Malachi's Second Halloween

We were invited to a Halloween party and decided to go in thematic costume, the bee keeper, flower and bumble bee. Malachi enjoyed trick-or-treating, he wanted to go into everyone's house though when they opened their door to give out the candy.

A Big Brother's Love

Malachi is so very affectionate towards his baby sis, our prayer is that this doesn't change when she is outside the womb. :) It will be fun to see how he reacts when he can feel her move!

Pumpkin Patch

Malachi and I met up with some friends at the pumpkin patch. He had fun climbing on and picking up the pumpkins but was most interested in all the rides that he did not go on. :)

It's a Girl!

Kurtis and I went to Kaiser bright and early this morning for our ultrasound and were told we are having a girl! Of course the tech can't tell us anything else about how she looks but she was moving her arms and legs around and opening and closing her mouth as if she was talking. I have an appointment next week to go over the results of the ultrasound and we pray that our baby girl is healthy. I am now about 17 1/2 weeks along in the pregnancy. They will also finalize my due date according to how the baby measured. Right now my due date is March 25th.

I felt her (that's fun to say) move for the first time on October 11th (I remember the date because that was Malachi's 18 month 'birthday').

As far as a name goes...the jury is still out on the first name but we would like to give her the middle name Esther after Kurtis' grandma. She was a strong Christian woman and played a significant role in laying that foundation in Kurtis' life as a young boy.

No, Yes and Thank you

well a few weeks ago kurtis had an interview with a company down in costa mesa. he felt the interview went very well and was feeling hopeful about getting a call. they called back and informed him that they wanted him to take a test, a personality test of sorts, and that was going to factor into their decision to hire him or not. so he took the test and we waited to hear some good news.

on monday of last week he was called by one of the owner's of the company. he was told that due to the results on the test they had decided he would not be a good fit for their company. we were incredibly disappointed to say the least! a few minutes after the phone call kurtis decided he would call back and ask about a lingering clarification about the test. when he did he was routed to the voice mailbox so he just got to leave a message.

tuesday morning we both woke up feeling pretty defeated being that this job hunt thing has not been the easiest. we tried to remind ourselves that God must have a bigger picture that we just can't see and therefore there is something better out there.

late tuesday afternoon the owner returned kurtis' call. he informed kurtis that he was very impressed with kurtis' relentless follow up. he had gone back and looked at the test results and had been a little baffled by one glaring point that it made. it had 'determined' that kurtis did not have a positive outlook on things. yes...you read that correct and for anyone who knows kurtis you may now pick your jaw up off the floor (as i had to do). i can safely say that if there is any critique of my husband it is that he is sometimes overly optimistic, pessimism does not run in his blood! well the owner was able to sense that in the interview and hence was a bit baffled by these test results...

well to make a long story short (if you want to hear the unedited version ask kurtis and i am sure he will be happy to tell you) the owner then offered him the job!
Thank you Lord!

tomorrow is kurtis' first day at his new job. we are so grateful and thankful for all of those that have prayed for us in this process. please continue to pray for us as we make this transition. kurtis will continue to work the contracting stuff to help us make the financial transition and also because he is in the middle of a few jobs that he is committed to seeing through till the end.

i am absolutely baffled by this whole discipline thing. malachi is becoming more and more his own individual and is pushing the limits and boundaries and i feel as though i am completely confused at how to best discipline.
i was spanked as a child and don't see it as wrong however i am constantly toying with how and when that should be used. it is funny to me how you can talk to 20 different moms and get 20 different ideas for how to deal with the misbehavior, whether is be time-outs, flicks, simply redirecting or something else.
i thought the first year of malachi's life was so easy, though i got very little sleep. all i had to do was focus on bonding, loving, caring for, etc. it is so exciting to see his little personality developing and yet it's scary cause my responsibility as a parent is so much weightier.
i would love to have a candid discussion with a group of moms to really dive down into the topic of discipline, but is that even possible? i find that to be one of the most touchy of subjects with very strong opinions on every side.
and frankly there may not be just one answer. we are all very different human beings. but it sure would be nice for there to be a book that could give you the right way to handle every disobedient infraction.