Going Out with a Bang

Well, I aptly named this blog "going out with a bang" because that's exactly what July has been for us. We've had a lot of fun this month, but with the the knowledge in the back of our minds that this would be Kyle's last month around before heading to Afghanistan.

We enjoyed the remainder of his block leave that lasted until July 11th and even though he went back to work then he's had short days and long weekends so we've soaked up as much family time as possible. Kyle heads off to Afghanistan sometime next week (can't give out specifics due to keeping with Army security standards) and I'm loathing the day he has to go. We're doing our best to stay positive and to focus on that each day he's gone is a day closer to him coming home. It's been very hard for him to fathom leaving me and especially the kids behind, knowing how much they'll grow and change each year. While I'm grappling with the knowledge that I'll be a single parent of 2 for the next year. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right? We know how lucky we've been having Kyle home for the past 3 and half years, but this deployment is a new experience for us having kids this time around. We're both so appreciative to all our friends and family for offering support, coming to visit, and just simply keeping us in their thoughts and prayers. We're really going to need you all during this next year. I know many of will want Kyle's address and we're working on getting an accurate one asap and then I will email it out. He believes he'll have some internet and phone access overseas so he will at least be available via email sporadically at paradigmshiftbrewing@gmail.com. I will also do my best to send out updates via the blog or email on how he's doing, things he wants/needs in packages, and just general updates throughout his tour of duty. We're so proud of Kyle and what he does for our country and we KNOW that he'll be coming home to us safely in just a few short (12...ugh) months.

In more positive news, our kids are great! Greyson is ridiculously verbal and speaks in sentences all day long. He learns at least 10 new words a day and commits them to memory. He has an incredible memory overall - if we go to a place we've been before he remembers and can tell you what we did last time we were there. He's also working on counting, his ABCs, colors, and shapes. Peyton is growing like a weed. She's now 6 and half weeks old and has got to be weighing in around 11 pounds and she was 22 inches tall at her 4 week appointment. She's eating plenty, pooping a lot, and sleeping quite nicely. We had one night of sleeping all through the night (ahhhh), but most nights she goes down around 10pm, wakes up to eat around 5am, and then goes back to sleep until 9-10am. We truly can't complain. She's starting to "almost smile" and is working on holding her head up more and more each day. Can't believe how quickly 6 weeks have flown by. I'm thankful that I'll have my two munchkins to keep me plenty busy while Kyle is away - granted I may be a bit stressed, exhausted, and want to pull my hair out at times...but they sure are cute and fill my heart with love and joy even when I'm feeling blue that Kyle is away.

Go check out our July picture link on the left to see the fun we had over the 4th with my Mom and Mike in town and all the family fun we had this month. Also enjoy looking at the family portraits we had done here in Colorado Springs over leave. We used a great photographer (www.charlottegeary.com) who took gorgeous shots of our family that we will treasure always.

Sorry my blog updates have been less frequent, but time with Kyle has been our focus this month. I'm sure once he's deployed I'll be a bit more on top of things - who am I kidding? I'll be flying solo with 2 kids and completely busy...but I promise to TRY to be better. Lots of love to you all and please keep Kyle in your prayers as he serves our great nation.

~K,L,G,and P

The G and P Update

Well, I think this picture of Kyle sums up what the past few weeks have been like for us.


Life sure is busy with 2 kiddos, but we're having so much fun everyday! Greyson continues to be an amazing big brother who is always willing to help out around the house and is always quick to tell Peyton, "It's ok P-nut" when she starts to cry...adorable! He has shown no signs of resentment of her and is learning to deal with that it may take Mom or Dad a minute or two longer to tend to his needs now that there's a newborn around the house.

Peyton is growing and doing so well. She's your typical newborn - she loves to eat, sleep and poop. At her 2 week check up she was back up to 8 lbs 7 ounces (she dropped to 8 lbs 1 ounce after birth - normal and common for bigger babies) and she's developing just perfectly. She gets up twice a night....around midnight and 3am...I take the midnight shift and nurse her and K gets up with her and does a bottle of formula for the 3am feeding. That way we're both getting a decent amount of sleep and it's great that P is willing to take either source of food. LOVE not having a picky eater. She's our gorgeous baby girl and pretty laid back - thus far.

