Precious Moments in Life, Love, and Motherhood: June 2009

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Playgroup

I took these pictures before playgroup today!

check out those flip flops

what's up there?

why so serious?

are they NOT just the cutest things ever?

such a cutie pie

goober nut

Where's Wesleigh?

Hi mama!

These pictures were taken at Playgroup. We had a water day! Tons of fun!

this face makes him look like the playgroup bully

They all took turns spraying each other with the elephant! Nick is running away!

playing with the elephant!

I think he was trying to blow bubbles in the sprinkler water

playing in the pool

Wesleigh and Nick

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

My sweet baby Ethan is growing up all too quickly. I absolutely LOVE babies. I have always loved babies for as long as I can remember. I could have a baby in my home forever. However, unfortunately my last baby is so quickly growing and changing. I can’t believe he is already 4 ½ months old. It really makes me sad. I see him getting bigger everyday and it is killing me!! I want to just stop time and keep him little forever. He is changing constantly. Last week he discovered his tongue. He would stick it out and play with it. He thinks it is funny when you tap on it when he has it sticking out. This week he found his feet! He loves his feet and he is trying very very hard to get them in his mouth. At this age, Wesleigh chewed on his feet constantly, but Ethan isn’t as flexible as Wesleigh was, so I am not so sure if the little fella will actually get them in his mouth. But, he sure is gonna spend a lot of time trying! He loves his food. He can put the baby food away. He will eat almost anything. I say almost because he dislikes, hates, no actually DESPISES peaches. He will eat anything else happily, but if you put a bite of peaches in his mouth he shutters and shakes, gags and screams bloody murder. You can’t outsmart the boy either! I will try and sneak a bite of peaches in between other foods he likes and he gets totally ticked off! I have a few jars of a mix that is Oatmeal, Peaches, and Bananas. I thought…surely there is enough other flavors in there that he will eat it. NOPE!! He sure won’t! He screams bloody murder and refuses to take another bite! Seriously! How do you learn to hate something SO much so early! Jim thinks I am being stubborn because I keep trying to get him to eat them. Maybe I should quit, but I guess I am stubborn, and I want to see if he will eventually eat them. Who doesn’t like peaches? Little stinker. We were able to transition him back to milk based formula during the past 2 weeks. He ended up on Soy around 6 weeks or so because he was having a horrible time burping and was in a ton of pain with every bottle. Well, at the 4 month appointment we talked to the doctor about switching him back, and she said it would be ideal if he could make the switch. So we mixed half and half for a while and since Sunday we have been on straight milk-based formula with no problems. I never really liked the whole soy thing, I felt like he was missing out on important stuff. The doctor agreed that milk-based is best and if we could get him switched over it would be great! I am happy, he is happy, and the milk based is cheaper!! J
Last week he learned how to roll from his back to his tummy. He has been rolling tummy to back since he was 2 weeks old, but just figured out back to tummy! Once he did it, he hasn’t stopped. He rolls all over the place!! And, much to my dismay, the child is getting up on all 4’s!! Yep, hands and knees!! 4 ½ months old!! I really don’t think I am ready for him to be mobile. I want the baby phase to hang on a lot longer!! Wesleigh crawled at 5 ½ months, which in my opinion was really early!! I am not eager for Ethan to follow in those foot steps, but he sure does watch that big brother a LOT, and I am sure he is just dying to follow him around!

Loving bath time

such a sweet smile

just chillin' in the bath water

theres that tongue!!

so happy

I get told CONSTANTLY that he looks just like me. I don't necessarily see it just yet. His eyes are turning green like mine though!

such a cutie pie

so serious

I love that kid!

Smiling Ethan!!

