New year, new plans

I am choosing to bypass the whole "Ohhh it was such a great Christmas" post (although, it REALLY was...love our families!) and head straight into talk of the new year!

I love New Years, and not for festivities the night before..but for the opportunity to make a New Years resolutions list! 

I love love love all things list making. In fact, I love the act of making the list maybe more than the things on the list. What better list to make, than one of self improvement plans? I have a hard time narrowing them down, because while I love my life, their is always room for change and areas to challenge myself. 

So, without further ado, here is my New Years resolution list, for 2011.

1. Work out

Okay, I promise that not ALL of my resolutions will be so cliche, but I burned myself out on P90X and just stopped completely. That was at least six months ago. Needless to say, my muscles need to see some action. Also, I need to drink a lot more water. 

2. Quiet time

What good is taking care of my outside if I don't take care of my inside? No bueno. I make it a point to read my devotional daily, but I need to carve out some extra time to really dwell on it and spend some time just hanging out with my Lord. No better medicine than that.

3. Break in these babies

My dear husband got these for me for Christmas and I am in love. (with him...and the shoes too...) However, they are really rubbing the top of my feet. Ouch. So I need to make it a point to break them in so I can wear them every single day. I mean seriously, what doesn't go with silver glitter shoes?

4. Drop and go

I want to be laid back enough to just drop and go on a whim. Drop what I'm doing, that's probably not that important anyway, and make memories with my kids. This is an ongoing quest that I wrestle my perfectionism over on a daily basis. And this leads me to number 5...

5. Stick to my routines

I promise I'm not contradicting my last statement, hear me out. If I stick to my morning and night cleaning/straightening routines, that really don't take that long, I will have so much more freedom both time-wise and guilt-wise to just drop and go and play with the kiddos.

 Clean house = happy mommy = happy family

6. Take more family pictures

We only have one...ONE...picture of the four of us. This is just completely unacceptable. It is very difficult to find a time that Michael is off, Abbie is out of school, I am having a good hair day, the kids aren't sick or suffering from post junk food syndrome (MUCH worse than the whining that comes with any sickness...much louder too) and a day that is sunny and not windy in West Texas. How do other families do this? Any thoughts or helpful hints would be appreciated.

7. Eat at home

There are so many great recipes that I want to try, and I know I WOULD if I would think about them before 4:55p.m. I need to be more on top of it, which will mean less of these

   and more healthy family meals. If I think about it ahead of time, I can put my awesome black Friday scored crock pot to use more often!

8. More quality girl time

Nothing makes me a better mommy, than a few hours of talking/laughing/food/wine with my girlfriends. It's nearly the best therapy there is. I need more of it, because as of right now, it's been a couple of months and that is way too long. I need my fix, and fast.

9. Get my Wednesday night's back

Speaking of girl time, I need my Wednesday night Journey girls small group back ASAP!! I love those ladies and have MISSED THEM TERRIBLY since we've taken a break for the Holiday's. I can't wait to get back in the groove of things, and I want it to go back to being part of my weekly routine.

10. Shop smart

I have a pretty strong tendency to buy things just because Abbie and I decide that they are "cute" or just because I think it's pretty. I want to be more purposeful about what I buy, and have a plan for it. I really use shopping as an activity, which is fun, but maybe I need to replace my fun shopping time with some fun feeding the ducks at Nelson time. Honestly, this one is at the very bottom of my list, but on the list never the less. I won't be holding my breath to follow through on this one.

Okay, the list is made, and I feel ready to start the new year! I've already got the garage cleaned out, (most of) the house organized and recovered from holiday madness, and I'm ready to get this 2011 party started. Can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us this upcoming year!

Too tired for a good title

It has been so fun having Abigail home for Christmas break! We've been busy dropping everything just to hang out and have fun, and we have had lots of interesting conversations.

Here is a little sample of tonight's topic

Abbie:  "Mom, is 'gosh' a bad word? Because Lillie says it is."

Me: "Well no, not really."

Abbie: "So I can say 'Oh my gosh'?"

Me: "Yes, but 'Oh my goodness' sounds a little better"

Abbie: "No, that doesn't sound better. I'll just say 'Oh snap' instead. That sounds much better."

