Kolbe Picks a Pumpkin

This past Sunday after mass, Mark and I decided to stop by the United on our way home so Kolbe could pick out his very first pumpkin! It was VERY windy, but we managed to find not one, but two!, that were just too good to pass up. Kolbe was fascinated by the pumpkins and loved the hollow sound they made when he hit them. Of course, now that he walks EVERYWHERE, it was hilarious to see him trying to navigate his way around the pumpkins that came up to at least his thigh. Hopefully I will remember to get a picture or two when we carve them later this week.

Can I take them all?!?

Mama knows which pumpkin she wants to pick!

How do I get around here???

Hmmmm....maybe this is the one!

In a little bit of other news, we had another sonogram of little Reagan today (he's almost 22 weeks now!) and he looks great! He's almost one pound! Also, we were able to tell for sure that Reagan does not have any clefts or birth defects. Thanks to everyone for all of their prayers! With any luck for the fella, Little Reagan will be as handsome as his daddy and his big brother! : ) We leave for Kolbe's palate surgery a week from tomorrow. Please pray for both of our boys!

Monkey Business!!! (in various forms)

So I'm pretty sure that Kolbe Alexander has the cutest Halloween costume of all times!!! My ambitious mother decided to make his costume, and once we knew he would not be in the hospital on Halloween Day, we vetoed the doctor idea. She headed for the fabric store to peruse the costume patterns and happened upon a hilarious monkey costume. Several hours of sewing later, the following madness was produced!!!

"Who me? Cute?"

Mama says, "Pay no attention to the dirty room in the background! She swears the monkey did it!"

Pinkie did a FABULOUS job on Kolbe's suit! We're pretty sure he's going to get all the candy in Lubbock!

As for the other form of "monkey business," apparently Kolbe has recently felt compelled to live up to his Halloween costume. While I was getting ready for work the other day, I slipped back in to the "room" portion of our bedroom where my clothes were laid out on the bed. I decided to let Kolbe stay in the bathroom area knowing that I'd be right back in there in a matter of seconds. As I finally got that last arm through my shirt, I noticed a strange silence coming from the bathroom, which can never be a good thing with Mr. Kolbe. Luckily, the camera was near by to capture the culprit!

"Oh no! She caught me!"

"Quick! I've gotta make a break for it!"

Kolbe's "new" slide!!!

This afternoon when we got home from mass, Kolbe set up camp beside the kitchen window, staring out in to the backyard and watching the birds. Being the "all boy" that he is, we decided to take him out back to play. I then remembered that one of our good friends gave us a Little Tykes fort/slide of theirs before they moved away from Lubbock. This was over a year and half ago when I was on 12 weeks pregnant with Kolbe! Since then, the slide has been hiding in the shed in our backyard waiting until Kolbe was big enough to give it a go. Mark and I pulled it out of the shed (after Mark warned me that I might hurt Reagan from inhaling the fumes from the rat poo in the shed...ha ha!) and gave it a good bath with the water hose while Kolbe and Uncle Dave looked on. Since the yard (and the slide) were now drenched, we decided to strip Kolbe down to his diaper so he wouldn't ruin his church outfit. Kolbe LOVED it! His cheesy little grin said, "I'm the king of the yard!" He proudly stood atop the "fort" and surveyed his domain. The only scary part was the slide, of course! He had to have either Daddy or Mama push him down, but as soon as he made it to the bottom, he immediately wanted to climb back up and do it again! It was so much fun for us to watch him with his new slide! He's growing up so fast!

"Look at me, everybody!"

"Don't let go, Daddy!"

"I love my new fort! Yea!"

One quick addition, we're so happy to announce that Kolbe's surgery has been rescheduled! He will now be having his palate repaired on November 7th (just one week later than it was scheduled prior to the hurricane). It will be at Shriners in Houston instead of Galveston. Poor little Kolbe will be in the hospital for his first birthday (November 9th)! But we are just so happy to be having it done before Reagan gets here, and we'll gladly postpone his birthday celebration a week so he can get this done. Heck, having this surgery will be the best birthday gift EVER for this guy! It will truly be life changing and we are so thankful for the Shriners' efforts to accomodate us and take care of Kolbe. Please pray for him and us as his surgery approaches!

It's Official!

I had another sonogram last week, and yes, he's still a boy! After much thought and consideration, we have decided to name this little fellow Reagan Mark Asmussen. Reagan is a name that Mark and I have always liked, and Mark...well, heck...it's his Daddy and his Grandpa's name! How could we go wrong? He is growing really well and weighed 7 ounces at the sonogram. We didn't get any good pictures of his face because he was moving around so much and kept covering his face, but in the few glimpses we did see, it did not look like Reagan had any clefts. I'm sure we'll be able to get better pictures next time (October 28th). I'm definitely starting to feel him more and more each day! I'm now 19 weeks along! Just about half way there! Here are a few pics from the last sonogram:

Here's my profile shot! Nice round head just like my big bro!

Usually they say a Red Raider from birth...but I'm a Red Raider BEFORE birth!

Kolbe the Great is doing wonderful too! He is ELEVEN months old today! Can you believe it??? I certainly can't! What an amazing eleven months it has been! And it has certainly flown by. This little fellow has met and surpassed every goal we've ever place before him. We couldn't be prouder!

As (somewhat) expected, Kolbe's palate surgery has been cancelled for the time being. It was supposed to be at the end of the month (October 30th) in Galveston at the Shriner's Hospital; however, Shriners has apparently sustained quite a bit of damage from Hurricane Ike. (just like most of the Galveston area!) I spoke with a representative from the hospital and she told me that someone would be calling me back "in the future" to reschedule the surgery. I'm sure you're thinking what I'm thinking...what does "in the future" mean??? A few weeks? A few months? While the problems of those down in that area are certainly greater than ours, this whole predicament leaves us with an interesting situation. If they are unable to do the surgery by December, we will be unable to have it done until the beginning of May. (I won't be able to fly/travel during January or February and then Little Reagan will need at least 6-8 weeks before he can jump on a plane and go with us!) If we wait that long, Kolbe will be 18 months old. So right now we're still on standby for a while, but Mark and I actually have thought about possibly looking in to having it done here in Lubbock if they will be unable to do it in Galveston before the end of December. I'm planning to call them back again next week to see if there's any sort of timeline at all and I guess we'll go from there. I'd hate for Kolbe to have to wait till he's 18 months to get this surgery done. He's almost a year old and still unable to eat most foods babies his age eat, and most of all, he's having such a hard time talking. He has so much to say but the lack of pressure in his mouth makes the same sound come out over and over. Plus, the surgery was also when tubes would be placed in his ears, helping with chronic ear infections and his lack of hearing in his left ear. We definitely need to have that done soon! Poor fellow! After all is said and done, I know God will take care of Kolbe and this whole situation no matter when it takes place. Please pray for us and Kolbe's much needed surgery!

A few weeks ago, my parents flew up to Colorado Springs, CO to attend my Dad's 30 year reunion from The Air Force Academy. On their way back, they stopped in Lubbock for a few nights. Grandpa and Pinkie couldn't help but bring back a few goodies for Mr. Kolbe. Check out his Air Force jacket and new Air Force Academy Falcon's hat! Who knows? Maybe he'll be a cadet some day!!! (if not a Red Raider!)

Grandpa and Kolbe....the Falcons' biggest fans!!!


Check out that priceless smile for Pinkie! Isn't he a doll!?!