Avery Claire 3 months

Avery Claire you are 3 months and 16 days olds. Sheesh..you are almost 4 months old I'm I just writing your 3 month post. Life has been so busy this last month. We celebrated your first Thanksgiving and of course it was great. We spent it in Mena with my family. They all loved getting to see you and as you are getting older and WAY more alert everyone has so much fun with you. You definitely look like me still and my side of the family, which is really cool. Several weeks ago was the first time I saw it without a doubt. You smiled really big at me and I had to laugh I felt like I saw myself.

You are precious ddefinitely more "high maintence" than your brother was at 3 months. No hard feelings, I promise. Its a honor to be able to care for you. You definitly have your favorite positions to sit in,you are sensitive to being too cold and too warm and quickly let us know if you are perfectly comfortable.When you are hungry--you are hungry and you are NOT happy until you eat. Speaking of eating you nurse about every 2 1/2-3 hours which is a lot better than a month ago when it was a stretch to get you to two hours. You are wear 3-6 months clothes, but you fit really comfortably in 6 months. You wear size 3 diapers and still don't like shoes on your feet. I love shoes and think they are so cute, but I prefer to go shoeless as well.

You are sleeping much better through the night. You usually go to sleep for the night around 9 and sleep til about 4 and then wake up again at 6 and 8. you sleep in your boppy in my bed, but at 4 you end up snuggling with me (bad habit, but its very sweet).

You totally recognize your dad, Roman and I and always give us those big toothless grins when we coo at you. Roman always loves on you and gets down in the floor and coos at you all the time. He's also quick to give you your paci whether you need it or not Ha.

You are a sweetheart and I love you so much. Having a little girl is such a blessing. I love you.

My kiddos this week

Avery and I went to Branson with my cousin Britt and Jac and baby Ike this weekend. It was great. I always have so much fun just visiting with them, but I also got a ton of shopping done which feels good. While i was gone Roman stayed with JM and they had a fun time they ate lots of pizza and played outside all day. They walked down to feed the ducks twice..ha ha. When I got home I had a camera full of pictures to look at thats where these cute ones of Roman came from. There was a huge bug on the side of our house and JM said Roman would work up the courage to touch it and then jump back, dance and let out a real nervous giggle and do it again. I wish i could have seen it. What a cutie. Oh and the pic of him covered in chocolate is what happens when you give a two year old a chocolate popsicle and sit down to nurse a baby--he painted himself in it. Oh well he was content and quiet ha ha. Is anybody else having a problem with the pictures uploading on here. When I upload them its just a bunch of letters on my screen so I can't write underneath them or put them in the order I want them...frustrating. If you know how to fix it let me know. Oh, and little Miss is a smiley kiddo these days. Precious absolutely precious...both of them. I'm one proud mama.

sorry for the random christmas tree photo in this post. Its the stupid uploader thing I was talking about : )

O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree....

....Much joy you bring me!!!

I love christmas time and it is almost here. I have these visions of starting traditions with my kids especially one where we make homemade pizza, turn on a christmas movie, put up the tree and eat popcorn and drink hot cocoa. Unfortunately i get to excited and decide to put up the tree on a whim. So last week we pulled it all down from the attic and Ka Zam its up!!! I do love it. Right now I'm sitting in my living room and all the light is one small lamp and the twinkling of the christmas tree lights its so peaceful. So here are some pictures of my tree and my favorite ornaments.

Family pictures

My sweet sister in law, Kara, snapped some shots of us last weekend on Old Main lawn. We were lucky to get a few pretty good ones. These days the Romeister isn't a fan of sitting anywhere especially when we tell him to ha ha

roman 28 months

Son you are 28 months today...crazy!!!! You are pure genius. You speak Spanish and Chinese...really. Well maybe not fluently, but you do speak to Dora and ni hao kai lan in their native tongue. It's great. You can count to 10 in Spanish and randomly say things in chinese. It's pretty amazing...at least your mama thinks so.

