My favorite picture....

This is about a month or so old but I had to share because it is a favorite of mine of my silly monkeys... hence my new layout!!!! This is still when Luke would ask to "hold Caroline" and now he just loves to be right up in her face.... oh happy days! :)

Time flies.....

Here are some recent pics over the past week and today on their "month day!" Enjoy...


Caroline is so wanting that soccer ball....



She is giddy with delight - she had just drank her first yogurt drink and was in heaven!!! Happy 9 months baby girl!!!



This is at Zube park after we rode the trains, she had to stay in her stroller since she has her mama's fair skin - but she still had fun and loved riding the train!


Just kickin' back enjoying the day....

I was trying to let Caroline be part of the "farming" experience while Luke was gardening with his cousins - he was having a blast.

Caroline was showing off her clapping skills at granny and popo's

This is Luke's first ride on the big tractor and HE LOVED IT!!!

Me and my friend Melissa in Austin right before we were headed out, we had a great time and are already planning for the next trip.

Melissa and Zachary after there craft - the place we went is so cool and has free crafts every Saturday - like 5 different kinds - I wish I could find something like that in Houston.

This is Luke being silly in Zachary's funny glasses.

Enjoying one of the beautiful days in Houston recently.

Well I can't believe it but Ms. Caroline is 9 months old today and Mr. Luke is 28 months old. It seems so surreal to me that my kids are getting so big so fast - especially Caroline, the second time around is truly a whirlwind. I don't have her "official" stats yet we go to the doctor next Tuesday but we weighed her and she is about 21 lbs, she has 8 teeth is very long and babbles like crazy - dada, gaga and to my delight her newest is mama!!! Caroline had a lot of first's over spring break - she started inchworm crawling (and she is getting really fast), pulls up to her knees and once has pulled herself to standing.... so I have a feeling this next month we are in for a fully mobile baby - and much to Luke's dismay she loves to crawl into his room and pull all the books off the shelf and play with his cars! Too funny, he so does not get how his life is about to change!! However he loves his "sweet caroline." Luke has been busy as well and seems to be getting taller. He had a fabulous spring break - we started off in Austin with some friends and he got to play with a lot of cool toys, make fun crafts and go on an adventure in the woods - THEN off to granny and popo's farm where he got to work in the garden, ride a BIG tractor and help move wood around and play with his cousins - he could not have been happier.

Since being home we are getting back into a routine and Luke was excited to get back to school yesterday and James and I are working on projects around the house with high hopes to actually get them completed before he starts working again - which will help our stress level a lot!!! I should mention that these "projects" have been on our list of things to do for over a year so now we have run out of excuses and need to get things organized.

Eating and our kids are still a challenge in our household... we are trying to get Luke to try new things daily and it seems like our friends can get him to try so much more and you know who you all are!!! He has done better in some areas and even ate some of the dinner I made for the family tonight (baked chicken with rice and gravy) and we put this same dinner in a grinder for Caroline and she gobbled it up as well as had some homemade fruit puree that I made for her. Yesterday she ate refried beans, rice and a small taste of taco meat and loved it... now baby food we have to almost make her eat it so I think she is read to make a almost full transition to regular food. She also now loves Luke's yogurt drinks. I am trying hard to not have a second picky eater.

We have had well kids for awhile now which has been a blessing but tonight Luke went to bed with a slight runny nose and I am hopeing it was due to his crying from being overtired (he wouldn't take a nap today) and not him getting sick.

There are lots of babies out there in nicu's around the US that I have been praying for so I ask all of you to please include all babies in the nicu's for peace and recovery - especially Jonah (who has a very rare skin disorder and has blisters all over his body), Stellan (who is 4 months old and who is in very serious condition with his heart in svt and has a severly high heart rate - in the 200's). And I've said it in the past but give your kids an extra hug and kiss and be blessed that your kids are home to annoy you when they are acting up because we are blessed!!

