Good times

So.

I have way, way too much to catch up on. It's been too long!

First and foremost, I want to say I am so, so excited about my new blog design. Miss Jaci Johnson, with FreelyMeDesigns, and also a friend of ours, designed it, and I am so proud. Thank you, Jaci! She is still doing finishing touches, like my signature and adding page tabs, but I love the almost finished product!

So, since I've written, the kids have gotten older, of course, and I would love to do a long update on their milestones. But, after our month-long trip to Houston and back, I think I am tired. I think I will just post pics of the trip, and call it good for now!

And what a crazy, fun adventure it was!

And yes, it was a long trip. I was a bit hesitant, to say the least, about taking my kids, who are both under 2, by the way, on a month long trip across Texas and staying in hotels and friends houses. But, Justin got the time off (in his normal schedule, he works seven days, then gets seven days off, so his vacation was a total of three weeks since he technically had one week of vacation saved up, if that makes sense!). So we packed our stuff, put away our fears, and did it! Of course, I am not complaining in any way. What a blessing to be able to do!

Justin's mother, Linda, came with us, and we visited her father, her sisters, and her brother and sister in law. She was wonderful to have with us, too, because she helped a TON with the kids. The only person missing was my mom, who I wished could have come with us too. She had to start work though. Work will get ya every time! We're actually talking about doing it again next year, and doing it earlier in the summer so she can come too. :)

So...all that said, I will share with ya where we went and what we did!

Our first stop was at Woody's Smokehouse in Centerville, Texas. Best. Food. Ever. And so awesome!

They had these little cookies with faces for kids, aisles of snacks, and yummy jars of jam. It was just the cutest little place and I would encourage anyone traveling through Centerville to stop there if they get a chance and eat. Great food and cute little things to buy. I also bought a little travel pillow here.

We stopped at a cute rest stop/park on the way to Houston (wish I could tell you exactly where it was but I can't remember! I just know it was pretty cool and easy to see from the road!) with slides and stuff. Kaleb liked it!

Got a good family shot there, which never happens! :) If only Mr. K was looking at the camera...but it's okay. It's still cute!

Great grandpa Nix!! :) We love him!!

This is in Shephard, Texas. I believe that's how you spell it. It's where Justin's Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Mike and cousins Erin and Zachary live. GORGEOUS. I love this place! This was taken right down the road from where they live! We took their family's go cart around the area. It reminds me of my grandparents place they had close to Louisiana, in east Texas. It's kind of serene. Random note: There are actually people who have airplanes in their garages here. I totally should have gotten a good picture of it, but was never able to.

Just us...having fun in the go cart. Little Miss Erin, Justin's cousin, is in the back! :) Out there it's fun to just roam the countryside in the go cart!

More of the beauty!

 

Just a random pic I took of Miss Brooke on our way to uncle Mike's church that Sunday morning.

The expression of joy says it all. Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Mike had gotten a little pool for us. :) 

Much love for our "homies" in the Dolen area! Dolen is right next to Shephard. I was able to have the privilege to sing at Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Mike's church, and it's an amazing church that we would no doubt attend if we lived in the area. Uncle Mike is the pastor, and Aunt Rebecca teaches Sunday School and is the church pianist. They have really made this church awesome and we are so, so excited to see how things progress with them! We would encourage anyone who passes through/goes to the Dolen area to check it out! :) 

Next destination was...Houston! While staying with Justin's aunt Audra and Uncle Johnny, we took Kaleb to the Kema Boardwalk! It's so pretty. 

We tried to get him to ride the train and not be scared....It didn't work. I think that if it didn't go through a scary tunnel with lights it might have been more a pleasant experience for him! Maybe next year...

But he did like the Clydesdale. We took a horsedrawn carriage ride. Fun! 

And...petting the stingrays was pretty cool in his book. And mine and Justin's! Pretty much the highlight of the evening. 

Loved all the tropical fish though. There are so many cool things to see at the Kema Boardwalk. 

Also gotta love the cool snake that comes down from the ceiling. But...not so cool to Kaleb. :( 

And...one of my FAVORITE parts of the trip...the Galveston waterfront. Oh. Boy. I LOVE the ocean. We jumped these waves! Oma (Justin's mom, Linda!) was very gracious to take the kids for us while we (me and Justin) played in the water. It was more fun than we've had in a while! 

Can you find the Justin? 

And, of course, since we were in the area, we couldn't leave this place out, now could we? Can you find him here? 

Or...this place, for that matter. 

And no, we did not take Kaleb on this ride. But it was pretty fun.

And the food was amazing.

Along with all the decor.

And so the next night, we had dinner on the beach with the kids and Oma. It was fun, but it didn't last as long as we'd have liked. I think we went a little late, and the kids were already getting tired. But, it was still fun and we can say we did it! 

