Let's get this straight -

Boy is this a good one... Today Kate and I went to the Museum Center with Tara, Hyland and Lydia. We had an awesome time. Kate LOVES being with the girls. Very fun. Anyways, Kate and I were walking out to the car, just the two of us, and here was our conversation:

Kate - "I'm going to get in my car seat by myself."

Me - "Because it's so hot, I'm going to put you in your seat so you don't get burned."

Kate (repeating herself, but this time with a kick) - "I'm going to get in my car seat by myself because I'M IN CHARGE."

FULL STOP ON THE SIDEWALK.

Me (calmly but clearly) - "No Kate, that's absolutely incorrect. You are not in charge. Mommy and Daddy are in charge."

Kate - "But I want to be in charge."

Me - "I totally understand that, but it doesn't work that way. God put Mommy and Daddy in charge of you. You don't get to be in charge."

At this, she starts sobbing. I took that as a positive sign, like she got what I was saying, but of course was not happy with it. I'm a betting woman, and I'd put down cash that this is an issue we'll come back to...learning to submit to authority is not easy, Kate, you are correct.

Cute girls at the museum :)

Gentle

Yesterday, when I was thinking about when Ellie would come (which I do quite often these days :), I felt like God said to me that the process of her birth and everything around it would be gentle. This past week was the first week I really felt like she could come, and it felt so relaxing, almost boring at times. It was nice to just have rest.

Gentleness is a strong contrast to Kate's birth - she came almost a month before we expected, my water broke at Babies R Us while buying everything including diapers. I'd describe her birth as dramatic, exciting, and energetic. Those are all words I'd use to describe Kate's personality as well.

I've felt like Ellie's birth would be gentle and serene, so expecting the pattern to hold true, I will look for those things both in her birth and personality. Delightful :)

Honestly, for me, while I'm really excited for Ellie to arrive, I'm not restless about it but instead pretty patient. She will come when the time is right; I feel good about that. I'm not overly uncomfortable, so we're just excitedly awaiting. Kate on the other hand seems very ready. She keeps digging in to understand if she can't take her out, when God is planning on it. It's very sweet.

And so we wait. At the swimming pool :)

Making Improvements - Part 2

As I said in the first "Making Improvements" post, home projects are not for the faint at heart. The second big project of the summer, which actually started as the first project but is currently still in progress 2 1/2 months later, is painting the exterior of our house. The background on this project is, I've always hated the way our house looks from the outside; I wouldn't have come to look at it if our realtor and friend Steve hadn't insisted that we see it. He was right - I love our street and I love the inside of our house; but I've never liked the outside. It lacks any charm or character; one person said correctly, "It kind of looks like the back of a house." A few months ago, I had a vision for how I wanted it to look and I got really excited about it. But bringing that vision to life has been a chore to say the least.

The major part of the vision was removing the white paint from the bricks in the front. Sounds easy enough, but wow, it hasn't been. I talked to tons of people and no one would even give me a quote to do the work. No one, except Timmy. I found this hilarious guy Tim would said, "Sure, I can do it." And he did, but I thought it might kill him. Tim is awesome - he's the most perseverent guy I've ever met. To get this paint off, he has tried everything under the sun, twice. He explored chemicals, blow torches, sand blasting, power washing, scraping and more. And he refused to give up, even though I'm sure he wanted to. Even more, he always was in good spirits about it, determined to find a solution. Eventually, he found a way with special products and a method he developed to get this paint off. And let me tell you, I think it looks beautiful! I'm not going to put up a picture until it's done, but we have several people stop in front of our house daily to say how much they like it. It is a dramatic change, and I'm so happy with it.

But as I mentioned, this type of thing is not for the faint of heart. As if 2 1/2 months of trying to get the project complete weren't enough, there is another issue. After the process was complete, I started to consider that we could have an issue with lead paint because our house is from 1956. The internet had my mind spinning, so this morning I took paint samples to the health department to be screened and Kate to the doctor for a blood test to ensure we are okay. The lead division at the health dept screened the samples for me immediately and while it's not totally conclusive, the 10 samples I took them (yes, I'm thorough :) all came up lead free. We'll hear about Kate's results next week, but I'm sure she'll be fine.

