Go Getter Gracelyn!

This little girl of ours - I tell ya what! Some friends stopped by for a little bit on Saturday night and Gracelyn took 2 steps when neither Jeremy or I were watching - of course! Later that night I tried with her again and sure enough she took two steps. I am wondering how this is possible? I mean, she is my little baby and is already trying to walk at times. 8 months, 11 days old and taking steps - crazy! I'm pretty sure Ethan inspires her - she wants to keep up with big brother!

Her main transportation is still crawling but she loves to walk alongside the couch, stand (she can for about 8-10 seconds) and now take a couple steps here and there. She's definitely a go getter and growing too fast for my liking :)

The kids are great. Ethan has been snuggly lately with us and we are soaking it in! He loves to sit on daddy's lap at night and play with his arm hairs - it's the cutest thing and makes me want arm hair :) Gracelyn is cutting her two bottom teeth which doesn't seem to bother her too much. She's been a little fussy at times but rarely complains about it - teething seemed a lot harder on Ethan. Funny how different kids are! Gracelyn also doesn't seem to have a problem with gagging on food like Ethan did. She has been eating real peas, pieces of chicken cut up really tiny, mashed banana, ground beef - the girl loves to eat!

Ethan had his 2 year check up with the doctor on Friday. He is still tall (90% tile) and in the 50% tile for weight so he's growing healthy and strong, thank you Jesus! He is not a fan of the doctor's office. In fact, he seems to get more upset there then he does when we go to get shots at the health department. I think it's because it's a little room and he is 2 and wants to run and play and not be confined. He's always been very cautious though and doesn't like when the doctor listens to his breathing and looks in his ears. Too funny.

Ethan is a little behind in the talking department (which we already knew) so the doctor suggested seeing a neurologist either now or in 3 months if he's still not talking more but Jeremy and I both don't think this will be necessary. Ethan is a very smart kid, he hears well, he understands very well....he simply is taking a little longer to communicate to us. He tries and has been saying more words to us lately but just isn't saying the "normal" amount for a typical 2 year old. I know there is nothing wrong with him - he will catch up with the talking thing in no time, I feel confident in that. If he's 3 and not talking more than I of course would look into seeing a doctor but I strongly feel he's just a little behind in that area and will catch up soon - he's a smart cookie. I didn't want the doctor to think I was in denial or one of those parents that thinks their child is perfect because that is not me. I've known he is a slower talker but seeing as everything else is spot on with him and he understands well and knows how to operate the tv and dvd player all on his own I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong with his brain. I knew the doctor would bring it up though - would just be nice if they didn't expect every 2 year old to be "the norm" because kids develop differently. I just posted about this last week ("Why Rush Things") and have read many articles that late talkers are very common. I tried to not let it bother me but it does bother me a little when you can easily tell that Ethan does not need to see a brain doctor. I know the doctor is not around Ethan everyday but you don't have to be around him for long to see that he's a smart kid. I know he's a doctor and that is their "job" I just felt it was a little early to throw that out there. He did say everything else looks great and that he's growing well.

I have so many friends whose 2 year olds aren't talking much yet as well as I've watched a lot of toddlers in my daycare years who didn't talk much right at 2 either. So, it's not that strange to me and I know Ethan will be fine - he's just a late talker. If nothing has changed in 6 months I have no problem looking into speech therapy, etc. but I don't think he needs to see a brain doctor right now. We are going to give him more time. We continue to read to him and work on his words and he really tries communicating - he gets frustrated with us when we don't understand what he's trying to say. He's such a sweet boy.

Well, that's all for now! All is going well and I am enjoying life with my hubby and 2 amazing kids so much - God is so good to me!

Hugs,
Momma Keri

Happy 2nd Birthday E!

I still can't believe he's 2 today, what a joy he is in our lives - he is such a sweetheart! We've had a fun day playing with Ethan's Birthday gifts and just hanging out together as a family. Oh how I love our family.

I thought I would share some of my favorite Ethan pictures. Enjoy :)

Daddy & E when he was just a few days old

Ethan at 3 months

Ethan at 5 months (one of my all time favorite pictures!)