Ignore the fuzziness of this one but I just had to include one of my sweet boy enjoying the beach! This is the way he was the whole time...Non. Stop. Action....Wait, that's the way he always is! :) 

 And the fun ship we rode! This was our next stop - Moody Gardens. Also while at Aunt Audra's. Aunt Audra and Uncle Mike are pretty gracious. They let us stay with them for a long time while we enjoyed all these fun places!

Daddo letting Little Miss get some air in the "rainforest" at Moody Gardens! 

So yeah. It's an iphone pic. But..once you get past that, it's pretty awesome. :) Love God's creation, and we got to see a lot of it on this trip! 

The kiddy splashpad in the waterpark at Moody Gardens! We have found, more so than ever, that Kaleb is most definitely a water fan. He is JUST like his Daddo and Momma!!When it comes to water, he's pretty fearless! He even went down the lazy river with us, where buckets of water are dumped on you randomly, and loved it!

Oma's hangout! She took care of the kids for me and Justin while we played for a bit by ourselves! Miss Brooke looks pretty comfy. Can you say, "Thank you, Oma."? :) 

This was one of our last stops before we left. Murdoch's is fun! It's also interesting to see where all the poles are that used to be the "old" Murdoch's! If you look close you can see them. 

I took this before we left Aunt Audra's. I think Justin had put his hat on her. Just thought it was cute! 

I am so sad that this one didn't turn out great, but we didn't get a chance to get another one! But Aunt Audra and Miss Brooke hung out each morning, just like this! 

Uncle Johnny and Kaleb! 

Oma and Kaleb on the ship!

Uncle Mike and Miss Brooke! 

Daddo and Kaleb's toy he bought! He loves it! It's a little shark with these little things sticking out of it's head!

Okay, so sleeping beauty has some stains on her shirt from the long drive home, but...couldn't resist. 

Had to make one last stop at Sam's on the way home. Came across some cool carts. I love that they have two seats! Awesome. 

And, to end Justin's vacation, we came home for a couple of days, then decided it would not be complete without a trip to see my parents before my mom started back to school for the year. On the agenda? To see my grandpa, of course! He's staying at a rest home in Midland. :( So yeah. Terrible quality photo (iphones..gotta love it!) but...had to include this one. One of my favorite people in the WORLD, my grandpa...well, let me rephrase that...Really, ALL of my favorite people are in this picture! You just have to look hard! My grandpa, my daughter, my son, my husband, and my mom. Justin's in the background with K, and my mom is helping to hold Miss Brooke in my grandpa's lap. Actually, I would venture to say that in a weird way, this is one of my favorite pictures ever! ;) 

So.

It's really late, and I need to hit the bed, otherwise I would so do some updates on the kiddos milestones. Miss B is going to be eight months this month, and K will be TWO!!!! We are going to have a "two two train party," and Momma is excited. I don't think I'll go quite as over the top as I did last year, though. I think we had too many sweets! But, I still look forward to it and will most definitely post about it! 

With that, I will leave you with this verse, which I love:

"I will sing the Lord's praise, for he has been good to me." Psalm 13:6 

Amen to that! Whew!

Time flies when you're having fun

As per usual, I would not want to disappoint, so we have lots of random little bits of info. to share this month! But...it's all fun! The Fourth of July will be a highlight for this blog, along with several new additions to our house! Sadly, our new additions to our family that Kaleb won, which we lovingly named, "Indy," for Independence, "Thomas," and "Jefferson," didn't make it...But we think it may have been that we didn't change their water frequently enough. Funny, though, because we've heard of goldfish (and have even done it!) thriving in trough water! Sad that they couldn't survive our nice little tank we got! However...we are going to replace the poor little guys with a Beta fish, which will be equally as fun! And hopefully, he will survive. We think, too, that the tank we got may have been too small for three fish. Maybe we will have better luck with just one! :)

So, to begin, the Fourth of July was great! This year, since we have moved into a house that is right next door to the park where they shoot off the fireworks, we decided to host some friends and family over to celebrate and watch them out front. It was a lot of fun. I need to put another pic of everyone else on here, since we all had the traditional Old Navy $5 shirts on, but I will later since I need to get them off Justin's phone and he is not here at this time! For now, this one will have to do. Little Miss, of course, was sporting a big pink bow. :P I made Watermelon spritzers from the Pioneer Woman's web site, and, even though I had a kitchen full of sticky watermelon juice by the time I was done, and not to mention, lots of seeds, they were a success and pretty yummy. She is most definitely a "pioneer," I must say. :) But, it was fun anyway, as much craziness as it was!

Kaleb was very scared of the fireworks this year, and halfway through after lots of crying, I had to take him inside the house to enjoy them from afar. He seemed to "tolerate" them there, but really wasn't as into them as we would have liked. We had given him earplugs so he wouldn't be scared of the sound, but it didn't seem to help. At one point, his cousin, Andrew, who is five, came up to us and said, "Justin, I think Kaleb needs FOUR earplugs, not two!" It was cute and we had to laugh! Hopefully next year will be a better year for K, though. :) However, Miss Brooke loved them, loudness and all (although she had earplugs too!), and was mesmerized the whole time. We will see if the same is true for next year, when she will be older and wiser!

