie's labor was a little
longer this time. Labor was
induced (just like with Blake). It
took a total of 4˝ hours this time
compared to only 2˝ with Blake.
Craig took a little over
two weeks off from work when Peyton came
home. This was good because Blake
ended up getting sick a couple of
times. Two kids are hard enough,
but when one or both are sick, it is
REALLY hard.
Craig and Blake carved
jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. It
had been a long time... I didn't
remember how time consuming it
was. scrape, scrape, scrape.
For Halloween, Blake went to the Church
carnival. he had a great time
playing games and riding the
ponies. He also went door to door
trick-or-treating in our
neighborhood. He did really
well. This year he was able to
realize what was going on. he had
a blast. But by the time we made
it back to our street, he was really
tired. It was a busy Halloween
night.
_____________________________________________
September
`00
news
Only a few weeks are
left until Peyton arrives. Melanie
is starting to get a little
nervous. Given the recent trend of
our friends and family member who have
had their babies a few week early, we
could have a new baby the first week or
two of October. We really don't
expect to make it to the Oct 30 due
date.
Craig went to Air Combat
Training. It is a place in
Arlington that has flight
simulators. Check out the pictures.
It was really alot of fun.
Blake's potty training
has been put on hold. Too much
frustration on our part and his.
We'll figure it out eventually.
We went to the Texas
State Fair on opening day (Sept
29). We ate alot of food.
Blake really had fun on the rides.
He especially liked the trucks, roller
coasters, and the scrambler. He is
a real daredevil. No ride is too
fast for him.
The 2000 Olympics (in
Australia) have been on TV for several
weeks. We watched a little, but
Melanie was bored with them after a few
days.
The temperatures have
finally cooled down. Fall is
finally here.
_____________________________________________
August `00
news
Craig turned 31 years
old on the 8th.
Craig had to go out of
town (to
Kansas City) on business again this
month. It wasn't too fun that it
was on his
birthday.
We had a planned
childbirth "refresher
course". Breathe! hee
hee hoo hee hee hoo. Only 2 months
to go...
Our baby niece, Haley,
was baptized on the 13th.
Blake still isn't potty
trained. He has control, but he
doesn't want to cooperate. He
likes to do things his way and only when
he wants to. We often end up
peeing outside in the grass because he
thinks that is fun. "hit the
target"
We registered Blake for
play school (parent's day out) at Most
Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church.
He will be going one day a week.
It starts the first week of September.
It is REALLY HOT!
40+ days of 100+ temps. It was
actually over 108 several days this
month. The highest was 111.
That is the hottest it has been in
Dallas in 20 years. In addition to
the hot days, it we've had 66+ straight
days without rain. That is an all
time record. I sure am glad we
have a sprinkler system.
_____________________________________________
July `00
news
We spent alot of $$$ on
our home air conditioning unit this
summer. New coils for the unit
upstairs and a new compressor
outside. AC technicians must make
a ton of $$.
We went to the City of
Arlington's 4th of July parade.
Blake had a great time. He
especially liked the horses, tractors,
drums, and ChuckECheese float.
We attended two
weddings. Melanie's step brother
Shaun got married to Shannon on July
1. And Melanie's friends
Kelli and John got married on July 8.
We took a vacation to
SanAntonio. We stopped in to visit
some friends in Austin on the way.
And we also got to visit some of Craig's
cousins that live in SanAntonio.
We stayed at the Hyatt Hill Country
Resort. It was really nice.
The resort has its own water park and
river. See the pics. We liked the
resort so much that we cancelled our
reservation at the riverwalk and stayed
an extra day at the resort. We
plan to make this an annual event for
our family. It is great for the
kids.
With the arrival of our
new baby daughter only 3 months away, we
decided to escalate Blake's potty
training. We are now using the
"underwear" approach. He
still has plenty of accidents, but it
seems to be getting better each
day. We hope that we are on our
way to diaper independence (at least
until the new baby arrives).