Ethan at 7 months

Ethan at 9 months (wearing a Santa hat)


Ethan at 11 months (what a ham!)

Ethan at his 1st Birthday Party

Ethan & Mommy, 14 months old

Ethan and Ashlin (his potential future wife) at 17 months

Ethan at 22 months

Ethan at his 2nd Birthday Party


Could he be any cuter? I think not. We love you Ethan Craig and thank Jesus for blessing our lives with a healthy little Valentine two years ago today. Love you buddy.

Momma

Two years ago today...

I was 39 weeks, 3 days pregnant waiting and hoping Ethan would be born on Valentine's Day. You see, my sweet husband asked me to marry him on Valentine's Day of 2003 so it was a special day for us. It marked our 5 year anniversary of our engagement. When my water broke at midnight on the 13th I was so excited because I knew we would get our Valentine's baby! Little did I know that it would be one of the worst days of my life - lol.

I was not that mom that was instantly in love with my new baby. People act like you instantly have this overwhelming love for your baby. I did not. After pushing for almost 3 hours, (wishing someone would just shoot me because I thought that would honestly hurt less) I barely had the strength to hold Ethan. I had complications after he was born so I was still in a lot of pain for another hour or so. I remember them finally handing Ethan to me and I felt like I could barely hold him. I was still in so much pain and just in shock - I was so weak. I remember telling the nurses, "Just send in the Grandma's" because I literally did not have the strength to hold my little 7lb.3oz. baby.

Of course becoming a mom is one of the best things that ever happened to me but I can't look back and say the day he was born was one of the best days of my life. I look at him now and just melt as he is simply the sweetest little boy and I couldn't love him any more! He will always be my Valentine :)

Here's a picture of me the day we found out we were pregnant. Father's Day :)

Here's me @18 week Pregnant

And here's me @ 38 weeks Pregnant - a very swollen Keri! Amazing what pregnancy can do to your outward appearance ;)


I will be sure and blog again tomorrow with more pics :) Tonight is Ethan's Birthday Party at our house with some family - should be a fun time!

In love with a little boy named Ethan,
Momma Keri

A little video for both Grandparents ;)

It looks like Gracelyn will do just fine eating real food and won't have an issue with gagging like Ethan did. She sits at the table with us and likes to eat what we eat. Here's proof :)

Romans 12

I'm not quite sure how I missed this amazing chapter in the Bible but I read it yesterday during my quiet times with God and it spoke to me in so many different ways. It challenged me so much about how we are to live our lives - it's really good stuff!

I read the New Living Translation version as that is what speaks to me most - I love the way it is worded, it makes sense to me and I love how simple it is.

The first verse I loved was verse 2. "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."

It challenged me. It challenged me to let God transform my mind and thoughts because it is so easy in life to form our own opinions on things, people, etc. and think a certain way. God wants to change the way we think. I also love how it states that God's will for us is GOOD. So many times we accept BAD things as God's will for us (sickness, tragedy, suffering) and it's not God!!!! God's will for us is GOOD so we know when bad things happen in our lives, it is not God who gives them or brings them.

I also love the part in verse 3 that tells us to not think we are better than we really are. To be honest in evaluating ourselves, measuring ourselves by the faith God has given us. It can be easy to sometimes judge others and think we are better than them. It's a big NO-NO!

In verses 6-8 it talks about how God gives us different gifts for doing certain things well. It says, "So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly." It is important to recognize our gifts and to use them to bless and minister to others because a gift is to be given and if we don't know the gifts God has given us then how can we use them? How can we give them? Good stuff.

Now, here comes some really good stuff - verse 9. "Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good." Wow. How often do we just pretend to love others but in our hearts and with our words we really aren't loving them? I know I am guilty of it. It can be so easy to judge others at times instead of simply loving them ya know? We are all sinners, we all make mistakes and we are commanded to not judge others (Matthew 7:1) but to LOVE. I just love that. I love the "Don't pretend to love others - really love them." It just really spoke to me and challenged me in all of my relationships with others. Am I expressing love but sometimes really judging in my heart? Forgive me God for those times!! I want to really love people!