On another note, Miss Brooke got her first pedicure this month. I must say that I think it was a beautiful color for her, and she will be wearing this color again soon. :) Momma cannot wait to spoil her with pedicures! (Of course, we will go to the salon some time, but for now, and most of the time, one from Momma will have to do.;)

Well, for some reason I cannot get my pics to load the way I want them, so I will share a random Fourth of July photo here too! :) I almost forgot to include the one I got of Oma with Brooke, even though we couldn't get her to "pose"! :) But here ya go!

Here is a cute photo of Kaleb these days...I don't get to the laundry quite as often as I'd like, so this is what he gets to share with his sister...Lol.

Poor baby. I feel bad. But...these days, the "laundry" tends to be a big heap on the floor in our bedroom that we pick from when we need something clean. I know, very sad. But...at least it's clean! :) Well, pretty much...except for when K steps on it, or we trip over it in the middle of the night to get to the dresser! Yeah...it's pretty bad. I call it my mountain. In fact, I should take a picture of it for ya'll sometime so I can show it off. It's pretty cool. Lol.

So, I don't get very many pics of my babies together yet. It just doesn't happen. Kaleb is wayyyyy too busy these days, and such a boy! But...one day recently we put them in K's crib together to get one, and this is the best we can do at the moment! It works! Oh, and...yeah, Kaleb likes pillows, and stuffed animals...obviously! :)

Told you I had a bunch of random stuff! But...that's the fun of it!

Kaleb likes to make faces at the camera these days, too...so here are his many faces...:) I love taking his pic when he's in this mood! It's so fun!

Yeah, pretty fun.
And, here are the many faces of Brooke...:)

:)
And, a serious one.

And yes, these days Momma LOVES dressing Brooke up to go places. I think if there was TOO much fun to be had, that would probably be my problem! I cannot get enough of her bows, and her little darling dresses and outfits! But...I am taking advantage of it while we can, because I know there will come a day, and it will come sooner rather than later, when she will not let me do this. :)
Until then, though, we will have a fun bow for every occasion there is!
This is a bow I got from the carnival, believe it or not, in our hometown.

Can you say, "Polka dots"? LOVE!

And this one was from the carnival, too. I think she was just expressing her appreciation for the cuteness. Her brother, by the way, has the same outfit, except for he is Thing 1. Thanks to Auntie Kelly and Uncle Craig, who do not spoil us. ;)

And, this little number was from Abigail, her cousin, who is 8, almost 9, and wore it when she was Brooke's age. SO sweet! I wish I could have gotten a pic of the whole thing. It has little bows on the sides too. :)

And, last but not least, this one is ALSO from Abigail, and we love it too, obviously. ;) They just don't make them like they used to! It is covered in apples and has apple buttons. Too cute!

Okay, I will finally stop torturing you with cute outfits and bows. This proud momma just had to share! :)

Onto other news...I will start with the first of our new additions to our house. Momma is REALLY enjoying one of them, and that is the GRILL Justin bought! In the past week, we have eaten grilled tilapia and carrots, grilled chicken, (which, by the way, has lasted ALL week long for sandwiches and other things) grilled turkey burgers, and ribeyes. Wow? I am SO happy about this!

Tilapia time!

....And, our perfect little grilled chicken, WHO, by the way, was really cute! I was sad about him dying and didn't want to eat him because, well, just look at the poor thing! He was the perfect little chicken. And we ATE him. But..I must say he was very, very good. Much better than those Rotisseries you can buy at the store.

So, yes, we are eating very well these days, and, it is no thanks to me but all the thanks to my sweet hubby, who is enjoying his new grill. :)

The other new addition to our house is our new faucet. Our old one stopped working so we have a beautiful Delta that Justin bought. It's wonderful and shiny.
Before...

And after!

Love!

So, we are living in style. ;)

Kaleb has been learning to be Daddo's helper.

So-ooooo..., all of this leads me to what I originally planned on blogging about, and that is that our baby girl is SIX months old, officially, as of the 13th! And...our baby boy will officially be 22 months on the 22nd. I cannot BELIEVE that it has been a half  a year since Brooke's arrival but it has. WOW, time flies. But, as usual, I need to record the milestones and new little leaps and bounds they are making, so here ya go.

Mr. K.

You are SUCH  a joy, and I repeat, a JOY. I think if you were a girl, your middle name would be joy. Continuously, each day it seems, you bring tears of joy to this momma's eyes because of all the FUN you create! At 22 months, almost TWO, you...

