Please pray

My dear friends, Ben and Stacey, had a heart break today. A scary one at that!

Their two-and-a-half year old daughter, Gabbi, fell down the stairs and broke both bones in her forearm. Scary! I cannot imagine the fear of driving to the ER, or the horrible words that made the fear a reality. broken bones + active toddler = not good!

On top of that, today their 6-month-old daughter, Maddi, also had her well-baby visit, complete with immunizations. Never a fun day. I'm sure Tylenol will be a staple item in their house these next few days!

Please pray for quick healing for Gabbi's arm. Pray for rest and good health for Maddi. And pray that God gives Ben and Stacey patience to deal with it all! Pray that He fills their hearts with peace and serenity despite the chaos.

I'm so sorry you guys had such a rough day today!!! Love ya!

One year ago today

A year ago today, I was terrified.
And frustrated.
And shocked.
And did I mention, terrified??

One year ago today, I found out I was pregnant. With you.

If I had known then, what I know now, my reaction would have been different. Nervous still, perhaps, but much more excited as I waited in anticipation of starring into your big, blue eyes.
Now, one year later, you are four months old.

You are still pretty small, weighing 12lb 4 oz (10%) and measuring 24.75 in (50%). You still fit into 3 month clothes and are still wearing a size 1 diaper. Some of your clothes are starting to look short or fit snug. Proof that though I refuse to admit it, you are growing.

You spend your days hanging around, flirting with me and your sister. You have the sweetest disposition I could have ever asked for. You never cease to melt my heart with your cockeyed grins and your pleasant coos. And those cheeks of yours attract my kisses like a magnet to a refrigerator.

These days you put everything into your mouth! In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd say we are in the early phases of teething. Some days those gums sure look white, though nothing is popping through yet. I guess time will tell.

We were told we could start you on rice cereal. So we did. And you were not quite sure what to think.

But, eventually, you figured out the concept of a spoon, and ended up eating a whole bowl! Afterwards, Ryleigh and I had fun singing the "He's a happy booooyyy!" song....over and over, while you squealed in delight.

A year ago, I could not have imagined what my life would look like with you in it. Now, I cannot fathom a day without you in it. Your smile lights up our home and provides the joy that gets me through days of difficult transition. I love you more than I could have understood a year ago. Happy four months, Wesley Haas. And thank you, Lord, for blessing me with a gift I didn't think I could handle.

Love, Mama

He still likes me...

I woke up the other day, and my day was started as usual. You know, get the baby, feed Ryleigh breakfast, feed the baby, have some coffee, check my email, and proceed back to my room to take a shower.

When I walked into my room, I glanced at the bed and this is what I saw:

I smiled and thought to myself, he still likes me.

:)

The heart of the home

Most people tend to refer to the kitchen as the heart of the home. The place where family gathers, talks about their day, and generally makes sweet memories.

Not our family.

As of late, we spend more time together in the two bathrooms of our house.

Is that weird?

I'll be honest, Growing up, I did not take many baths. Well, as a child I did, but as a teenager and young adult, I rarely soaked in a tub. Actually, I remember squishing my face in disbelief a few years back when I learned that a friend of mine ALWAYS took baths, and rarely took a shower. (If you still read this, you know who you are! PS: I miss ya and we need to get together soon!) Anyway, so as of late, Jesse has been soaking in the bath tub a lot more. It helps having a jacuzzi jet tub~ man those jets feel good on your back! So, he gets home from work and if he wants to go run, he will sit in the tub and soak first, allowing the warm water and jets to help loosen him up. I typically go sit in the bathroom with him, and we talk about our days. And of course, wherever Mommy and Daddy are, so Ryleigh must be. And Wesley comes along for the ride.

Then in the evenings when it's time to get the kiddos clean and ready for bed, it takes both of us. So again, we all four end up in the bathroom together, talking, playing, laughing. Some of my favorite family times, as of late, have happened in one of our bathrooms!

I mean really~ who doesnt relax and have fun in the bath tub?

Ryleigh sure loves a good bath, complete with bubbles and toys.
Wesley would be happy all day long in the bath tub.

And Jesse...well, his love for baths has also been rekindled, and he spends more time in the bath tub than I ever imagined he would. And he looks so cute all nestled in the tub...

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Come on now~ you didnt really think I would post a picture of my husband in the bath tub on the Internet did you?