Verses 10-16 say this: "Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. (Sooo good!) When God's people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. (A hard one!) Don't curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don't be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't think you know it all!"

I love that! It is so easy at times to think we know it all! Ha - we definitely don't! We are to never pay back evil with evil and we are to do things in such a way that everyone can see that we are honorable. We are to do all we can to live in peace with everyone. (Romans 12:17-18)

Is it just me or is Romans 12 full of challenging stuff?! I know I've read Romans many times but wow - almost the whole chapter jumped off the page at me yesterday and I want to start applying these things in my life. If we could all strive towards really loving people and not just pretending to love people it is amazing how different our lives would be.

I encourage you to read Romans 12 when you have some quiet time and ask God to speak to you - He definitely spoke to me. I think it may just be my favorite chapter in the Bible :)

Learning to really love others,
Momma Keri

In Denial

I am in denial that my baby boy is going to be T-W-O a week from today ~ Valentine's Day! There really is nothing 'baby' about being two and I just can't believe we are already hitting that milestone.

We have a little party planned next Saturday for him with just family so it should be fun. I took Ethan to Kroger and let him pick out his Birthday Cake (either Wiggles or Barney seeing as those are two of his favorites) and we went with the Wiggles. Let me tell you it was no easy task finding a Wiggles cake! I called 5 places and Kroger finally said they can do Wiggles. We get there yesterday and the lady tells me they are out of the Wiggles kits to make the cake and I was so bummed!! I kept insisting I had to have a Wiggles cake and how excited I was that they were the only ones who carried them. Well, she called another Kroger and found a Wiggles kit for me so they can make the cake:) I was one happy momma.

Ethan just loves balloons. I took him with me to Kroger to have some alone time with him and they had balloons all over the store. Don't they know this doesn't make it easy for moms who are shopping with little ones? Ha. It was funny as I stopped at the card section and picked out a card for some friends. Ethan kept saying something to me over and over in the shopping cart but I was trying to read these cards so I was just letting him talk. Finally I turn to him and I'm like, "What buddy?" He points up and I look up and I happened to stop directly under ALL the balloons that were already blown up. Ha. Needless to say, we had a 1 minute fit as we left without a balloon - haha. I told him I will get him a bunch from the dollar store for his birthday rather then spend $6 on 1 of them at Kroger.

He is such a sweet boy. We were walking down the cookie/cracker aisle and he just kept pointing saying "CaCa...Caca" (cracker) I'm pretty sure he would live in that aisle and be quite content - crackers are his favorite. He is so sweet though because he's always so good at the store with me. He just points to things and talks to me a little when he sees things and is so quiet and sweet. Ok, except for the balloon thing but that didn't even last long. I just love having a little boy. I love everything about him from his name to his personality. He couldn't be a sweeter boy.

Our sweet girl is growing up too fast. She's not even 8 months yet and the girl tries to walk all the time - it cracks us up. I will be shocked if she doesn't walk early like Ethan, she is such a go getter. Anytime Ethan has a bowl of cheerios or really anything that seems interesting to her she crawls over to him so fast and tries ripping it out of his hands - haha. She's not gonna get pushed around by him as she gets older to say the least :)

She also loves to shake her little body and clap her hands when music comes on. It's so cute. Both of our kids seem to love music - not sure she will love it as much as Ethan does but she definitely is full of smiles when we put music on.

Gracelyn has had a cold since Tuesday but she's getting over it and is still in good spirits and sleeping just fine. Ethan we thought maybe had one also but his nose has been only clear....with some red cheeks on Friday and a slight fever. Can you say Molar?? Poor boy woke up at midnight on Friday night just miserable. We knew it was his molar. We cuddled him for a little while, put on his show, gave him some tylenol and he was calmed down and fine after 15 minutes and went back to sleep. He was a little quieter yesterday but happy and today he's been fine. Hopefully one of these days we will see this mysterious molar!

Here's a picture of Ethan from the other day. He had peanut butter on crackers the other day for lunch and this was the aftermath.

And here's one of our adorable girl with a hoodie on:)