Happy Thanksgiving!

I got this from my great grandma the other day and wanted to share!

'Twas the night of Thanksgiving,

But I just couldn't sleep

I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep

The leftovers beckoned - 

The dark meat and white

But I fought the temptation, with all of my might

Tossing and turning with anticipation

The thought of a snack became infatuation.

So, I raced to the kitchen,

Flung open the door 

and gazed at the fridge, full of goodies galore.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes

pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.

I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,

'till all of the sudden, I rose off the ground.

I crashed through the ceiling,

floating into the sky

With a mouthful of pudding,

a handful of pumpkin pie

But I managed to yell as I soared past the trees -

Happy eating to all - pass the cranberries, please!

May your stuffing be tasty,

May your turkey be plump,

May your potatoes 'n gravy have nary a lump.

May your yams be delicious,

May your pies take the prize,

May your Thanksgiving dinner

stay off of your thighs!

May your Thanksgiving be blessed!

Catch up

Time to play catch up since I let time get away from me again!

Last week hubby's youngest brother, Uncle Paul, came out to visit. He maybe the last Uncle to meet his niece, Little Lady...

Feeding each other chips & salsa.

But he is the first Uncle to meet his nephew, Little Dude...

Not too sure that he can't break him.

On last Friday night we watched one of hubbies cousin's littlest while they took their oldest 3 to the movies. Little A is just a little over a month older than Little Lady, although you couldn't tell by how much smaller she is!

After little A got over the initial terror of mommy and daddy being gone, they had a lot of fun playing together.

We are still painting the nursery. The base colors are painted but the murals aren't up yet. We've been working on getting the transparencies just right. But we are getting closer! I'm excited to see all the details come together.

Excited for Thanksgiving this week! My mama is coming in from out of town and hubbies family is coming over on Thanksgiving day. My mom is going to stay until Sunday. Then just a few weeks until my dad and step-mom come out for Christmas. And my brothers too!!

I love the holidays.

....Days til Christmas!

Just 36!!

I'm still in shock that next week is Thanksgiving, let alone that Christmas is just a little over a month away. It's probably the unseasonably warm weather we have been having. That and having a newborn kinda makes the days run together anyway. :)

Speaking of the holidays coming up, that means Christmas cards and shopping!! I do love this time of year and all the fun stuff going on. But sometimes the to-do list can get hectic and overwhelming, at least it does for me.

I'm determined to enjoy this years holiday season and not let the time fly by and leave me only with memories of chaos and busyness. That includes doing some online shopping from the comfort of my own warm and cozy home.

One place I'll be shopping is at Shutterfly! They have a huge selection of Christmas cards to choose from, the problem for me is having to choose because there are SO MANY cute ones. Right now I'm really considering these unique story type cards:

I think it's creative and fun to use the card to summarize the highlights of our past year. What a great time of year to reflect on the reasons to be thankful and also remember the hard times that no doubt taught us a few things.

They also have great gifts that are personal and so sweet! From photo calendars, ornaments and mugs, they have a lot of great looking gifts for those sentimental people on your list. My grandmother loved to order these kind of gifts and even had a picture put on mouse pad that has made it's way into my mama's hands since my grandmother's passing. These gifts are timeless. :)

Another special gift would be a photo book.

I had one of these made earlier this year for Little Lady. I made her a memory book of pictures from her first year and it turned out great. She loves it!! They are so easy to make using their templates and all you do is pick the pictures you want to use and the text you want, if any for each page. They come in soft and hard back as well as different sizes and you pay by how many pages you end up using. I highly recommend these for grandparents or even for your kids to remember their favorite memories!!

Happy shopping everyone!

P.S. If you're a blogger and are interested in getting 50 FREE holiday cards....

Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterflyhttp://bit.ly/sfly2010 

Little Lady {16 months}

Today marks sixteen months for my sweet Little Lady.

It's so amazing to me to think about how just 16 months ago I gave birth to my daughter and now I have another little newborn. Almost doesn't seem possible!

She is talking so much more these days! Its very exciting. I thought it would be fun to list the many words that I hear from my first born on a regular basis: car, Tree, Shirt, Cool, Cold, Poo, Bible, Shoe, Snack, Cookie, Hot, Sock & the newest word SNOW!!

{She actually says more but I can't think of them at the moment! Also these words don't all sound really clear but she says a sound that associates with the correct object.}

Little Lady loves to play pretend. She'll pretend to cook and eat and even loves to offer her prepared food to others! She will pretend to spray Pam and pour things as well as stir her ingredients together! It's so cute.