You are changing so much. You are looking so much like a little boy and are really losing that baby face of yours. It makes me sad, but its also so fun to see watch you learn and experience so much around you. You have the kindest little heart. you love your animals and line them up on the floor over and over all day long. Its too cute. you love to walk down to Nana's pond and feed the ducks. You are a little country boy. Today we were walking down to feed the ducks and you saw the cows, you stopped and started mooing really loud at them. It was funny.

Your speach is getting much clearer and people are really starting to understand most of what you say. You know the entire alphabet, and most of your colors, you can identify a circle, square, triangle, star, and a heart. You LOVE to color and draw on your magna doodle. You have a new found love of Nemo (thank the Lord, i couldn't watch more Open Season or Madagascar). Your favorite show is Ni hao Kai lan on the Noggin channel. If we let you you would watch it all day long. Yesterday when we were in Walmart you wanted the Kai lan doll (your dad would have KILLED me if i bought it...ha), with a little distraction we got out without it.

You continue to show Avery so much love and I love seeing you love on her. You are the kissing monster. You always want to kiss her. Its precious.

You are a blessing Roman Carter blessing. I love you so much.

Avery 2 Months Old

Little Miss Sunshine you are 2 months and 12 days, eventually I may actually post on the actual day but its not likely ; ) You are growing like a weed. i took you to see Dr. Furlow for your two month doctor visit and you are 15 pounds even and 23 1/2 inches long that puts you in the 90th percentile on heighth and the 95th on weight. We also had the dreaded shots. it broke my heart but you were a trooper. You cried for a second but I gave you some sugar water and you were instantly fine. You had no fever or unpleasant effects actually you slept a lot that day...which was kinda nice : )

You are precious and the overall concensus is that you look like me and my side of the family in general. Everyone says you look like your Beppie (my mom), and her mom Mimi. Mimi is a twin so you have a lot of people claiming you as their look a like. So many people love you.

You are much more content this month. you haven't created a great sleep pattern yet, but you usually wake up around 7:30 in the morning and go down for a nap around 9. After that you have no pattern really for sleep until bedtime where you go to sleep around 9 ,sleep for 2 hours and then wake up to eat and then every two hours after that.

Your LOVE your bouncy seat and if we keep it bouncing you usually will fall asleep in it.You LOVE being outside, you just lay on the ground and kick your legs. Its so cute. You are starting to coo and talk to us and are always willing to flash a smile. You and the fan have a special relationship. It's very cute to watch you coo and smile at it.

You are in size 3 diapers ( we completely skipped 2's...ha ha). You wear 3-6 months clothes the best and you are not a shoe person..

All in all this has been a great month. We are getting more comfortable as a family of four. You are such a blessing to us. We love you so very much. Happy two months little girly.

I saw this this week and thought it was so cute : ) I feel like all I do is nurse. Maybe I should start thinking of it as a superpower and I'm superwomen !!!!

Roman 27 Months

Roman,

This is the first of monthly post for you and Avery. Some blogger friends that i have write a monthly update on their kiddos and i regret I'm just starting to do this for you. But here we go.

You are 27 months olds. Thats 2 years and 3 months. I can't believe how big you are. It's been awhile since I weighed you but you the last time I weighed you you weighed 32 pounds. You are getting tall and losing the baby look and starting to look like such a big boy. I can't believe it sometimes when I look at you at how big you are.

You are really starting to talk a lot. You still are saying mostly one-two words, but have said a few small sentence. you can spell your name which surprises everyone. You're a smarty pants. you can identify and say the colors--red, blue,green,yellow, and pink. You are counting to 7 in english, and thanks to Dora you can count to 6 in Spanish.

You LOVE to read books your favorites are your Animal Encyclopedia, Mickey Mouse book, and your tractor/truck books. There are times that the house gets very quiet and I go looking for the mess only to find you in your room reading. So sweet!! Your favorite shows are Dora, Diego, and Kailan. You can sing all three theme songs.

