A letter to Ella on her First Birthday

Dear Ella,

Tomorrow you will be ONE! I can't even believe it. You're my third and of all three of you your first year has gone by the fastest. It makes me sad. When people ask me how old you are I still want to say 7 months..ha! Don't ask why its 7 months, but I do. It's so hard to believe you are one. You are our little surprise. It's a funny story, so on the eve of your first birthday, I think I will share : ) We had just moved to our new house, Avery was 8 months old, and we had just booked our first vacation just daddy and I for Mexico. I was feeling kinda sensitive, more emotional, than normal. I was exhausted and (the tale tale sign for your mama) I started having break outs on my face. I joked with daddy that I may be pregnant. He laughed and said, "That would be fun, its about time we have another baby", remember Avery was 8 months old. Anyways, one day while I was doing our big grocery trip I just decided to get a pregnancy test, you know just to put that question out of my mind. So while I was unloading groceries I ran into the bathroom, took the test, and continued to unload groceries. I knew it would negative but I needed to be certain so imagine my surprise when I walked in and before my eyes was a bright pink + sign. You know how I told your dad, I text him. Ha! I sent him a picture of the test and it said, Ready to have another baby?

I have to be honest I'm a planner and I was completely taken off guard. I was selfish and worried if I would enjoy Mexico as much being pregnant, I worried because I still hadn't lost my weight from having Avery, I was worried about Avery. I thought that having another baby would somehow take away from her "babyhood" and was just scared that I wasn't ready yet to have another baby.

Well you know what? You were the BEST surprise ever! I'm so glad that the unexpected happened to me. I loved Mexico, I still haven't lost all the weight and you and your sister are close in age and will always be so close in life. None of those fears ever amounted to anything!

My pregnancy was wonderful and my delivery couldn't have been better. 3 pushes and you were here.You were so mad and didn't stop crying for what felt like HOURS and baby you were so red..ha! You were/are absolutely beautiful. You fit immediately into our family. Roman adored you and Avery was smitten. They still do/are. You are such an incredibly blessing to our family!

You look like your daddy and your brother. I love it! Your baby pictures and Roman's are, at times, almost identical. People say your looks are definitely Laney, although, I see myself every once in awhile. You are a momma's girl and still want me close most of the time. You sleep like a champ taking two naps a day and all through the night. You are smaller than your brother and sister at one. You weigh a little over 20 pounds and wear 12/18 month clothes. You say mama, dada, roro,bye bye, and lots of jibberish : ) You love to clap your hands to music and love "If your happy and you know clap your hands." You finally will stay in a nursery. Thanks for that.

You are a pure joy to me and to all of us.

Here is what I pray and claim over you,

I pray that you will be healthy and strong. That you will grow to be a women of character and virtue, That you will love Jesus with your whole heart and you will come to know him early in your life and will be sensitive to him and his guidance. That you will have a discerning heart and won't be easily swayed by the "stuff" thats in this world. That you will be a confident girl and women. Who knows she's beautiful both inside and out but also understands that true beauty is inner beauty. That you will honor your dad and I bc that the first command with promise and its a good promise : ) That you will love and be close to your brother and sister, and lastly (I got this from Mrs. Gwen and I loved it) I pray you will be a mighty warrior in His kindgdom!

I love you Isabella Kate Laney. Happy 1st birthday (in 54 minutes).

Love,
Mom

A Letter to Ella on her First Birthday

Dear Ella,

Tomorrow you will be ONE! I can't even believe it. You're my third and of all three of you your first year has gone by the fastest. It makes me sad. When people ask me how old you are I still want to say 7 months..ha! Don't ask why its 7 months, but I do. It's so hard to believe you are one. You are our little surprise. It's a funny story, so on the eve of your first birthday, I think I will share : ) We had just moved to our new house, Avery was 8 months old, and we had just booked our first vacation just daddy and I for Mexico. I was feeling kinda sensitive, more emotional, than normal. I was exhausted and (the tale tale sign for your mama) I started having break outs on my face. I joked with daddy that I may be pregnant. He laughed and said, "That would be fun, its about time we have another baby", remember Avery was 8 months old. Anyways, one day while I was doing our big grocery trip I just decided to get a pregnancy test, you know just to put that question out of my mind. So while I was unloading groceries I ran into the bathroom, took the test, and continued to unload groceries. I knew it would negative but I needed to be certain so imagine my surprise when I walked in and before my eyes was a bright pink + sign. You know how I told your dad, I text him. Ha! I sent him a picture of the test and it said, Ready to have another baby?