Wesleigh is growing smarter everyday. I swear that kid is so dang smart. He always knows where his sippy cup is (almost always). I can tell him to go find his cup and he does it everytime. Today, I was cooking his lunch and he was about to get in his high chair and I told him, go find your cup…well, he walked toward his room, then came back crying. I told him again, go get your cup and he did the same thing. So finally I went with him. He had closed his bedroom door and couldn’t get it open and I opened the door for him and he walked straight to his cup and handed it to me. Which leads me to his next new trick. He can open doors. Oh boy, isn’t this fun!? He has thoroughly enjoyed closing doors for a while now, but now he can open them back up. He can open the back door that leads to the porch, and all the doors in the house! I have also caught him halfway up the baby gates by wrapping his toes around the bars and climbing like a monkey! I am afraid it is only a matter of time before he figures out how to get out of the baby bed! I don’t think I am ready for a big boy bed!! I would like to keep him in the confines of the crib for as long as possible. I have the money set aside for bunk beds for him and Ethan when the time comes, but I don’t want to have to do that just yet. At bed time, we read 2 stories and sing a few songs. We will tell him, go pick out 2 books and he will. He knows which books Daddy prefers to read and he will pick those on Daddy’s nights and he will pick others on my nights. He will do pretty much anything you tell him to. We have been going for walks every morning. I can tell him it is time to go for our walk, go get your sandals and put them on. He will go to his room and get his shoes and bring them back and try to put them on. Then, when we return he sits down, takes them off and sometimes puts them away. He still loves to stack blocks. Today he was stacking baby food jars 4 high in the kitchen on the floor. There are so many things that he does that just blows our minds. He really is a smart little fella, sometimes a little too smart.
Wesleigh has been peeing on the potty every night for the past 2 weeks. He gets up there, stares down and tries very hard then eventually pees!! We get excited, he gets excited, and he gets 3 M&M’s!! We are so proud of him!! I really don’t think he is ready to be potty trained at this time, so we will keep encouraging the night time peeing on the potty and then we will go from there at a later date!
So, both of my little fellas are growing bigger and stronger every day. I often find myself wishing I could freeze time. They are amazing little blessings from the Lord and I really don’t know what my life would be without them. They are the reason I get up each morning and do it all over again! I love and adore those boys more than I ever thought possible.

He runs from the camera right now, so I don't have as many pictures of the little stinker!

a Wesleigh taco after bath

sitting in the double stroller, driving it

Daddy and Wesleigh in a HUGE box!

In other news, besides children, I must share that we closed today on a refinance on our house. We stumbled into the refinance at just the perfect time! We had an interest rate of 6.5% when we built our house, which at the time was a wonderful rate, but now we have a 4.85%! In addition to that the value of our house went up by $20,000 dollars in the past 2.5 years. Yep, in a recession, our home value went UP!! So, this meant we didn't have to pay mortgage insurance, and with our lovely new interest rate we are saving $262 a month!! To some that may be pocket change, but to us, that is a life saver!! I just had to share! We feel very blessed!!

Most of you who read the blog probably already know that Jim’s mom, better known around here as “Gran” was diagnosed with breast cancer about 4 or 5 weeks ago. She is incredibly lucky and the cancer was caught very very early. It is isolated to one small location, however they are afraid the potential for more in the future is great. Therefore, on Monday, June 29th, she will undergo a double mastectomy and double reconstruction surgery at the same time at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio. They will remove all the breast tissue and some surrounding lymph nodes just to be sure that all cancer cells are eradicated. I believe she will undergo a little bit of oral chemo therapy after the surgery, but her prognosis is wonderful. We are incredibly blessed that her cancer was caught so early and that after this surgery she won’t ever have to worry about breast cancer again. She is going to have a long couple of weeks after the surgery, but she has a very positive attitude and is hopeful that she will be up and running again in no time. I share all this to ask for your prayers. Please pray for her on Monday and the weeks to come. She also goes by Patti, when she isn’t being called Gran or Mom!! She and the rest of our family greatly appreciate any and all prayers that you offer up on her behalf!! We are all true believers in the power of prayer and know that it is by God’s grace that her cancer was caught so very early!! We love you Gran, and we are praying for you constantly!!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

4th Month Bath Fun

Friday, June 12, 2009

Lake LBJ Vacation Adventures

We had our annual summer vacation to Lake LBJ with my family this past week. We had a blast!! We have been changing rent houses each year looking for the perfect set up. We found pretty close to perfect this year! We were in Granite Sholes this year, which is way up the lake from where we used to stay, but much closer to Marble Falls, which was nice for grocery shopping and random trips to Wal Mart. The house had 3 bedrooms; one for mom and dad, one for Brad and Caye, and one for me and Jim. Then, it had a bunk room with 2 bunk beds for the oldest 4 kiddos. The bunkroom was set off of a playroom, which kept the kids occupied when they weren’t swimming or sleeping! Dakota who is 2 ½ slept on the floor in her daddy’s room. Wesleigh slept in the laundry room, and Ethan slept in our room. HOWEVER, I use the term “slept” loosely. They didn’t sleep well at all!! It was rough at night. Ethan slept more in his swing than his bed. They were both so glad to come home that they both slept ALL night long!!! It was wonderful!

