Family Pictures!

I've been meaning to get these up for a while. Check them out HERE!

I still have pictures from when Wyatt met his Great Grandfathers to share! That will come soon!

Sleeping... and other things in life!

Wyatt slept through the night last night for the first time. He slept for 8 hours and we had to wake him this morning in order to make it to my doc appointment today! It's hard to believe that he's doing so well. He's been building up and progressing from 4-5 hours at night to 5-6, and then last night I got 8! It was MAGICAL!

It's been a busy week in the Holt household. We have found a new-to-us truck to replace the expedition. I have my long-term cast. We've made a million phone calls for the new truck, financing, insurance, etc etc etc... It's been busy!

First thing... we found a truck! We were looking for another expedition or an excursion. I guess I'm just a Ford girl. However, Ford didn't make expeditions this year. We could special order it, but that was CRAZY expensive. There were only a small handful around here at dealerships and they were all King Ranch editions and also had about 5k miles on them from demo/VIP use. The dealerships weren't willing to give us a good price because they call a demo vehicle with 5k miles on them "new." That's not my definition of new! We started our search for a used expedition. We couldn't find a 4 wheel drive used. We looked from Dallas to Houston and couldn't find any. We started pondering a truck again, but I really liked a lot of the SUV features. We started looking for a used excursion. We found several, but every time we'd find what we needed, we'd call and it had *just* sold! This happened several times! We were hunting around on Craig's List and saw a listing for a very nice truck. It made David drool! Since I LOVED my old F350, I was willing to look at a truck--especially with how difficult it was becoming to find a big enough SUV for pulling horses. We went and checked it out and we both fell in love. I've always been a truck girl at heart. It's big, it's red, and it's MINE!! :) Here are a few pictures. For the men in our lives, here are the stats:
2001 F250
7.3L Turbo Diesel
4WD
112k miles
Ranch Hand bumpers front & back
Auxiliary tank with a tool box on top--total of 80 gallons of diesel with the stock tank and extra tank.
spray-in bedliner
leather interior
custom rims
I think that's it.

Today, I got my stitches out and a new cast! I love this fiberglass cast! It's so light and it's really supportive. I have another 4 weeks with a cast & crutches. On June 24th I will go back in to take this off and then get a boot. I don't know how long I will have to wear the boot, but at least I will be able to walk. I won't be able to drive, but at least my mom can go home and I can take care of my munchkin here. The best news is that I'll be able to shower like normal after that! I am so ready for that! I took some pictures of my incision and ankle. Let's just say it's colorful! I won't share those with all of you. I took them for my friend Stephanie. If you really want to see the rainbow of colors, drop me an email and I'll send you the picture! :)

Wyatt is growing and changing so much and so fast. He's coo'ing and smiling all the time. He loves to be talked to and he's VERY ticklish! He's a little charmer and everyone who meets him is enchanted with him. He's busting out of all of his newborn sized clothes and the 0-3 months are getting tight! He's so long! I am already going to be packing up some of his clothes for storage. I cannot believe it. I dont' want my little guy to get so big so quickly! He's been crossing his eyes every now & again. Mom happened to catch one on camera today. For more pics of the little man, you can click HERE.

Check out our pictures... leave comments here or there! Enjoy!!

This boy takes his eatin' seriously!

Wyatt had another doctor visit today. This trip was just routine though. We have a new pediatrician here in Killeen. I love her! She was fantastic with him! For his stats: He is weighing in at 11 lbs, 8 oz. That's a full pound in 2 weeks!!!!! He also grew 3 inches in length! He's doing really well and the doc was very happy with his overall health. When he was born, he was in the 25th percentile for height and 5oth percentile for weight. Now he's in the 75th percentile for both. I need to make sure he gets more tummy time since he still can't push himself up off his tummy. He is not a fan of being on his tummy, plus I enjoy just staring at him all day. We are going to try some zantac for him to see if his tummy problems are reflux. I sincerely hope so. I've eliminated so many things out of my diet and he's still hurting. On the upside--today I found some rice milk ice cream! It actually tastes really good and it hit the spot!!

