We are having a .....

little baby girl. Beth went in for her 20 week ultrasound today. Libby and I meet her at the office. Libby was very excited to hear that she was going to be a big sister and then preceded to to be bad and attempt to run around the ultrasound room. So she and I left soon after. This baby is tracking much larger then Libby did. While Libby was on the small side (less then 5th percentile, this baby is about 13 oz, which is normal (60th percentile). The ultrasound tech said that the baby's heart, bladder, kidneys, and cord all looked great.

This is a 4-D (4th "D" stands for movement) picture of the baby's leg. You could see her flexing all 10 fingers and all 10 toes.

In this picture you can see the baby's face. According to Beth she looks a bit like an alien baby because of the large fissures in her skull. During the ultrasound we were able to watch her open and close her mouth.

We are very excited to add another girl to the family as we will not have to go out and buy new lots of new clothes for this baby. We thanks everyone for all their prayers and would love to hear any ideas for names that you have.

Happy Birthday Kevin

My brother-in-law Kevin turns 30 this year, people are shocked by this because he looks much older then that with his bald head. Here are 10 things you might not know about Kevin.

10. Kevin is very handy around the house. Last year I assisted him in putting up a deck on our house. If you need a handyman, Kevin is the one to call (except if you are installing a water heater)
9. During high school, Kevin's nickname was Keno.
8. Kevin was the first one in the family to figure Libby out: give her food and she will like you.
7. No one can handle large groups of kids quite like Kevin. Last Thanksgiving he took 8 kids (under the age of 10) out on a nature walk, everyone came back alive.
6. Kevin has the smallest feet I have ever seen on a man. Even though he is 5' 6", he has feet like a midget. He can actually share shoes with Susan.
5. Kevin is a girls basketball coach. For a while I was telling people that he coached varsity boys, not to lie, I just didn't know any better
4. Kevin can eat more then anyone I know, he doesn't care what kind of food or how it tastes. Sheer quantity is what he is aiming for.
3. Kevin has a huge head. He is a better teacher for it because the students think that he must be very smart with all those extra brains. And if a student makes fun of him, he can fail them.
2. He has an ability to master any video game within 5 minutes of picking up the controller. Which is why I gave him my X-box, he shamed me into it.
1. Kevin is a great addition to our family and we have accepted him as a Kurt brother long ago. Our only problem with him is he has not yet been willing to take our last name. "Kevin Kurt" you have to love the alliteration.

Laughing Libby #4

Libby loves the dogs very much and she understands what we call "dog humor". She finds it hilarious when we make the dogs do funny things like clapping their paws, giving her high-fives or as you can see from the video above, placing Stretch in a tent. We do it once a night just hear Libby's belly-laugh.
Libby's bathing suit-over-clothes attire is courtesy of her Aunt Laura.

No dogs were physically harmed during the filming of this video. Psychological and emotional trauma cannot be ruled out.

Parvovirus Update

By Guest Blogger Beth:

Well, good news: My blood tests came back and showed that I have parvovirus IgG antibodies. This means that I have previously been exposed to this virus and have built up an immunity to it. (About 50% of adults are immune.) This is great news for baby Carl/Carla as he/she is protected against the virus, which can cause life-threatening illness in unborn babies.

Younger and Younger

Each day I take my Wii Fitness Test and today I got my lowest age ever. According to my game console I have the body of a 24 year old. Beth really appreciates my increased stamina.

Can't Beat Their Meat

We went out to eat tonight with Jen and Damon to Texas de Brazil. This is a first for us since we went without the cherwin. This is also the first time that Libby has had a non-family member babysit her. Abby, a girl who works at St Jude with Damon, babysit both girl at our house. The girls got a great report. They played well together and managed to get every single toy out of its bin and spread across the entire room.
The food at Texas de Brazil is incredible. It is an all you can eat meat buffett. Gauchos, or South American cowboys bring around swords full of meat to your table when you have the green side of your coaster turned up. Everything from pork, chicken, lamb and of course steak. My favorite was the filet wrapped in bacon, the pork was excellent also. After you had had your fill, or just needed a break, you turned your coaster to the red side. The service there was excellent, when you put your coat on the back of your chair, someone came up behind you and placed a black napkin over it incase something were to spill on it.
I will be heading to bed early tonight and sleeping in a meat induced coma.

Rosey Cheeks

Most people would look at this picture of Libby and think how cute she looks with her rosey cheeks. But not her mother. As soon as Beth came home from work today she noticed Libby's "slapped cheek" apperance and diagnosed Libby with Parvovirus B19. Luckily it doesn't really make Libby feel sick and she doesn't have a fever. The real danger here is to Beth as she is pregnant and the fetus can catch the virus. So Beth has to call her doctor tomorrow and find out if she needs to be tested to see if she is immune to the virus, there is a 50/50 chance that she is. Even if Beth did catch the virus, it seems that odds are the fetus will be fine. So please pray for Beth and the baby and lets hope for the best.

DVR ALERT

I am sure everyone has seen this hilarious video a million times online. The Jimmy Kimmel Show tracked down the woman who fell down the trapdoor and she will be on tonight's show. So check your local listings and set your DVR (Susan set your VCR) and I promise comedy will ensue.

Dave's Visit

Beth's friend from high school and college came to visit us last week. He was on his way to visit a friend in St. Louis and detoured to Memphis for a few days. He will be starting his 3rd year of medical school soon and has been doing research in California and Wisconsin.