_____________________________________________
June `00
news
We found out that we are
having a little girl. At least
that is what the sonogram looks like.
We attended a Sprint
company picnic at Lonesome Dove
Ranch. Blake and Melanie had caricatures
drawn of themselves. Blake
especially liked riding the train and
the ponies.
Melanie's grandfather
"DadDad" passed away. We
will miss him very much.
We went to the 50th
wedding anniversary of Joe and MaryAnna
Simeroth. They were our sponsor
couple when we got married 6 years
ago. At the reception, we sat next
to the Deacon that married us. He
asked us what church we were going to
now. We told him Pantego Bible
Church. We aren't sure what he
thought about us not going to a Catholic
church.
We started buying
groceries online from HomeGrocer.com  .
It is so much easier than chasing Blake
up and down the aisles at the grocery
store and it isn't really any more
expensive either.
We had a great father's
day. Both dads came to church with
us and then we had a big lunch at
Pappasito's.
We had a wedding shower
for friends Kelli and John at our
house. We had a big croud and fun
was had by all.
We volunteered to work
in the nursery at Church every other
Sunday this summer. We teach
Blake's class (2˝ year olds). It
is a real adventure.
Melanie spent most of
the month planning special events.
_____________________________________________
May `00
news
We went to Joel's 4th
birthday party. Blake really loved
the moonwalk.
We went to MayFest.
Blake really liked the activities;
especially painting a house.
Craig went on a business
trip to Kansas City. Blake
wouldn't stop talking about airplanes
the entire time that Craig was gone...
he remains fascinated with seeing
airplanes.
On Mother's day (after
church), we took Melanie and her mom to
brunch at Blue Mesa restaurant in Fort
Worth. Oh what a good buffet they
have.
Melanie volunteered at
the Special Olympics in Arlington. She
helped with the softball throw.
We painted Blake's room
green and he got new furniture. A
nice bunk-bed and dresser.
_____________________________________________
April `00
news
We officially announced
that we are expecting a baby.
Blake will be thrilled to have a new
baby brother or sister some time around
November 1st.
The world lost a great
person to a short battle with cancer.
We met Steve Baber through some mutual
friends at church about a year ago.
He was the leader of our close knit
church group. He passed away on
his 34th birthday. It is hard to
lose anyone, but especially someone so
young. His wife, and two young
children are in our prayers.
Yea... we got a tax
REFUND again this year. Now we can
make our first payment on Blake's
swingset and playhouse.
Craig bought
himself a new toy. He upgraded his
Sprint PCS (mobile) phone to a Motorola
TalkAbout. It is really small..
about the size of a pager. wow,
too cool.
Blake has some computer
software called "Reader Rabbit (for
Toddlers)". He loves it.
He paints pictures, learns the alphabet,
numbers, animal pictures and sounds,
etc. He is working on his
pronunciation of "Reader
Rabbit"... he doesn't quite have it
down, he calls it "Read Rat".
Blake's potty training
is going really slow. It mostly
has to do with mommy and daddy not
working with him enough. Maybe we
will be able to concentrate on it more
next month?
Easter was spent with family....
so many places to go.....We went to
Melanie's family reunion and then went
to Wade's farm.
On April 28, Craig's
brother Jonathan and his wife Angie had
a little girl, Haley. We
are so excited to have a little
niece. Blake really likes having a
little cousin too.
____________________________________________
March `00
news
Blake got a really big
swingset and playhouse. It is a
two story playhouse with a 14 ft. rocket
slide. Check out the home video
with Blake on the slide. Bugs seem
to be attracted to the bright yellow
slide. Blake won't go down the
slide when there are bugs on it.
Not even a tiny gnat. Yes, he must
have very good vision to see a gnat 12
feet away.
We gave a baby shower
for Craig's brother Jonathan and his
wife Angie. They will be providing
us with our first niece.
"Haley" is due to arrive in
May). We had a bunch of family
members in from out of town. It
was a mini family reunion.
