Little Moments with the Laneys

Photo Dumping/Update

2012-01-28T16:10:00.001-06:00

My sweet aunt, Deda, checks my ailing blog daily. I mean even when I don’t blog for a month. She is here. Looking for pictures of the babies. So Deda, this is for you!

I finally unloaded pictures from my camera onto my computer. The transferring cable has been lost for weeks, and today my husband nonchalantly says, “Why don’t you use the SD card on the front of the computer I just installed a few weeks ago?” Oh….well, that would have helped! Truthfully, I do not have the time/energy/desire to give you a caption for all of these pictures. I’m sure you can add one yourself if you need. Enjoy, Deda!

Starting in November….lots of fun. Hannah turned 1. Lots of Christmas card photo attempts. Thanksgiving fun.

Moving to December…Met Santa, Artie moved in for a month, had Christmas celebrations, remembered our Savior, celebrated Mamaw’s 90th birthday party, saw zoo lights, it snowed (and was so cold!), Hannah took her first steps, and made lots of memories!

And, finally, January 2012….Visited Mamaw’s house, played inside, and Drew got a booster seat!

So now I’m caught up!

Drew at 3 1/2

2012-01-28T15:26:00.001-06:00

I can’t believe my boy is half way to 4 years old. I used to think moms of 4 and 5 year olds knew EVERYTHING. Well, I was either completely wrong or I have a WHOLE LOT of learning left to do in 6 short months!

Drew has changed so much, even over the last 6 months. His attention span is longer, he is increasing in his ability to problem solve independently, he’s curious as a monkey, and he’s….shall I even say it? He’s calmer.

He and Hannah really love each other (most days….). He loves to correct her when she’s doing something wrong, give her her passy, bring her her favorite toys, give her pieces of food, picky up her cup off the floor multiple times per meal, and make her laugh. Most of the time they play really well together, and it does my heart good!

Random things as of late:

-The other day I informed him over a snack that people used to not have dryers; they hung their clothes outside to dry. That led to explaining all the other things people used to not have: washing machines, TVs, computers, lights, inside plumbing, etc. He was amazed. When he wants to discuss it, he’ll say, “Talk about that, mama. When some people didn’t have dryers. Talk about that.” So we talk about that.

-I try to give my kids a desire to think on heaven and Jesus. Some of the fruits are beginning to show, and it tears me up all the time. Drew now says all the time, “Mama, do you want me to go to heaven? You want me to go right now? You know what, Mama, I’m gonna go to heaven and see Jesus and then he’s gonna send me back to you!”

-He loves David and Goliath, Noah and the Ark, and talking about Jesus on the cross.

-His prayers go something like this lately: “Dear God, Thank you for the people in Japan (remember the tsunami like a year ago? He’s still praying about that!), thank you for our food, thank you for refrigerators to put our food in (see above history lesson). Please help Daddy to feel better and Mama not to burp anymore (pregnancy indigestion, thanks). Thank you that Jesus died on the cross and got nails in his hands and his feet and his tires (we get more nails in our tires than anyone I know). Help me to go to heaven (pronounced “hea-bin”). In Jeeeeeesus name, Amen!”

-He loves to kiss the baby in my belly and asks every day, “Is the baby ready yet?” He says it’s a girl, but has no suggestions for a name. That’s not surprising as his toy dog is named “dog.”

-He sometimes has a problem with putting his money in the collection plate. A wise woman instructed me not to force him to give. God loves a cheerful giver at all ages, so we talk about it every week and give him the choice.

-He asks me during weekly communion about Jesus dying on the cross. When someone is baptized, he tells me he wants to be baptized, too, cause he loves Jesus and wants to go to heaven. Sweet boy!

-He loves to sing in worship. It’s very loud, the wrong words, and totally off key. And it’s so beautiful!

-He is a sponge when he wants to be. He knows all of his letters, most of the sounds, examples of words that start with lots of letters, all his basic shapes and colors, can recognize his name, count to 15, and is getting better every day at counting out certain amounts of an item. We’re still working on sequencing, and he has no interesting in coloring/drawing/writing letters or numbers, etc. So we don’t force it. It will come!

He loves: playing outside with someone, the bounce house, going to the movies (only been twice—Pooh and some Arthur Elf movie), Chuck E Cheese, painting, playing in the mud, riding his Jeep and 4Wheeler, his booster seat, macaroni and cheese, chocolate milk, juice, suckers, gum, pizza, ice cream, Candyland, Don’t Wake Daddy, big boy underwear, helping Daddy with anything, screaming, running, Thursday school, “big songs” (adult worship service), singing, Winnie the Pooh, Dora, Thomas the Train, Elmo, Veggie Tales, and visiting with any family member who will take time with him.

He melts my heart, this boy of mine. I’m seeing the fruits of lots of labor from the last few years START to pay off. And it is very sweet and satisfying! It is still constant teaching and training all day long most days, but God is showing me that this is normal. This is grace. This is his will. And I’m molding into that will, sometimes with lots of struggling. But God is good. He is faithful. And he can lead my boy to Him amid all of our mistakes.

I love my Drew-man and know the next 6 months are going to continue to be so much fun with ball of joy and energy!

We Have an Announcement…

2012-01-24T09:06:00.001-06:00

BABY #3 is coming!!!!

I’ve known for almost 8 weeks now and already posted on facebook, so I figured since I have a few minutes to spare this morning, I’ll make it official in blogging world and jot down the things I want to remember.

How about a Q&A session to mix things up a bit?

How far along are you? You know, my doctor keeps bouncing me all over the place, so I’m just gonna say what the ultrasound tech agreed with me on. I’m 11 1/2 weeks right now and due around August 12. The tech and the paperwork can’t seem to agree, so I’m going with the ultrasound tech.

Was it planned? God holds our plans, even though we weren’t going to start trying until the spring. We are thrilled that he has blessed us in this way!

How did you find out? I was finishing up some Christmas shopping in Target in early December around 10:30pm one night. As I was pushing the basket, the nausea rolled over me. I immediately thought, “I’m either pregnant or I’m getting a stomach bug.” When I got home, Andrew was asleep on the couch, so I quietly unloaded my items and headed to take a test. I sat it on the ground, fully expecting that I was going to be up all night with a stomach bug. I blinked several times. I slowly picked it up off the floor. As faint as could be, there was the second line showing up. I was shocked in the best way possible. I went and sat next to my sleeping hubs. “Honey, are you up?” I asked. “No,” he mumbled. “Well, you better wake up because we’re pregnant.” I smiled. His eyes shot open. “HUH?!” he said. I showed him the test, we talked about how excited we were…..and then he went back to sleep. Men. So I called my sister to share the good news with her. Little did either of us know that SHE would find out TWO DAYS later that she was also pregnant!!!! So we’re having a ball sharing our pregnancy issues and complaining to each other with normal stuff that no one else wants to hear about!

Age differences? Hannah and baby number 3 will be 21 months apart. Drew and baby number 3 will be 4 years apart.

Do you want a boy or girl? I’ll skip the “I just want a healthy baby” answer since that’s everyone’s primary hope, right? Due to the age difference, I would love for Hannah to have a sister close in age like I had growing up. But I’m 110% comfortable in having another boy if that’s what God blesses us with. I know he knows far better than I do! And Hannah would be very well protected with 2 boys in our family! (Sidenote: I dreamed I had an ultrasound the other night and it was a girl! Andrew has full bets on a sweet boy!)

Are you done after this one? Likely not. For some reason we both want a large family (not 19), but we’ll see what God puts on our hearts as we journey down the path of having 3.

Reaction from the kids? Hannah has no idea, and Drew is thrilled. He asks every morning, “Is the baby ready yet?!” He recently told my very pregnant (38 weeks) friend, “My mama is gonna have a baby, but it’s not ready yet. Her tummy has to get REEEEEAL big like yours!”

Where are you going to put it? Yeah, you probably didn’t have that question, but that was my initial thought after seeing those two pink lines! We have a 3 bedroom house with an unfinished area upstairs. We’re planning on finishing the upstairs area very soon (the hubs has already gotten the floor insulation done and most of the boards screwed in the floor). Hopefully, Drew will move up there and new baby number 3 will occupy his room downstairs. Another napping baby next to the kitchen and ice maker….that’s the bane of my existence! (Note to those without children yet reading this blog: don’t do that. Crazy people who had FABULOUS sleepers will tell you that your baby will “get used to it.” FAT LIE. They might not. Take both my kids, for example. So do yourself a favor and don’t put your kids’ rooms next to a major noisemaker in your house. You’ll kick yourself at every shortened naptime for doing so.)

Symptoms so far? I dealt with a fair bit of nausea and a larger dose of indigestion in the beginning, but around 9 weeks it subsided and my life has gotten back to semi-normal. My main difference is that instead of going to bed at 1am and sleeping until 8:30am, as was customary, I’m now falling asleep before 10pm most nights and waking around 7:30am….in a good mood. Refreshed. Ready to start the day. My mother can’t believe it. Neither can I. But it’s working out really well and I’m liking being up and ready when the kids awaken.

Whew….I think that covers it! Again, we’re SO excited, and I’m just praying that God keeps pruning me as a mom as I open my heart to his will. I know that he is faithful and he will see me through in this incredible work of motherhood!

Hannah @ 14 Months

2012-01-23T08:46:00.004-06:00

*This post is pictureless for now. Blogger will not allow me to upload any and my kids are ready to be released from their respective beds. Trust me--she's cute.

Poor child number 2. Her blog posts are already feeling the effects of not being the firstborn. So it goes!

Hannah turned 14 months old on January 14....9 whopping days ago. I could wait to do her 15 month post, but there have been so many happenings worth writing down recently, that I decided to proceed with this post. (Stating the obvious much?)

We now have a full-time walker! Miss Thing is toddling around everywhere, with the occasional crash, but always bounces right back up. With this newfound freedom, she is able to get wherever her little heart desires! The other day I found Drew and Hannah in the bathroom; Drew was tearing Hannah off chunks of toilet paper, and she was shoving them down into the water. Thank goodness I had just cleaned the toilet the day prior. Ever since then, if she sees a bathroom door cracked open, she tears off toward it! With her new ability comes the desire to want down in public situations; she's no longer content to be carried around everywhere! She wants in on the action!

Hannah is an eater. She'll eat just about anything we give her except Stouffer's Cordon Chicken Bleu (but, in her defense, Drew nor Andrew ate it either). She loves breads, sweets, and juice, so I'm thinking she takes after her mama. ;) But she also loves green beans, carrots, potatoes, lima beans, peas, goldfish, animal crackers, muffins, puffs, and nutrigrain bars. She can chug a sippy cup of juice in record time. She can also chunk said cup onto the floor even faster. She nurses twice a day: once in the morning and once at bedtime.

Filling and dumping out containers of toys/DVDs/stuff is another favorite pastime. Our poor bins on our TV table are going to need to be replaced pretty soon. Hannah thinks they're her small toyboxes made for climbing, carrying, and emptying. She loves to open DVD cases, empty out the wipes container, and play with the shape sorter (and she's pretty good at it!).

Bath time makes her giddy!

She signs two words now: "more" and "all done" (Hands in the air) or now becoming known as "Praise the Lord, Hannah!"

She loves to get on all fours and put her head on the ground and have her back scratched. Funniest thing to us!

She still uses passy at every bedtime/naptime/carride/when upset. She also has her favorite pink/brown blanket she sleeps with. And when she's tired, she goes and gets both items and comes to you. ;) She sleeps from about 8pm-9am (or later) and takes a nap around 12:30 every day. Her naps are FINALLY lasting longer than 45 minutes. Last week she took several 2-3 hour naps. PLEASE let that continue!

She's fully in a 12 month size clothes, but sometimes can fit into an 18 month. I have no idea how much she weighs or anything because I'm a major slacker parent who needs to take her child for a check up. :) She's still in a size 4 diaper and a size 4 shoe. I bought her some squeaker shoes last week (yay Ebay!) and she LOVES to walk in them. She thinks the squeak is the funniest thing.

I love my sweet girl so much. She brings a gentleness and softness to our family that fits in so perfectly. We love the way she gives kisses, lays her heads on our chests, snuggles on the couch (momentarily), and smiles that big grin that takes up her whole face!

Happy 12 (er...13) months, Hannah!

2011-12-12T23:16:00.003-06:00

Hannah,

I'm so late on your 12 month post. Like...almost a month late! But I wanted to write in a few things for memory's sake!

The day after your birthday, 11/15/11, you walked with the walker for the first time like you'd been doing it for months!
Today, 12/12/11 you took your first unassisted steps!

Your newest favorite "thing" is to take a huge sip of your milk/juice and then open your mouth and let it all run out. You love it. Me...notsomuch. ;)

You're whiny with your brother. If he barely touches you or tries to hug you, you look at me and start whining as if to say, "Mama!!!! Don't take your eyes off me! He might hurt me!!!!"

You really like a few of the ornaments on the bottom of the tree, but you're FAR BETTER about the tree than Drew was his first mobile year. I'm not complaining!

You love to babble on and on. You say mama very clearly, dada very clearly, and bye bye when you feel like it. You know that I'm mama and Andrew is dada.

Your smile is absolutely precious and stretches from one ear to the other! Combine it with those baby blues, and I melt!