I also realized I never gave the back story on her name. We picked Peyton simply because we liked it and it goes well with Greyson. Plus, we all know you need a strong first name to stand up to our somewhat challenging last name. We decided on Jo for her middle name in honor of both of our moms. My mom is Joanne and Kyle's mom is Joyce so it was a nice way to honor the 2 ladies that brought us into this world to meet, fall in love, and create 2 amazing kiddos together.

Here's a few videos of things we've been up to. I'm not quite mentally alert enough to give you a full written play by play of this months activities, but between the pictures (linked on the left) and the movies (below) you can see all the fun we've been having. Including events like going to the circus, Kyle's Battalion Ball, Greyson's first trip to the movies to see Toy Story 3 in 3D, and simply having fun and hanging out outside during the gorgeous Colorado summer. Enjoy and happy summertime to all of you! I'm making this short to go spend today (my birthday..the big 28) with my family and a looking forward to a date night with my hubby thanks to the grandparents babysitting...yahoo!

G holding his little sister


Greyson sings to Peyton and plays on her activity mat with her


G's Deep Thoughts From the Sandbox


G the Future Aviator


Lots of Love,
K, L, G, & P

Brother and Sister

GREYSON











PEYTON













After Peyton was born we definitely immediately noticed the resemblance between her and her big brother. Here's birth pictures from both and WOW, you can definitely tell they are cut from the same cloth.

Can't wait to see how they look alike and differ as they grow.

She's Here!!!!!

Peyton Jo Hackbarth arrived on Sunday, June 13th at 6:31pm at Evans Army Community Hospital on Fort Carson in Colorado. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 14 ounces and is 21 inches long. Both myself and our little princess are doing so well and just got home today.

Go check out the photo link (on the left) for all the pictures of Peyton's arrival!

I'll update again soon with all the details, but frankly I'm too tired at this moment to do so.

Lots of Love,
K, L, G, and P




P.S. This will now become our new blog titled "Greyson and Peyton's Life" and the web address will be www.greysonandpeytonslife.blogspot.com

Baby Girl Update

Well, yesterday was my 38 week check up and I'm already dilated to 3cm. So, clearly my body is starting the process of our little lady's arrival. They said that makes me a great candidate for induction and went ahead and scheduled it for when I'm 39 weeks on Tuesday, June 15th. My mid-wife did mention she wouldn't be surprised to find out she decided to arrive before than. So, basically we're sitting on pins and needles and over analyzing every little "sign" my body is giving me that she will be coming soon. Crazy to think that in less than a week we'll be meeting our little girl!

Stay tuned to the blog and your email as we'll send out any updates that way as soon as something occurs. Also, yes, we have named her (and some are in the know) but we're not going public with that information until her arrival....gotta keep a little element of surprise.

Looking forward to sharing the news of our little girl's birth with you all SOON!

Springtime Fun in CO

May has been a busy and fun month for our family. First, we have to say how happy we are to actually have a spring season again. After spending the last 5 years in Oklahoma and Tennessee where it just suddenly switches from winter to summer we're loving the gorgeous spring season. Plus, we are heaven having NO humidity! Yesterday it hit the upper 80's, but with no humidity and a light breeze coming off the mountains it was still absolutely gorgeous! Such a joy to be back in the North again. Just one of the many reasons we're loving our new home here in Colorado.

Kyle got back from JRTC at the end of April so May has been all about family fun! We have enjoyed our weekends together with going to the park, running errands, going out to eat, and all and all enjoying family time. The great weather has allowed us to get outside as much as possible and we even got G his very first big boy bike. Decided to spoil him a bit with his little sister's arrival coming soon. He was so excited to pick out his bike and helmet at the store - so much so that he requested to wear the helmet the entire time we were shopping. Here he is in action on the street, and by action I mean he mostly just sits on it....we're working on the peddling.


