Better Late than Never

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day this year!! I'm so thankful for my three sweet valentines.

Avery and I made sugar cookies for daddy and to bring to our neighbors

Yummy frosting!

Frosting her first cookies

I think she had as much fun cleaning up as she did decorating! This girl loves to clean!!

I'm so thankful for this man.  He still makes my heart beat fast and I'd rather spend my days living this crazy life with him than any other way.  I wouldn't trade what we have for the world!

Have I mentioned she holds a special place in my heart?

The weather was nice so we played outside for a while...

I'm not sure who loves this game more!

She was being so sweet to her brother!

Fishy Fishy

Bath time is our favorite time of day...

Avery is such a good big sister... always trying to help hold Asher and keep him from falling

This pretty much sums him up.  Crazy little guy with tons of enthusiasm and a big personality :)

Oh, hey mom!!

She's officially unimpressed with Asher's antics ;)

Biggest Blessing

I've sat down to write this post a few times now but each time I do, my hands start shaking, my heart rate rises, and my mind starts to wander.  It still doesn't feel real.  I keep thinking that maybe if I write it down it will sink in.

Since the day Avery was born I knew I wanted to stay home with her.  The thought of leaving her with someone else, and a stranger no less, was heartbreaking.  My maternity leave passed quickly and I was headed back to work before she had even started sleeping through the night.  Those first few months were some of the toughest I’ve ever experienced.  I would sit in the bathroom crying, praying, and hoping that somehow, someday I could stay home. 

Fast forward two years to when Asher was born and it was even harder the second time around.  

This was not where I was supposed to be.  Every hour-long commute that I spent sitting in my car, wishing I was cuddling my baby or reading to Avery, broke my heart.  Matt even asked me to see a psychologist because he was scared I was depressed.  He was right. I wasn't myself.   Thankfully the doctor didn't feel that I was clinically depressed, but that it was a situational issue.  We started talking about how we could make it work on one income.  We knew it wouldn't be easy but we decided I should keep working until the beginning of 2013 and we would reevaluate our finances and see if we could make it work. 

Two weeks ago we received one of the biggest blessings ever and yesterday I walked into my boss’s office, closed the door, sat down and told her I was giving my notice. 

I am officially leaving my corporate job for the most fulfilling, difficult, exhausting, wonderful job I could ever ask for.  And I have never been more overwhelmed with joy and gratitude. 

Of course I’m under no illusion that it will be all fun and games. I know being a stay at home mom is a hard job.  But they are only little once.  These precious years, they go by so fast and I've been missing them.  I've been missing morning snuggles, trips to the park and the library, the dirty diapers, the snotty noses.  I've been missing all of it. 

Three weeks left.  13 days.  I still can’t believe it.  God is good. Always.  This plan he has for us.  It is perfect.  It certainly wasn't the plan I had but His was better. 

I've had this little note hanging from my monitor since I came back from maternity leave.  It has served as such a great reminder to be thankful in all situations.  To not worry about things we can’t change.  To trust in Him and His perfect plan. 

“He has made everything beautiful in its time” Ecclesiastes 3:11

Busy, Busy, Busy

Is it really the middle of February already?  I don’t want to believe it because that means my babies will be turning 1 and 3 in a few short months.  Sigh.  They really are growing up so fast.  Avery is tall and skinny now, looking more like she should be in pre-k.  Asher is so close to standing independently.  I know he has the balance to do it but he gets scared and grabs on.  I’m sure the confidence will come soon and after that he’ll be running around the house in a blink of the eye. 

We’ve been really busy the past few weekends which makes the time go by even faster.  I always complain about the weather in Texas but I have to admit it’s been nice to sit outside on the weekends and not bundle the kids up in 10 layers every time we go out. 

A few weekends back we went to Kennedy’s 3^rd birthday party.  This is the first time Asher’s really gotten to play at a birthday party and he had a blast.  