*are always finding new ways to make us laugh. These days, you do the "old man". The old man consists of bending over, with your arms at your sides, and grunting, walking bent over, literally, like an old man. It is HILARIOUS and we need to put a video on here of it. When we tell you, "Do the old man!" you do it, on cue.
* LOVE cheese. It is your staple, and if you could, you would eat it for every meal.
* have a wonderful sleep schedule, and you go to bed around 8, and wake up around 8. You are an awesome little sleeper!
* are probably right around 23, or 24 pounds. You have stayed here for a little while, but we are good with that. You are completely healthy and always come out with a clean bill of health at your checkups! Yay! Such a good thing after your bad acid reflux episodes you had as an infant!
* are all boy! You are on the go-go-go, and you hardly stop.
* DO love a good story, though, and have just started really paying attention and listening to, and even "reading" to Momma when she reads to you!
* LOVE trains, cars, airplanes and helicopters. They are all very, very "coowa" to you!
* can say SO many words. You surprise Momma with a new word every day, these days, it seems! Today it was "Yay!"
* are putting two words together more and more. You like to say, "Oma's house".
* are almost ready for potty training, but we have not taken that leap of faith yet. But you have your own potty and you actually pooped in it for the first time a little over a week ago! You got a big cookie!
* are learning how to say, "I'm 2." It's SO cute.(Even though you won't be 2 for another couple of months, Momma is getting you ready to tell people how old you are!)
* are going to bible club on Thursdays, and we hang out with Aunt Shelly and your cousins afterward. You also have attended, but not regularly, Library Time on Mondays, and MOPS. Momma has decided that Library Time and Bible Club will be a regular thing though. They are awesome!
* love to sing, and when Momma sings to you, you sing along sometimes, and although I can't understand your words, yet, it is cute. :)
* love the bath, and you love to dip your head back in the water. You love water in general, and last time you played in the big people pool, you wanted to go out into it alone, without me, and I had to hold you back, you were so daring! I think you may be like Daddy, in that you are going to love trying new things!
* are scared of the car wash. It is kind of cute!
* are learning how to somersault. Even though you can't get over all by yourself yet, you sure love to try, and it's fun to watch!


Love you so much, little man. You are so precious to us.

Miss B.

If cuteness could be measured, you would be at the top of the charts. We continuously fall in love with you each day! You are pleasant, most of the time, and so easy to please. Thank you for being our little doll!

At 6 months, Brooke, you...

* love your "ba ba," but are starting to eat more rice cereal, and have, so far, eaten squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas and bananas. I haven't been able to tell which ones you have really liked, as you most always make a cute little face every time you try each one, but bananas did not work very well so far. That day you didn't feel good! But the rest of them seemed to be good with you.
* have mostly pleasant days now. You are easily entertained (and a lot by your older brother, who makes you laugh so hard!) and love being put into different places in the house, such as your bumbo chair, your bouncer (which you have increasingly liked the last month or so, and I think it's because you know how to get it to bounce really high with your squiggling!) the exersaucer, and sometimes your blanket. You are still not a big fan of the blanket, as I think you think it's boring.
* are still not a fan of tummy time, but we are still working on it. You can push up really far, but once you get there, you really don't like being in that position. One of these days you will, though!
* laugh a lot! You love to laugh, and mostly at brother!!
* wiggle! Auntie Deb calls you "Squiggles" for good reason. It's very cute, because when you are excited, you wiggle, and we've gotten the "happy dance" on video. It's a fun show!
* do this funny thing sometimes that's like a grunt, and we wonder why! It's just something you've started doing in the past month, and we love it along with all the other things you do. When I fed you carrots the first time, you did it a bunch. I think it's because you thought it would get you more, faster! :)
* raspberry, but not a lot. You go back and forth between grunting and raspberrying!
* are sort of teething. You do slobber, and eat your hands a bunch, so we think you are beginning to get some teeth, but we haven't seen any pop up quite yet, but they're coming! You are pretty sweet about the whole thing, and don't seem to let it bother you or get you down too much yet.
* have not had your six month checkup yet, so we are not sure what you weigh! But you are eating well and seem to be gaining weight, so we don't worry.

Love you to pieces, little sweet pea! :)

Well, guess I've written enough for one blog...and I will leave you with this sweet picture that I saw on Facebook, thanks to some friends. Continuously, I am reminded of how blessed we are to have two healthy children. It's beautiful and sad at the same time. :) But a good reminder that we are to always be thankful for what we have!

God bless!!