Blake is now sleeping in
a "toddler" bed. It is a
small bed that uses a crib size
mattress. He has only had to sleep
in his crib twice this month (because he
wouldn't stay in bed).
____________________________________________
February
`00 news
Blake continues to say new
things every day. He is at the age
where you can really see his
intelligence. He is also at the
age where he can be a little
"stinker". He has a
really cute "mean" look with a
crinkled forehead and squinted eyes.
We bought Blake a potty last month.
He played with it for a while and we got
him to sit on it sometimes, but his
first real potty experience occurred on
the regular toilet (with a special seat
so he doesn't fall in). We hope
that he is on his way to being potty
trained.
____________________________________________
Y2K
January
`00 news
Just as Melanie was getting over her
illness, Blake got sick, then Craig got
sick. We had a very grumpy
household for a few weeks.
Melanie had her wisdom teeth removed.
She didn't experience any problems.
She was very happy that things went so
well.
Melanie turned 31 years old on
the 23rd.
Melanie's grandparents (The
Thompsons) celebrated their 50th wedding
anniversary. We all enjoyed the
Sunday lunch buffet at Ridglea Country
Club.
____________________________________________
December
`99 news
Blake turned 2 years old on
the 16th. He had two birthday
parties. One was with his little
friends. We rented a
"moonwalk" for the kiddy
party. Blake's second party was
more slow paced with family.
Craig was on vacation
the last two weeks of the year. No
big adventures, just catching up with
jobs around the house and spending time
with Blake and Melanie. One of the
jobs was updating our website.
Christmas was great. We spent
time with several different parts of our
families. We found out that
Craig's brother Jonathan and his wife
Angie are going to have a GIRL.
Our niece is due in May.
Our house looks like a toy store.
Blake received so many new toys for his
birthday and Christmas. Where are
we supposed to put them?
Melanie spent the last week of
the year in bed sick with
bronchitis.
____________________________________________
November
`99 news
The family took a day trip to visit
with Melanie's cousin Wilson Scaling and
his wife. We had a personal tour
of the Scaling Ranch. Blake
really had a great time seeing all the
cows and horses.
Blake is continuing to develop his vocabulary.
Three-syllable words are new for him.
He started saying McDonald's (more like
"MiNanos") after seeing Ronald
McDonald put on a magic show at a fund
raiser that Aunt Joni and family invited
us to.
Blake is getting a quick start into
the "terrible twos".
He won't eat anything but junk food.
He also wants to be very independent.
You can't tell him what to do; he has to
think everything is his idea.
____________________________________________
October
`99 news
Craig and Melanie celebrated their 5th
Wedding anniversary on October 22nd
with a casual dinner out with Blake.
Craig was in San Francisco,
California for a week on business.
All work an no play. He did get to
drive over the Golden Gate Bridge and
see Alcatraz from a distance.
Blake is going to have his first
cousin. Craig's brother Jonathan
and his wife Angie are expecting their
first child in May 2000.
Halloween was a really fun
time. Blake dressed up as a
"Lion". He
"trick-or-treated" at many
houses in our neighborhood and then went
to a friend's neighborhood too. He
ended up with alot of good treats.
He doesn't know that Mommy and Daddy
have been dipping into his
"stash".
____________________________________________
September
`99 news
We had a family trip to the Dallas
World Aquarium. They have fish and
a tropical zoo atmosphere too.
Blake called most of the animals
"ooh oohs". He was
a little frightened by the big birds
that were running around. The huge
crocodiles were a little scary too.
Blake continues to find ways
to get new bumps, bruises, and scrapes.
It will probably never stop. He is
an active 21 month old little boy.
Blake is really into Scooby
Doo and Winnie the Pooh and
Choo Choo Trains. He can spot
them anywhere; in the store, on a sign,
on TV, anywhere.
Blake is starting to take long
naps during the day. He used to
take one or two one-hour naps each day.
Now he usually takes a two or three hour
nap in the early afternoon each day.
Josie and Blake are becoming
better playmates. They play
tug-of-war with socks and they chases
each other around the house playing
"keep away" with Josie's toys.