You love to shake your head to the right and left. But you REALLY love it when people do it back to you. It makes you laugh so hard that you get the hiccups!

Sitting in the fireplace is one of your favorite pastimes. Well, that and climbing the stairs. We finally had to put the baby gate up after you toppled down a few steps one day--whoops!

Favorite foods: goldfish, puffs, carrots, FRENCH FRIES (note: you are a french fry monster!), apples, pears, bananas, any bread, potatoes, potato soup, spaghetti.

Favorite activities: climbing stairs, pulling toilet paper off the roll, taking books off shelves, playing in the pantry, getting in the fireplace, playing in Drew's room (when he's not putting blankets on your head), pretending to play the Wii, pulling up on everything, walking with the walker, and taking a bath

Least favorite activities: diaper changes (let me go!), clothing changes (let me go!) and long car rides (let me out!)

You're so much fun, Hannah! Your cuddles are the best right before naptime/bedtime and your sweet, soft hands make me want to keep you little forever.

We love you, sweet baby!

Just Wow.

2011-11-30T15:50:00.001-06:00

Our days around here are normally pretty laid back, boring, and mundane. It’s how we like it. However, today has been one for the books. My two angels have decided to team up on me to see if they can get me in the loony bin before Christmas…or maybe before December. They’ve done a fantastic job.

The 3 year old has been especially out of character these last two days. It’s as if he’s 2 years old again and into EVERYTHING and rather defiant. I guess he’s setting new boundaries. I have no idea. Whatever it is, here’s some of what happened today:

Drew repeatedly was sneaking Hannah’s passy out of her mouth and putting it into his mouth, a known no-no. That was a lot of fun to rediscipline him every single time for the same offense in like an hour. *sigh* Messes were around every corner. Nothing unusual right?

In a brief chaos-free moment, I thought to myself, “It’s quiet. I’m running to bathroom ALONE for 30 seconds.” No sooner than I got in there did Hannah start screaming bloody murder. Upon investigation, Drew admitted to chunking a huge cardboard book at her head. Lovely. Add “battery” to his list of newly found hobbies. I put him in time out and carried Hannah with me to the bathroom. She wanted to hold my paddle hairbrush. I gave it to her to calm her down. Only seconds later did she pick up on this battery thing and whack me right on my eye/cheek. There may or may not have been a woman in the fetal position on my floor with tears at this point and a pleading with the Lord to please go easy on me. He obviously thought I was superwoman today!

After my counseling session, I left Drew and Hannah in Hannah’s room to play. When I returned just a few minutes later, they were in Drew’s room, and the only stitch of clothing remaining on either of them was Drew’s shirt. Upon inspection of Hannah’s room, there were the clothes…and a large pile of pee….on her puddling, handemade curtain. Nice! I then accidentally stepped in the soppy carpet with my barefoot. Gag me.

We got out of the house, ran an errand, and just rode around town for an entire 30 minutes of Elmo to play on the DVD system. We returned home and I discovered something else in Hannah’s room. Crumbled up bread buns all over the floor. Guess who? Drew. Again. So he had to vacuum and clean that up.

10 minutes later he walks in my bedroom with a diaper saying he wants to use diapers now. I explain that, “No, you’re a big boy now. I’m so proud that you’re in underwear! Only babies wear diapers, so we’re not putting you in one.” No sooner than those words dripped off my tongue did I hear the undeniable sound of liquid hitting a diaper. Yep. He was peeing in that diaper that was draped around his crotch. I scolded him and disciplined him and sent him to his room for a nap, since he so desperately wanted to be a baby. As I’m walking through the kitchen Miss Hannah has managed to rip out every wipe in the wipes case AND spread my entire recipe box and its contents all over the kitchen floor.

I told my husband over the phone. All he could say was, “Wow. Just wow.” That’s how I feel, too. Tomorrow is a new day, right? Right….? It better be….

How to Make a Deco Mesh Wreath

2011-11-28T22:59:00.002-06:00

Disclaimer: 1) I am not a creative guru. 2) If there is a “proper” way of doing a mesh wreath, I do not know it. 3) It will be clearly demonstrated that I am also no photographer. Shall we begin?

Not long ago I discovered God’s greatest gift to women who would like to be creative but don’t possess that gene—at least not dominantly. The gift: deco mesh. It’s a ribbon that is made very wide (about 21”) and comes in several yards (5-10 on a spool) for cheap (5-10 bucks/roll) unless you are a sucker and buy it at overpriced boutique stores for 3 times that much. Don’t do that.

If you can get your hands on a roll or two of this stuff, do it! You can make fabulous wreaths; I’ve seen these wreaths sell for $60-$100 when in actuality, your investment in it is only $10-$15!You can easily and cheaply make a wreath for every season on the calendar. Your husband will love it because it’s cheap and you’ll love it because you’ll feel like the interior designer in you just burst forth, covered in deco mesh. These are two I’ve made recently:

The example I’m providing here is a Christmas wreath, but obviously you can do any color combination to make it suit your event (baby shower, sports teams, Easter, spring, fall, etc). I feel the need to repeat my disclaimer again, but I won’t. Just go read it again……Back? Okay. Here we go…

First of all, you’ll need some sort of wreath form. They make these fancy ones that look like a rounded wire hanger with wired branches on them especially for deco mesh, but I can’t ever find those in the stores. So instead, I tried it out on a grapevine wreath. Two precisely. If you’re going to use the grapevine method, you’ll need two grapevine wreaths, one slightly smaller than the first, so that they fit inside one another like this:

You can find these for $3-$4 each at Hobby Lobby, JoAnns, Michaels…maybe even WalMart. I have no idea about the last store because it’s my life goal to go in that place as little as possible. Moving on…

Then you’ll need: floral wire ($2), scissors, approximately 9-10 yards of deco mesh. You can use two different colors (approx. 5 yds of each color) or just one color. Live on the wild side and take a pick. Then you’ll need things to decorate your wreath with: little signs for the middle of the wreath, picks of berries, balls, etc, and/or ribbon. The possibilities are endless!

Here’s what I had:

Go ahead and cut yourself lots of pieces (maybe 12-15) of 4-5 inch long floral wire to use as you make the wreath.

Let’s get started!

1. Place your smaller wreath inside your larger wreath. Pull out any huge chunks of leaves, but don’t go crazy worrying about it. You’re going to cover most of it up. You’ll see above I left most of the leaves on mine.

2. Cut a strip of floral wire, long enough to wrap around both of your wreaths, pull it taunt, and twist until tight.

3. Continue doing this 3 other times to your wreath. You’ll have a tie at 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock and 9 o'clock. You now have a wreath form.

4. Now comes the fun part. Pull out that roll of deco mesh and pick up the end piece. Take all 21” wide and fold it into loose accordion folds or just scrunch it together.

5. We are going to attach this scrunched up mesh to the outer (bigger) wreath. Simply slide a piece of cut floral wire (4-5 inches) under a section of grapevine and bring it back up, like a U. Lay your mesh on top of that U and twist tightly. See how that’s attached? That’s how the rest of our attaching will be from here on out. If you got that part, you can make this wreath—no problem!

6. DO NOT CUT THE DECO MESH. Gather several inches of your deco mesh from the spool. I honestly don’t know how much. Just play with it and see how much is going to make a good loop when you attach the next piece. Here’s an example picture.

7. When you’ve make a decent sized loop, gather the material into a scrunch (I have no better word to use here) and place it on the outer wreath where you’d like it to go. Place a piece of your cut wire under the grapevine and back on the other side of the mesh like so….

8. And twist, twist, twist to tighten. This is what you should have now:

Your first loop!

9. DO NOT CUT THE MESH. Now we’re going to repeat the process: gather several inches of mesh, scrunch it, and place it on the INSIDE wreath this time. Place the floral wire and tighten. This is what you should have now:

10. Repeat the steps (gather mesh, scrunch it, and attach) but this time on the outer wreath.

11. Continue attaching the scrunches on the inside, then outside, then inside, outside, etc until you get back to the 12 o’clock position. It really doesn’t matter if you end back up on the outer wreath or inner wreath. Cut the deco mesh. We’re going to cover up the ugly, open stuff!

12. Pick up your second color mesh if you’re going to use it or continue with the same color. Gather it into a scrunch and attach to the wreath in an open space on your wreath. I started mine to the right of the original attachment of the green mesh. See the two attachments?

13. Here is an important step: After attaching, gather your mesh for your loop, but attach it on the INSIDE wreath this time in an open space. See the open space next to the ending green attachment? That’s where I made my first red loop end. This covers up that ugly, open space.

14. Now you are basically going to zig zag (inside, outside) that second mesh, repeating our steps (gather, scrunch, attach). Just work with the mesh to fill in any gaps. Play around with it. If you can’t go “in, out, in out” every time, but see a way to cover a “hole” and make it look good, go for it. Your wreath should eventually look something like this:

15. Cut the second mesh close to the ending floral wire to complete the mesh part of the wreath:

16. Now we’re going to add pizzazz to your wreath! If you want to add ribbon, it’s a trial and error process, kind of like the mesh (but easier!). Just attach with the floral wire and start draping the ribbon where you like it. I don’t recommend cutting the ribbon because it can look unnatural when you’re done. Just loop it around and use floral wire where needed.

Now your wreath looks like this!

17. Now add your picks. Feathers, balls, whatever. Or add your little sign in the middle. The sky is the limit! I love picks because you can just stick them into the grapevine securely. I’ve never had a problem with things falling off. My final product:

It is SO cute on the front door!

Deco mesh withstands weather really well, so it can be used indoors OR outdoors. And once you start using deco mesh, you might apply it to everything!

Any questions? Leave them in the comment box!

The Mouths of Babes

2011-10-29T10:19:00.002-05:00

Two things were said recently that I want to jot down for memory's sake:

1. "Hannah, I'm so glad God gave you to me," Drew said as he lovingly stroked Hannah's back and hair. My heart melted inside me. "Precious children," I thought. Then Drew piped up, "Mama, can I pee on Hannah?" There went the moment...

2. Yesterday Drew again was rubbing Hannah and said, "Hannah, I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. Love is patient; love is kind, Hannah." There was no talk of urine involved and it was the sweetest thing! You may recognize the quote from "Love You Forever," a favorite children's book of mine and of course the quoting of 1 Corinthians. I loved this!

Hannah at 11 Months

2011-10-22T12:48:00.001-05:00

Hannah Banana,

How is it that you are going to be 1 year old in a month?! I feel like your babyness is slipping away before I can fully enjoy it! You’ve done a few new things this month: you’re pulling up on any and everything, you climbed 2-3 stairs and got caught just before hitting the floor, and you can stand unassisted for a few seconds.

You still have 6 teeth: 4 on top, 2 on the bottom. The funny part is the top 2 side teeth are coming down faster than your two middle teeth, so when you smile big you resemble a vampire. It’s so funny!

You still take 2 naps a day, one in the morning about 1-2 hours after waking and one in the afternoon around 2-3. You’ve slept through the night for about the last 2 weeks (woohoo!); you go down around 8:00-8:30 and sleep until about 9am. I’m so very pleased with that schedule!

You’re in the pull-up-on-mama’s-leg, hold-me-all-the-time stage. That makes some days a little more difficult cleaning-wise, but I remember Drew’s phase like this didn’t last too long. I need to remember to cherish it with you!

You mostly eat table food, only eating pureed if I need a quick fix for an outing. You really like refried beans, carrots, green beans, puffs, bread, applesauce, peaches, pears, bananas, and yogurt. And you LOVE to drink milk or juice out of a straw. You’re still breastfeeding about 4 times a day. I know my time nourishing you will come to an end soon, but I can’t believe how fast that has happened.

The day of putting your hair up is nearly over. You rip those rubberbands and bows out of your hair before I can get them in well! And if I actually get you to the van with your hair up, by the time we arrive at our destination, it looks like a mop is atop your sweet head!

You are such a girl! You’re quite dramatic at times. For example, if Drew tries to just put his arm around you for a hug, you look at me with fretful eyes and whine as if to say, “Mama!! He’s touching me!!!!!” I frequently have to tell Drew, “Give Hannah a little space,” because you’re so whiny about him stepping into your bubble.

Drew loves you so much! He’s been so caring with you recently, saying, “What’s wrong, babe?” when you cry or patting your back when you’re fussy. He loves to give you kisses when you go to bed and bring you toys if you are whining. You enjoy playing in his room with him and watching him dart by when he runs!

You are such a joy, my Hannah, and you are growing FAR TOO QUICKLY!

The one year mark will be here before I know it.

Love you, my angel!

Mommy

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-22T12:31:00.001-05:00

Last week we decided we wanted to take the kids to the pumpkin patch, even though the prices are a smidge outrageous. Andrew took off work, we planned Hannah’s nap, and headed for the 30 minute drive to the pumpkin patch.

When we arrived, they informed us they were going to close in less than an hour. Bummer! So that left us ~45 minutes to visit the store, take pictures, go on the hayride out to the patch, pick the pumpkin, see the pirate ship, play on the playground, and go through the corn maze.

Drew climbed (quickly) on the playground equipment while Daddy took a potty break when we first got there. He is such a daredevil. No fear, whatsoever!

