Blessings

13 weeks! Can't believe we've already come this far!


Boxes...
Alayna and Kaleb!
More boxes!
This has been our life the last few weeks!
Boxes, boxes, and more boxes!
Messes, messes, and more messes! Lots of "What am I going to do with this?" and "Do we really need this?" and "Why do we have this in the first place?"
I never realized how much stuff we accumulated until we decided to actually move!

But we are starting to see the end of the tunnel. We are almost all moved into our new house! It was a pretty quick move, within a couple of days, really, because of several reasons, but I am pretty glad we did it. It was a bit hectic and stressful because of that, and the fact that I am pregnant, and was still having some issues with the pregnancy, so I couldn't really do as much "moving" as I'd have liked. Then, Kaleb came down with a really nasty cold and fever that got up to 103 one day, and gave it to me, so during the moving process we were also miserable! But, amidst the chaos, and the 110 degree weather, we did it. We have some really dear friends to us from church, John and Alayna Mcroberts, who helped us move the majority of our stuff into our new place, while my mother in law and my grandmother helped paint Kaleb and new little ones room. I have to brag on my 74 year old grandmother, though - she is a saint! She helped us clean so much, and got our bathrooms sparkling clean for us in the new place! She worked hard day and night the last week and a half, helping me do whatever I needed. She was pretty much at my beck and call, and would come over each day and ask what else needed to be done and where she'd be needed the most! Wow she's amazing! My sister in law, Shelly, is also so sweet and cleaned out all the cabinets and the countertops in the kitchen one day for me too, and that was a huge blessing to me as well. All of the help has been so awesome, and we couldn't have done it without all these precious souls! :) I thank the Lord for them!

We just have some random things left at the old place and we have about a week to get them out. It is massively dirty in there, due to the move, so we need to go clean in there as well.

This week we are focusing on getting new furniture for the dining room along with cleaning out the old house. Tomorrow we head to Midland to check out furniture stores, and we will leave K with my mom, who is loving that idea! She eats up any time she gets with him and is the best Nana! :) I know he will love climbing on anything he can get his hands on in her house tomorrow!
Friday we will head to Abilene to check out stores there. We want to see as much of a selection as possible.

Saturday we are having some sweet friends over, Jada and Daniel Burk, and that should be fun to show them our new house! It's not completely put together, of course, I haven't decorated much at all, and our "office" is a big mess, but I am excited for them to see the house.

Kaleb is now 10 months old! My how the time has flown! He has grown by leaps and bounds this month, and is crawling, pulling up on everything he can get his hands on (including the brick fireplace in our new house - eek! We are going to get a "bumper" for it asap!), standing, and walking holding onto our hands. He LOVES his newfound freedom and abilities, and grins from ear to ear when you applaud him. He is also starting to jargon, and talk to anyone who will listen. It's fun to "talk" back! :) He waves hi and bye at anyone and anything, even flies! Lol. He also loves the outdoors and going for walks in the park to see the ducks. Our new house is so fun because the park is right down the road, and I take him there almost every morning in his stroller. I look forward to making that a habit, even with our new little one! :)

Speaking of our new little one, we will find out on August 19th whether K will have a brother or a sister! SO excited about that. Justin and I would really love to have a girl this time, but if we are blessed with another boy, it will be awesome too because K will have a best friend. It's funny but I really honestly have no preference as long as they are healthy. I am just excited to give Kaleb a good friend! :)

There is so much excitement in our household right now. Excitement mixed with stress, of course, and knowing that life will change yet again very dramatically within the upcoming months after new Little E arrives. If it's a girl, we have like, nothing! If it's a boy, we have like, everything! One thing we will need to buy regardless of the sex is a double jogging stroller. I am going to use it in the park, all the time. I think it will be a necessity for my sanity! When this next baby comes, I plan to get outside more than I did when I had Kaleb, because I can! There is no excuse when you live just a street over from the park! It will be an awesome stress reliever.

Kaleb's birthday is coming up, too, and I want to have a fun little monkey party in September! ;)

I would also LOVE to get some pics up for you all of the new house, but I am still going to wait. I know, stupid, really, but I want to wait til we get our new furniture! It'll just make it all that much better! :) Hehe. I know, I'm silly. Just know that it is majorly more room than we'd been living in. That is seriously awesome. When we go down the hallway, we now feel like it takes forever to get to the kitchen. Lol!

Well folks, that's all for now. It's enough! :)

Starting of summer fun!

After swimming today, we had some crazy hair!








But we had LOTS of fun making our hair crazy!




"You really trust me with this, momma?" Swimmin in the dough....



Daddy and Kaleb fun!



Our little cowboy!

NEW adventures...and little beans...

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate." Psalm 127: 3-5


So...we have a bit of an announcement.

I am feeling so blessed. Not only do I have a beautiful, precious nine month old, but I have a new little bean that is nine weeks along inside of me!...

I have waited a while to post because we were not able to get to the doctor yet until now, and wanted to wait til we had our sonogram and heard their sweet heartbeat.

