This Texas Momma

Treats galore

2012-02-07T09:28:00.000-08:00

First off, I finally added the 8 month pictures to Evan's monthly update.

So last night I had to run to Sonic to get Luke's preschool teacher a gift card for her birthday party today. I'd tried at lunch yesterday, but OF COURSE the network was down and I couldn't get any. So last night between baths (girlie had gotten one, dude had not) we ran up to Sonic to try again. I felt bad for just getting gift cards and not purchasing anything else so.....

we got a treat. The anal type-A mom in me said "What are you doing woman?! It is 8:45- not only have you broken the schedule, but are you crazy for letting your three year old have ice cream this late?" But then another part of me realized that just because I'm the adult doesn't mean I have to be so rigid all the time. I allowed us the freedom to get a random treat just because. Because I've got a fabulous kid. When I passed his ice cream back to him he said "Hey! It's not even Christmas!" Okay. Maybe I need to be a little more spontaneous sometimes.

This is also the kid who told me Sunday, as I was putting his clothes on to go to the Super Bowl party at the Sloan's, "I love you Mom. You saved my life."

And then I died.

(I let him have M&M's one night last week- they do melt in your hands. And on your mouth.)

But don't worry. He's not all sunshine and roses though. At the party he almost ran over his sister in a peddle car, so I banned him from driving it on the carpet and he got so mad at me he lost the privilege to play with it at all. Oi. That did not go over well.

Also, later that night he was talking about best friends. I asked him who his best friends were, he said Kota (Dakota). And Jadyn. And Zane. He asked me who my best friend was, I told him that he was of course! Then I asked again who his best friend was. Alas. Still not me.

Maybe I'll get lucky with this girl and she'll think I'm her best friend for a while.

(Can you see that little tear? She was horrified that I set her down to make some dinner one night. We made dinner together.)

Sunday after church we had lunch at Grandmother's house and I brought the sewing machine home with me. After I whipped up a little of this

I made a little this

for her to wear to the party. I've got a couple of other projects floating around in my head, it's just a matter of making the mess to do it.

Ya'll know how I feel about mess.

Speaking of mess, you should see my yard. Lord. Have. Mercy. Since it didn't get very cold in the least this year, the winter weeds have been abundant. And here's the deal. If I go out to check the mail at all, it's always after dark, so it's been WEEKS since I'd seen the front yard in day light. I won't make that mistake again. The weeds were calf high. Thursday night I mowed and Friday night I cleaned out a portion of the flower bed.

That's right. Those are only two bags of many more that will come. I have never ever let my flower beds become over grown, but I guess there is a first for everything.

Two random pictures:

(Sunday during bible class. I finally let her wear the pearl bracelet she got for Christmas from my grandmother. It didn't go well. All she wanted to do was pull it off and eat it.)

(One of the 50 million reasons I love my friends: even their husbands are hands on with my kids. Sorry it's blurry, I snuck this picture of Caleb with Evan. She was perfectly content with him for forever!)

Conversations

2012-02-04T20:16:00.001-08:00

So my Luke boy is getting highly creative in his thinking. And his reasoning. Once you get past the same questions over and over, as well as the questions confirming what you just said, he is SO FUN to talk to. Some of our resent conversations:

Luke: I want to wash me tonight. It's my job.
Me: Okay. That's fine. But make sure you lay down and get your hair wet......no....ALL the way down son. Get more than just the back of your head wet.
Luke: Don't worry mom, I'm just gonna wash my knees. That's all.

Me: What would you like to drink with your lunch?
L: Milk
Me: I'm sorry baby, they don't have milk at this restaurant.
L: I think I need some Sprite then.

L: Is my birthday coming up?
M: No. You still have a few months to wait. What kind of party do you think you will want for your birthday?
L: Pink
*all I could do was shake my head no. What kind of answer was that?!*
L: Then I think maybe blue.
Me: I can deal with that.

(Last Sunday morning I was procrastinating getting ready for church by read in bed on my iPad. Enter Luke.)
L: I have to do my work on the iBook now Mom.
Me: Your work?
L: yeah. It's okay. I just have to work on my train game.
(it's a rule that he doesn't play on my phone or iPad when we are at home. Dude is getting sneaky too!)

So those are just a few I can think of now. Some of his favorite phrases are "I think", "it's my job", and "maybe tomorrow". Didn't see the car he was talking about? Maybe you'll see it tomorrow. Not getting the treat you want because you don't eat all that you should? Maybe you'll get it tomorrow.

As we came home from church tonight, we were talking about Jesus. At one point he asked me if Jesus was going to come over. As in, to our house? I asked. Yes. When was Jesus going to come to our house. I didn't quite know how to answer that. How do you explain that He is always there without it sounding creepy? I did remind him that Jesus lives in our hearts. Then I asked him if he knew where his heart was. He said it was in his tummy. I said close enough.

Eight Months

2012-02-02T09:44:00.000-08:00

Evan, yesterday you were 8 months old. My sweet, precious, perfect baby, where is the time going?

This past month has been a rough one, but you have shown your true colors- that you have a God-given sweet spirit and it takes a lot to get you down. Your health took a serious hit. For weeks you had raspy wheezy breathing, a nasty cough, and fever off and on. You also got your first ear infection. Through everything though, you maintained a good attitude. What a blessing you are.
As if feeling bad from being sick (and consequently not sleeping!) wasn't bad enough, you finally got your first tooth! It's the bottom front right one and over the last week I've watched it get bigger and bigger. It's finally broken through enough that you can see it when you giggle. While I'm thrilled that you've come to this big milestone, I'm sure going to miss the gummy smile that will dissapear all too soon.

Let's see...what else... I know from all the doctor appointments lately that you are right at 20 lbs, although I don't know your length. I guess I could do that myself, but, eh. You wear size 9 or 12 month clothes, and are still in size 3 diapers. You still nurse/take a bottle about 5 times a day, but now we've totally incorporated a whole jar of food at night. I know that you would LOVE to have more solids, but until this whole poop things stabilizes I really can't give you more. That's not to say I don't sneak you bits of my food when I can. I think if you could skip baby food and go straight to table food you would. The thrill on your face when presented with cheerios or bits of bread or soft veggies is unmistakable. Last weekend Nana made steamed green beans for dinner and I let you gnaw on a whole one. It was pure love.

You still love bath time (you've taken to crying when it's time to get out), love your brother (you giggle just looking at him), love to bang whatever is in your hands. What you don't love? Hugging or cuddling for too long (I'm afraid this is one of my less desirable qualities you've inherited). All I want to do is hug and squeeze the stuffing out of you, but after about two seconds you are fussing at me to get off. Ya just want to look around, see what's going on. You also have no desire to get moving. I've tried to prop you up on hands and knees so you'll be in position to crawl, but it's always met with squalls of protest.

And this lookey lou behavior is also causing a problem when you nurse. Trying to nurse while anything is going on has become quite an issue. I'm afraid this might mean you wean earlier than I'm ready, I'm not ready to give it up yet. Trying to keep you under a cover out in public has become a laugh too. You will wave a little arm round out from underneath it, and eventually pull it off your face while still nursing. Heaven forbid you miss anything that's going on.

Oh baby girl, I love you so. It tears me up that I can't be at home with you and your brother, I'm so afraid that missing this time in your life will be one of my biggest regrets. But since your dad left, I've had no choice to cart you off every day. Thankfully all of your babysitters love you *almost* as much as I do. I'd have to say that Mr. Roger is probably your very favorite. I've got it on good authority that anytime he walks by you and doesn't pick you up, you cry. It tickles Ms. Cindy every time.

Anyway, thank you baby girl for being my sweet Evan. I hope that you will always know how precious you are to me, that you are worth everything in the world!

Life is better

2012-01-30T12:15:00.000-08:00

I kept meaning to write this at the end of last week, but I kept getting side tracked.

Life got better.

It always does.

Wednesday night I took Evan to Acute kids instead of church, low and behold she had an ear infection. But that meant she got antibiotics. Thursday she still felt crummy (but amazingly without fussing) and Friday I determined it WOULD be a good day. And it was.

This girl's breathing improved.

Luke doesn't seem to need breathing treatments right now, and currently Evan only needs them at night (and even that is tapering off).

GUESS WHAT. Evan is getting her first tooth! Poor poor baby, right in the middle of all the health drama, she was cutting her first tooth. It's the lower middle left one, and I think it's just about done breaking through totally. I first discovered it on Saturday, my heart skipped a beat or so when I did. I can't believe it. One more step away from infancy.

Someone hold me.

You know a girlfriend feels better when she becomes thrilled with a new pair of shoes. Saturday morning I went shopping with Mom and I got a couple of pairs of flats. One pair is black with a rhinestone brooch thing on the toe, and when Evan saw them later that night on the floor of my bedroom she squealed and had to get her hands on them.

While I don't fancy myself a girly girl, I do appreciate a certain amount of sparkle in my life. I love that she loves it too.

A few minutes later I had put her in her room to play, and Luke joined her.

Thrills my heart. What mom wouldn't want to peek in on her children and see this? I do hope (although I'm not holding my breath) that they always get along sweetly.

And last night before small groups Luke was begging to go to the park. Since it was beautiful weather, I consented. But given that they are both on antibiotics for ear infections, I made them both wear a hat. Luke was thrilled and didn't mind the hat.

I can't say the same for Evy girl.

I think she just wanted to go back to sleep.

Last night after the littles were asleep, I turned on the old broken laptop to transfer some pictures onto my external hard drive and also put on the bookmaking software that I have, which makes all my photo books. I wanted to see if I could run it through the external at work without installing it on the desk top. And BOOM! I can! While I can't finish the book I've started (2010- I'm up to September), I can start a new book. Which I've been doing all morning. 2011 January and February is already done. Hopefully I won't be a over a year behind for too much longer.

It's also forced me to go back and look at my blog (to keep the pictures in order, I use this as a reference), and it has made me realize how much better I used to write. Both in quality and quantity. It also made me miss being a stay at home mom more than I have in awhile, and made me want to run back to that girl and tell her to run for the hills- life is about to turn upside down. But that's the bitter sweetness of hindsight. I had no idea. Okay. I had an inkling. But not anything like life has become.

Eh. Life is just becoming a new kind of beautiful, right?

Confession

2012-01-24T07:14:00.000-08:00

You know that sinking feeling, when life is just beating you down and nothing seems to go right and your head keeps bobbing under water?

Yeah. I'm there.

There has been a whole lot of this.

And even more of this.

It all started Wednesday. I took off of work because both Luke and I were sick. Cold, sinus infection, something. I don't know. I already had a doctor's appointment for Evan because she wasn't pooping, and wouldn't you know she was the only one not sick. While we were there Kim listened to Luke and gave him a prescription for some cough meds/decongestant. By Friday he was good, just got run down easily, then he ended up going to the doctor for an ear infection.

Evan finally started pooping on Sunday, which is also when she started wheezing. Bad. She sounds like Wheezy from Toy Story. And the cough. Oh the cough. It takes her entire body to cough. Terrible.

So....I'm a little over all of this sickness. We were doing so good for awhile too. If I have to take Evan in today, that will be three doctor trips in a week. I've got better ways to spend our time and money. Sorry for the blahness. I used to be funny and light and interesting. Maybe tomorrow?

Not that life has been ALL bad ALL the time. Tuesday night (unfortunately when neither of us we feeling stellar since we were coming down with out colds) Ashely and I took Luke to his first Stars game.

We had fun! The people in front of us were hysterical- totally into it- and the game was good too. As you can see from the picture, we were pretty high up and Luke is a stander....he likes to stand as opposed to sit. The rational person in me knew that he wasn't going to fall forward and topple all the way down to a painful demise, but the momma in me couldn't help it. I literally had one hand on him the entire night. Don't laugh.

Sunday night the Foltermann's treated us to ice cream. Laughter and frozen dairy products go a long way.

And it all really could be worse. You know how I have the best baby ever? Well, I really have the best baby ever. Even when her eyes are droopy and her tummy hurts and she just feels crummy, she STILL is in a good mood.

I don't know how she does it. Lord knows she didn't get it from me.

(that's pear juice in her bottle. Kid not pooping? 4 oz of pear juice is the only thing that works for us)

Game time

2012-01-16T09:28:00.000-08:00

So, I told myself (in an un-resolution type manor) that I was going to try and get better about blogging. And yet here it is, still a week later. Whoops.

Friday afternoon I got a fun and unexpected surprise. I was gearing up for another ho hum weekend at home, when a friend gave me a couple of season tickets to the Maverick's gave that night that would have gone unused. These were awesome seats. Bottom level, 11 rows back, corner of the court. I found a friend to come along, called up Mom to babysit, and made an evening of it. We had so much fun.

Saturday I felt guilty for not seeing the kids all night, so I made them a priority over housework. After a long nap together I took them for a leisurely dinner at Chipotle and then to the grocery store (needed stuff for a roast for tonight's dinner, which is currently cooking in the crock at home. I put in WAY to many veggies, we'll see how it turns out.) Before we left, I tried this little clip in Evy girl's hair since it's been growing more and more.

When I asked Luke what he thought of Evan's clip he said "Um, I think she needs a bigger bow." And pointed to her wall hanging of massive headbands. That's my boy.

Speaking of that boy, he's been cracking me up all weekend. At the grocery store I decided I'd get a can of biscuits for Sunday's breakfast, as opposed to the normal cinnamon rolls or muffins. You would have thought this was the best idea I've ever had in my whole life after his over-enthusiastic "YES!" while simultaneously punching the air with his fist. He also informed me that Evan does not have a pen-es like he does because he is a boy. She has two bottoms because she is a girl. I just stared at him with wide eyes and moved on. He has also become quite fascinated with the number 17. Not sure why. I just tend to move on from that one too.

Friday I got this sent this picture from Shae.

It didn't last long though. Not even 5 minutes later she texted back that Luke has already returned to the train table and Dakota was BEGGING him to play superheros with him. To no avail. But it seems that some superhero talk has sunk in, he was bound and determined to have the superhero vitamins at the store on Saturday night over the Car's ones we'd just finished up. I consented. He is such a funny kid. Talks a mile a minute. Last night his reactive air ways flared up again though. He woke up at 4:45 in a panic over having trouble breathing and the giant coughing fit. It took awhile to calm him down, then do a breathing treatment. By the time I got him back in bed at almost 6, Sister Friend was stirring for breakfast.

Not the best way to start a Monday. But these faces?

Totally worth it.

Christmas photos

2012-01-09T20:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas at Grandy's:

Luke's preschool Christmas party:

Santa Jammies! First neither would look....

Then she would look.....

Then he would look....

Finally they both did.

Christmas at Nana and Papa's:

Christmas Eve:

Christmas morning!

Better late than never, right?

Twitterings

2012-01-07T08:03:00.000-08:00

I think only two of you follow me on twitter, so I thought I'd share all of my musing over the last couple of weeks.

-I feel like Hershey Air Chocolate is just a ploy to sell less chocolate for the same price. Also, I very much love potato bread.

-Two steppin' in the kitchen with a certain little man. I may have even dipped him. One day I'll let him lead.

-I also just told that little man that the shredded carrot on his plate was kinda like an orange French fry. He tried & liked it. #parentwin

-The worst- headed to lunch totally famished and the elevator smells like the take out of who ever just got off. Not helping.

-After watermelon, pineapple, chips, salsa, & a 6 pack, picking up a pizza from the store wasn't cheaper than delivery. But my tummy? Happy.

-@ZooeyDeschanel Just walked by my three year old playing in the living room. He was singing the #newgirl theme song. No joke.

-You know you are good friends when you don't even think about brushing your hair before hanging out.

-FYI. Too Faced Shadow Insurance is what I've been missing all of my life. I have a new love and I am not ashamed.

-Choosing to read and eat chips and salsa in the fort instead of showering during nap time. #nevergrowingup

-Lord have mercy. Whoever decided that babies should eat baby food clearly did not have a type-A personality.

-Dropping all pretenses that I have any class & drinking champagne straight from the bottle. No point in dirtying a glass when it's just me.

-Good thing I didn't resolve to eat healthier this year. The boss just brought in CFA chicken biscuits. I love them.

-Know what I miss? Gilmore Girls. And sleeping more than 5 hours a night. And holding hands. And Baby Sitters Club books. Remember those?

-How in the world did Tim McGraw get in my Texas Country que? Come on Pandora. Let's fix this.

-George Strait, Alan Jackson, & Garth Brooks do not qualify as Texas Country either. Pandora. Get it together. I don't want regular country.

-I've graduated from eating ice cream straight from the pint to straight from the half gallon.

New Years and then some

2012-01-06T07:53:00.000-08:00

I promise I will post a few pictures of Christmas. It may be July before I get to it, but dang it, I'll make it happen. My laptop and blogger just don't get along so it takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to try and upload photos. Something I just don't want to tackle by the time I get everyone fed, bathed, bedded and the house picked up and the kitchen cleaned of dinner and the lunches packed for the next day and the bags put together. So, you are left with another catch up post using phone photos.

What did I do before my iPhone?

And thank you for loving me enough to put up with it.

:)

The night of the 28th (I know because I posted it on facebook) I fixed Luke and I a nice baked potato dinner. I have been wanting us to move to more table eating as opposed to just letting him run around and play and eating when he wants to. I think you can tell his opinion on the matter.

The caption that went with the picture- "Now taking applications for a new dinner companion. If you don't throw fits you're a shoo in over this guy."

The next day, Thursday afternoon, Mom was keeping the kids so she brought them up to have lunch with me. Could my lunching girl be any cuter?!

Probably my second favorite photo in the entire world. This one, the second one, is still #1.

That night I was giving Evan her nightly bath. I figured Luke was playing in the living room with his train table, like always, but alas. He wasn't. In fact, I was in for a bit of a shock.

I always thought I would first play in my jewelry box with my daughter, but it looks like my son beat her to it. He'll grow out of it, right? I mean, he did grow out of being obsessed with pink and purple. Remember that?

New Years weekend was such a nice one. Saturday morning I got the house all cleaned and we got to play outside. In shorts.

I love living in Texas. It still gets up to the mid 60's here, but I heard a rumor that tomorrow it's supposed to get cold. That's also how we do it. Change seasons in 24 hours. This was all before the kids' dad called and asked if he could have them for the afternoon while they did one last Christmas. That left me with an afternoon to myself. I believe my exact tweet was (and I just copy/pasted) "Kids are with their dad, so I'm on the couch with chips, salsa, and Harry Potter 4. Laundry be damned." A quiet afternoon was not about to be wasted. One thing I did eventually accomplish was moving all the baby toys out of Luke's room and into Evan's room, and moved a tub's worth of outgrown clothes from her drawers to said tub. It also forced me to look at all the sweet little newborn things that she outgrew in about a week. It pained my heart to see such little things and know that I will never have that again. So I decided a few of her outfits could live on as doll clothes.

Don't judge.

The kids got home that night in time for bed so I put them down, turned on the hockey game, and settled in to wait for midnight on the couch. It was my first official New Years with no kiss, but that's okay. I toasted myself with some champagne and called it a night. Sunday morning we woke up and went to church, had lunch with Mom and Dad, then home for a nap. Since I'd stayed up the night before I let myself nap with the girl. Who woke up before me and found something to read.

At least it was quality material, right?

That night we went to a friend's house for a tiny birthday celebration, which was always a good time. Since technically it was a party, I dressed my girl for a party.

What you can't see are the black leggings and the silver Toms.

Speaking of that girl, her hair is getting thicker and curlier. I wish I had a better picture than this...

It doesn't do her justice, but oh well. Monday I didn't have to work so I dedicated the day to Luke. He wanted to go on an adventure, and inside adventure. Not a clue what that means. So, I did what any good mom would do and built him a sheet fort. We moved the couch to the side of the living room and just went for it. He had the best time.

But the funniest thing was, no matter how much I referred to it as a fort or a tent, he'd refer to it as the adventure. "Mom, lets have lunch in the adventure." "Read me this story in the adventure." I went with it.

Seven Months

2012-01-02T20:13:00.000-08:00

My beloved, you were seven months old yesterday! Every month I think that it was a major month with major things happening, and this was no exception. You had your first bout with Christmas..Santa, lots of family, and presents. Well, presents as far as your brother would let you. He had a fabulous time "helping" you unwrap most of them.