He has also finally gotten up the courage to "drive" his Power Wheels F150 truck all on his own that Poppy and Nonny got him for his 2nd birthday. He loves to press the peddle and go cruising down our street and he's working on the steering. Thankfully we have pretty smooth curbs in our neighborhood that allow him to drive up on them. He's a bit of a crazy driver, but he sure does have fun! Check him out:


We also have spent a lot of time at parks around town. One we love is America the Beautiful Park in downtown Colorado Springs. We headed there the other week and Greyson had so much fun "playing slide" and even made some friends.


Greyson finished his school year at his Mom's Morning Out a few weeks ago and had a fun "graduation" party. His teachers are wonderful and he has gained so much through the program. He does amazing art projects, learns new concepts, and has made some great buddies. He will be participating in the their summer program for the last 3 weeks of June and then has 3 weeks off (good time to bond with little sister) and then will head back for 3 more weeks in July before having August off and starting back up for the next school year in September. Developmentally, especially in the language department, Greyson is thriving. He is quite the talker and uses simple sentences to communicate throughout the day. He's constantly observing all that is going on around him and has an amazing memory. If he's been somewhere once he remembers it when he sees it and can tell you about what happened when he was there. He also has a love of music and has some favorite songs that he likes to hear on the radio. He loves "GaGa" and the "Hey Sister" song by train. He also has memorized some favorite kid's songs and likes to sing "Wheels on the Bus", "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", and "Rock-a-bye Baby". He's getting more and more excited about the arrival of his little sister and tells us all the things he's going to do for her and show her. He says he can't wait to show her how he eats big boy food and to show her all his favorite shows like Baby Einstein and Toy Story. We're in awe of our amazing little boy and our really enjoying our final bit of time of just having an only child before we're a family of 4.

Speaking of our little girl, the pregnancy is moving along nicely. I'm about 36.5 weeks along and look like I swallowed a beach ball......see what I mean:


Our not so little girl is still measuring in the 90th percentile and they will make the official call on if we'll schedule an early induction when I go back for a checkup at 38 weeks. Think they will go with that so I'll be induced around June 15th or hopefully she'll decided to come on her own on or before then. Everything is set and ready for her arrival and we just can't wait to see our little lady. Kyle's parents are now living in town (they'll be "snow-birding" here for 6 months to get away from the hot FL summer and to help us out) so they are "on call" to come watch G when the times comes for Kyle and I to head to the hospital for her arrival. We will spread the word as soon as their is news to report and will do our best to get pictures posted as soon as we can after she comes into this world. I will be keeping this blog, just renaming it a bit, to have it work for both kiddos. So, that way you can continue to keep tabs on what's happening with our entire family.

Well, off to rest a bit while G is taking his nap. I have to take advantage of the down time to keep my energy up to keep up with him for the rest of the day. Happy Memorial Day weekend to all of you and remember all our current and past service members for the sacrifices they make serving our great country.

Lots of Love,
K, L, and G

P.S. Don't forget to check out the May 2010 picture link on the left - lots of great ones of all the fun we're having!

Mid-Month Update

First, wanted to share a cute video of a conversation I had with Greyson the other day while he played with his sand table. This is a great example of the conversations I have with him all day and everyday. He's so verbal and always wanting to share what he's learning or experiences. Enjoy him and all his cuteness.



Also, a little baby #2 update. Had an ultrasound today and she looks healthy as can be. We also got additional visual confirmation that it is most definitely a girl. Phew - Kyle was worried he may have to repaint her room. By the way, here is a pic of her nursery - not completely done but almost.



Back to the ultrasound results, the other main purpose of this ultrasound was to see roughly how big she was measuring due to my history of having large babies (G was 9 lbs. 6 ounces). Well folks, she seems to be following in her big brother's footsteps with being a big baby. Today she measured in around 7 lbs and typically babies at 35 weeks measure at 5 lbs. So, we'll see what the doctor has to say next week about possibly scheduling an induction a bit early due to her size. Now I really feel like a ticking time bomb knowing that she could come at any time now. Here's a pic of me today at a little over 35 weeks.....looks like I swallowed a beach ball.



We'll keep you all posted!

Lots of Love,
K, L, and G