We had our little boy!!!

We are proud to announce the arrival of our precious little boy named Cohen Christopher Clover arriving at 12:39 am on Thursday morning, September 25, 2008. He was 8 lbs 4 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long. Chris took the red-eye from California and we went to the hospital that afternoon. When we got there, we weren't sure if we would get in for an induction, but was able to and got a room at 5:00 pm. I received pitocin at around 8:00 pm and had him the early morning Thursday. The labor went great especially with the help of my friend, epidural!! I only pushed about 3 times and he was out!! This whole year had been so eventful and I can't wait to tell Cohen all about it when he gets older!!! I have attached pictures of the girls with Cohen, but please look at our photo gallery to see all the pictures!!

Daddy comes Home!!!

One day before Chris was headed home, we got power!! We hurried to wash clothes and clean the house. We were so excited to have him home and Avery was out of school for 2 weeks so he got to spend sometime with both girls. The bad thing about his arrival was that he would have to leave 3 days later for training. Chris's company would only pay for him to come back to have the baby if he had a reason (i.e. training). Chris had scheduled training in Houston, but because of the storm it had to be moved to California. Chris would have to leave Sept 22 and come back Sept 24. The day we were scheduled to have the baby!! My actual due date was Sept 27. I was confident that Chris would still be here for our son's arrival because God had brought us through so much..and knew he would not have Chris be gone for his only son's arrival. God was faithful!!

Hurricane IKE comes to Humble, TX!!!

If my life wasn't crazy enough with one child starting school, another going to mother's day out, and another one on his way in about 2 weeks, and my husband living in China...here comes a hurricane directly our way!!! This hurricane was called Ike and came ashore as a high category 2 at about 2:00 am on Saturday, Sept 13. My sweet dad came in to help take care of the girls, get supplies, and prepare the house. My dad brought a generator as well as a/c unit to help us when we loose electricity to help combat the 100 degree weather. We decided to stay at a friends house because we had already had a tree fall on our house about 2 years ago with just a bad thunder storm and did not want to risk another tree falling on our house with 2 little girls in our house. We decided to focus it on being a slumber party with their girlfriends and not a hurricane so they wouldn't get too scared. The girls for the most part enjoyed themselves while the adults awaited what would come next as we endure the storm. We lost power at about 9:00 pm Friday night and would not get it back for 5 days and some people in our neighborhood went 12 days before getting it back. The storm hit Humble at around midnight. It was very loud and scary...we wondered what would be left the next day and how much damage it would do to the community. The adults had a hard time sleeping with the heat and the loud noise of the storm. It oftened felt like a freight train was right outside. At about 4:00 am, the storm all of a sudden became calm..we thought could this be the eye of the storm? It was and it lasted for almost 2 hours. The kids and the adults all went out and took pictures as we experienced the eye. It was strange, the sky was clear and the winds had come to a complete halt. We took pictures, so I will try to add them to our gallery as soon as I get them from my friend. It was quite an experience! The aftermath was not as bad as anticipated and our house survived with no trees on our house...amazing!! I took pictures of our neighborhood and you can see them on our gallery. One of the blessings of the storm was to feel the since of community. Everyone was out helping each other. One of our ministers from church got power back very quickly and had a bunch of people over (50 people) for dinner for a whole week. Everyone brought their food that was defrosting and we ate like kings. It was a difficult time, but we all made it. I would have not made it without my dad here. He was my angel that carried our family through the storm. Thanks DAD!! The other thing that was difficult was all our phone lines were down, no internet, no land line, and no cell phone. It made it hard to talk to Chris in China, but I was able to call me on skype when we went to our ministers house.

Avery gets a new teacher!!

Two weeks into school, Avery came home and said she was no longer going to have Mrs. Davis as a teacher and that her class was going to be divided up. I first asked if she was joking, but she wasn't. It turns out the kindergarten classes add too many teachers and not enough students. The district had asked a teacher to step down and teach a 3rd grade. Avery's teacher agreed and Avery's class would be divided into the remainder of the kindergarten classes. When I first found out, I was pretty upset because Avery was going through enough change this year and now she was having to change classes. When I asked how she felt she said she would be okay, but was hoping to have one of her good friends, Madison, in her class. Avery did not have Madison in her class, but she had about 4 people in her class that she already new and her new teacher is Mrs. Hale. I met her and she seems really nice. The first day of school for her new class, Avery came up sick, but was able to go the next day. She was very hesitate and told me was biting her nails. I walked her in and she seemed like she would be okay once she saw someone she knows. Later that day I asked her how she likes Mrs. Hale and Avery said she was perfect!