Last year we started teaching the kids how to water-ski. I actually picked up a pair of tied together youth skis in the middle of HWY 90 after Labor Day weekend 2 years ago!! Best highway find ever!! So last year we started teaching them. They did awesome. This year they did even better. After our lake vacation last summer, Guy and Jaedyn’s mom took them to some “ski ranch” in San Antonio, where they simulate skiing and other water sports in an attempt to “outdo” our family vacation! Whatever crazy lady, maybe someday she will realize that a FAMILY VACATION is more and the FAMILY than the great and wonderful adventures!! Anyhoo, Guy “learned” to knee board there. I use the word “learned” loosely, as learning to knee board behind a simulated boat is completely different. See, when you learn to knee board, you start out on your tummy, and then after the boat gets going, you pull yourself up onto your knees, then eventually strap yourself in and go from there… Well, at the ski ranch that they went to, they put him on his knees, strapped him on the board, and then lowered a platform out from under him and he “knee boarded”. Well, he in his 8 year old “know it all” attitude wouldn’t hear of doing it any other way. So, Jim strapped him on the kneeboard on his knees like he insisted, and as soon as they let him go, he tipped over and couldn’t get unstrapped and was stuck. It scared him really bad. However, we feel that sometimes kids have to learn lessons the hard way. We knew what would happened, and he was within arms reach of Jim the whole time, but the kid wouldn’t listen to reason, so he had to learn the hard way. He was afraid of the knee board until the last day of vacation. The little terd finally got on the knee board right, on his tummy, and within the first 30 seconds of his first try he was up on his knees!! He did really good and can’t wait until next year to try again!! He did well with skiing too. He got to where he could stay up for a long time. Jaedyn is a good little skier too. She pops right out of the water every time. She doesn’t say up very long, but she does a good job when she is up. Wesleigh had his first water adventure this summer. My parents bought a two seater tube, but we piled more than 2 people in it! He rode with his daddy, Guy, and Jaedyn. He fell asleep!! Jim finally had us stop the boat and get Wesleigh out because it was too hard to hang on to his limp, sleeping body!! He liked going for boat rides, and he loved swimming. He learned to say “1, 2, 3…JUMP” and jump off the dock to mommy! It was adorable and we did it 3,000 times. No sooner did his head pop above water and he was saying “gin” for again! Over and over and over!! Ethan didn’t get in the water at all. He still gets pretty cold pretty easily. So, he stayed nice and dry on shore. He spent time in his jumperoo on the dock, hanging out with nana and sleeping!! Thank goodness for baby monitors and nanas!! My mom spent lots of time fishing on the dock, so she was able to listen for Ethan through the monitor while we were playing! It was nice! Thanks Nana! Also, because he didn’t play in the water, I don’t have any pictures of him from this vacation!! All my pictures were taken from the boat! Sorry sweet Ethan, mommy will make it up to you!! I PROMISE!

I think the bigger kids had the most fun on the double tube. We would put all 4 in it at once. They had a ball. There was always one of them falling out! Then, they would pull each other back in by the life jacket. It was HILARIOUS!! It was so much fun watching them have so much fun!! Nana and Grandpa, I think it was money well spent!!

Overall, it was a wonderful trip. Just the right amount of days, the right amount of space, and TONS of fun. There was water out the front door, and water out the back door, so we had to stay on our toes with Wesleigh and Dakota. Dakota is 13 months older than Wesleigh and Wesleigh is 13 months older than Ethan. So, I can’t imagine what next year will be like when we have a 3 ½ year old, a 2 ½ year old, and a 1 ½ year old!! Talk about a nervous wreck the whole time!!! The 0-30 pound life jackets all have the handle that is attached to the top flap…TOTAL lifesaver!! It was great to hold onto when he was near the edge of the dog, and it was great to dunk him over the side of the boat for a quick dip in the water, then just pull him back up!! LOVE THE STRAP!! It could definitely be something I got used to…Too bad I don’t believe in putting kids on leashes, because it would come in handy sometimes!

So, enjoy the many many pictures that follow!! Hopefully we will have another wonderful vacation later this summer!! But we are sure to have many fun times in between now and then.
I took tons of pictures, but it is SUPER hard to take good pictures when you and your subject are moving!!

I didn’t realize it until I uploaded all these pictures, but I didn’t get any of all four of the kids riding together. Everytime they all rode together, I was holding Wesleigh. So, bouncing in the boat with a bouncing toddler leaves no room for my $500 camera!!