Starting Over!

I honestly click on my "blogspot" tab at the top of my browser at least once a day to read current blogs of friends, family and yes, couponers. Gotta learn the deals somewhere, right? Well, after I did the "month birthdays" with Miss. A I fell off the bandwagon and stopped blogging. I honestly had time to read blogs here and there, but not to write them. What sense does this make? A lot if you have 2 small children who are doing only who knows what when you sit down to have a moment to yourself. Moment to yourself?! Oh where have those days gone to??

Alas, I am back and will try to stay on my game. haha! I cannot keep up in the kids' journals writing important events, sayings, things that happened, etc. So I am going to use this as our "family journal" so that one day maybe the kids can look back on it, maybe online, printed out in a book...who knows. But they sure will get to enjoy reading and possibly remember some of the fun, hysterical, crazy, adventurous we all did together as individuals and as a family.

I will also include prayer requests that may need to be made. Prayer is real and so is our Father. Prayer is my way of communicating with and to God to tell him many things, thank yous for all of the many blessings in my life and in this world, all my needs, wants, joys, frustrations, and to ask for healing for so many people in this world and that are in my life. So right now, I ask of you to pray for my sweet grandmother (Mamaw) whose cancer is back and who has begun chemo. Chemo is an awful thing so I ask for comfort for her and rest during this tiring time. I ask that you also lift up my Aunt who is taking wonderful care of my Mamaw as she endures this horrible process.

Thank you!!! See ya sometime this week blogspot...

Love

I needed to write this before I forgot and also forgot to write it in R's journal...

I was told that on Sunday (7/17/11) at Sunday School after Melissa taught the lesson they went around the circle of kids and asked the kids if they wanted to say a prayer. Well, R isn't typically in this class so I was surprised to hear his willingness to participate. He said very softly "I love my mommy and my daddy, AMEN!" That right there is enough to warm anyone's heart my friends. :)

This morning (7/20/11) R and I were laying in bed watching Finding Nemo while A was napping. He looked over at me, grabbed my face and kissed me. Then he proceeded to say "Mommy, I love you." Then after saying that he says, "I need a present". Bahahahaha!!! No, R you do not get a present every time you tell me you love me. Gosh, if we got presents everytime we said that we would all need mansions to store our gifts in. Sweet, handsome, energetic little boy...I love you to the moon and back, that's for sure!

I love you kiddo!

10 mos old

Height: 

Weight: 21ish lbs??

Your sleeping patterns are: you are a great sleeper at night! Mommy & Daddy are so thankful for that! you have kept the same bedtime routine since last month and are doing SO much better at taking your naps. You typically like for me to rock/bounce you for 1-2 minutes then Mommy lays you in your bed and you go right to sleep. If you whine it's only for a minute or two and then you are out. For your first nap it's usually an hour or so, then during the afternoon nap you sleep anywhere from an hour to sometimes 3 (depends on how worn out you are). By the way you love to have a paci in your mouth and then one in your hand, it's the sweetest thing to see in the mornings when Daddy brings you in our room.

Your feeding schedule is: 6:30am- 7oz bottle; 8:00ish- you have started eating whole bananas cut into tiny pieces along with Cheerios and some fruit puffs for breakfast & still eating pureed fruits some mornings; after your first nap- 6oz bottle; after your second nap- 6 oz bottle; 5ish a veggie, maybe some chicken or ham (or whatever we are eating if you are capable of eating it) & a 6 oz bottle; around 8pm you take a 7oz bottle and go to bed.  First time to have a little bit of apple juice I mixed it with more water than juice and you seemed to like it. No sour faces coming from you, unlike your brother who still makes them to this very day if he drinks anything other than milk and water. OH, and you LOVE to lick/ eat on popsicles that Mommy or Daddy are eating.

Your likes & dislikes are: likes: TO CRAWL!! You somehow taught yourself to crawl with one leg down and with your hands, it's the funnies thing but you are able to go super fast! You love to find R and see what he is doing, then he proceeds to love on you and it ends up being a wrestling match for him. (insert frown face from Mom) You love just about any toy, mainly ones that you can chew on. 