I'm not sure how much you weigh, and I'm not sure how tall you are, but you are still in your size 3 diapers and size 9 months clothes. You even wear a few 12 month things. This all will probably change again soon though- we've delved right into solid foods and you love it. Every evening you down a whole jar of food. So far I've given you green beans, carrots, pears, prunes, sweet potatoes, and squash and there isn't one thing you don't like. I've even let you have some of my baked potato one night and some mashed avocado to try. You do surprisingly well with finger foods all ready. You also still get at least 5 rounds of breast milk a day.

(I believe my exact tweet was "Lord have mercy. Whoever decided that babies should eat baby food clearly did not have a type-A personality.")

I have to say, it's been a little odd feeding you food this month. For the past year and a half the only nutrients you have every received came straight from me. Everything you need to sustain you I have been the one to provide, and while obviously the one jar of food isn't replacing me in the least, it does signal the beginning of the end. All too soon you will forget all about nursing and only need me to physically something in front of you. Makes me a little emotional if I think about it too long.

A week into this month you were sitting up like a pro, you only topple over every now and then (like today which gave you a nice bump on your forehead from a book. Boo.) You love to sit there watching the world go by as you chew on a toy. I'd have to say chewing on things is your number one very most favorite thing to do. Your little chin is so chapped from all the drool. This month you also started reaching for people you are highly familiar with when they hold their hands out to you. Nothing makes my day better than when I pick you up at the end of the day and you break out in to a huge grin and flap your little arms at me.

Unfortunately your reactive airway cough is back which totally interferes with your sleeping. It's not terrible though, and according to my friends with babies, I'm so thankful for how well you sleep. God knew what I needed when He gave me you.

You, Evan Elaine, are so loved. I get more smitten with you every day, and Luke just lavishes you with attention. He still can't wait for you to get bigger and be able to share things with you (so he says...I still have my doubts as to what reality will be!) He already shares with you better than I ever did. And when he doesn't want to share he is so gentle in redirecting you. That brother of you also prays for you every night, that you would be safe. This is something he came up with all on his own and it gets me every time.

One last thing- on Christmas eve I was painting my toes and I decided we needed matching. Yep. You got your first pedicure. Thrills me to the core.

A long two week Christmas recap

2011-12-28T09:12:00.000-08:00

Oh hello. I know it's been two weeks. So sorry. Christmas really did me in this year. It seems it did someone else in too.

Although I didn't have something every night, it sure felt that way. Also, I haven't moved my pictures from the camera to the laptop, but it wouldn't matter anyway...I'm at work right now. So I'll highlight with what I've got on the phone and them maybe tomorrow I'll just have a post with pictures from the camera. No words? Yeah right.

The weekend before Christmas the kids and I went with Mom, Dad, and Ashley to Grandy's for Christmas with Mom's side of the family. We left on Friday after work and came back on Sunday afternoon. Luke had a great time with his first presents of the season. He loved the truck set that Grandy got for him and had fun with Hayden (my cousin's son that is a year older than him) Unfortunately I did not get any pictures with my phone that weekend, that will have to come from the camera later.

The following Tuesday was Luke's class Christmas party and I was able to attend. Yay!

I sat with him as he ate lunch, made a snowman, and decorated a cookie. Which you can see from the photo had a plethora of sprinkles on it. Dude didn't want any of the choices to feel left out. Also, the weird smile is all I could get from him when prompted to smile on cue.

Wednesday there wasn't church or Wednesday Nite Bite, so I was forced to prepare dinner for my family. By Thursday I was totally over it and just ordered a pizza. I would like to congratulate myself on how little I actually order pizza. It's a rare treat in this house, which is odd for someone who hates cooking as much as I do.

We found a movie on tv and settled in.

Friday the 23rd, I had off of work. Can I just say hallelujah?! We stayed in our pj's for awhile, before going shopping with Mom and Ashley.

While we were still jammie mode, I found the boy playing cars in bed. We had all reached a new low of lazy that day. But the shopping more than made up for it. My mommy bought me a pretty new dress at New York and Company.....

which I wore to dinner that night.

Normally we do Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve, but Ashley had to work that night this year so we pushed it up to the 23rd. We had our traditional Macaroni Grill dinner and then presents and dessert at Mom and Dad's. Again Luke had a great time not only opening his presents, but "helping" Evan with her's and mine. And whom ever else would let him. One thing Luke received was a new camo duffel bag with his name emboirdered on it, and he LOVED it. Isn't that the funniest thing?! Evan got herself a new pair of TOMS.

Mom just couldn't resist the silver sparkle. And I can't resist those fat legs with eye catching glitter. I'm going to be devastated when all her baby fat is gone.

The next morning was another lazy one. We hung around the house on Christmas Eve, playing until it was time to go to my grandmother's for lunch and Christmas with Dad's side of the family. At one point I walked into Luke's bathroom to find him sitting in tub chowing down on his carton of goldfish Nana had put in his stocking the night before. Just as natural as if that's what everybody does. So what did I do? Plunked Evan girl right in there with him.

And then that sweet big brother decided that his sister needed a hug.

I could just cry over that picture every time I see it. At Grandmother's I finally took the time to repaint my toes. And then I got a little carried away.

Girlfriend didn't even know what happened to her.

By dinner time we were back home with left overs. We fixed Santa's plate and milk and letter, got baths, read Twas the Night Before Christmas, and then it was time. Time for the magic of Christmas to happen.

Christmas morning came at 7 for us. Cody wanted to watch the kids open their presents, so I held Luke off until 8:30 when he got there. Santa only fills the stockings at our house and Luke was THRILLED with this little travel mug that looks like my coffee mugs Santa had brought him. He's wanted his milk out of it ever since. I fixed this amazing french toast bake for breakfast, and then (since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year), we went off to church. Cody took the kids with him after the service for their traditional Christmas at his grandmother's for the rest of the day. I'm not going to lie and say it wasn't a bit depressing to be by myself on Christmas day (granted, I could have gone to the movies with Mom and Dad). I sat on the couch the entire day watching tv, reading, eating cold pizza, and napping. I tried to console myself with the thoughts of blessings that I had a whole day to myself, which never happens, but it didn't help much. They got back about 8:30 that night so it was pretty much straight to bed for both of them. They had a great day though. Cody's dad found two little functional railroad crossing signs that Luke has been obsessed with. They travel from room to room with him.

Monday I had off of work too. I took down the tree, cleaned up the house, got us ready for the rest of the week. The only time we left the house was for groceries, which is what Evan was sleeping through in that very first photo up there. All in all, it was an excellent holiday. I'm so very thankful that I was able to spend the entire thing at home and not have to travel. Really made it seem like more of a break. Thankful for family that showered blessings on me and my kids. Thankful that we made it through our first post-separation/divorce without any fights or issues or anything. Hopefully it will continue to be a smooth transition in a rough time. The only thing I didn't get to do that I wanted was Christmas cards. First time in 4 years I didn't get around to them, but every time I wanted to take a picture something came up or it was raining or I just forgot. Maybe I'll send out Valentine's day cards this year instead.

Where's the spirit?

2011-12-14T07:10:00.000-08:00

At Nana's before church. That chubby cheeked little girl is now 17.9 lbs and 26 inches long, per her well check on Monday. That's 75% for both. At least she's not the 99% anymore!

Blah, for some reason I have not really been able to get into the Christmas spirit this year. I kinda miss it. I think it's mostly due to the non-stop pace of life I seem to be living right now. Every evening I'm amazed the I've managed to get two kids fed, at least one bathed, and both in bed by 8:30. The day to day just doesn't seem to have room for the extras like Christmas festivities. Sure we've seen Santa, Luke and I discuss the same lights on the same houses on our same road routes every day, and I'm trying to have fun with Train the Elf.

Hanging on Mom's tree- my first Christmas ornament

Except Train hasn't moved in two days. I forgot Monday night, so yesterday I tried convince Luke that he was playing a trick on us and went back to his same spot. I forgot again last night to move him. Whoops. I don't think Train should play the same trick three days in row, so I'm gonna have to swing by the house and run in before church tonight.

He just had to be right in the action.

I think a part of my Christmas blah-ness is all this controversy about Santa and whether it's okay or not okay to do it. First I read this article. It bummed me out. We did Santa growing up and it never occurred to me that people had this view. It also made me think about what I was teaching Luke about the meaning of Christmas. I asked him if he knew why we had Christmas. His answer? Santa.

Fail.

I gently told him no, it's when we pretend that Jesus was born and we are so thankful that He came to save us that we celebrate each year. It's almost like a birthday party for Jesus. And then I read this article. I felt so much better. I really like what this girl has to say and am planning to read it frequently to keep it fresh in my mind. I like how she meshed the two things and really would like to be more like it.

She's actually asleep, but I thought it was so funny. Can't you see this expression in 12 years directed pointedly at me?!

So all of that has been weighing my mind. What else has been going on? Just the day to day. We had our company Christmas party on Saturday night and I had the best time. It was a casino themed party and I won and iPad 2! So thankful.

(excuse the messy background...but look! Eyeshadow! And I teased my hair for the first time ever!)

The kids have been up and down health wise. You would never know it looking at Evan (except she doesn't sleep quite as well. Maybe teeth?) Luke has been having tummy troubles that I'm pretty certain is due to excess drainage. We've all been a little stopped up in the nasal area. Just been trying to stay positive about life, trust that I'm being taken care of and recognize when I am, and stay hopeful about the future. The lesson a couple of weeks ago at The Village was about how we are hard wired to live hopefully and it really struck a chord with me.

She just couldn't sleep one night. :(

Sorry for the bummer of a post. On a positive note, Luke has been his funny self. Last night we were going over (again) why we had Christmas and he said it was because Jesus was boring. Oh I laughed. And then corrected him that it's just born, not born-ing, which is what he was attempting to say. There is NOTHING boring about Jesus. Just look at my life. He's also convinced himself that going to the doctor is wonderful. Last night instead of sleeping he was calling me, telling me he needed to go to the doctor because his back hurt and it needed to be looked at and fixed. Apparently he's 3 going on 60.

Movie night on Friday...all three of us huddled under a blanket. See, life isn't all blahness. :)

We saw him

2011-12-05T19:43:00.001-08:00

Tonight the kids got to visit Santa. Luke wasn't scared at all, he knew exactly what he was going to tell him. I even made sure that he knew it was his job to show Evan what to do since it was her first time and he'd done it three times all ready. But first.....we had to get through pictures. Oh the pictures.

What do you think the lesser of two evils are- the one from the place with good lighting but Luke's face looks almost high (similar to last year's picture) and Evan's face says "Oh dear. I'm a bit concerned.":

Or the one I got with my camera that is blurry with off coloring because I wasn't able to check the camera settings while trying to juggle.

I know. We have a great track record with our pictures. Luke told Santa all about the "ding dings" that he wants, but when I ushered him away from the big guy he looked up at me with these big eyes and asked "Mom where's my toy?"

Fail. I didn't make the connection that Santa has to find out what he wants before he can actually bring it. Broke my heart a little because he was being a really sweet boy the whole time. Lesson learned for Evan girl.

p.s.- Did you see the 6 month pictures I added to Evan's monthly letter? The one of her laughing has to be my very favorite picture ever in the whole wide world of pictures ever taken.

Picture and a disaster

2011-12-04T20:24:00.001-08:00

This weekend Mom and I took Evan to get her six month photos for the wall.

Yep. They are still siblings.

I spent most of Saturday afternoon trying to make key lime pie balls....turned out to be a horrible mess. I got some key steps out of order and made the candy coating too hot so it started seizing up. They were meant to be a pretty dessert for a baby shower today, and they ended up being ugly ugly clumps. I didn't end up going to the shower today, but Shae said they were a hit. I asked her if she was just being nice. Turns out they tasted much better than they looked and there were none left! I probably should have kept a couple for myself....

What did I do instead of go to the baby shower? I cleaned. The state of my house was starting to mess with my psyche, so I spent the entire day (after church of course) cleaning. Thankfully I got it all done.

One other thing that we started this weekend was Elf on a Shelf. I'm sure you've heard of it. What did Luke name his elf this morning? Why Train of course. What else would he pick. And if we weren't so good friends with a certain Mr. Trane Wyatt, then I probably would have made him pick something else. And this was before he picked up a couple of pennies on our way out the door for bible class (which I'm teaching Evan's class this quarter, starting today) and said "I got my cash Mom, let's go!" Tonight he was running around the couch and I asked him what a better choice was than running (he got a giant knot on his head from slamming into a wall after running inside) to which he replied "Oh, I'm just being careful Mom." Sometimes I have no idea what to do with him.

(it's currently more scabbed over and developing a purplish yellow ring around the edges)

Also, tonight I let Evan have her first taste of jar food. Green beans. She liked the taste MUCH better than that of the cereal, we are just going to have to work on her not pushing the food right back out with that little tongue of hers.

Six Months

2011-12-01T07:02:00.001-08:00

My beloved Evan girl. You are 6 months old today. I get a little teary thinking about how much time has already passed so quickly and it's not slowing down. I can't even wrap my brain around the fact that half of your first year is already gone. It feels like you just arrived yesterday, yet I have trouble remembering you first hand as a squishy newborn. I've been trying to just hold you and stare at you in the evenings so maybe in 6 more months I'll still be able to remember you as the sweet baby you are.

And girlfriend, you are the sweetest baby. I just can't get over how happy you are, all the time. Even when you were sick. It's another thing I'm trying to just drink in. As that brother of yours runs around like a maniac, says crazy things, gets ornery with me, asserts his budding independence and personal views, I just hold you and cuddle with you, convinced that you will always be this sweet and perfect baby. It also makes me wonder what is going to happen in your life. What mistakes you are going to make. Where your heart will take you. You are my girl.

Lovie lou, you are getting bigger every day. You are firmly in size 6-9 months (and can even wear a few size 12 month things) for clothes and a size 3 for diaper. You still nurse/take a bottle about 5 times a day. When you nurse and it's either not letting down fast enough or you have to switch sides, your mad fuss has turned in to this squeally whine that totally fast forwards me 12 years. "Mooooooom, I don't wanna stop for a minuuuuuuuute." You totally lunge for anything within a 5 mile radius of your arms and.....get this.....you can sit up. Yep. You balance with you chubby little arms like a baby bird but can stay up right for a few minutes before you eventually topple over. You still love your big brother and adore all that he does. You watch him intently, want his toys, and beam with glee when he gives you attention (which is is still more than happy to do).

One thing you don't love? Cereal. I've tried several times now to get you to take cereal from a spoon, and every time I put a tiny bite in your mouth you give me a snotty look with an air of prissiness as if to say "You've got to be kidding. I am not eating that stuff." before you spit it back out. Today marks the day that I can technically start you on jar food, so maybe when I remember to get some from the store we'll just jump right into that. Fingers crossed it goes better.

Something else you've started is not only recognizing me as someone special, but being totally delighted to see me at the end of the day. Your grandparents were dropping you off on Monday and you practically jumped out of Grandad's arms when I walked up. Does this Momma heart something good.

So Miss Evan Elaine, that is what you have been up to this last month. We've had your first encounter with sickness (including first breathing treatments and first oral meds), first time with food, first little kiss (I swear the other day you gave me a kiss....you had big eyes and a wide open mouth on my jaw. More likely it was the closest thing to chew on, but I believe what I choose to believe.), your first Thanksgiving. This next month will bring your first Christmas and the close to your birth year. I love you, my darling, and I'm cherishing every moment with you.

Christmas is coming

2011-11-30T09:31:00.000-08:00

So this weekend I decorated the house for Christmas. And when I say "house", I mean I put up the tree, decorated the fireplace, and changed out the lemons on the formal dining room table for ornaments.

There was a certain little boy in my house that was totally thrilled. He must have told me a hundred times on Friday "Thank you Mommy for the Kissmass twee!" I love that kid. It's also started some heavy conversation about Santa. I asked him what he wanted Santa to bring him this year. His response? Cookies.

Okay. I can handle that.

Then I asked more directly, what toys would he want Santa to bring him? A ding ding wif a awm and fwashing red lights. (that would be a functioning railroad crossing arm for those of you that aren't fluent in Luke-speak) Great. Where am I supposed to find that? He's also asked about a million times when Santa was going to come. I will be making a count-down calender for him soon to help quell the question.

Saturday I didn't need to do my normal housecleaning since I'd taken care of it all before I left town, so I was able to do the things I never ever EVER get around to. My refrigerator looks brand new. All bedding from mattress pad to comforter on mine and Luke's bed is clean. There is nary a dust bunny from the ceiling fans to the carpets. That would be a big thanks to Mom for that one- my vacuum cleaner died the minute I turned it on that morning, and I called her to see if I could go get theirs while they were still out of town. Turns out she found one on sale for Black Friday for $36 and snagged it for me. Whoo hoo! Do you know how thrilling it is to vacuum and not stink up the house?!

Saturday night I took the kids to The Village. We didn't get there late by any means, in fact we were 20 minutes early, but Evan's class was all ready full. Boo. That meant I had to bring baby girl into the service with me. I was afraid the music would be to loud for her, but she was an angel. Well, an angel up until 10 minutes before the lesson was over and she was so done with being held.

Sunday I just let us all sleep in. Next week I start teaching Evan's bible class for the winter quarter, which not only means we must be there but be there early. Yikes. Get two kids plus myself up, ready, and out of the door early. We'll see how this goes. So this Sunday we just played hooky and to our last chance to relax. By Sunday night I'd been at the house with the kids for three straight days, only leaving for church Saturday night, and I was super restless. Thankfully Mom and Dad were home by then and let me bring the kids over while I had dinner with a friend. There was adult conversation that DIDN'T revolve around when Santa was coming or what the latest status on the train table was. I love my kids more than anything in the word, but sometimes a girl just has talk about something else for awhile.

Thanksgiving Break

2011-11-27T20:13:00.001-08:00

Ahhhh. I'm sitting here in the living room with only the glow of the Christmas tree lights on and a cup of hot pumpkin spice tea beside me. Children are not only in bed, but finally quiet. Luke has taken to narrating his life in song these days, and they can last for hours after the lights go out.

They are finally healthy-ish, I believe. Luke has had some digestive issues over the last few days, but thankfully today there were no episodes. We'll get to that later.

Tuesday I got off work at 3 and picked up Ashley on my way home. Mom had the kids that day, so we swung by my house to get my suitcase, then over to Mom's to pack in her new Pilot. We were headed down the road to Colorado City by 4:30, and we made good time. We laughed, fiddled around learning all the new tricks the car could do, Luke and I watched Happy Feet on the dvd player, and at one point we stopped at Sonic for dinner.

My sweet happy girl in the car.

The only problem? Luke talked the entire way there. Literally. He talked over the movie. He echoed the voice commands Mom programed into the car. He sang his own songs. His little voice was made known the entire 4 hour trip. What was one way to combat that? Turn the music up. We tried to convince him to move to the music and have a "dance party", but he didn't fall for it for very long. Ashley even employed a strobe light feature using the flash light feature on her phone. Obviously we know how to have a good time. Eventually we made it to Grandy's.

Wednesday was just a lazy day. Aunt Patty had already bought most of the fixings for Thursday's big lunch so we just hung around.

Maybe he'll be musically inclined like me.

Ashley had never been to the museum where Aunt Patty works, so we headed there after nap time. Dinner was grilled out side- hamburgers with all the fixings. I took the kids' back to Grandy's house fairly early for baths and bed, then just enjoyed the quiet for once where there was nothing I felt like I should be doing.

Thursday we again took it easy in the morning. Layed in bed for awhile (I was on the pull out in the living room, so I could be "in bed" yet in charge of my children at the same time. Not a terrible concept!) I got me and the kids ready just in time to be back down the street at Aunt Patty's for our 1:00 lunch. Lord have mercy did I stuff myself.

You better believe I ate this ENTIRE plate of food. Plus a slice of pie.

But then we went down town to a couple of boutiques that were open on Thanksgiving day, and we walked some of it off. Such a Goodlett tradition. Girls visit and shop, while all the boys went hunting. Well, except for Dad. He took Luke back to Grandy's for a nap.

West Texas: where cotton grows in the street.

