Half Birthday!

I just want to take this opportunity to wish our baby girl a Happy Half Birthday! I cannot believe she is 6 months old today! Where does the time go!? In just 6 short months she has transformed our family - definitely for the better. She is such a blessing and I cannot imagine my life without her. In her first 6 months she learned to sleep through the night, eat (a lot), roll over, smile, laugh, and kind of sit up. She taught Nolan how to be a big brother, and us how to be the parents of 2. I can't wait to see what she will do with the next 6 months and beyond!

Abigail, I hope you find this post someday when you can read, and you realize how much joy you bring to our lives. We love you! And hope you have a very special half birthday! I'll be sure to eat a piece of cake for you ;)

Fun in the Snow!

With the way this weather has been this year, it's hard to believe that we actually got some SNOW last week. Of course, 24 hours later it had ALL melted and was back in the 60s again. But nevertheless we took advantage of what we got and had some fun. This was the first year that Nolan has really gotten to play in the snow - in previous years he was too young to really care. He LOVED sledding, and had fun building a snow man. Abby joined us for a few minutes outside, but she was not all that impressed. Here are a few pictures of our winter adventures (enjoy them, because I have a feeling this is all the snow pics you will get this year).

This is Nolan sledding the night it started snowing:

Nolan's first ever snow man:

Abby looking adorable as always:

Nolan sledding the next day before it all melted:

Still crossing my fingers for another storm this year... one can always hope right? 

mmm... food...

Abby has been growing like a weed lately. It kind of makes me sad how fast she is growing up! This time next week she will be 6 months old! With growing up comes learning new things... This weekend Abby had her first taste of something besides milk. On the menu was the ever popular rice cereal...

I'm not sure how much she is actually swallowing and how much just ends up on her face, but she sure is cute doing it...

She's getting better at it... I guess when you've never eaten anything solid before in your life it takes some getting use to.

Just can't get enough of that face!

Meanwhile Nolan found the stash of Valentine's candy I hid...

He unwrapped 5 or 6 pieces of chocolate before I found him, and then proceeded to put it ALL in his mouth at the same time. gross.

Mexico (#2)

Recently we had the good fortune of taking a trip to Cancun, Mexico...

Here’s what I loved about our trip:

-          Taking my time eating a meal. Normally I always rush through eating in preparation of one kid or the other needing something.

-          Being able to order anything I wanted off of the menu without having to worry about how much it cost (the place we stayed was all inclusive)

-          Taking naps. Is it sad that I had an all expense paid trip to Mexico and the thing that I looked forward to MOST was being able to take a nap whenever I wanted?

-          Being able to sit by the pool and read - love my new kindle by the way!

-          The perfect weather – highs in the low 80s, lows in the low 70s.

-          No dishes. No vacuuming. No doing laundry. 

-          Riding horses on the beach

-          Taking hot showers and not rushing because I’m in a hurry or because I’m worried about the hot water running out.

-          Not having to rush at all. For anything. (well, except for that time we almost missed our connecting flight and had to run through the Houston airport.

-          Lots of quality time with Jack. I really like him. With 2 kids and busy schedules it’s hard for us to get quality time together. Every night there was like date night – only we didn’t have to worry about finding a babysitter. It was great!

 Here’s what I didn’t like:

-          Leaving Nolan and Abby behind. I definitely cried a little (just a little) when we dropped Abby off. I knew they were both in good hands – they were with their grandparents who are awesome – but I missed them both sooooo much!

-          Taking time off of work – sounds dumb I know. But I have already taken so much time off this year with maternity leave that I hate to leave my kids with a sub now.

And that’s pretty much it. There wasn’t much not to like. Overall we had a fabulous time! And because I missed Nolan and Abby so much, it just gave me something to look forward to on the way home!

Here are a few pics:

This was our room:

Horseback riding:

On the first day we had to make a boat out of nothing but card board and duct tape that would hold 2 people. Here is our finished product. It was called the "Silver Bullet":

Jack on the "spinnaker" - basically it was a mix between a giant swing and a parachute, anchored to a boat:

The view from our room:

Time

Time is a precious commodity. It’s something I really took for granted before I had kids. I feel like I have no time anymore. I know there are still 24 hours in the day, but there just never seems like enough time to do it all. I recently read an article though that helped put it in perspective, so I thought I’d share.

There are 2 kinds of time: Chronos time is what we live in - the minute to minute, sometimes painful, time. It’s 90 minutes of class time, or 20 minutes in the car on the way to work, or however many painful minutes it takes in the waiting room at the doctor trying to keep a sick 2 year old from terrorizing the entire office. Chronos time is the hard, slow passing time.

But then there’s Kairos time. Kairos is God’s time. It’s those magical moments in which time stands still. I’ve been noticing those moments more and more recently, and I cherish them. They’re the times when I pause, and close my eyes for just a second, and think “wow, life is good. It couldn’t possibly get ANY better than this.” Here are a few examples of Kairos time for me:

-          When I lay in bed at night, and both kids are sleeping peacefully… I hear Abby breathing over the baby monitor and can’t help but smile. Kairos time.

-          Saturday mornings when Nolan is watching cartoons, Abby is happily playing in her exersaucer, and I’m sitting drinking coffee out of a real mug (not out of a travel mug rushing to work). Kairos time.

-          On our trip to Mexico recently, when I got in the pool, and just layed on my back staring up at the beautiful sky, with the ocean crashing in the background. Kairos time.

-          Any time Nolan or Abby laughs. There is no better sound than a child laughing. Kairos time.