Daddy can finally put you to bed now and you are ok with it! :)

FOOD: pancakes, bananas, pureed squash & pureed pears, applesauce, grilled cheese, baby puffs, bread, ham, chicken, mashed potatoes, goldfish, french fries (bad Mommy), rice, hamburger meat. 

 dislikes: when R wrestles you (I don't blame you one bit); when someone takes something out of your hands that could potentially hurt you if put in your mouth; when Mommy walks away; having your diaper changed on occasion.

FOOD: pureed green beans & pureed peas, scrambled eggs (tried them once & not a fan), real/cooked carrots, strawberries, broccoli, noodles.

Your favorite toys are: bath/ pool toys to chew on; baby pool--you like to sit, splash and play in it; walking toys; any of R's toys, you love pulling all of his and your toys out of the baskets in the den.

By the end of 9 months old you are learning to: walk around the room using furniture to hold on to; you are able to squat and stand up on your own without holding onto things, you can stand up for quite some time on your own (no steps have been taken on your own just yet). The day before you turned 10 months old we left for Destin and spent a week on the beach. You had the time of your life and adapted so well to being away from your bed and your home.

Shopping day!!!

Ok, so while some may think I have totally lost my mind others may find this very interesting. :)
My laundry may be neglected for a bit while I snap pictures, write a blog and put away all of my treasures but I had fun shopping and finding these treasures and that's all that matters. A and I had a fun day of shopping with Keeks and Cman! Thanks to Raining Hot Coupons and My Memphis Mommy I was able to score some great deals at Target, CVS and Kroger today! Next on the list is Walgreens. That will wait while my laundry piles disappear and more time is spent with my babies. (R had MDO today so it was just the girl and I out running around in this crazy heat!) Here are our treasures...

First stop...Target

* Total: $22.27 (saved: over $12.63)
** Items bought using manufacturers and Target coupons: Snackwells, Ritz crackers, Skintimate shave cream, BIC razors, and all 4 Ortega products. The rest was bought without the use of coupons (including a 12 pack of Diet Cokes that is in the fridge).

Second stop....CVS

* Total: $19.75 (saved: $23.26)
**(Doesn't look like much, but formula alone these days without using a coupon is $22 a can) All was bought in 3 separate transactions using coupons and Extra Bucks (courtesy of CVS and their deals). Got the Pringles absolutely free by taking my CVS card to the machine and it printed off a $1 off coupon for the Pringles to go (they cost $1).

Last stop... Kroger

 * Total: $27.24 (saved: $29.56)
** Right now Kroger is running a great deal when you buy 5 of certain items you instantly get $5 off your total (for those 5 items). I used manufacturers coupons (which Kroger doubles up to 60 cents per coupon). I also used coupons for the cereal, wipes and Cheez Its so those were great deals with the 5 item deal they were offering. My candy bars were free since I had 1 buy 2 Milky Way bars for 50cents off and buy 2 3Muskateers for 50cents off. The goldfish were free as well since I had a 50cent off coupon that doubled and they cost $1 as well.
OHH and I also got 6lbs of ground beef (which I immediately put in the fridge) as a part of this total cost. :)

Happy shopping my friends!!! Gotta love some great deals & free stuff!

9 months old

Height:

Weight: 20 lbs

Your sleeping patterns are: you have your own bedtime routine and you know it :)  you like to go to bed around 8:30 with a 7 oz bottle. Mommy has to feed you the bottle because for some strange reason you won't take the bottle from Daddy :(  You take the bottle and go right to sleep in your crib with your paci and I lay your lovey next to you. I'm not so sure that you will be as attached to your lovey as your brother is to his. You usually wake up around 6:30 or 7 and take a bottle and fall back to sleep for another hour or so. During the day you will take a nap around 10am and then again around 2 or 3pm (the times usually change on a daily basis). Most times Mommy has to let you "cry it out" because you don't want to go right to sleep. Mommy goes back in to check on you every 5-8 minutes to make sure you are ok. Typically you will go to sleep after having your "fits". You cry like you are mad at the world and want to yell and tell everyone off. I know it's not a cry like you are hurt.