Life

Since my mom passed away (2 yrs this coming April) I miss her so much and not a day goes by that I don't think about her or wish that she were still here to witness me being a mother to my children and for her to love and play with them. I am always talking to the kids about her but James and I truly believe that she is their guardian angel - especially Luke - she adored him and he was only 5 months old when she passed away and up until the very end she would ask about him and want to see him and touch his face. During the next months after she was gone to heaven we would hear Luke call out "Mimi" over the monitor, which is what the grandkids called her and a couple of times James felt like he caught a glimpse of a figure sitting in the glidder in his room but it was gone fast and he would just dismiss it. Also, different family members have since told me how happy my mom was that I had a son and that she hoped we would hurry and get pregnant again and have the daughter I have always wanted and then came Caroline!!

So after talking to a dear friend yesterday she brought up my mom and the strength that I have had since my mom is gone and it has really made me think about angels amoung us.... ironically enough this morning when I went to get my watch out to put on I came across this saying in my drawer and wanted to share it:

----Angels----
I Believe in Angels
That they're Always
Hovering Near,
Whispering Encouragement
Whenever Clouds Appear,
Protecting us from Danger
and Showing us the Way,
Performing little Miracles
Within our Lives each Day.

I also found this one which I just really love as well....

---The Train
Our Faith is like a Train
That travels on a Heavenly track
And when you get on board
You never will look back.

Rest in the Holy Spirit,
There's nothing you should fear
For God's the Staion Master
And Christ the Engineer.
Cheryl White

Two steps forward and TEN steps back

Okay so I pray for every child out there that they NEVER get any form of rotavirus!!! Caroline is through the rough part (and the doc said she had a mild case since she was vaccinated for it) however her diapers are still major YUCK and she doesn't care for the soy formula we have to have her on for about a week. Along with this she is no longer interested in ANY veggies/fruits but instead only wants her cereal and/or rice snacks. Luckily during the day she is still in a good mood but when the lights go out at night I don't know where my sweet angel has gone. We went from finally sleeping through the night (for about 1.5 weeks) to now waking up a lot at night to be comforted.

And on top of this Luke has decided that it is in his best interest to wake up at around 1:30 every night (or morning depending on how you look at it) and come to our room get on the bed and he tells me "mom here I am" or "I'm here" and he hugs us and snuggles down for the rest of the night. I always said I would NEVER allow my children to sleep with us and for the most part we have stuck to this motto HOWEVER when you are as sleep deprived as we are you tend to roll over and go with the flow.... we are now working on him staying in his room all night and hopefully we will be back to normal within the week.

I pray that Caroline has a full recovery soon and that we can all get a goods night rest. I hate to see my baby not feel well and especially when there is really nothing that can be done for her except to love on her and comfort her.

And I have to say that I do love to snuggle with Luke and when he wakes up he typically tells me "good morning mom, happy birthday" or "I want to watch cartoons and drink my milk." He is so full words these days and uses full sentences most of the time. It is so amazing to me to see his brain/memory working and how much he loves to learn - he loves when we play school at home to work on things.

Children are such a blessing!

Our Heavenly Father

I am obessed with reading blogs and keeping up with my friends and even people I will never meet especially when their blogs deal with their children. I have been praying more than I ever have in my life for children and families going through so much and some have happy endings and some end in tradgedy. I read just today about a 10 month old precious baby girl named Cora that was diagnosed 3 weeks ago with cancer and she passed away today and is now living with Jesus and all her angels.

It really has me thinking that life really is so precious and short and that we never know when our time will be up or that of our loved ones. So I am really trying to calm down and not sweat the small stuff that I do on a regular basis and I want to start living knowing that I am protected by HIM and that I don't have control over everything in my life. I love my kids and family so much and love making memories with them daily. We laugh so much and love so much and I pray that we will always be close.

So my message tonight is to hug those around you and tell your loved ones that you love them and don't hold grudges life is too short and just be happy. If something is not going in the direction you like in your life change it and do something you love!!!

I am so excited about joining a new bible study in the fall with a new dear friend of mine and I hope to meet many other moms going in the same path I am and that our children can grow together.