During his visit, we figured out that Libby is an awful lot like a cat around people. The more attention you try to pay to her the less she wants anything to do with you. Dave, while liking kids, made no special effort to have anything to do with Libby and because of this, Libby would not leave him alone and was on her extra special best behavior for his visit.

So family, next time you want to play with Libby, ignore her.

Libby in a Drawer

This morning Libby thought it would be fun to sit in one of the drawers of our entertainment center. She usually uses it to put her dolls and stuffed animals in, so she must have wanted to see what it was like to be one of them. She made the biggest mess ever today getting out every toy she had, it took me forever to pick everything up and sort it into its correct bin.

A Kiss

Over the Christmas week, Beth finally got to meet Rudi's dog Obie Trice. Libby was very excited to see her dog cousin for the second time and had to give him a big kiss.


Rudi also seemed quite taken by his dog.

Ketchup

It has been a while since I have blogged anything, so I thought I would try to catch you up on what is going on in our lives.

• Since Christmas time Libby has gotten in 6 new teeth, pretty much all at once. It all started on the plane ride home from Michigan with explosive diarrhea, which caused a massive diaper-rash. She is doing much better now and is enjoying her new chompers.
• I bought a new vacuum cleaner. It was rated #2 by consumer reports and it works great. I vacuumed up so much hair and gunk I could have almost made a new dog. The bagless dirt container is fun because I can see how much stuff I have collected in each room. It also has a head light on it so I can vacuum if the power goes out.
• Beth is starting to get much bigger and her belly is really out there now. She has to wear materinty clothes or a bella-band with her old pants. We will find out the sex of the baby on January 31st. For those of you who don't know yet, Beth's sister Laura is having a baby girl.
• With some of our Christmas money Beth and I bought a Nintendo Wii. We hav been having loads of fun playing it together and with our friends Damon and Jen. My Mii age ranges from 46 to 66. It can be embarassing for me to play as I usually get whooped by everyone I play with including Beth and Jen who are both pregnant.
• In the past two weeks Libby has really started to vocalize. She went from saying "Hi" and "Daddy" to a whole new world of "cracker", "no", "wow", "Dog", "cheese" and most importantly "Mama". She is the smartest girl ever.
• Beth started her Master's classes last week and found out she got a 4.0 for her last semester. Beth might even be smarter then Libby.

Well that is our life in a nutshell, one of my new years resolutions is to try and blog more, so I have already failed on that one.

Happy Birthday Errin

Today is Errins's 27th birthday. Here are 10 things about Errin that you might not know.

10. Errin once got kicked out of the Museum of Natural History in Chicago for inappropriately touching a stuffed Hyena's private area.
9. Her nickname growing up was "Enus Penis Carpet Cleanus" after the Regina Carpet Cleaner commericals of the mid -80's. (It doesn't make sense, but it was very fun to sing.)
8. I once convinced Errin that she had wet the bed in our guest room during a visit and that I had to throw the mattress out and get a new one.
7. Errin held the world record for the breast stroke in high school.

6. Errin does not know how to collapse an ironing board.
5. Errin was almost heirress to the "Kick Ass" hot sauce fortune.
4. When Errin started coaching high school boys swimming, the team census quadrupled in hopes of seeing her in a bathing suit.
3. Errin owns more pairs of shoes than Imelda Marcos.
2. If you take the first digit of the year and place it next to the last digit of the year, it gives you Errin's age. (She's 27 in the year 2007.)
1. Errin once had a cold sore when she first met her future husband Rudi, which was so big that we affectionately called it "Montana".

Vanity Plate

My brother-in-law Rudi who lives up in Minne, got a vanity license plate for his vehicle. I don't know why he is advertising the information and I feel kinda sorry for his wife Errin.

Spoiled Rotten

Even since Libby got this shopping cart for Christmas, Stretch has insisted on being pushed around in it. Poor Zoe just looks on, wondering why there isn't room in the cart for her also. If only Guinness knew how well Stretch had it.

Shhhhhh

Here in the Bluff City we take common courtesy very seriously. If you come to visit and happen to swing by one of our many libraries, please be quiet. If not, this might happen:

MAN STABBED AT WHITEHAVEN LIBRARY

Most people consider the library a place for quiet reading, not a setting for violence.

But, violence is exactly what they got at one Memphis library Thursday afternoon.

Today, little Christianna Henderson's eyes witnessed something no six-year-old should ever see.

"I saw a man, he was about to stab a boy," says Henderson.

"A young man was using profane language in the library and an old guy confronted him and said he shouldn't disrespect his wife like that," says witness, Vondra Henderson.

Henderson adds, "His wife and child were there when he took out the knife and stabbed the young man."

It's the second time in 10 days that police have been called to the Whitehaven Branch Library.

On December 18, a teen held another boy at gunpoint while he robbed him of his tennis shoes.

Two incidents that have some parents wondering if any place is safe for their children.

"If it's not the library, where can we bring them," says Henderson.

Still, school teacher Brenda Green, who encouraged her students to hit the books over the holiday break, hopes this won't hinder library attendance.

"I think we want to let our children know they can't be afraid, we're all in this together," says Green.

Now, little Christianna and her mom say they'll get their books elsewhere.

Police are now looking for the man responsible for the stabbing.

They're asking anyone with information about the stabbing to call