Your feeding schedule is: 7:00- 7oz bottle; 8:30ish- you eat fruit and sometimes oatmeal while R and I eat our breakfast; 10:30ish- 6oz bottle; 2ish- 6 or 7 oz bottle; 5ish veggie and puffs and then a 6 oz bottle; between 8 and 9 you take a 7oz bottle and go to bed.  On Mother's Day you started eating mashed potatoes and some small pieces of cooked carrots, you really liked them!

Your likes & dislikes are: likes: TO CRAWL!!!! you go EVERYWHERE and you are so proud of yourself (and so are Mom & Dad). Shortly after you started crawling you began pulling up on couches, chairs, toys, anything tall enough for you to grab a hold of and pull up on, really. I'm sure you will be walking VERY soon! You like to eat small pieces of our meals: bread, carrots, bananas. dislikes:for Daddy to put you to bed, for Mommy to walk away from you when other people you don't know are holding you, to go down for a nap by yourself, when we take something from you that you are playing with that could hurt you (you scream and get soooo mad!).

Your favorite toys are: lots of R's toys! you always love to crawl into his room and go straight for his toys to chew on. your favorite one is a blue and green drum stick to his toy drum. other than that I can't really think of a favorite toy of yours from this past month of life. You are just so adventurous now that you want to see what everything looks, feels and tastes like :)

By the end of 9 months old you are learning to: pull up on things and also stand by yourself (for a few seconds). You are learning to eat new foods and you love it! Drink more often from a sippy cup, water mainly. Say "mamamama" and "bababababa"...you babble more and more everyday!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

You know the saying "time really flies by when you are having fun"? Well, it is so incredibly true that it hurts! It seems like just yesterday that this was us...the 3 of us in the hospital at the start of our new family.

And now? Now you are three years old! When you were little it seemed like you were going to be a tiny baby/ infant for forever and that I could just sit back and enjoy it because it was going to last for forever. Now, looking back it was just a small period of time in our lives that you were a baby. It makes me very sad thinking about it. But now...I am happy and blessed just to see all of the accomplishments you have made in your little, 3 year old life time! A few of the things you have learned so far in your life: to crawl, walk, talk, cry, feed yourself your food, play with your toys, swing a bat & hit a baseball, run, say every animals name known to man, play in the sprinkler, have opinions about things, throw fits, yell, scream, eat ice cream & love it, hug, kiss, say your sorry & mean it, and you have learned to love your sister like no other human being on Earth. There are way more things you are capable of doing and I am thankful that I get to have the time to sit back and realize how blessed your little life is. God is good, ALL THE TIME!!

For your 3rd birthday we had a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party out at Nana & Pops' house. You talked and talked about it for weeks. It was the first time you were truly excited about your own party. Mostly I think you were just thrilled about the bouncy house and the cupcakes you were going to have! :)

You had a blast at your party! I am so thankful to all of our friends and family who could come out to celebrate another year of your life! We had a little rain for the first hour or so of your party but after we ate our "hot diggity dogs", sang "Happy Birthday" and ate our cupcakes the sun came out and Daddy went out to dry off the bouncy house. You and the kids were bouncing away for an hour or so before everyone had to go home. Here are some pics from your special day... (FYI...Picture overload below)

delish cupcakes made by Alisa Bernard

A's favorite thing to do to Uncle JT

R's best buddy in the entire world!!

LOVED seeing family from near and far!

A fell asleep on Papaw

Why didn't I think to bring R some lunch meat or something to eat?! Ever since he got sick eating hot dogs one time, he hasn't won't eat them.

chips for lunch...only on your birthday buddy!

"happy birthday to you!"

