Greyson's Two!

Well, folks it's official. Greyson is now a big 2 year old! He had a FABULOUS birthday! Thankfully Kyle was off on the day due to the moving leave his unit granted him so we spent the day as a family. He woke up to come downstairs to see a mountain of birthday presents. Nonny and Poppy (my Dad and Robyne) got him a Power Wheels F150 truck so we set that up in the living room and loaded it up with all his gifts. He was so excited when he saw it all! He loves his doctor kit from Auntie Lisa (Lala) and is quite obsessed with the play cash register and the Thomas the train set we got him. We spent the morning at the playgroup we go to every Friday on Fort Carson. He loves going there to interact with other kids and loves that for the last half hour we sing songs and dance. His favorite is called "We are the Dinosaurs" and we get to march in a circle and pretend to eat and sleep like dinos - he's a riot during it! Then we headed to Lil Biggs (similar to a Chuck-E-Cheese but geared for little ones) that evening with our friends, the Brown family, and Greyson had a blast playing games, running around, eating pizza and blowing out the candles on his cake. See the video below of the fun time we had. Overall, it was a great birthday for him and I'm so thankful we got to spend it to together as a family as we know that sadly Kyle will be overseas during his birthday next year.

Speaking of Kyle's work - he went from enjoying his 10 days of moving leave off at home with us to being thrown into the deep end with his unit on a week long field problem. Kyle left last Tuesday and has been out on Fort Carson running missions, calling for fire, and preparing for their JRTC rotation that is coming up in April. Thankfully he has his cell so I'm able to hear from him once or twice a day. He seems to be enjoying his work and sounds like he's doing a great job mentoring his guys he's in charge of - no surprise there, he's a natural leader. He's been working long hours and outside a lot, so most days he's quite exhausted. Sadly the exhaustion isn't ending just yet. He will come home on Tuesday, but then goes back into the field for Thursday night to do a 22 mile ruck march back in on Friday morning. Sounds torturous to me and I know Kyle is dreading it. Thankfully after that he'll have more of a 9-5, actually with the Army it's more like 5-5, schedule for the rest of March before he leaves for all of April. This has definitely been a wake up call to me as to what to expect in the next 6 months. It can be a challenge to be a temporary single mom, but Greyson has been wonderful and we do our best to keep busy to make the time go by faster.

Baby girl keeps growing and kicking away inside me everyday. I've definitely popped out more and know that my belly will only keep growing for these next 4 months. We've made headway on her nursery and hope that by next month's update we'll be able to show you some pictures of were we're at with her room. We're doing a pink and brown theme and have all the nursery furniture ready to put together and set up - a big thanks to my Mom for that. She's already spoiling her first granddaughter. I'm guessing she's going to be quite the princess amongst both of our families.

That's all for now. Wishing you all the best and enjoy the February pictures (linked on the left) and the videos below.

XOXO-
K, L and G

Happy 2nd Birthday Greyson!

Here's our tribute to our amazing 2 year old boy on his special day! Wishing you a wonderful birthday and wonderful year ahead, Greyson. Mommy and Daddy love you with all our heart!

We're a Colorado Family

We've finally arrived in Colorado Springs and are LOVING it! After a fun 10 hour drive and oh the joy of lots of unpacking and boxes we're finally starting to settle into our new home and new town. A HUGE thank you to Kyle's parents for helping us drive out here and giving Grey lots of attention so Mom and Dad could unpack boxes and get settled. They truly are saints for helping us move, not once, but twice in a year. I promise, no more moving for at least a few more years.

Colorado is beyond gorgeous and we love being around so much to do - a big step up from Lawton, Oklahoma. Our rental house is working out perfectly for us. We rented it without ever seeing it with our own two eyes which was a bit scary, but it worked out perfectly. Kyle signed in at Ft. Carson today and will be inprocessing for the next few days to get all signed in and know his way around post then he will be given his 10 days TDY leave to give us some more time to get settled and take care of some more business. He found out he will be the FSO (fire support officer) of A battery of 1-22 Infantry which is part of 1st brigade 4th ID. Yes, I know that sounds like a foreign language and even now going on being an Army wife for 6 years I still am never quite sure what it all means. He's looking forward to getting to know the guys he'll be in charge of and his fellow officers he'll be working with. This is all brand new - being on the other side of the fence - so Kyle is just trying to learn everything he can from those around him.

Greyson will be 2 in just 15 short days - we can't believe it! He's incredibly verbal and uses multiple new words everyday. He's a sponge - he hears a word one time and then adds it to his vocabulary. He's even starting to string together some basic sentences. Some of his favorites are, "I got it" and "I fix it" and he does a very dramatic and very cute, "Oh no!" He's also found a new obsession with the movie "The Polar Express" - which he calls "Santa Choo-choo". He would watch it multiple times a day if we allowed it so we have to dose it out in segments every now and then. He loves living in our new house with 2 full flights of stairs. He's really great at climbing up them like a bear and then sliding down them on his tummy or even walking down on his feet holding the wall. Birthday gifts have already started flooding in from his adoring grandparents. Grandpa Mike and Grandma Joannie sent him a 50's diner kitchen/booth that he LOVES. I hope it's a sign he'll follow in his father's footsteps of excellent culinary skills. Pop Pop and JoJo got him a wagon for two and cool new table with umbrella that for right now we're using for activities in the basement, but we'll move it to the backyard once spring arrives. He's spoiled rotten!

