August 2008

Summer is quickly, and thankfully, coming to a close here in the Tegerdine home. Now I won't have to listen to choruses of "I'm bored" any longer. Grace starts school mid-August and London will be starting pre-school early September. Three mornings a week it will be just me and the boys...I guess I'll have to brush up on my Lego skills. London and Joseph have been busy working on their newly aquired swimming skills (thanks to Daddy who has the patience to teach them) and both Grace and London will be starting gymnastics. I realized while dressing Langston (who sleeps through the night and has since he was just over 2 weeks old) that he is wearing the same clothes at 2 months that Joseph was wearing at 5 months. I guess my "little" son is not that "little" afterall. In any case, he's a sweet baby and a great sleeper. Now if I can just get him to be put down while awake...

Visitors have been plentiful for us this summer so that has helped the summer boredom blues. My Mom and Doug were big hits because they left behind a great rocking chair (my first rocking chair) and a love of Harry Potter. Joe's mom, Debbie, was a great hit because she swam with the kids each day and read them fairytales each night, our cousin Cristianne was great for me because she's just a great, easygoing friend, and our old babysitter, Morgan, from Niceville gave all the boys in our ward something new to oogle over. Of course, I'm still missing my sister Kameron's constant cooking, cleaning and pleas for me to take a nap, but I guess I'll have to have another baby for her to do that again. All in all, we enjoyed a good summer in the deep south.

Whew...

Langston is fitting right in to the family groove. He is a pretty good sleeper, but does not like to be put down. Kerry just bought one of those "Mobey Wraps" and loves it (so does Langston). He will stay tucked in there all day cuddling close to mom.

The last two weeks flashed before our eyes. Two weeks ago, my mom came into town to help with the kids which was great. We all enjoyed her visit, but I wasn't home much. I had meetings in Fortworth one day, then spent the end of the week and weekend in Taiwan. When I came back I had to entertain customers who came to town for our new office open house... golf and deep sea fishing were the highlights.

We are excited for this coming week because we have no major events scheduled. Grace is already bored with summer and is looking forward to starting school. London is excited to be starting school in the fall. Kerry is getting the travel bug again and is starting to make a list of suggested places for a family vacation. We are hoping Langston like the car better than his siblings did. They all screamed if they were in the car for more than 10 minutes.

Baby Langston Has Arrived

Langston Spears was born 5/28 at 10:30am, weighing in at 8lbs 1oz and 20 inches tall.

He is a good baby. Kerry is amazing, I think he was a 3 pusher. Both mom and baby are home and doing well. We are all very excited to have him to complete our family. The kids love him and Joseph refers to Langston by name when he is not crying, and by "momma's baby" when he is crying.

In other news, I shot myself with a nail gun on memorial day. The 4.5" nail penetrated about 1.5"s into my ankle. I had to use both hands to yank it out and was given a powerful antibiotic in case of infection. Well... I had a bad reaction to the medicine and had to go back in for a steriod shot. We are hoping the pain in my hands and arms goes away. Scary stuff, but I am still angry I forgot to get a picture of the nail in my leg... it would have made it all worth it.

Waiting and Working

Our unnamed child has still not arrived and Kerry is reaching new heights of discomfort. It does not help that the weather has been in the 90's with 70% humidity. I set-up our redneck pool in the backyard (you know the Intex pools from Sam's Club, 4' deep, 16' diameter), but since the nights don't drop below 70 the water is already less than refreshing. 
I have been working on project after project around the house to satisfy Kerry's feverish nesting instincts. I must say, the paint, new furniture, new hardware, etc. etc. looks really nice, but the fence I put up around the back half of our .7 acre lot is quite impressive. I think I've lost 30 pounds of water weight, sweating it out in the hot sun. I miss the old "pool boy" days when Kerry would let me do my chores in my Speedo. Slightly dangerous with the power tools, but so much more comfortable. I am joking!
Grace asked Kerry at dinner tonight, "Mom, will you let Daddy not have to work so much so we can go fishing?" Blessed child, blessed child. I still have a lot left to get done before the house is exactly the way "we" want it, but I will let Grace and the other kids keep on thinking that Kerry is cracking a whip... it will get me more sympathy later, which usually equates with the children being better behaved and more obedient. They generally will not tell me "no" if they have seen me working so hard for Mom all day.
Our neighbor just returned from Iraq this past week. He is retired military and is now doing contract work. He had quite a few stories to tell and said the death and carnage is horrible. He told me some of his experiences with working with the local Iraqi's and the suffering and violence they are being subjected to by foreign fighters (Iranians, Syrians, Jordanians, etc.). It makes me very thankful for the comfort and peace we have here.
I have not had to travel for work recently and have enjoyed the time at home. I have been asked to attend meetings in Taipei, Shanghai, and Bogota, Columbia in the next few weeks, but I will pass until the baby arrives and we have had enough time to adjust.

Playing Catch-Up

Wow... here are the vital statistics:

1. Kerry is ready to POP... and very glad to deliver before the hot, balmy Mississippi summer.

2. We still have not picked out a name, but it is a boy. Choosing between Xavier, Edmond, Cornelius, Langston, Magnum, Leroy, or Jerome. You can decide which names we are serious about.

3. Grace is about to finish Kindergarten... we think she could skip to 2nd grade (she's smart, but did I mention we live in Mississippi?).

4. London and Joseph are professional stay at home kids and enjoy the workload they create for Mom and Dad (mostly Mom). London has developed a fluent, southern accent and loves to drive her Mom crazy with it.

5. I have traveled over 70,000 miles for work since Jan. 1 and am glad to be home for awhile.

6. Grace outfishes me regularly and loves to rub it in. She is baiting and casting on her own and London and Joseph are coming along. Joseph caught his first fish a few months ago and he is already talking about catching the "huge" fish, not bad for a two year old.

7. London and Grace are enjoying soccer and Grace scored two goals in her last game. London gets a bit preoccupied with the ant hills (fire ants, not the nice little black ones I grew up with in Seattle) and gets bored with chasing the ball around. She prefers to poke sticks into the hills to find larvae.

8. Football in the South is truly a religion and I moonlight as a varsity assistant when I have a little extra time.

9. This is a high school stadium we played at last season... 3 story bleachers, full press box, and synthetic field turf. NICE! We also wooped up on Brett Favre's old high school way out in the sticks.

10. Please leave comments as we would love to hear from our friends and family. We have not been able to make it back out West and miss Florida where we spent the last 5 years.

Just Getting Started

The family blog... this should be fun.

This is a pic from our 9th Anniversary we celebrated back in August.