Lately

The new year is in full swing already, and I feel like life jumped on some speed train and is flying down the tracks!! Sorry. That was a horrible analogy. I have no idea what speed trains feel like. Basically I just know that I'm flying by the seat of my pants these days, holding on for dear life. And that is how I imagine it feels riding a speed train.
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We started off the new year in lazy fashion. No big parties. No celebration dinners. Not even staying up until midnight. Sad, I know. Instead, we bought a bottle of bubbly, which neither of us liked, and thus had more fun shaking it up and enticing the contents to explode all over the yard.

Ryleigh enjoyed playing with the cheap poppers with Daddy. This face is not even close to her first expression when Jesse pulled the string and she heard the loud POP and saw streamers go flying. P.R.I.C.E.L.E.S.S. Wish I had caught it. She was delighted to have more to do afterwards and thoroughly enjoyed when Daddy let her pull the string "all by myself."

The lucky lady also got the privilege of running around the house, blowing into a large and annoying bazooka-type thing. Normally, this is the kind of behavior that would drive Mama and Daddy nuts and promptly lead to the toy being taken away and the girl given a much quieter toy...like a book that makes no noise. But, considering Ryleigh was the only one interested in celebrating the momentous occasion, we let her enthusiasm spill over to the rest of us.

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Did you hear about our "hard freeze?" I'm sure most of you did, because you probably experienced it yourself. I love cold weather. Love it. Not a fan of the cold, wet weather, but alas, we live in Texas. That is normally the only kind we get. And actually, it managed to stay cold for about a week, and it wasn't gross, rainy, or icy every day! Nothing like feeling cold with the sun still shining. I finally brought out all our sweaters and sweatshirts, washed them all, and we enjoyed wearing warm clothes, hats, and jackets.

On a similar note, (well not really, but just go with it), I got my first pair of furry boots for Christmas. Those of you who know me or have been around this blog long enough know by now that I'm not fashionable. At all. In fact, if there is a trend or something considered cool to the rest of the world, there is a good chance that:
A) I don't like it.
B) I couldn't pull it off even if I did like it.
C) I would never go spend the money necessary to attempt to pull it off right.
D) All of the above.

Normally for me, the answer is D. And if I should suddenly decide that I like a "trend," and decide to spend some money and attempt to pull it off, I'm generally about a year behind everyone else, thus no longer fitting in with the trend. Yep, folks, I'm that lame.

So, yes, I finally got on board with the whole boot thing. But I SWORE I would never own skinny jeans. Only skinny girls with tiny bird legs get away with skinny jeans. Alas, my dilemma. How are you supposed to wear boots? Over skinny jeans. So I got these cute boots, but no way to wear them. I tried putting them over my normal jeans and Jesse just kind of rolled his eyes.

During our batch of cold weather, I gave in. I went and bought a pair of skinny jeans, on sale for $19 at Old Navy. (Y'all know I don't buy jeans anywhere but Old Navy! I cant totally forego my roots.) This way, I figured if I absolutely hated them, they only cost $19, and I could give them to Salvation Army. I brought them home, put them on with a sweater and my new boots. And ya know what?

I liked it.
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We have been spending our weekends really making the most of them. Like, not getting out of our pajamas until mid-afternoon, just in time for an early dinner a little playtime, and another movie. The kids don't seem to mind. All they know is that pajama time means lots of cuddles on the couch and in Mommy and Daddy's bed.

Speaking of movies, we have rented several the past few weekends. Care to know my take?

• Angels and Demons- We liked it. I kept waiting for a twist to figure out who was really good and who was bad, and sure enough, I guessed wrong. Good movie and interesting storyline. Plus, I typically enjoy Tom Hanks' movies.
• My Sister's Keeper- Umm, total let down. If you actually read Jodi Piccoult's book, then you will hate this movie. How can you change the ending of a story?? It ruins the story! I was very frustrated with this one and sad that they chose to mess up a great storyline.
• Up- Loved it! It is made by the same group who did Finding Nemo, and I thought it was pretty obvious. Animated for kids, but humor snuck in for the adults watching along. We all loved it, and Ryleigh was sad to turn it back in. We're going to have to add this one to our collection I think.
• Paranormal Activity- Normally, I enjoy a good scary movie. Truthfully, from the trailers, I thought this would be dumb. And watching it, I did not feel scared. However, it kept me up four nights in a row, listening to every little sound, feeling my heart race, and over-analyzing every creak the house makes. Probably shouldn't have watched that one...
• Julie and Julia- I really liked the movie! I think because I saw something of myself in there...frustrated with work, a writer by nature, trying to learn cook...it was something I could totally see myself doing. If Julia's voice hadn't been so annoying throughout the movie, I would have loved it.

