Happy 4th Birthday, Jacob!!

Wow! I can't believe another birthday has already come and gone! It seems just a little while ago that he was born. Amazing how time flies! I decided I should post some pictures of him from when he was first born. Here he is:

First Family Pic 2/23/04

Great Grandpa & Grandma Baker's first look. (Had to share this picture...G'pa Baker isn't with us anymore so this is very special to me. Wanted him to be alive for when my first baby was born and also have him stand in on baby blessing. I'm so grateful that he was!)

Funny face! Had to share! Too funny not to!! HEHEHE

Anyways, he had a good birthday, yesterday. We celebrated at Burger King. It's so nice to have it somewhere other than my house--someone else gets to clean up the mess! ;P We had Dirt Cake with worms. Upon seeing the worms going on the cake, Jake said "Eww...I don't yike (like) worms." LOL I told him these are the kind we can eat and are good. Upon trying them he agreed! He liked his dirt cake and thought it was cool that we were able to eat it. His friends kept calling it 'mud' cake. He made out really well with his gifts. From Jon, Aleigha and I he got a new Geo-Trak Train and tracks. From Grandma Judy a new tower for his Geo-Trak train set. Grammie and Papa gave him some disney books with picture projector and music player (Loves it!). Garrett gave him a transformer (still figuring it out but likes that it changes from a guy to a car). Blake and Alex gave him some Cars stuff that included stickers, magnets and a Doc car (loves it!). He also got some new activity books and 2 new puzzles. Thank you everyone who came to his party and thanks for all the goodies! He truly loves them!

Jake & Garrett playing with their goodies.

Blake & Aleigha playing in the tunnels.

Playing with Alex.

Too cute!!

Aleigha loving her 'dunk-dunk'! She would get so mad when I took it away!

hehe Too funny!

Cheesey smile & gift from Grammie & Papa!

Playing with his new train, tracks, & tower! Choo-Choo!!

Updates

Well, I've been meaning to update for a while now, but I haven't done it til now. Things have been pretty much the same, other than the fact I have a HORENDOUS head cold! YUCK! Kids are growing like weeds. They are so funny! Aleigha will, on occasion, come up to you and pretend to tickle you! She goes, "Tittle-tittle" and moves her fingers like she is tickling you. Hahaha! It's SO cute when she does this. And it is when you least expect it. Also, she is our yeller! It's amazing that such a loud voice comes out of such a tiny body! And, man, is she loud! She has definately made her presence known! If brother is doing something she doesn't like she lets him know, or if she is happy about something she will let us know! She is just L-O-U-D! Jon says that she is loud like Amanda was. She must have given Aleigha pointers on what would completely BUG 'Uncle Jon' before Aleigha was born. If she did, it's working!! :P Oh, anther thing about Aleigha, she is our Na-Kid! She LOVES being naked!!!!! It's very rare to find her clothed when I go in to get her when she wakes up in the morning. And, she likes to get undressed whenever possible! She will be clothed one second and then the next I will here from Jake yelling "Mom, Aleigha's diaper is off" or "Aleigha is taking her shirt off", Something like that. LOL She is quite the girl! Definately keeps us on our toes!

Jake is thoroughly excited for his birthday! Each morning he wakes up and asks if we can go to his birthday party. LOL I just have to tell him, "It's not your birthday yet. Another X days." He is so fun! Drives me crazy, but I love him!

About 2 weeks ago, I went outside with the kids and took some pictures of them playing in the snow. Jake had SOO much fun! Aleigha, on the other hand, didn't quite know what to make of all this cold stuff. She didn't like to be right out in the deep stuff, but stuck with the sidewalk. She would walk from the back steps to the fence and back. It was fun seeing them play. But, man, I am SOO ready for Spring!

This weekend we are working on getting things cleaned up and organized. We are planning on having a HUGE yard sale in the spring and are really trying to get things cleaned up. Also, we are trying to get things ready for if/when Krysten comes to live with us starting this summer. We have 4 months till she should be here. So, we have a LOT to do before then. Especially, since her room we are planning on putting her in is completely STUFFED to the gills of storage crap! We are still in the unknown stage of whether or not we will actually be able to adopt her, but we are getting ready none-the-less. We are just praying that everything will work out for her. She is such a sweet girl and deserves a mom and dad who will love her and give her the things she needs and deserves.