We had a grand time, but soon it was time for me to pack up the kids and head home. Dad had driven out on Wednesday night in my car since he had to work all day that day, which left me free to leave whenever I wanted. I wanted all day Friday to get the house ready for Christmas so Thursday night I headed back with my babies.

That's, unfortunately, when Luke's digestive issues decided to kick back in. We were in a rather desolate stretch of highway that had gone down to one lane due to construction, when he started moaning. Talk about panic mode. It was 15 minutes before the highway opened back up and there was a gas station. Blessedly it was open at 9:30 on Thanksgiving night. I rushed him inside with Evan in her seat on my arm and then had to WAIT for a stall to open up. There should be a special bathroom for preschool emergencies. Thankfully the handicap on the very end opened up first, so I could have Evan up on the sink counter while I helped him and my eyes could be on both while no one walked by. Whew. It was great parenting.

Anyway, we finally made it home that night a little before 11 and I was so glad to see the house. And seeing how it's taken me three days just to get this much recapped, I'll save the rest of the weekend for another post.

Sickness

2011-11-21T06:54:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately this week has been pretty eventful in all the wrong ways. Last Monday night, at 12:30, Luke woke up whimpering that his ear hurt. Yay. So I got him an appointment first thing in the morning, which worked out since Evan was supposed to go in around then for a follow up for her ear infections.

Turns out he had a double ear infection, which burst one of his ear drums. While Evan's ears looked okay, she had developed a slight wheeze. What is with my children? I was sent home with a trial of Luke's antibiotic since it was late enough that I wouldn't really be able to run to get the prescriptions filled that night. They had given Evan a breathing treatment at the office to see if it helped and since I hadn't even noticed it, I figured one more day wouldn't make a big difference.

WRONG. When I picked Evan up from bible class on Wednesday night (with nebulizer vials in hand), she sounded awful. AWFUL. I rushed her home and immediately got her going on a treatment. An hour later she still didn't sound very good. Her wheeze was still pretty audible and she was retracting some. By then it was approaching 10 and I debated on whether to call her pediatrician on if I could give her another round of treatment or not. I HATE calling the doctor after hours so I called Shae to confirm I wasn't crazy and needed to call. I've only called once before for either of my kids, it's not something I generally do. But Shae said that it indeed was a good reason to call. I love my pediatrician's office. While the little girl at the answering service was snippy with me, the doctor was anything but. She told me I was right in giving her another round of treatment but if it still wasn't better after that I needed to take her to Acute Kids.

Bad news. She still wasn't better. It was 10:30, Luke was asleep, Evan wasn't breathing well, and the urgent care place closed at 11. I tearfully called my momma and she came right over to stay with Luke. I made it to Acute Kids with 10 minutes to spare. They listened to her and watched her breath, confirming that yes, she was in slight distress (although her face never showed it. Have I told you what an amazing baby I have? She is so flippin happy.) especially after having two breathing treatments back to back. They gave her a treatment with different meds and an oral steroid. She didn't sound 100% but better enough to send us home instead of the hospital. Which almost happened. She also had developed a double ear infection within those last 24 hours, so we got another prescription for antibiotics and an oral steroid to give her each day to boost the effects of the breathing treatments.

The next morning my pediatrician's office called to check in on us and I filled them all in. 20 minutes later he called back again, saying he just kept thinking about her and wanted her to come in to see how she was responding to treatment that day. I was able to get an appointment for Friday afternoon, and it turns out she STILL was wheezing, even with the oral and inhaled steroids she is on. No bueno. She has a doctor's appointment tonight to monitor her lungs, and if she still has even a slight wheeze then we have to start in on x rays to figure out what is going on.

And yesterday? Yesterday I don't know what happened. I walked into the nursery to drop her off at bible class and she puked everywhere. Evan. My baby who doesn't even spit up. I took her home to change her and give her a breathing treatment and in the middle of it she puked again. So. Much. Vomit. I couldn't get the mask off of her while she kept getting sick. It was a little scary. After she finished I surveyed the carnage that was my floor, the couch, my clothes and her body, and I wasn't sure what to do first. Where to begin. Eventually I just stripped her down and let her play in the bath, laid her down for a nap, then commenced with the cleaning of the living room. Thankfully there wasn't a boy and a dog to keep out of the mess (Cody took the dog when he moved out). I could tell she felt totally better right after she was done, but I still limited the volume she took in while nursing, just to make sure she held everything down.

Watching the Cowboys after she felt better.

My poor baby. If you are keeping count, that would be 4 doctor visits and 4 different meds within the last week.

And that brother of hers? Luke just plain keeps me on my toes. Last night we were sitting on the couch and he said "Momma, are you kinda like a pwincess?" I told him sure. I could be a princess and that he was a prince. His response? "I not a pwince. I just a boy. A big little boy." He for some reason calls Smarties 'candy smarts' and is still confused as to why Mom's white car is in Papa's garage and we keep taking his blue car home. I rearranged the living room last night, moving his train table over. He kept thanking me for it the rest of the evening. He LOVES to have Evan sit in her bouncy seat and play with her. He likes to make the songs come on for her and spin the toys.

He's started saying I love you Mom at the most random times, and last night I taught him to blow kisses. Except, he wouldn't catch my kisses, he would sometimes kiss his hand and then immediatly put it on his own cheek. I asked him if that was my kiss or his kiss he was putting on, and he said it was just his own. As long as he grasps the concept I suppose.

A few firsts

2011-11-14T07:08:00.001-08:00

Well, several big "firsts" have happened in my house over the last few days. Going in chronological order (because how else would you do it?):

-I got my first newer car. Yep. It's true. Mom and Dad bought themselves a brand new Pilot, which seats 8 so we call can ride together now that I've got multiple children, and the VERY graciously offered me the Pathfinder. I don't think you understand what that means. My little Protege? We have been together since I was 16. Well, technically since I was 15 years and 50 weeks old. They surprised me with it in the parking lot when I returned home from a summer camp two weeks before my birthday. That old girl and I have been through many a things. She took me to college. She brought me home from college. She watched me get married. She brought both of my babies home from the hospital. She saw the end of my marriage. We spent over 128,000 miles on the road together. And, in a slightly unceremoniously manner, she's been replaced. Don't worry little lady. I'll never forget you. (and don't tell her, but it was apparently way past time. Plus I LOVE driving the Pathfinder.) (and at this point I have 45 minutes combing my photo albums for the picture of 16 year old me with the Protege, but I can't for the life of me find it)

-Luke spent his first weekend away from me. I had a hard time with it leading up to the hour before he left. I worried. I missed him all ready. I fretted over his cough and his night time routine and whether he would get enough sleep. I cried a little. But then, by the grace of God, he asked 50 BILLION question in the hour right before he got picked up on Thursday night and I realized a tiny break might not be so bad. I missed my boy terribly. It was quiet. Very quiet. I cleaned my house and it stayed that way. I spent lots of time with Evan. We got dressed up on Saturday night and had a fancy sushi dinner. And Luke had a great time. I knew he would. He loves his grandparents and needed all the attention just on him, not shared with the baby. He came back with stories of the hotel and trains and place cards with his name on it (Cody's brother got married on Saturday). I'm grateful that he has two sets of grandparents willing to spoil and indulge him in his boyish obsessions.

-I dyed my hair. WHAT?! It's true. I am 28 years old and finally dyed my hair. You know what I learned? I've got really dark hair and really stubborn greys. It took two times to really get them covered, and the grey is still more blond than mahogany. It's okay. It looks like expensive highlights out of a $6 box. Well, that's what I'm telling myself anyway. The best "before" picture I can find is the one I have in my side bar.

And here is a not-so-decent after picture.

Ashley said it's like looking at the 24 year old version of me.

-Finally, I let Evan girl try some rice cereal last night. I figured 5 1/5 months was long enough to wait. I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't what I got. The way she licks her chops and dives after any food within reach I figured Sister Friend would devour whatever I put on that little spoon. WRONG. So wrong. She hated it. I mean HATED it. I might as well have been poisoning her with pure wretchedness.

Ooooo, that's for me? Yes please!

First bite: Wait a second...I'm not so sure about this.....

Towards the end: No more! No more!

What?! We have to do this again another time?!

I used formula at first, and I thought that might be the problem. So I dumped it and tried to mix the cereal with a little expressed milk. Maybe it was too cold right out of the fridge. So I tried with room temp tap water. Still gagged on it. I hate to make her go through this again tonight, but she's got to learn. What else should I try? I feel like I should be more on top of this, be able to give the advice as opposed to asking for it, since she isn't my first babe. Luke loved the stuff and never almost threw it back up. Missy Lou is proving to be a bit more high maintenance.

Halloween

2011-11-09T20:28:00.000-08:00

I can not believe that it's been a week and a half and I still haven't posted anything about Halloween. The type-A person in my cringes. I've always prided myself on doing things right on time, right when it happens. The working single mom in me is too tired to care anymore.

Who am I?!

Anyway, Luke really enjoyed the whole aspect of Halloween this year, minus the dressing up part.

Okay. So mostly he enjoyed the candy. Or "tweats" as he still calls them. He asked me for a treat for breakfast this morning. I told him no.

Sunday night, the 30th, was Trunk or Treat at church. Poor kid was so overwhelmed by everything that he mostly looked like a deer in the headlights and could barely mumble when prompted. I think it was all the kids. When he gets around kids he doesn't know he tends to clam up. He also had issues with being a little picky about his candy. It was a hard concept for him to wait until the adult put the candy in his bucket, he tended to go all in and help himself. And if he didn't like what you put in, the dude wasn't afraid to ask for an exchange.

Thank God he's cute.

He didn't really want to do any of the games inside...

so we just ate a hot dog and some nachos...

and cotton candy.

Monday night, on actual Halloween, I had planned to just stay home. Luke didn't know that there was the possiblity of more candy- not being all familiar with the traditions of the holiday and all- so I planned to ride it out as long as possible. Until he knew to ask to go, I wasn't planning on it. BUT. Shae called and asked us to come over and trick or treat with them.

And like a 13 year old girl, I caved to peer pressure.

I'm so glad I did. The Wyatt's came over too, which meant that Luke, Dakota, and Jadyn had the best little time.

We went to various houses around the neighborhood for an hour or so before retiring back at the Raymond's to pass out candy. While he was door to door, Luke did better about his "trick or treat" and "thank you"s, but he still got fussed at for reaching his grubby little hands in other people's candy bowl. Silly boy. Evan had her first go in the umbrella stroller and her legs stuck straight out of it. I'd totally forgotten how Luke's used to do that too. Kinda makes me wonder what else I've already forgotten.....

Evan:

Luke:

(this was our trip to Fredericksburg in 2009)

I digress. When we got back to the Raymond's we checked over the candy and let the boys have a few pieces. Shae also let them help hand out the candy when the door bell rang. Luke throughtly enjoyed it, and Dakota did good for the first couple of answers, until Big Foot showed up and scared the living beejeezus out of him. From then on he ran the opposite way when there was a knock.

But the funniest part of the whole evening was my boy's stubborn habbit. Before we left to go trick or treating, I made him eat some chicken for dinner. Execpt Luke did not want to eat his chicken for dinner. So what did he do? Held his chewed chicken in his mouth the ENTIRE. NIGHT.

Not kidding. There are some pictures with his mouth open where you can even see it. You better believe he is every bit as stubborn as I am. I tried eating his candy in front of him, telling him I needed to eat it since he couldn't have any with food still in his mouth. I tried giving him water to help him swallow it. When he complained that it was gross I told him to just swallow it and get it over with. It finally went down when he got a smoothie back at the Raymond's house after trick or treating. YEP. He had that mouth full for at least two hours. He's not strong willed. Nope. Not even a little.

So, we ended up having a great time. I laughed my head off with my friends, my son got to build memories with his, and Sister Friend got to experience the little stroller. Not a terrible way to spend a Monday night.

Mud Run

2011-11-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

So, last Saturday (Oct. 29th) I did a little something. A 10K with obstacles.

But not just any obstacles. They all involved mud and water.

A bunch of guys (and Carrie, the only other girl) in the office were all doing the Mud Run and they convinced me to sign up too. So in turn, I signed Shae up. I believe her exact words were "Did I get a choice in this?"

No.

So we started the morning out like this.

And by 1:30 we were done, looking like this.

Even though we were FREEZING- 50 degree weather soaking wet- we had the very best time. We haven't laughed like that in forever. Really. One of my co-workers is hilarious. So what was it like exactly? It was a 10k run where every quarter mile or so there was some type of obstacle.

They included climbing over walls....

(not my most graceful look)

Crawling through tunnels, swimming across the Trinity River (which was so cold that I got half way across and almost panicked), cargo net climbs, rope ladders, log rolls, over/unders, slogging through pits where the water was up to your waist and the mud so thick it almost sucked my shoes off (this is also where I was laughing so hard I fell over on top of Shae while laughing, getting a mouthful of nasty smelling mud), and much MUCH more. I made it about 3/4 of the way through before I was so cold my muscles couldn't work anymore to pull myself up onto things and I had to skip the obstacles that were more water than mud. The hardest one (besides swimming across the fa-reeeeeeezzing river) was probably the mud hills. There would be three hills growing in successive order, and in between each hill was a deep water pit. The last hill would be 10 or so feet high of mud so slick all you could do was slide back down. I would have to really dig my knees and my fingers in and just cling with everything I had.

It was intense and hard, especially for someone who did zippo training. But I had the best time with my best friend and co workers. I'm so glad I had the opportunity and now the memories!

(about to take off...no idea what we are getting into)

(first encounter with the mud)

(right after the first encounter....still no idea what was to come)

(it seems in water I had trouble staying upright. This happened a lot. I was laughing though.)

(finished! Those shirts aren't so white now are they?)

The Synaptyk Group

(action pictures were taken by another guy in our office, he followed us for part of the beginning and the end)

Five Months

2011-11-02T13:16:00.000-07:00

My sweet girly, you are five months old! You are just the best baby a momma could ever ask for. Really. I thought your brother was a good baby, but you have taken it to another level. Your smile goes on for days. Really.

This month your little personality just keeps coming alive. You love to talk. You love to reach for things. I've already had to start moving my plate and cup waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when I'm eating so you don't get ahold of anything. This probably is a giant sign you are ready for solids, but I'm still not ready. There is a good chance you will be 20 and not on solid foods. It's hard to get a good picture thats not this:

You are wearing size 6 months clothes, and some 9 months. You are probably ready for a size 3 diaper, but I've still got some 2's hanging around that need to be gone first. You love to talk, love to laugh, love to play. Toys floating by in the bath make for great fun. I can sit you up on a soft place and you will stay sitting up for 5-7 seconds. What?! Luke could stay up right till he was 7 months old.

What do you hate? Not much. Getting your nose suctioned is about as torturous as it gets, and yesterday when I took you in for some congestion that just won't go away they had to test your ears and that was pretty awful. Other than that, switching sides while you are nursing is about as terrible as your life gets. The specific little shriek that you do stills says "Don't take a fat girl away from her food."

Evan Elaine, life is changing around our house in more ways than I would like. But one thing that is the same and will always be the same is how much I love you. Getting you out of your crib in the morning when you wake up hungry is the best way to start each day. You are my beautiful little girl and nothing will ever chang that.

Happy Halloween and a sweater vest

2011-10-31T20:43:00.000-07:00

First of all, Sunday it was finally cold enough to put on this sweat vest that Mom bought for Luke. This has to be one of my favorite outfits ever of his. Ever.

Second, I had to just say a quick Happy Halloween. Sunday we did the trunk or treat at church and tonight we went door to door with the Raymond's and the Wyatt's. I have way more to say about the whole thing, but it will have to keep till later in the week. Lets just say we had a good time

He's a smart one

2011-10-28T07:25:00.000-07:00

So this morning when I woke Luke up, he had some news for me.

"Mom. I can't get up. I'm sick. I go back to bed."

Looking at him suspiciously, I asked him what hurt, what was sick.

"My boo boo. My boo boo on my elbow."

Ah yes. The good ole my-elbow-is-sick-so-I-need-to-sleep-in trick.

Wait, how does my three year old know that claiming to be sick is the oldest trick in the book to stay home?!

Anyway, after being reminded that today is the day that he gets to go over to Dakota's house to play, he was suddenly not so sick any more. Except he still didn't want to go potty. I finally gave him the choice of getting in trouble or going potty. He has ALWAYS chosen the "right" answer when giving that particular pair or choices.

Today?

He chose to get in trouble. I didn't even know what "trouble" would be. Time out? A toy taken away? I didn't have time for those. So a light swat on his bottom and being forced down the hall was his "trouble" today. I know better to give choices I can't follow through on, and today he finally called my bluff.

Eventually the kids and I made it out the door and over to Shae's. To get there to their house I go straight through an intersection that I normally turn left at to get to Cindy's house. Not thinking, I turned. Immediately Luke shouted "Wait Mom! Go back! Aren't we going to Dakota's house?!"

If there is one glaring trait that he got from his father instead of me, it's that uncanny sense of direction. Ridiculous I tell you. He wanted me to turn around and go the "right" way. I told him there was more than one way to get to Dakota's house.

When we got there, Luke immediately ran off with his friend and called over his shoulder "Go to work now Mom."

Thanks son.

I love you too.

Situation Remedied

2011-10-26T07:05:00.000-07:00

Just popping in to say that I finally got the Halloween costume situations resolved. Last night after I picked the kids up we headed to Hobby Lobby and to Target. Two stores shouldn't take that long, right?

Wrong.

It was 8:00 before we got home.

But good news.

I have a Superman and a 50's chick waiting to happen.

Oh, picking out the Superman costume was a little tedious. I found three different outfits for Luke to choose from- a garden gnome, Harry Potter, or Superman. Of course he originally said no to all three. Finally I told him that to get candy he had to pick one and wear it on Sunday. To which he quickly chose the Superman, despite all my compelling "Are you sure you don't want to wear the Harry Potter" arguments.

So Superman I will have.

Mom found a pink tutu at Dillard's for pretty cheap, so at Hobby Lobby I picked up a poodle iron on patch to pin to it, and things to make a headband. Luckily I've already got the plain white onesie to complete the ensemble for my Evan girl. I thought about just putting Luke in his white button down, rolling up a pair of jeans, and slicking back his hair to make him a 50's dude. I even asked Mom if I could roll up a little box in his shirt sleeve to look like a pack of smokes, but I figured that would be slightly inappropriate on my three year old at a church event.

It would be funny though.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

Last night I took the kids (with Mom and Dad, so that I could be in the pictures too) to the pumpkin patch. Briefly. We got there 30 minutes before it closed. But I almost forgot to take them at all this year, so 30 minutes was way better than none at all. Halloween has just snuck up on me this year (which is crazy, since I'm addicted to Pinterest and it has been covered in Halloween things for weeks) and I didn't realize the month was already half over.

This also means I need to follow through with the dreaded task of thinking up and creating costumes. *sigh* For as much as I make/create/sew, I really do not enjoy this aspect of it. At all. I've asked Luke several times what he wants to dress up as and so far I've gotten a Christmas tree, Superman, a Halloween cookie, and blue.

Just blue.

Twice.

What does that mean? A blue character of some sort? Just the color blue? Does he mean Thomas the blue engine? And don't think for a minute that I won't go to Walmart, buy some blue sweats and blue face paint, and be done with it. I could get Evan an all red outfit and me a whole purple out fit, and we could be red+blue=purple or something.

I really shouldn't type the first thing that comes to my head and leave it for all the world to see.

Anyway, here's the whole point of the post. The pictures.

I can't believe how big this boy looks. Remember when he looked like this?

And you thought Evan had cheeks and chins on her.

I also inadvertently wore the same shirt. Someone needs a new wardrobe.

It was a little scary letting Luke hold Evan without assistance, but the good news is he didn't drop her.

It's like she knows her life is on the line. But she didn't mind being propped in a bowl and leaned against a tree.

This year they added a hay bale maze. I was so afraid he would get lost, panic, and I'd have to ignore the millions of signs that said "no adults" and "no climbing on top of the hay" to go rescue him. You know what a rule follower I am.

I. Love. Her.

The impossible picture. Don't ever expect to have all three of us looking at the camera at the same time.

Why hello there. Don't mind if I do peek in on you.