We stopped by the little market with all the picked pumpkins and Hannah was thrilled to get her picture taken. (*Sarcasm*)

Then we headed on the short hayride to the pumpkin patch.

We were slightly disappointed to find out most of the pumpkins are “placed” in the field instead of being able to pick them. There were a few on the vine, but they were tougher to find.

Right next to the pumpkin patch, there was this awesome pirate ship! For about 15 seconds, we had it all to ourselves before a large daycare group arrived.

The tractor driver saw Drew admiring the tractor and let him hop up there for a photo op. Drew said, “Look, mama! I’m Uncle Judd!”

We had a lot of fun in our short hour there, but next year we’ll make sure to arrive earlier! Next up: carving those pumpkins!

September so Far…

2011-09-23T16:42:00.002-05:00

This poor, deprived blog. I think about her a lot. I do. But by the time children are both in bed, kitchen is cleaned, the living room is detoxified, and my rear hits the computer chair, a cohesive thought that is even partially interesting is right above impossible. I think about lots of stuff to blog about as the day occurs, and then never blog about it and have complete writer's block when I do sit down to write. Are you thoroughly confused yet? There will be a test.

Let me look through my pictures and throw them on here to let you know what's been going on around here.

Well, first of all, the crafty gene that has been suppressed for the past (Hm…how old is Hannah?) 10 1/2 months emerged the other day. I will give credit where it’s due and say that Pinterest has rekindled my love for all things crafty and food made at home. (Because let’s face it. The reason my pants are still snug is because fast food restaurants have been my BFF for a while. Sad, sad.)

So I saw a tut (isn’t that a funny word? for all of you peeps who don’t know the lingo, that’s “tutorial” for short. Go ahead. Use it in a sentence. Yeah, it’s okay to laugh a little when you say it.) on how to make a yarn wreath on Pinterest; the original tut (teeheehee) said it would take about an hour and a half total to make. Well, that woman must have some impressive yarn wrapping skills. It took me 4 full hours to wrap the wreath and make and glue the fabric flowers. But I’m in love with it, and it fits perfectly with my fall decor.

I must have been feeling really spunky because the next day I threw this together. (And this seriously took 30 minutes total. So easy!)

I just took two grapevine wreaths, one slightly smaller than the first, (so that it fits inside the larger one) and used floral wire to combine them into one piece. Then I used deco mesh (my new favorite item) and bunched it in sections, starting with the color brown. I fastened each loop with floral wire to the grapevine wreath, bunched of the next section and bunched it. I rotated the location of each “bunch” from the smaller “inside” wreath to the larger “outside” wreath. I went in and out until a full circle was made with the brown. I didn’t cut it until the very last piece of brown was finished. (In other words, all that brown is one long piece, secured with floral wire at different increments). Then I did the same thing with the orange, filling in the gaps where the brown had not gone. After that, I stuck in some filler from an old wreath I took apart. Since I used grapevine wreaths I already had on hand and picks from an old wreath, my grand total was $9 for the mesh at JoAnns. Woo hoo! (I know that tutorial is about as clear as Mississippi mud. Pictures would have really helped huh?)

Then I whipped this one together for my aunt Deda, fellow lover of wreaths:

Speaking of my Deda, we took a little roadtrip to visit her and Pop the other day. The kids EAT UP being with their relatives!

See that blue shirt Drew is sporting? It’s from this year’s Mother’s Day Out program that he attends for 2 1/2 hours every Thursday. Only ours is now covered in grease stains because Drew helped change the oil in the truck while wearing it. We’re apparently getting our $6 worth out of the shirt. Here he is on the second week of school because this poor child’s mama forgot to take his picture on the first week. And he wanted me to take a picture of his “pack pack.” Unfortunately, he had a rough first 2 weeks back. Phrases used to describe him were: “the most active kid I’ve ever seen,” "complete boy," “hates to sit still,” and “loves to climb, jump, and run.” Yes, that about sums him up. But on week three they said he was doing much better in the classroom environment. Whew…bribery (I mean, positive reinforcement) is working slowly, but surely.

And as for Little Miss, look who’s pulling up on whatever she can!

This week she attempted “bye bye” several times and had a couple of “firsts”: got told “no” and cried profusely for the first time, and went from a crawling to sitting position by herself for the first time, and Drew fed her for the first time (what a mess). Woo hoo! Go Han!

(On a side note, it’s so funny to note the extreme differences between my two children. Hannah is mild mannered and tender-hearted while Drew is a ball of energy and sometimes tough to get through to. Drew was practically running by 10 months and Hannah has just mastered crawling. Drew was into EVERYTHING by now. Hannah is content to hang out with one plastic toy. So funny!

So life is busy, but so good! My hands are full….of good things!

The Call to Raise a 100% Boy

2011-09-14T15:55:00.001-05:00

If you’re a mom to a spunky, energetic boy, this post may be a blessing to you. I hesitated to write it, aiming to respect my son’s privacy. But then I decided I could share my heart (something I enjoy doing with others!) while respecting him at the same time. I hope someone out there finds encouragement from this!

Maybe it’s the fact that I’m still a relatively new mom. Maybe it has something to do with never largely being around any boys outside of my husband and my dad. Maybe it has a whole lot to do with the fact that I prayed for a boy who would be 100% boy…and got my prayer granted.

Whatever the reason, God is teaching me so much about being a mom to a boy. Now, I’m sure Hannah will have her challenging moments as she gets older. I hear drama is all the rage in toddler girls. But at least I’ve had some experience with that, being a girl myself. But boys….oh boy. That’s new territory for me.

You know something about boys who are 100% boy?They’re energetic. They’re LOUD. They’re rambunctious. They’re fun. They thrive on the outdoors, learning new things through physical activities. They get bored easily. They find it nearly impossible to sit still more than 10 minutes. They have no desire to color a picture or do craft that isn’t semi-messy. They want to be moving, jumping, yelling, wrestling. Does that make you tired just reading it?! Some days I’m exhausted by 10am.

My challenge has not been to love my son. No, not at all. I love this rambunctious, joyful being with every breath I have in me. But the challenge is how this 100% female mama is to embrace this God-given 100% boyish spirit and not conform him to ways of the world that just aren’t him. I want to shape his will while keeping His spirit in tact. Some of you may read that statement and say, “Huh?” Others of you will know exactly what I may be talking about.

He LOVES being around other people-adults and kids. But he has a problem sitting down and paying attention in a small classroom for 2 hours at his mother’s day out program. The other children seem to enjoy coloring worksheets and using a glue stick, but Drew...well, Drew would much rather be outside running and climbing a tree. Or jumping off a high swinging swing. Or picking up leaves. Or having a sword fight with a stick. You get my drift? I expect him to be able to sit for 10-15 minutes in a classroom setting, but after that, he needs physical activity!

This problem has caused me some turmoil in the past few weeks, but God revealed something to me that should have been very for me to see. God gave me THIS child for a reason (and I’m so thankful). Because I have the abilities that this child requires to be shaped into the MAN God wants him to be, the intelligent God I serve put him into my womb and my arms. God has called me to sacrifice self and embrace raising this beautiful boy. Some days I wonder if I’m doing the job faithfully that God has placed before me. I wonder if I really do have what it takes. But on those weary days I can feel God’s hand of support. He puts people or words into my life that reaffirm what I know and lift me up to start a new day with a new idea on how to challenge, teach, and entertain him.

Drew is a spunky, strong-headed, fun loving toddler who might not think the way most other kids think. And God has revealed to me that these very qualities which sometimes make him a handful of a toddler are going to make him an amazing man one day. And he’s also revealed to me that these changes will not take place overnight. The teaching that he requires will take 1) time 2) patience. But with time and patience will come a man who will love the Lord and serve him with these incredible attributes with which God gifted him.

He will be hard-working and not lazy. He will be persistent. He will love being around others. He will be quick to forgive. He will be loving. He will think outside the box. He will be sensitive to others’ emotions. He will help manage his home. He will know all sorts of incredible things about the outdoors to teach his children. He’ll be a handyman.

God is going to use these traits that make him challenging at the present times to be such a blessing in his future.

I love being the mom of a little boy. Even one who is 100% boy. Especially one who is 100% boy. And God is teaching me right alongside Drew. He’s teaching me to lean on him, to be gracious, to see things in a different light, to be patient, to study His word, to seek His counsel at every turn, and to put aside my cares about what others may say and put my eyes on Him only-to only seek his approval. Because His is the ONLY one that matters.

Hannah @ 10 Months

2011-09-14T15:18:00.001-05:00

Sweet Hannah,

I am still reveling in your babyness. I’m having to soak it up because you’re trying to grow up on me more and more each day. In the last month you’ve hit several milestones:

1. You went from 2 teeth to 6! You have 2 on the bottom and 4 on the top.

2. You’re officially a crawler! I had my first “Where’s Hannah?” moment the other day. Just today you pulled up onto the first step on our staircase. A babygate is, once again, in my future. (Hello, wall damage. We meet again.)

3. You drink out of a straw. You weren’t a fan of any sippy cups. Then your pediatrician suggested a straw sippy. I thought he had no clue what he was talking about, but tried it anyway. Turns out, he just might know what he’s talking about!

4. You are fussy in the car now. Boo! You want to be turned around, watching what big brother is doing.

5. You sleep through the night completely. (Shiesh…now you’re gonna wake up tonight.) You go to sleep around 8 (usually) and wake up around 8:30-9. I’m counting my lucky stars that you like to sleep in, too. You and your brother get it honest.

6. Notsomuch a fan of baby food anymore. Sometimes you’ll tolerate it and down a jar. Other times you fidget, fuss, and whine in that chair until you get finger foods. You’re doing so well with chewing now (hello, 4 new teeth!) that it makes mealtimes a little easier. You like cheese, turkey, green beans, puffs, carrots, apples, and bananas.

7. You got your toenails painted for the first time the other day! They were nothing short of messy, but they were done; Mommy was so happy! It made you look like a little lady!

8. You visited the zoo for the second time in your life. The first time you slept through the entire thing, though. So this counts as the first time with your eyes open. You loved it!

That’s quite a bit of changes in just one month! You’re still in a size four diaper and wear a 12 months size in clothes. You are the sweetest, most tender-hearted little thing! I could EAT YOU WITH A SPOON!

You still like:

Baths, especially with Drew & Daddy

The passy

Playing with your brother

Being outside

I cherish you so much, my Hannah. Your sweet, soft hands are so precious when they clap and wave. I am constantly stopped by people in public to tell me how beautiful you are, especially your head of hair. My prayer for you is that your heart is as beautiful as your outside and that you love God with every fiber of your being! You own half of my heart, sweet one.

Love,

Mommy

Lately…in words

2011-09-13T13:24:00.001-05:00

1. I’m thankful for friends I’ve met online (and since have never met in person) who send me devotional books in the mail. How special is that? (Thanks, Nicki!)

2. I’m equally as thankful for my 3 year old son who killed the nastiest snake-bug-with-legs on my living room floor yesterday. Literally, I was screaming, “Good job, baby! Hit it again!” as he pulverized the thing. Thank you, God, for boys!

3. I caught Drew yesterday cleaning his kitchen set. With Lysol spray. Quite humorous. He’ll make a good husband someday!

4. The other day I shook out my towel and a spider really did fall out. No lie.

5. I’m on Weight Watchers again. Not the new plus points. The old version. How? I downloaded a free app and am counting the blasted points every day. Today was my first big cheat. On day 5. Sad, huh? It was chick fil a. And it was sooo good.

6. My new motto is “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” It has been working until today. (See number 5) Apparently CFA is an exception.

7. My baby is 10 months old tomorrow. Where has this last year gone? She’s now crawling. *Tears* *More tears because I can’t keep up with two mobile kids now.*

8. This incredible weather makes me want to own a cot. Only I’d never get to lay in it because my kids require my full supervision and bugs would take it over.

9. I’m about to go to Target. Pray I can resist those cookies at the front of the store. (“Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels…”

10. When all my kids are out of the “spill everything on the couch and write on the cushions with mommy’s pens” stage, I’m getting a new couch. One that is unstained. The end.

As of Late in Pictures

2011-09-08T15:43:00.001-05:00

Life with my two littles has been so much fun lately. We’re thoroughly enjoying this gorgeous weather. Trips to the zoo, kite flying, bike rides, and playing in the yard are our favorite activities right now. We’re basking in these mild temperatures before a random cold front sweeps them away until spring!

My babies are growing so quickly. TOO quickly. I could just squeeze them to pieces sometimes because I love them that much.

These two keep me so busy, but I wouldn’t change a thing. They are both so lovely in their own ways, with blossoming personalities. I’m amazed at how God uses parenting to reveal so much of himself to me. Amazing…truly amazing!

Hannah @ 9 Months

2011-08-20T14:40:00.001-05:00

How a month changes things!

You are no longer constantly napping which makes things easier, actually. You now take 2 naps a day, usually lasting about 90 minutes. You normally wake up and eat around 7, and go back to sleep until about 8:30-9:00. (But on occasion you’ve slept until 10!)

You get up and eat and play and go down for your first nap about 2 hours after waking. You get up, eat lunch, and take another nap around 3-4. It works out really well! Some nights you go to bed at 7:15, some nights it’s 9:00! We keep you up to play until you’re grumpy, whenever that might occur.

