Reflecting on our Blessings on this Thanksgiving Day

This year we are especially thankful for the wonders that God has bestowed upon us.

We have seen an amazing transformation of an amazing child...from crawling to walking, from "goo-goos" and "gagas" to full out sentences and from dark hair and 20 lbs to blond hair and 28 lbs!!

From a wife who tirelessly gives to her family through her actions, patience and love, while her work sometimes wrings every bit of energy out of her; to a husband, who works hard to make things happen for his family and builds things anew so that we all can enjoy having a comfortable space.

To now...this extraordinary and exciting announcement!

Our journey begins again...and a new little being has become the next member of our family!

As the video says, the due date is June 10th, 2009. Emmy has been feeling very good through the last 12 weeks, albeit a little more tired than usual. As you'll see below, we've seen the little guy or girl once (on Halloween) and heard the heartbeat just this last Friday.

Frost Baby #2's first picture!

(the circle by his/her feet is the remenants of the yolk sack and naturally disappates)

We are so blessed to have another child entering our lives...a little freaked, but still excited to see and help another being grow into a fun, caring, and successful adult. I say freaked just because we will be equal in number with kids...and sometimes it takes two parents just to keep the one in line right now! We are very lucky and gracious though for God's gift or as the video says, "The Blessing".

Here's some shots of all of us on the night we found out...the look on Aidan's face is priceless!

Daddy shocked...and then happy!

The proof...and Aidan smiling for a new brother or sister for the first time!

So again we start the fun, "What is your baby doing this week?" links. This week, Week 12, the baby is the size of a lime! Also, here's a picture of what he or she may look like.

In the coming weeks I plan to put a name voting function on the blog with our choices for names (just like before)! Early front-runners are.....ahhh, you'll just have to wait until then!

So with that, a Happy Thanksgiving to all. Enjoy time with the ones you love and we pray that God touches you as he has touched us.

Have a great holiday everyone!
Ty, Emmy, Aidan, Allie.....and introducing, Baby Frost #2!!!!!

Yeah Daddy!

My new jets (well, not really, but figuratively)

Daddy found out today that he was selected for a new job! After interviewing last week, I had a pretty good feeling, but you never know. So today's news was very exciting to say the least! My new role is the F/A-18A-D Technical Integrator for the countries of Finland and Canada. I will be supporting their on-going Mid-Life upgrades which include: an improved radar, upgraded avionics, new countermeasures (used to thwart off enemy missiles) and many more.

The upside is that this job will really get me some exposure to our international customers and a lot of responsibility as I'll be the central point of contact for them at Boeing. The downside is that there will be a little travel over the next couple years. I expect at least one trip each to Finland and Canada, for durations of a week or so. SO...I'll have to be extra good to Mommy as she'll have the whole house under her wing for some of the time!

That's my quick note for tonight....we're heading out to Nashville bright and early Thanksgiving Morning. I'll post a special Thanksgiving Day note then!

Have a great night,
Ty, Emmy and Aidan

Getting into the Holiday Spirit!

We decided this year to put up all our Christmas stuff before (!) Thanksgiving! This is by far the earliest we've ever done it, but since we're heading to Grammy P's on Thursday for the holiday, we figured that we'd be too busy next weekend to do our annual tradition.

This year is really going to be a fun year for Aidan. He's been really getting into the season and LOVES Christmas lights. He was just frozen once we turned the tree lights on. He even "helped" us decorate the tree!! Here's a chronological photo time frame of his contributions!

First...we eye up the tree and where we're going to put the red beads.

Next...we find the perfect spot to put all the beads...and feel good about it!

Third...we decide that putting the beads on the tree and then pulling them off is much more fun!

Last...we decide to play Tug-of-War with Mommy as she pleads to keep the beads on the tree!!!

Allie, as you can see was less than amused...

So the tree is up and the Christmas decorations are filling our home. It's really the best time of year, our place looks so nice with all the snowmen and candles and angels. So deflating once the season is over...but we have many, many weeks before we have to do that! -

Today was a normal Sunday; Church, Target, Groceries. We got out some old toys and played for awhile. It's amazing how much Aidan has learned since he last played with these. His favorite animal now is the buffalo and he took turns today taking his buffalo, horse and cheetah to the little feeding troughs that came with the set. He would gently lean each animal over the food and say "eat" and then "all done, thank you!" So funny to watch. -

Also today, he started using the phrase, "Come here" and then making the motion with his whole hand. Funny thing is, he'd say "Come here, barbage truck" or "Come here, school bus"....and then walk over and get them. I'll have to get it on tape because we laughed and laughed today!
-
That's all for tonight...we're super excited to see all the Tennessee folks this weekend!
-
Have a great night,
Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Allie, too!

Go Buckeyes! Beat Michigan!

Even though we're all the way over here in Missouri...we're still pulling for the "home state" team of the Ohio State Buckeyes! Aidan's in the spirit today with the Buckeye outfit that Mr. and Mrs. Rimelspach got for him. Awesome!