Apparently Slang/Ebonics is part of the Kindergarten curriculum at Abbie's school.

She keeps me entertained.

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In other news, Michael gave me a pretty awesome Christmas Eve' Eve present today.

Mazda CX 9

It's pretty sweet. A big step up from the Explorer with 124k on it, and "Abbie" written on the back passenger door in ink. I know everyone was surprised that I didn't get a "Swagger Wagon," but Michael insisted that we are not a mini-van kind of family. That's okay, this has 3rd row seating just like the "swagger wagon", but it's much more stylish!

I do love it, very much so. But even more so, I love that fact that my dear husband would spend literally all morning driving back and forth from the lot to the bank and back again, to do this for me. Even when he had to be at work at 2, and work until after 12am... especially when he hasn't had a day off in nearly 2 weeks. That's love, people. He is pretty awesome.

I am so humbled, that there are many people out there without cars at all, and yet God chose to bless me with a great one. We have more than we deserve, and yet he continues to provide and bless us both with material things and even better things like an amazing (not perfect!) marriage, and two of the best kids around. We are truly blessed.

I hope this season finds you showered with blessings as well. Not just the material kind, but the really good kind. Family, friends, and love.

Merry Christmas!

Our attempt at Christmas cheer

It's hard to believe that Christmas is 4 days away...seeing as how we wore shorts and tshirts to play in the backyard today.

So in an attempt to get in the Christmas spirit, the kids and I hopped in our Christmas Pj's tonight, jumped in the car, (with camera in tow)  and looked at all the Christmas lights our little city has to offer!

We saw lots of lights and listened to Louis Armstrong's - Zat You Santa Claus - on repeat at least 15 times. Jaxon insisted.

We came home and FINALLY put together our Gingerbread shack house

Ha!

If ever there was a way to help me stare my perfectionism in the face...

They had fun and I had fun watching them have fun. They especially loved eating it!

Lots of fun. And lots of bathing after we were done.

While on the subject of "memory making"... did anyone else watch the lunar eclipse last night?

I had a great picture in my head of Michael, Abbie, and I going out to lay on the trampoline together and watch it. It was going to be great. 

Too bad I passed out on the couch by 11pm. That's what happens when you're an old lady. At least Abbie and Michael made a great memory, because they went outside and didn't come back in until after 1:30am! I hear it was pretty awesome...but Miles Austin could have been out there and I wouldn't have cared. Sleep was all I cared about at the moment. Oh well.

Okay...I need to go watch the 16 and Pregnant season finallyAND wrap Christmas presents. Contrary to the warm weather, Christmas is almost here, so I better get to wrapping!

Holiday fun

Yesterday was Abigail's first school Christmas party!

It was 80-something degrees, so my dreams of wearing my favorite holiday cream sweater and scarf were crushed when I was forced to wear short sleeves and sandals...but somehow I made it through and it was a fun party!

(Abbie and her BFF Lillie)

And even better than the fun, were the AMAZING treats

It was no surprise that my muffins were hardly touched. Apparently a healthy choice isn't what these kids were after. 

Ok...even I was ogling those chocolate doughnuts. But the muffins were good too!

Yummm :)

If I wasn't on a super healthy eating kick (thanks to the 8 pounds my upper respritory infection helped me drop....woot woot!) I would have been  a l l   o v e r  this spread. 

It is good to know that she wasn't too busy or too cool to take a picture with her mommy.

And after all that excitement, somehow we managed to have enough energy/Christmas spirit to come home and make snowmen ornaments

They looked so cute. And they still do...but the baby woke up, so I went to get him and by the time I came back, Abbie had labeled our names with black permanent marker on the front middle of our precious little snowmen.

Siiiigh.

It's okay, it gives them character. 

I'm pretty proud of my control-freak self for not over-reacting.

 It's just stuff. 

This is what I repeat to myself each time one of my little darlings destroys/marks on/spills juice on/gets play-dough stuck on something of ours.

Such as life...as a mom. I wouldn't trade it. :)

No news is good news?

No news to report here...

except that I've been searching for a new background for this blog since 10 pm 

and it is now 2 minutes until midnight.

uuggghhhh.

Let's hope I keep it for a while, because my laundry suffered for the sake of this pretty background.