I have to be honest I'm a planner and I was completely taken off guard. I was selfish and worried if I would enjoy Mexico as much being pregnant, I worried because I still hadn't lost my weight from having Avery, I was worried about Avery. I thought that having another baby would somehow take away from her "babyhood" and was just scared that I wasn't ready yet to have another baby.

Well you know what? You were the BEST surprise ever! I'm so glad that the unexpected happened to me. I loved Mexico, I still haven't lost all the weight and you and your sister are close in age and will always be so close in life. None of those fears ever amounted to anything!

My pregnancy was wonderful and my delivery couldn't have been better. 3 pushes and you were here.You were so mad and didn't stop crying for what felt like HOURS and baby you were so red..ha! You were/are absolutely beautiful. You fit immediately into our family. Roman adored you and Avery was smitten. They still do/are. You are such an incredibly blessing to our family!

You look like your daddy and your brother. I love it! Your baby pictures and Roman's are, at times, almost identical. People say your looks are definitely Laney, although, I see myself every once in awhile. You are a momma's girl and still want me close most of the time. You sleep like a champ taking two naps a day and all through the night. You are smaller than your brother and sister at one. You weigh a little over 20 pounds and wear 12/18 month clothes. You say mama, dada, roro,bye bye, and lots of jibberish : ) You love to clap your hands to music and love "If your happy and you know clap your hands." You finally will stay in a nursery. Thanks for that.

You are a pure joy to me and to all of us.

Here is what I pray and claim over you,

I pray that you will be healthy and strong. That you will grow to be a women of character and virtue, That you will love Jesus with your whole heart and you will come to know him early in your life and will be sensitive to him and his guidance. That you will have a discerning heart and won't be easily swayed by the "stuff" thats in this world. That you will be a confident girl and women. Who knows she's beautiful both inside and out but also understands that true beauty is inner beauty. That you will honor your dad and I bc that the first command with promise and its a good promise : ) That you will love and be close to your brother and sister, and lastly (I got this from Mrs. Gwen and I loved it) I pray you will be a mighty warrior in His kindgdom!

I love you Isabella Kate Laney. Happy 1st birthday (in 54 minutes).

Love,
Mom

Mom, I love Halloween

I am so glad Halloween is over. Does that make me a bad mom? Ha! I'm only sorta kidding. Its crazy trying to get all the kids the right costume and then to get them in them (or out of them). Between school parades and naptimes and dinner and trick or treating and bedtimes I was WORN out at the end of the day. Alot of work but totally worth it. Roman goes to Mothers Day Out on Mondays and Roman and Avery go Thursday so Monday morning  the kids wore their costumes and walked in a parade. I took Avery and let her walk with her class. It was cute. It's always fun to watch them in an enviroment I'm not in. Avery was so cute they have these long ropes with handles for the kids to hold onto (I need one of those). She just grabbed her ring and marched out there...all smiles. It was so cute. I got some cute pictures of her but I could not get my camera to take the picture when Roman walked past so the pictures aren't as good. WHile Roman was at school I tried (not very successfully) to get a few pictures of the girls. Avery isn't in to taking pictures. Oh well : )






This was the first year we took the kids trick or treating and they LOVED it! We live in a nice neighborhood and some of our best friends live in the neighborhood behind ours so our friends, Jada and Nathan and Emma, came and we trick or treated the neighborhoods. I really thought Roman would be intimidated and shy but boy was I wrong he RAN to the first door and the rest is history. Every lit up house : ) It was fun. I'm always so annoyed with the scary costumes....why??? I don't get it...or the slutty costumes for that matter, but that a soapbox I won't get on right now. We didn't even round the corner before Emma looked right at a scary face...grrr. Oh well we just told her it was pretend and that worked for her.