Wyatt is starting to really focus on people and things. He will "talk" to you (he especially likes women), kick his feet, and make faces. He loves to look at his mobile and he's learning how to get the bouncer going! It's amazing to watch him focus on things. My favorite is when he is winding up for a sneeze, but then it falls off. He goes, "AAhhhhh, aaaahhhh...... AAhh-000hhhhhhhh."


He is still a fantastic sleeper! He's not always great about naps during the day, but he sleeps pretty consistently at night. It is wonderful and I'm so blessed because that gives me more time to sleep & heal.

Mom has been here only one day and it's been such a HUGE help! We got a lot done today and had a really good time.

We are looking forward to our long weekend. We will be doing some new-to-us car shopping. Maybe we'll find my new dream car/truck. :)

For now, I'm exhausted. The internet connection here is sketchy at best. I have been trying to get a kodak album of pictures going, but it seems to lock up the internet connection. I'll give it a try again next week.

I hope everyone has a safe & fantastic Memorial Day weekend!!

Super mom to the rescue!!

Just a fast note to give everyone some updates.

Surgery went well. We were in and out pretty quickly. They were a fantastic group of docs and I had wonderful care. The nurse was very sweet and even gave me her home phone number as I was leaving. She heard our story about all that is going on and offered help to fetch groceries, run errands, or anything.

I have had a lot of help show up over the last week! My friend Nicole has brought us dinner and is ready on call if I need another. Adriana has been BEYOND AWESOME and has let me, Wyatt, and the dogs (yes, even the dogs!) hang out at her house every day while David is at work. She is my legs. She takes care of me, feeds me, changes Wyatt, and just makes sure I am doing well. She has picked me up at our house, brought me lunch, kept me company, listened to me complain, and so much more. Ft. Hood PWOC has called me and they are available for meals, help, encouragement, a day out, or a grocery run! Sarah came up from Austin yesterday to hang out, drive me to get a new cast, to the chiropractor, and she cooked dinner! We watched the Dancing with the Stars finale and laughed over the www.ihategreenbeans.com Bach'ette recap. It was a fun night!

My sister has been the biggest help. She took the initiative to find babysitting for her kiddos and someone to help out at mom's house. She then declared that mom was coming out here to help me. That means so much to me since Vicky has had to find back up babysitting several times over the past few months already. She is willing to deal with the behavior "bonuses" her kids will give her since grandma isn't there for their normal routine. Mom & dad got here this afternoon around 3:30pm, Dad was on a plane 2 1/2 hours later back home. Mom is here for about a month. We are cozy in this apartment, but it's do-able.

Command has started for David. He's already busy with pre-deployment plans, Soldiers, training, and all that jazz. He's had to dive right in. I went with him on Friday to meet everyone. I thought I'd make a lasting impression and showed off my crutches prowess by falling in the HHT building. Yah--I'm that cool! Haha!! I hit a wet spot with my left crutch and down I went. I hit a couch on the way down. I'm sporting quite the bruise from it. Since my motto is "go big or go home" I decided to fall AGAIN on Friday when I got to Ady's house. I didn't quite guage the step on the patio right and down I went. Poor David--I'm going to give him a heart attack. He's ready to pack me in bubble wrap until I'm healed. I've definitely kept him worried these last few weeks.

My ankle is healing really well. I've already had to get a replacement temp cast since the swelling went down so fast. On Tuesday I get my long term cast. I'm looking forward to the support a lighter and full cast will give. I'm still hurting pretty good. The incision of the surgery hurts as much or more than the break. The doc said that's pretty normal. Every day I'm feeling more and more like myself.

Thank you all so much for your prayers, calls, emails, prayers, encouragement, prayers, thoughts, and prayers. Can you tell that we are feeling the prayers? It really is making a difference. Please keep them up!! Thank you to my friends who were figuring out ways to come help me for a week! It really means so much to me!

Tomorrow Wyatt goes in for a check up. I'll post some stats on him and new pictures as soon as I get a chance!