....and.....our Christmas has come early...just in time for the big game!!! We decided to do a group gift this year and get a new TV and center. And it is awesome! The DirecTV guy just showed up so we can watch the game in High Definition. Here's our new setup!

Have a great Saturday and Go BUCKS!

Ty, Emmy and Aidan

Jibber...Jabber...and Barack Obama!?!?!

So Aidan sometimes goes on these vocal rants....I'm not sure what he's trying to say....but it sure is funny!

Have a great night,

Ty, Emmy and Aidan

Laundry Time!

Aidan has surely taken to pushing the laundry baskets around. Tonight we let him push it all the way from our bedroom to the laundry room. Normally as it slides across the porcelain tile kitchen floor, we'd hear some scraping sounds from the basket, but after a few minutes, all was quiet....I wonder why? Watch the video below:

We had a nice weekend here...pretty cold on Saturday but warm and windy today. In fact, I took advantage of the warmth and put up all our Christmas lights! I probably was the only one in St. Louis doing it, but as I figured, next weekend when its cold and crappy, all my work will be done! While I was up on the roof, Mommy and Aidan got some fun time together making chocolate chip cookies. We've discovered that Aidan loves chocolate chips...so we had to cut him off after two. Anyways, here's some fun pics:

That's all from here tonight...everyone have a great week!

Ty, Emmy and Aidan

Letters from Santa!

Emmy's hospital, St. John's Mercy Medical Center here in St. Louis, has a group of people writing "Letter's From Santa" for boys and girls (and others) this Christmas season.

The letters will be written by the St. John's Mercy NICUPS (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Parents) as a charity campaign to help with their very worthy cause. The NICUPS are a group of graduate parents from the St. John's Mercy Medical Center Neonatal Intensive Care Unit who provide support for families of babies in the NICU. Thanks to donations from supporters like you, we are able to provide assistance to these families -- from car seats, free books and gas cards to one-on-one talks and weekly parent support-group meetings.

By ordering your personalized Letter from Santa, you can help them make a difference in the lives of families with premature and critically ill newborns.

Letters will be mailed between December 16 and 18. Please share this great cause with friends, family and co-workers who may want their own Letter from Santa. Remember, these letters aren't just for kids! They're a great way to remind friends and family that Santa is watching!
-

To order your very own Letter from Santa please click on this website.

Thanks to all who participate, we've had several friends who's children had to reside in the SJMMC NICU, and this fundraiser really does help out these families.

Have a great day!
Ty, Emmy and Aidan

A Bear-y Good Night!

Since yesterday's post was sans-Aidan, here he is tonight in his new "Bearly Sleeping" Bear ("Beer") pajamas with his new Bear ("Beer") that he got from his Great Aunt Cynthia...all the way from Portland, Oregon!

We had a beautiful sunset here tonight...probably marks the last warm day of the year, as it was almost 65 degrees here today!

Have a great night,

Ty, Emmy and Aidan

Shhhh...Don't Tell Aidan (or Santa!)

So the "basement elves" have been working hard over the past three nights to put together Aidan's main Christmas present. Santa has enlisted these elves and myself to build Aidan's train table for the big day. Santa told me that he needed an engineer to figure out how to take two separate train track sets and combine them to make one cohesive and playable train layout. Being the efficient engineer that I am, I told Santa that we'd make it work, at no cost to him!

The track actually took quite a bit of trial and error, because 1. I had to make it all fit end-to-end and 2. because I only had a limited number of sharp curved pieces, shallow curved pieces, splits and straight pieces. All in all though, I think it came together awesome. I've been spending the last few nights puttying all the gaps and screwing/glueing down all the trees, buildings and track...cause you know that Pookie will probably enforce the "Godzilla" rule and try to wreck it up! Aidan is going to freak when he sees this thing Christmas morning. Here are a few sneak pictures.....

Have a great night!

Engineer Elf Ty

Cold Weekend!

Yikes...where did Fall go? Last week we were in the pool in Florida...now back to this? Cold wind and dreary skies...oh well...before long it will be Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then Aidan's big 2nd Birthday! Yeah!

We had a quiet weekend this weekend..little shopping here and there. We're gearing up for a big TV purchase as part of our Christmas this year, so we scoped out some of our choices and purchased the surround speakers and TV stand cabinet. Should be awesome, can't wait to hook up some Mario Kart Wii to it!

But I digress, what you all want to hear about is Mr. Aidan!

Well this week was definitely a banner week, here's all of Mr. A's amazing accomplishments:

1. We were told by his teacher's Megan and Beth that Aidan has been saying the following:

• "Aidan's Big Truck" and "Aidan's School Bus"
• "I color big trucks!" and "I color ambulances!"

2. This morning we got him up on the bed and Emmy asked where Daddy was, Aidan promptly said, "There he is!"

3. Colors and Counting have been amazing to say the least. He's able to count from 1 to 3 and knows every color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, black and white) and an associated item, i.e. frogs are green, ducks are yellow, etc. Also, we've learned that as we count together from 1 to 10 he gets 1 through 3, then 6 and then 9 and 10. So we're working on 4-5, and 7-8!!!