Craig is still working at
home. He thinks it is great.
Melanie continues to have mixed feelings
about having him working from home.
She thinks he spends too much time in
his office.
____________________________________________
August `99
news
Craig turned 30 years old!!!
No big party, just a relaxing dinner
with the family. Just the right
speed for Craig. His birthday
present was a huge file cabinet for his
home office.
We had a family trip to the zoo.
Blake loved the monkeys and gorillas
("ooh oohs"), and the
meercats too. We rode the
miniature train at Trinity Park (Blake
actually rode it twice this month).
Blake loves "choo choos";
but he is just about asleep by the end
of the ride.
Blake's vocabulary is growing
every day... "nook" is
milk, "choo choo" is a
train, "ooh ooh" is a
monkey, "tau to" is
turtle, "duk" is a
truck (he calls cars and trucks
"duks")
And he is talking in phrases now...
"weh ah u" is
"where are you?",
"de u ah" is
"there you are!",
"dabba dabba dee" is
supposed to be "Scooby Dooby
Doo".
Every once in a while, Blake
decides that he doesn't want to sleep at
night. Oh, that is so much for
mommy and daddy. He is really into
playing with hot-wheel cars.
The family has a new game called the
"fun train". It is
similar to "follow the
leader". We follow each other
around the house dancing, skipping, and
jumping. If anyone saw us, they
would think we were nuts, but it is so
much fun for all of us.
____________________________________________
July `99 news
We redesigned our website and moved
it to our new ISP.
____________________________________________
June `99 news
Blake turned 18 months old.
He now has a vocabulary of 50+ words.
We threw Craig's mom a surprise 50th
Birthday party.
We spent father's day at Melanie's
dad's farm in Alvarado. Burgers
and hotdogs for all. Blake had fun
seeing the horses.
We changed ISPs to TCI@Home and now
we have a cable modem that is pretty
fast.
Craig finally got everything
setup for his home office and is working
from home full time. He now gets
on Melanie's nerves during the day too
(you know it works both ways)
____________________________________________
May `99 news
We had Blake's pictures
taken at Olan Mills studio. They
turned out pretty good. Take a
look at the photo album.
Blake is getting some of his back
teeth. He is skipping some spaces
and trying to cut a few teeth to help
him chew up a big steak.
Craig is now working
from home. It is officially called
telecommuting. He still does the
same job for Sprint, but he just does
99% of it from home. His home
office isn't quite set up yet, so he
still goes into the office 3+ days a
week. But by the end of May he
should be only working from home.
____________________________________________
April `99 news
Blake had a happy
Easter. See his picture
with the Easter bunny. He is
talking so much... here is a list of
words he can say: "mama",
"dada",
"ball",
"woofwoof",
"byebye",
"hi",
"no",
"nana"
(banana), "meow",
"uh-oh",
"mooo"
(cow), "oohooh"
(gorilla sound that he got from
the Rainforest Cafe), and "duh"
(he uses this for anything that
he doesn't have another word for)
Germs must have invaded our house...
Blake, Melanie, and Craig were all sick
at some time during the month.
Melanie got a curio
cabinet to put all of her keepsakes in.
She has been wanting one for several
years. She is very proud of it, so
if you come to visit, you must
compliment her on it.
Craig had a checkup
on his eyes. It has been 3 months
since his LASIK eye surgery. He
sees 20/20 out of his right eye and
20/25 out of his left eye.
With both eyes, he can see 20/15 (better
than 20/20). He says that
things are not as clear as they were
with hard contact lenses, but they are
as clear as they were with soft contact
lenses.
____________________________________________
March `99 news
Blake cut his 4th
and 5th teeth. He also got
an ear infection. He had a
reaction to his MMR immunization.
He had a rash from the measles part of
the vaccine. Overall, Blake had a
rough month, but he handled it like a
champ.