Because "boring" just isn't our style... Prayer requests

Well everyone... we are in Killeen, TX. Seven years ago when we arrived, I remember being overwhelmed by the crowds here and intimidated by the aggressive drivers. I said to David, "I can tell we'll be in an accident before we leave here." We were never in an accident that first trip to Ft. Hood, but my prophecy did come true with this trip to Hood.

Last Thursday we were in a car accident. Everyone is ok! We were t-boned by a small truck and the front passenger door took the hit. Wyatt & David are perfect and fine. Wyatt only had a few scratches from glass on his scalp and David is just sore all over. I was sitting in the front passenger seat and took the brunt of the impact. My Expedition did it's job and all I have are some scratches from glass and a broken ankle. The cab crushed around me, but didn't crush me. I had to be cut out since my right leg was wedged into the car. Both Wyatt & I had our first ambulance ride, but all is well.

I have a fractured medial tibia. That's right in the joint of my ankle. I went in for a follow up yesterday and we learned that I need surgery. They will pin the break together and possibly a pin on the other side depending on the ligament damage. I will be on crutches for at least 6 more weeks. I'm not sure how to function with a newborn and crutches.

In all this, we are dealing with insurance and need to replace my Expedition. We have the little civic right now, but I'm sure you can understand that it's a little nerve wracking being in such a small car right now.

It's hard to process all the changes & challenges we have been through in the last 2 months. In a span of 2 months we have had a baby, packed up our house, moved with a detour for family visits, arrived in a new location, been in a car accident, and now headed for more surgery. On the horizon we have many long hours for David, plus his deployment, plus Wyatt & me moving to AZ. Oh yeah... and a new car for me, several different casts, and who knows what else!

I go in today at 11:15am and surgery will be around 12:15pm. We could use lots of prayer for strength, wisdom, and comfort. Pray for David as he is very worried about us and also really tired. He's had to take over lots of care for me & Wyatt. He's not had much rest. We had planned on this week in TX to be his opportunity to rest before he deploys and that didn't go so well. He won't have any down time now until he returns from Iraq. Pray that I can continue to be creative in ideas for ways to make this situation work (my best idea so far is to grow 2 more arms--then I have a pair for the crutches and a pair to hold the baby so we can move around. Sadly, I don't think this plan will work!).

Right now, I'm so thankful for Adriana & Eric who picked us up from the hospital and even had a car seat available to us. Adriana will be taking care of us while David is at work to be a spare set of arms and/or legs for me during the day. She & Elizabeth (her 9 month old daughter) are such wonderful friends and I'm excited about our time together. I'm thankful for Kim & Sarah who are prepared to come out here at a moment's notice to live with me the week David is TDY next month. I'm thankful for Stephanie for being ready to come out as soon as I say the word and for also getting the PWOC network going. I'm thankful for Liz who I know is praying her heart out for us right now.

We have had such an abundance of support already. I hate asking for more, but we do need it. I am praying that we can get a little bit of "boring" in our life soon! Please keep us all in prayer & I'd love to hear any brainstorming you have!

While we were in CO Springs, Sandy (I cannot remember her last name) took more family pictures of us. She is the amazing photographer who did the Holt Family pictures at Christmas in 2007! She was very kind and came to take some pictures of the three of us before church on Sunday. She generously gave us a photobook & CD plus she made a small wallet-sized book of pictures for David to carry with him while he's deployed. The pictures above are just a fraction of what she took! I thought I'd share them with you.

Daddy Terms for baby stuff...

David is an absolutely amazing father! He loves this little guy so much and has jumped in with both feet. He helps with everything. I think he's changed as many or more diapers than I have. He helps with the bathing, dressing, night time feedings, etc. David's been peed on, puked on, and has done a few miles of pacing and bouncing. I am so very blessed to have such an awesome husband who is a fantastic dad. Since David has been so involved, he's made up a few of his own terms. I thought you'd enjoy hearing/seeing some of them.