They both did :)

Yes, that is my husband crawling up the jungle gym to make sure two curious 10-month-olds didn't get trampled by their siblings :)

Avery got to drive the truck down the street (to the cul-d-sac and back).  She loves driving!

One morning she told me her babies were crying and needed to go to sleep.  Obviously the closet is the perfect place for them to slumber ;)  (ignore the trash bags, I'm trying organize her old clothes and donate/sell a bunch of stuff)

She brought everyone in, grabbed her books, sat down, and started going through our whole bedtime routine.  Asher had to check in and see what she was up to. 

After he face-planted into the baby bed he was kicked out and I was told to close the door, babies are tired. 

So, she sat in there and read while Asher and I played.

This little stinker has figured out how to crawl into her bed.  He.loves.it.  He body slammes himself into the pillows and dolls and then looks at me like "what, this is awesome!"

I really didn’t care about the superbowl this year… I’m still sad that my Broncos didn’t make it.  Matt and I both wore Broncos shirts to the superbowl party to show our support J

I probably saw about 10 minutes of the game because I was busy talking, feeding my face, and watching two busy little people.  It was fun to see some friends and catch up with a few people we hadn’t seen in awhile!

Avery and Harper might have consumed a whole watermelon and I think Avery drank 3 CapriSuns.  Which resulted in Avery having two accidents so she’s not allowed to have juicy stuff at parties anymore! :(

Emily’s 10^th birthday was last weekend so we met all of Matt’s family at the Waco Zoo to celebrate!  We had so much fun! Avery was so excited to see the animals.  She specifically wanted to see lions, zebras and giraffes (I think she’s watched Madagascar one too many times!).  

One last picture of this little heart breaker .. Matt sent me a text with this picture a few days ago.

"What... we weren't doing anything... I promise!"

10 Months {Asher James}

AJ –

You are 10 months old!  Even as I type this, I can’t believe it’s true.  You are so much more like a wild, energetic toddler than the sleepy baby we brought home from the hospital last spring.  You are into everything – crawling into your sister’s bed, exploring the backyard, trying to eat Cash’s dog food.  Yes, little man, I have to keep a constant eye on you because you are full of curiosity and determination.   You have a big personality and love to “talk”.  Your facial expressions are hilarious and you still love to eat my nose.  You love to clap your hands and are so close to standing independently.   You wrap your little arms around my neck so tight and try to bring my face closer to yours (usually so you can give me slobbery kisses and try to bite my nose or cheek).  You are becoming more independent and have started crawling off to other rooms – I usually find you in Avery’s room.  I think you end up there after checking to see if you can get in the bathroom.  We always keep the bathroom door closed because you are very interested in the toilet and we learned during bath time last week that you can fling your body into the tub all on your own.  Yes, you are a wild one. 

At ten months you:

Still a great sleeper.  You normally fall asleep between 7-7:30 and sleep for 12 hours. 

Naptime has gotten a little better.  You almost always take a one-hour nap at day care and will usually take two one-hour naps on the weekends (10 &2)

Eating is still a struggle.  You are still drinking 5-6 6 oz. bottles.  You also eat three jars of baby food.  I’m trying so hard to get you to eat table food but you still spit everything out.  You will suck on it for a few seconds but then it comes right back out. We’ve tried bananas, avocados, strawberries, cheese, turkey, pasta, bread.  If it isn’t pureed, you won’t eat it.

You are still constipated (I know you’ll love me for sharing this one day) and have a bottle of apple juice or prunes every day.  It usually helps but you were very uncomfortable last weekend. 

You weigh around 20 pounds and I’m not sure how tall you are but everyone says you are so long!

You wear 12-18 or 18 month clothing and size 3 diapers

Getting a good picture was a real challenge this month.  You outgrew your 12 month white onesies so I guess we're done with that look.  Oh and you wouldn't sit still for anything.  Luckily for me you love to smile so I was able to get one quick shot (with daddy's help of course).

Love you so much little man!