-          At the end of the week when I get into my car to go home from school, exhausted, but with nothing but the bliss of a weekend ahead of me. Kairos time.

-          When I stop and really look at Jack. Or Nolan. Or Abby. And notice how absolutely perfect they each are. And how incredibly blessed I am to have them in my life. Kairos time.

-     When I go for a walk in the evening and look across the field as the sun is going down. It's a beautiful sight! Kairos time.

-          When I curl up on the couch at the end of a long day under a cozy blanket, with Boomer at my feet and a good book in my hand. Kairos time.

I could keep going. I could go all day. Because the reality is that I am truly blessed. I always wondered how I could ever love anyone else besides my family. Then Jack came along. And then I wondered how I could love anyone else besides him. And then Nolan came along. And then I wondered how I could ever love another child as much as I love him. And then Abby came along. It’s not that I love any of them  more than anyone else. My heart has just grown. With Valentine’s Day this week I’ve been thinking about love. My heart is so full of love. Sometimes I think it might burst because it’s so full of love. I am so blessed. I guess realizing that is really what Kairos time is all about for me. At the end of the day, it’s those moments, however brief they are, that keep me going.

Thank you Lord, for Kairos time.

"Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations,  'The LORD has done great things for them.'" Psalm 126:1-3

Year in Review

Wow I can't believe it's been so long since my last post! There are a few things you need to have to keep up a blog: desire to write about something, time to write, and access to internet. Over the past few months the last two of that list have been extremely limited (hence the blogging hiatus). But here I am, so let's see what's new...

2011: Year in Review (a little late)

2011 was a big year for us. Lots of big changes. To start with, we put our house on the market. That can be a stressful process for anyone, but throw in a toddler and you can forget about keeping your sanity. The stress of having to keep your house clean (as in, spotless, 24/7), never knowing when someone might want to come by to take a look is not something I care to revisit. Thankfully, we were able to get an offerfairly fast and eventually sold it. We are now free of the monthly burden of a mortgage payment!

Once we sold our house we moved out to my parents' farm where we live in a small garage apartment. Going from a 2000 sq ft home to a 1 bedroom apartment has been an adjustment to say the least. But overall we are happy. We have tons of family close by (which we LOVE), and plenty of space for everyone to run around outside. Nolan and Boomer are especially enjoying the perks of being on the farm! In the end we've learned that we don't need a big house or a lot of fancy material possessions. That's not where our joy comes from. Our joy comes from the Lord, and He is a God who provides for our every need. We are so very blessed!

2011 was also a big year for us as we welcomed a new addition to our family - Abigail! Her name means "Joy of the Father", and boy is she a JOY. She has a smile that will light up a room. She likes to talk (about nothing in particular) and can instantly turn any bad day into a great one with just one adorning look. She eats a lot, but she sleeps great. I try to remember that I am very blessed to have a baby that slept through the night a such a young age. I'm not sure how I could be a working mother of 2 if I didn't get some sleep at night! Adding Abby to our family has certainly kept us all on our toes, but we are loving every minute of it. I can't imagine our life any other way now!

Nolan has adjusted to being a big brother. In fact, he is doing an awesome job! He is very good at trying to be helpful. He can get diapers, throw diapers away, and loves to give Abby stuff - mostly stuff she doesn't need - blankets, toys, pacifiers, etc. it absolutely melts my heart to see him love her. He often will find her and give her a kiss for no apparent reason, or go over to her crib in the morning and say "Mornin' Princess!". And when he finds something interesting he always makes a point to show Abby - "Look, Abideh*! a red tractor!" *Abideh is what it sounds like when he says Abigail.

Anyway, I could ramble on all day, and most of this is stuff you probably already know if you talk to us regularly. The point I wanted to make was just that I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated the blog. Life has been busy. But Life is Good.

Now for your viewing pleasure, here's a short video of Nolan and Abby playing together:

love them!

2 months!

It is hard to believe that yesterday we celebrated Abby's 2 month birthday! Seriously, where does the time go!? I think I notice it even more now because I know how quickly it has gone with Nolan. It feels like just yesterday he was just a baby in my arms. Now he is a grown up 2 year old! But anyway, here's what's new:

Abby had her 2 month check-up and is growing like a weed. She is now over 14 and a half pounds. For the record, that is the average weight for a 4-6 month old. :) But she is growing right along the proper curve for where she started so we are happy. The nice thing about being a big baby is that she is sleeping a lot (hence the picture above)! She is sleeping up to 8 hours on a pretty consistent basis. That is pretty awesome for a 2 month old! She is also smiling a lot more now. There is nothing quite like looking at your baby girl and having her smile back up at you. It just melts my heart. Seriously sometimes I think my heart has grown so big it might explode. I am so blessed!

Nolan is doing great too. He has had a few "terrible twos" moments recently - he just doesn't seem to know what he wants. For example, the other night after dinner he just refused to get down from the high chair. There was no apparent reason for this. He just didn't want to get down. We left him there for a while but finally made him get down - at which point he threw an absolute fit and locked himself in his room. Fine with me if he wants to have a self-imposed time-out. He eventually came out a little while later and was in a much better mood - as if nothing ever happened. Silly 2 year old!

On the flip side, Nolan is still his normal happy self most of the time, and is being a great big brother. Sometimes he just walks over to Abby and gives her a kiss, for no apparent reason. I love it! The other day in the car we passed by a train and Nolan got really excited - "Look Abidale! Look! A choo choo train! cooool!" It was really cute. Love those two!