You’re a great eater! You eat 3 meals a day of baby food. I’ve attempted to give you some solids, but aside from bits of bread, you gag. Yesterday I actually had to do the Heimlich on you from a stinkin’ yogurt melt (which you’ve been eating fine for weeks!). You gave me quite the adrenaline rush!

You’re now in a size 4 diaper and mostly size 12 month clothes (although you can make most of your 9 month stuff still work).

(I love your sweet hands. They are so soft.)

You’re still nursing, but you’re HIGHLY distractible (read: every noise your brother makes causes you to sit up and look) and don’t want to eat nearly as often. For example, yesterday you went 6 hours before I could get you to nurse!

Your hair. So sweet, so messy. So difficult to do anything with! I resorted it sticking it in a “pebbles” on top of your head. It looks a lot better when I add a bow, but you tend to pull the bow out. Either way, it’s not in your eyes anymore!

On the crawling front…you’re not. But, you’re no longer content to sit for long periods of time. You take nose dives (face dives) into the carpet quite frequently now to get something you want. Every now and then you’ll get your legs up under you far enough to lunge forward one good time. You love to pull up with our fingers to stand now. I have a feeling you won’t be immobile too much longer. You’re interested in getting going. My life is about to become a little more difficult, I’m afraid! Yikes!

You love to say “da da” all the time, and when you’re upset I can almost make out a “mama.” Only a trained, biased ear can hear it thought. Speaking of your voice, you love to use it. In loud, shrieking, ear piercing volumes! If you want something, don’t want something…whatever….you SHRIEK. To the point that it seriously hurts my ears. That should be fun at age eh…18 months? 2 years? Fun times ahead!

You’re so lovable. When I go to put you down for a nap, I give you your passy (love the passy, btw….you and I both) and put your blankie on my shoulder. You lay your head on my chest for a few seconds while we stand there. Those are my favorite moments with you!

You still have 2 teeth, but the 3rd is about to pop through the top any second now!

You love your mama! When you see me you get giddy and immediately want me to take you. I LOVE IT!

But when your Daddy comes in from work, you are SO excited to see him. You think Drew is hilarious, but are quite the cry baby whenever he bumps you. (Welcome to girl world, huh?) He’s usually very gentle with you and loves to give you your passy. Y’all are beginning to play together sometimes, and it melts my heart!

You love: mama, bathtime, warm water in a bottle, puffs, roughhousing with daddy, riding the pushcar outside, pulling to stand, rolling over, beads, different textures, pulling bows out of your hair, dancing Mickey, and Drew’s my pal Scout.

You’re not so fond of: clothing changes, tablefood (you shivered at mashed potatoes 4 times tonight upon tasting them), being sweaty (I’m with you), getting put in the carseat when you’re overly tired, and having your hair messed with.

Girl, I thank God every day for you. You are such a blessing and I look forward to every memory we are going to make together!

My daily prayers for you include: a heart that loves the Lord at a young age, peers who encourage you to grow your relationship with God further, parents who strive to be more Christlike, health, and happiness.

We love you DEARLY, my sweet Hannah-nana!

Mommy

Are You a Struggling Mom, Too?

2011-08-09T22:21:00.003-05:00

One reason I believe outsiders believe Christians are hypocritical and snotty are because we are not transparent enough (and possibly because we're hypocritical and snotty at times when we should be understanding and humble!). So in case any of you have ever for a second believed from my writings that I think I have it all together, let me sum it up for you:

YOU. ARE. WRONG.

It is at the end of days like today that I'm thankful that God is merciful and will fill in the gaps where I've so horribly messed up. Do you have days like that? Weeks like that?

Today was one of those days where I questioned my entire mothering ideas. Am I disciplining right? Why is he not getting it? Am I too lenient? Too harsh? Am I conveying God's love and desire for obedience to change his heart? Am I screwing up this whole thing?! Does God realize that I'm not equipped for this job?!

*sigh* And then I feel the Holy Spirit. (I'm so thankful God gave us the holy spirit--can I get an amen?!) I feel him reassure me that consistency is key. That he WILL get it one day. That my efforts are not in vain. And that God is teaching me so much during this process of mothering. He is teaching me to put on the same attributes as Jesus: selflessness, servanthood, lovingkindness, gentleness, patience, devotion, goodness, dedication, humbleness, generosity, and a heart to simply love and follow God. I feel him tell me to lay down my life for my family. And that he will supply me with all my needs.

Tonight it is so refreshing to rest in the arms of Christ. To rest in his promises that:

1. Good will come of my efforts! Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

2. God has called me to this ministry and it's not in vain! And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (This includes mothers! Romans 8:28)

3. My children are not called to be intelligent, well mannered, wealthy, or successful in the world's eyes. Those things are not bad, but they are most importantly called to have a heart for Christ. (“Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth,for in these I delight,” Jeremiah 9:23)

Praise God for his goodness, mercy, patience and guidance in this journey of motherhood!

Hello? Is this thing on?

2011-07-28T23:07:00.002-05:00

I'm not even sure who reads this blog anymore outside of my Aunt Deda who really just comes here in an attempt to catch a rare new picture of one of my adorable offspring. Bless her heart- she is disappointed 9.5/10 days that she checks.

Obviously, I have become a total blog slacker. I looked back to my 2008 archives the other day. I was posting 30+ times a MONTH! (I mean, seriously, what did I have to say that was that important. Answer: nothing!) If I write anything on here anymore it seems to be something that I'll "one day" print out to put in my kids' books. (Whenever that "one day" finally gets here, I better have 5 ink cartridges and 15 stacks of paper on hand. And some big binders. With reinforcements.) I contemplated just getting rid of my blog, but then: 1) I'd have nowhere easy to store my kids monthly updates that I know each of you waits to read with a burning anxious desire and 2) I've met some pretty awesome people through blogging and don't want to disassociate myself from those relationships. I mean, there is facebook, but....I think I'll keep it around for a while.

Why don't I write anymore? Let's see: 1) I have nothing interesting to write about. Someone recently said that what you should write about is what you are passionate about discussing in conversation. Well, what excites me is serving my family and raising my kids and there are 5 gabillion other super popular blogs out there with 7,000 followers each that cover those bases really well. (See my blogroll.) So why beat a dead horse? 2) My day is pretty repetitive. I won't list out the timeline in this post (I'll save it for another post. Yes, I'm leaving you with a thrilling cliffhanger.), but let's just say it includes cleaning the dishes, washing laundry, disciplining, training, changing diapers, swimming in the pool, playing in the floor, watching Caillou, doing more dishes, and doing more clothes. I mean that one sentence was boring. Consider reading post after post about it. BO-RING.

So the result: maybe 2 blog posts a month. IF I'm on time with my kids' monthly updates.

You know waybackwhen, like 2 whole years ago, when you'd get tagged in the blog world to list 101 interesting things about yourself? I know. Seriously. Who has time for that? Well, I did. Like twice. But I'm too lazy to link up to them on this post. Use the search feature if you're that interested. Anywho, now whenever I realize a weird fact about myself (which, hey, is quite often), I think, "I'm gonna remember that for my next '1001 interesting facts about me' post.' Am I the only one that does that?

Here are some interesting thoughts I've had recently: (Yeah, they're probably only interesting to me.)

1. I give lots of asides in my writing. See above. (See, I told you.)

2. I shake out my towel before drying off after the shower to assure no spiders have crawled into my towel. One time a few months ago I decided not to because I decided I was paranoid. Guess what? HUGE bite on my abdomen. Few weeks later I do the routine shake-out. Guess what fell out?! Yep. A spider. Always shake.

3. The quality of my writing has gone to pot. See above. And while you're at it, see below.

4. If a restaurant lists "Sweet Tea" on its menu, the tea should live up to the name. I think some restaurants are out to single handily rid the world of type 2 diabetes. If I wanted weak, half sweetened water I would have just ordered water and thrown some lemon in there. (This reminds me that I didn't take advantage of Free Sweet Tea Day at McAlisters. Poop.)

5. Yesterday while Drew was nearing the end of his visit at my mom's house, she asked, "Drew are you ready to go?" He responded, "No, JaJa, my house is a MESS." Thanks for the boost, son.

6. I know you're wondering. We have no idea why he calls her JaJa. She wanted to be called Granna. Instead she got JaJa. I know it sounds weird, but it has stuck. At least every woman in a crowd won't have to turn around when he calls for her in public.

7. God has answered my prayers in the most unexpected, but most rewarding ways lately.

8. Did you know you can use hairspray to stunt a spider's movement for just a moment? My husband knows if I see a spider hanging from the ceiling, after I freak out and shoot my blood pressure up, I'm going to grab a can of hairspray.

9. I'm going through some hormonal crisis here at 8 months postpartum. I can't recall doing this with Drew at this point. I know my hair fell out once earlier on with him, but this is my SECOND round of hair loss with Hannah. I'm talking 20-25 hairs are lost with each hair washing. I was going to schedule a haircut next week to get my thick hair thinned. Now I'm thinking I might not have any left by next week. Add a decreased appetite, acne like a 14 year old, new white hairs, about 10 extra sweet teeth post 9pm, and crazy moods to the mix and you've got yourself a nice package of crazy hormonalness. I'm just praying it results in about 10 pounds of automatic weight loss. I can hope, right? Yeah, you're right; pass me another cookie.

10. I'm attempting to learn to cook something that hasn't been on my 'repeat' list for the last 7 years of our marriages. There have been some successes. There have been some failures. And I'm not sure it's healthier than grabbing a Sonic burger and large fries. (A new recipe I tried used an entire pint of whipping cream on the enchiladas. That's gonna cost me a good stent one day.) If I find any stellar ones, I'll send them your way. No, wait. I probably won't. I don't blog that much.

11. Is it almost fall? Because I'm ready for fall stuff: scents, foods, activities, clothes, weather. You name it. I'm there.

12. I have an awesome camera. I have 'ner an idea how to use it off the automatic section. I've been going through these free tutorials, and they make SO much sense as I'm reading them. However, as soon as I step outside to take a picture, I am instantly and totally confused, and want nothing more than to throw my nice camera into our blow up pool. I resist and just switch back to automatic mode. Good enough.

13. We are attempting to take Drew to his first theatrical movie tomorrow. It's Winnie the Pooh, so at least we know it's clean. Right? It's only 70 minutes long, but I don't think we'll make it that long unless he really loves the popcorn. Nevertheless, he's excited!

14. It isn't hard to figure out where my son gets his ubercountry/Southern twang if you listen to his parents more than 5 seconds. But I'm not sure we're THAT bad. Example: Drew says the word boy with two syllables: "bow-ee." And the number four is "foe-er." Way to turn on the southern charm, sweetheart!

15. My husband is hot. And sexy. And hardworking. And makes camo look good...even with dried blood. And he mows my grass so the spiders don't jump on my feet when I make a run and jump for our blow up pool. I heart him.

Well I feel totally accomplished. And now I'm pooped. I might even attempt to write another post not 100% dedicated to my children within the next 6 months! Stay tuned....all, er...., 1 of you.

Hannah @ 8 Months

2011-07-20T15:30:00.001-05:00

So the other day someone commented that you looked like you were changing in your appearance, looking like a bigger baby and my heart dropped just a bit. I just love you so much, and you are SO easy right now that I just want to keep you little for a lot longer!

Your daily schedule usually looks something like this:

7:00am- Wake up, come to my bed, nurse, fall back asleep with mommy

9:00am- We’re all three up!

10am-Nurse

10:30- Nap while Drew and I play outside or I take a shower while Drew watches Caillou

12:00—Up to play!

1:00—Nurse

1:30—Nap. Yep, you only stay up an hour and a half at a time.

3:30—Up again! Play and nurse.

5:15 or so—I try to put you down for a last nap. Doesn’t always work. If no nap, you’re in bed for good by 7:30. If you get a nap…

8:00—bedtime! (But last night you stayed up until 8:45! woo hoo!)

You weigh 18 lbs., wear a size 6-12 month clothes (9 months in Carters, 12 months in Kohls brand). Still in a size 3 diaper, but not for too much longer.

You STILL have pooping problems, but they’re getting better. Woo hoo! Thank you, God, for inventing prunes.

You love, love, love baby food. Your favorite is Gerber Vegetable Beef. You nearly kick yourself out of the chair trying to get the next bite in your mouth. Well, there’s one thing you get from me.

Make that two things: your blue eyes! People constantly comment on how beautiful and blue they are. Learn how to work those things, girl!

Your hair. My, my, my. Long on the top, short on the bottom. I can’t bring myself to cut it because it just might make you look older. Um, no thanks. I will soon attempt some crazy looking pigtails on you. And bows are pretty much history right now. You rip those oversized puppies right out.

One new accomplishment for my laid back, lazy girl. You roll over now! Finally! The only problem is that you love to roll from back to tummy and can’t get back over. This isn’t problematic until it happens in your crib. That’s a little more frustrating for all of us. You still have no desire to crawl, but you’ll nose dive for a toy that you want. That toy is usually dancing Mickey. I would say he’s your favorite right now.

You know what your other favorite is? Passy. The ones with the animal hanging off the end. You don’t want it without the pony or monkey. It must feel weird to you. But shiesh, those animals are looking…um, ragged. So we gotta work on getting them cleaner somehow.

