Just because

I often times think to myself, "how did I get so lucky?"  I have a wonderful family, loving husband and father to our children, two absolutely precious children, a beautiful home that I could have only dreamed of ever owning, a good job that allows me flexibility to be with my children when they need me, but also lets me contribute to our family in more ways than one.  It all seems so surreal sometimes.  I know I often times take my blessings for granted, and I need to stop and think about just how great I have it.  No matter what I think is so hard or unfair at times, pales in comparison to what others are facing.

I know everyone brags on their children, and I may be a little biased when it comes to my opinions on my own, but these two little people we have created could not be more special.  I cannot even put into words the LOVE that I have for them both, the special place in my heart that they occupy daily, how THANKFUL I am that God chose us to be their parents.  Yes, there are times that are frustrating, stressful, exhausting, but the good times, the joy, so over powers any of those feelings.

I love the sweet innocence that they both possess right now. Brady is seriously the sweetest little boy.  He has such a big heart, and he genuinely gets concerned when things seem out of whack.  He does not miss a beat, that boy.  When Katelyn was about 4 months old, and we were living at my dad's house I fell down the front porch stairs while she was in my arms.  I was at the house by myself with Brady and Katelyn, and we were trying to take Riley out to go potty.  I somehow lost my footing and tripped falling down two stairs onto the pavement.  Brady also fell, because he tripped over me.   I frantically ran inside to call Paul, Katelyn was screaming her head off (more scared than anything), and Brady cried for a moment, but then just didn't want to leave my side, because he knew something bad had happened. Thank the Lord Katelyn just had a small scrape on her head and Brady and I were a little scuffed up, but fine. However, Brady will never forget this moment, and still reminds me of it often.  Certain things will trigger this moment in his head and he will look at me, "You fall down at Waldo's house momma?" "Katelyn fall down stairs momma?"  Something triggered this in his memory the other morning, and he looked at me and said, "You fall down momma? You need to be careful momma."

The other day I dropped my iPhone in the toilet.  Naturally, I started screaming for Paul to come help me (what he was going to do I'm not sure...)  Brady came running to the rescue as well.  The rest of the evening, Brady kept asking me, "You're phone broke momma?"  And everyone we talked to he had to tell them, "Momma phone in toilet."  That night we put him to bed and about an hour later I hear the thump of him climbing out of his bed.  I walked upstairs to meet him at his door, and he looked at me with this concerned look on his face and said, "you're phone broke momma?"  I told him that yes it was, but that it was ok and he needed to go back to bed.  Another hour or so goes by and I hear the same thump, which is unusual for Brady, because he typically does not get out of his bed.  I again went upstairs to see what was going on and he opened his door, looked at me with basically one eye opened and said, "your phone broke momma?"  The fact that my phone was broken was literally causing him to lose sleep.  I told him this time that I had fixed it and it was fine. "Oh you fix it momma?! Alright."  We didn't see him again until the morning :).

Another funny bedtime moment happened the other night.  As I mentioned, he typically does not get out of his bed.  But, if he does it is usually within 30 minutes or so of us putting him down, and he typically tells me he needs to go potty.  I heard the thump of him getting out so I rushed upstairs to beat him to the door.  When I opened it he looked surprised to see me there.  He paused for a minute and then said, "you were hiding in here momma?"  It took all I had to not bust out laughing.  Just the sweet little tone he had and the fact that he thought I must have been hiding in his room to have busted him trying to escape so quickly.

I had on shorts the other day.  This was something new for Brady I guess, because it has been cold so I haven't worn shorts in a while.  He looked at me, and in his sweet little voice said, "you got new underwear momma?"  Oh my how I love love love his sweet little innocence.

Katelyn is on the go these days and constantly getting into things she is not supposed to.  Brady often tells her, "Uh uh, Katelyn! No mam!"  I wonder where he gets that from??