You're favorite foods are:Apples, bananas,popcorn chicken, grilled cheese sandwiches, cheese quessidillas, and apple sauce. You love suckers and skittles and get them as bribery too often...ha ha. You hate water and drink apple juice in your sippey cup.

You are such a great big brother. You are always asking to give Avery a "tiss." You often sit down and pat your legs, thats your way of telling me you want to hold her. Last weekend we were in Old Navy. You were with your dad and I had Avery somewhere else in the store. You could hear a baby crying and you kept saying "Biby, Biby" with a very concerned look on your face. You couldn't be settled so dad found Avery and I so you could see that avery was ok. You are a precious big brother. I adore the way you love avery. What a blessing! I prayed that you would adjust well and that you would be crazy about her and you are both well adjusted and crazy about your sister.

On another note you are definitely two and testing the limits. It wears me out some days, but i pray that I will have wisdom to guide you and wisdom to know the right way to discipline you. You can throw one heck of a fit, and hate having your comfort zones invaded. People always want to talk to you when we are out and about and you are quick to grunt at them. I won't lie its very annoying and I'm hoping the phase passes quickly : )

You are sweet and we love you so much. I'm looking so forward to the next few months and the holidays. you are getting to an age where you will start experiencing the magic of Christmas. It's going to be a lot of fun. I love you little man.

Avery 1 month old

Avery you are one month old.. actually you are 1 month and 15 days old. Yes thats right I'm 15 days post due on writing this post and that in itself is an example of how crazy things have been ha ha.

Lets see at one month you are weighing about almost 12 pounds. I'm not sure how much longer you are since you were born, but your newborn sleepers no longer fit because you can't stretch out your little legs. Right now you can still wear 0-3 month stuff but its fitted. you fit comfortably in 3-6 months clothes.

You are a VERY healthy eater you eat about every hour and a half during the day for about 15-20 minutes. Sometimes you snack more often. You often get mad when I don't get you fast enough. once you are mad i can forget feeding you until you settle down. So sometimes we work a long time just getting you ready to eat : )

You really struggle with tummy aches and it makes me so sad. Its obviously gas, we can actually feel and hear your tummy rumbling. Gripe water and Mylicon are our lifesavers right now. You love both--they are really sweet. Mylicon almost instantly puts you to sleep.

You sleep a lot during the day but its pretty sporadic. You don't have much of a daily routine yet I can usually count on you taking a 3 hour nap in the early afternoon. This is when I attempt to clean the house, get ready, and get your brother ready.

Speaking of your brother, he is crazy about you. When he sees you first thing in the morning he says, "Biby, tiss" (baby, kiss). He loves to kiss you, and he is very quick to check on you when your crying. I pray you guys will be the best of friends.

You love ceiling fans and smile at them when we lay you so you can look up and see them. You also enjoy having conversation when your being held. You are smiling and its so beautiful.

You are a blessing to our life. It happens so fast you've only been here a little over a month and i can't imagine our life without you. i love you sweetie

New Blog

You guys I'm so dang challenged at anything technological. For real. I can't figure out how to change my old blog pages and so I decided to start a new blog.

I so enjoy reading other blogs and even more than that i love all the great ideas and the connections that I have with people I've never met. I want my blog to be a place where i can write candidly about life, post pictures of my kiddos, and ideas that i love. So hopefully with the start of a new blog I will be more vigilant about posting regularly. Fresh start...it feels good.

So first an update on life. Let me just say having two kids is kicking my butt...ha ha. No really, its going very well, but i never thought it would be so much harder. It probably doesn't help that I have a newborn that i'm nursing while my firstborn is going through the "terrific twos" or is it terrible twos : ) Luckily my mom is here from Canada and has given me alot of good advice that i welcome. It's been a blessing having her here. She came at the perfect time.