Gotta love lazy weekends on the couch, watching movies. :)

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Work has been bad...and good...and bad...and good. Isn't that how most people feel about their jobs?

It has become increasingly difficult managing to work full-time from home, with an active toddler and a baby. I knew it would be, but somewhere inside my super-woman pride told me I could handle it. And I have been "handling" it....

...with a small treat to myself at the end of the day. No, not every day...I do change it up from time to time. This week I made brownies instead. :)

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To that note, we went ahead and bumped Ryleigh up to 3 days a week at MDO. It was (another) hard decision for me, because I don't want her to feel like I don't have time for her, so I'm shipping her off. But, in all honesty, when she is home and I have to work, I cannot invest the time and energy into her that I want to either. At least this way she is getting stimulated and interacting with others and learning. And when she is home with me, I try to be more available to her.

When I cannot focus directly on her, I still want her to have fun. All the fun new toys for Christmas helped. She has been letting her imagination take flight, "cooking wunch" for me, building "Daddy's gof cos" with her legos, having tea parties in her princess tent with her baby dolls, and taking apart puzzles over and over. All good things! But in case you did not know this about my sweet, little girl, she is ACTIVE. And full of energy. And she goes stir crazy real quick, just like her Mama.

So, this week, we opened one of the Christmas presents we had hidden, hoping to spread out the excitement a little bit. Check out Ryleigh's new cycle. It attaches to the tv, and they have learning games as well as good old fun racing. Ryleigh's favorite vehicle so far is the big school bus. Only she likes it to be purple instead of yellow. No, she has not mastered the games by any stretch, and more often than not, I hear the "beep-beep-beep" of her pedaling in reverse, rather than pedaling forward, but anything to run off some energy inside, is A-OK with me.
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And lastly, I can't update without mentioning my little man. Oh, how I love this boy. He reminds me daily of why I chose to be a mom. It never ceases to amaze me how much you can love someone else, and like I have admitted before, I didn't think I could ever love anyone as much as I love Jesse. Then we had Ryleigh. And I thought my heart would surely burst. How could I ever love another baby so much? I was wrong. Wesley has me wrapped around his tiny fingers in ways I didn't know I could be wrapped.

He has the sweetest disposition and rarely cries. He has been great during the nights, continuing to go down around 10pm and sleeping until about 4:30 or 5am. Even then, he wakes up with a soft grunt, not an all out wail. He is a sweetheart. Plain and simple.

He is a curious little guy too! Often, Wesley watches us like a hawk, following each of us around the room with his eyes. The other night, Ryleigh had brought her bouncy ball into the living room to play catch with Jesse, and Wesley was sitting in his bouncer. His feet started kicking and his arms were flailing around, while the expression on his face was eager. I'm sure his thoughts were along the lines of, "My turn! My turn!"

Often, while I'm working, I have him playing beside me, and if I have not looked at him in awhile, he will remind me he is still there, with a big 'ole "whoooo" or a squeal of delight. When I turn to look, this is the precious face looking back at me:

His hand eye coordination is getting better every day, and he has discovered that his favorite toys are his hands. This morning, I had not heard him wake up and it had been a long time, so I went to check on him in his room. He was wide awake, just hanging out, checking out his hands, and trying to fit his entire fist into his mouth.

Tummy time has also improved, and Wesley continues to push himself up more every day and hold it for longer. Still not much progress in the sitting department, but all in good time. :)

Car rides have been better as well (knock on wood). Granted, I have not attempted a long drive by myself since, but going around town has been pretty good. Tomorrow I head back into Houston, so we will see if this new found car seat contentment is here to stay.

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Jesse is running in the Houston Half Marathon this weekend! He originally signed up for the full marathon, but with our hectic life lately, he just has not had the time or energy to train as he should for that event. So, he and his friends all dropped down to the half. We reserved a hotel downtown Saturday night, and plan to leave Ryleigh with my parents, so we can splurge a little and enjoy the night (almost) to ourselves. This way, I also don't have to drive him down there at 4:30 in the morning, like years past. I'm hoping he does well, and finishes strong.

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All new Grey's Anatomy tonight. All I can say is, plleeaasee have a good show! If the same storylines continue, I don't know how much longer I can commit my loyalty.

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Whew. I think that is all. There is plenty more to say, but no more time to say it. I'll be back soon!