Visit to Utah

So I know its been almost a month since we went home to utah but you know Im slacker on updating this thing. While Cody was in Iraq we decided that we would head home for a week around Halloween. This was the first time Cody has been home in over 2 years and the first time the Knaus family would get to meet Kalab. I was a bit leery about the plane ride since I had never flew with a baby before but I figured since I had Cody with me it wouldn't be so bad and it wasn't until the end. We had 45 mins to get from one end of the airport to next while in Atlanta. We made it in plenty of time but believe me I was hauling it just to make sure we did. We were lucky enough to get a large body jet from Atlanta to Utah and man the little T.V's in the headrest was a huge bonus. As we got closer to Utah we hit some delays 3 to be exact due to the snow. I thought Cody was going to go crazy being on that flight with a fussy baby and a 3 yr old that was really tired of sitting. As we made it in Utah we passed off the kids to my family :) We decided to stay with my family the first night then head to see ma and pa knaus along with all of the other parts of the Knaus clan. it was a great vacation which was nice since Cody and I had worried about making sure all of the families got to see the kids and us. The sunday before we left we had Kalab blessed by my father in law Frank. It was a wonderful experience, I even saw something that very rarely happens . my father in law crying which of course made me cry. I will always remember one thing he said during the blessing.... You will be the man over the house while your dad goes off to fight in the war.... at this point I lost it. I was so excited to have all the Knause family together again. I don't think I have even bonded as much with ma and pa Knaus then I did on this trip. I got to see my grandma and aunt as well. I haven't seen my grandma since my wedding 4 yrs ago. We all really enjoyed this trip. I wish it could have been longer but they wanted Cody back to work....... I will make sure to post some pictures as soon as I figure how to do that on my Laptop.

HE'S HOME!!

I finally our family is complete.... it has been a LONG 6 1/2 months but we made it to the end

Cody came home last night..... It was a very eventful night I have never felt so much emotion. One minute so excited I think I am going to pee myself the next irritated that its taking so long for the white buses to pull up to the hangar and unload Marines. From the time they landed to the time he walked off that bus it was almost 3 hours, but watching those buses pull in front of the hangar hearing Maddie scream "DADDY!" and watching jump in his arms, having Cody meet Kalab for the first time and to my surprize Kalab smiling and happy to see his daddy. I will admit I cried when I hugged him. It was like relief just washed over me and I cried tears of happiness ( which I have never done before) knowing that he was finally back.

My dear sweet neighbor and friend took pictures for me since I knew would be an emotional basketcase to do it myself.

so I guess I should update

yup Im slacker... but hey at least I will admit it. Not alot has been going on in the Knaus household not much excitement without Cody here.

Maddie is loving preschool. Her teacher told me that Maddie was able to take a test that they give to children about to go to Kindergarten ( sad isn't it you have to take a test to show you are ready for Kindergarten.) and she aced it. The test consisted of upper and lower case letter, numbers and spelling. I am so proud of our little genius she got Cody's smarts and of course his good looks. With her smarts she can help mom and auntie amber pay for grandpa's pool side room at the Hooter's breast home.

Kalab is growing like a weed. I can't believe he is 4 months old already. He has his 4 month check up he weigh in at 13lbs 12 oz and 26 inches long ( yup he is going to be tall like his daddy) The doctor said he is beefy. He was excited and active while the doctor was checking him out. He is a happy baby most of the time until he gets hungry and they he will go from happy to pissed in 2.5 seconds. Him and Kane are best buds. Kalab thinks Kane is just so funny and Kane just wants to lick him. Maddie is such a big help..... she loves being a big sister. She is very protective of her brother. Im sure that will fade as they get older and she will tell me she hates him blah blah blah.

We are getting closer and closer to Cody coming home and I couldn't be more excited, freaked out, relieved, nervous. I can't believe it has been 6 months since he left. I can't wait for him to meet his son and see how big maddie has got, I know maddie has been missing him like crazy. SO has the dog :) I guess I have too .... who am I kidding I have been missing him even his pain the butt moments. A few weeks after Cody gets home we will be heading out to Utah for a week. We are all excited to go see family and have a vacation. I am hoping that it will be a smooth trip with flying and all.

Well I will try more to update but its a wee bit hard when nothing really excited has been happening..... but as you wait here are some pictures of the rugrats

Grandma came to visit

So I have been a bit lazy on updating this thing but I am lucky enough to remember to get myself dressed most days so cut me some slack. My mom came back out to visit us last week. Maddie was so excited to have grandma come visit. Kalab was happy to see another face that he knew and Kane was so thrilled to have someone else to torment for a whole week. I was happy to have some extra arms so I could take a shower without maddie under my feet or having to worry that Kalab was awake in his crib and I couldn't hear him. Of course the kids got spoiled but I don't expect much else from grandma. As in spolied I don't just mean gifts I mean a whole lot of grandma time which was a real treat for them I'm sure after staring at my mug for the last 5 months :) Of course the week went by WAY too fast and I wish she could have stayed longer and brought out the rest of the family since when they did come out we barely did anything. We still didn't do alot but it was alot of fun.... I knew once my mom left it would mean we would be one week closer to Cody being home. I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel... its a flickering light but damn it I see it :) Here are some pictures of the week with grandma

Thank you

So Maddie, Kalab and I took a trip to walmart a few days ago ( yes walmart is my second home right now... I need a intervention.) Now trips to Walmart aren't all that bad taking both kids it just gets to be too much with Maddie asking every 5 mins "Mom can I have that.... Mom....hey mom.... look mom.... OK lets go, I'm done." After what seemed like a 3 hr trip to make sure we got everything for Cody's package we got in line. Now Maddie has decided she wants to place everything on the moving belt for me even if it is too heavy for her. I was already over my limit of patience at Walmart, which seems to get shorter and shorter due to little sleep. Maddie had asked for a bag of Cheetos so being the wonderful mom I am and picking my battles I got her a bag of Cheetos. She placed them on the moving belt the cashier scanned them and handed them to Maddie. ( Maddie had made sure to let the lady know over and over again that those were her Cheetos.) Maddie told her thank you. The cashier looked at me and told me she was the first little kid that had said thank you all day, granted it was about 6pm when we were checking out. She said that Maddie has renewed her faith in polite little kids. After all was said and done I was a little proud that we have raised a polite little girl..... It looks like daddy has taught her something good other then " SILENCE! I kill you." (Jeff Dunham)

We make beautiful kids

My awesome neighbor took some pictures of the kiddos. She is in school for Photography so Maddie and Kalab got to be her little models. Anything in the name of education :)

Pictures of our little peanut

I thought I would post some pictures of Peanut.....

This is one of the first pictures my mom got of Kalab since she didn't get to see me deliver.

Maddie meeting her brother for the first time.... she has a thing with poking him all the time

Freedom calls.... Cody got to see Kalab for the first time via the sandbox. I started to cry when I walking in the room and saw Cody I think he even teared up a bit.

Grandma soaking up some baby time before the rest of the family got here

Maddie loves to hold her brother for about 2 seconds then she is done

Gotta represent daddy and uncle Randy's favorite band... this is the day we went home

Grandpa's new buddy. The first grandson.... he was really enjoying the testosterone

My little muscle man..... This was his first bath and he HATED it!

I love this onesie :)

Auntie amber took this picture

He has Cody's and Maddie's appetite

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the swing I love it!