Rubber sheet="tarp"
burp cloth= "drop cloth"
diaper bag=tactical back pack**

**David asked right before Wyatt was born about a diaper bag. He said if he was going to carry a diaper bag, he didn't want to carry a dorky frilly thing. I started looking for a basic black bag. David had something entirely different in mind. Instead he started looking for a tactical backpack. He got it ordered and we have our brown military backpack for Wyatt's diaper bag. That thing can carry a LOT of stuff.

Wyatt's growing!

Wyatt got checked out today and he weighed in at 10 lbs, 7 oz!! He also got an inch longer to make him 21" now! He is doing absolutely fantastic and is just perfect. Today he even smiled at us for the first time on purpose! He was in his car seat and I got close to him in preparation of taking him out. I said, "Hi sweetie!" and he grinned at me. I got excited and told David, so he came over and I repeated, "Hi Sweetie!" and Wyatt smiled AGAIN! It was so wonderful to share that together. I never knew a little person smiling at me would be so amazing.

Success! Check out the pictures...

OK, I finally figured out the Kodak thing. If you want to see some of our pictures, please click HERE!

Now that I know how to do it, I will get more uploaded to share soon. :)

We are in TX!

We are back at Ft. Hood... for the 3rd time in David's career. It's funny how David said he'd "Never go to Ft. Hood," and he discovered that "never" is about 6 months long (from when he made that declaration) and not only would he go there, he'd go there a LOT! It's warm and humid here. I am trying to adjust to it. Wyatt gets really sweaty and doesn't want to be held when he's that hot. I'm hoping the humidity will help with his baby acne. We've already connected with a few friends and it's been wonderful to see everyone! I'm excited about our friends here that we will see in the near future.

It has been a very very very busy couple of weeks for us. I will try and catch you all up and share as many pictures as possible! We started our move 2 (or is it 3?) weeks ago. We first went to Sierra Vista to drop off David's truck and to take some things for me. We also wanted to make sure Wyatt could meet his Great Grandparents. We had a very good time and a busy week. We got some great pictures of them all together and it was a fun visit. It went super fast and felt very short. We were able to get a trailer full of hay for Houdini and managed to do a pool party/bbq at Gpa & Fran's house.

From SV, we went back to Las Cruces. We spent an extra day there because we just couldn't get it all done. We stuffed the Civic full of things we need for the next 3 months (and in David's case, the next year) and pulled it behind the expedition. If it wasn't for our friends Heather & Ryan & Ashley we'd probably still be stuck in Cruces. They were absolutely life savers. Ryan helped David in stuffing things into the car (they used every crevice available) while Heather & Ashley helped pack my bags. Wyatt was not feeling good the day I had planned to pack & I wasn't getting nearly enough done. Everything I had packed previously needed to be re-packed into smaller bags. You know you have good friends when they are packing all your clothes... ALL of the clothes. We finally got out of Cruces and headed North.

Yes, I said North. We took the very long way to Texas. We came to Ft. Hood via Colorado Springs! Before we got to the Springs, we stopped in Albuquerque. We saw David's aunt & uncle (who got completely mushy over Wyatt--so adorable). They fed us some very yummy BBQ and I got to nap on their couch. It was a perfect break for all of us--including the dogs who played in the back yard! From there, we went to meet the Welch's who are childhood friend's of David's. It was a short visit as we were all tired and had to keep going up I-25. We spent two nights in Santa Fe to have some time for just the three of us! We spent the day in the mountains and just cruising around SF. The new train station is VERY cool!

From SF we headed up to Colorado Springs! We were there for a week and so much happened that it needs to be another post. Wyatt met his grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins. We went to Garden of the Gods, saw Uncle Robert retire, had family pictures, visited friends stationed at Carson, explored Co Springs... and more! I took a ton of pictures & you can see them as soon as I figure out the Kodak gallery thingy.

After a week in Colorado, David drove to Killeen (15.5 hours) while Wyatt & I hung out for an extra day. We flew in last night. Today we have already connected with old friends and I'm excited about more friends we will see soon!

I have a lot to do once David goes to work next week: Wyatt's birth announcements, catch up the baby book, write my thank you notes (my sincerest appologies for not having those out to all of you yet) and get us all unpacked! I'm looking forward to cooking again--we've eaten out enough!!