WHERE HAVE I BEEN YOU ASK??

Yes! I have not blogged in forever. We have had a busy few weeks and so much has happened. A few weeks ago we went to Lubbock for a 2 day visit to take our teen Lauren and her parents to visit AIM. Lauren will be in the 2008 class! Our trip was short but sweet and we had a great time visiting family and AIM friends! The day after we came home from Lubbock we had Homecoming at our church Watters Road. This was a weekend of worship, fellowship and lots of singing. It was so neat to meet people who were previous members of the church and hear their stories. When the weekend was over we were exhausted but pressed on because the next weekend, Feb. 29th and Mar. 1st was the highly anticipated youth ralley "SOUL LINK". This is held in North Houston and has many speakers including David Fraze who come out to share God's word with our teens. We were super excited about this weekend because we were able to hang out with our good friends Paul and Melanie who are youth ministers in Georgetown, Texas. The weekend was awesome and there were so many teens who attended. We actually think it would be a good place for some AIMers to visit because all of the colleges were their representing what they have to offer. While the teens were in class and Paul and Guy were talking it up, Melanie and I took our kiddos to play at a playground. We really enjoyed being around each other because we both have recently moved to work at new churches and we are both missing just being around people who "really" know us! It was such a blessing to spend the weekend visiting with her! We love you guys.

Here is a pic of Melanie's son Kason and Aspen

So, on to the past few days. Since we left Lubbock Aspen has not been sleeping. Well, she goes to sleep and then at 2:30 wakes up to stay awake for several hours. Now, we are sleep deprived parents and are usually pretty patient people but after 8 days of this I was about to go crazy and so the last night she did this I thought she was throwing a fit and I disciplined her. Well, Weds. we had her 15 month Dr. appt. to get her shots. When we get there she is totally upset and crying hysterically. I tell the Dr. that she isn't sleeping and I am about to go crazy and then he looks in her ears and says, "OHH She has a really bad ear infection IN BOTH EARS". He proceeds to tell me that she is probably not sleeping because it hurts. Well, naturally I feel like the worst mom ever for being upset with her and then of course the Dr. tells me she is cutting molars which is painful. So, after hearing all of this then he gives Aspen two shots that make her even more miserable. So, to say the least Aspen has been running fever since Weds. and is just as sweet as can be for a kid that really doesn't feel well! What is the lesson in this? I am not sure...I just wish babies could tell us how they feel! Oh her stats at her appt. were:

Weight - 21 lbs.
Height - 30 inches
Head - BIG(kidding it is just above the middle range)
Teeth - 4 in front, two on bottom, and 3 others coming in.

Walking- still only with us holding a hand. She will walk by herself occasionally but does not do it regularly

Words - LIGHT(loves to point these out), Nanny, Daddy, Ba(ball), BaBa(milk), NO NO(LOVES THIS ONE), Duck, Puppy, EYE, NOS(nose, or in Russian she actually says it right), book, BYE BYE, HEY, MIMI, LALA(Lauren), Baby(every kid but her)

Oh but the best is when we tell her to blow a kiss and instead of kissing her hand she licks it and then after that makes a kissing sound. Very gross but cute!