Anyways, that about it. Love you all!

Kreanna

Fun in the Snow

More Fun...

Our Naked Girl!!

*sigh*

It is so hard telling someone you love that you are not comfortable with their lifestyle choices. I have been battling with this for sometime now, and finally felt that I was ready to make my feelings clear. I guess I shouldn't say "ready". I never feel ready for this kind of thing, no matter how long I think and pray about what I should or should not say. I always have this underlying feeling that I will be rejected no matter what I say. I also knew that I HAD to say something because if I didn't I would be lying to myself as well as my Heavenly Father. During this process of trying to sort out my feelings, I reflected on my own inner demons and past experiences. This sort of lifestyle used to not bother me...in fact, I was interested in it. However, now I know that this is not the path that leads to righteousness. It is a path that leads to pain and destruction. This is exactly where Lucifer wants us to be. We may not even see it as being wrong. He slowly skews our perceptions and makes us think that what we are doing is ok. He slowly changes our moral compass so that instead of leading us down that straight and narrow path, we are wandering in utter darkness. It is amazing how subtle he is. If you stray just a little, he will continue to steer you clear of your first intended path. I look back on what my life used to be like and I wonder where I would be if I would not have listened to the subtle prompting of the Holy Ghost. I have changed so much. I am much happier and I know that I am striving to hang on to that iron rod that leads back to Him. I am greatful for the knowledge I have of the Savior and his sacrifice for me. Without Him where would we be? He made it possible for us to repent of our sins to return to live with Him and our Father in Heaven. What a wonderful gift! I am greatful for being able to recognize the subtle promptings of the Holy Ghost. I know that he has helped me along this path. I am greatful for the many positive examples that uplift me continually. Without them my bucket would be VERY empty! I am grateful that I had this opportunity to share my true feelings and testimony, with this loved one, about their current lifestyle. I still love them and am SO grateful that they are a part of my life! They have many positive attributes...it just saddens me to see what they are choosing to do with them. I hope and pray that they will try to understand where I am coming from and I pray that I will continue to be the example Heavenly Father wants me to be.

Bug

Poor Buggie! Just yesterday I had to take him in to see the Vet for an emergency. He was acting so unlike himself...yowling out in pain whenever he was picked up and moved around. Was not really going anywhere except under my bed, and very anti-social--even for Bug. I called Jon and mentioned to him what was going on (this was before I knew about him yowling out in pain when moved). He suggested I call the vet and see if he should be seen. Well, I told Jon I would really like to wait one more day to see if he would improve and thus the phone call ended. So, I then went on with me afternoon. As I was unloading the dishes I kept getting this prompting that I needed to get Bug out from under my bed. I knew it was going to be a task (my bed is HUGE! And quite literally impossible to move by myself), never-the-less, I went about to it. I prayed for guideance and prayed that Bug would cooperate (i.e. not bite/scratch/mawl/ect me). After about 15 minutes of laying flat on my stomach and reaching and prodding and pulling (quite literally pulling on Bug's tail) I succeeded! Bug was out! We proceeded into my bathroom--didn't want him to go back under the bed--and I petted him and tried to see what was wrong. That was when I realized that he was in pain and discomfort. I left him shut up in the bathroom and called the vet. Thankfully he was able to be seen ASAP! The vet said that he had a blocked urinary track and that he needed to be put on IV fluids as he was majorly dehydrated. They got the IV in and then knocked him out. While he was out, the vet proceeded to hand me a towel with the words "Here. You're going to need this." and then he went about to unblocking my poor Bug. He had to use a catheter which mad it possible to dislodge the granules blocking urine flow. Let me tell ya, I was VERY glad I had that towel! I had to catch the flow that was let loose. Thankfully it was only pink and NOT red. If it was red that was a good indicator of kidney failure. So, I was relieved that we at least knew his kidneys were ok. Anyways, the vet kept him over night for observation and to make sure there wasn't another blockage in the morning. Everything went well--no blockages and he was up eating and drinking. He was able to come home! WOOHOO! Poor Buggie! He is currently residing in our bathroom until he can get control over his leak problem. He is in good spirits but is DEFINATELY ready to get out of that bathroom!! I am glad that we caught this problem when we did! We love you Buggie!!

The Patient