Books are a very popular to do in Little Lady's daily activities! She brings us book after book and her favorite thing to do is point at all the images and wait for us to say what that object is. There are two books that get most of her attention:

And the other one is a book of animals that she loves to identify by making the sounds each animal makes. Her favorite sounds to make are a lion, sheep, dog, cat, monkey, horse, owl, and a bumblebee!

Little Lady has already started telling me when she has a poopy diaper by coming to me and saying 'poo' while pointing to her hind end.

Puzzles are another favorite right now. She has an alphabet one and two animal ones and she's getting better with them everyday! And she's doing a great job learning her shapes and practices those using her shapes 'cookie jar' that has shape cut outs and she has to match the shapes and push them through a matching hole.

Mommy and daddy are so proud to have you as our daughter, Little Lady.
We love watching you grow and learn everyday.
You are always making us laugh!
We love you so much.

Comparison

Just for comparison sake...

Little Dude: 1 month

Little Lady: 1 month

Little Dude {1 month}

You are already 1 month old, my son.

I'm not sure how much you weigh, but you have nearly out grown your newborn size clothes!

You are already wearing size 1 diapers, that means no more itty bitty newborn ones.

During the daytime you're awake for several hrs now and at night you have on 3.5-4 hr stretch and then you're awake every 2 hours to eat. Not at all like your sister who was sleeping much more through the night at your same age.

You eat about every 2.5-3 hours through the day. You are starting to fill out! :)

We introduced the bottle to you for the first time on Friday and you took it like a champ! I wouldn't even bother with it if I didn't have to be away from you for one weekend a month, but right now that's how it has to be.

You will follow an object with eyes if I move it slowly in front of you and you are starting to focus more.

Your nursery is coming along, daddy is finishing up painting today! For now you still sleep in our room in the pack'n'play by our bed.

You already have a fussy time in the evenings, you just seem more gassy.

We love you and we thank God for your little life.

Love,

Mommy

Finger Painting

Yesterday Little Lady became an artist.

This is a fun, simple, & safe activity!

We made finger paint using:

2 tbsp flour

water

food coloring

That's it!! 

Just add enough water to make a paste and food coloring to make it bright. 

Then I put down wax paper {I actually taped it down}.

And let the artist eat, er... emerge!

Baking with Little Lady

* Disclaimer: This video is long and maybe slightly boring to some but it's really for the grandparents anyway ;D

Little Lady in the kitchen from Katie B on Vimeo.

4 weeks old

Little Dude - 4 wks from Katie B on Vimeo.

Today, Little Dude, you are 4 weeks old and we are that much more in love with you!

Even big sister likes to play with your piggy wiggies {toes} and teach you where your nose, mouth, eyes and ears are.

Daddy loves 'watching' sports with you. He's even more looking forward to the days he can teach you to play them.

And your mama, she just loves the moments when you calm down just at the sound of her voice and when you stop crying and practically fall right to sleep just because she knows exactly how you like to be held, bounced and rocked.

You are one loved Little Dude.

Love,
Mommy

The one where Little Lady holds Little Dude

Sibling love from Katie B on Vimeo.

One fish, Two Fish...

We waited for baby #2 to come along to decorate and set up the second nursery. We knew we wanted a gender specific nursery, we like that better than gender neutral. But since we didn't find out boy or girl til he was born it meant we would have to wait...

I already knew that if we were having a boy that we wanted to do a Dr Suess theme!! Since we had a boy thats exactly what we are going to do. I don't know if you've ever looked for Dr. Seuss themed nursery stuff but anything thats actually cute is difficult to find. Even just Dr. Seuss themed fabric is rare and when you do find it's expensive!

But we are determined. My husband grew up reading and loving Dr. Seuss books, so after discovering that his favorite all time book from when he was little is "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish"thats what our nursery theme for Little Dude is going to be based on. I think its fitting and quite adorable for a little man!

So I went out in search of the perfect fabric to make a crib bumper...

and I found this:

It's actually that t-shirt fabric, I love it! So I'm using the stripes for the out side and a super soft fleece in red on the inside. I'm also going to make a couple fitted bed sheets in blue, hopefully t-shirt fabric if I can find it.

We are planning on painting the walls a light teal/sky blue. On one wall we'll have a friend paint this design on the wall:

And we also plan on having her paint a growth chart on the wall after modifying this:

{We plan to change the signs to say "One foot, Two foot... all the way up to Four foot.}

I am really excited to see the finished project but it will probably be a couple more weeks until it's all finished. We will hopefully be buying his crib this weekend and hubby will have to refinish and do a little repair on a dresser someone gave us! {Yay for free!!}

Of course I'll post when it's finished but I wanted to share a sneak preview. How nice of me, I know!