R & Uncle JT

Since it was still raining/drizzling outside and R was determined to get his gifts open I let him have at it, against my own will. That was until all of the kids came rushing up to open gifts with him. It was very sweet but I was in over my head and about to have a panic attack. Not because of the kids and their eagerness to help but because I'm an OCD person and wanted to have a list of who gave R what so that I could send them a thank you note after the party was over. And so we would know who gave him what so we could think of that person when he played with that toy. That's just the kind of person I am, I guess.

he LOVES the animals given to him from the Clay's...carries them everywhere!

Now on to the fun bouncing times...

While R was outside jumping, this is what A was doing inside the house...

yup, she is officially on the go!

Pictures with your birthday buddy are a must!

sweet girl!

All in all it was a fabulous party, I think! :)

"It's broken"

Reese,

I cannot be more proud of you and how much you have grown! We decided a few months ago that near your 3rd birthday we were getting rid of your paci (which you only had at nap time and at bed time). We talked about having a huge "hoorah" with inviting friends and family to come to a park and watch you as you toss your paci's to the ducks. You were ecstatic about it and ready to rock and roll! I on the other hand thought more and more about it and realized it wouldn't be the best idea to "feed pacifiers to ducks". 1.) It would be considered littering in the water/park and 2.) we could potentially hurt the ducks or fish in the water. So here is what worked for us instead...
About a week before your birthday I cut the tip of your paci with scissors and gave it to you (which one day you will read this and know that I lied to you and please forgive me for doing so...it was for your own good)  :). You still took it like nothing was wrong with it. Later that night I cut it even more and then brought it to you. Daddy told you to look at it and told you it was broken. I will never forget your tiny, quiet voice that said, "Oh no, it's broken." That same night it took you an hour or so to finally go to sleep (For the first time in your life! You have always been great at going right to sleep.) You kept the broken paci in the bed with you that night and tried so hard to suck on it. You only woke up once or twice that night asking for another one but when Daddy came in to settle you back down you did just what he asked and went right back to sleep. You would take it broken but would be sad about it for the next day or so. But in the mornings when you would come in our room you would leave it in your bed. That's when I knew you were over it and ready to move on to bigger and better things in life. I think within the next few days we threw it away in the garbage, put it in your dresser and told you it was gone for good since it was broken. You did well at nap time over the next few days. Before laying down you would ask for your paci but after we reminded you it was broken you would just lay down and go to sleep.
I am more than proud of you! It just makes my heart so happy to see you overcome such a hard obstacle in your life. Just goes to show me how strong you are and the wonderful personality you have that keeps you keepin on with life. Can't wait to see all that God has in store for you in your life!

I love you,
Mommy

PS- Now, if you can just "overcome" this potty training thing we will really be ready to rock-n-roll!

HOPE TO WIN!!!!

So...I just borrowed one of these Cricut machines from Kristen and I AM IN LOVE!!!!
I used it to make all of Reese's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse birthday decorations....signs galore and a birthday banner. I was obsessed with it once I started using it. It is the coolest machine! Those of you who know me, know I love to craft and winning this machine would rock my world! I would make stuff, label things, create cards, do vinyl monograms, EVERYTHING I want to do but can't because I don't own the machine.

So, if you are interested in owning this machine...go here and you too can have a chance at winning it. I'm sorry, I sure hope I win! ;)

That will never happen to me.