Again I say, this type of thing is not as easy as you think it should be. Who would have thought that repainting our house would take 3 months and involve city departments and doctors. The bright side is, I have a terrible memory so in time I will forget the pain of this and just enjoy the beauty of the improvements. And then, when enough time has passed, probably start a new project.


Just another "before" shot...when the giant new house was built and happened to be almost the same color as our "little" house, that was the final straw in my aggressive work to get this project rolling. Pics coming soon - as a tease, last night Rob Seddon come over to our house, as he has many times before, and starting driving by our place because he didn't recognize it!! :)

Shepherding a Child's Heart

I just read this book, and I highly recommend it. I don't agree with everything, but overall I really found it helpful. It's a book about raising kids. The main point is, you can't get stuck on changing behavior but instead you should look deeper into what is happening in the child's heart that is causing the behavior. It really impacts a lot when you can assess what is driving the behavior, have a conversation with the child about it, and then work to correct that heart issue.

Other things I found helpful -
1) Obedience should come without waiting, whining, or warnings (my summary.) Disobedience is an issue between the child and God because my authority represents God's authority. I felt convicted about not trying to control Kate's behavior but rather to focus on understanding her heart and temptations to correct her and restore her to blessings. Obedience rescues them and pulls them into safety - "Honor your parents that it may go well with you and you may enjoy long life, the first commandment with a promise." Proverbs 19:18 says, "Discipline a child for in that there is hope, do not be a willing party to his death."
2) Another main point is that shepherding is about leading a child on a path of discovery of himself and the world. I loved the book's description that the main goal of parenting is setting the child up to know and love God, and that all you need to do is present the good news of Jesus and expect that they will be drawn to its attractiveness. Discipline itself sets them up to receive - we are all sinners in need of a savior. It also talked about striving for your kids in prayer - excellent.
3) Having clear goals for your kids - Primary focus is on knowing your child so you can develop a plan to draw out their strengths and address their weaknesses.
4) Children must see their inability to do what God requires without God's help and strength. Correction must hold to God's standard of righteousness which then turns them to the cross and God's grace. Appeal to their conscience so they indict themselves. Bring them to a sober assessment of themselves as sinners, then the mercy of God who sacrificed Jesus for them. Here we teach them that God is their only hope, not themselves.

There's a ton more, but those are my highlights. And it reads super fast - I had to stretch it to 3 days to let it sink in. It's got some good stuff.


And here's a pic of my two favorite cuties :)

Preschool

An update on our choice - Hyde Park Redeemer is our favorite. It is not the biggest or most popular choice, but it felt most consistent with our family. Things there felt more ordered, less chaotic (as preschools go, of course.) The space is big and new, the teachers are very experienced, there is an order and schedule to each day; it just felt right.

The drawback - at 2 years old it's only 2 days a week from 9-11:30. I then realized another objective of preschool - giving me time with Ellie, which this doesn't do much of. So, Kate will go to Redeemer on Mon & Tues, but then also to Goddard on Wed & Thurs. Goddard was my second choice. Not as good as Redeemer - the teachers, while degreed, are not as experienced, and the classes are bigger, still good ratios but just more kids and therefore more chaos. But they have a good and probably more academic and well-rounded environment. It's pricey, so we'll do it for a while and see how it goes.

The thing I'm most nervous about is Kate getting sick, and then Ellie getting sick (and probably the rest of us too.) I don't know that there is any way around it; I pray we don't have a year of sickness. But I know Kate will love it so that's no reason to keep her in a bubble at home.

I think she's really going to love it, so I'm super excited for her. Especially with Ellie here, I think it will be so good for her to have her own new, special thing. What fun!

KML Consulting

Did you know I started my own company? It's funny - I've never had a desire to be an entrepreneur (actually, I just had to look up the spelling of the word.) It just kind of happened, but it's been fantastic.