 

 

 

It was a good day, busy, but good. As we were walking Roman looked up and said, "mom I love trick or treating." Ha! It was all worth it!

It was past Ella's bedtime so she wasn't too much fun.

*Not sure why the pictures look all crazy...sorry...figuring out the new blogger : )

Dream Home...

We love our home and enjoy being so close to everything and being so much closer to JM's office. The 45 minute commute twice a day when you have little ones with early bedtimes definitely takes a toll not to mention its EXPENSIVE. Although we love our home the dream is to one day buy 5-10 acres (or more if possible) and build a house on. The intention would be to build the house we want to live on for the rest of our lives. iAnyways, I've saved this plan for a long time on my computer but I thought, "hey I can post it to pinterest and know I won't lose it." Well as usual I couldn't post a pin. I'm seriously challenged in this area so Im posting it here. I love it!!!

Here is the website just so Ill have it forever : )
http://southernlivinghouseplans.com/plans/SL024

and here are some interior pics of an actually home built by this plan.
http://landmark24.com/movein_detail.php?inv=281

That is all : )

Honey there's a tag under your arm

Yes thats what I heard as I reached out to pay the teller at Taco Bueno (no its not on my diet : )) today. Sometimes I just want to curl up and die. Seriously, the bad thing is I've worn my new coat 3 times and I've apparently have had a big tag hanging from the left armpit everytime and no one has told me. I have a bad habit of not taking a real close look in the mirror before I leave. It is not uncommon to realize my shirt is on backwards or even worse inside out. About a year ago I was sitting in CHURCH when my mother in law came and sat down, she smiled real big and leaned over and whispered " I think your shirt is inside out." Lord have mercy....can you say embarassing!

Anyways, that was the most embarrassing part of my day and was definitely a reminder to SLOW DOWN and check myself out a little more before I walk out the door.

Roman and Avery both went to Mothers Day Out today. Thursdays are so nice. Its amazing how easy being out and about is with one baby. That one baby, Ella, is really getting much easier. Thank you Lord! The other day I was telling John Mark that Ella is a few weeks from being the age Avery was when I found out I was pregnant again. What in the world?! John Marks reply was, "makes sense Ella is getting easier I can see how we were thinking we could have another one." Apparently he forgot Ella was the surprise of the century. Thats ok I wouldn't change that surprise for anything. All that to say, I want another baby, just one, and no not now, but I'm completely certain I want another. The truth is as tired and as frustrated as I get sometimes this is absolutely what I was made to do. Its not all of who I am and there's alot more to me than wife and mommy but right now that the complete focus and I do love it. After I had Ella I thought, " this is it," I can't believe I have three kids. Truth is I think I would have three more (don't tell JM).

My heart is full.

Whose wouldn't be...look at them!

Sweet Mother of Mary

Seriously I have been working for hours on this blog and this is what it looks like...ha. What in the world?! I've been ready to pull my hair out. if anyone knows how to widen the header your help is greatly appreciated!

It does feel good to at least feel up to blogging again. Sometimes its just overwhelming. I read so many blogs and they all do something different for me. Some challenge me to be a Godly women, some of them give me great ideas for crafts or cooking, others challenge me in parenting, but all of them in some way encourage me. So when I sit down to blog I feel so "inadequate". I'm not a great storyteller and truth be told some days I just want to say "screw it", how encouraging is that??

Then it occured to me that all the blogs I love the most are honest and raw. They (the bloggers) are just documenting life. So thats my new perspective, raw, no matter what it is or how I feel I want this to be "real". I'm a stay at home mom to three great kids and sometimes I have to sit and count back when they had their last bath..ha so I definitely do a poor job keeping up with their baby books. So this will serve as a place to document the happenings of the Laney house, and whatever else goes fleeting through my brain.