Avery is such sweetie and so very beautiful. We have really struggled with her tummy. you can actually feel it rumbling when your hand is over her stomach. It's been really painful for her and very trying for us. Moms, I can't say enough about Gripe Water. You can get it at Walgreens and it is WONDERFUL. It works so fast to soothe them and its all natural. You can't beat that. If you have a gassy, fussy baby try it out. It's good stuff.

Here are some pics from the last few weeks...enjoy

Meet Avery Claire Laney

Here is our Little Miss Sunshine.....Avery Claire Laney. She was born last Tuesday Sept 1st at 4:06 pm. Delivery went great and I thought really fast. We started induction at 7 am and she was born a 4:06. We couldn't have asked for things to go any better. She is precious and Roman is crazy about her. this is a quick post, but hopefully as i get into the swing of things I will be able to post more. Here are a few pictures.

i really want to blog more, but its so slow and i don't know why. so, i'm going to try to work on it or maybe get a whole new blog I'm not sure yet. I'm so not savvy in this area . I want a really cute blog page, but the more I do to the page the SLOWER it gets, and i don't have time to wait so darn long for it to load so stay tuned hopefully I will get it worked out soon.

Avery Claire could arrive any day, but I'm hoping she waits until later next week because I've got that many days of projects to do : )

Off to Mena

I'm excited because I'm finally going home today. Its funny really Fayetteville is home. I love it and when I'm gone I always am ready to get back, but when I've been away from Mena (the town I grew up in) for a long time I'm so eager to go back. There really is no place like home. Most of my family lives there so its always fun.

SO today I have to attack the task I have put off all week...you know laundry, cleaning, organizing and packing. Yuck. Oh well it will feel good to get it all done.

I also get the chance to go to the funeral of a very sweet lady while I'm home. Funeral use to really freak me out and I would avoid them at all cost. Not this one at at all. This women was an incredible women of God. She loved her husband with her whole heart and adored her family and made everyone she ever came in contact with feel like a million bucks. When her husband died I, of course, was at the funeral and several things happened at that funeral I will never forget. One, during the lunch grandmother went by herself into the church and sat on the front row and looked at the casket that held the man she had been married to for the majority of her life. She had a few more minutes being in his physical presence. I didn't realize she was in there so I stood at the back of the church, quietly and just watched. I remember thinking i hope that I get the opportunity to live a long, happy life loving the man God has giving me all the way to death and that I would have the peace that she had sitting in his presence knowing with full confidence where he was and that I would be with him soon. What a blessing.

Secondly, during his funeral the preacher said that when you were around this couple you understood what the Bible meant when it says the two will become one. They really were one. What a cool thing to have said about you and your spouse. So when I'm sitting at the funeral Thursday, I'm going to be celebrating a women whose life touched everyone she came in contact with, celebrating that she has a new body and renewed health and that she is finally reunited with the love of her life and the God that thy both loved so much. It's a celebration and I'm so glad I get to be there.

Hope you all have a blessed rest of the week and wonderful weekend. Did I mention that Saturday is my first baby shower and I'm so excited. Can't wait to see all that pink everywhere. 6 weeks to go. pray the next 6 weeks go by fast ; )

I will leave you so pictures of my little man

My baby is 2

Roman Saturday you turned two. For as much party planning as I have done it really came as a surprise. These last two years have be the best ever. you have brought me an abundunt amount of joy and I can't even wonder what life would be like without you. Your dad and I never could have imagined how much we would love you. It's incredible. It's such an honor to be your mother. If I had words to describe to describe the joy you bring to my life i would, but there are no words.

You are an amazing little boy. You are kind and gentle. At your party Saturday night you stroked the small baby's head with such gentle touch. As you touched her you said "baby waaaa". Thats what we tell you that babies say waaaa. You are going to be such a great big brother and I can't wait to see you and Avery's relationship as it grows. I know you are going to love her so much.

You love to play especially with daddy. you guys play basketball in your room and you would happily do it all day if you could. You love watching Madagascar and Open Season--those are your absolute favorite. You love the animals and laugh in all the right places. You love to dance and when you have everyone's attention you will bow. I love it.