Baby girl continues to grow and develop just as she should. I'm 20 weeks pregnant now, so officially half way. Went to my first OB appointment here today and found out that based on my ultrasound that they did right before we moved at 18 weeks that she's already weighing in at the 97th percentile. Apparently Kyle and I make big babies. Good news is they are tracking it and will continue to monitor her size as I progress through the pregnancy. If she seems to be a big gal than c-section is an option, but I'm hoping to avoid that if possible. FYI now that we know gender we are brainstorming name ideas and have a few favorites, but nothing official. We'll keep you posted.

Enjoy the videos down below from right before we moved. We took Greyson on his first bowling outing and he had some fun with all the boxes around the house. Also, check out the January 2010 picture link to the left to see pictures of our new house and some of our early adventures here in the Rocky Mountains....many more to come.

Lots of Love,
K, L and G

For Baby #2 - It's a......

We're thrilled to officially announce that after one frustratingly unclear ultrasound followed by another one that was clear as day...That Greyson will be getting a little sister come June! We're beyond thrilled to now know we'll have both a boy and girl and the grandparents can't wait to spoil this little princess. She's the first grand-daughter on both sides and she's grandchild #10 on the Hackbarth side - it's about time! So after we're moved and settled we'll be heading out shopping for all those adorable little girl clothes.

Here's some pictures of the most recent ultrasound - technology is truly incredible.

Moving Time

Well folks, in just 7 short days we'll be on our way to Colorado Springs to settle in to our new home. We're SO excited to get there and experience the many things that Colorado has to offer, granted it's a lot more options than Oklahoma. In short our view is going from.....

Boring Oklahoma plains alongside our small town of Lawton...


To GORGEOUS mountain views with a REAL city full of everything one could ask for!


So, watch out Colorado....here we come!

No Place Like Home for the Holidays

December has been whirlwind of holiday festivities, Kyle's officer basic course graduation, and traveling to Chicago for Christmas. At the beginning of the month we introduced celebrating Hanukkah to Greyson. He loved lighting the menorah every night, even though he tried to blow out the candles with all his might. He had so much fun receiving a small gift and getting to eat tasty Jewish treats like latkes and brisket. Then on December 18th, Kyle's 28th birthday, he graduated from field artillery officer basic course. I'm so proud to share that Kyle graduated #1 in his class out of a 120, earning him the title of Distinguished Honor Grad. He was honored individually at the ceremony and here is a brief clip of him receiving a framed print in recognition of his accomplishment. Check out the December pictures to see more of him looking spiffy in his fancy uniform on his big day.


Then a few days later we packed up our stuff and headed to the airport to fly to Chicago for Christmas in the Windy City. We had a fabulous time seeing both my family in Glenview and Elmhurst and Kyle's family in Kenosha. We enjoyed a visit to the Kohl's Children's Museum, eating all sorts of tasty Chicago treats (Portillo's and Lou Malnati's), and lots of time with family and friends. Greyson was spoiled by Santa with TONS of gifts - a few of his favorites are his Elmo Live, Rocky the Raccoon the giant pillow, some super cute clothes, and a mini-shopping cart and play food. Greyson also got his first taste of real snow - he had a blast walking around it, going for a ride in his sled, and knocking the snow off the tree branches. Kyle and I enjoyed some time to ourselves while Grandma Joannie and Grandpa Mike babysat. We got to finally see "The Blind Side" and have a lunch out and enjoyed a special night in the city as a belated birthday gift for Kyle. We checked out the Map Room, home to many fine Belgian beers on tap for Kyle's delight and then headed to dinner at Topolobompa, Chef Rick Bayless' (winner of Top Chef Masters) fine dining restaurant. There we had one of the greatest meals of a our lives and even got to the meet the chef. As I've told people, most men dream of meeting their favorite NFL player, but for Kyle meeting Rick Bayless was a dream come true. Now he's inspired to use the many Rick Bayless cookbooks he got to make some tasty Mexican delicacies for us at home.

We returned home to Oklahoma a few days ago and plan on laying low over the New Year's weekend. We're also now in the home stretch of gearing up for our move to Colorado Springs. Kyle has two weeks left of training for J.F.O. (joint fires observer), where he will learn to communicate with the Air Force to drop precision guided munitions. Then we will be getting packed and loaded up and hitting the road to Colorado. We're excited for a fresh start, but dreading the stress and headaches that come along with moving. Doesn't it seem like we just did this? Oh yeah, that's right we did - 6 months ago. Crazy!

Hope you all had a fabulous time over the holidays with all the ones you love and wishing you all that you hope and dream for in 2010!

Love,
K, L, and G

P.S. Enjoy the many fun pictures from December on the left and check out the videos below. G shows off his dance moves, sleds in the snow, and feeds Nonny and Poppy's dog Kali.

Happy Hanukkah

Here's a little video of Greyson's first Hanukkah - as expected he REALLY wanted to blow out the candles, but we did keep him from doing so. Good news is he's going to do a great job blowing out the candles at his next birthday.