I love how the two of them are interacting and playing so much these days.  Every time we say we are going somewhere he asks, "Katelyn come wif me momma?"  He always wants her to be with him.  He has been telling me that he is going to drive the airplane to go see Uncle Dustin.  He says Katelyn and Riley are coming, but I am not allowed to come.  "I am going to drive airplane to see Uncle Dustin momma.  Katelyn comin wif me.  Riley comin wif me.  You not coming." Other times he says I can come, but under certain circumstances.  "You not drive airplane momma.  I drive airplane.  You hav'ta sit in you car seat."

He was pretending in the bathtub that he was going to work.  He first had to shave, then he said "oh no, I can't find my keys."  Then I asked what he does at work, "I play with Waldo."

Brady always calls me "momma", and I love it.  The other day he started saying "mommy" sometimes.  After realizing he was saying this he looked at me and said, "You aren't mommy, you're momma!"  That's right buddy, I hope you ALWAYS call me momma.  I love it so much.

I am so enjoying his two year old imagination and the cute things he says.  I just want to eat him up!!

























KVD 10 Months Old

So my last post on the blog is Katelyn at 9 months, and here I am already  putting up her 10 month post.  Time please slow down!!  I am definitely ready for the warm weather and long summer days, but I am NOT ready for my baby to be 1 year old in just 2 months!  She can be a firecracker sometimes, and I love comparing her and Brady's little personalities.  Let's take the doctor for example.  Both of my kids have had horrible luck in the sickness department.  I mean you name it, one of them has had it I am sure.  No matter how many times Brady has been to the doctor he still walks in there with a smile on his face, tells me the doctor needs to check his ears, sits right up on that table just as good as gold while the doctor checks him out.  Katelyn on the other hand, you put her on the scale to weight her- she screams, you sit her on the exam table- she screams, the doctor even looks at her wrong- she screams.  It breaks my heart, and she has had more sick visits the last couple of months than any kid should have in 5 years, but point being it is funny how different they can be.

She is crawling, kind of. She can get around the room in her own little way, but she is not fast pace on all fours where I have to chase after her yet.  In this area, her and Brady are EXACTLY alike.  He was very slow to crawl and walk, but boy once he did there was no stopping him.  That is why I don't worry, because I know it will come in due time, and I will be wishing for the days where she couldn't get too far.  This causes some frustration for her, because you can tell she wants to be able to do it so badly, but she just can't quite get coordinated enough to take off!

She can wave (and is very proud of it), she claps, and her latest thing is pretending to talk on the phone. It is so funny.  She will hold up any object really or even her hand to her ear and start babbing.  My little social butterfly already.  I tell her, "Katelyn, say hello," and sometimes she will put her hand to her ear and go, "a DA, a DA".  Also, if her bow falls out (or she pulls it out), she will try to put it back in her hair :).

She is very vocal and loves to babble, still no "real" words other than mama and dada.  Her and Brady have started communicating with each other, and it is the sweetest thing.  The other day we were riding in the car and Katelyn made some kind of noise, so Brady did it back, then she did it again, and he did it back.  Then, she would start laughing and he would start laughing.  I just love watching the bond between them grow.

One of her favorite things is to sit on Brady's bed at night while we read books or Brady sings his favorite song book.  She bounces up and down and gets so excited.  When it is time to take her to her bed sometimes she will throw a fit, because she doesn't want to get out of his bed!

She has moved on up to size 4 diapers and is still in mostly 12 month clothes, but can wear some 18 month stuff.  Everything I have bought for spring/summer is 18 month.

She is still mostly a good eater, but she can be picky too.  She was spitting her food out at me which was getting really frustrating, but I think it was just because her ears were hurting.  She has been getting chronic ear infections, and I can tell she doesn't eat as much when she has one.  She has started eating some finger foods, and I think she really likes feeding herself better than being spoon fed.

As you can see, she still doesn't have too much hair, and I can't decide if it is going to be dark or light.  She still has the dark patch in the back from when she was born, but the new hairs on top look blonde.  I guess we will just have to wait and see!!

She is up to 21 lbs 8oz!  We love this sweet angel so so much!!