It's the little things

So...this is going to be a "randomness" blog with lots of random info., but these days, that's what we have to do! I just can't stand not sharing sometimes the random things that my sweet family does. :) 

I guess that's what a blog is for, anyway....! :) 

So, the first bit of randomness, and also my favorite bit of random things out of all of these is...we have three new family members! Tonight we took Kaleb to the carnival for the first time, and wow, was he amazed at all the sights and sounds and smells! He absolutely LOVES trains, but the choo choo train at the carnival wasn't that "coowa," yet. It just made him sad! We think he was scared by the loudness. But..we did ride the ferris wheel (which, by the way, goes pretty fast for a ferris wheel, if I must say so myself!), and he didn't cry, at least, but just sat still, taking it all in. Then, we decided to try to win some goldfish! Well, we were given a basket full of about 40 balls, total, to try and get one into the bowls on the table. Yeah, that's the chances there are to win these things. Justin won two goldfish, from those 40 balls (it's HARD, I tried! They bounce too easily off the table!) and Kaleb, out of his TWO tries, won! The little guy has all the luck (or Jesus on his side!). So, we came home with our three goldfish. Help us think of names! We are joking around about "Sho," "How," and "Cah." Kaleb has funny names for things. "Sho," is shorts, "How," is house, and "Cah," is a New York accent for "Car". Lol. Love him!

We have also been spending some time at Oma and Opa's house, which Kaleb is growing to LOVE. They live in the country, and Oma has lots of goats. :)

Our Brooke is five months old now, and JUST had her first semi-happy tummy time the other day. BOTH of my children, so far, have really, really disliked this part of the day. Hence, momma, doesn't put them down for tummy time as much as she should. But...oh well. It's just not their happy place! :) This was the happiest face I could get the other day, so I took it. ;)

Brooke LOVES Daddo's goatee. It feels cool! :)

She also loves her pink giraffe Nana bought her. Soft things are the best! :)

Yes, Momma cannot HELP dressing her in zebra print (care of Nana)! What FUN! This is her "I didn't do it!" face.

She is beginning to love that girl in the mirror! Especially when she has zebra print on!

Momma and Daddo went to Midland to visit Nana a few weeks ago, and this is what we came home with - a zebra print paci. Yes, it had to be done. Not sure if baby girl loves it as much as Momma does, though, sadly! She kept it in for a matter of about five minutes, then she didn't want it anymore. So far, the only ones she likes are the Soothies we came home from the hospital with. I cannot get her to take anything else! She is such a girl! (And kind of a diva...I must say, she takes after someone else I know...)

Kaleb has discovered that making faces at the camera is just too fun. Fun for Momma too!

Our princess is sitting up pretty well these days. She can't quite sit on her own, yet, but she LOVES sitting up! Her bumbo chair is her absolute favorite happy place ever! Too bad it does irritate her acid reflux and she spits up quite a bit in it, but...it's okay. Any happy place of hers is okay with Momma!

Momma recently splurged and bought a bow hanger! Yes, there are almost too many flowers on it, and I plan to turn it into an actual "bow" holder soon...but I need bows first. I would LOVE to start making Brooke's bows! :) 

We are having a great time these days, and K and B are getting more and more fun. They are interacting SO much more, and SO fun to watch as they grow. This momma can't wait for them to get a little older so I can enjoy them communicating even more!
And every day, Kaleb gets cuter. He is saying so many things. His vocabulary is actually pretty advanced, I think (trying not to brag here, but it's kind of hard not to!). He is even beginning to put two words together. There are SO many cute things he does these days that I wish I had time to list them ALL on here right now. But one of the many is, when we go to the car wash, he gets pretty scared. But, he has learned the phrase, "Good job," and, I think, as a sort of survival mode he goes into, he says, "Good job," over and over, and claps his hands, in between cries while the car is being washed. It's so sad but so cute at the same time! He'll like cry for a moment, look around with this really pathetic look on his face, and then say, over and over, and smile while he does, "Good job," "Good job". Then kind of nervously laugh! It's the funniest thing! Both Justin and I were scared in the car wash when we were his age, so it's no surprise he takes after his parents in that department! :) But anyway, another thing is when we go to bible club every Thursday, and we sing songs, he says, "Good job," after every song is done, and claps his hands. It's so fun! He has also just started doing this thing we call the "Old Man". It is very funny. He bends over like he is a hunchback, and groans over and over, his arms hanging down by his sides, walking that way. We joke that it started this week because Granny (Justin's grandma) came to visit us, and he is mimicking her. We joked with her about it when we saw him do it...but the first night he did it was like Tuesday, and she had come to visit this week! Anyway, "Old Man" is hilarious. We just love this boy. He is truly a joy. 
Brooke is starting to eat carrots and rice cereal. I cannot believe I have two babies eating solids now. Wow, how the time flies. But she is so cute. She has begun "grunting" every time she wants more, and today she was in a crazy grunting mode! Every bite of carrots led to an even bigger grunt! It's too funny! I tell her that's not very lady like but she doesn't listen to me, for some reason! And yes, the messiness begins...! Lol. She is still taking bottles, but I am adding rice cereal to them more, and giving her at least one "regular" meal of carrots or rice cereal a day now. Maybe this will help with spitting up, too, as the doctors say. The doctor did say it sounds like she has a bit of acid reflux during the last checkup we had, but that it wasn't a concern, if she's a "happy" spitter. She pretty much is, so I don't worry too much. Plus, she's gaining weight. She does spit up quite a bit some days, but it's not like Kaleb's was. Thankfully! His was pretty projectile, and all the time. Glad to be done with that!
We have some pretty crazy days, though, and some are definitely easier than others. Dinnertime has proven, from day one, to be the hardest time for me, since I am not very good at keeping a crying baby calm, a toddler from destroying things and/or himself, and getting dinner on the table at the same exact time. But, I manage, and Justin, when he is not on nightshift or unavailable, is a very good daddy, and helps me so much. He and Kaleb are good buddies, and they do things together a lot while Momma is making dinner, or lunch. So blessed to have a husband who helps me with things! :)
There is SO much more randomness to say, but...I better go get some sleep! These days the only time I get to write blogs is at about 11:30 p.m., and I'm not very good at writing short ones! But...I do believe that documentation of our babies lives is more important than a bit of sleep sometimes, and, yes, these days, sleep deprivation is a norm, anyway. :)
 So...that said, I think I'll....yawn...leave you with that, and go to bed. :) G'night! :)