Rangers win and a tattoo

2011-10-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

Friday night I took the kids over to Mom and Dad's for dinner since Dad made lasagna for scratch. It was delicious. Saturday morning I made cinnamon rolls before Luke's 10:00 soccer game. The games are getting better and better! He actually volunteered to go play this time! He (mostly) stays with the pack when they are running and he was thisclose to thinking about kicking the ball when it came close to him.

After the game I took the kids grocery shopping, then we came home to do house work. I put the baby down for a nap so that Luke and I could mow the yard. Yep. Luke mows with me. He takes his little mower he got for his birthday and follows me so close that he runs over my heels sometimes. Then it was lunch and time for his nap. While everyone was out I got the rest of the house cleaned and made some cake batter truffles.

Are those amazing or what?! Evan got a little tired while I was in the process of making them.

Oops.

I made them to take to Shae's. We went over Saturday night to watch the Ranger's win the ALCS and move on to the World Series. The kids and I had the best time! Luke played with his bestie Dakota and the grown ups watched the game/visited. At one point Luke had on a Hulk mask, which was too big making it tilt askew. I SO WISH that my camera had been next to me, because the way it drooped off his head was the funnies thing ever. Joby and I were CRYING we were laughing so hard at him. Finally at 10, when the game still wasn't over, we just left to come home.

Sunday was a typical Sunday. Church was good and then we went to lunch. We went to El Fenix and apparently they hand out tattoos with the children's menu. That lead to this.

Yep. Luke got all tatted up in the middle of the restaurant. He wasn't super thrilled with it. After a quick picture....

it came off with rubbing alcohol.

I spent nap time organizing my closet, moving out the maternity and making way for coats and long sleeves. I finished the laundry and made a couple of pairs of baby leg warmers.

Eh?! Not bad, right?

Look at her grab her toes. Luke NEVER played with his feet when he was a baby, but she can't get enough of them. I'm just waiting for the day I look over and she's chewing on them.

4 month well check

2011-10-11T13:29:00.000-07:00

Lord have mercy. Evan weighs 17 lbs (95%) and is 25 inches long (75-90%).

Well. She's sure not shrinking.

The doctor also said that I had the green light to start her on solids. When I told her that I just wasn't ready to take that step yet (not to mention I now know how annoying keep up with, especially with our busy schedule) she told me that it was perfectly fine. Evan gained three pounds in two months. Nursing exclusively doesn't seem to be a detriment to her. Ha!

She also remarked at how advanced she was on her social skills. My usually VERY happy and smiley baby studied Kim's face soooo intently and wouldn't even crack a grin. She did not appreciate a stranger being so close and invading. Another thing Kim was impressed with was Evan's muscle strength. I tried to convince E that muscle weighs more than fat, and that's why the scale was so high, but I don't think she bought it.

At the end of the apointment, Kim and I were laughing at what a difference Evan and Luke were. How if the two had been switched in birth order, I would have gone CRAZY with how far behind Luke was compared to Evan. There is SUCH a difference between boys and girls. For real.

Luke was such a patient boy while Sister Friend was getting poked and prodded (two shots for my girl. Boo.) He doesn't get to play on my phone at home, so when we do things like sit in the dr's office for an hour, he'll be totally entertained. Yes, I am a parenting genius. He sat there and played until it was time to go, and when we left he was dying for dinner. Know what he asks for the most? Sausage and mac and cheese. He's a funny kid. After that, the requests are cheeseburger or pizza, in that order. Kid loves himself some cheeseburgers.

He's my kinda kid.

Two games, a ceremony, and being home

2011-10-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

Hi. Remember me? That one girl that used to post almost every day and now is slacking at barely once a week. So sorry. I blame work. I spend the entire day on the computer so by the time I get home the last thing I want to do is turn on the lap top.

A lot of nice things have happened over the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately my memory only extends over the last couple of days. For real.

This week has been fairly busy. Monday night the kids and I had dinner at the Wyatt's. Tuesday we were home, and Wednesday we skipped church because there is a terrible stomach bug going around. I ended up going over to Shae's so we could walk the block and I didn't get home until 11:30. Thursday night was soccer practice and Friday night was the homecoming game at my high school. Considering this was my 10 year, I packed up the kids and Ashley and we headed over to the game.

(Do you know how hard it was to get a picture that was still this terrible?! But I had to document his first sports event ever.)

(I really wanted a picture of the cheerleaders stunting, to bring back old memories, but they didn't ever do any in front of us. I was so disappointed!)

The game was okay. The football was terrible, but the company was nice. I got to sit with 10 or so people I knew way back when and it was nice to catch up. The only not nice part was everyone asking "Where is your husband?" (and I was the only one who brought kids). Having to talk about the divorce even on a shallow level wasn't pleasant. There was only one other person there that wasn't married. Yay me. Luke was asking (very politely I might add, I'm SO THANKFUL both kids were on their very best behavior) to go by the middle of the third quarter. Since the score was 0-30 I felt like I'd seen enough shame so we packed it up.

Saturday morning was Luke's game. I have to say, he's getting a little better each week. Yesterday I didn't have to bribe him with sugary cereal and fruit snacks just to get him on the field. He actually went out willingly and each time stays a little bit longer out there before walking away. And he's running with the kids! I don't think he still has any concept of what the point of soccer is- kicking the ball and being a team and what not- but he's at least staying with the pack. And not even at the back of the pack sometimes.

Yay soccer! Go Strikers!

Last night was Jenn's vowel renewal, which took place in Sara's back yard. It was so sweet. She and Derek got married at the courthouse, so I'm very glad I got to witness her finally getting a wedding. And she looked beautiful! Plus it gave me a solid, valid excuse to not go to the reunion last night. I didn't have to correct any body about my "ex" husband and make superficial small talk. Listening to vows about commitment and covenant and how God loves what they were doing was hard, but at least I was with my people. People who love me. People who hugged me and told me I was brave.

Cause here's the thing. I loved being married. Having someone to come home to, eat dinner with, talk with before drifting off to sleep, curl up on the couch with, brush the hair away from my face when it needed it, and just someone to plain make memories with has been hard to let go of. But believe me when I say that I'm doing WAY better than I was. I'm actually okay. God has been good to me. Maybe I'll have that again one day, maybe I won't, but either way I'm fine with whatever He leads me through.

Someone found her puppy. And we stayed in our p.j.'s all day. Love.

Today has been a day unlike one I've had for a long time. Luke threw up right before bible class this morning, so obviously we had to stay home. It's rained the entire morning, so I parked it on the couch with a cup of coffee (okay. It was two.) and got all caught up on my DVR. Luke has played and been his normal self (although I didn't let him eat anything noon, and even then it was just a piece of dry toast) and I've got to hold my baby more today than I think I have in the past week combined. My sweet Evan. She's been a bit fussy the last few days and I'm not sure why. If she's cutting a tooth, I'm gonna be mad. I am NOT ready for that. At all. I mean, who has a baby that cuts a tooth a week after she's born?

What. She's older than a week? Totally could have fooled me.

Four Months

2011-10-02T20:45:00.000-07:00

Evan Elaine, you are four months old today (okay, yesterday. Sorry I slacked.) This past month has brought some pretty big changes with it. Two days after the three month post, I had to put away all of your 0-3 month clothes and switch solely to size 3-6 or just plain 6 months. You have quite the belly to cover up, and dresses hit you mid diaper. Speaking of diapers, you are still in a size 2 and hopefully you hold there for a few more weeks. There is a box of 3's in the garage ready to go whenever you need them though!

Girlfriend, you have started DROOLING. I need to get better about keeping a bib on you (which would cover up your darling outfits. Boo.) because you are always drenched. You slobber on yourself, on me, and anything else you can get your slimy little hands on. And they are slimy all right....your very favorite thing to do is to chew on them. Most of the time you spit out your paci and go right in with the fist. Those sweet little hands have also started grabbing for things. Dangle anything close to you and you will stare at it intently and then reach out for it. Grasping very well is still in the works, but you make an effort every time.

I am just loving how much you love people. I don't think you have ever met a stranger. You are the happiest baby in the world. Everyone gets a big flash of your gummy smile. You've also become the wiggliest baby. It's getting harder and harder to keep you contained on my lap. Especially since you are so heavy! Not sure what you weigh- your well check is on the 10th- but Sister Friend you are a solid piece of work.

I know technically I could be starting you on cereal now, but I'm not in in nearly as big a hurry with you as I was your brother. I think we are going to hold off for another month or so, just because. You seem to be doing fine with just nursing (three to four times a day on me and two to three bottles while I work) and you are sleeping just fine at night. Generally your last feed is at 8ish and you will sleep until 5 or 6 in the morning. I am SO very thankful that you and your brother have always been such good sleepers!

(these thighs aren't screaming for the extra calories!)

Speaking of your brother, ya'll still love each other to death. You just watch him all the time. The other day he was blowing raspberries on his hand and arm and you thought it was HYSTERICAL. All of your giggles, in turn, made him keep doing it while he laughed his head off too. He's taken to calling you "my Evan" or "my sis-year" and every now and then he'll tell me that you are a princess. It makes me so happy.

The next month or so should have some new big changes for us. You are so close to rolling from your back to your tummy (you have only gotten as far as your side right now) and you also kick so much that you end up shuffling backwards across the room. Case in point.

You started at the bottom of your play mat in that picture.

Evan, I don't know who let your turn 4 months old already. I can't believe that we are already a third of the way through your first year. I love you so much and am so proud to be your momma. You (and your brother) are the reason I get out of bed every day and I wouldn't change it for anything.

She's a talker

2011-09-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

So, on Wednesday I was told that my little lady is quite the talker. Apparently when Cindy picked Evan up from the CBS nursery she was told that at one point all the other babies were sleeping except for my girl. She was not only up, but talking so loudly that they were trying to shush her so she wouldn't wake the other babies.

It seems that at 3.5 months Evan is already taking after her mother.

On Thursday was another soccer practice. There were still no tears, and I figured out that if I bribed him with fruit snacks he would stay close enough to the actual practice to look like he was doing something. Things were looking good for his game on Saturday.

Friday night I once again spent the whole evening getting house work done, so that Saturday I could do as I pleased. The plan worked out lovely. Luke's game wasn't until 2, so I had the whole morning to spend with the kids. I tried to get Luke down for a nap early so that he'd have something before his game, but he didn't end up falling asleep until 12:45 and we were supposed to be at the field by 1:30 for warm up.

Have you ever woken up a three year old way before it was time for him to get up to make him go somewhere he really doesn't want to be?

Let me save you the trouble. It's not a pleasant experience.

We showed up at exactly 2 and I sure did have a screaming boy in tow. Mom, Dad, and Ashley were already there, so Ashley came over and helped me get him over to the field. He didn't want to play. He "just wants to watch de kids". Oh man. Finally we got some more fruit snacks out and bribed him that every time he got close to the ball he got a fruit snack.

You better believe that is him on the ground and me in the blue plaid running with a fruit snack. People don't believe me when I say I don't think teams sports are our thing. Photographic. Proof.

We also bribed him with ice cream during the game, and while the bribe wasn't quite as effective as we were hoping it would be, we were all hot and tired after the whole ordeal and headed to Braum's.

He's been wanting a cone for awhile, I've always made him get a cup before. Today I consented. I think you can tell how that turned out.

Early this morning, at 3:15 to be exact, I heard a "Mom? Mom? I coughin." with lots of the barky-croupy cough. Not again. Poor baby sounded like he was breathing through coffee stirrer and was so horse. Needless to say, we skipped bible class this morning and small groups tonight, only going to service just in case he has something to spread. I'm fairly certain this is how his allergies interact with his asthma, but you can never be to sure. I picked him up some more allergy meds to start taking at night again, so hopefully this will be it.

To end on a funny note, this morming both kids were sitting on my bed. Luke had brought in some books, and he was "reading" to Evan. It was so cute.

Then he tried to negotiate with me.

"I want a cereal bar and Oreos for bress-fiss."
"We don't have Oreos for breakfast baby."
"Okay. How bout 1 Oreo."
"No."
"How bout 2 Oreos."
"No."
"Okay, 3."
"NO."

This kid thinks he has mad skills.

The Things He Says

2011-09-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

Over the last few days, I've really been trying to commit all the funny little things Luke says to memory. Except I'm terrible at that. So, I've been making a compilation note on my phone, and I thought I would share with you some of the things he's told me of late.

- I wanna talk ta Jesus about de windmill. And the train. And the train tracks.

-Mom, you wook coot today.

-I don't wike jew-we. It gives me boo boos.

-Does Jesus have a house? Does he have a garage door? Does he push da button?

-(in an incredible sing songy voice) I want some un-do-wade (lemonade). With my dinner.

-I can get up cause the sun is up!

And that sister of his? She seems to have found some new toys.

Sorry that it's painfully obvious with one was taken with my phone and the other with the camera. I'm wondering what's going to happen with Luke when he realizes what she is doing. As of right now he still l-o-v-e-s her, but I have the feeling that could change once she starts playing with "his" toys.

The arms and legs of my favorite p.j.'s that Evan has seems to have shrunk on her. Why do they do that?

Game and Wedding

2011-09-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

So, today was Luke's first soccer game. I don't think I have laughed that hard in a very very long time. Ya'll, I was crying. It seems as though my child was the entertainment for the entire crowd. And not on purpose. It started out good.

We took a quick picture before he headed out to warm up, which he did willingly. He was looking good out there, running and kicking and staying with the kids.

But then the game started. All of the sudden he wanted nothing to do with anything. It was the initial kick off for the game and the ball skimmed right by him, yet all he could do was stand there and watch it. Every. Single. Kid ran by him to get the ball and there he stood. The other team scored a goal and he still hadn't moved. All the while I'm on the side lines screaming "MOVE IT SON! GET THE BALL! STAY WITH THE KIDS!"

My shouts went unheeded. He stood there. He wandered in the opposite direction. He sat down the middle of the field with his arms crossed. He stood around with his eyes shut. Once again I was reminded of what a stubborn boy I've got, and no amount of praise/encouragement/shouting/bribing can make him do what he doesn't want to do. Gotta love him.

After the game Dad took him home so that he could eat a quick lunch and take a nap while Mom, Evan and I went to a wedding. My friend Sara, whom I've known since middle school, married my other friend Clint, whom I've known for even longer (and was actually in my wedding) today in such a sweet ceremony. It was Evan's first wedding to attend, and I just LOVE the dress that she wore!

It's one of my new favorite's of hers. I was even lucky enough to get a quick picture with the bride.

Wasn't she beautiful?!

We didn't get home until 5, and as soon as I walked in the door I got to cleaning. I hadn't done anything all week and things had just fallen apart. I couldn't handle it anymore. So I cleaned for 3 hours straight and finally have everything right again. I will sleep GOOD tonight. Please tell me I'm not the only one who sleeps better in a clean house!

Soccer again

2011-09-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

So, it seems like the weather listened. The last three days have been beautiful, not getting above 75. I was actually cold at soccer practice ya'll. It's like I'm a real soccer mom.

Did you catch that?

I was cold.

On our way to practice I swung by the house and picked up Evan a pair of tights and shoes to put on her, since it didn't warm up like I thought that it would. She already had on her little onesie with her name on it and her denim skirt, so I grabbed a pair of stripped tights and her boots. It led to an outfit that looked like this.

How cute is she?

And the boy....I was so proud of him during practice. When I picked him up from Cindy's things didn't look too promising. He didn't want to go. He didn't want to put on his shin guards. He didn't want to do anything. But Cindy saved the day by letting him pick out a Gatorade from the fridge (he picked Teagen's [her high school aged son] favorite color so it was doubly special) and he got to take that with him.

(Luke is in the orange shirt)

When we first got there he was a little unsure. He stood in the field and attempted to throw a little fit. But one more drink of Gatorade cured that and he was ready to go. He actually participated! Threw the ball in, kicked it around, stayed with the kids....I was so glad that this week went a ton better than last week. Tomorrow morning is the Striker's first game, so we'll see how it goes. I just keep telling him "stay with the kids son. Just stay with the kids." That's all I really ask.

Texas heat

2011-09-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

Dear Texas,

Congratulations. Today you officially broke the record for the number of days with a temperature over 100 degrees. Fan. Tastic. It is now the hottest summer in the written history of the state. While I can appreciate a good record breaking with the best of them, and I do love my summer, it is the middle of September and you got to 107 today. Not cool Texas. Not cool.

Literally.

Love,
Lindsey

Busy Weekend

2011-09-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend was pleasantly busy. Friday night I got most of my house work done, leaving the rest of the time to do as we pleased. Saturday morning the kids and I got up and had breakfast, then went over to Mom and Dad's house. Grandy was in town (he got to go to his first Ranger's game Friday night!) so I took the kids to see him while I went and got a hair cut.

You read that right.

It hasn't been a year and I got a hair cut. Shocking, I know.

But I sit all day and stare at my split ends, and I'd had enough. I was planning to only get about an inch cut off, but the lady convinced me that it was so dry and damaged that I needed more. She ended up chopping two and a half inches off. More than I wanted, but at least it looks nice and healthy now.

When I got back to Mom's house we loaded the Girl and Grandy up (Luke stayed with Dad on the bribe of going to the train tracks) and hit some stores. We took back a couple of shirts that I mistakenly thought Luke needed and got Evan a couple of new dresses, plus popped into Old Navy's baby sale. Soon it was lunch time and nap time. During nap I did this:

It'd been about 6 months since Daisy had a haircut, she looked TERRIBLE. I was shocked to see some actual grey hairs on her back. Girlfriend is getting old.

After nap time we got ready for Mikah's first birthday party and headed out.

Saturday night was exactly how my favorite night would go. Shae had it at the park and the weather was beautiful. My friends and I sat out side in a circle visiting while the big kids ran around like maniacs. Luke had the best time with his buddies on the playground, I barely even saw him. He looked so cute in his cargo shorts and Bass Pro baseball hat. I love my little boy. We stayed until it was dark, then came home for baths and bed.

Sunday morning was church. Luke went to Christian Soldier's again, although he didn't really wanted to. But that's because he just wanted to stay and play games on all the phones. I wasn't going to let him do that. Then we had lunch with Mom and Dad and Grandy, then back home long enough for a nap, only to head out again for small groups. Once again I got to spend the evening laughing and chatting with my friends. How did I get to be so lucky as to spend two nights in a row this way? It's been a very long time since we'd been together, and I sure have missed them.

Today was just a regular day at work. The kids were extra sweet when I got home. Dad mowed my yard and fixed my garage door. Apparently part of it was pulling away from the garage wall. But it's all fixed now. There was a girl propped in my couch for awhile.

I love how Evan is just about the happiest baby I've ever met.

I've been sticking her in the bath with Luke the last couple of nights, and she thinks it is the funniest thing this side of the moon. She just sits there and laughs and laughs.

Luke loves it too. He laughs with her, and tries to give her his toys to play with. It may look like she's sitting up in that picture, but if you look close, that's my hand on the back of her neck. This was the best picture I could get with one hand on her and the other hand in the air holding the phone.
This week will be a busy one. Hopefully I'll have time to jot some things down.

Soccer Practice

2011-09-09T07:39:00.000-07:00

Oh dearie me. I do believe I called this one. I am a little over three years into this gig and sometimes I just say to myself "Nailed it." I think we all know that Luke can be a little anti social, as evident here and here. This was one of the reason's I was so hesitant to put him in soccer. But noooooo, Shae had to go around and talk to my mother and get them all riled up about it. So here we are.

Guess who laid on the ground most of his first practice yelling "I want to take a nap!"

That kid.

I texted that picture to my friend, who's response was "Why is he looking at the camera like that? It's like Children Of The Corn." Or just a stubborn 3 year old who is good at refusing to do things.

Bless sweet Joby's heart, he tried so hard to get him involved. Luke just wouldn't have any of it. Finally I got to the point where I told him "You have two choice: go be with the kids or get a spanking." He made the right choice, but he sure did it as reluctantly as possible. He is his daddy's child. Mind you, I didn't specify that he had to participate. I'm not that naive to think I could actual make him do it, but at least he was in the general vicinity. And I did praise him a lot for making such a good choice and staying with the kids.

And I thanked my lucky stars it's a whole week before we have to do it again.

Luckily this girl was still my sweet baby who was just happy to be held.