Tonight please pray for the Mcclenahan's as they mourn the loss of their baby Cora Paige. Also pray for Harper Stamps who is almost 4 weeks old and is now doing well after being told that she might not make it through her first night in this world... for more on her story and for a very inspirational blog please read her mom Kelly's blog at: http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/

Have a blessed evening!

Domestic Bliss?!?

This is a mini me picture of James and Luke


Although Luke new it was his daddy's birthday he kept saying it was his birthday and then in the middle of the night when he woke up he asked James "where's your birthday cake?" Guess we know what he was dreaming about.




Luke learned to eat his first fun dip candy (much to his daddy's dismay, but he loved it) with his cousin Audrey who he ADORES, he thinks she hung the moon!


Mommy and her princess!!! I'm taking advantage of dressing her the way I want right now before she can tell me otherwise - my luck she will never want to wear dresses and that is exactly what I did to my mom! Ha!

Yesterday was James' birthday and since we have been nit picking each other since we are now together 24/7 I decided to invite some family over and cook him a requested meal. He chose beef enchiladas and tres leche cake (I also made pinto beans and mexican rice). If I say so myself the meal came out wonderful and there were hardly any leftovers (darn!). All of a sudden I have been feeling very domesticated and feel like making homade dinners and doing stuff with the house that I don't normally do - very Leave it to Beaverish - however the feeling doesn't always lastlast too long!

Caroline looks like such a big girl sitting on Luke's car (she can't ride it yet, we just sat her on it and she LOVED it).

We had a great day with everyone that was here and fell very blessed that my cousin Heath came home safe from Iraq where he has been for about the last 15 months. Luke also loves him and asks for him often he calls him "Heaf."

Happy Birthday James we love you and really do like having you with us each day and sharing in all the memories we make each and everyday!

I love you!

Still playing catch up.....

Okay so I've picked some pictures to just show updates of what has been going on with us and just some cute picks of the kiddos.... This one above is our future cowgirl - L is obsessed with C wearing his cowboy hats!!! So cute and it makes her laugh everytime.



This is my 6 month old lil' punkin - we had her well check today and all went well, she weighs in at a whopping 18 lbs 4 oz (95%) and 28" long (97%). She is very tall for her age and already has 5 teeth which makes her look older. She has started rolling over but doesn't do it often, she loves her activity center and stands in it a lot and plays with all of her toys - that is if L doesn't steal them away and say that they are his toys.



C has graduated to her bath seat and she loves it and loves to play in the water, makes bath time so much easier!!


This is my silly monkey!!! He loves his new monkey towel he got for Christmas we have so much fun together - we love to make each other laugh... and now L loves to make C laugh and then tell us about it.

This is the day after Christmas at Granny and Popo's house while the boys let mommy take a much needed nap. They put together his new train set he got and he had so much fun helping his daddy.

C is sitting in her daddy's high chair from when he was a baby - I know it is still standing!!! :)

I've been told it was red and white when James and his siblings were babies and Granny redid it later on. We have pics of L in it as well - it is really cool I think to have pictures like this.

This is one of the pictures from the Christmas playdate that we hosted at our house - we had a lot of fun and all the kiddos got along very well that day especially in this stage of "mine."

I so love this picture, as I said L loves for C to wear his hats and then while we were playing he kissed her and told us "Caroline beautiful." I thought that was sooooo sweet they love each other so much. That is except when L gives C a toy she loves and then rips it away!!! Fun times await us!!!

Well, to all of our buddies out there, we hope to back to playing this week... everyone in the family is well and I am slowly starting to be on the mend. I finally went to urgent care yesterday and got a lovely steroid shot and an antibiotic and some allergy meds. I started feeling more human today and L is so ready to play with his friends.

I am so excited that MDO is starting again tomorrow and that we are all getting back on our routines.

Although this message is very late we all hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!! I have so many resolutions this year and so far as of day 5 I am doing pretty good.