One more birthday pic

My cousin took this pic of our family at the b-day party. We have so few pics as a family. Thanks, cuz!

I did get some pics!!

I grabbed Andy's phone a couple of times at the birthday party last Saturday and snapped a couple of pics.

Our party spilled over to another side of Chick-Fil-A

Andy's mom, sister, brother, and our friends, Brian and Brooke 

 The "designated" party side~Alisha, Michael, Alex and my mom on one side

 DeeDee, PeePaw and Carson at the head of the table

As a special treat, LG got to get her makeup done for the party. Back story~she was supposed to get a little makeup for her Aunt Sarah's wedding but I was running so behind that she couldn't go with me. I promised her that I would take her back and she could get it done. What better time than for her brother's 2nd bday party?!

At the MAC counter in Dillard's with Ms. Kim

 Rubbing her lipstick in :)

BTW~note her shirt says "Daddy's Girl" and guess who took her to get her makeup done...her daddy! If the shoe fits...right? ;)

It has NOT been 2 years!

I am in shock that my big baby is actually 2 years old! He has been the size of a 2 year old for about a year now but he was still my baby. Now he is talking up a storm, carrying on conversations, following directions, and playing with his sister, not just beside her.

He has the sweetest heart. If he thinks you are hurt or you need help, he will come over and offer his hand~literally. He will pat you on the head to say he's sorry and hug and kiss you even if he was just mad at you. He has a temper and throws whatever is in his hand or finds something to smack off the table but when I tell him, "NO!" He cries, sticks his fingers in his mouth, and comes right over for a hug.

HE.HAS.MY.HEART. 

It's no secret I am a sucker where he is concerned. More people than not have said, "You would never have done that with LG." But you moms of multiples can vouch for me~it's hard with the first to give in on anything, especially if you're an OCD nut like me. I felt like if I let her sleep in the bed with me, even just once, she would always want to sleep with me...for the rest of her life. If I let her drink chocolate milk, she would never drink white milk again. If I rocked her in the middle of the night when she cried out for me, she would always want me to do it. A lot of "always" and "nevers" but now that she's 5 and she doesn't have to have me rock her to sleep or only drink chocolate milk, I see that most things are just phases and if I'm not careful I will miss out on some sweet moments. So, having said that, I am trying to make up with it for Carson and if you don't like it (Andy, Mama), you can...well, just deal with it. :)  

He got his first hair cut (and first sucker) last Tuesday~11/12/13~I didn't do it on that date on purpose but it sure does make it easy to remember. My hair dresser tried to just cut off the ends and leave shorter curls but I quickly told her that I wanted those curls cut off. We have enough curls in our household already, I am not trying to see anymore right now. :) Here he is after the cut:

 Sometimes the fingers are better than the sucker :)

 He had his birthday party at Chick-Fil-A, mostly because we don't have a house to have people over to right now and because I didn't want to have to clean up anything. It was Elmo themed. All the kids except for Carson played in the playroom. He is extremely cautious of things and steers clear of any trace of chaos. He also doesn't like to be sung to~the whole time we were singing "Happy Birthday" he was screaming, "No!" LOL! I was too busy trying to enjoy the moment and didn't get any pics. Sorry.

Lastly, he had his 2 year check up today with our back-up Dr~Dr. Harry Phillips. He meets all the development markers for his age, i.e. he is saying 2-word phrases~no mama, juice please (jew pees), my colors (my colees), etc. Some of his many new words are: Sissy, down (meaning pick me up), bless you (bess you), nope, and any word you ask him to say, he will try to say. He still goes to sleep between 6-630 pm and sleeps until 6 am. Even if we try to keep him up, he is ready to go to bed around 6 pm. He LOVES to color. He has colored a few times on the wall so we asked for someone to get him a magna-doodle for his b-day and thanks to She-sha (Alisha), that is his new favorite thing to do!! He has just started telling us when he's pooping. Sometimes he confuses pooting with pooping so there's a lot of diaper checks for no real reason. :) He loves Dora, Little Bill, and Elmo.

He is on the chart!!!!! I was shocked but apparently the rest of the babies are catching up to him. :)

Weight: 34 lbs (95%)

Height: 36 in (75%-90%)

Head: 51 cm (95%)

He got his last prevnar shot and a flu shot and only cried for a second~no tears though. It was more like he screamed at the nurse out of anger and then put his fingers in his mouth and was fine. He walked out by himself, said "Bye" to everyone and blew the nurses a kiss. :)

I am so excited to see what this next year has to offer for him and us~what new things he will do. He makes us laugh everyday and is so much fun to be around. I feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to be his mama. Thank you, thank you, Jesus! 

Getting closer...

Andy and I went by the house yesterday and the cabinets were in!!
Obviously, these are the kitchen cabinets. I am so happy with how it turned out. 

They have also finished bricking the outside,

 have stained the front doors, and added the stairs in the front.

Yippee!!

A little bit of this, a little bit of that...

We've had some pretty full weekends lately. We try to get out as much as possible since there's not a whole lot of space to move around in our apartment.
Last weekend, Andy's little sister, Sarah, got married. I was the matron of honor, Andy was an usher, and LG was the flower girl.

We had the rehearsal dinner Friday night; make-up, hair, and nails Saturday, and wedding Saturday night.

LG and I dancing at the reception.

By Sunday, we were exhausted!
This past weekend, we spent time with our friends, Brian and Brooke, Sunday night. We had dinner and let the kids run and play for hours. Carson was tired by 8:30, considering his bedtime is at 6:30 so he just laid on the floor and doodled on the etch a sketch.

Yesterday, before the kids went to school, Andy snapped this pic of them hanging out together on the floor in the kitchen. This is not a rarity~they love each other so much! Thank you Jesus!

A little honesty here

I thought it would be beneficial for me to document the feelings that I'm having right now~I mean, not at this very moment but at this current stage in my life.

Andy asked me yesterday if I was OK. I said, "Yes, why do you ask?" He said I seemed a little depressed. I didn't think I was acting any different but on my drive to cooking club last night, I took some time to reflect. I realized that I have been a little down lately. I am usually super excited about the holidays and decorating and all the activities that come with the busyness of the season but this year I just can't seem to get into it. 

I am unhappy in our current living situation. I feel like I'm in a perpetual state of traveling. You know, that feeling that you are a little unorganized but all will be well once you get "home." Well, at this particular moment I don't really have a home. All of my things are in storage. We packed EVERYTHING. I wanted to take only the necessities, knowing that the apartment wouldn't be big enough for much. That has left me feeling very unorganized, which if you know me at all, you know I thrive on being organized~almost to a fault. 

So what to do? I thought about it alot last night and I talked to Andy about it this morning on the drive to work. Andy reminded me that we prayed for this~we wanted to sell our house and build another. We knew that there would be a time of transition in between. We should be thankful that we have a place to live, when so many don't. We are healthy, we are together, and it is not permanent. So many times I say things but don't truly have it deeply rooted in my heart. For example, not long ago, when I posted about our new, less than sizable apartment, I said that "as long as we were together, wherever we were was home." But how can I feel the way I do now if I truly believed that deep within my heart?

I am on a mission now to find the positive in the situation and try to find joy in each day. It is my personality to think about "what if" but TODAY I'm going to think about "what IS" and thank God for all that He has blessed us with.

He is my refuge and strength~Psalm 46:1.

Can I get an AMEN??!!!! :)