Always.

Hold on to Jesus
Erin O'Donnell/ Janna Long


You're a little piece of heaven
You're a golden ray of light

And I wish I could protect you
From the worries of this life
But if there's one thing I could tell you
It's no matter what you do
Hold to Jesus, He's holding onto you


The world will try to tell you
That might is more than right
And beauty's on the outside
And being good's a losing fight
But remember what I've told you
'Cause the world will make you choose
Hold to Jesus, He's holding on to you

Hold on to Jesus, and cling to His love
Rest deep in His mercy, whenever things get rough
And don't lose sight of His goodness
And don't ever doubt this truth
That when you hold to Jesus
He's holdin onto you, Yeah

Hear me dear Jesus
Rock this little one to sleep
Keep her close when she's scared
And give her grace when she is weak
I know she'll stumble, but I know she'll make it through
If you hold on to her, just like you said you'd do
Hold her Jesus so she'll hold on to you

These lyrics touch my heart so much. If I am able to communicate anything to my sweet, precious baby girl {she will always be my baby girl, even when she's a grown woman} it would be the message of this song.

I've blogged about struggling with fear before. I am a worrier by nature, God is redeeming that everyday more and more. But more than just fear in general I really struggle with fear in regards to my kids. It can be a paralyzing reality to think that I won't be able to protect my baby girl from all pain, evil and wicked thing in this big world.

But...


There is one, and only one who can protect her and when bad things happen {and we all know that they will...} He will always be there for her to comfort her and to redeem all that is forsaken in this fallen world. Praise Jesus, that He is there for my baby, always. And that He is capable of keeping her from so much more than I ever will be able to keep her from.

So not only does this song bring comfort to me in my fears by reminding me that Jesus is holding my baby, even when I can't. It also reminds me that my deepest desire and job as her parent is to love her and point her to the only one who will always be there. And to cling to Him, no matter what.

I think I'll start practicing teaching her this by first doing so myself.

This is what it's all about.

Little Lady is going on night number two of a 102 fever. Last night she slept in our bed with us from about 10:30 on. Let's just say she's about the only one who got any sleep...

Well Little Dude slept, but nothing really keeps him from sleep except a hungry belly or the occasional gas bubble refusing to release from within. Thankfully there weren't many of those last night.

And with the fever still hanging around and Tylenol and ibprophin barely taking the edge off, it looks like we'll be having a repeat of last night.

I'm starting to realize this is what motherhood is all about.

Maybe not all about. Of course there are a lot of wonderful easy moments were everything just seems to go right. But we all know that just isn't reality all the time. We wouldn't enjoy those moments if they were.

But then there are the times when one child is sick and needs your full attention. And the other is a newborn and needs your full attention. It's hard, and one of them has to cry for a few minutes even though you just wish God had given you a set of arms for each one.

But these are my babies and I honestly wouldn't trade a minute with them for the world.

Our Little Punkins

I know it's late but here are our Little's on the 31st.

We didn't really do anything special.

Little Lady helped daddy carve pumpkins on Saturday

and we handed out candy to trick or treaters on Sunday evening.

Monkey Mondays

The last couple of Monday's have been what we have dubbed "Monkey Mondays!"

We found this place called Little Monkey Bizness, it's an indoor play place for kids 0-7. We've taken the Littles 3 times now and it's been so fun to watch Little Lady gain confidence in her abilities as she explores the equipment and tries new things.


The first time we went she was timid and we had to kind of coax her to try out the slides and to go on the equipment. Today we both sat on the side and let her roam where ever, she was running all over all the place and trying things all on her own!

We plan to take the Littles there on Mondays and make it a family activity! We even tell Little Lady it's 'Monkey Monday' and we're going to go monkey around and she makes monkey sounds and gets so excited. :)

For this child we pray.

"This is our prayer: That our child's love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that s/he may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God."

(from Philippians 1:10)

When we dedicated Little Lady to Jesus back in July we made a commitment to pray for her regularly. This is something I can't help but do because I struggle with being fearful and worrying about her safety and well being. But I want to start praying for her with purpose, for her character as a person and the woman of God she was created to be.

Of course this goes for Little Dude too! Since I'm up several times through out the night to nurse him, I might as well make good use of that time. Part of the tools our church provides when parents dedicate their Littles is a list of verses to pray over them. My plan and commitment from here on out is to pray a verse over my littles for a week. I'd like blog the verse and journal about it but that may or may not happen from week to week but I'll do my best.