Yup. Once again in life, I eat my words. Addy choked and I freaked out. As a matter of fact I think I am still reliving that moment over and over again and will be for awhile now. It all happened so fast and for that, I am thankful!
We had just sat down to eat (a late dinner at 8:30) and A had been in her highchair eating and watching me cook and clean up. When it was time for me to eat A wanted out of her chair to sit with me. Reluctantly I picked her up and let her sit in my lap while I ate. Her paci was in so I gave her a nearby water bottle and top to play with. Rhett had gone out back to get his wings off the grill and everything else becomes a blur. I just remember A coughing, gagging and not really making many noises. She was breathing, I don't think she ever stopped. I panicked and ran to the door with A slung over my arm yelling and screaming for Rhett to help. Meanwhile I am smacking A on the back as her stomach is pressed against my forearm and as soon as I step outside the blue top from my Dasani water bottle comes flying from her mouth. She began her screaming, crying, trying to catch her breath fit as she usually does when she is really hurt. Me freaking out and shaking in the process didn't help her nerves, I'm sure. While I sat down with her, hugging her, squeezing her because I was SO upset, I began to wonder if there was something else she was choking on and of course there wasn't. It hurt her feelings that I was so upset and I know that she sensed that. All in all, we are ok and learned alot about small pieces. See, Reese never did that. Put small objects that didn't belong in his mouth. Either that or I didn't allow him to play with things like that. I'm a bad mother I guess, who knows. Lessoned learned. I hugged her, held her, kissed her, talked to her, and prayed over her asking God to forgive me and to protect her from all harm that comes her way in life. I did not want to put her in her bed. I just wanted to hold her all night long, as if I could protect her from life.
Tomorrow first thing, I am going around and removing all small toys and objects that I find. I DO NOT want to go through this again. Broke my heart breaks my heart, over and over again.
I love my girl more than life itself!!!

Easter #2

Here are pics from Easter day. I still cannot believe we did not get one single family picture on that day. What is wrong with me!?
**Easter Eve**

let's dye some eggs!

the only picture we got of our finished products

he really enjoyed dying the eggs...can't you tell by this silly grin?

**Easter Morning**

A's basket

R's basket

Easter bunny hid eggs in the den

wanna go see what the Easter bunny brought to ya'll?

about as good as we're gonna get. thank you a for participating :)

**Yes, I completely forgot to take pictures of our family and our kiddos dressed up for church. Go ahead and mark me down for a big loser on that note.

R after church and out of his Easter clothes

A in her beautiful dress my Mom made

He is Risen!

Easter service brought several tears to my eye while singing. I just get so emotional while singing songs, thinking about the pain and the sacrifice our Savior paid up there on that cross dying just so that I, little old Lauren who is a sinner and sins daily, could have life! I mean, who deserves a Dad like that? I know I sure don't. The song we sang still rings in my head and the one thing that stays on my mind is his cross. "Cause Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. Oh praise the one who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead."


What a sweet Easter it was this year with 2 kiddos under our roof. R really got to enjoy his little basket, egg hunts, and goodies and A was along for the ride everywhere we went and she was quite the trooper, as always! Love her. Did I say egg hunts? Yes. I did. We went to 3! One in Lakeland, one at R's preschool and one at Dar & Mimi's church (my old church). I always love going back to my old church and seeing friends who are so dear and caring. It's nice to be able to reconnect with them and also show off my babies to them.
On Easter day we got up and went to church together then came home to eat and enjoy a wonderful meal with Rhett's side of the family. (The day before Rhett put down new sod in our yard and dug up all of the old grass.) So after lunch and family had come and gone he got back out there and finished it up. I must say, he is quite the handy man! I love it that he can fix or complete any project around here without having to hire help. After the afternoon naps were over we headed to my family's house to eat dinner with Dar, Mimi and Frin. It was quite a busy day but I we wouldn't have it any other way! I love being around family, always have, always will. Sure hope my kids grow up one day and stay where their mom and dad are or nearby. Or we might just have to pack up and follow them. hehe.


Here are some pics...enjoy :)  I know I did.

Egg hunt #1 (R was terrified of the Easter bunny to his left)

After a few nudges he finally took off and got some eggs.

my sweet boy

r, a, a, and c....sweet friends

a just wanted to chew on them all :)

**Here is where I confess I forgot my camera at the other 2 egg hunts. Oh well, you've seen them hunt eggs once, you probably don't want to see it 2 more times. LOL!!**

sweet baby girl

my beautiful sister & r man

r helping daddy move dirt to the trailer

like father, like son...i adore it!

such a hard working husband and father!

the girls watching the men work hard

** Easter pics will be uploaded in another blog. This is taking forever.**