She is actually wearing a shirt that is sized 6-9 months and jeans that are sized 0-3. Sister friend has quite the Buddha belly to cover up. And obviously no cheeks. That hang down to her chest.

Afterwards I took the kids to Arby's to eat, then home to bed.

As I was emailing those pictures from my phone, I found some from our sick day on Tuesday that I forgot to include

Poor kid hasn't sat and watched cartoons in forever, but at least he had his appetite for breakfast.

When it was nap time I let Evan lay down with me. Some how she managed to end up with her sweet little feet on me, and I just knew if I moved she would wake up. So, darn, I just had to lay there the whole nap time too.

3 months/3 years

2011-09-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

This morning Luke woke up with a 101 temp and a really horsey cough. It sounded a little too much like croup, so I called in to work and took him to the doctor at 10. All they could really tell me was that it was probably a couple of viruses (he found some ulcers in his mouth) that would just have to run their course. Thankfully the only symptom besides very droopy eyes was a 4 hour nap. He was pretty much fever free by the time he got to the doctor, and he's stayed that way all day. No more sick days for this momma!

Now here are a few pictures from our photo appointment on Saturday. The second one is my favorite!

Holy Crap

2011-09-04T19:24:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, the title of this post is exactly what is sounds like. This morning bible class was going just as it typically does. I'd actually gotten the kids up and out of the door with time to spare, so I swung by Starbucks on my way to kill some time and a gift card that was burning a hole in my pocket. I got Luke to bible class, then headed up to my own. Evan still comes with me, and I was cradling her, trying to get her to sleep before we got going too much. We had been sitting down for about 15 minutes when she decided it was time to poop. It was a rank one, so I immediately went to change her in the nursery. I got about half way to the door when I realized something was off.

There was poop everywhere.

I mean EVERYWHERE.

I my lap was a stinking mess. It was dripping off my leg onto the floor. Sara jumped up to help me clean up a little bit, and somehow she managed to get it on her shirt. The smell was the worst thing I'd ever encountered and Sara (who has been a little under the weather this week) had to run to the bathroom gagging, all the while calling behind her "I'm sorry I'm not a good person!"

Mind you, this is in front of about 15 of my peers.

I could have died with embarrassment, but luckily we are all pretty close. And all have had babies. And have all dealt with some sort of blow out. Except this was the mother of all blow outs. And I was that mother's mother.

All I could carry was a clean diaper and my car keys. I made my way down to the nursery, stripped Evan down and bagged the clothes, then just carried her to the car in a (semi) clean diaper (it had managed to get poop all over the front of it too). Even I was gagging as I changed her. I ran home and threw my clothes and her's straight into the washer, put fresh outfits on us both, and went back to bible class.

I'm so glad I live three minutes from the church building.

Yes, that little girl was all kinds of rank today. Good thing she's so cute.

This afternoon I took the kids swimming for one last time.

(I may or may not have had a vice grip on the top of his head to keep his face going towards the camera)

It was definitely a different experience than the rest of the summer had been- the water was cold! Usually it's been pretty lukewarm. But we had fun, and I'm glad I got to take them one last time.

And yesterday I got their 3 month/3 year portraits done, but it seems the c.d. got left over at Mom's house, so those will have to come another day.

Three months

2011-09-01T19:51:00.000-07:00

My sweet Evan, you are 3 months old today! Little lovie lou- you have become the happiest baby I have ever seen. You are always in such a good mood, smiling at everyone you meet. I have no idea where you get that from. You, my dear, have also found your voice. And it can be a rather loud voice. Gone are the days of the tiny newborn squeeks. You coo and laugh and try to talk to me all the time. Sometime even at 3 in the morning. My favorite is when you mimick how wide my eyes get and the roundness of my mouth when we are talking. You wear a size 2 diaper and are in between your 0-3 and 3-6 month clothes. The onesie you have on in the picture is actually a size 12 month! I have always said that Gerber runs small, but still. That's quite a jump.

Thankfully you are sleeping through the night more and more. Typically you go to bed around 8 and sleep until 4 or 5, with a 3 a.m. feeding occasionally. This means that you nurse 4 to 5 times a day, and take 2-3 bottles from your babysitter. You are doing fantastic with your head and neck strength, so much so that I went ahead and pulled out the bumbo. You sat in in for a minute before your head started bobbing, so we are close, but not quiet there yet. When I pulled you out Luke just had to try it out too.

You still love baths- our showers together are getting tricky as you get bigger and bigger, and I've even stuck you in the bath with your brother. Speaking of Luke, he l-o-v-e-s you. Last night at church Miss Sheri was holding you in the kitchen while I ate, and he was very concerned with where you were. "Where's my baby Evan?" he said. And when you returned he commented "Oh, baby Evan is back!" He wanted to hold you at bed time (which I let him), and as you rested on his lap he gave you kisses and put your paci in gently in your mouth several times. He loved having you in the bath with him the one time I popped you in, and asked every night if you can get in too. I hope that you and your brother always love each other, it's one thing that I tell him all the time. We are family, and family always loves no matter what.

Another thing you have found is your fingers! You look at them. You suck on them. You chew on them. It seems like you are actually starting to prefer them over your paci. I'm wondering if you are going to be a finger sucker like your momma.

You are ticklish. You are calm. You still think getting your clothes changed is hysterycal. You aren't so snuggly, you would rather be looking at the world around you than buried in my neck. You are loved. You are so loved little girl. I hope you always know that.

First day of preschool

2011-08-30T19:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it. I made it through his first day of school. Granted he's 3, and it's just preschool, but I'm a little glad I had this job to take my mind off of it.

I took another half day so that I could take him to school and not be rushed through the morning. It's a good thing I did, cause I was slightly a mess. It could have been worse. It is me after all. I was thinking on my drive that it sure would be nice to turn the emotions off and tuck my sensitive and sentimental heart somewhere else for awhile. But then I realized I wouldn't have any idea of who I was. That's just who I am, take it or leave it.

I also got to thinking about what a big deal this all is. He's going to school. It pulls at my momma's heart, but I know it's the best for him. It offers him things that I can't. Learning how to be a friend. What it means to stand up for yourself. That it's okay to be (a little) independent. All of this, of course, made me boo hoo even more. But that's a part of life. A part of growing up. These are all things he needs to learn to become the man I want him to be.

And Luke in all of this? He was ready. He was so engrossed in watching what everyone was doing that he would barely look at me for a picture. He found something to play with right away, waiting for Dakota to come over, and wouldn't even kiss me goodbye. He is his mother's child.

I did get to talk to him on the phone after Cindy picked him up. The first thing he told me was that he pee peed in the potty. Whew! His classroom is in a modular, and that actually works in his favor I believe. They have set bathroom breaks where everyone goes at the same time. I'm pretty sure if it was up to him he would never stop playing, so this works out well. He also told me that he played cars and sang songs. I asked him if he liked his lunch, and h said yes.

When I picked him up, he was actually ready to come home. She said that he laid in bed and just talked to himself for most of nap time, getting only about an hour of sleep. I walked in the door, he wanted to be held, and he wanted to go home and go night night. His words. Poor kid was EXHAUSTED from his day. Which also meant he was a beast. He didn't want to get out of the car, and Cody happened to be at the house so I had him bring in the monster. Luke cried and cried, so he and I ate a quick dinner, had a rice crispy treat, a quick bath, and was in bed by 7:30. Then I jumped in the shower with Evan, fed her, and put her down. The house was blessedly quiet by 8:30. Hopefully everyone under the age of 4 in this house will sleep the whole night away.

Evan close ups

2011-08-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

I saw someone take pictures of their babe capturing all the little sweet things about their body. I have learned from Luke that you forget so. much. stuff. I barely remember him being a baby. Luckily I've got about a thousand pictures to remind me whenever I need it. I wanted to do the same for Evan- get right in there and remember how small her hands and feet are, what the birth mark under her ear was like before it fades away, how her hair line is a v-shape when she has her eyebrows up. I tired so hard to get a good picture, but she wouldn't stop moving. At all. After about 30 minutes I got frustrated and quit, but there were a handful of decent ones in the bunch.

Busy week

2011-08-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

(a sneak peek at some of the picture I got of Evan today. I'll post the rest tomorrow or so, there are enough pictures in here for today)

This week was oddly busy. Tuesday night was the RoughRiders game that I had helped organize for work. We had a patio with BBQ and drinks, it was a lot of fun.

Ashley was my +1 since she loves the sports. And it was fun just getting to hang out with her anyway. We got some hats from the stadium, and I gave mine to Luke.

He loved it so much he slept with it that night.

Wednesdays are long days, I don't have time to go home between picking the kids up and when Wednesday Nite Bite starts. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled WNB is back, it just makes for a long day. To get to work by 8, I have to leave the house by 7. On Wednesday nights we don't get home from church until 8:15ish. But it's okay. I've started the new parenting class this week, so maybe that will make up for it, right?

(this was before work on Friday....Evan was laying on my bed when Luke woke up, and he said he wanted to cuddle with her. This is his version of that. I actually said "Don't use your sister as a pillow")

By Thursday the house was not in great shape from things being so rushed lately. My goal had been to get it picked up and the floors cleaned, then just have to clean the bathrooms on Friday night. Well that just plain didn't happen. It took so long on Thursday to get the house tidy that nothing got actually clean.

(playing while I cooked)

So last night I buckled down and got it all done. Floors, laundry, bathrooms, kitchen, the whole shebang. By 10:30 I was done with everything and was able to pour a big glass of wine and sit in my clean tub. Besides having worked my bum off getting the house work done, I'd had an emotional day. I took half a day from work so that I could take Luke to "Meet the Teacher" at his preschool. My word, it's a real classroom. Like, for real. My sweet baby boy is going to school. He's beyond excited, which makes me happy, but boy does it tug at the heart strings. Tuesday will be a killer.

Oh, and when some joker saw Evan she commented that they had a baby her size at home as well. I said "really! She's 12 weeks." and they said "oh, he's 6 months." Thanks lady, for telling me again what a giant I have on my hands.

So today I'm very glad I worked hard last night. I have been able to play with Luke all day. We have played trains. We went outside. I cleaned out the garage (a very little bit). I turned on the sprinkler for us since it was blazing hot and he didn't want to go inside.

(he is so bringing back this style)

We went to get gas for next week and Chick Fil A for lunch. I figured we wouldn't be gone very long, so I wouldn't need to take anything for Evan. Like a paci. I could not have been more wrong. My generally happy girl decided she just didn't want to be in the car and screamed the entire time. It was awful.

Tonight Shae came over with the boys. They played for while, then it was dinner at Whataburger. Mmmm grease. Now, if you are adding it up in your head, that would be four kids to two adults. And we were quite the traveling circus you would imagine us to be. The big boys were enjoying each other loudly. Mikah didn't want to eat. Evan hated her car seat. The easiest thing to do was to just hold her, where she dozed off like this.

I even caught a lady shaking her head at us as we corralled everyone out to the cars. To which I wanted to say "Suck it lady- it's Whataburger and we are just trying to make it out alive."

Parenting Fails

2011-08-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

First, I just have to say I actually wore heels to the office yesterday.

I got quite a bit of flack for having them on, but sometimes a girl just needs a fancy pair of shoes to make herself feel better.

When I got home I cooked my very first after-work meal. It was tacos.

I know.

Such a tricky meal.

I have to say though, that Luke really eats them better than most things I cook.

This is his preschool-kid-lets-prevent-a-mess version by having all the items separate. On his train plate. It must be the train plate. But who is surprised about that? I actually used ground turkey instead of beef this time in an effort to make it a tad more healthy, and you know what? I could barely tell a difference. That was my parenting win for the night.

The fails came fast and furious though. He wanted ketchup with his taco plate and at first I said no. There was nothing on his plate that needed ketchup and I knew he would just end up eating it straight with a fork. But after enough times of saying "I just try it peas." with a downcast face and puppy dog eyes I caved. He dipped his tomatoes in the ketchup. So does that count as him just eating straight ketchup?

After dinner I wanted to take his library books back, but didn't want to take the time to go in and get new ones. Of course when we were in the drive through putting them in the drop box he said "Let's get some new ones Mom!" to which I replied "Let's get some ice cream!" And we did. Just heap shame coals on my head now please. But in my defense, we have a million (literally) books at home for him to read.

By the time we got home it was way past when I had planned on getting him in the bath. Plus The Closer was about to come on. So I stuck him in the bath in the first commercial break, and washed him in the second break. He put up such a fuss about not getting to play anymore that I "punished" him by not reading a story and just tucking him in bed instead.

See? Parenting fails by the minute last night.

Evan was around the whole time. When I wasn't dealing with Brother I was holding my Sister.

I just can't get enough of her!

Evan's legs

2011-08-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't met my daughter in person, this is what her thighs look like.

Except not green.

The end.

Promotion Sunday

2011-08-21T20:24:00.000-07:00

This morning was Promotion Sunday for all of the bible classes. Okay, all the bible classes for people ages 18 and under. I think I'm done with the promotion stuff. Hmm...now that I think about it, at some point I will have to promote from the "Young Families" class (aka, my small group) and we will all have to be in the 40's-something bible class. Let's not think about that.

All of the kids heading off to school were asked to bring their backpacks to service so they could go up on stage and have the "Back pack Blessing", which just meant all they would get prayed over to have a successful school year. Since this is my boy's first go around for the school thing, this was the first time he got to take his brand new bag and head up to the stage with everyone else (all the way through high school!). I think I may have been the only one with a camera taking pictures of this, but I really don't care. I'm comfortable enough with my church family to be THAT mom. I'm fairly certain not one person batted an eye (and our congregation has about 500 members).

(sorry these three at church are fuzzy, I had to crop way in so you could see him in the crowd)

Next to all the actual big kids, he looked so small, but by himself he looked like such a big boy to me!

He even bowed his head through (most) of the prayer at the end.

When did that kid stop being this baby?

(Luke at 6 months)

Oh wait, I have this baby now.

It was also his first time to go to Christian Soldier's, the program for kids 3-5th grade during church service. Before he went I let him put his offering in the kid's collection bucket (also a first, since he has always sat with us, I've always just had him put it in the plate as it was passed), and the dude MADE CHANGE. As in, he put in the dollar I gave him and he came back with coins in his hand. I had Evan with me (it was time to nurse so I was going to drop him off before heading to the nursery) in one arm, her little bag of diapers and the nursing cover in the other arm, so I was a bit flustered with he came back with the change. All I could think to do was hand it to a teen I know as I passed by him on our way out and told him to give it back. Next time Luke and I will have a little talk about how we give everything thing to God, *ahem* don't take any of it back.

As you can see, I finally let Evan wear her big flower this morning (I was testing the light in that picture, so I just held the camera out in front of us). Let me tell you she was the belle of the ball this morning. Ashley got off work and came straight to church in her scrubs and all she could do was laugh when she saw Evan. Good thing E didn't know any better or her feelings might have been hurt. Someone might need to go to sensitivity training one of these days.

She begged me to let her wear her bracelet too, and I consented, since I was wearing mine that is so similar. Have I showed you what Mom got me?

The Luke bracelet is what she gave me when I was in the hospital after having him, and last month she took it back to the lady who made it and had her add Evan to it. So now it looks like two bracelets......

but it's actually just one! After church and lunch we came home for nap time. I laid down on my bed with Evan, and man did I have a hard time getting up. After lazing around the entire afternoon I decided a bath would be a nice idea, but someone crashed it.

I tried to tell him what the word "privacy" means, but he took it as an invitation to sit on the floor and visit. Eventually I realized we were going to have to eat dinner. Evan had gone back to sleep, and Cody was at the house, so I left her there with him while I took my big boy to Fuzzy's for a quick bite and out to the park to run around before it got dark. I let him wear his new tennis shoes and a pair of the shorts we got him for soccer.

Now that looks like a baby all grown up.

Saturday at home. Mostly.

2011-08-20T20:19:00.000-07:00

This week went smoothly enough. Luke loved Cindy's house so much that every time I went to pick them up he threw a fit and didn't want to come home. This week was also my last week of meals from my small group. WHAT am I going to do?! I have been so spoiled by my friends. It was just lovely.

This morning I took the kids to the doughnut shop because we were out of milk. I think people have gone for less. Normally I just get Luke a half a dozen doughnut holes, but it's been awhile since we've been and now he's got an opinion. He saw a star doughnut with sprinkles and there was no way I could talk him into the holes. The star had to be his.

And just as I expected, this was all he ate of it.

He wanted me to buy him another one, but I told him he could eat all of the one he had or be done. Tough luck bud. After breakfast we went to the grocery store to stock up for the week, and then went home. That's where the fun began. I started cleaning house and Luke finally got to play with his toys. One thing about not being home during the week is how much he is ready to play with his favorites on the weekend. While I was cleaning my room he brought in his bucket of favorite cars and used the stripe around the bedspread as a road.

Did you know that the black Porche is like Nana's car, the white soccer Bug is like my car, and the orange Corvette is like Joby's car? Me either. I posted that one on facebook and Joby commented that it meant I really was a soccer mom. Great. He also wanted me to "build a tunnel" so I found a picture frame that he could drive cars underneath. That wasn't good enough. He decided to use the pillows on the bed.

Can you tell that's him buried in there? After the first time he surfaced he commented "It's dark in der Mom, it's dark in dat tun-nul." What a kid. Soon enough it was nap time. Evan was already asleep when he went down, so I was able to wrap up all of the rest of the cleaning, except for the vacuuming obviously. Girlfriend woke up before the Dude did, so I decided it was a good time for her bath. Since I'd just cleaned the tub, I climbed in with her. After bath time she nursed for awhile and she passed right back out.

I don't think moms ever get tired of taking pictures of their babes sleeping. Later this afternoon I got the big camera out to take some pictures of Evan in some special wares. Taylor made her this awesome onesie a few weeks ago, and gave her the bow and shoes way back when at my shower. How cute is this girl?!

I know you can't see in this picture (but you can in the one at the top of the post), but the middle of the bow is black and white zebra with a pink embroidered E. She knows I'm a sucker for monogramming. The funny part was when Luke saw that I was taking her picture he ran off and the next thing I knew, this was happening.

Yep. That's him taking her picture too, with my phone. Oh my. He actually got a pretty good one....

before they all turned into things like this.

I think we can cross "budding photographer" off the list of possible career paths to send him on, unless giant blurs come into popularity. And sorry for all of the pictures. It's what happens when I don't take any throughout the week and they all happen in one day.

Bedtime Conversation

2011-08-18T18:56:00.000-07:00

We had just finished going through the 9 memory verses on Luke's stop sign board. The last one that we said tonight was "God is with us where ever we go."

-"Mom, we eat dinner with Jesus?"

-"Yep. When we eat dinner, Jesus is there with us. He loves it when we talk to him at meal time!"

-"We go to Jesus' house. We get in Mom's car and driiiiiiiive and go to his house."

-"No baby. We can't go to Jesus' house yet, because he lives with us! He is right here in our house and in our heart. (I patted his chest) One day we'll go to his house, but right now he gets to live with us. That's why we talk to him all the time!"

-"Mom, say ahhh-ahhh-ahhh-choooooo!"

"Goodnight son."

A post in Twitters

2011-08-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

First, I would like to share Evan's birth announcement:

Didn't my girls do a fantastic job with my baby girl? The pictures are from our newborn session with Taylor, and Jenn created the card. I LOVE it!

Today Lindsay finally convinced me to pick my twitter account back up. I didn't get that into it when I first signed up for my account, but today it seems I've opened the flood gates:

-Note to self: Do not wear a low cut cami with the ultra granny full-coverage nursing bra. Not a pleasant combo when looking down.

-I would just like to say that I got my regular jeans up AND zipped this morning with minimal muffin top. It only took 11 weeks.

-My reward for drinking my whole 32oz cup of water is Sonic happy hour. Now do I want my special ice tea or a cherry vanilla coke?

-Getting a pedicure and the woman next to me just announced loudly on the phone that she was still getting the dead skin sanded off her feet.

-I just uttered the phrases 'burps come out of your mouth, toots come out of your bottom' and 'no, you took too long to spit'.

And then there were my facebook statuses:

-Just opened the chocolate bar I hid in my desk. I was hoping it would last me the week, but it's survival expectancy isn't looking so hot.