Masons Giveaway

Masons is having a AWESOME giveaway. All you have to do is like them on facebook to get a chance to win the $500 giftcard. How fun would that be!!! Check it out

Alot has happened since the last time I was on here. First and most importantly I gave birth to miss Ella Kate. My delivery was amazing by far the best experience I have ever had, not that I've had a very bad one, neverless this was truly ideal. We were induced March 9th. They told us to be there at 5 am we pulled into the hospital right as another women was very painfully walking into the ER in full labor. John Mark told me to hurry we needed to beat her in...ha. I told him I didnt think it worked that way. Turns out she wasnt the only spontaneous labor to come in that morning. We sat in the waiting room until 7. Its weird to wait in a waiting room at a hospital waiting to be induced. It was about 8:30 before I got my epidural and Dr. Hix broke my water and at 1:40 and 3 pushes later little Ella was here. She was a screamer. My loudest baby for sure. I was actually concerned she cried for so long but after an hour she nursed like a champ and fell fast asleep. She weight 7 pound 14 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. We had so many people come visit it was a huge blessing to us. Knowing you are loved and that the people you love also love your children and celebrate with you is priceless. We are VERY blessed! So here we are 4 weeks later..... Its been the shortest long month EVER...ha. It feels like yesterday I was having Ella and she still feels like a new newborn, but its been a month. At the same time it feels like shes always been here. She's a great baby and a terrific sleeper. Although she does sleep best if she's sleeping at my side or on my chest. She usually wakes up once or twice at night buy hey thats pretty stinkin good. Roman and Avery are doing great with her and show her their affection with a million hugs and kisses a day: ) They are my angels. I worried about Avery and adjusting. I remember finding out I was pregnant with Ella if I was honest I was disappointed. I feel so guilty saying that, but I can say now that I'm so happy and would change nothing about my sweet little unplanned baby. Anyways, on top of my long list of "what are we going to do's" I was worried about Avery. She's my baby and I was worried about taking something away from her and truth be told it kinda did. She is 18 months old, a baby, but shw looks so big and she's a big sister. I need/expect her to have a longer attention span and more patience than anyone really should have at her age, but next to a newborn she looks so big. Some days I step back and remember shes just a baby and I put ella in her swing and just sit and hold Avery. i kiss her sweet forehead and take her in. I know how fast all this goes and I try to memorize everything about her. Her chubby cheeks, the heaviness of her sleepy eyes, her soft sweet curls, and the sweet ways she say, "yeah" when I ask her a question. A precious girl she is and i love her. Did i mention she looks just like me when I was little. Sometimes i look at her and it like looking at an old photo of me. Its special having a kiddo that looks just like you. Anyways, when I was pregnant with Ella I focused so much on everything I might be taking away from Avery, but now I realize how great it is. I gave her a little sister that she will grow up with and being very close to. They are going to be the best of friends and that in itself is such an amazing gift. I look forward to watching them grow up. Roman, well he melts my heart. He loves being a big brother and he is good at it and he's such a great helper. Right now he's all about his trains. Thomas is his favorite and EVERYTHING in his life pertains to Thomas in one way or another. For example, I'll ask him how many chicken . nuggets he wants and he'll say 5 like James, or Roman whats your favorite color to which he'll reply blue like Thomas. When he wants a popcicle he'll say can I have a green one like Percy or yellow like Molly. Hilarious! He also quotes movies all the time. All the time. Most of what he says are quotes. He keeps me in stitches. We were at the zoo this weekend and he said, "look at that freakin horned animal." The other morning he ran into the living room right after waking up, he threw his hands in the air and said, "look how awake I am". Its funny and wonderful how your realtionship with your child changes as they grow. Roman is so much easier than he was a year ago. He's so fun to talk to and i feel like he understands most everything i say. It brings a whole other dimension to our relationship. For how easy it has become in some ways Im also struggling big time. He's very headstrong and I'm not so much. I feel overwhelmed when he's mad and yelling and slamming doors. I get so mad and lose my temper and therefore become completely uneffective. I feel like a complete failure often when dealing with him and with Avery for that matter. This momma stuff IS NOT for wimps! Praying for help. My desire for Roman to be kind and loving to have a gentle spirit and a heart for others. I want him to love the Lord and to come to know Him at a young age and be a mighty warrior and some days I'm afraid I'm not teaching him or showing him what he needs to see. It scares me that I may fail and it could cost him a lot. One thing I do see all the time is his sweet spirit. He loves to bring me flowers and love on Ella and Avery. The other day he yelled at me i didn't say anything I was too frustrated..about 20 minutes later he came up to me and said, "sorry I yelled at you." It was amazing lol and so sweet. I was so proud of him in that moment that he knew he did something wrong and wanted to apologize. It's in those moments that i realize I'm not screwing him up too bad. I love to go watch him sleep at night. He's such a beautiful sleeper. Roman looks so handsome when he sleeps. It could be his 6 inch dark eyelashes that melt me. Its hard to believe he's almost four. I love to watch him sleep because no matter how hard the day was I'm always reminded in his quiet room watching my big baby sleep how precious these days are and how fast they go by. Those fast days add up up and before I know it years have passed and i know one day I'll be watching my 15 year old boy sleep yearning for these days. My "new" life as mom to 3 kids is a lot harder than I ever expected but its totally worth it. These children and their dad are my world. Lord please help me show them what a blessing they are to me. Help my words, my tone, my expressions, everything about me show then how precious they are to me and how much I love them. Thank you for choosing to give them to me and entrusting me with their lives. I know I'm pretty special to you because you chose to give me them. Thank you. Please protect them and keep them safe. In Jesus name