You still only have two teeth, but you could rip my thumb in half with them, no doubt. I know because you’ve tried! No signs of any others at the moment!

You love nursing, eating, baths, blankie, and passy.

You hate changing clothes!

You are the happiest, sweetest, cuddliest baby I know. You make mothering a baby look EASY! (And I thank you for that! Just carry that through the next 17 years and we’ll be good!)

I love you, my sweet Hannah Banana!

Love,

Mommy

Happy 3rd Birthday, Drew! (video montage)

2011-07-18T18:37:00.002-05:00

It is so cliché, but time flies when you’re having fun. And being your mom is just that: so very much fun. I have so much I want to write about you at this age; I just hope I can remember it all. I imagine I will come back over the next few days and edit and re-edit this post to add tidbits I’ll remember after publishing.

As for the last year, I’ll say this: they don’t say the terrible twos are rough for no reason. They were quite rocky and patience trying. PRAISE GOD it’s getting easier at times! Your attention span is longer, you listen and obey better, and you sometimes enjoy playing by yourself at certain activities. This is making life easier. I’ll attribute this to two things: age and improvement in speech. Both have played a large role! And maybe my increased patience, grace, and realization that boys are loud and rough—that they SHOULD be that way. God didn’t make you a girl for a reason, so neither am I!

Boy, do you love to be outside. Everyone else can be sweating bullets and begging to come inside, and you’ll be continuing to play in the heat, totally red faced. You love to ride your 4wheeler and “wan-whoa-whoa” (lawn mower) all over the yard, splash in your pool, and streak around the backyard naked chasing grasshoppers, crickets, and frogs. And, yes, I do put clothes on you when you go out. But 10 minutes later you’ll be stark naked running after a random bug, attempting to stomp the life out of it. Such a boy! I just laugh and let it go. The other day I helped you catch a big ‘ole frog and a baby frog. You thought I was pretty cool for that. (And I was praising myself on the inside for getting within 10 feet of the croaking thing without screaming.)

Every day when Daddy comes through the front door, you greet him with, “Hey Daddy! Wanna go play in the crunt (front) yard?” EVERY DAY. Your other favorite thing is cutting the grass. You just eat that up. And what better way to cool down than in the sprinkler? Outside + water= fun times for you.

You say the most hilarious things! Yesterday at your family party someone asked, “Drew, will you sing us a song?” “I can’t,” you replied. “My batteries died.” You use the word “disgusting” a lot and “dadgumit.” You may or may not have gotten the latter from me. I’m slowing turning you into a country bumpkin, I assume.

You are incredible with directions. Even on the interstate when we’re riding along, you’ll shout out that if we take that exit we’ll be at Grammy’s house…or that one goes to Senatobia. Amazing! You did NOT get this from your mother. (You’ll ‘amen’ that in a few years.)

You enjoy some TV these days (hallelujah) including Caillou, Curious George, Elmo, Pooh, and Veggie Tales.

You love your sister. I catch you hugging her all the time. You tell her, “Bwess (bless) you heart, Hannah. I wub (love) you!” You love to see her poop. I have no clue why, but you like to exclaim, “OOH Hannah, that stinks!” Getting her up from her naps is a highlight of your day. You’re excellent at making her laugh, and she grants you the laughs rather easily!

We’re continuing to work on your southern manners. You say yes ma’am and no ma’am, yes sir and no sir, and excuse me, although it takes a little prompting most times.

Other things you love: markers, toy trucks, chocolate, suckers, the Wii, singing loudly, going anywhere, visiting relatives, painting, baths, juice, helping with just about anything, and breaking stuff. You’re good at the last item. LOL!

The other day in church someone was baptized and you said, “I wanna follow God, mama! I wanna mind God and go to heaven!” It made my heart happy to hear your little voice say that, and I hope you always have that desire.

You and Hannah make me want to be a better Christian woman. I try every day to better myself in Jesus so that I can model the behavior you should follow. It’s so hard some days, but you are so forgiving and sweet on days that are rough. Your hugs are the BEST and your kisses melt me! You really enjoy reading books at night and saying your prayer—and I love it too (even though Daddy usually gets this privilege since he works all day).

Drew Laney, I sure do love you. Life with you is fun, fearless, and never boring. You are a burst of energy at every waking moment! And I wouldn’t change a thing about you! This last year has been so rewarding, even though it was trying at times. I cannot wait for what this next year of your life holds. The only drawback is that you’re slowing losing your dependence on me as you foster your own independence. It’s a good thing, but it makes me sad! That said, you will ALWAYS be my baby!

The Beauty of Motherhood

2011-07-08T23:59:00.001-05:00

Three years ago God changed my life. On July 9, 2008, he placed the most beautiful baby boy into my arms and changed the way I saw life, service, and sacrifice in relation to another human being. On that day God began showing me bits and pieces of his love for mankind. I learned that sleep wasn’t quite as necessary as I’d thought, that a mother’s love cannot be put into words, and that I would lay down my life without blinking for my offspring. And I learned all this on day 1!

Since then God has used this beautiful, fun, active, energetic, happy boy (and eventually his adorable baby sister) to show me his mission for my life. He has grown patience within me through tough times. Taught me grace, forgiveness, and understanding with my children, husband, and myself. He’s given me a deeper desire to lay my responsibilities as a mom at His feet through prayer. He’s put a seed in my heart to dig deeper into the role of motherhood and to cultivate those desires to become a better Christian wife and mom. And finally to let go of whatever control I thought I had and hand it over to Him. In the best way I know how at this stage in my life, I’ve given my children’s lives into His hands. Motherhood. It means so much more than feeding and teaching the kids. It has everything to do with my heart. My will to sacrifice self in order to surrender to God’s will. It has everything to do with God changing me to become a servant as Christ has already served me.

What a beautiful role, this role of motherhood. It is truly God’s greatest gift to women.

Random Mess

2011-07-06T16:41:00.001-05:00

1. I am reading a book by Sally Clarkson called The Mission of Motherhood. It is a wonderful, challenging, encouraging book that has truly inspired me as a Christian mom. In a culture where motherhood is so devalued, this book is refreshing to read as it upholds the position as God-given and monumental in the lives of children and the kingdom of God!

2. I am surrounded by mothers who wake up before the roosters to get ready to take their kids out in the 105 degree heat to do such fun activities as the zoo, water park, pool, children’s museum, and the like. I posted on FB today that I feel like Supermom if I make it to ChickFila by lunchtime with both my kids. In fact, my son thinks Sonic’s happy hour is an outing to be proud of.

3. On that note, today we went to ChickFilA (free entertainment and physical activity for the toddler) and then…..my son’s favorite “outing”…..the carwash. Yes, the carwash. It lasts all of 40 seconds, and he loves it. Who needs the zoo?

4. We are finally getting this pool cleared up again. It has been a large money pit. $80 for the pool, whoknowshowmuch to fill it up with water (waiting on that bill now), $25 on filters, plus at least $80 on chemicals to try and clear up the water. That’s a lot of work on an Easy Set 30” high pool. But you know what? My boy has sure enjoyed it!

5. I tried to be a really fun mom yesterday and make homemade sidewalk paint. I’d seen the idea several different places and thought we’d give it a whirl. Four minutes into painting, Drew was done with that project. Makes me wonder if I’ll venture out with any more fun activities. I think we’ll stick with the ColorWonder paint for now. He liked that a lot better.

6. Guess who is turning THREE this Saturday? Say it ain’t so! I always thought moms of 3 year olds knew ev-er-y-thing. What a wake up call.

7. Andrew and I are now avid watchers of Hoarders. For some reason, all I want to do is throw stuff in my house away or bag it up for charity.

8. One of my favorite times of the year is coming up—children’s consignment season!!!! There is no better high than shopping consignment sales, I tell you. You walk out with arm loads of needed clothing at rock bottom prices without having to wake up at 3am and battle the crowds. It’s a win-win in my book. Plus, what woman doesn’t like to shop?! Okay, my Aunt Deda, but besides that….

9. Every child Hannah’s age or younger that we know is starting to crawl. Hannah has yet to roll over. She has no desire. And you know what? I’m STILL okay with that. No one bone in my body wants her to be mobile right now! I have my hands full enough chasing ONE.

10. I have an addiction, I believe. It’s looking at house plans. Someone else tell me I’m not alone. No, we’re not looking to build anytime relatively soon. We aren’t moving. I just like looking. Make me feel better and let me know you do it too.

St. Louis Vacation 2011

2011-06-20T22:53:00.001-05:00

I am the kind of person who shies away from experiences that might be….well, full of crying and stressful moments, particularly in public places. That would encompass a vacation with a nearly 3 year old and nearly 7 month old. But this year, I totally stepped out of my bubble and talked Andrew into a short vacation. We decided to go somewhere fairly close (St. Louis, only a 5 hour drive), for a fairly short time (3 nights, 4 days), for fairly cheap.

It was so much fun to plan the trip frugally. (Honestly, it was!) I’m now a Priceline.com and will never, ever pay full price for a hotel again. (Hello $40/night hotel room in a 3 star hotel!) Or use Expedia or any other agency. To save on entertainment I used Ebay to find coupons to the local, nationally rated children’s museum (Buy 1 admission, get 1 free!) and extremely cheap tickets to Six Flags (normal admission: $45. My admission price: $25! Not to mention, Drew & Hannah were free! Woo hoo!)

An added bonus of the trip is that Andrew’s mom joined us! She enjoyed spending time with her grandbabies and we greatly appreciated her extra set of hands!

We headed out at 9:00 Saturday morning, June 4, in the minivan.

As if I didn’t love my van enough, I fell even more in love with her after packing all that baby gear and luggage into her and still had room left over. The trip was pretty unremarkable minus allowing Drew to pee on the side of a road, getting a tick on my foot during the process, and stopping to eat at the nastiest McDonalds known to mankind. Hannah didn’t make a peep the entire way there in her seat. Drew made lots of peeps, but finally fell asleep…10 minutes before we arrived at the hotel. I couldn’t believe it. So typical of Drew. Ha!

Thanks to that great priceline deal, we got 2 rooms at the Doubletree. We stayed about 20-25 minutes outside of downtown St. Louis since most of the attractions we were visiting weren’t in the heart of the city anyway. It ended up being a perfect location. Ms. Debbie and Drew had one room and Andrew, Hannah, and I shared the other. That worked out really well, and I was thankful we spent the few extra bucks on another room.

Saturday night we headed down to see the Arch.

Andrew and I have visited here several times, but Ms. Debbie had never been, so it was exciting! We saw a lot of the flooding along the river line. Underneath this bridge’s arch is a street Andrew and I walked on a couple of years ago.

After we acted like total tourists outside the Arch taking the obligatory pictures (we were in good company), we headed underground to the free museum. With two little ones in tow, we didn’t get to stop and read all the information at the exhibits, but it was air conditioned and gave Drew something to look at and a place to roam for a few minutes. (Fun fact: this sunset background was used in a picture Andrew and I took by ourselves a few years ago. Now we have two babes with us. Awww…)

We headed back to the hotel, put Hannah to sleep in her pack-in-play in the bathroom (grade A parents), and conked out for the night. Alright…I ate cookies and played Word Feud and THEN conked out for the night.

Sunday morning Andrew continued our tradition of Krispy Kreme vacation donuts. Yum-o!

Then we ate lunch at a tiny Subway along with about 40 people from a baseball team, then headed over to the nationally renowned children’s museum, The Magic House. I was SO excited to take Drew here. It has received raving reviews, and we found out why firsthand! This place was AMAZING. The trip to St. Louis would have been worth it JUST to go to this museum. They had every exhibit you could think of: a playhouse, fishing pond, car shop, music section, a pretend grocery store, a pretend pizzeria, a kid sized house, a hospital nursery, a bank, a library, a water section, slides, tunnels, and so much more. And that’s just on the HALF that we visited! The other side was geared toward older kids. Seriously, Drew could have played here all day. We didn’t even venture to the outside exhibits, but Drew would have had a ball! Our last stop at the museum was the Alice in Wonderland exhibit. It was adorable, but Drew really loved the rabbit. He kept hugging him and jumping with excitement! (Which is so strange because he had zero interest in taking his picture with the Easter bunny. He wasn’t scared, he just looked like it was dumb to sit on a rabbit’s lap!)

We went back to the hotel and let Hannah nap while Drew, Ms. Debbie, and Andrew swam.

Sunday night we ate dinner at a local, well rated pizza joint. I’m not a huge pizza fan, but Andrew said it was fabulous! We followed it up with a trip to one humongous Target. I could have stayed in there shopping the sale racks for a long, long time.

Monday was the big day! We woke up early and got ready to head to Six Flags! We were there when they opened the gates, hoping to beat the crowds before the lines got too long. We had planned to purchase a flash pass which allows you to scan your device at the beginning of a ride and basically wait out your turn in the park instead of the line. We knew Drew wouldn’t be able to wait 2 hours to ride one ride, as we’ve had to wait that long before. Much to our surprise, the lines weren’t long AT ALL. They were so short, in fact, that many times we’d ride the same major rides 2-3 times in a row without getting out! It was wonderful! To put it plainly, DREW HAD A BALL! And I had a ball watching him. I now understand how my sweet mom spent all those years watching us have fun at amusement parks while she waited on the bench to see our smiles. It is worth it to see your baby having the time of his life! He loved the water park, Scobby Doo ride, log flume ride, round boat ride, American Plunge, Shazaam, Joker, and train. He would belly laugh until he couldn’t talk on the Joker which “gets” your stomach constantly. He would have ridden a roller coaster with no problem if he had been tall enough! The only ride he wasn’t fond of was the ferris wheel because it was too slow. No doubt he’s a daredevil!

