The Kies Family: The Newest Family Member

We got to welcome a new member to our family this week. Reid William Knowles was born on Monday March 4th at 12:09 weighing in at 8lbs 9ounces and 21inchs long. He decided to challenge his parents within his first 24 hours and took a trip to the NICU where he still resides secondary to a bit of respiratory distress. But he is doing MUCH better as I write this and apparently is breathing on his own and is almost tube free. He just has an IV line left for a bit of fluids and any necessary IV antibiotics. He is slated to go home on Friday if he keeps up this good work. Kudos to Brooke and Tyler for providing great support to each other through this extremely trying time. And great job to Grandpa Jim and Grandma Ellen for stepping in as pseudo parents for Carter!! We love you all...welcome to the family Reid. You don't know what you are in for.......lots of love, laughs, and fun. We can't wait to meet you.

Beautiful Mom and the newest family member Reid William Knowles.

Resting peacefully with the help of some oxygen and the bopi.....he and Kennon and are going to get along just fine. I can't get Kennon to step away from his paci.

Tube free and feeling HAPPY in mom's arms!!

The Weekly Update

1. I thought we needed a little color during this snowy season....give me your feedback....easier or harder to read!

2. I haven't been as good the last couple of weeks at writing down funny stuff Maddox has said but there is plenty. I"ll just go off the top of my head. Monday Eric took Maddox to church school as I was up having a fabulous day with Mom. Eric doesn't often do this routine and Maddox was sure to tell him how it's done. He said from the back of the van, as he was pulling into the parking lot, he heard this very authoritative voice saying 'Now Dad you pull into the line like this and then you reach back and undo my car seat and then I get to sit up on the edge of the car seat like this until you get to the front of the line!' Eric said it was soooo cute. He totally knew what to do but Maddox was going to give him the step by step playbook anyhow.

3. MORE SNOW....... however not the amount they are ever predicting. We have had YET another snow storm this week that they way over predicted. We got about 4 inches on Tuesday despite the QC weathermen predictions of SNOWMAGEDON as Eric calls it. But the snow made for fun for the kids at school. They each got to play outside in the snow.

4. Kennon is able to count from 1 to 10!! It is really amazing. He says all the numbers quite well and in the correct order. If you remember a couple years back Maddox skipped the number '4' for several months. Not KTK....he's got it down pat. It is super cute and I am so proud. I think we have his BIG SIS and Kindercare to thank for that. He is getting more and more proficient with his ABCs as well.

5. BASEMENT UPDATE....forward ho...somebody order the dust!! The framer comes on Friday to start building the storage shelves and then he will be back on Monday to frame out the entire basement. Then there might be a little lull after he is done while we are waiting for the cabinets to arrive. Apparently the framer is very busy and needed to get in and get out otherwise it was going to be like May before he could get here. Anyhow Eric and I have been visiting supplier after supplier this week picking out carpet, tile, cabinets, counter tops, lighting plumbing, mini fridge....etc you name it. Kennon has gotten dragged along to most of those appointments and has whooed over all the ladies :) So things are moving quite fast and we are VERY excited. Hoping to have it done in time for KTK's 2nd birthday in June. At the rate we are moving I think there is a good chance of that. They are saying a little over 2 months. Now I just have to turn on my 'relaxed Laura' mode as I think the house is going to be a bit of a mess and the workers are going to probably get my good napping kiddos off schedule. ( they have both been sleeping for 2 hours now as I type this.....the art of being a mom!!......getting your kids down at the same time....!!...good luck Aunt Brooke....you get to start learning how to do this!! We will be thinking of you )

6. Last week the kids and I made our first official Judge Road snowman ( by the way we hit the 5 year mark last week....we have lived in this house for 5 years....doesn't seem nearly that long). It was a bit cold but the snow was perfect. He was an organic snowman as he had strawberry tops for eyes, blueberries for a mouth, and a carrot nose! Maddox named him Barky. Uncertain where she came up with the name. But we had fun nonetheless. Then we used food coloring at his feet to give him a bit of spirit. Lastly I pulled the kids around the house on the sled. TOUGH work through 4 foot drifts in our backyard. Kennon still isn't too sure of the deep snow but he is keen on stomping in the shallow snow. He is sure to find any bit of snow now in any parking lot and runs over to stomp it out!!

Lastly I had to write about Grammy. Thanks to my fabulous hubby I was able to spend some solo time over with Grammy earlier this week. She has been doing REALLY well. It seems that it may be possible that the new chemo she started a couple of weeks ago is working. She has been able to eat a bit more and is not feeling so full as she had been for the last couple of months. She has a blood test on Monday that will indeed tell us if the cancer numbers are less than they were when she started this chemo. We are trying not to get overly excited about these new 'good' symptoms but we can certainly hope and continue to pray. She and I even went out shopping on Monday for the morning. I pushed her around in a cute little red wheelchair I rented. We had so much fun. I love to have her spent time with the grandkids but I LOVE my solo time with her too. We are praying for you Grammy and hope you get some FABULOUS numbers on Monday.

Naked with a triathlon visor...yep my kid!

Kennon ( with his paci....) Barky and Maddox

Kennon worked soooo hard to push his cozy coupe through the snow. Grandpa Jim thought he needed some chains on those wheels to get it going!! Don't get any ideas Grandpa..... :)