Here's the short story - I quit P&G, took 2 years off, then went to work at a small consulting company. It was good, I was basically doing the same work I did at P&G but it was less intense and less work at 4 days and then 3 days a week. But after a year, I realized that by consulting back to P&G, it was really hard to be truly part time. So, I thought, what if I just did this on my own so I have more control over how much I'm working. And that's what I've done. It's been great so far. I've been working primarily with the consulting company I used to work for doing projects for P&G as a subcontractor. It's really fantastic. When I have a project I work a bunch, and when I don't, I don't work at all. Feels like a more realistic way to get balance. So far, so good. I'm not going to do anything for a few months, and then will probably be back at it in the winter at the same pace.

What is it I do? Excellent question that I can't really answer very well. Ironically, I've always had this problem. As an Industrial & Systems Engineer, people would say, "What do you do?" and I couldn't really answer. As a Brand Manager at P&G, people would say, "What do you do?" and I couldn't really answer. Now it's probably of the most importance because I want people to hire me, and I still can't articulate it all that clearly. Here's my best answer - I do the same types of things I did at P&G (but admittedly, that doesn't help since I can't exactly describe what I did there.) When pressed I say my current focus is on helping companies develop new product and commercial ideas. If they need a $1 Billion idea they need a plan to get there, and I work with them to develop a plan to come up with the next big idea. I understand their goals and objectives and develop workshops to help their team think differently to think of a great idea. Clear as mud, eh.

As for my company, I've done very little develop it thus far. I chose the name because I wanted it to sound strategic not executional - so "KML Consulting" vs. a "Bang! Splash! Whiz!" type of deal. I'm not totally married to KML Consulting, but it works for now. I need a logo - maybe I can find someone to draw something up (lemme know if you're interested!) Brett is my partner, so that's fun since we've always wanted to be in business together (although at this point, his "contributions" have been purely for tax advantage.)

I've never really been one to have a "master plan", which is maybe how I ended up here. I never expected I'd be doing this, and I love it. You just never know...Here are a few shots from my recent work trips to Singapore and Brussels:


Singapore was like Hawaii in beauty. Absolutely gorgeous public park at the National Orchid forest which had hundreds of varieties of Orchids. Amazing. Too far though - 26 hours of flying, and I couldn't sleep as much since I was pregnant and had to walk around. It was a little weird though - there are so many rules, like no drugs or they kill you, that it felt a little bizarre and false. Too clean (you aren't allowed to chew gum.) Sort of pleasantville-ish.

This was my CRAZY fish pedicure in Singapore - absolutely nutty! You're supposed to let the fish eat off your dead skin for 45 mins; I couldn't last 5 mins! The lady said, "You are giggling like a small child!" Yes, because fish are eating my feet!!


The streets of Brussels - me acting like a tourist. It was actually a delightful European city with all the cafes and shopping you'd expect. Surprisingly nice.

Making Improvements

We've been making a lot of improvements to our house lately. First let me say, improvements are not for the faint at heart. They take an amazing amount of effort. And that's even when you are hiring people to do the work. I've always been amazed at how difficult it is to find workers. Not even superb workers, just people willing to show up and do work. The Bible is right, the workers are few...It's a task just getting people to call you back to come give you an estimate to do work. But after quite a bit of effort and diligence, we've found people to come out. It always takes longer than expected, it's always more expensive, and there are always problems. But if you can make anything happen, I call it a victory.

Our major victory of the summer was adding a bedroom to our basement. This was huge. With Ellie moving into the nursery and Kate moving into what was the guest room, our 3 bedroom house no longer had a space to accommodate any visitors easily. At the great suggestion of friends, we realized that the space next to our basement family room would be a perfect place for a guest room. So, the previously unfinished space has become a bedroom. And for our house, it's a great location for guests because it's more separate and private. Also, we think we now technically go from 3 bedrooms to 4 since we have walkout access and 2 points of exit, so that's a huge improvement to our space. We are very pleased with the result. Doug Kraus did the work and he far exceeded our expectations. It turned out much better than we could have envisioned. We are very happy with the results - see below (or come over for a stay :)




We've got one more project in the works. Here's a little preview. I doubt it will be completed before Ellie gets here, but hopefully before the end of summer. The exterior of our house is going to look much different soon...