Six Flags St. Louis has a water park attached, so we ventured over there for about an hour and a half. The sun was beating down on poor Hannah so badly (and she hated their pool) that I had to just sit under a shade with her while she sweated and fussed. I felt so sorry for her. But I couldn’t have asked any more of her. She rode in the stroller, napped in air conditioned places, and hardly fussed the entire day. She even rode the ferris wheel and choo choo train. I was SO glad I ventured out on this trip when I saw how well she did. My sweet girl came through with her laid-back tendency again! We ended up nearly closing the park down! They closed at 9, but we left at 8. As we were leaving, Drew started crying saying, “I wanna play outside!” As if we hadn’t been outside ALL DAY LONG! He was SO TIRED, but managed to get a large spurt of energy after getting back to the hotel and eating dinner. We had to force him to sleep that night. Crazy boy!

Tuesday morning we got up to go swim one last time. Hannah got to swim for the first time that morning and seemed to enjoy it. I wouldn’t say she loved it, but she didn’t cry either. That’s a plus in my book.

We got dressed, packed, and headed out around 11:30 and stopped for lunch at Chick Fil A on the way out. The trip home wasn’t quite as easy on Drew as the way there, but he did just great. Hannah was equally wonderful!

We had a FANTASTIC time and it makes me actually look forward to taking another vacation with my babies!

Hannah @ 7 months

2011-06-20T20:55:00.001-05:00

Sweet Hannah,

I am a week late with this update. Whoops! Better now than….well, next week!

At your belated 6 month appointment (6 months, 3 weeks…so almost 7 month appointment!), we got your official stats. You are:

17 lbs. 8 oz (75%)

26 1/2 in long (70%)

44 cm head circumference (80%)

Basically, there was no worry that you might be failing to thrive. You are a chunker! You are fully in your 9 month clothes and in a lot of your 12 month clothes as well. You are in some of your 6-12 month pajamas that are a smidge big, but not my much. You definitely fill them out in girth!

Fun facts about you:

-You may have rolled over once. I’m saying yes because I left you on your back and when I came back a minute later, you were on your stomach. I say “may have rolled over” because Drew was in the room during my absence, but he denies helping you. I did take this picture to commemorate the possible event though! Either way, doc says you do other things to demonstrate you are fully capable of rolling over, you just have no desire to do so!

-You sit up on your own. Every now and then you’ll take a topple, but you’re pretty much an independent sitter. That makes life a lot easier!

-You get SO excited when you see bath water running. You start kicking those feet like crazy and attempt to dive in out of my arms. While you’re in the bath, your favorite thing is to suck on a washcloth.

-You still have only 2 teeth. No signs of another right now.

-You love to eat! We haven’t tried anything you haven’t liked yet. So far you’ve had carrots, bananas, applesauce, pears, a bite of mashed potatoes, oatmeal with pears and peaches. I made your carrots myself and had so much fun doing it! Next on the list: sweet potatoes, green beans, and peas.

-As of your 7 month birthday you’ve been sleeping really well at night. You go down around 7:30 and come to bed with us around 7:00-8:00 most mornings. (And since this is a week late, I’ll add we’ve had some minor setbacks due to your poor constipation issues since your 7 month birthday. More on that at the 8 month update!)

-You just love your brother! And he loves having your full attention. His favorite thing is to go play with you in your crib when you first wake up. Your just laugh and smile at him!

-You went on your first vacation a few weeks ago to St. Louis, MO and did SO WELL. I didn’t have high hopes for traveling with a baby who only likes to nap in her crib, but you blew my expectations out of the water! You did amazingly well!

-On vacation you rode your first rides: the carousel and choo choo train! You weren’t overly impressed, but sat so sweetly while beads of sweat ran down your face. Seriously, you were a trooper and endured 10 HOURS of Six Flags!

-Before you go down for a nap, you lay your head on my chest and we just stand and sway for a minute. It’s one of my favorite things about our time together.

-You take your passy at naptime and nighttime only, but you used it a lot on vacation.

-You still have that frizzy patch of hair in the back of your head that makes me have to pick knots several times a day. You’re not a huge fan, but you tolerate it. The rest of your hair is getting longer and falling in your eyes, but you’ve figured out how to take those bows out! That leaves me with very few options right now.

-You went swimming for your first time on vacation and liked it. Woo hoo!

-Your first “word” was dada. You mutter it a couple of times a day. I love to hear you talk and babble. It’s the sweetest thing.

-You have chubby legs and arms. I love them! And your skin is so soft. I love getting kisses from your belly!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being your mommy!!! You are so dainty at times and make me wonder if you’ll be a girly-girl. I love your cuddliness, gentleness, softness, and sweetness. You own one side of my heart, beautiful girl. I thank God for your life every single day!

Love,

Mommy

Enough

2011-06-12T13:45:00.002-05:00

This morning our preacher, Kevin Jourdan, preached a sermon on worry. I don’t consider myself a chronic worrier over most things, but he hit on a topic which deals with worry that struck me to the heart: I am a chronic approval seeker.

My entire life I’ve sought approval from anyone who would give it: parents, relatives, friends, etc. And not just on important things, but minute things. And while I sought approval for many things, most of it boiled down to wanting the question answered, “Am I doing enough? Am I doing well?”

I remember back when I was in high school I won a Christian leadership award at camp for two years, voted on by my peers. As long as I won that award each year, I felt assured that I was doing enough. I was getting approval that I was enough for them. It was like saying, “We see you are trying hard. Keep it up!” That kept me fueled in hard times in high school. As long as my parents praised me as a daughter, I was was enough. I fed off that.

Time has passed, life has changed, and approval doesn’t come so easily from everyone. I feed off of comments which praise me in some way or affirm that I’m doing a good job in mothering/being a wife/being a Christian. I read into others’ expressions (and possible judgments) directed toward me. I even read into when others don’t say something to me and receive that as a negative judgment (“Oh they must not like me. They think I don’t do enough good things, etc.”) I’m called a “judger” by testing standards because I always try to judge what others are thinking of me…all the while seeking their approval. And even when I did receive those compliments from others here and there, I still did not feel affirmed in my Christian walk. They just never left me fueled for long because there was always something else I needed to change that made me feel inept. Why? What was I missing? What was making me feel this way?

This is what it boils down to: I did not feel I had God’s approval on my life. I’m always seeing something in myself that I need to change: I need to sacrifice more, need to give more freely, and need to do more, be more, etc. (And it’s good to soul search and find out how to better ourselves into looking like Jesus—he desires that!)

But I told my husband today, I feel as though in some ways I dread standing before God because I’m afraid instead of saying, “Welcome, good and faithful, servant!” that he’ll instead say, “Well….come on in, but we have a lot of things to talk about how you could have improved down there on Earth. Instead of getting a big mansion like people who really served me well, this is your shack down here…and you’ll get to scrub these streets of gold. But be glad…you made it to heaven by the skin of your teeth.”

Where did this idea come from?! I have no idea. I know that we are saved by faith and belief in Jesus and our willingness to follow his commands, not in our works we perform for him. And that God loves his children more than the lilies of the field or the birds of the air. So why was I so worried about seeking everyone else’s approval and fearing that I didn’t have God’s acceptance?! Why could my head not tell my heart that?

Andrew and Drew left to go run errands a few minutes ago, and Hannah was asleep. I went to get my devotional book so I could catch up on my reading in a rare moment of daytime quiet. As I was walking through the living room, God spoke to me. There was no audible voice. The heavens didn’t open up. Nothing shook. But it was as clear as day in my head. As if he’d spoken the words out loud in front of me.

God said, “Audra, you are enough. YOU ARE ENOUGH FOR ME. And I am enough for you!”

I literally fell down on my knees and bowed my head to the floor and sobbed. It repeated in my head again, “You are enough, Audra! Continue molding your servant heart for me, but know that just as you are…you are enough.” I poured my heart to God right there in the floor, telling him my worries, my fears, my inadequacies as a person, my fear that I am going to walk extremely dark days at some point, knowing all the while that he knew them…He just wanted to hear them. And then I felt freedom. I felt deep, genuine, lasting acceptance. For the first time in my life, I think. And you know what I told God? I don’t have to live in a mansion in heaven. Cleaning your streets of heaven is enough for me. I just want to be in your presence for eternity. Sitting at your feet in awe of your love for me, as imperfect as I am. That is enough for me. You are enough for me.

I'm linking up @ Women Living Well!

Conclusions after Visiting the Water Park

2011-06-07T22:29:00.003-05:00

After visiting St. Louis Six Flag's water park yesterday, I came to several conclusions. (You'll see I clearly had a lot of "people watching" time while I sat with my very fussy, very hot, overly tired 6 month old.) Thoughts:

1. Just because they sell that blue string bikini in your size does NOT mean you should wear it. Anywhere.

2. You're not to pick up ANY woman around here when you're wearing nothing but swim trunks and knee high socks. (Without shoes, mind you. Just the socks. In a waterpark. Yes, I did attempt a picture with my camera phone.)

3. I walked out of the water park with my husband. For like 3 full minutes. Behind a girl wearing this adorable bikini bottom smaller than my favorite maternity underwear who clearly works out her gluts 3 times a day and tans in her spare time. I'm using the "I had 2 kids" excuse. That and the "I love fast food" excuse. And I think I'll wear baggy clothes around my husband the rest of the week until that mental image of her perfectly toned rear starts to fade from his mind.

4. I thought to myself while looking at all the nakedness surrounding me that if God came back at that moment he'd probably yell, "PUT SOME CLOTHES ON, WOMEN!"

5. Every teenage guy there was in heaven.

6. I couldn't help but wonder how many kids had peed in that giant wave pool.

7. If your gut hides the top portion of those tiny blue bottoms you somehow squeezed yourself into, they are NOT for you.

8. Are you old enough to have your body covered in tattoos?

And at the end of this, I'm feeling like an old, fat fart.

Swimming Pool

2011-05-26T16:22:00.001-05:00

We wanted Drew to have something more than a baby pool this summer since he a) stays outdoors most of the day and b) LOVES anything to do with water. The Y’s facilities are so expensive and out of the way, so we bought him a bigger pool…and he’s in love. I doubt he’ll be out of it much this summer!

Jesus Loves Him

2011-05-26T16:13:00.001-05:00

This little dude loves to sing. Loudly. With lots of energy. And sometimes lots of motions. So when he had to come to “big songs” (as he calls worship service) Wednesday night at church due to the major storms in the area, he was SO excited to sing. He plopped down, pulled out a song book, and waited for it to start. We sang 3-4 songs that he’d never heard before, but you know what? He sang. Loudly. With lots of energy. He was about 2 words behind everyone else, but I cannot quiet his precious heart from singing, even if it’s “off” and loud.

After a prayer, the next song leader, an older man named Ken Joines, got up to lead a song. He said, “We have lots of mamas with little ones in here tonight struggling to keep them quiet, so let’s sing one for them.” With that, he started out Jesus Loves Me. My son looked up at me with saucer-sized eyes and a huge open-mouth smile as if to say, “I KNOW this one!”

And then he sang. LOUDLY. WITH LOTS OF ENERGY. Everyone was turning around to look at him. The older people just smiled and stared. He just kept singing with the same amount of gusto. He looked around to see if other kids around him were as excited as he was. Nope. That didn’t deter him one bit. He continued on! And “Jesus Loves the Little Children” followed which he sang just the same as the first.

After church he got high fives and a sucker from random members to congratulate him on his fine singing. He was so proud. And so were his parents.

I pray he always has this pure of a heart for God, not caring what the reaction around him may be when he chooses to serve and worship wholeheartedly. I know God heart that beautiful voice on the back row last night!

Squiggle Stitch Giveway—Custom Outfit!

2011-05-20T10:47:00.001-05:00

Hear ye! Hear ye! It’s time for yet another giveaway at Squiggle Stitch. This time there’s an added bonus: not only do you get an applique and monogram, but you also get a CUSTOM MADE OUTFIT by Debbie’s Designs!

Head on over to my sister’s blog to figure out how to get multiple entries for this fabulous giveaway!!!

Hannah at 6 Months Old

2011-05-15T21:54:00.001-05:00

It is so bittersweet to write this post. You are becoming the most adorable baby, but it also means I’m losing my infant! With your big brother the first 6 months seemed sooooo long at times. I’ve never felt that way about the first half year of your life. It just boggles my mind that we’re half way to your birthday. NOOOOO!!!