4. We've actually run out of body parts to teach him, which is ridiculous. He knows: hair, eye, eye brow, nose, teeth, tongue, chin, neck, shoulder, cheek, belly, back, chest, elbow, arm, wrist, fingers, thumb, leg, knee, ankle, foot, toes...and two for the "rear end"...booty and butt!

5. After Barack's historic win, we headed to the grocery where there was a picture of him on a magazine. Emmy asked Aidan, "Who is that?", without a look he said, "That's Barack Obama." Wow, he's probably only seen a picture of Barack once or twice.

6. And finally, the music to the musical "Wicked"....he actually is singing words to the song in step with the singers. There's one where they two lead singers combine to say "yes!" and Aidan is always right on cue... Hopefully Wicked comes back to STL sometime, because we'd definitely take him...he'd be enchanted.

So that's my rant and rave of all things Aidan, we're so proud of him and all the developing milestones that he's exceeding. With practice, I'm sure he'll continue to impress us all!

Here's a few pictures from this weekend:

Where's my ball?....there it is!!!

Touchdown Indianapolis! -

Playing Wii with Mommy and Daddy (P.S.: Grammy P, Daddy bowled a 279 tonight in Wii Bowling! Had 8 strikes in a row to finish up the round...we'll be ready for you in December!!!!)

Have a great night!

Ty, Emmy and Aidan
-

PS: I found this awesome keyboard player on YouTube...you got to check him out, his name is Ronald Jenkees, and he's a little weird but his music is awesome. This is my fav: click here.

Election Day 2008!

Well so far on this blog, we've tried to stay non-political, but this being one of the most important elections in history, we had to get into the swing. Here's our vote, courtesy of Mr. Aidan:

And a special song today for our candidate, courtesy of my man (not really) Cocoa Tea!

Have a great night,
Ty, Emmy and Aidan

Remembering Ne-Ne with a Celebration!

The Halbisen and Frost Families - November 2nd, 2008

We have returned from our 1000+ mile journey to memorialize our Ne-Ne. All said, the trip was a ton of enjoyment as we laughed and remembered her life. Plus, for the first time in a very long time the entire side of my family was together! We surely enjoyed seeing everyone again and Aidan loved all the attention he got!

Here are a few memories from our trip:

Any trip that starts at the airport is a fun trip for me and Aidan...here he is watching jets!

Our favorite airline, USA3000, has great flight attendants. Since we fly them so often (3x this year!) we know just about all of them. They again kept a middle seat open for Aidan so he would be more comfortable! Awesome!

About a half an hour before landing we decided to put on Aid's Elephant costume and basically give him the limelight of being the cutest kid on the jet. The flight attendant got on her PA and announced to the plane that all of them were "expected" to wear costumes, but only one did: Aidan Matthew in seat 2A! I held him up and the whole plane clapped! He did as well and was smiling from ear to ear! They snapped this picture for us...

Aidan the Elephant at 20,000 feet!

Upon landing we were met by Grammy T, Aunt Natalie and Uncle Spenso at the airport. I think Spencer was pretty impressed in seeing the little guy for the first time!

So the next morning I'm getting ready and I look over at Pookie. He's cutting his upper 2 year molars and loves chewing on his pacifiers...I guess he needed to chew on both sides!

Nice PJ's....thanks Grammy!

Ne-Ne's memorial service was very, very nice. My Mom, Aunt Natalie, my cousin Cora and Uncles Troy and Mike made all sorts of food for everyone to enjoy. Many of us and Ne-Ne's friends and family stood up and gave words of remembrance of the type of character she was and how we'll miss her very much. Through it all, I know that Ne-Ne was there in spirit enjoying her party with all of those who love her!

Here is Aidan, enjoying the company of a couple chicky-babes, aka his cousins Sofia and Emma!

Two random shots...Aid with Aunt Nat and overlooking Ft. Myers.

Sunday, we had a day just to enjoy the company of each other...the weather was gorgeous so what do you do in Florida? Go to the POOOOOL!!!

Eying up the Pool and making his way in!

He actually has started to kick-kick-kick when we were swimming...awesome! And just laughing it up with Aunt Natalie in the right picture!

Aidan with all the cousins and with Grammy T and Sofia....how fun!

Finally a great shot with Great Grandpa Ernie (or Bert as I called him)! We love you Grandpa!

All in all, it was sad that we had to make this trip, but...the fun times we enjoyed with our family was everything that Ne-Ne could have ever wanted. And I feel stronger today than ever that she is in peace knowing that we all celebrated in honor of her life.

We love all of you in Florida and beyond...

Have a wonderful night,

Ty, Emmy and Aidan

Halloween!

Well, due to the circumstances this year, our Halloween came early in the afternoon...

But our Elephant was happy as can be!

Later!

Ty, Emmy and Aidan