Melanie has joined
the YMCA where she works out; including
Tae-Bo classes. She says it is
alot of fun. On the "not so
fun" front.... Melanie got braces
again (just on top). They
are the kind that are "behind"
your teeth. She talks a little
funny now, but don't tell her that...
she gets embarrassed.
We mailed in our tax return early
this year.... we are pleasantly
surprised to be getting a big refund.
____________________________________________
February `99
news
Blake got sick for
the first time with some type of stomach
virus. The poor little boy
had a rough time for about a week, but
he seems to be ok now. I
think Melanie had the worst of it... she
has a hard time when Blake is unhappy.
Blake went to the Fort Worth Stock show
a couple of times this year. His
second trip to the petting zoo was alot
of fun for him. He loved to pet
the animals, but was scared of their
heads, so he would only pet them on the
back. See a picture
of blake petting a goat.
Melanie is very busy
with all of her activities with a Church
group, MOMS club, and the Homemaker's
club.
George and Rosielee (Craig's
parents) finally moved to
Carrolton on Feb 6. They had
alot of "stuff" to move.
Craig said that he has never done so
much manual labor in a two day period
before in his life. Two 25 foot
trucks packed to the ceiling, a
Motorhome full, a pickup truck full, a
16 foot flatbed trailer full and a 10
foot U-Haul trailer full... and they
still couldn't fit everything.
They seem to be settling in, but it will
take them a while to adjust to a new
city after living in the Houston area
all of their lives. Blake is happy
to have his Grandma and Grandpa living
so close.
____________________________________________
January `99
news
Melanie turned 30
years old on Saturday, January 23.
We gave her a surprise Birthday party at
Pappasito's in Arlington with around 50
family and friends. She said that
she was surprised, but only she knows
for sure. Everyone had a great
time and left with full stomachs after a
fajita feast.
We celebrated new years eve with a
couple that lives down the street.
Craig's dad started his new job in
Dallas on Jan 4. George and
Rosielee should have closed on their old
and new houses by the end of the month.
Craig had LASIK eye surgery on January
12. The procedure was done at
Tylock Eye Center in Irving. A few
zaps of the laser and "poof",
no more glasses or contacts. He
went from not being able to read the big
E on the eye chart to 20/20 vision.
After a three month absence from the
internet, Craig is getting our website
updated.
Blake still only has four teeth.
He sure is growing fast.
____________________________________________
December `98
news
Blake had his first Birthday
on the 16th. He had a "Blue's
Clues" theme party. Even
though it was mainly family that was
here, our house wasn't near big enough
to handle the crowd. Even when the
party was over we found that the house
was too small to handle all of Blake's
new toys [old toys will have to go to
the attic].
Christmas was great. We
celebrated with different parts of the
family on five occasions. Of
course Blake hit the lottery on toys
[big train, wagon, and too much more].
Craig got about 10 shirts. Melanie
received an assortment of gifts.
Blake got a bruise/scrape on his
upper-left forehead where he fell out of
his stroller onto the sidewalk; then
only 10 minutes later, he got another
bruise on his middle forhead when he
fell against the fireplace. It was
a very bad day. See a photo
of his boo boos.
Blake is eating real food and baby
food. I don't think that he will
ever sleep through the night; especially
in his own bed. Melanie and Craig
are sooooooo tired; even Josie doesn't
get enough sleep at night.
Craig's parents may have sold their
house [hopefully the "closing"
will go through in early January].
They are looking for a house in
Carrolton.
____________________________________________
November `98
news
We went on a trip to Keystone,
Colorado the first week in November.
Craig had a conference there.
Melanie and Blake came along and we made
a vacation of it. We drove
[Melanie doesn't like flying] to
Colorado; it was about 850 miles each
way. There was some snow; barely
enough to have one ski slope open.
We didn't ski, but we did have alot of
fun.
While we were in Colorado, Blake
started to walk!!! 10˝
month is pretty early for walking.
You've never seen more proud parents.
Blake has two more teeth [on top this
time]. That makes a total of four
[2 top, 2 bottom].