With that said, I guess I want to keep you a baby for a long time because you are such an incredible baby! You eat well, nap well, play well, cuddle for long periods and cry for short periods. You “go with the flow” of a schedule. You smile at anyone who talks to you. What more could I ask for?! Well, yeah, there’s that-- a full night’s sleep. Besides that. 6 straight hours of sleep? Well you finally gave me that last night, so I’m happy! You’re getting there all on your own. *Happy dance!*

Six months will bring a long overdue doctor’s appointment now that everyone is finally well (knock on wood). I believe you’re about 18 pounds. Yes, quite the chunker. You are completely in your 9 month onesies, sleepers, and shirts. The pants are a smidge long, but that’s about it. Speaking of your clothes, you are so fun to dress still. I just love it. The big bows, frilly stuff, ruffled bottom pants. SO FUN.

You had several firsts this last month: first time to sit supported, first time to sit unsupported for several seconds, first trip to Grammy’s house in Greenville, and first time to meet Janet & Bubba. Grammy loved having you at her house for the first time.

Also, you got your first tooth!

(not the best picture, but enlarge it and you can see tooth #1 clearly and faintly #2)

You were 5 months, 1 week old when it popped through—the exact same time your brother got his! The second bottom one is going to pop through any day now. Amazingly, you’ve done well with the teething issue. Not usually fussy which makes me a super happy mama.

You ate applesauce and really, really liked it. I’m going to attempt to make your own baby food and see how it goes. (Writing out a mental note to research that when this note is done.) You belly laugh—a lot! And you always get the hiccups if you laugh more than twice. It’s a proven fact. Your normal waketime is about 80 minutes. You get fussy like clockwork and simply want to lie in your bed to go to sleep. I love that about you…so easy to put to sleep! At night you go down around 7:30 (moved from 6:00—yes!) and sleep on your own in your bed until you wake in the morning. The last few nights it’s been around 6am. I’LL TAKE IT! I do feed you around midnight before I get in the bed. I figured it better to wean you down off your frequent night feedings. Yeah, that and I don’t want you to wake me to eat at 1am when I lay down at 12am. I hate that.

(Nothing to do with this post, but this is your hair right now. If that little tuft of hair weren’t at the top of your head, you’d be completely bald in the back with a head FULL of hair toward the top and front!)

Your brother is probably your favorite person. I honestly believe you look for him when you get up from naps. You scan each room quickly and light up in a big way when you make eye contact with him. All he has to say is “boo” and you start belly laughing. That makes him feel like big stuff. He loves to make you “happy” by giving you toys…

Sometimes too many…

You are also extremely smitten with your Daddy. He can make you laugh so easily and it’s very apparent that you have him wrapped around your tiny, soft pinky finger.

The only things you’re not fond of are not being in your bed at naptime and lying on your stomach. You have not rolled over yet because you HATE being on your stomach. So I don’t make you. I don’t figure it’s a prerequisite for walking, so you can skip it!

You love nursing, bathtime, sucking on your toes, playing with your feet, chewing on anything (including your fingers), your passy, playing “boo,” playing anything with Daddy or Drew, sucking your thumb (so cute!), visiting relatives, bouncing, being held, cuddling with mama in the mornings for a few hours, and sitting up with toys.

Little girl, if I knew that 5 more babies would be just like you, I’d have 5 more! You are easy, sweet, laid back, gentle, easy going, fun, cuddly, and content. I absolutely love every minute of every day with you! I can’t believe I get to spend the rest of my life with you as my daughter! Oh God is so good!

Love,

Mommy

Decorating with Scripture

2011-05-10T22:15:00.001-05:00

In the past 6 months, God has convicted me and shown me that His will that I immerse myself in his words consistently is not to punish me in some crazy way, but it's his GIFT to me! When I delve into scripture, even if it's just in the few minutes of quiet I get on some days, it always finds a way of changing me, either by conviction or encouragement. (And I need a lot of both!) It seems God knows that when I am in His word, whatever I'm needing at that time will be given to me if I simply give my time and attention to Him.

Another thing about being in God's word consistently is that when you are faced with troubles throughout the day with your kids, husband, friends, etc. your recent readings come straight to the forefront of your mind. When you are rejoicing over something, you'll reference specific scripture. You manage to find a way to apply what you've been reading at every corner of the day. It really is amazing when you find it happening to yourself!

With that said, I'll be real with you. There are some days where there isn't a long period of peace in my house until 9:30 at night! But if I can find 10 minutes, 20 minutes, or sometimes just 5 minutes of quiet time during the day to open up Scripture and read, it somehow helps me through the day. When I'm craving some Scripture reading time in the day and it's impossible at that moment, I'll turn on KLove for a pick-me-up until I can get the "meat" I'm craving later.

One of our ministers recently said, "if you start reading scripture every day, you won't recognize the person you are now in a year." Scripture is life changing! I know it’s changing me for the better. And for that very reason, I find it so helpful to have the words of God posted around my home. They are encouraging, convicting, and helpful every single day.

For example:

These verses are on my fridge at mine and Andrew’s heights so that each time one of us is at the refrigerator preparing meals or a juice cup, etc, we are reminded of important Scriptures.

This next scripture is at Drew’s height. I originally printed it for myself to remind myself of the importance of consistent discipline. Then I wanted him to be able to have a scripture at His height, so I moved it down on the fridge. In retrospect, I would have made the verse simpler for him. For now, when I read it to him I just simplify it down to a toddler’s version.

This is the calendar in my kitchen. On almost every month I have a corresponding scripture. It not only is encouraging, but it helps with scripture memorization!

I found these at Hobby Lobby and hung them in my kitchen. I love these two verses.

This scripture cost me approximately $13 from Hobby Lobby and we LOVE it!

I put this scripture on my husband’s side of the bathroom counter since we both are in there to read it…

And this one on my side. It reminds me that even on the days where I feel ugly on the outside, the inside is truly what God cares about!

And this is the one beside my bed that I read each night before going to sleep.

If you have other ideas of ways to put scripture in your home, I’d love to hear them!

Easter 2011

2011-05-04T15:47:00.001-05:00

I realize I’m the last person in bloggyland with Easter pictures to post, but my free time is so few and far between these days that the blog is taking a back seat for a while.

We had a fabulous Easter as a family of 4. My mood this Easter was so full of joy for the very reason for this holiday. I was almost in tears so many times that day at the thought of how much love Jesus has for us and how much he overcame to save us! Praise God!

After a long chat, Hannah agreed to allow me to dress me and her alike as long as I don’t make her do it when she’s 15. I agreed. 14 might be the limit.

Hannah @ 5 Months

2011-04-17T17:23:00.002-05:00

It seems so odd that I’m able to type this title! Where is my infant baby going?! This last month has brought some fun times!

Hannah had her first taste of cereal (hated it), her first taste of applesauce (cried she hated it so much), went in the nursery for the first time at church (did fabulously!), and grew like a weed. She’s found her newest love, her feet. She chews on any form of cloth she can get her hands on, and I suspect her bottom left tooth will cut through in the next month.

Like an awesome second time parent, she still hasn’t had her 4 month check up, but she currently weighs 17 lbs. She is filling out her 6 month clothes perfectly and even most of her 6-9 month stuff. And if you could see her chubby thighs, you’d see why this is true! This girl has ROLLS galore! I just want to eat them with a spoon. She’s in a size 3 Pampers Swaddler diaper.

Maybe it’s those precious lumps of fat getting in the way, but she’s not the least bit interested in rolling over. She hasn’t even attempted it (however she’s NEVER on her tummy more than 30 seconds. She hates it.)! But she’s able to sit up on her own for several seconds at a time on some days. She can tripod pretty well for now. I’m looking forward to this milestone since it will make her a little more independent in terms of playtime. But on the other hand, it just means she’s growing….and that hurts me!

This girl is the easiest going kid in terms of a schedule. She’ll nap whenever, for however long or short is required, and just goes with the flow. She’s RARELY fussy. If she is, she probably just wants her mommy. Yes, we’re in that stage! (But I secretly EAT IT UP because I know it won’t be forever that she feels this way!)

Hannah loves singing (especially with her Daddy), bouncing up and down, noisy toys, her monkey wubanub passy, her pink/brown blanket, baths, hairbows (okay, that’s her mom), dressing up (maybe me too), and my cell phone. Yes, she LOVES my cell phone.

Oh and she LOVES her brother. LOVES.

She’s still exclusively breastfed (minus those 2 tastes of horrid “food”), and eats every 3 hours during the day and still about every 3 hours at night. Mommy’s ready for a good night’s sleep! However, when I go into her room and feed her at night, sometimes I just want to wake her up and play with her ‘cause she’s so stinkin’ cute! Her little hands are so soft and sweet and she just coos the sweetest coo. I could seriously just gobble her up.

I loooove these blue eyes!

I fall more in love with this girl DAILY and I cannot thank God enough for the blessing of her beautiful life!

Gresham & Laney Reunion

2011-04-17T16:58:00.001-05:00

One of the greatest blessings of deep friendships is getting to see your children grow and play together. Hilary, her husband, Justin, Andrew, and I were great friends back at MS State in 2004-2005. We lived in the same apartment complex and frequently ate our weight in Crisco chocolate chip cookies while playing card games until the wee hours of the morning. Fun times!

This past week we had the pleasure of visiting with Hilary and Juliet for a few hours. They were SO funny! The weather was beautiful so they got to play outside and sweat off some energy.

I was amazed at how much Juliet had grown since our last visit. She is such a little mommy; she just ate Hannah up!

A BIG thanks to the Greshams for making the trek over to our house to visit. We had a FABULOUS time!

“Like Jonah”

2011-04-12T16:55:00.001-05:00

Today Drew pitched a small fit over something and got sent to his room for disobeying. After a couple of minutes alone, I walked in his room, bent down next to him, and said, “Did you mind Mommy?”

“No,” he said. Then he added, “I not mind. Like Jonah.”

“Like Jonah?” I asked.

“Jonah not mind God. He wan (ran) away. Not tell people stop doing bad things.”

Just when I think I’m only talking to hear myself, he reminds me that he hears every word and is taking it all in.

After our chat, we spent lunchtime in his Bible talking about Jonah and followed it up with a section of Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie to reiterate the biiiig fish swallowing Jonah!

How I love my days with my babies and teaching them about the love of God! I AM BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE!

Drew @ 33 months

2011-04-09T15:51:00.001-05:00

I hesitated to do an update this month, but you’ve done so many things that I just HAVE to jot it down for memory’s sake.

-In the last week you’ve started potty training! You woke up one morning with a dry diaper and spotted some Pull-Ups someone had donated to us. You requested to wear them and it was downhill from there. You especially like standing up to tee-tee. You think you’re SO big. We’re on day 4 without any accidents except for nighttime. Woo hoo!

-I don’t want to jinx it, but you’re taking random naps again. I never in a go-zillion years would have thought you’d take another afternoon nap, but you are sometimes! Some days I have to tell you to go play in your room by yourself for a little while (aka—Mommy needs a few minutes of silence), and before I know it, you’re sound asleep in your bed.

-You’re sleeping in late again. Woooo hoooo! The other day you slept until 10:20. Hallelujah!

-You say the funniest things. Example: “Mama, you cranky?” “What in the world are you doin’?”

-You are insanely good with directions. You can point to random streets in town and let us know that “Papaw’s house that way” or “Grammy’s house that way.” If you and I ever got lost together, you’d have a better chance of getting us back to civilization than I would.

-You are asserting your right to say “no.” It gets you in trouble a lot. This is a favorite quote of yours: “DON’T TELL ME TO ____.” Fill in the blank. It’s driving us up the wall!

-However, you are usually pretty good about saying “yes ma’am” and “yes sir.” Makes me proud when you speak so respectfully.

-You always get your own meal & drink at restaurants now which makes you really happy.

-You sing bible songs…with gusto! (aka: you YELL them)

-You are LOVING being outside.

-You have the funniest expressions!

-You want to hold Hannah several times a day.

-You spent the night at Grammy’s house by yourself for the first time. Aunt Angela drove you down there and you didn’t complain to come home once! You slept with Grammy just fine (minus the fact your feet were in her face). That means we’ll be making a trip down there soon so that we can spend time with her.

-You are learning that you have to help clean up the messes you make!

I know I’m missing some things, but those are the highlights. The overall theme here is simple: you are growing up and become more independent all the time. That hurts me, but it’s the way it has to be! Some days I want to keep you little forever. I love you sweet boy!

Love,

Mommy

Expressions

2011-04-07T15:26:00.001-05:00

The weather the past few days could not have been more perfect here in North Mississippi. Perfect for playing outside without breaking a sweat—my kind of weather! Drew has THOROUGHLY enjoyed getting out of the house, and Hannah enjoys bouncing in the doorway with the fresh air.

My new favorite shirt for him to wear around the house. Cracks me up every time I read it. (Note the brownie all in his mouth for pooping in the potty—yaaaay!)

Okay, that was a lot of picture of my little man, but he has been cracking me UP lately with these facial expressions! Check out the ones of him in the cozy coupe car. He cuts those eyes back while keeping his head forward. Little stinker!

Make sure to notice the gutter on the ground in this picture. This is apparently Drew’s new hobby with his riding toys. Not funny. Argh! I’m going to remind him of these happenings when he has a wild little boy one day! God love him!

And Hannah? Well, her 5 month post is just around the corner, but here’s a sneak peek of my little beauty…

More to come soon! Out to enjoy this beautiful weather!

Hello, Spring!