-Luke was begging to get in the car and drive over a train track, so I sat next to him on the couch and pretended to drive over a track by "steering" then jiggling him with the bump-bump of the track. He didn't buy it.

Aren't you people so lucky to have one more way to hear all the crazies in my head? You're welcome. But that will have to do for now, seeing as I have the sweetest baby asleep on my shoulder, a silly boy singing in bed, and a hot shower calling my name.

Luke's first sleep over

2011-08-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

This week went by fairly smoothly. Went to work, came home, played with my kids, in bed by 10:30. This week Evan gave me her first real laugh. Get this- she thinks it's hysterical when I change her clothes. Don't most babies hate that? I get the biggest laughs every evening when I take her clothes off and put on her jammies. She's smiling more frequently too, and at most people she meets. Catch her right after she's woken up for a feeding and you will get the biggest smiles.

Luke did good with his second week away from me too. He still wants to come with me in the mornings, but thankfully there has yet to be any tears from him. And I don't think that will change. This week he starts with his new babysitters and I think he will love them all. Plus today we went and got his back pack for school (I really had to work at holding it together in Academy when he was trying on a couple of back packs- where did this little kid come from? Don't I have two babies?) I also got him some actual athletic shoes (his first pair) because- wait for it- Mom and I signed him up for soccer on Saturday.

Who am I?!?!

See, Shae signed up Dakota for soccer and told me I should sign Luke up too. I think we are all aware that sports aren't quite my forte, so I was a little hesitant. So that stinker went and told my mother that she signed up Dakota and Luke needed to get in too! Once Ashley got wind of the ordeal, it was all over for me. Mom and Ashley have been dying to sign him up for ages, so I didn't stand a chance. Luke now has THREE pairs of athletic shorts (three more pairs than he's ever had), tennis shoes, a soccer ball, and I got a folding chair to take with me.

When. Oh when, did I become a soccer mom.

Oh that's right. On Saturday.

Anyway, there you have it. Hysterical preschool soccer commentary coming soon to a blog near you.

I guess I should move on to the title of the post. For lunch on Friday, Shae brought her boys up to eat with Joby, and they very graciously invited me along. A couple of hours after she got home from lunch, she called Joby to say their air was out. (Don't forget the heat index has been in excess of 110 for the past 30+ days) I told him to tell her to pack the boys up and go to my house. By the time they got everything together and a trip to Sam's under their belt, it was time for dinner, so I tossed some spaghetti on the stove and we all had a nice meal around my table. My house doesn't have enough beds to sleep an extra family comfortably, but my mom's sure does. In fact, she has enough beds to sleep my family AND the Raymond's comfortably. And that's what we did.

I didn't want them to feel weird spending the night with my parents, so I threw some jammies in a bag for me and the kids and headed over there too. We put Luke and Dakota in a room together, and that might have been the most fun Luke ever had. Every 5 minutes an adult had to go up stairs and lay down one more rule than before. Mostly because Luke was all hyped up and didn't know what to do about it. He jumped on the bed. He was told to keep his head on the pillow. He talked. He talked a lot. Finally Dakota came down stairs (at 11) and said that Luke wouldn't stop talking about the trains. HA!! I finally had to lay down the law of no talking or moving and they eventually drifted off.

Evan and I were in another bed, while Shae and Joby had the third room with Mikah in the pack n play. Shae and Mikah got up at 7, but the boys and I slept until 8. Know why? Because it was RAINING! If you don't live around here, then you probably aren't aware of the drought. It's been at least two months since we've had any kind of rain. Add that to the ridiculous heat we've had, and just about everything is dead. It was lovely. They went home about 10 on Saturday morning (after a lovely doughnut breakfast curtsey of Dad) and thankfully the a/c repair man came very soon after that. I'm so glad that we got to have that experience on Friday night. It came at the perfect time too. Thursday some things with Cody had caused some wounds to open back up, so by Friday night I was glad to have an excuse to get away for a little while.

I think the only exciting thing this week is that the kids start with all the different babysitters, I'm interested to see how it goes!

Well checks all around

2011-08-09T13:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening I finally got to take Evan to her 2 month well check, and I had held off Luke's 3 year well check until now so I'd only have to make one trip. When we got there we did the weigh ins, the temp checks, and the height checks, yada yada yada. Then came a first for my little guy.

He got to wear a paper robe.

I was THRILLED that I just happen to have my camera in my bag from taking it to work, so I yanked that thing out and started snapping.

I kept taking pictures until he hid in the corner to get me to stop.

And my very favorite view of the whole thing?

That cute little hiney poking out of the back.

I didn't get the percentages for Luke, and I don't remember how tall he was, but I do remember that he weighed in at 31 lbs even. I think he's about average. Always has been. My girl though? I knew she was big but get this- her weight was in the 97% (13 lbs, 6 oz) and her height was in the 90% (23 1/2 inches) with her head circumference in the 50%. Big body, little head. Luke has never been above 75% in anything, ever. I asked Kim if she was going to be bigger that him, and she said there is a really good chance. YIKES. The last thing a boy wants is for his little sister to be bigger than he is!! I pulled Luke's baby book out to see what he weighed at 2 months and shockingly he was 12 lbs 8 oz and 23 inches long. Not too terribly smaller, but the growth curve for boys is set higher than it is for girls since they are typically a bit bigger. That's why his percents have always been so much lower than what hers are.

Anyway, the point is, I've got a fatty on my hands. Or as most people put so nicely, she's a "healthy" girl. I promise she's only had formula once since getting out of the NICU, that's all from nursing!

Today Mom, Ashley, and Grandy brought the kids up to the office to take me to lunch. My sweet boy asked me if I could just come home instead. :( I wish, little dude. Yesterday I met Jenn for lunch, and then she was scheduled to bring me dinner last night. It was this super good chicken bake! I believe it will be coming with me to work tomorrow for lunch. Tonight it is Tamara bringing dinner. It has been SO. NICE. to be able to just come home and relax and not scramble to try and feed the troops. I am really going to have to get my act together after next week!

Weekend Update

2011-08-08T20:06:00.000-07:00

Is it bad that the last two post titles have had 'update' in the title? Hmmm.

And how cute is this girl?

I could just eat her up.

Friday night we just hung out at home. Ate leftovers for dinner. Didn't do any cleaning or tidying. Had all the lights out by 10.

Saturday was significantly more eventful. Evan slept until 3:00, then was up again at 6:00. Luke was up at 7:15. Yay me. We had plans at 10:30 to go swimming at my friend's house, and we had a great time. Evan slept through the whole thing (even though I had put her swimsuit on her. boo!) which allowed me to focus on Luke. Well, as much as I could focus on him through the chatting. Ha!

We headed out at noon and I dropped Luke off at Mom and Dad's so he could nap there, and then went to the movies with Ashley and Dad. Mom had a couple of Groupons to Studio Movie Grill and I was ready to see Harry Potter. Ashley and Dad just came along for the ride. Evan did too. Is it bad that her first movie was Harry Potter, while Luke's was Momma Mia? Couldn't be helped. When we got there we ordered some lunch, then settled in to watch the fantasticness. And fantastic it was. I cried a lot. Any surprise there?

I did get one surprise in the movie. In the 'heaven' scene, a very quite, reflective scene, Evan decided to have her biggest blowout to date. Ashley and I died laughing. Everyone else let out a snicker too. Way to ruin the mood girlfriend. There was poop everywhere. On her, on my shorts, on my shirt. There was 30 minutes left of the movie, but I was not about to leave and miss the end of only the best saga ever. I've been obsessed with HP for years now. Luckily it didn't bother her since she slept through the entire thing.

After the movies I rounded up my (finally clean) kids and we went over to Shae and Joby's for the evening. We ate pizza, watched the kids play, and I finally got to hang out with my friend and visit. Working has really put a crimp in our hang out time. Boo. Since Luke had refused to sleep at Mom's, we were out of there by 8:30 to get home to bed. Again, I had lights out by 10. I'm really attempting to get more sleep!

Sunday there was this cuteness in the house.

While this little dress did have matching shoes, it did not have bloomers. This momma was not about to let her girl go out in public with an exposed diaper, so I got to finally use her monogrammed bloomers. Love them!

She was in such a good mood while I was taking her picture that I went a little snap happy.

Oops.

But I'm gonna keep snapping as much as I can as long as she can't run away! After church I spent the rest of the day cleaning house. Ashley came over and we went to the store, made dinner, and made chocolate covered cookie dough balls. My fun weekend passed way too quickly! I think that's going to be my new mantra every Monday.

Update on child care

2011-08-05T07:41:00.000-07:00

So it seems that working is going to effect my blogging in two ways.

1. If I don't write something at work then I'm probably not going to be able to post, squeezing in one more thing in the evenings right now will throw me into an utterly overwhelmed state. Trying to get all that I used to do during the day done in the three hours I have at night is a little baffling.

2. Since I'm not with Luke, my main source of entertainment and writing material, I don't have much to write about. Unless you want to know how many phone calls I answered on a particular day or what I ate for lunch. For the record, yesterday it was 4 calls and Potbellies. You're welcome.

I do want to write an up date about my child care situation. Great news- I don't have to send them to day care! No, I don't get to go back to being a stay at home mom. Cody's mom doesn't work on Mondays, so she wanted to watch them on that day. A lady from church, Cindy, has watched kid before, and I was really hoping she would take on my two littles. She is a very loving and nurturing lady and I was thrilled when she said she could watch them on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Because she has a daughter in college that they go visit a lot and a son in high school that is in the band, she couldn't do Friday's since they are always going to one or the other. Shae graciously stepped up and said I could bring the kids over on Friday's. Ya'll, I cried.

Again.

Noticing a pattern here? I'm such a crier.

This also meant I could enroll Luke in the preschool at our church, in the class that Dakota and Zane will be in. It's a Tuesday/Thursday class from 9-2 and Cindy will be able to take him and pick him up. This also means that Luke will be with Dakota three days a week! I am beyond excited that he gets to go here.

I know this sounds like a lot of different directions for them to be going in, but Luke is already totally comfortable with Grandmother and Shae, and I know he will have no problem adjusting to Cindy. Plus, I'm POSITIVE he will love school. Just last night he was asking AGAIN to go to "bacation bible kool" (VBS) so I know he will enjoy his class. I can't wait to see how it will positively influence his verbal and social skills.

I feel so much better about this situation. Wednesday I swung by the day care to un-enroll them, and it was such a weight off knowing I wasn't putting them in there. Not that it was a bad place at all, just not the right place for me. I plan on taking a picture of Vicki, Cindy, and Shae (and his classroom in a few weeks when it starts) and creating a picture schedule that we can look at each night. This way it will be a visual organization of where he is going to go, and he should be able to pick up the pattern and the routine quicker. As for Evan, I know that all three of these ladies will love on her as much as she needs and even though it's a lot of change, Big Brother will always be with her and be a stable factor.

Prasie Jesus for one more answered prayer!

Biggest Thank You ever

2011-08-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

I truly have some of the best friends a girl could ask for. They have cooked me meals (which they have started back up last night to help me transition into this new schedule), taken me to dinner, loved on my kids, helped me find new child care, listened as I cried, found me a job, gushed over my baby, pretended to understand what the heck Luke was going on about, sent me the most sweet and encouraging words in every from of communication possible, PRAYED for me, shared their testimonies of how God worked in their marriages, and now this.

Wednesday night Shae came over to bring back the table cloth she borrowed for the Scentsy party, and she handed me a card. It was a "thinking of you" card with money the group had collected in secret. It was too much. Which is exactly what I said as I collapsed into tears. I was so touched that it was all I could say. I felt so unworthy of such generosity. Shae just kept telling me that everyone just wanted to help me as much as they could through all of this, that this is what family did, and they loved me.

Cue more tears.

Later I was contemplating it all, and the Spirit started whispering "See? You do matter. Just because one person made you feel unloved and worthless doesn't mean that you are. He doesn't define you. I do."

So all I can say is thank you. Thank you to my friends, a true life group in every sense of the word, for being living example of God's grace and mercy. i will never be able to say it enough. And thank you to my God for placing these people in my life. For knowing what the future would hold and providing for it before I had even an inkling of what would come in the future. Today is (was?) our anniversary, and I know I can get through it with my head held high because of all the people in my life supporting it.

Two months

2011-08-01T19:51:00.000-07:00

Sister Friend you are two months old today! I can't believe how big you are! And Lady, I mean that literally. Evan, you are one tall drink of water with the thighs and cheeks to match. You have become quite the little social butterfly. You have always loved to be held and let whoever can hear you know when you've been left alone too long. But right at 6 weeks you started smiling. It's the most beautiful little smile. It's the first thing you do in the morning when you see me. And that tongue in there? Touch your forehead and trace down to your nose and your tongue comes out like clockwork. Your little neck is getting stronger every day. My little bobble head doll doesn't really bobble any more!

It's kinda amazing that your legs are as chunky as they are because they NEVER stop moving. Ever! It's hard for you to fall asleep sometimes because you just won't stop moving. Although you prefer to fall asleep in someone's arms (you are the best little cuddler), about the only way to get you to sleep for longer than 10 seconds after putting you down is to swaddle you up and lay you down awake. It may take a few times of going back and putting your paci in again, but eventually you fall asleep with minimal fussing. You love that paci. Love. It. You also love the water. When we take a shower you get real still and just let the water wash over you. While we were in Oklahoma you took your first bath with me, and you loved it too.

Now that I'm working you only get to nurse about 4 times, and take 3 bottles of pumped milk during the day. After each feeding you burp like a 19 year old frat boy. Seriously. Still wearing size 1 diaper (although I have the half size up ready and we might try that after this bag of diapers is gone) and size 3 month clothes (except for Gerber onesies, which you really need a size 6-9 month for the length).

Can I just tell you how much your brother loves you?! One of the first things he says in the morning is "Where's baby Evan?" and when he finds you he says "There she is!" and usually gives you a kiss. If you are laying on the floor, he wants to lay with you. If you are laying on the couch next to me or on me, he will come and play with your hands (clapping them for you) or tickle your feet or jiggle your legs around. Sometimes he just walks by and gives you a kiss. It just makes me love the two of you even more.

Evan, if you want to just freeze in time I'm okay with that. I love having a baby. And you are such a pleasure to have. I'm just so sorry that I don't get to take care of you more myself anymore. Your little cheeks are so sweet I just kiss them all the time! I love you baby girl!

Oklahoma trip

2011-07-31T17:08:00.000-07:00

I've been a little out of pocket because we were on a trip! Back in December or January Mom broached the subject of all of us going back to Broken Bow, Oklahoma to stay on the river again. I was so excited! We had a great time on our last trip two years ago. Wednesday when I got home from work I set to cleaning the house and pack. I got done by about 11 and I was off to bed so we could get going in the morning.

Thursday morning Dad came to pick the kids and I up, then we went over to Ashley's to meet Mom and all leave from there. Ashley, the kids, and I were in one car while Mom and Dad made the trek in a second car. With two car seats we don't all fit anymore into one car. The drive up there was an adventure in itself. Ashley and I laughed most of the way, seeing all kinds of random things on the road. Like 9 rusted dumpster arranged artfully and randomly on the side of the road. And a 90 year old man on a Rascal scooter wearing an orange worker vest using a spear to pick up trash. Ashley though he was just sleeping on the side of the road (think two lane highway in the middle of no where), and later she said she thought that was why we were laughing. Goodness. We also stopped in Paris and got a snack, fed the girl, and spent 20 minutes driving around trying to find this.

Totally worth it. Finally we got there and it was early enough to throw on our suits and get in the water. Well, they got in the water, I stayed with my baby.

Then I took my baby down to the river too.

(that's our house up on the bank)

After swimming we made a spaghetti dinner and relaxed. There was a garden tub with a jacuzzi in my room, so I headed off for some quiet time. Mom had brought some bubble bath, and that's when it became apparent I was a novice to using bubble bath with jets. Did you know the jets rapidly multiply the bubbles? I found out the hard way when the tub was only half way full of water but overflowing with bubbles. Bubbles so dense I could leave hand prints. Finally I played with my girl some more

and we were off to bed.

Wednesday morning Ashley, Dad, and I had reservations for a kayak trip. We had the BEST time! The people took us to a landing spot to park the car, then drove us three miles up the river where we put in. There were rapids, waterfalls, and smooth spots all in those three miles. Mom stayed back with the kids, and she had bought us one of those old school water proof cameras with no flash and a wheel that you wind. Remember those we are going have to go get those developed to see how our kayak trip turned out. Remember those days? Anyway, we got back in time to make hot dogs for lunch and then it was nap time. Later we took the kayaks that the river house had docked and I let Luke "paddle" with me.

He loved it! After a hamburger dinner Papa and Luke started gathering sticks for a fire.

Why did we need to make a fire? For s'mores of course! We had to roast the marshmallows the right way.

Luke got to taste his very first s'more, and funny enough, he didn't finish it.

Then it was inside for baths (I took one with Evan, sans the bubbles, since she got so sweaty in the humidity) and after Luke went to bed the grown ups stayed up to play 5 Crown.

Thursday we took some family pictures.

Then we went to the state park where Dad and I took Luke on the little train ride around the park. Leave it to Papa to indulge Luke's still-strong obsession. Lame train rides are getting to be a tradition in our family. Ha!

Eventually we got back to the house where Papa and Luke went fishing and I did a little more kayaking. Okay, mostly I paddled to the other side of the river and floated there watching the fish swim.

Then I came in and took even more pictures of my girl

before we cooked a big steak dinner. That dinner was the first one that we ate inside. All of our other meals were outside on the deck. Luke went to bed, more cards were played, and our vacation was almost over.

This morning we got up and lazily got ready to go. We were back on the road by noon and made our way back to the home front. I'm now totally unpacked, have one load of laundry down, and am so glad that I had cleaned the house before I left, it was nice to walk in the door that way (Cody had been out the whole week on his hitchhiking trip). Tomorrow to work it is! Thanks Mom and Dad for such a great and fun vacation, it was much needed!

(just to show that Mom did get in lots of pictures too, I just had to edit down the hundreds that we took to these!)

Working girl

2011-07-26T19:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I think from the number of messages, texts, and emails I got yesterday, most of you knew it was my first day of work. I can't tell you how comforting it was to know so many of you were thinking of me and praying for me. And the day went pretty well! About 20 minutes before I left, I sat Luke down on the floor and explained to him how Momma was about to go to work like Daddy does, and that Nana was coming to stay with him like Mom used to.

"Mom go in de back twuck wike Daddy?" (Mom go in the black truck like Daddy?)

"No Baby, Mom's gonna take Mom's car."

"Oh. I get in de car and go wif me Mom?"

That's when I lost it. my eyes filled up and when he saw me upset then he got more upset. And Sister Friend? She woke up in the best mood. Every time I looked in her face she would get the biggest smile. Let me tell you, it's a lot harder to leave a baby that is happy to see you rather than one who is screaming non stop.

I did get out the door, and once I arrived at the office I was better. I filled out my paper work, got the lay of the land, met a bunch of people, and was able to go home. Thankfully I had time yesterday afternoon to take the kids swimming. Mom came with me over to the Kilgore's pool and she and Mr. Ed swam with Luke while I held Evan on the steps. She tolerated the water for about 30 minutes! It was funny- I could brace her head and to keep it above the water, and not touch the rest of her body, and she would totally float.

For dinner we went over to Grandmother's for some Taco Cabana fajitas and then home to bed. This morning Luke slept up until it was just about time for me to leave. Mom got here while I was nursing Evan one last time, and when I was ready to leave Luke refused to hug me. Then I would stand up to leave and he would say "I need a hug!" but then still wouldn't hug me. This happened twice. Both times I just hugged and kissed him anyway, and he asked again as I walked out the door but I had to just go. It could have gone on all morning.

Today was more of actual training. I learned how to do the phones, transfer stuff, the fax machine, scanner, email system, travel documents, internal drive, ect. Then I had lunch with a few of the guys. After lunch I got a few more things done and was able to go home.

After I got home is when things started to fall apart. I'm only running on a few hours sleep, so I'm already tired and not at my most patient-filled. Luke was Mom! Mom! Mom! for two hours straight, as well as pooping in his underwear three times in 45 minutes. Not. Even. Kidding. I was almost in tears. I was taking him over to Mom and Dad's anyway so I could go to Shae's for a girl's night/Scentsey party so we just left a few minutes early. I dropped him off and headed out for some much needed girl time. I felt really guilty for leaving him again after being gone all day, but I knew I needed it.