So...it's been a good month! We are doing so many new things these days...

Riding the boat with Opa was on our list of favorites!

Seeing the "helicop" at the park was another favorite...

Giving sister kisses and sitting next to her is one more...

We are doing so many fun things these days! Although our computer is being strange at the moment and I can't upload the photos I'd like, these will have to do for now. I will try and see if I can get the others to load soon. There are so many fun pics of things we've done lately!

Kaleb has gotten to ride the boat with Opa at the lake, and see helicopters at the park, and go on the bike with daddy. He loves to hang with "daddo". We have made more trips than I thought we would in the short time we've had Brooke also, including going to Fort Stockton to visit Granny, going to Lake Amistad to the lakehouse, and going to Midland to visit the grandparents. Every trip is very, very big for us. We (I) tend to pack way, way too much for our little family, but I am still in the process of figuring out what we really need, and what we really don't need to bring with us, since it feels like we need to pack everything but the kitchen sink when we just head to the store these days! Lol. I always thought having one baby was hard...until I had two! Wow. Now when I head out the door with just one, I think to myself, "What did I ever do with just one baby? This is a piece of cake!" Hehe. It's a whole new ball game with two!

Mr. Kaleb is getting older! He will be 21 months on the 22nd of this month, and I literally cannot believe I have an almost-2-year-old. Well....I say that, but sometimes I can, because the tantrums have seriously started. I am having to reread some of my BabyWise books (Toddlerwise, really) to remember just what to do with tantrums. Wow. I never thought that motherhood would be harder on the momma during the disciplinary times than it is on the child...but I think so, now, having done some of it. I am still learning so much about how to deal with them! There is a lot of info. out there on it, but I want to make sure Justin and I handle it in the most appropriate manner. Mr. K is EVERYWHERE, and he has started to have an opinion about EVERYTHING. Wow. ;) It's definitely a learning process for us all! Right now, we are spanking during big tantrums, and sometimes we send him to his room. It's hard! But I know that in the end, we know what we want, and what the Lord wants in our baby boy - a kind, loving blessing to those around him, and we are working on that. :)

But despite the tantrums, he is a complete joy. Every day is full of adventure and curiosity, and I love being his momma. His world is fun and new and exciting, and he LOVES being outdoors. He is very much boy. ANYTHING having to do with trucks, cars, helicopters, airplanes, and TRAINS is "Wow, coowa!" (Translation: "Wow, cool!") Trains are especially "coowa," and momma is thinking that a trains 2 year old party might be in order. We will see. He LOVES Thomas the Train, and asks to see the "choo choo" anytime he is next to the t.v.  (Gotta love Netflix!):) 

He also LOVES to play peek-a-boo. He will let me chase him around the house for hours, and it never gets old, because, if I hide behind the door, he will NEVER find me. It's so funny. He will go into the closet and shut the door, and, wanting to play peek-a-boo, he opens it, and begins to look for me. This is his way of saying he wants to play. Well...needless to say, I hide behind the door, and he never looks that direction (to the left), which is funny.

He loves to eat cheese. That is still his favorite thing, above all else. Cute, I think...but sometimes will trigger a tantrum if he doesn't get it. Macaroni and cheese has sort of become a staple. We eat a lot of it. We eat chicken, too. I am in the middle of seeing how creative I can be in the cooking department. It's interesting! Of course, he loves sweets. We try and limit them. ;) I think he still has yet to get coke. He does get the occasional Sprite though, and LOVES it. Of course. Who wouldn't? Momma is giving him V8, Carnation Instant Breakfast, and PediaSure, (not all at once or on the same day - we rotate for variety!) to make sure he gets the vitamins he is lacking.

He is still on the 24-25 pound mark on the scale. He is looking more "boyish" these days, and I love it. We get our big boy hair cut at the salon and it's a buzz cut - Momma likes it because it's easy and cute.