(The bruise on her head if anyone is wondering is from a slight accident involving her brother hitting her in the head with a toy train.  He didn't mean to I promise!)

KVD 9 months old

How did we get here so fast?  Our baby girl is 9 months old!  That means it is almost time to start planning her 1st birthday.  I really can't believe it.  This is probably my favorite age.  I love how her little personality is blossoming more everyday.  She just lights up when she sees us, and she especially loves Brady. She has started being a little shy around new people or people she doesn't see everyday, and it is the sweetest thing!  She will lay her little head on my shoulder and give you a little shy smile.  She loves her momma and is happiest in my arms (no offense Paul- I'm sure the tables will turn on me one day).  She will be just fine playing on the floor or in her bouncey seat, but if I walk by she starts fussing at me to pick her up.

She "talks" all the time.  She says "mama" and "dada". She also can say, "nananana" and "babababa".  She is not crawling on all fours yet, but she is getting around.  She can push herself backwards to get across the room.  She really likes being on the wood floor, because she can slide to where she wants to go. Before she takes off, she goes into a complete split- it is pretty funny.  Brady likes to get on the floor and "crawl" like Katelyn.  She does not like to keep her shoes on.  It never fails when I go to get her out of the car at school in the morning she has ripped one off!

She still doesn't sleep but maybe 30 minutes all day at school, and then she usually comes home and naps until about 5:30 or 6.  On a normal day at home, she takes a morning nap for about an hour or so, then a nap after lunch for about 2 hours, and sometimes another 1 hour nap late afternoon.  She sleeps at night usually from 7pm-7am.  She loves her bunny lovey and always cuddles with it on my shoulder right before I put her in her bed (my favorite part of bedtime).  When she even just sees her lovely she starts doing this funny thing where she sucks on her tongue.  It is her little sign that she is tired.  She always does this when she is falling asleep too.

She still kicks her feet really fast when she gets excited.  She loves to pull Brady's hair, and we are constantly having to keep her hands off of him.  Her favorite things right now are her lovey, bath time, sliding around on the floor, playing with Brady, swinging at the park, riding in her car, and the remote control.

She was not in the picture taking mood, so I didn't really get any smiles...



She loves the car!

The split!  Future gymnast...
9 months old
Height: 28.6" 81st percentile
Weight: 21 lbs 82nd percentile
Head Circumference: 17.9" 86th percentile

Snowpacolypse 2014 #2

Seriously, what in the world is going on this winter?!  One snow is enough, but ANOTHER storm less than 2 weeks later- you have got to be kidding me.  This is supposed to be South Carolina.  Then, to top it all off we have an earthquake.  I mean, really??  This winter has just been bizarre, and I can't tell you how ready I am for SPRING!

So what does one do during a snowpacolypse when you are trapped inside with a 2 year old and an 8 month old?  Well, first of all we ate a lot...




Then of course we had to go play in it for a little while.  And by we I mean Paul and Brady.  Katelyn and I had enough after the first round.








We watched WAY too much TV and stayed in our PJs 24/7.  (I have seen enough Elmo and Mickey Mouse for a lifetime.)






We drank...because, there was really nothing else to do, and I had to have some sort of activity to keep me from going insane.


We had dance parties, but those videos were sent to a select few.  I am afraid Paul would kill me if I posted them for the public's viewing pleasure....

Then, what else to do but have a spring fashion show and pretend we were at the beach in 80 degree weather.

At least I managed to come up with one "fun" indoor activity, and that was to make Valentine's cupcakes (in our Pjs nonetheless).  Although, Brady kept telling Katelyn, "Happy birfday Katelyn!"  When we would tell him to say Happy Valentine's Day, most of the time he responded with "Happy birthday day."  Oh well :).




Not pictured is the q-tip we lit on fire and stuck in the cupcake since Brady insisted he need to "blow".
We survived the snowpacolypse, and after a winter full of RSV, ear infections, the flu, too much snow/ice, and an earthquake...I am ready to say so long winter and welcome spring with open arms.

HELLO SUNSHINE- so nice to see you again!




 
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