Back and ready to blog

Today I'm back to blogging and after thinking about it for awhile i decided to put it on private. I've always wanted to keep a journal or a diary but never stuck with it very long. It takes too long to write it all down and my mind moves way to fast. Blogging helps with that i can type much faster than I can write ha. So, this will be my e-diary :) Alot has happened since the last time I was on here. First and most importantly I gave birth to miss Ella Kate. My delivery was amazing by far the best experience I have ever had, not that I've had a very bad one, neverless this was truly ideal. We were induced March 9th. They told us to be there at 5 am we pulled into the hospital right as another women was very painfully walking into the ER in full labor. John Mark told me to hurry we needed to beat her in...ha. I told him I didnt think it worked that way. Turns out she wasnt the only spontaneous labor to come in that morning. We sat in the waiting room until 7. Its weird to wait in a waiting room at a hospital waiting to be induced. It was about 8:30 before I got my epidural and Dr. Hix broke my water and at 1:40 and 3 pushes later little Ella was here. She was a screamer. My loudest baby for sure. I was actually concerned she cried for so long but after an hour she nursed like a champ and fell fast asleep. She weight 7 pound 14 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. We had so many people come visit it was a huge blessing to us. Knowing you are loved and that the people you love also love your children and celebrate with you is priceless. We are VERY blessed! So here we are 4 weeks later..... Its been the shortest long month EVER...ha. It feels like yesterday I was having Ella and she still feels like a new newborn, but its been a month. At the same time it feels like shes always been here. She's a great baby and a terrific sleeper. Although she does sleep best if she's sleeping at my side or on my chest. She usually wakes up once or twice at night buy hey thats pretty stinkin good. Roman and Avery are doing great with her and show her their affection with a million hugs and kisses a day: ) They are my angels. I worried about Avery and adjusting. I remember finding out I was pregnant with Ella if I was honest I was disappointed. I feel so guilty saying that, but I can say now that I'm so happy and would change nothing about my sweet little unplanned baby. Anyways, on top of my long list of "what are we going to do's" I was worried about Avery. She's my baby and I was worried about taking something away from her and truth be told it kinda did. She is 18 months old, a baby, but shw looks so big and she's a big sister. I need/expect her to have a longer attention span and more patience than anyone really should have at her age, but next to a newborn she looks so big. Some days I step back and remember shes just a baby and I put ella in her swing and just sit and hold Avery. i kiss her sweet forehead and take her in. I know how fast all this goes and I try to memorize everything about her. Her chubby cheeks, the heaviness of her sleepy eyes, her soft sweet curls, and the sweet ways she say, "yeah" when I ask her a question. A precious girl she is and i love her. Did i mention she looks just like me when I was little. Sometimes i look at her and it like looking at an old photo of me. Its special having a kiddo that looks just like you. Anyways, when I was pregnant with Ella I focused so much on everything I might be taking away from Avery, but now I realize how great it is. I gave her a little sister that she will grow up with and being very close to. They are going to be the best of friends and that in itself is such an amazing gift. I look forward to watching them grow up. Roman, well he melts my heart. He loves being a big brother and he is good at it and he's such a great helper. Right now he's all about his trains. Thomas is his favorite and EVERYTHING in his life pertains to Thomas in one way or another. For example, I'll ask