____________________________________________
October `98
news
Craig and Melanie celebrated their 4th
Wedding Anniversary on the 22nd
of October.
____________________________________________
September
`98 news
Blake (9 months old)
cut his second tooth early this month.
He is eating table food now
too; he loves chicken nuggets, pizza,
cheerios, and cheese. Blake seems
to be trying to talk... he says mamamamama
when he is upset and wants Melanie, he
likes to say dadadadada
when he is playing. Sometimes he
babbles and acts like he is carrying on
a conversation with you.
Melanie is starting
her Christmas shopping.
____________________________________________
August `98
news
Blake (8 months old)
cut his first tooth on the 19th.
He gets more and more active every day;
he usually gets a new bump or scratch
every day. We don't know if Blake
will ever sleep through the night; his
bedtime is usually about 10:30 or
11:00pm, he wakes up at least 2-3 times
during the night and ends up sleeping
with us until he is ready to really
wake-up at around 8:00am or so.
Blake had his 9 month check-up early; he
is healthy little boy.
Melanie jumped on
the Beanie Baby collecting bandwagon.
She has about 15 so far.
Melanie's dad, Wade Walker, had a close
call... he had a heart attack and had to
have angioplasty performed on an artery
in the back of his heart. He had
to stay in the hospital for one week,
but now he is at home doing fine.
He will be recovering for at least one
month before he can go back to work.
Craig celebrated his
29th birthday on August 8th. He
got a new computer; it's a monster (DELL
PII/400, 128MB RAM, 14GB hard drive, 40X
CDROM, 19in monitor).
____________________________________________
July `98 news
The heat wave of 1998 continues... 26
straight days and counting with 100°+
temperatures as of the end of July.
With no end in sight, we may have to
take out a second mortgage on our house
to pay the electric bill. Just
kidding, its not that bad, but it is
very hot. I don't think that it
has rained in North Arlington is at
least three weeks; I sure am glad that
we have a sprinkler system to water the
lawn (there is no water rationing so far
in Arlington).
Blake (7 months old)
crawled (G.I. Joe style)
for the first time on July 10. By
the end of the month, he was able to go
all over the house; very fast. He
is also beginning to pull himself up on
things and stand up. He will
be walking in no time. Now that
Blake is mobile, he has tiny injuries to
show for it; like the scratch on his
forehead where he fell on his toy wagon.
Blake is eating more and more solid food
(peas, carrots, squash, sweet
potato, and cereal); but his
favorite food comes from mommy.
Melanie has gone on
several outings with the MOMS club:
For Moms night out, the moms
went out to eat Italian food.
Melanie has taken Blake to several play
groups (swimming, etc); she had
one playgroup at our house.
Craig transferred to
a new department at work (Sprint).
He is adjusting to the new environment
and is very excited; this is a very good
opportunity for Craig to gain experience
in the latest computer technology.
Craig got a chance to play golf for the
first time in almost a year; he shot a
107 (that's very good for Craig, he got
his first birdie ever).
Grandma and Grandpa Macha
(Craig's parents) are still trying to
sell there house in East Bernard (close
to Houston). We are looking
forward to them moving to this area
(Carrolton?) soon.
____________________________________________
June `98 news
Melanie joined the Mothers
Offering Mothers Support (MOMS)
group. She has some great new
friends from the group. She is
very exited to have some fun with women
with whom she has so much in common.
Blake (6 months old)
can sit up by himself.
Craig got a leaf
blower for his first Father's Day
____________________________________________
May `98 news
Blake (5 months old)
can sit up by himself. He started
eating sold foods for the first time (peas,
carrots). He still
doesn't sleep through the night.
Melanie is enjoying
her new career as a stay at home mom.
She got a Dreamsicle Angel, her first
trip to Grapevine Mills Mall, and lunch
at the RainForest Cafe for her first
Mother's Day.
Craig received a
promotion at work (Sprint). It
just came a little too late, because he
was already looking to transfer to a
different group within the company (see
July news). | 