Summer Time!

8-12-08
Hello Everyone,

We hope that you all are doing absolutely fabulous! We pray that this email finds you in good health and happy.

We want to start the email off thanking everyone for all their prayers and thoughts! The boys are doing well and we pray it continues. Infact, this summer has been a BIG summer for us. We welcomed our blessed little Tyler Jacob into the family who is doing well and Jackson is an awesome big brother.

We also want to thank everyone for their prayers for Allison as they received the news that she will be coming home! She had over 100 day stay in the NICU and her mom and dad are ready for her to be at home. Thank you! (http://www.allisonshepard.blogspot.com/)

First, Jackson was so excited when Tyler first arrived home. Not only did we (dad and mom) expect some jealousy, but we thought Jackson may have at least missed us a little....Yea right! Jackson was living it up with Nana and Papa and then he gleamed when he saw his little brother! Oh, we wish everyone could see how his eye's lite up. Maybe you can in the picture. Then Jackson went on to touch Tyler's toes, etc. Majority of our pictures can be found on the phanfare site at: http://www.spiess-archives.phanfare.com/

The first eight weeks was pretty hectic with lots of newborn duties. Once things started to settle down, we found ourselves filling our days with lots of playing...learning...and then napping. We still are trying to get onto a "schedule" and dare we say that it looks like we may have one started...time will tell.


Jackson's big events this summer have been:

Play dates! We are blessed to have wonderful friends who are very understanding of how we require lots of handwashing and heads-up on when the kids are showing signs of what could be a cold, etc. We also had approval via the physicians office to do these. We love our playdates and are not looking forward to RSV and cold season as we will need to see if the playdates can continue or not.

We talk! We talk! We talk! Yes, Jackson started taking off talking around 20 months and wow has his vocabulary grown. We are so happy to hear him repeat pretty much everything we say. He also likes to tell us what he wants...what a relief. His favorite word is "no". Sometimes this is funny and other times, well....we wish he would use the word YES! But, no complaints....as mentioned at least he is talking. We ask him what he wants for breakfast and he will tell us, "eggs and toast" or "oatmeal", etc..... We LOVE IT!


We have been out and about - A LOT!...Yes parks, walks, Austin zoo, water park with sprinklers, etc....mostly outdoors when the Texas heat isn't too bad. Unfortunately, this summer has had the third most 100+ degree days in history.

Jackson also is counting and working on his ABC's......As parents you quickly find that when your kids hit a milestone it is the biggest and BEST reward in the world.

Jackson also is very infactuated with the television for some reason. He loves to give kisses to his reflection in the tv. He is going through a kissing stage...Watch out Olivia we may have issues during the next playdate.

Tyler's big summer!

Tyler not only has put up with his crazy family for the past four months extremely well but he is getting to be very fond of Belly Time! He has impressed many with his head control and he LOVES to grab things and bring them to his mouth for knawing....okay "exploring".

Tyler at 2 months old traveled up North for Aunt Nicole's shower and saw MANY people at Aunt Nicole's showers/Baby Allison's shower! Yeah! It was so awesome to see everyone we miss them so much. We can't wait until we get to come up North with the entire family.

Tyler also is now 18 lbs! Our little-big 4 month old is eating well and is a happy little man.

Tyler is a very easy going child and he watches his brother all the time. Yes mom has asked Jackson to go and dance or do " Ring around the Rosie" in front of Tyler to entertain him. We are so happy that both the boys adore each other.


Tyler pivots around in circles and can creep forward on belly time. He has rolled from stomach to back a few times so far and honestly acts as though he will crawl before he will roll.

Love,

Kyle, Erica, Jackon "J" and Tyler "Mr. T"