him how many chicken . nuggets he wants and he'll say 5 like James, or Roman whats your favorite color to which he'll reply blue like Thomas. When he wants a popcicle he'll say can I have a green one like Percy or yellow like Molly. Hilarious! He also quotes movies all the time. All the time. Most of what he says are quotes. He keeps me in stitches. We were at the zoo this weekend and he said, "look at that freakin horned animal." The other morning he ran into the living room right after waking up, he threw his hands in the air and said, "look how awake I am". Its funny and wonderful how your realtionship with your child changes as they grow. Roman is so much easier than he was a year ago. He's so fun to talk to and i feel like he understands most everything i say. It brings a whole other dimension to our relationship. For how easy it has become in some ways Im also struggling big time. He's very headstrong and I'm not so much. I feel overwhelmed when he's mad and yelling and slamming doors. I get so mad and lose my temper and therefore become completely uneffective. I feel like a complete failure often when dealing with him and with Avery for that matter. This momma stuff IS NOT for wimps! Praying for help. My desire for Roman to be kind and loving to have a gentle spirit and a heart for others. I want him to love the Lord and to come to know Him at a young age and be a mighty warrior and some days I'm afraid I'm not teaching him or showing him what he needs to see. It scares me that I may fail and it could cost him a lot. One thing I do see all the time is his sweet spirit. He loves to bring me flowers and love on Ella and Avery. The other day he yelled at me i didn't say anything I was too frustrated..about 20 minutes later he came up to me and said, "sorry I yelled at you." It was amazing lol and so sweet. I was so proud of him in that moment that he knew he did something wrong and wanted to apologize. It's in those moments that i realize I'm not screwing him up too bad. I love to go watch him sleep at night. He's such a beautiful sleeper. Roman looks so handsome when he sleeps. It could be his 6 inch dark eyelashes that melt me. Its hard to believe he's almost four. I love to watch him sleep because no matter how hard the day was I'm always reminded in his quiet room watching my big baby sleep how precious these days are and how fast they go by. Those fast days add up up and before I know it years have passed and i know one day I'll be watching my 15 year old boy sleep yearning for these days. My "new" life as mom to 3 kids is a lot harder than I ever expected but its totally worth it. These children and their dad are my world. Lord please help me show them what a blessing they are to me. Help my words, my tone, my expressions, everything about me show then how precious they are to me and how much I love them. Thank you for choosing to give them to me and entrusting me with their lives. I know I'm pretty special to you because you chose to give me them. Thank you. Please protect them and keep them safe. In Jesus name

Fun Giveaway..check it out

Alright all you pregnant girlies. A sweet blogger, Megan, at http://www.inthiswonderfullife.com/ is hosting a fun giveaway for c-u-t-e maternity clothes. Go over and check it out!

Its been a LONG time...and so much has happened : )

Wow! I don't even know where to start. I've missed blogging but once you've been gone awhile its hard to get back into it...know what I mean?

So we moved like 6 months ago...ha. Its kept us busy, but we love it. We are so close to so many of our friends and John Mark is much closer to work which is great for all of us. We see him more and thats great!

Our other surprising news came a few months after we moved in...we are going to have another baby ; ) It took us awhile to get over the shock but we are very excited. Its a girl, Isabella Kate a.k.a Ella Kate and she should make her debut sometime around March 11th. I think she will come a little earlier than that (wishful thinking).