You have so much to say these days and although you aren't speaking in sentences you can get the message across. You do know a lot of single words and are starting to instantly repeat what we say. For example daddy was giving you a bath the other night and was putting the bubbles in and he said bubbles and you repeated it just as clearly as he said it. I can't wait until we can just talk through the day. I know you will have a lot to say-- your like me that way ; )

For your birthday you got the coolest airplane track and you love it. You work the remote control like a pro and when the airplane takes off you get so excited and say "weeee". When you get excited you are so animated. It keeps us all laughing.

You love church which makes me so happy you are always ready to go to your class, and your teachers enjoy you so much. When we bring you into our service in the end for the singing you love to dance to the music. You are so helpful at home you are quick to throw stuff in the trash and whatever we are doing you like to help. So if we are dusting you like a rag so you can "dust" too. What a sweetie. You love your alone time too. When you want to be alone you go in your room and shut the door. You will play in there a long time by yourself.

You are precious to me Roman Carter Laney. I speak blessings over you. I pray that you will grow to be the man of God you were created to be. I pray that you come to know the Lord personally at a young age, and that you have wisdom beyond your years as you grow. you have such a kind heart and I pray that you always show kindness and grace to those you come in contact with. I pray as you grow you walk in purity. I pray for health and safety over you.

In about 6 weeks we are going to bring home a new baby and I know that you are going to be an unbelievable big brother and like I already said I can't wait to watch the bond between you and Avery grow. I love you Roman so much. Happy 2nd birthday.

Love,

Mom

Welcome April...I'm so glad you are here

Happy April Fools Day everyone!!!! I can't believe its already April but I'm so glad. John Mark and I are doing a lot of work to the outside of our house and its been hit and miss with the weather, but it looks like we are in for some really nice weather. The only bad things is the wind--it can knock you down. Oh well you can't have everything and I'm so glad Spring is here.

We have so many things we are counting down for. First, a week from monday we are finding out if we are having a boy or a girl. My hunch is its a girl. We'll see and you can bet that I will post here when we find out. Secondly, May 16th we're throwing my super sweet sister in law a wedding shower and I believe my excitement is a little unhealthy, but i do enjoy parties and especially throwing them. Then in June, John Mark finishes school. That will be one mighty fine day. He has worked so hard and will probably find himself lost without it for awhile. We will be planning one heck of a party to celebrate that. In July, my little man turns two. I'm excited about this and a little sad. You sad in a good way. I just wish time could stand still for awhile. He's growing so fast. August brings a very anticipated wedding where the before mentioned sister in law, mary, gets married. We are so excited for her not so excited about squeezing my big belly in a bridesmaid dress, but can't wait to see Roman in his tux. And then if we are lucky we will have a baby at the end of August, but i seriously doubt it. We have two due dates Sept 4 and Sept 9th. We should probably stick with the 9th since thats probably when it will come. So besides the obvious reason of nicer weather you can see why we are excited to see Summer getting closer. We have a pretty fun one planned.

Roman is really getting big. Theses days he LOVES to be outside. He has so much fun throwing rocks and picking dandelions. He still talks a lot of jibberish, but is saying a several things. He says juice,dada,mama, boppa,juju, uncle, A,Jojo, and shoes. He probably says more than this but i can't think right now. He can identify most familiar animals and tell you what sounds they make. He loves movies. some of his favorites are Madagascar, Veggie tales, open Season and Tarzan. He's a little less picky with what he eats but requires a lot of time to eat. Today was the first day he has ever fallen asleep anywhere but in his bed and occasionally his car seat, but he fell asleep in his high chair. I wanted to get a picture, but I felt bad for him so i got him down and put him in bed. He really is such a huge blessing to us. I can't even remember what life was like before him.

this blog was just a little catch up blog-- here are some pictures

throwing rocks in the creek with grandma ma
Roman and Pabob ( Grandma ma and pabob are my grandma and grandpa and Romans greats)