Yes, it is soon, I know! Kaleb and this little one will be just 16 months apart! Because of this, I am going to have another C section since I cannot do a VBAC.Doctors prefer you to have a VBAC at least 18 months post partum I believe.

We are thrilled though. A little surprised, yes, but thrilled! We wanted our children close in age, and they will be. Hopefully they will be the best of friends because of it. (and enemies sometimes, I know!)

Yesterday I had my first doctor's appointment and heard our little bean's first beautiful heartbeat, and today we had a sonogram and saw him or her. The sonogram showed that he or she is anywhere from 9 weeks and 4 days gestation to 10 weeks and 4 days gestation. It's give or take 6 days or so. I am excited because it means I'm closer to the 12 week mark, meaning I will be less likely to have a miscarriage then. They say 12 weeks is a good turning point. I have had a few complications with bleeding this pregnancy, which I never had with Kaleb at all, so it has concerned me. It was actually why we got our doctor's appointment when we did. But hearing the heartbeat and seeing them on the screen moving was SO reassuring. My doctor said he thinks it's probably implantation bleeding...which I will take at his word and not worry. Just praying for a beautiful, healthy baby. So that is something I have been LONGING to share with you!

We really have so much going on right now! Our house is about to be very, very busy, for a long, long time! Lol.
Here's a passage I have clung to this last month:


"The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore." Psalm 121:5-8



I love this passage right now! The Lord has brought it to me several times over the last month or two as we've been praying and seeking His will for our lives on a new house. I think it speaks to me because it's a reminder of His faithfulness. He will ALWAYS watch over us, no matter where we are, and he will keep our going out and coming in forever! Praise Him for that!

I guess it's safe to say, now, that by July 8, we will be the proud owners of a wonderful new home by the park that is more spacious inside than I could have hoped. I am SO excited, and so happy. I am looking forward to doing "new homeowner things," like planting flowers in the front, adding potted plants to the porch, and maybe a bench or two. I can't wait to enjoy the beautiful new wood flooring in the living room, and to add our "touches" to things - and to eventually buy new furniture to make it pretty! I LOVE decorating! Even though we are needing to save right now, it's fun and exciting to think about the things I eventually look forward to doing because it's "mine". What a concept! I've never owned a home, and how fun! Of course there are the necessary things that will need to be done now ourselves, since a landlord will not be responsible anymore! That's okay....:) I just love this little house! In the very near future I will post some pics of it....!

Everything is going well with the house process - we just have a few more details to work out. We are putting in gutters, and I am going to paint Kaleb and "little bean's" room yellow right before we move in! I absolutely LOVE the yellow we have in his room right now here, and I want to do it in his room there too. I think it will work perfectly. Other than that, though, the house is pretty move in ready.

So that is definitely exciting too.

I guess I'll end on one of the best notes, and that is saying that our K has done some major growing over the last month, in several areas. He has finally started really getting around, and is pretty much army crawling everywhere! Look out world, here he comes! I cannot leave him in the room long without coming back to find that he has moved...into another room! He is my little crawler.

He is still not liking solids as much as momma would like, but we are getting there.He does love things like Cheerios, of course, and he likes bananas, and he'll tolerate carrots every once in a while. I think we have a picky, picky eater! Believe me, this momma has tried EVERYTHING to get him to eat his veggies! Lol. It was that one time with ice cream, I'm telling ya, when he decided that EVERYTHING needed to taste like ice cream to go into his mouth. Ah, the mistakes we make as parents! We are getting to solids, slowly.

He has been spending more time at his cousins house recently, and I think it's really helping him come out of his shell. I've noticed, just over the past week, that he is more himself in public places. He used to be really quiet when we'd go to the store, or to church. Now he's not so much! He babbles, and talks to himself, and smiles a lot more. I think he's learning how to socialize in many ways! Him and his cousin David are not very far apart in age, and David is in full blown toddlerhood, and blesses his momma with lots of screaming these days. Well, the other day Auntie Shelly was taking care of him and when I got back to the house, she said she had to get onto David for something. I asked what and she said David, in one of his "mine" moods, was taking a toy away from Kaleb, and he beat him over the head with a cell phone that was on the floor that she couldn't grab in time! (Of course she had to grab him and give him a spanking...!) Kaleb is getting an education. It made me both laugh and want to cry! My poor little man...but I guess he's learning about other kids...and I am glad to have him around Shelly's family. They are the sweetest bunch there is, and David is not normally like that. It was just one of those toddler moments and Kaleb's head got the brunt of it! On a different note, today we were over there, and I was watching Luke for a minute and taking care of Kaleb, and he was very interested in Luke. Luke is just three months old. It was so cute - he would crawl over to him, and touch him, and just watch him and stare. It was like he was trying to figure out if he was a toy or not! I kept saying, "Be gentle with the baby." Good practice!

K's growing, and I'm excited to see what next month entails. No doubt lots of new adventures. I bought him a little pool today to have outside, and some toys to play with in it. I finally got some Lil' Swimmers. They've been out at Walmart! I got depressed and thought my little guy would never get to experience the blessed feeling of water in the summer because Wally World was out of swim diapers! (Yes a bit of an exaggeration!) But soon we're going to head over to a friends house and do some swimmin. Fun times!