Feeling hot, hot, hot - NOT

This may be the most no brainer, no insight thing I've ever written about, but it's interesting to me so here goes. Yesterday one of our friends stopped by our house and we were outside. When I go outside our house in the summer, I usually wear pants and my hooded sweatshirt. Why? Because I hate mosquitoes, and they are always attracted to me. So, despite the 90 degree weather, not to mention my pregnant belly, that's what I think would be best to wear. And that's my standby outfit when I go outside to play with Kate or take a walk. To me, it's much better to be a little warmer than to get bit by mosquitoes. I also hate the feeling of Off, the other obvious solution; once I put it on I must take a shower afterwards, and that doesn't always fit in my schedule. So, there I am in a hoodie in August.

And here's the no brainer that just hit me - every human must process temperature very differently. I think our friend thought I was NUTS being dressed the way I was. But here's the thing - heat doesn't bother me. Sure, I may sweat, but who cares. I think it feels good to be hot. Now what I hate on the other hand, is being cold. It physically hurts me to be cold. Like sitting at a football game in November - it gets painful. Maybe it's the Lebanese blood. Brett has also observed that my mom and I drink enough water to hydrate most camels preparing for desert conditions, so that could also be connected.

Now this conclusion is my own - I think more people are bothered by heat than cold. I'm making this judgment based on how often I get comments on how terrible it must be to be pregnant in August because of the heat. Everyone talks about it, and it's really not of concern to me.

One other update for today - I've been thinking that today or tomorrow is the "big day." We'll see, because the clock is ticking...I may be wrong. Although there is still a little time...I also felt last week that the word around Ellie's birth would be "serenity", which is defined as "calm, tranquil, peaceful, composed." Those all sound good, eh.

(Oh, and in case you're curious, we've got a project brewing on the house...more to come soon!)

Buddies are a gift

We've had some great buddy time lately! Here are a few pics with friends:

Cana and Kate enjoying some quality pool time!


Nolan and Kate having a fun dinner at Panera - cheesin' it up :)


The Girls, Alli, Zoe, Kate, & me, at Coney. Definitely the highlight of not working is days at the pool!


We are so lucky to have such great buddies!

Kate's Birthday

Although a few months late, I wanted to post a few pictures from Kate's birthday party. What a wonderful time we had! I loved planning it for her - the preparation for the event was fun for me. The best part of all was that we had all of our family in town, and so many friends there to celebrate. It was really special to us that everyone came in from out of town - Nikki & Andrew, Keith Nancy & Mike, G. Nana & Susie, Al & Suzy, Brady & Emily, and of course Grandma & Papa Little & Maybin. Then with all her best buddies there, what more could she ask for!

She definitely got into the presents! Boy did she love all the fun gifts! Everyone gave her such fun things.

She really wanted a monkey cake, ala Curious George, so that was the theme. After the party she said, "Thank you so much for my birthday party mommy and daddy!" It was so sincere and so sweet. She had such a great time. What a delight she is! Happy 2 years, Kate!

"Inducible"

That's my status as of yesterday's doctor's appointment - "inducible." Basically means although they aren't planning to induce me, they could if they needed to. Feels like progress, as last week they said they would try to stop labor if it started. Now I'm dilating and effacing and all the other important mumbo-jumbo, so I could go whenever. My doctor said, "Could be tonight, could be 3 weeks." I like that kind of expectation management - I really have no idea. With Kate I wasn't making any progress and he said, "but your water could break in the parking lot." And that's not far from what happened. It's a funny thing to have no control over something so important. I suppose control is really just an illusion anyways since big things can always happen, but I tend to maintain that illusion as best I can. I guess it's great preparation for what our world's going to look like. I'm getting more and more excited everyday. Also a bit more uncomfortable ;) Ellie, we can't wait to see you!