He can say tons of things these days, and loves to wow me with a new word almost every day. He still loves to say, "Wow, coowa!"
"Yum, yum," has also become a favorite at the table. ;)

He sleeps well. He goes down about 8 without any problem, and then sleeps all night til about 8 the next morning. Couldn't ask for anything better than that!

Momma is also teaching him how to put his hand into a "2" to tell people how old he will be in September. Cannot BELIEVE that, and I don't want to! We are also working on counting to 10, and on our ABC's, and on colors right now.
He has JUST started telling Momma when he goes to the potty in his diaper, so...I think we may start down the potty training road soon. I think it may be easier than I'm anticipating, since he is already telling me! We have bought him a potty, and Momma just needs to set aside a few days to work really hard on the process. :) He is a smart boy and I think he'll learn fast. Whatever he sets his little mind to learning, he usually learns fast, so I'm kind of excited! 

 As for sister...Miss Brookelynn Faith turns 5 months today!! Momma can't believe it. But she is getting bigger and I can't stop it. :/

She is still sweet as ever, and all girl. Her cry is soft (most of the time, until she gets ravenous...then, watch out!). But she is doing all sorts of new things too. She and brother are interacting more and more, and it's the sweetest thing to see them together. He loves to give her kisses.

She is cooing, and talking to us more and more, just lots of jibberish. I love to listen to her talk! She has the sweetest, cutest little girlie voice I ever did hear. :) She is just starting to get more hair, and I still can't tell what color it's going to be. :) It looks like it might be blond, but it's still hard to tell. Come on, hair!!

 She has also just started some rice cereal this month, and the first time she was NOT having it. Pushed it out of the mouth with her tongue and made the funniest face! But the last few times she has seemed to sort of like it...so momma is going to try some other things now, such as carrots. :) We shall see how that turns out! Probably a very messy task, but oh yes, there will be fun!

Haven't tried the scale in a while, but last time we went to the doc for our four month checkup, she was 12 pounds, but she feels like she has gained weight since then. In fact, I know she has! You can tell by looking at her little body! I need to do the whole weigh myself then step on and weigh myself with her, but I haven't done it recently due to time...Can't imagine why! :)

Little Miss also hangs out in lots of places around the house these days! These include, but are not limited to, hangin' out in the bouncer, which she continually does her "crunches" in (she does NOT like to be laying down much anymore - she is all about sitting up!), the exersaucer, which she just laughs and stares at all the toys in (which is still too big for her little body, but she doesn't complain - she loves it even though she is too small for it!), the crib, which she is sleeping in every night except for one time when she wakes up to eat, her blanket on the floor with her toys, and the bumbo, her absolute favorite. She would stay in her bumbo all day if I let her, until she spits up...then  she gets kind of sad. The only problem with the bumbo is that it seems to irritate acid reflux, which she has a bit of, but not too bad. She doesn't fuss too much about it, anyway, which is so nice for momma!

Our "Sweet Pea" loves to grasp toys these days, too, and to hold onto soft things. She will bang a little teether around, but her favorites are soft and cuddly. She also loves holding momma's hand. When she is dozing off, her favorite thing to do is to hold my hand while doing so. :) Of course, momma loves it! ;)

Her normal doze routine is to be rocked. Yes, I know, it's "spoiling," but...she won't always want that, and momma wants to take advantage of it as long as I possibly can. So we rock, in a blankey, with our paci, and hold momma's hand while we go to sleep. So funny, because Kaleb didn't really like being held, and still doesn't. Such a boy! He is very much on the move all the time, and it's part of who he is! :) But every once in a while, when he wakes up, he wants to grab his blanket and sit with momma and watch some t.v. in the morning.

Little Miss has just recently developed an interest in Momma's hair - pulling it, that is. She doesn't intentionally pull, but she loves to play with it, and in the process, it gets pulled. Guess I will have to stop that soon. :)

Love that girl...

To end, I will leave you with the name of a song that's awesome for Father's Day! It's called, "One you Need," by Shane and Shane. Check it out. It's a favorite of mine right now! :) 




Love ya'll! 

...And a great few verses...

"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead." (Colossians 2:9-12 :) 
 



 

Our two little blessings!

Happy almost 20 months!

Kaleb Lee (a.k.a. Lil' Monkey)

These days, you are so active, and learning so much. You keep momma on her toes, and every day is filled with laughter, joy, and lots of activity! 

I am having lots of fun, learning WITH you, learning what makes you happy, and the ways you learn. 

You light up a room with your smile and your baby blue eyes. Right now, you:

*   are saying two word sentences! These include, but are not limited to, "Wow, cool," "I go," and, "Oh, boy!" 

*   are loving your bath. You would stay in there for hours until your feet get pruny if momma let you!

*   are really, really, REALLY into trains! When momma feeds your sister, you always like to get right up there with us and watch the "Choo Choo," on my IPhone. Of course, I let you, because I love you! 