Would you believe that this is after I did two loads this afternoon?

Yikes!

This is what happens when we're sick. Real life.

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I hope you like the new background as much as I do. And if you hate it, please don't tell me because I invested so much time into it, that I might cry.

Toothless wonder

Do you see this pretty smile right here?

it is soon to be a toothless grin.

(insert the sound of mommy crying here)

She has already lost her two bottom teeth, but those can hardly be seen when she smiles.

There is No Hiding the top ones!

It's the top right tooth (or her top left) and it is sooooo very wiggly and loose, I am thinking she will loose it before Christmas.

This is not the Christmas gift I had in mind!

My main sadness is that she will be such a big girl without a top tooth, but ALSO I have concerns that she got my dental DNA, which required 4 years of braces and will still require a jaw reconstruction someday when I get the courage for it.

Let us pray that she got her daddy's teeth. All perfectly straight, except for the bottom two, which can be easily fixed.

I told her to leave it alone and don't ever touch it because she might swallow it (I know...I am horrible) but I'm pretty sure she has still been wiggling it against my will.

Oh well. It was bound to happen sometime.

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In other news, the kids are feeling much much better! Jaxon is now sleeping up to 5 hours at a time (not his usual 12, but better than his previous 1/2 hour) and actually got off my lap long enough to play with big sister this morning! Wonderful news, I can't wait to have him back to his normal wild, crazy, self.

Also Mommy is now sick, and can't sleep because she can't quit coughing. I'm on prescription cough syrup that says "do not operate heavy machinery" so that's probably why I just referred to myself in the third person. The bottle didn't say "do not blog while taking this medicine" so I think I will be alright. My apologies in advance for any misspellings and/or grammar errors.

I also can't find my glasses...which may result in even more typing errors. Sorry. 

And in my last bit of randomness, I had no clue what day it was when I woke up today. I didn't know until I looked at my phone. Friday? I was thinking Tuesday. But then again I've been locked up in this house with these germs/kids for days now, so it's only natural that I lose track.

Happy Friday! (I think)

Enter at your own risk

Our house is officially a biohazard zone. 

Please enter with caution!

I had managed to make it 6 whole years without a child throwing up, but I suppose that had to end sometime. 

It all started around 2am on Monday morning, when Jaxon woke up throwing up and coughing (aka barking like a baby seal).We called the Dr and were told not to come in, just keep him hydrated and in a humidified little cage, and that everyone in town has this and theres nothing we can do for it.  She said had the croup, and what we THOUGHT was a stomach bug. OK, we can handle that.  He seemed to feel fine the next day, but the night came and the high fever that refused to break came with it. Even with tylenol/Motrin every 3 hours he STILL had a fever over 104, and was nothing short of miserable. Finally I decided to take him to the minor ER since the Dr. wouldn't see him, while Michael stayed home with miss priss. 

Turns out he has the flu.

If we would have been allowed to make an appointment with the Dr. 2 days ago, we would have had the tamil-flu in his system much earlier with a much higher success rate of it working. Nearly 36 hours into it we finally got it, and are praying it works for him!

So we figured we were all on the road to recovery. That was until Abigail woke up this morning throwing up. This girl has an iron clad immune system, so her getting sick is a pretty big deal. Hopefully she will be feeling better soon. And hopefully Mommy's coughy, achey, yuckiness will soon go away too.

Don't worry, I'm done being Debbie Downer!

The good news is, there is always a silver lining to every grey cloud.

When else would it be okay to watch the movie Elf 5 times in 3 days? Or spend 24 hours straight in our PJ's? And what other time would my wild, rambunctious little boy lay with Mommy for hours on end, and let me get a years worth of snuggling in? 

Only in sickness.

 Not the ideal situation, but I will take it.

I am so thankful that Michael was off yesterday! He helped with Jaxon so much, and most importantly watched him while I went with my family to pick up my big brother, and bring him home for the first time in 10 years :) I am so happy for him to be home, and that he got to meet Jaxon for the first time. Although it wasn't regular Jaxon...still better than nothing.