Family Camp

This is so amazing - we have a group of friends who decided they wanted to organize a camp so our kids could have memories together with their family and friends specifically connected to their faith. Last year there were 20 families, and this year there were 40 families (and they had to cut it off because it was so full.) Basically there are fun activities, skits, games, songs, swimming, etc. with all of your best friends. When we got back Kate wanted to know if we could go back the next week. It was so sweet.

It's cool to see people who are so gifted bring their best to planning an event for kids and families. There were songs written for the event by songwriters, shirts designed by graphic designers, books written and illustrated by children's authors, financial matters covered by accountants, first aid handled by doctors - you name it, it was first class. And how cool to see that just for kids. At night, they brought in Mae Klingler, a friend of ours who writes and sings children's songs, to perform. It might as well have been Bono to this audience - the crowd went wild. Here is a video of Kate and Cana rocking out...

Flower Girl

Kate is JAZZED to be a flower girl for Nikki and Andrew! As we've been planning the showers she's asked if we were having a birthday party for Nikki, to which I responded, no, it's her wedding. So, she keeps singing "Happy Wedding to you, Happy Wedding to you, Happy Wedding Nikki & Andrew, Happy Wedding to you!" She is excited to be a helper and wear a red dress. What fun! We'll see how she does walking down the aisle in front of all those people - Kate really likes to be prepared before she does anything, and there is really no way to get her prepped for that scene, so hard to say. But no matter what, she'll look cute!

Awkward, fun progress

Well, this pregnancy is definitely not the same as last time. I'm physically much more tired here at the end, which makes sense while playing, carrying, and hanging out with a 2 year old all day. But I'm still feeling good, just physically tired and a little uncomfortable and awkward. Luckily, I love the heat, so that part doesn't bother me a bit. I'm not swelling and my back is fine; I just have a giant belly. The other day while swimming with Kate, I kept feeling like I wanted to fall forward because I was so off balance. It was so funny. It was a great day - Kate said I should take a turn on her "timmy the turtle" raft, which I did, and it was so relaxing! She was right. We played and she jumped off the dock about 30 times. She said to me, "You are the best mommy I have ever seen" and I started to cry at Coney it was so sweet :)

At my doctor's appointment he said Ellie is in perfect position and I'm starting to dialate, so that's good news. No telling on timing, but I'm still guessing early August. Kate came at 37 1/2, my due date is Aug 15th but I think that's technically a week early, so I'm still sticking with first week in August.

We shall see...throw out a guess on the date!

New Rooms

We've had a big move lately - Kate has recently moved to her new, big girl room. She has done an amazing job. We approached it with what appears to be the one and only strategy I know - cold turkey. Luckily, it seems to work for her. We've been talking up the new room for quite some time, and we made the decision that as best we could, when the time came we would move her to the new room, and specifically new, big bed for good - naps and nighttime. Brett came up with a back-up plan (thank God for 2 parents :) that if she rejected the big bed she could sleep in her pack & play in her new room, which was great because then she still had a choice but it did not include the crib. The big thing was, we didn't want to buy a new crib for a 2+ year old. Luckily, it really worked well.

Kate has been amazing in her new room. She really loves it. We have been picking out decorations for it for almost 2 months, so I think she really feels ownership of it. Her favorite color is blue, so there is lots of teal everywhere. The furniture was mine, and also my aunt Susie's before that, and I'm so happy with it. Our FANTASTIC painter Graham said, "I'd like to give you a gift and paint your furniture for free." Uh, absolutely Graham, I love gifts, you can definitely paint the furniture for us. He did a great job and I'm really happy with it. (PS - if you need a painter, Graham is amazing and very reasonable- see his website at www.vfpainting.com)

The day before she moved, we threw her a "new room party." She wanted a monkey cake (the same as her birthday), so this time I made it pink and blue. We celebrated with the Pattersons, and they showed her their big beds. It was perfect - I think both the party and the big kid room tours were clutch. The first couple of times she pulled a typical Kate negotiation - "I think maybe my Pooh crib would be better for me for my nap." Nice try, cute girl, but we're going to your new big girl bed. Now she's excited to be in there, which is so lucky for us.