Now I'm home, one is in bed, one is about to shower with me and then get in bed too. Hopefully getting in bed a tad earlier tonight will help in feeling better tomorrow!

Great Weekend

2011-07-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

What a fantastic weekend we had! Friday the kids and I spent most of the day with Shae and the boys. We were planning to go over and play at some point that morning, and then she texted me about coming early to help them eat the cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Ummm....yes please! So we went over and had breakfast and played. Right as I was about to gather my troops, her water turned off. Silly city. So they came over to our house for lunch and to play a little more, and finally we parted ways at 2 when everyone was dying for a nap.

After nap (which I had to wake Luke up from at 5), we hung around the house, and I cooked dinner. Then I got another text to meet up with the Raymond's and the Wyatt's for playing at the park, then ice cream. By the time I got us dressed and out the door it was 7:45. We played for awhile, then went to Braum's for a treat. We didn't get home until almost 10! It was a quick bath for everyone then to bed.

Needless to say we slept pretty late Saturday morning. Around 10 Cody took Luke over to his parents and I tried to be productive around the house. That didn't happen. Somehow I got sucked into The Princess Diaries 2, and it was 12:30 before I got anything done. I paid the bills, did some laundry, and about that time Luke came home for a nap. Again he slept until 5, and when he got up we played around the house. I made spaghetti for dinner and we watched Elf. Nothing like a Christmas movie in July! Between nap and dinner, I did let Luke have the ring pop he got from VBS.

There was red alllll over his face! Evan was laying on my bed while I picked up in there, and of course Luke wanted to join her.

I love my kids. :)

Sunday came all to early. We got ready for church, went to bible class and "big" church, then had lunch with Mom and Dad at a little family Italian place.

(after the picture he went over to play for a minute...I caught him playing with Thomas up on top of the bridge saying "Oh no! Oh no! Watch out, be careful!! Ahhhhhhh! [as Thomas "fell" off])

After nap time Luke and I cleaned his room. Boy did it need it! I turned up the radio and we danced around while items got put away. I finished up the laundry and really put myself out on a limb with dinner...fish sticks, tomato slices, and cheese. At least two out of the three items were healthy, right?

(this is where he chose to eat. I don't know why. And he had asked to put his jammie pants back on. Again, I don't know why.)

After dinner (which included a little Harry Potter. I love summer!) I watered the yard and Luke came out in his underwear to play in the water. At first I felt a little silly letting my kid run around in the front yard like that, but he was so cute I didn't even care. That little bottom is precious in his Cars undies!

Sewing complete

2011-07-21T20:36:00.000-07:00

I spent the first half of the day wrapping up all my sewing projects. Last week I hemmed up this big piece of fabric for my big girl.

She outgrew those flannel receiving blankets her second week of life, so having this big blankets is exactly what she needs to be swaddled. And if she's going to fall asleep on her own, she has to be swaddled. I like the vine stitch that I used, and I have to say, I think it was the first project I've ever worked on where I didn't have to pull out the seam ripper and don't have any spots where I just shrug and say "Oh well. People probably won't be looking that closely."

This morning I ripped off the binding of this blanket and redid it.

The first time I didn't line it up right and the binding just looked horrible. Much better now! I wish it was a little thicker, more like this blanket, but I still love it. I am so glad I thought to put her name on the back side! You know me and my monogramming. Speaking of, I finished the burp clothes. When I was at Babies R Us a couple of weeks ago I picked up the boy and the girl colors of plain burp cloths.

I think the "boy" pack turned out so cute and totally feminine! That whitish looking one in the the "girl" pack is actually a very pale pink. Both packs came with a white one, but I chose not to use them. If I need more I can sew them up, but I didn't want to waste fabric on them if I don't need that many.

And I finished the onesie from yesterday, but I forgot to take a picture. Maybe next time. And with that, my sewing machine is shut down for a long time. With me going back to work, I'm just not going to have time to do any sewing for a really long time. I'm not putting anything back in my Etsy shop, and I've turned away the last two custom orders I've been messaged about. I hate that my one creative outlet has to be back burnered, but spending time with my kids after work is going to come first. I still haven't made the pillowcase dress with matching tee shirt for Luke like I wanted to, and I need to do it soon before he out grows the shirt, but I don't know when I will be able to. The fabric is just taunting me! Maybe one Saturday soon.

I spent the entire afternoon tidying the house. Not cleaning. Just picking up. It was that bad. There was at least 30 yards of various fabrics strewn about, and I hadn't picked up dishes, cups, toys, or clothes in days.

Yeah.

Tonight was the last night of VBS. It was family night, with a hot dog supper and a clown show after that. I'm not a huge fan of clowns and I don't think Luke has ever seen one. He really enjoyed it! I was shocked that he wanted to go up on stage as a volunteer! Eventually though, he just couldn't sit any more and started running around. We were in the auditorium of church, sitting on the last row in front of the big walk way that runs the length of the room. Mom was sitting on the first pew in the section behind us. Luke and his friends started just running up and down it. Then the clown played this slow slow slow song, and Luke stopped running and started jamming out. I mean the kid was movin'. Fists to the chest, knees bent, grooving way fast than the song dictated. It was hysterical. THEN he said rather loudly "Come on Mom! Dance wif me!" Someone needs to tell that kid that Church of Christ people don't dance. HA!

Make a better choice

2011-07-20T20:45:00.000-07:00

This morning was a nice lazy morning. So glad to have it. Luke got up earlier than he has been lately (which was strange because it was at least 11 before he fell asleep last night. Unlike I predicted, he was so wound up that he had a very hard time calming down to drop off.), but it was okay. I got him breakfast and tried to lay down again, but it wasn't going to happen. We watched cartoons in bed for a few minutes before he ran off to play and I got hungry. After a breakfast of Cheerios and coffee, I got to sewing. I only have 4 burp cloths for Evan, I haven't really used them while I'm nursing her (she doesn't spit up either). But I'm thinking that once she is getting the milk in a bottle at day care she's going to need more. I got 4 of the 6 done today. It took me the whooooooole day. Between a baby that likes to be held, giving Luke some attention, keeping everyone fed with various meals, potty breaks (for Luke), and more, it was a slow process.

Why so many potty breaks? As I've said before, Luke pretty much as the pee part down, it's the poo we are working on. Every few minutes I would ask him if he had to go. It was always no. Three times he spontaneously said "I have to poop!" and we would run to the bathroom, but as soon as his cheeks hit the seat he would tell me "Noooooo, I no poop." Not frustrating at all.

Finally, FINALLY, after all those false alarms, he got it right. We were so excited! As in, he didn't talk about much else the rest of the day. I did get a picture of the quick onesie I whipped up for Evan to wear tonight. It had a little elephant printed on it, but I just sewed the applique right over it. Tomorrow I'll give the bird legs and add something to the back.

How cute is that skirt? If you can believe, it's a size 3-6 months (she's 7 weeks old today) and it has the cutest little ruffles on the back of it! Maybe I'll put it back on her when I photograph the back of the onesie tomorrow so I'll be able to remember that sweet little gem.

After a rather lengthy nap it was finally time for dinner. Schlotzsky's was having their small original sandwiches on for $1.99 today, so we were totally there. I took the kids up to meet Mom and Dad before VBS and we had a nice meal. At long last, it was time to go to "Cation Bible Skoow". Luke was ready.

We got there and I took him down to the pew where his group was designated to sit, and he didn't want to sit there. He wanted to go up on the stage and play. Then he got very upset with me when I wouldn't let him and he said he wanted to go home. Nothing new, he usually pouts and wants to go home when he gets his way and then always changes his tune once we are half way to the door. Always.

Except for tonight. As he was pouting I told him he had two choices- go home and go to bed (said in a slow sad voice) or stay here and see his friends, sing songs, and have a good snack (said in a high, upbeat voice). He chose to go home. I asked him again.

He chose to go home.

We got half way to the door and I asked again. Home.

We got to the door. Still home.

We go to the car, and I was SURE this time he would choose to go back inside. Nope. Still home.

So home we went. And you better believe he went to bed at 6:30. I was serious when I said he was going to bed if we went home. He knows what that means. And he needs to know I will stick to my word. If I'm going to be doing this parenting gig alone, then the sooner he learns I mean what I say, the sooner it will be better for the both of us. Sorry if it sounds harsh. When learning to become a teacher, one thing they tell you is it's easier to be strict at first and ease up later than it is to be lax with the rules and then tighten up. The same thing applies to parenting (in my opinion). He is a smart boy!

So that was my day. Tomorrow is shaping up to look much of the same. Finish the other two burp rags, fix a blanket I rushed on and screwed up, and finished the onesie from today (pictures of the rags and blankets tomorrow). Hopefully we'll make it to the family night for VBS! ;)

Cardiologist and Shopping

2011-07-19T20:59:00.000-07:00

First of all, I want to say thank you for the great out pouring of support from yesterday's post. I can honestly say that every single message, email, and post brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for caring about me and my children. I haven't been able to respond to any of the messages yet, but please know that I am so grateful.

Okay, now for what's been going on the last couple of days. Yesterday during the day all we did was run to the grocery store. On our way there Luke said "Look Mom! I dwi-fin like you!" I look back and he's got his arms up, fists out, "driving" some imaginary steering wheel like a maniac. I laughed out loud at him. Hopefully I don't look like that! And that elusive smile I mention the other night?

That's what I could get with my phone after a diaper change. And then when I was just about to turn out the lights I noticed something funny.

Girlfriend is trying to sneak that thumb.

Last night was the first night of VBS this week. It's Luke first time to attend, and my first time not to work. I dropped him off, visited for a minute, and then......left. I came home. It was weird. I was able to get the vacuuming done, sheets changed, laundry load on, dinner cleaned up, and most of yesterday's post written. Whew! And Luke? He had a great time! I went back up there a few minutes before it was over so I could watch him. He didn't really participate in the song movements, but he had a big ole grin when I picked him up and told me all about it. He was already ready for the next night!

This morning started way earlier than I would have liked. Evan had an appointment with at cardiologist for a heart murmur that the doctor heard last week when I took her in for the nursing trouble. It was at 8:15 in Plano, which meant I had to leave the house this morning no later than 7:30. I figured I better get used to it now, that's what my life will be like all too soon. We made it to the appointment, and since we were the first one of the day it didn't take long. The doctor did an EKG and an echo cardiogram, and thankfully both were okay. She does have an innocent murmur and a small hole in her heart that didn't close properly from being in the womb. He said that neither one were cause for concern or should cause her any problems. We don't have to go back, and she doesn't have any restrictions on activities when she's older.

We were done by 9, and I wanted to go shopping, but stores don't open until 10. So I sat in in the lobby and nursed Evan. Luke played. Then we took a potty break. By then it was close enough to time, so we loaded back up in the car and met Mom at Stonebrier. I had a Vera Bradley gift card that I just HAD to spend. :) After an early lunch, someone got a little treat since sister had so much attention this morning.

It was his first carousal ride, and he LOVED it. He had the biggest grin on his face and laughed the whole time. He was disappointed when it stopped and wanted to go again. We did a little more shopping, then I went to the bathroom before we headed home leaving Mom with both kids. When I came out, this is what I saw.

Oh Nana.

Tonight he was all about the VBS again. This time while he was gone I didn't go home, I went to dinner with Brandy. It was so nice to visit without two 3 year old boys causing mischief! When I picked Luke up he was all grins again, telling me about the songs they sang, the lesson they had, and the ding dings we saw this afternoon (on the way home from the mall we got stopped at a railroad crossing and he got to watch the bars go down and the red lights flash. He was thrilled.) Then I stood around and visited for awhile while he RAN his little heart out with Zane and Dakota. I'm pretty sure after such a thrilling day (carousal, railroad crossing, and VBS), he had no trouble drifting off to sleep.

Coming Clean

2011-07-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

Well, this is another post I've been putting off having to write. I've been dreading this since March. It was a Wednesday afternoon, I think I was about 30 weeks pregnant, and I was on the phone with Cody, frustrated that he had made plans to go out again every night that weekend. All of the sudden he was out with it.

"I don't want to do this anymore. As soon as the baby comes and you get settled and get a job, I'm moving out."

My world shattered. I shut down for the next few days. I went in between denial and hysteria.

I quickly got myself into counseling through a counseling center here in town, and that helped. This has, and will continue, to leave a lot of scars and baggage. Being so totally rejected by the person who is supposed to love you no matter what is devastating, but having it happen when you are almost 40 lbs heavier than normal is....I don't know what. Awful.

Over the last few months I have begged, pleaded, prayed, fasted, and wept the soul crushing sobs that lead to hyperventilation. I've tried to hide it from Luke, but he's caught me enough times that to this day he asks me every few minutes "Momma happy?" As if I didn't have enough heart break as it is, lets add the innocent question of my three year old.

The idea of being a single mom isn't new to me, I've pretty much carried the role for the last three years, but to have it made official is so painful. I never in a million years thought that this would happen to me. Divorce happens to other people. Friends of friends. Not here. Not to me. I never imagined that I would grow old alone. Sure, we've had a rough marriage, but I just assumed that it would get better. That's one reason I didn't tell anyone for a very long time. It would just get better. We were meant to be together, so surely this wouldn't follow through. I've been in a relationship with this man for 12 years- dated for 4 and married for 8 (in two weeks). It's always been Cody and Lindsey.

But now I've got a job. Next Monday I'll be training for the secretary job and Joby's brother's office (where he works too). I've enrolled my children in.....day care. The thought of that makes me want to throw up. I cried and cried when I signed them up. Thankfully they won't have to actually go until August 15th, since Mom wants to keep them till she goes back to school. I've been mourning this week the loss of my SAHM status. Staying home these last two years has shown me that my real calling is to be a mom, so to have to give that roll up for a divorce I don't even want is crushing. I'm trying this week to just lay low, hold my babies, and cherish these last few days with them. This is it. This is all I get.

Thankfully God has granted me personal strength and a great support system. Once I finally told my parents they swooped in and have helped in any way I would let them. Shae has been a huge blessing, letting me vent constantly and babysitting when I had counseling appointments. My sister stepped up during Evan's birth. I've gotten hugs, phone calls, messages, and visits with sweet words of encouragement from friends.

I don't know what is going to happen from here. Cody is still living in the house (talk about salt on the wound. Having to be around him and not hug him or anything makes me ache) but now that I have a job I'm assuming that he's moving out soon. I don't know how God is going to work in this situation, but I'm confident that He is. I'm sure that whatever the outcome is, it is in the best interest of my children, because EVERYTHING that He does is for His glory. I just have to figure out which ways to give it. I want to stay in the house if possible so that Luke has one stable factor in this whole situation, so his entire world isn't turned upside down.

So, that's what's been going on. I know that Jesus has his arms around us and will hold us through the process. I'm just so sad that he didn't want to try any more, that it all had to end. I hope and pray that my children come out okay. I pray that I come out okay. With Jesus, we will.

Trip out west

2011-07-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend the kids and I hit the road with Mom and Dad. I threw caution to the wind and climb in the back seat with a potty training three year old and a 6 week old infant. It. Was. Awesome. The trip over there Luke did great. We left about 1:00 and he didn't get super antsy or agitated till we were just about there. We only stopped twice- half way there to take a potty break and get a snack at Dairy Queen. After we got back in the car we drove for another hour to Abilene, and stopped to pick up a coconut pie at McKays. Of course. Then we only had one more hour to get to Grandy's. At that point Mom handed Luke her newspaper.

How cute is he?! While he "did" the crossword puzzle, Sister just slept the ride away.

She did fantastic. Once we got to Grandy's, we all went out to the little Mexican food place there in town for dinner with Aunt Patty and Uncle Allen. Then it was back to Grandy's house to relax and eat our pie.

Saturday we slept in until 9 and then hung around the house. Eventually we got dressed and headed to the museum where Aunt Patty works so we could see it and- best of all- let Luke play in the red caboose that is right behind the museum.

Girlfriend and I stayed inside where it was air conditioned.

The rest of the afternoon was spent lazing around the house, figuring out Google+ and Pinterest. We'll see how long I stay interested in them!

Today we all got up, went to church, and then had lunch over at Aunt Patty's house. Finally it was time for the trip home. It started out okay, mostly because after about 30 minutes we all (except for Dad, who was driving) fell asleep for a couple of hours. When we woke up, things didn't go to well. We'd slept through Eastland (the half way mark) and stops after that are slim pickens until Weatherford (an hour away). Luke got tired of his seat FAST and Evan suddenly became starved. He kept saying "I"m not happy. I'm sad." and "I WANNA GET DOWN." Lovely. We made it to right outside of Weatherford to a Wendy's in a truck stop, where I huddled in a corner table nursing Evan and Mom and Dad got a snack for everyone. All too soon it was time to get back in the car.

Holding hands with someone made it a little more bearable. Sometimes it was with me, sometimes it was with Evan. Eventually we made it home and all was right with the world. I have to say, that kid talked the ENTIRE car ride there and back, except for when he was asleep. It was incredible. Mostly it was about his beloved trains, but there was a little bit of everything in there. Let me tell you, I am currently enjoying the peace and quiet of bed time at this moment.

Some exciting news about Luke....he didn't have an accident all weekend!! I was very nervous about the car ride, but he did fine. He did say on the way home (after Wendy's) that he needed to poop, but of course when we stopped he didn't. Once back in the car, Mom handed me some fruit snacks in front of him and said when he went poop in the potty he could have the fruit snacks. When we got home he sat on the potty for 20 minutes working for those snacks. I kept telling him he could get down and try again later, but dude was determined. Finally he did, and he received the spoils of his labor.

The exciting news about Evan is she gave us her first real smiles this weekend! I tried so hard to get one on camera, but of course those suckers are more elusive than Big Foot. Hopefully I'll have one soon!

(closest I got)

The ZOO!

2011-07-12T20:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning the kids and I hung out at home, and then got busy in the afternoon. I had wanted to go to the store for some groceries, but when I went to get Luke dressed I discovered a little snag. His closet door was jammed shut. I mean JAMMED. I even had one foot on the wall to give me leverage as I yanked on the knob and did didn't budge. I managed to figure out how to get the hinges off and it still wouldn't open. Since every single pair of Luke's shoes were in there, we were stuck at home. I was not about to be that trashy girl at Target with a three year old wearing no shoes. Dad came over on his lunch break and was able to pull it open but by then it was too late to get out. Luke "napped" (no sleep again) and I got ready.

I had a 4:30 dr appointment for my postpartum check up, and I dropped Luke off at Mom and Dad's before hand to spend the night. After the appointment I dropped Evan off too (I wanted my fabulous doctor to see her) and then went to pick up my sweet Sarah. She took me on a lady date! We went to Sneaky Pete's and spent 2 hours eating and talking. It was wonderful. Afterwards I picked Evan back up and she and I had a girls night at home.

This morning I set the alarm to be at Mom's by 9, because we were headed to the ZOO! It was hot hot hot, well over 100 degrees today, so we wanted to get there by the time it opened at 10. We had such a great time! On our way there Evan started to fuss, and so Ashley tried to hand Luke her paci to put in her mouth (I was driving). Apparently he couldn't reach her, because all of the sudden he started shouting "Here Evan! Here! Take de paci! Take it!" Ashley and I started cracking up.

We saw all the animals and he really seemed to enjoy them this time. The fish, the reptile house, and the birds really caught his attention. In the parakeet house a little girl gave him her feed sticks, and he had the BEST time feeding the birds. He was just enthralled with them and I had to drag him out when it was time to go. (We were there so long I even had time to sit and nurse Evan) But the highlight of the day for Luke was riding the train. Dad had made the mistake of telling him this morning that we were going to get to ride the train at the zoo, so the entire ride, morning, and afternoon was filled with talk of the "train zoo". When we got to the "depot" we were shocked that it was possibly closed for the day. How in the world were we going to break that to Luke. Praise Jesus, about 30 minutes later it was open. We rode it up to the front of the zoo and we were done. It was 2:00 and we were zooed out and tired of the heat, plus we wanted real food for lunch, not zoo food. We left the park and went to Chili's, then it was home to shower. I love how good it feels to get cleaned up after you've sweated buckets all day. The only person who didn't sweat was Evan, because she had a little fan clipped to her stroller, keeping her cool as a cucumber. Thoughtful Mom spent most of yesterday tracking down a fan, as there were none to be had in Lewisville or Flower Mound. We finally found one in Plano. But even though she didn't get sticky like the rest of us, she still got a bath too.