Ahh, good times are definitely ahead. Life has really changed for our family this last month. BUSY times are ahead!

Anyone want to come help pack? :) Hm. Didn't think so.

In August we'll find out what little bean is (meaning whether they're a girl or boy). It will be the hottest month of the summer, and we will be painting their room. We'll take painters too, just in case you're interested.

Haha. EXCITING STUFF!

CARROTS...and SQUASH...and BREAD....

So...just thought I'd share that someone flipped a switch in my baby.

Today he decided to not only eat the carrots I put in front of him, but EVERYTHING else.

Mind you, I'm not giving him a bunch of new food at once, but...it's tempting! Lol. I cannot believe he's finally come around to eating solids.

It's not the baby food jar solids, and that's fine...just means I'll have to do a little more work in the kitchen, but it could keep the bills down a bit.

Today he had a bit of bread (broken up of course), lots of carrots, and some little Graduates Puffs that I let him feed himself...which he also doing pretty well, considering the circumstances. Most of it lands on the floor, but the important part is he understands what to do with it...and some of it ends up in his mouth!

I cannot tell you how HAPPY this makes me!

I was picturing him at five, saying, "Momma, I'm ready for my bottle," at every mealtime.
Seriously.

But yay we're finally coming around.

He even has started smacking his lips every time he sees someone else eat, like he wants to do it too.

Praise the Lord! I told several of my friends at Bunco this week about the solids "problem," and they couldn't believe it. They are all Christians and I think someone's started prayin.

Bring on the solids, baby! Woooohoooo!

Things up God's sleeve...

Gettin ready for Memorial Day...lol.


Happy EIGHT months to my precious baby boy!

I cannot believe it's been this long.
Sometimes these things just hit you...and this month, aside from others recently, just has.

It has proved to be a rather exciting month. Several things have taken place, and some things are in the process...one being a house! We have been looking for a little while. Well, when I say a little while, I mean just this last year or so, and not very seriously. Actually - not seriously at all. We've looked at several homes we got pretty excited about, but all of them seemed almost "too" good. You know when you get so excited about something that you almost have the feeling it's not good? Well, they were too expensive for us, to be exact.

But I think we may have found one we might be able to afford that we are ALSO excited about. Of course, we are (I am, anyway, don't want to speak for my hubby but I bet he feels the same way) still hesitant about it because it might not be what the Lord has in mind for us, but I cannot explain how much more at peace I feel about it. I am at that point where I'm like, fine with whatever happens. I think sometimes we need to get to that point or even past it before the Lord can actually do the work He wants to. :)

I don't want to go into too much detail about the house but it's in a wonderful location - right close to the park. It's within walking distance of a lot of things, actually - schools, and churches. It's in a good part of town. It's a three bedroom, two bath - what we've been looking for. It's got a nice big backyard, and a large kitchen, and a large bathroom in the master bedroom with his and hers sinks. Lol. That's a must for me and Justin. Well, not really, but he's put up with me enough stealing his time and space in the bathroom! :) Anyway, just a lot of things we've been wanting. And the house is also clean - and well kept, and one of the best parts is a friend of ours owns it. The best part is the price though. It's something we think we may be able to afford. Now that's awesome.

So we are praying about this. If it is what the Lord wants, we will take it. :) Very exciting stuff. We'd love also to help our friends out by taking it off their hands. :)

Going to look at it tomorrow. :)

We have had some very interesting happenings lately with house looking experiences. I don't want to go into too much detail (Trust me, you wouldn't want me to!Lol!) but last week we were really praying and seeking the Lord on another home - one that would have been built for us here. There were no homes for us to see here that would be just like it, so the company had us come out to Lubbock to look at a home that would be almost identical to the one we were interested in having built. It seemed like a "good deal" because the homes are very cheap for what you get, for a brand new home. But when we got there and looked at it, it just didn't feel like home at all. You sometimes want to feel like a home is a "home," right, especially when it's yours? It just didn't have that feel to it, and I know if it was built for us I'd feel the same way. Well, the day left a very sour taste in our mouths because it was when we all started coming down with the stomach flu! Lol! I told Justin, "Hey, maybe that was the Lord's way of telling us how HE feels about us looking at that home!"

It was just too expensive for what we would have gotten.

The Lord works in mysterious ways, that's for sure. :)

But we have a wonderful God who will always answer when you seek Him, and I know He will about this house, too. Hopefully it will be a better answer! Lol. I have a feeling that it will be. I am at least at peace with looking at this one. :)

In other news, K has been rolling everywhere, finally! Today, we really noticed it. You can't really take your eyes off him anymore without him ending up on another side of the room. It's very cute. And I know it's only going to get more interesting from here!

He is also eating more solids. He will now eat refried beans and squash casserole. Lol. I think he just knows what tastes good. Tonight I made a bunch of food for him from scratch. Maybe this will help him! I know baby food tastes disgusting - the kind from the jars. I wouldn't eat it!

So....we are excited about the upcoming months and what the Lord has in store. We'll see. Maybe K will turn one in a brand new home!

SO exciting.