I am thankful that I have a wonderful Mommy that has been brave enough to take on our biohazard home and help me take care of these sicky kiddos, help me clean up all the messes that sickness brings, and bring us food because I'm too worn out to cook. I am thankful that she is SUCH an awesome nurse, that she knew he had the flu before the rest of us did. She always knows what to do, and I'm lucky to have her :)

I am also blessed with a husband who will stay up late with  a sick baby just so I can get a few hours of sleep before being up with the baby all night...even when he works an 11 hour day, gets off at 11, and has to be back at 7. He picks up prescriptions, picks up lunch, and does just about anything I need him to when he's not working. He's pretty amazing.

Even in all this sickness, there is plenty to be thankful for. I know that my babies will soon be well. I also know that there are so many children out there that will not be well, and can't afford the medical care that they need and the medicine to make them well. Or that have an illness that medicine cannot cure.

Thank you Lord for always providing :)

Writing this post has made me feel like I've regained the world that I've been closed off from, for what seems like  f o r e v e r . 

I know these kids aren't going to sleep all night, so I better get caught up on laundry and disinfecting while I have two free hands. 

Thanks in advance for all the healing prayers for our family!

An early Christmas blessing

Christmas came a little early to our extended family this year! 

A double blessing!

They have waited so long to be parent's, and I can't imagine two better people to be Mommy and Daddy to these precious girls!

I get really emotional anytime anyone has a baby. 

It is just the most amazing, life changing, breath taking experience a couple can go through together. I know that both of our babies have changed our lives in ways we couldn't have imagined, and it's great to see the Lord bless others in this way as he has blessed us.

 But their story is even more amazing, because of their birth mothers selfless act to give them to a loving family. I can't imagine the kind of courage that took, and I am so thankful that now we get to have these sweet little ladies in our family!

There is the proud mommy!

and a proud aunt!

(I've already been informed to "not get any ideas")

And if ever there was a proud cousin...it is this girl!

her prayers the past two nights have consisted of

"Dear God, thank you for my new baby cousins. Thank you that they are so cute and little, and tiny, and twins. Amen"

I couldn't ask for a sweeter girl :)

 Abbie and I can't wait to seem them again this weekend at the baby shower!

And we can't wait to spoil these two ladies! 

Congrats Joey and Lena!

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Happy birthday baby boy!

Yesterday was the day...

that my sweet little bitty baby boy Jaxon turned 2!

We had such a good day. 


We started it out, with a room/crib filled with balloons

Is  there really any other way to start out a birthday?

I doubt it.

After our little balloon party, we got ready to go visit big sister at school and eat lunch!

Then it was off to the park!

He climbed to the top of the slide by himself...against Mommy's will ... because he is a big two-yearold now...

After all that hard work/play, we needed to head to Mckay's for a celebratory birthday cookie

Mommy might have had a couple or five as well :)

We had lots more fun, a good nap, and ended the day with a big boy "2" birthday cake, which he destroyed within seconds.

After singing "happy birthday" to him, I realized that we forgot to video! Since Daddy had to go into work for a few hours and missed it, we relit the candle and sang it again, on video this time!

By round two, he was singing right along with us.

**unfortunately...the video REFUSED to load. I will try again later**

Such a sweet baby boy :)

It is so funny to me, that nearly 3 years ago when we decided to try for another baby, it was mainly to give Abigail a sibling. We wanted to give her a brother and sister to love and play with and grow with.

 I had some very strong concerns throughout my pregnancy as to how I could ever possibly love another child as much as I loved my Abbie. I just couldn't imagine it. 

Then the day came, December 3rd, 2:35p.m. after a day and a half of labor, when we finally met our precious little boy. 

Our hearts doubled size instantly. 

There was no need to cut anyone one else out to make room, our hearts just grew bigger in that instant and we loved both of my babies equally, beyond what we could have ever dreamed. 

I  c a n n o t  i m a g i n e  life without this sweet little boy, and I don't want to. 

He brings such laughter and joy into all three of our lives, we couldn't have asked for a better fit for our family. He is proof that my God knows very well what he is doing, and that he works all things for the good of those that love him.

He certainly was NOT an easy baby. And he is proving to not be the most easygoing toddler around. But I wouldn't trade a second of it. Every minute with him, as testing as it may be, is beyond amazing and I am thankful for every moment with him.

We love you baby Jaxon, and we couldn't have asked for a better blessing.

Happy birthday!