So you can see that our life is still as busy as ever.

It helps me to post this little "catch up" maybe it wont be so long before i update

Its been a LONG time...and so much has happened : )

Wow! I don't even know where to start. I've missed blogging but once you've been gone awhile its hard to get back into it...know what I mean?

So we moved like 6 months ago...ha. Its kept us busy, but we love it. We are so close to so many of our friends and John Mark is much closer to work which is great for all of us. We see him more and thats great!

Our other surprising news came a few months after we moved in...we are going to have another baby ; ) It took us awhile to get over the shock but we are very excited. Its a girl, Isabella Kate a.k.a Ella Kate and she should make her debut sometime around March 11th. I think she will come a little earlier than that (wishful thinking).

So you can see that our life is still as busy as ever.

It helps me to post this little "catch up" maybe it wont be so long before i update

Changes Changes Changes

We are a busy household lately. Most of you know me and know that we have been excited about the month of March and not because its our birthday month, but because we were planning on putting our house on the market. Well we did indeed list, but decided for a host of reasons leasing our home was a better fit for now for us.

I'm a stresser. I worry and fret about everything, but I have prayed hard about all this that God would bring everything about in perfect timing and I have had a lot of peace about everything. We found a house almost immediately. Its much closer to JM's work, larger which gives us a lot of growing room, and very nice, AND in our price range. We fell in love. So we started praying hard that we could find good lessors, we ended up making an offer before signing a lease, but the next day some super sweet girls looked at our home and definitely wanted to lease it from us. I know these girls and they are AMAZING girls and I'm so excited to have them as renters.

I didn't expect to get emotional over moving but I have. Roman has a mural in his room that Nana painted for him and the girls mentioned painting the room, of course, thats fine with me but I told them they had to do it. I just couldn't and as I was telling them I felt like my throat was swelling and I wanted to cry. This home has the most special memories. We were just newlywed when we built it and didn't have a clue what we were doing : ) We have accomplished and lived so much in this home. We've made babies in this home, I told JM I was pregnant all four sweet times in this living room, most important and special we've brought home both of our sweet babies to this house. This is our home, it feels like home, it smells like home, and it will be weird to make home somewhere else.



That being said I have much more emotion than I thought I would, but I'm so excited about our move. A new home, new design, and fresh start and clean slate. I'm excited to be so much closer to so many friends, most importantly closer to JM work therefore seeing him much more. It's going to be great!!!

That is why we have been so busy a lot has happened in 18 days : ) Our offer on this house was accepted and we will hope to close on or if we are really lucky a few days before April 30th. Please pray everything goes smoothly and there are no kinks.

Here is a picture of our new house aka Ro Ro's bunny rabbit house ( A bunny currently lives in the backyard). Roman today was talking about sleeping in his bunny rabbit house, I just hope that bunny will like Zeus and Midas...I'm thinking not : )

Roman 2 years 8 months

Roman Carter you are getting so big. You are a TALKER!!! You never stop and none of us know where you get that from : ) Every stage of your life has been my favorite, but I'm having a lot of fun in this stage. You are growing so much so quickly which is a little sad, but talking to you and having you talk back is so mucg fun. I can see you figuring things out moment by moment. What I mean by that is for example, the other day we met your dad for lunch and you put on his badge. You were sitting there looking at his picture and back at him and back at the picture. You kept saying "Walmart", John Mark explained that he worked at Wal-Mart. It was like we could literally see a light bulb go off. So now EVERYTIME you see the Walmart flower design you say " Wal-mart, daddy's work."

You LOVE Ice Age the movie and have learned how to work the DVR you have a favorite part and you rewind it and rewind it and rewind it. It's cute seeing someone so young work the remote : ) Its funny to because you know commercials and movies by heart. The other day the Kay jeweler commercial came on and you sang " Every kiss begins with K." Or you will say "Don't get mad, get glad".

