Third Anniversary

Today we are celebrating our third wedding anniversary, albeit on different continents. Each year I try to do a brief summary of the year highlighting new, fun and interesting things that have happened. Although this year I'm not even sure where to start!  The third year in our marriage has brought so many new and challenging things into our lives, it has definitely been the hardest, but also the best year yet.  Here is a little summary: We made our third move into a new house in Kansas, welcomed our second little boy into the world, enjoyed several cross country family trips to Texas, St. Louis, and Colorado, learned (and are still learning) to parent a toddler, faced six (+) months of separation and our first deployment, Shane has become an excellent XO for a new company, Whitney has learned to balance life with two babies, and together we have shared many tears, late nights, Skype calls, cooking adventures, laughs, and date nights. I'd like to say our love is "God Strong" and extends all the way to Africa and back! God has been so gracious in providing strength, understanding, safety, and patience for each of us as we conquered this past year together.  We know God has great things in store for the future of our marriage, and we are thankful for the abundant blessings He has provided during these past three (jam packed!) years.

Deployment Month Four

This was another busy month while Shane was away. We spent the majority of it in Texas with my family. From visits to the fire station with Uncle Joe, to plenty of play time with cousins at Aunt Kristin's house, and even more time on the farm with Grammy and Pawpaw, we even snuck in a quick visit with Poppa while he was in Houston. I am so thankful we were able to be in Texas for some great weather, and to celebrate my birthday and Mother's Day with my family. Though we would never choose for him to be gone this long, it has provided us with a great opportunity to visit family, when we otherwise wouldn't. I feel like I may have gotten the hang of "moming" two sweet boys under 2, while my wonderful husband is deployed. After all, I did conquer that dreaded 13 hour drive (in one day!) from Texas to Kansas alone with those two aforementioned sweet boys of mine, though hard, it made me feel just a little bit accomplished!

Deployment Month Three

I didn't take near as many pictures this month, you would think I am just a little busy keeping these boys fed and diapers changed. We were in Kansas this month and enjoyed getting back to a little bit of a routine at home. The boys have learned to love their stroller as mom requires a lot of "de-stressing" walks and runs when the weather permits. Matthew is growing so fond of Michael, and vice versa as well. I am loving this season of two sweet little boys. Although I cannot say my house is clean, or I have eaten a well cooked meal lately, but we are making it, one day at a time, and I'd like to think doing well passing the time until our soldier daddy comes home from Africa!

Now an update from our handsome soldier! He doesn't like taking pictures of himself, but is so sweet to oblige in my desires to "see" him every once in a while. Staying busy in Djibouti Africa!

Deployment Month Three

Top Ten Month Three

1. Running at the lake and rootbeer milk make Saturdays a little better

2. 18 month olds disobey a lot

3. I successfully fixed the speedometer in Shane's truck!

4. The boys are becoming such good buds 

5. Learned to cook brussel sprouts!

6. Took a fun weekend trip to Omaha

7. Skyping is still my all time favorite

8. The Lord provides patience and we always survive the day 

9. Michael can roll! 

10. We reached our halfway mark, praise God!

Michael - Three Months!

{at three months Michael...}

...weighs 12+lbs
...is 25 inches long
...wears size 1 diapers
...loves watching his big brother
...smiles sweetly
...nurses once in the middle of the night
...enjoys skyping with daddy
...has very wide (blue) eyes
...lays on his back and kicks happily
...has good control of his head
...started chewing on his hands
...nurses every 3 hours like clockwork during the day

We love you Michael! Although we cannot wait for you to be old enough to play with your big brother and interact more, we really want you to slow down! You are definitely not in the newborn stage anymore, and that makes your mom sad already.  You are the sweetest baby alive, and your smiles and "talking" light up our life!

Michael - Four Months!

{at four months Michael...}

...started talking more instead of cooing
...rolled over for the first time from back to front

...wears mostly 6-9 month clothing

...has a nice bald spot on the back of his head

...loves for you to tickle and talk to him

...found his feet and likes to grab them

...is learning to take a bottle a little better

...still nurses once in the middle of the night
...is quite dramatic with his facial expressions
...laughed for the first time at Matthew
...wears size 1 diapers

...has the brightest eyes ever

...uses his hands to swat at and try to grab things

This was the first time Michael rolled over. I wasn't in the room, but came back and found him like this, very proud of himself. Looking around!

We won't be swaddling much longer!

Loves sitting up so he can look all around the room and watch his big brother play.