*   are a pretty picky eater! You have some pretty good days, but you LOVE cheese (especially the Kraft cheese slices or string cheese), crackers, chicken nuggets, fries, fruit, and "juice". (Anything that tastes good is "juice," but we don't let you have too many carbonated drinks!) 

*   eat "Nanas," (bananas) and Cheerios and Carnation Instant Breakfast  every morning. That is YOUR breakfast of Champions. 

*   have discovered bugs! And you LOVE them! Yesterday you saw a moth on the floor, and ran over to your blocks that have pictures on them and brought one over to the moth that had a bee on it, and said to momma, "Bug?" and were comparing them. You are so smart!

*   LOVE going anywhere at all that has to do with outside, or in the car. Anytime we get your shoes, we are "going," and you get very giddy with excitement! 

*   call Daddy, "Daddo." I am not sure where you get this from, but we are deciding to go with it for now because it is kinda cute!

*   love playing "Peek-a-boo". One of your favorite things to do is to be chased around the house by momma. 

*   love wearing our shoes. I find you always trying mine on for size! 

*   love going through cabinets! When momma does her make up, you are always there to help me see what's in the cabinet that day...because it's spread out on the floor within minutes! :)  

*   weigh about 25 pounds now and are in size 5 diapers. You have just started getting VERY interested in the potty and what you do with it, and are even "pretending" to use the potty sometimes now. We are about to start down the potty training path..eek! We bought you your first potty a few weeks ago. 

*  are very blond! You have beautiful, thick blond hair, and momma gets it trimmed in sort of a buzz cut at the salon every month or so. You also wear gel in it when we go out. It's fun. You like to play in the gel when momma puts it on. 

*   love, love, LOVE giving kisses. Today you gave sister kisses every time you went up to her, and you have started loving on her more and more. You are pretty gentle with her, and you love to pat her, sometimes like you do your stuffed animals. It is very evident that you think she is special, and this warms momma's heart! Oh, and kisses go with "I love you." When momma says, "I love you," you give her a kiss. 

*   have really just started calling me, "Momma," and it makes my heart happy!

*   love hanging with Daddy. He has seriously become your buddy since you have had a sister, and you love it. You and daddy ride the bike together (Daddy installed a seat for you on his bike), you play outside together, you go to the park together, and you generally just hang out. :) 

We love you so much, and every day you are blessing us with more of who you are. 

 

Happy almost 4 months!!

Brookelynn Faith (a.k.a. Sweet Pea)

 From day one of your little life, you have been a joy. You are so peaceful most of the time, and, until recently with your cooing and talking, momma had to make sure you were still breathing when she was away for a bit, because you were never crying! 

You are sweet, sweet, sweet. You still never cry very much, and when you do, it's short lived. You are a happy and content baby. You are our little sweet pea! 

Right now, you:

*   are cooing up a storm, and most of your awake time is spent doing just that. You talk to your toys mostly, and sometimes patterns you see on your crib bedding and the monkeys in your mobile.

*   are smiling and laughing up a storm, too! Especially when momma or daddy comes up to you after they've been away for a bit - you are sure to give us a show! 

*   have just begun to grab your toys. Your activity gym has become very fun for you! 
*   have also just begun to blow raspberries!! Lots of them! :)

*   get very "tickled," when momma takes off your clothes. For some reason, clothes changing is very funny to you!

*   laugh when momma gets you ready to eat and you know it's coming! 

*   go to sleep at about 10 p.m . and sleep THROUGH THE NIGHT. Wow? Well, with one or two wake ups for some more milk. But...momma is loving this. 

*   are doing great - you are in the fiftieth percentile in weight and height. 

*   are breastfeeding and supplementing. You love both and have no problem where your food comes from, as long as you get it. :) 

*   are pretty portable. You hardly ever cry, so taking you out is a breeze.  As long as you've had your dinners, of course!

*   haven't been weighed in a while, but last time you went to the doc you were around 10 pounds, and you have grown since then and are wearing size 2 diapers!

*   have lots of fun hand me downs from several sweet people, and LOTS of bows. Momma makes you wear them all the time, but you don't mind. Yet. 

*   also have lots of shoes. About two drawers full to be exact. A girl's gotta have her shoes. :) 

*    still are getting your hair...which is confusing momma. She is not sure what color to call it. Right now...it's still dark and thick on the back of your neck on the bottom, with a completely bald spot on the back middle where you sleep! But on the top, it's looking a bit lighter, but it's hard to tell what color it will be yet, because it simply has not come in yet. ;) 

*   are still kind of considered "petite" but hey, you're a girl. :) 

You are our lovely sweet pea, and you are living up to your sweet name. :) 

There is nothing better than being called, "Momma". It is the best thing in the world, and, although it's the hardest job I've ever had, it is by far the most rewarding...every single day. :) LOVE these babies!