2011-03-20T19:20:00.001-05:00

It’s finally here! Warm temperatures without the mosquitos! My 2 1/2 year old boy has played outside almost all day for the past few days. He started on his little farmer’s tan today. Lucky dude—he got his Daddy’s skin; I’m afraid Ms. Hannah is going to have to suffer like I did, slathering on sunscreen and treating sunburns when she forgets!

Kacie, Judd, Caroline, and Amelia came home last weekend to visit. We had SO much fun while they were here. The love of/for a sister is like none other. The older I get, the more I realize what a HUGE BLESSING it is to have Kacie in my life. She listens to me cry, complain, laugh, and just bounce ideas around. Next to Andrew, she’s my best friend; I wouldn’t have it any other way! Some of you out there with sisters know what I mean. This is the main reason I’m praying we have a girl next time. (And, no, we aren’t pregnant OR trying!)

Hannah, 4 months and Amelia, 2 months

Watching some Elmo!

Dad’s whipping up his famous mushrooms. YUMMO!

My sweet Deda with my sweet hand-gnawing girl.

Mamaw Jones held Hannah for the longest time. She couldn’t believe how much she’d grown!

This picture is for my own sake. I want to remember how my house looked when I had 2 little ones running around. Always cluttered! But as my Deda says, “you can have a clean house when the kids are in college.”

We have discovered a new gourmet cupcake shop just down the street from our house, L’oven. It’s DIVINE. Look what Andrew brought me the other day. YUM!

Miss Hannah had her first tastes of oatmeal cereal and applesauce on her 4 month birthday. She was a fan of neither. She pursed her lips and refused most of it. When I persisted in offering, she cried. We’ll hold out a while longer, I guess!

Drew looooves going to see Hannah when she wakes up and he hears her on the monitor. And she just grins and smiles at him. I hope these two have a very special relationship growing up. We’re doing our best to foster it!

We are just in the slobbering phase of teething. Slobber is everywhere and I know it’s just going to get worse! I just can’t believe my baby is old enough to be cutting a tooth.

This is what her hair looks like most mornings upon getting up. And if you think that’s bad…..

She really isn’t bald in the back, but since she usually sleeps on her back, it just messes up the poor girl’s hair. Sometimes it leaves little “rats.” I’ve had to cut two big knots out!

Applesauce: Take 2. She didn’t cry, but she was not impressed. In the least.

A certain little boy spilled a bottle of Pantene shampoo in his jacuzzi bath the other night and made a HUMONGOUS bubble bath…

And loved every minute of it!

Life is busy around here, but it’s SO, SO good. I’m reminded every single day how gracious my God is. He wakes me up, gives me breath, gives me health, provides for us in every way, sustains me on the days where my energy runs low, convicts me when needed (a lot!), and urges me to become more selfless and more in tune to what He wants for my life. I just don’t know how people survive without Jesus. I honestly don’t.

If you haven’t read Crazy Love, stop right now and go order it online. It’s by Francis Chan. It’s an easy, life changing read. I mean it. GO!

Kelly’s Korner—Kids’ Parties

2011-03-11T15:49:00.001-06:00

Today’s theme is birthday parties on Kelly’s Korner. I’m so excited to browse the site since I’m trying to come up with ideas for Drew’s party in just 4 short months! I can’t decide if we’ll do a “friends” party this year or not. Age 2 was a definite “no” because he didn’t really have any friends that he knew really well outside of his cousins who were in attendance at his family party anyway.

However, now that we’re approaching age 3, he talks about his friends from church all the time and LOVES playing with them, so it feels more fitting. Since his birthday is in July and his grandparents will be in Alaska on his birthday, we’ll either have his party a few weeks early or a week late. July is HOT so that could mean a big blow up water slide with a pirate theme or Chuck E Cheese. We all know the water slide pirate party would be cuter, but I’m really lovin the fact that Chuck E.’s staff could clean up before and after the children run amuck. We’ll see!

For Drew’s first party, we did a cowboy theme. You can see the original post here, but here are a few pictures from the day. Most of the stuff came from where else, Hobby Lobby!

His second birthday party post is here. The theme was polka dots—so much fun! And most of the stuff is from….(drumroll, please….) Hobby Lobby. You didn’t see that comin’.

These two parties had enough décor that there was an obvious theme, but they didn’t require too much work on my part. But the best part? Drew had FUN and knew he was being celebrated!

Drew at 32 Months

2011-03-10T22:38:00.001-06:00

I know that title looks random, but I don’t know how else to title this! I have SO much that I want to blog about my little dude. He is SO funny! He keeps us laughing all day long some days!

He LOVES Hannah and anything that he can do to help with her: preparing diapers, getting wipes, throwing away diapers (woo hoo!), watching her bathtime, talking to her, holding her hand, etc.

One of my favorite things is when he goes into her room after she wakes up. He’ll go in, climb up by her crib, and very enthusiastically say, “Hey Hannah! You get good nap?”

If she is lying on the floor fussing, he’ll go over and say, “What’s wrooooong, Hannah? You want passy?” Sometimes he proceeds to shove it in her mouth as far as it will go, and we have to intervene.

Of course he still adores being outside, but really likes it when someone is with him. If someone is outside with him, whether playing with him or not, he’ll stay out there for hours without complaint. (Bring on springtime!)

He has this new “thing” where he either does this crazy cute fake smile,

covers his face,

or scrunches his nose in pictures.

Little ham!

About 6 weeks ago, Drew gave up napping. It actually occurred while Andrew was in Phoenix for a week, and I couldn’t get both kids to sleep at once. He could still use one some days, but he seems to do just fine without them! However, if I put him in his room to play by himself for a while, 3 different times I’ve found this:

I was SHOCKED!!!!!! This is NOT my kid! But it was nice!

Remember Joseph? Drew’s playmate? Joseph does most things with us these days. The other day he went on a walk with us.

And by “walk,” I mean Drew really had him walking on the road. It was so cute!

Joseph watches TV with us, sits at the table with us, eats snacks, and even goes into restaurants and stores. He has his own juice cup and plate at times. I thin it’s adorable! Just today I heard Drew singing “Happy Birthday” to him. Ah! Precious! But apparently Joseph has an evil streak because Drew claims that Joseph pinches his stomach and hits him in the head at times. So as punishment, Drew spanks him and throws him down the stairs. We thought that punishment was a tad steep, but Drew seemed to think it fitting. Good thing we give Drew a little more mercy than that!

This little dude is FUN-LOVING! He loves to go places and will often say, “Mama, wanna go somewhere?” He really loves “Tar-gah” (Target), but he’ll settle for “Chick fay” (Chick fil a) for a drink.

He’s so sweet about praying lately. We can’t always understand what he says, but tonight I’m positive he thanked God for some shoes, going to the zoo with mommy (it was actually PetCo—ha), and for all the vacuum cleaners. I’m thankful for my vacuum cleaner, too, bud.

He’s also into apologizing lately and making sure everyone’s feeling okay. Yesterday I hit my ankle on the wall and Drew rushed over. “You okay, Mama? You hit your foot? Poor Mama. It feel better…” Then he bent down and kissed my foot right before he hugged me. Melted my heart!

Drew is so fun lately. He likes to cuddle at times and sit right next to me while we watch TV. That’s a nice change!

But don’t get me wrong, he’s still all boy! He is LOUD and boisterous! He gets overstimulated and goes wild around other kids or company. We have a time in the church building sometimes keeping him still!

He’s still obsessive about helping with anything, but now he’s really into helping with doing the dishes and cooking. It actually has encouraged him to try more new foods since he helps make it!

He’s back in school for 2 hours every Thursday at our church and did great today! When he got out of class I said, “What did you learn about today, Drew?” and he said, “JESUS! I learn about Jesus!” Yay!!!

I could fill up this blog with tons of stories, but this boy is precious! He has his bad days, but don’t we all? The good days like today FAR outweigh the ones where I lose a little hair.

Music to my heart!

I love this boy so much I feel like my heart is going to EXPLODE at times!

Technorati Tags: video

Hannah at 4 Months

2011-03-10T21:43:00.001-06:00

Miss Hannah,

My how you’ve grown in one month’s time! I am still ever so smitten with you. Head over heels in love! And I’m not the only one either. At the ripe age of 4 months, you have your Daddy wrapped around your tiny pinky finger,

and your brother is right next to you as long as you’re awake, hoping you’ll smile and laugh at him. He loves having his picture made with you. And you don’t mind it one bit!

You are such a sweet girl. You love playing on your activity mat, sitting in your bouncer, kicking & relaxing in the tub, Johnny Jumper, watching Veggie Tales with Drew, sitting in your bumbo, swinging, your passy, Drew, car rides, singing, laughing, and eating!

Oh and you REALLY love chewing on those fingers!

You only get fussy if you are hungry or tired. Besides that, you are one happy baby. You aren’t as easy to make smile for the camera as Drew was at this age, but when the camera is away you CHEESE IT UP!

You take fairly good naps now ranging from 45 minutes-3 hours long depending on the day. You nurse about every 3 hours which is really nice. I cannot believe you’ll be starting solids soon. Honestly, I’m not ready for that because it means pureed food is just around the corner! But I’m hoping it helps you out at night. Until just a few nights ago you were sleeping in your crib from around 6:30/7 until 11/12 and then coming to my bed with me.

One night you even slept in your bed until 3:30 am! What a blissful 3 hours of sleep I got! I’m hoping this is just your 4 month growth spurt because you are suddenly up every 2-3 hours again at night acting starved. Sometimes you’ll go back to sleep with your passy, while at other times you want a full meal. That’s okay, though. You are definitely growing from all that eating!

You’re such an easy baby, Hannah. You sleep in your carrier most of the time or just sit and stare. We went out to eat a few weeks ago and since our party was so large, it took 2 hours to get in and out; you sat in your carrier the entire time wide awake and staring. Amazing! You are fairly content to play on your mat while you’re awake or sit in my lap and then you almost always put yourself to sleep. Occasionally I’ll rock you just because I want to soak up your baby moments and pray over you.

You make me want to be a better mama already! I feel the need to learn to sew and cook so I can teach you these things. So my next “to do” is to learn how to make homemade “from scratch” rolls. And the recipe has yeast. It’ll probably take practice, but maybe by the time you’re 2 I’ll have it mastered.

You & Drew not only make me want to pursue homemaking skills, but you make me want to be a better mommy to your daddy so that I can model a respectful behavior for you to follow. God is changing me, shaping my will, and lifting my Spirit. I feel challenged to become more gentle, loving, patient, and gracious with both of you. I love that even at such a young age you are bettering me for eternity!

I love you IMMENSELY, and I hope you are always secure in that love. You have made our lives even richer! What a BLESSING you are!

Love,

Mommy

Giveaway Winner...

2011-03-03T10:59:00.003-06:00

We were blown away at all the entries and sweet comments about Squiggle Stitch! Everyone who entered the contest receives 10% off your first order!

The winner of the giveaway for the appliqued/monogrammed tshirt from Squiggle Stitch is...

Julie R!!! Julie, we'll be contacting you at jlcjewels@hotmail.com. Watch your email!

Thanks everyone!

GIVEAWAY—Squiggle Stitch Monogrammed Shirt

2011-02-28T08:00:00.000-06:00

Back in the 1990s my mom would get together with her friends and their kids and we would all make adorable shirts with our names on them in neon colored puff paint. Sometimes we'd even add little jewels just for some extra pizzazz. Cause, you know, neon colors weren't enough to catch the eye. It was all the rage! Our own personalized shirts. We had one for every holiday! Klassy, we were.

Now here we are 20 years later with our own children and we're still digging monogrammed, seasonal shirts, but this time we're going for classy.

For those of you living under a large rock, my sister, Kacie, has started her own embroidery business, Squiggle Stitch. (How adorable is that name?) Her work is absolutely fabulous! You can see just a few of her designs on her new facebook page here! She's just getting started, so to kick off her opening week, we're doing a......

Giveaway!!!

The winner of this giveaway will receive your choice of a t-shirt with applique AND monogram for free! Look at your choices from these adorable designs…

How do you enter?

You have TWO ways to get an entry!

1. “Like” Squiggle Stitch on Facebook here for one entry and leave a comment on this blog post with your email address stating you did so.

2. Follow Kacie’s blog here so you can keep up with all the updates of her business and leave a comment stating you did so.

So you get up to two entries for a chance to win your customly designed shirt. The winner will be selected by random number generator on Thursday morning and the winner will be announced on my blog and contacted via email soon after.

Good luck, y’all!

Miss Priss

2011-02-22T16:29:00.001-06:00

Aunt Angela got Hannah this adorable MudPie outfit this past week, so we tried it on today. It’s a 0-6 month summer outfit, but Miss Priss is filling it out quite well at 3 months. Not sure if it’s going to fit by May!

Have I mentioned that having a little girl to dress up is a LOT of fun?!

Transition...

2011-02-20T15:58:00.003-06:00

Today I tried Hannah in her crib for the first time and she LOVED it. Instead of sleeping for only 45 minutes as she does in her swing, she slept for an hour and a half for her first two naps and is still asleep for nap #3. Sweet, sweet day! I was worried about trying this (don't ask me why), but she transitioned just great.

Someone might wonder if I realize she's asleep on her stomach. Yes, I am. She's happy and so am I. ;)