You are very in tune with your emotions along with everyone else's. Today I was getting on to you and you said, "Momma happy." It worked I cracked up.

You are so sweet and such a genuine kid. You are so kind to your sissy. You love to kiss on her and talk to her. You help me out all the time. You'll throw a diaper away, give Avery a paci, talk to her when she's upset and this week you even fed her...ha. I hadn't planned that, but when I got up to go get something I turned around and you were feeding her. I had to take a picture so you did it for a minute or two : )

Nothing is secret anymore around you. If you or someone else toots you let the whole room know. You think its so cool (thanks to your dad). You sing ALL the time, and this week we learned if we want you to eat we have to sing, "if your happy and you know it eat your sandwich" and you grab it and take a bite, so needless to say we've been doing a lot of singing.

you love to pray and your favorite part is saying AMEN. You love it!! It's so sweet.

I could go on and on with cute and funny things. Mostly I hope you know how much joy you bring to my life you are so sweet and I love you so much.

Mom






This I never want to forget! The way you look when you sleep and everytime you just wake up you rub your eyes and shake a little. Its so sweet!!

Avery Claire 6 Months

Mini photo shoot with Ave




We have been so incredibly busy around here and I'm ashamed to be so late do my monthly "updates" on the kids. I will share more on our crazy life later, but for now check out Miss Avery at 6 months.

Avery,

This month has been WONDERFUL!! You have always had a personality and I wouldn't want to make it sound otherwise, but this month you have really become more independent and so happy. When you were a month old we were in Hobby Lobby and all I wanted to do was look at the fabric. You screamed bloody murder the WHOLE time and Roman was frustrated and let me know about it the entire time we were in there. When I got to the register I must have looked so frazzled and I wanted to cry. Honestly I wanted to leave you both there...ha. Not really, but I was so completely overwhelmed I thought I could burst out in tears. Anyways, this sweet lady came over to me and put her hand on my shoulder and said, "Sweetie just get her to 6 month, everything changes at 6 months." Well secretly I have thought about that ALOT over the last few months, and you know what she was right. 6 months is THE month ; )

You are very happy and most of the time very content. In fact its usually just when you are sleepy and hungry that you fuss. You are eating everything. Your favorite food is applesauce and sweet potatoes and I mix them together a lot and you love love love them.

I've been trying to wean you but it has been with no luck...ha. I don't have the heart to let you cry and get really hungry so you'll take a bottle so....we haven't had much luck with that. At first i thought you just didn't like the bottle, but after putting juice in it and seeing you suck it down I concluded you HATE formula. Oh well, we'll get there it just won't happen overnight like I was hoping.

I took you to your 6 month checkup 2 weeks ago and you are 20 pounds and 27 inches long. I think you are going to be tall ; )

Some little facts about you now are--

You have two bottom teeth. They are so cute and I love seeing them when you flash your cheesy grin

You can roll over from your stomach to your back super easily. The last two days you have rolled from your back to your stomach, but you haven't figured it out as well yet. Soon you will be scooting around. I hope you do the worm/army crawl--I love that!!!

You wear mostly 12 month clothes

You wear size 4 diapers

You're simply precious and absolutely gorgeous. You are so fun. You bless our life so much. You daddy and brother adore you. The other day we were in Gabriella's ( a mexican restraunt in our town) and the man next to us was eating and talking to his wife and you kept smiling at him, but he wasn't looking at you so you started making this loud grunting noise (and you never took your eyes off him), when he finally looked at you you smiled really big. Cracked us all up. When he looked away you would start the noise again. It was so funny. Daddy and I always laugh about how detremined you are. You can't be distracted when we take something away you will bend and contort to all kinds of uncomfortable to find it again. You're a girl who knows what she wants, and honestly thats a good way to be, it just might make daddy and I crazy...ha.

This next month of life is going to be crazy, but you will do just fine.

I love you Avery Claire and can't believe in 6 short months you will be ONE. Time flies when your having fun and I'm certainly having fun with you.

Mom

Adoring daddy



Helping mommy sew and modeling your new dress!!!





Finally just day to day!!