I'm really happy with the way Ellie's room has turned out. It feels totally different to me than when it was Kate's room; just new bedding and some new pictures, but it makes a big difference. I'm excited to be in there with her. Kate seems to get that it is now Ellie's room. Hopefully she's still good with it when Ellie is here. But so far, she is doing great. Lucky for us - what a blessing!

Celebrating Ellie

I received the best gift recently. My friends Alli and Sara threw me a shower for Ellie. I would probably have to say it was my favorite party ever. Let me tell you some of the reasons why:

First, they broke the "rule" that you don't have a shower for babies after the first born. The truth is, the best part of any shower is celebrating the baby who is coming into the world. I felt so blessed to get to celebrate Ellie uniquely. Secondly, the party really felt like a perfect celebration for who Ellie is. It was very feminine, held at the Bonbonorie Tea Room. It was light and fun. There were so many beautiful gifts just for her. It was awesome. Next, and probably the best part, was the invite list. It was very small and included my very favorite people. With my dearest friends there, it just felt right. Probably connected, I received the best presents ever. I'm not normally a "gift person", but every single gift was just delightful and perfect. I guess from the people who know me the best, that makes sense.



The theme of the shower was gifts just for Ellie, and that was perfect. I really felt compelled early on that Ellie shouldn't just have everything from Kate. Her room should feel different; she should have different things that reflect her. This shower made that happen in lots of fun ways.

Overall, it was such a beautiful event. It made me so happy. Happy to have such amazing friends. Happy to receive this beautiful new girl. Just happy.

Expectation

I'm definitely getting excited for Ellie's arrival. I had an experience the other day that really felt like a gift, so I thought I'd share.

Now that I really look pregnant, it's fun to get people's reaction. Of course it's nice to have people want to help you with things, like offer to carry something or open a door. But even better is when you can see that they are celebrating the joy of pregnancy with you. That's always cool, even from a stranger.

The other night, I went to Target to do some quick errands by myself around 8pm. (Aside - I was shocked at how many people had their little kids there, and then watched as they got frustrated that they weren't behaving - I wonder why!) Anyways, 3 times in the same trip, I interacted with people who were clearly excited for me. One woman was 25, she looked married, not yet ready for kids, but excited by the prospect. Another woman was 40 and was in the thick of raising her kids, and was excited about that newborn stage. The last woman was around 65, her kids were grown, and she looked at me with a fond remembrance and knowing joy of what was to come.

All of these women had an overwhelming look of love and joy in their eyes. They didn't know me at all, but they were excited by the expectation of a new baby.

My friend Josh, who some would say has a bit of a hard exterior, said recently when looking at his newborn son (his 5th child) that "babies are like crack to him." When I asked why, he said, "because this is as close as we are to perfection. So innocent and pure."

I can't say for sure what it was for each person, but there is something very exciting about the expectation of a newborn baby. It's a love that's very raw. While I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed logistically by the thought of a newborn, I am ready for that kind of love.

Tonight at 8pm

You should turn on NBC and watch "The Jensen Project." Our buddy Steven wrote the original script for the movie, and he wrote and sang a song that is in the movie. I'm really excited for him - this is his first time doing something like this. Randy Jackson from American Idol picked all the songs, so he was probably more excited about his song getting selected than even about the movie. Hopefully the movie is good - he didn't get to write the final screenplay since he's not yet in the writer's union. No matter what, I'm super excited.

Steven's blog is linked on my site, as is Dora's wedding blog Viva Bella events. His music is at stevemanuel.net. (Steven led Kate's dedication, in case you're trying to place him...he's also our pastor.) Here's what the Cincinnati paper wrote -

P&G movie storyteller's big chance
By John Kiesewetter • jkiesewetter@enquirer.com
July 15, 2010

When Steve Manuel of Oakley saw the helicopter with "The Jensen Project" logo, he realized that he finally made it as a movie writer.