Love her!

Tonight an old friend from high school and his wife brought me a dinner to pull out of the freezer when I need it. Luke had just been playing in his underwear (which he kept clean and dry the entire zoo trip!) before they came over, so I just slapped a pair of boxers on over them since he hadn't had a bath yet. Low and behold, as soon as they walked through the door he took them off. Yep. I tried and tried to tell him "we don't take off our clothes when we have guests" but he wouldn't put them back on. He showed them all about his new train table in his little blue polar bear undies. Awesome.

Weekend in bullet points

2011-07-10T21:37:00.000-07:00

-Saturday afternoon was spent running around town with Mom trying to find something to make wedding shower invitations on/with. After 4 stores and a hungry baby we said good enough and bought one at the last store. It's harder than you think to find!

-Luke played with my glasses.

-So Evan got to join in too.

-Saturday night we went to an engagement reception for my friends Sara and Clint. By the time it was half way over Luke was so sweaty from running around outside that I was embarrassed and took him home. Kid. Was. Drenched.

-At one point I just barely caught a 30 lbs "monkey" from swinging on the curtains. Literally. Better me stop him than the floor, but he didn't believe me.

-He also discovered how much fun it is to shoot the dog with a water gun. After 45 minutes of gleefully (seriously, the best laughter ever) chasing Daisy down and soaking her in the back yard, Luke came back in and announced "I'm home Momma! I'm home!" Whew. I was afraid he'd gone for good or something.

-Since we didn't have anything planned for small groups tonight, I sent out an email for everyone to meet at the water park and then come over afterwards to eat dinner. There was a 4 year old, four 3 year olds, two 18 month olds, and an 11 month old that found EVERY toy we ever owned. The good thing was some of those toys actually got played with, as opposed to sitting in the closet for the last six months. And I got to visit with my friends in the comfort of my own home.

-Miss Julie (the children's minister) used Luke as an example of a three year old for her announcement about VBS next week. We were afraid that he would be too bashful, but then she took him up on stage. He walked around. He looked in the air vent on the floor. He came to the very edge of the stage and started SHOUTING "Hey Mom! Hi Momma! Mom! Hi!" while waving. Nope. Not so bashful. (did I mention we sit at the very back of an 1800 capacity auditorium?)

-This girl was pretty cute too.

I meant to get a real picture with my camera when we got home, but I forgot.

Potty business and a birthday

2011-07-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a very lazy morning.

Wednesday I worked hard to get all of my chores done so that I'd be able to just sit with my baby girl in my arms and watch the boy play. Luke seems to be picking up on this potty training business pretty well- at least the pee pee side of it. While he's awake he's been in undies all week, and he hasn't had one accident. Nor has he in his sleep, but I still make him wear a pull up.

The tricky part seems to be the poo. It's always the poo. In fact, it was all about the poo yesterday. Evan had her first blow out diaper. It was everywhere. I had to not only soak her night gown, but I had to wash the changing mat and then Evan herself. About the time I got done with her, Luke "woke" up from his nap (he never went to sleep), and I made him take a potty break first thing. The stream had so much pressure behind it (I'm guessing) that it actually came out in three streams. This is what I get for having him stand to pee. One stream went to the right, all over the shower curtain and tub, one went forwards all over the wall behind the potty, and one went to the left- all over my leg, the lavatory, the floor, and out into the hall. It was unreal. We spent the rest of the afternoon on and off the potty trying to get the poo thing down.

I even gave him reading material.

Eventually he got the timing down and right before it was time to leave for Ashley's birthday dinner, he went. Whoo hoo! Should I write his first poo in the potty down in his baby book? After that the kids and I met Mom, Dad, and Ashley at Olive Garden for her birthday dinner. Then it was back to Mom's house for ice cream cake and presents.

This morning we hung out in bed for awhile....

before getting up and heading to the pool at Ashley's apartment. We stayed until lunch time, came home, and Luke finally took a nap where he actually slept. Then Dad came over and mowed my lawn, I fixed dinner and watched The DaVinci Code while I ate, bathed Luke, rocked Evan, and finally typed this.

Parade and Fireworks

2011-07-04T19:09:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! We started the day off with a little festival with the Raymond's that was conveniently located at the end of their street. Joby pulled these big 'uns...

while Shae and I pushed these little 'uns.

We also tried to get a good picture with our big boys, but this was as good as it got on my camera.

There were hot dogs, lemonade, pop corn, bouncy houses, and an awesome magician. Take that awesome with a grain of salt. We only lasted 45 minutes or so due to the extreme heat, and then we walked back to their house to play in the sprinkler, but that didn't last long either. Luke turned into Mr. Grumpy Pants so I deemed it nap time.

After nap time I took the kids over to Mom and Dad' for a classic hamburger meal. Then the five of us piled into their car to meet back up with the Raymonds to watch fireworks. While we waited for nightfall we had fun with the blanket and camera.

There was a group photo taken, just not on my camera. It was a good hour and a half of hanging out before the show got going, but they took it all in stride. Very fast strides. They played chase, they rolled around, they put their heads on the ground to be "upside down". Ha!

FINALLY, the fireworks started. They were great! I was thrilled to be with Luke at his first fireworks experience. He hates loud noises so I was unsure how it would go over, but he loved it. It was 11:30 by the time we got home, cleaned up, and in bed. Luke was zonked after running so much and staying up WAY WAY past his bed time!

Precursor to the fourth

2011-07-03T17:42:00.000-07:00

I debated on whether or not to let Evan wear her 4th of July outfit to church. But eventually the idea of matching sibling again won out over practicality, so you'll be seeing her little outfit again tomorrow. Somehow I think you'll get over it. Ha!

In honor of Independence Day I dressed both the kids in red, white, and blue. And I wore a grey dress with a white cami and red heels, but I couldn't be in the picture since I had to take the picture! If I want a photo of the three of us in church gear, I'm gonna have to start taking my camera to church and having someone do it there. Boo. But how cute are they?!

(I cap cap cap huh hands Mom!)

After church we had our lunch with Mom and Dad at Roadhouse, then home for a nap. For dinner the kids and I met up with the Raymonds for dinner at Blue Goose so the boys could run around in the fountain. We sat out on the patio and after eating Joby took the boys over and they ran around for a really long time. Well, Mikah just got to watch from his Daddy's arms, but the big boys had fun.

(Dakota is direct behind the fountain in the middle of the picture with Luke on the left, and Joby is to the left of the tree holding Mikah)

That left us girls at the table to chat. Okay, Evan slept while Shae and I talked. Some how the both Luke and Dakota decided they needed ice cream (I'm not totally convinced Joby didn't plant the seed. Ha!). So after the check was paid we all walked over to the other side of the fountain to the Ben and Jerry's store for some dessert. Luke and I shared double chocolate chunk ice cream. Yum! It was such a fun evening, getting ready for the fourth!

Birthday party

2011-07-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I could have gone to the pool with the girls, but after a crazy week I just really needed to stay home with my babies and hold my littlest. So I did. For most of the day. The only productive thing I did during the day light was finally clean the floors. And that was only done half way since I had a baby strapped to my chest.

She didn't want to be put down, okay?

I knew that Luke's party was this morning, and I knew that I had to make all the food, but for some reason it didn't click that I needed to get that done then. I took the kids after dinner to pick up the remaining items from Target and the grocery store, got them home, bathed, and into bed. THEN I realized I couldn't make all the food in the morning and needed to at least make the muffins then. At 9:30. So I dutifully pulled out the mixing bowl, muffin tin, and oil. That's when I realized I was completely out of eggs.

I needed 5 for two packages of muffin mix

So, I texted Mom and when their movie got out she and Dad brought me the eggs (and extra muffin liners, since I realized I was almost out of those too). I passed off the pigs in a blanket for her to bake this morning, and I got started. By midnight I had two dozen muffins, a shower, and the lights finally were out.

This morning it was party time! I baked up the cinnamon rolls, got everything together, everyone dressed, and out the door by 8:30. We headed to the park and I set everything up.

By 9:15 everyone that was coming was there, and we were able to eat breakfast. The kids ate quickly and then hit the playground. If red faces and sweaty hair indicate a good time, then those kids had the best! I knew it was hot and humid, but lord have mercy. Luke looked like he jumped in a pool.

(Joby took the boys on a stick hike)

And this girl? She had a good time too. She hung out with me in the sling for awhile, until I just couldn't take the extra heat anymore, and then she tried to nap in her stroller, but it was just too dang sticky.

By 11 we were all ready to go home and take a bath. I gave Luke a quick one before Cody's dad and grandparents came to fetch him for the day. What did I do with my afternoon? Watched some tv, got clean, watched some more tv, went for a sushi lunch (at my very favorite place), and then went to Khols' with Mom. She bought me a new dress and 3 new shirts, and then we went "shopping" in her closet. She's gone up a size in her pants, and I'm still up a size from my old pants. What does that mean? A lot of her pants don't fit her but they fit me! Wahoo for pants with buttons! I love the ease of maternity pants, but without the big belly to hold them it, it gets a little annoying. Then I brought Evan home where we watched more tv, ate some leftover dinner, and waited for Brother to come home. I missed that kid! I gave him another quick bath, let him open his presents from this morning, and then it was off to bed. When we were saying prayers, I didn't realize he had started and I was looking at him. All of the sudden he pointed at me and said CLOSE YO EYES! Oops.

Happy birthday party Luke, I'm so glad that you (and me and Evan!) had such a fun filled day!

One month

2011-07-01T19:51:00.000-07:00

Evan, you are one month old today! How is that even possible?! Your time with us has been so sweet that it seems like none has passed at all. You are a great baby and I just love you so much. I'm not the only one! Your brother has become quite fond of you, putting a paci in your mouth (usually upside down) when you are "sad", patting your back while you nurse, kissing you, laying with you during tummy time, and telling you what a sweet and pretty girl you are. When I'm holding you he always wants me to talk to you. It's so funny!

I am so grateful for the sweet sounds of your cooing and your funny goat noises. Some say it sounds like a goat, some say it sounds like a chuckle, but whatever it is you do it frequently. Like when you are disturbed from your sleep, picked up or laid down, or sometimes just because. You are currently strapped to my chest in your sling as I type, and when I look down you are just staring back at me with your big beautiful blue eyes. Or gently resting your head on my chest dozing off. You are my most precious girl!

About a week and a half ago you graduated from newborn sized clothes to most of your 0-3 month sized clothes. Your little body was just too long for the newborn stuff! (but your arms and legs aren't quite chubby enough for all of the 3 month things) You wear a size one diaper and I don't see that changing too soon. You nurse every couple of hours during the day and *most* nights go for one stretch of 4 to 4 1/2 hours and then 2 1/2 hours between feedings. You mostly love your paci, and if I don't get it in fast enough you find your thumb. We may have a future thumb sucker on our hands! You also love to be swaddled- definitely sleep better that way.

Girlfriend, I hate to say it, but you are a tad bit more high maintenance than your brother was. You LOVE to bed held and will only tolerate being set down for a few minutes at a time. But guess what? I totally don't mind. I will hold you till kingdom comes if you let me. Having you rest on my chest is one of my favorite times of the day. And we do it frequently. Ha!

Thank you so much for coming into our lives. I am just smitten with you, and I can't wait to see what the next month will hold. What you will grow to be. Who you will grow to look like. Where your path will take you. But we've got plenty of time for that. For now you just be my baby, okay?

Luke's 3rd birthday

2011-06-30T21:22:00.000-07:00

My biggest little love turned three today. It seems like just yesterday the doctor place this in my arms

and I got to call him mine. These three years have gone by so quickly and I am beyond thankful for them. I have laughed with him, cried over him, worried about him, and bragged on him. Being a mom to a little boy has been quite an adventure, and he truly steals my heart everyday. Those eyelashes just crush me!

When he first came into my room this morning, I immediately started singing him happy birthday. In the middle of the song he turned towards the front door and said "Where is de cake? It's comin' through da door!" Now, I'm not sure when a cake has ever come through the front door, but he sure thought it was. So I went and fixed him breakfast- a cupcake and grapes.

It felt a little odd to be letting him have such a breakfast, but you only have a birthday once a year, right? He blew (okay, spit) out his candle and really only ate the top half off- licked the icing and then nibbled on the cake part. Not to long after that Mom came and got us for swim time! The water park is closed on Thursdays, so we went over to Ashley's apartment and swam in her pool.

I do believe that fun was had by all. After we were done with the heat we headed back up to Ashley's apartment where Luke had a requested lunch of corn dog and ketchup. Then it was home to nap. Blessed nap time. Thankfully he slept until 4:30, which allowed me to get the presents wrapped and the house mostly picked up. Not to mention a shower and lunch for me and my girl.

At 6:00 we met the family at Schlotzsky's for dinner.

Why there? Because he picked (as I knew he would) cheese pizza for dinner, and that way he could have his pizza but everyone else didn't have to eat pizza if they didn't want to. Dinner was had and it was time to move the party home for presents. Mom and Dad left before the rest of us so they could get over to the house and set up Luke's present. I, being the Momma that I am, finally indulged Luke in his seemingly one passion- driving over train tracks. We hit three different track location on our extended trip home. This also conveniently bought Mom and Dad more time to get set up. Why did they need time? Because they found an amazing deal on a train table, and I okayed it knowing the great joy it would bring my boy. More on that in a minute. We got home and he made a bee line for the table where he had seen his presents from after nap time.

It is so funny what a difference a year makes. Last year he would barely open a present, and then wouldn't be able to move on from the toy, getting very upset when we tried to get him to open the next one. This year it was all about ripping the paper- opening one and barely looking at the contents before moving on to the next one. I did find a book at the bookstore that we had previously checked out from the library and he had been obsessed with....that one caught his attention.

When all the paper had been torn, we unveiled the show stopper- his new train table! We saved it till the end because we just knew that he wouldn't want anything else after that.

And we were right. It took quite a bit of convincing to stop and have cake, but we got him back to the table. After singing again, and blowing out the candle again, we tried to let him lick the icing off the bottom of the candle.

He bit it instead.

I'd say my sweet boy had a pretty good birthday. Rules were relaxed, sugar was consumed, perfect toys were given. I'm so looking forward to all the years to come, all the joy to come, all the love to come. I love you precious boy, you are my smile!

Mowing the yard and potty training business

2011-06-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

Before I forget, last night after I wrapped up my post I laid Evan next to me so I could close the laptop and put it down. When I looked over she was laying so sweetly!

Okay, it may be a picture that only a mother can love, but hey. I am her mother. And I love it.

So there.

Today Luke was spouting off the funniest things. He had managed to stay completely dry all day Monday and all day Tuesday, so this morning after he came into my room dirty I put him in undies. Yep. I'm getting serious about potty training.

He did good all day. After naptime when he woke up dry I made him go potty. Know what he told me as he was standing there? "No Mom, pee pee's stuck. It's stuck. Oh wait. Dair it is." And then he went. I had to bite my lip from laughing in his face. He did great until this afternoon when he was outside running around while Papa mowed. The accident was partly my fault, I hadn't asked him in a while, and he was way to distracted.

He really wanted to push the spreader around to be just like Papa.

Later this afternoon I was enjoying an iced tea, and the condensation dripped on my shorts. When Luke saw it he said "Uh oh, Momma pee peed." *ahem* I might be pushing the 'we don't pee pee in our shorts' line a little hard.

For church I put the kids in their matching shirts, and I may or may not have worn something coordinating too.

I just can't help myself. I know Luke will kill me in 15 years, but how cute are they?! Then after church he was running around, and I looked over and he was cowering in the corner. I knew what that meant. Luckily I'd put him in a pull up after his earlier accident, so it wasn't a big deal. I went over to him and asked him if he wanted to go poop in the potty, and he hid his eyes like he was embarrassed. When I didn't walk away he said "Hey Mom. Where are you?" in a sing songy voice. Then he popped his hands down and said boo! When I asked him again and I STILL didn't walk away for him finish he got a distressed tone in his voice and said "Go talk to Nana! Go!" while frantically pointing to her. Oh my boy. I'm actually glad he got embarrassed, hopefully it will start us on the path to being pull up free soon!

Pool and Pictures

2011-06-28T20:11:00.000-07:00

This morning I got the troops up and out the door to head to the pool.

When I say it in a cute little sentence it makes it sound like it was no trouble at all, and took no time.

Oh, the contra ire. Luke slept in until 8:15, and I was able to eek out 15 more minutes of pillow time before I was forced out of bed and into the kitchen to make him breakfast. My goal had been to pick up Mom at 9:30 and get to the pool a little after it opened, but it took me the whole hour to get everything together and everyone dressed. And I didn't even shower or put on make up (because who does that before they hit the pool) or eat breakfast. I did swing by a particular Sonic that was slightly out of the way to get Mom though, because this Sonic has large drinks for 99 cents before 10 a.m. I was in dire need of a cranberry tea with two lemon slices in my hand at the pool.

Anyway, we got there at ten till 10, and it's a good thing we got there later than I intended because the pool didn't open until 10. Lesson learned! We were the first ones there and Luke was only 1 of 3 kids playing in the water at 10:15. Needless to say we had our pick of chairs (which is what I was aiming for anyway). We needed a big spread because there were lots of friends joining us! Shae and Brandy were there with their 4 boys combined, April brought her Dakota, Tamara showed up with Jadyn and Jordyn, and then the Anne came with her two kids. I was glad that Mom came with me- Evan was hungry as soon as we got there and she was able to get in the pool with Luke- and all the other girls were glad for an extra set of hands with all those kids. She also not only brought her point-n-shoot, but she used it as well!

I let the little lady dabble her feet in the water while in the shade of my body. She didn't fuss about it, so I'm gonna say she loved it!

Mikah was very interested in the baby. Shae and I might have to bring this picture up at their wedding in 30 years! Just kidding. Maybe.

About half way through our play time the littles got hungry so we spread out some towels and grubbed down. Someone else got cozy and took a nap.

We got home about 1, then it was a quick bath for Luke and he was out for a nap. I fed the girl, ate some lunch myself, then we took a quick shower before Taylor came over. She got here at 2:45 for a newborn session! Oh my word they are going to be so cute! Once again I have no idea how I will pick which ones to frame. Then it was off to Grandmother's for dinner and home to bed on time foe Luke. My little boy was actually rubbing his eyes he was so tired!

Time difference

2011-06-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

I have found that things are now taking me even longer to accomplish now than it did before Evan was born. She still sleeps all the time, so how is that so? Case in point- I STILL haven't written my thank you notes to the sweet friends that brought us presents while I was in the hospital.

The house was trashed from the weekend. Bad. And with this new change in how my time is spent, it took me the entire day to tidy it back up. Entire. Day. I was hoping to get the floors and bathrooms all cleaned too, but by the time I got Luke in bed the only thing cleaned was his bathroom.

And what were the kids doing while I was attempting to tidy?

She's got a hard life. Sleep now, my dear, for one day you will be helping me. :)

"Take a pit-ture off de twains Mom!" So I did. And you my son? Enjoy your toys, because one day you too will be helping me out. No boy of mine is going to move out of my house without knowing how to clean his bathroom and do his laundry.

After a little while Evan woke up, so I thought a little tummy time might do her some good. She had other ideas.

And today was the last day for Luke's speech therapist to come out. It was so sad! I really liked her, and it's going to be weird not having a weekly appointment anymore. She even brought Luke a birthday present- a Chuggington train puzzle, a dog puzzle, and a Cars stamp set. Does she know my boy or what?

Later this afternoon Evan just wanted to be held and I was trying to get Luke's laundry put away. I busted out the sling and strapped her to my chest, turned on the radio in Luke's room, and danced around while he chased the dog laughing hysterically. The song "This is the good life" came on, and it was one of those awesome moments where you realize that it is the good life. Listening to my big baby laughing so hard, feeling my little baby right on my heart. So good.