"We made this thing up on the phone, and now hundreds of people were making our vision become a reality," says Manuel, 37, a singer-songwriter-screenwriter, about his February visit to the Montreal set for the TV movie.

Manuel and pal Jeff Davenport of Denver created the story for "The Jensen Project," which debuts Friday night on NBC and is the second family-friendly NBC movie produced by Procter & Gamble and Walmart.

LeVar Burton, Kellie Martin and Patricia Richardson star in the film about a rogue genius stealing cutting-edge research developed by the super-secret Jensen Project.

It turns into a "Spy Kids" story when two teen-agers (Alyssa Diaz and Justin Kelly) try to rescue the boy's parents.

Manuel and Davenport pitched about three dozen ideas to Brian Wells of Cincinnati's Front Porch Entertainment, which is producing the films with P&G. He's an executive producer on the film.

"P&G makes movies much the way it makes soap, finding out what people want and need. Then they put the ideas into testing and see how people react. The Jensen idea got traction, so we expanded on it," he says.

The part-time music leader at Crossroads church also wrote "Anything Is Possible" for the TV soundtrack album produced by "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson. They met while recording the movie trailer music last month in Los Angeles.

Manuel was awestruck walking into a Hollywood recording studio filled with session musicians who had played with Paul McCartney, Sting, Michael Jackson and Madonna. Then Randy Jackson asked him to join back-up vocalists on a track, after working with Manuel's song.

"After plugging away for 20 years as a singer-songwriter, to be able to write, sing and perform for Randy Jackson was pretty satisfying," he says.

Manuel has been helping friend Sam Hills prepare to open the High Five hair salon Aug. 19 in O'Bryonville. Manuel's wife, Dora, plans weddings and events through her Viva Bella Events company in Kenwood. They have a 9-month-old daughter.

Manuel says he and Davenport want to write more for Front Porch and the P&G-Walmart family friendly campaign. The companies plan to make at least two more films, says Jeannie Tharrington, P&G publicist.

P&G launched the movie series in April based on research showing that only 23 percent of U.S. viewers are satisfied with family-oriented programming.

To Manuel, it's as simple as the "You Are What You Eat" message on his T-shirt.

"We want to tell stories that inspire, teach life lessons, and model integrity that impacts all who watch them," he says. "When you have good stories of hope and caring, then that's what people will aspire to do."

More coming soon...

I promise I'm going to have some updates soon!

The third trimester hasn't been bad, but I've been napping during my normal blog time.

But expect to see more details on the following soon - A super sweet shower for Ellie, Kate moving to her big girl room, our almost complete construction projects, and more.

I promise, more soon! But we're all doing well!

Updates at 2

Kate had her 2 year check-up, and she is doing great on most things. Her only real challenges are things that are messy (such as drinking from a cup) because we've given her no exposure - that's what you get from 2 neat freaks :) She is off the chart on height (and head size :), but the doctor said sometimes with girls it's not totally predictive. Who knows why. But I doubt she'll be short.

Verbally she has exploded lately - it's so cool to see the way she puts her thoughts into word combinations she's never heard before. At this stage she should be able to put 2 words together that are a noun and a verb (like "puppy runs") but she is way past that. For instance at the store the other day she said, "I think it would be better for me to walk not have a cart." She's got the gift of persuasion for sure. Another example I thought was funny - yesterday something smelled really bad when we walked in the house. I couldn't figure out what it was. Kate walked in the kitchen and said, "Why it smells like poop in here, Mommy?" Excellent question, Kate; I don't know why. Where this is not super helpful is when she tells me all her opinions about what she would and wouldn't like to do - man, she's got a strong will! We're working through it though.



Overall things are going well. We're in swimming lessons right now, which are awesome! More on that later, but it is so fun to have a water baby! PS - how funny are these pics! I love that dancing one!