Monday, April 30, 2012

My Amazing Husband!

Have I ever told you all how amazing my hubby is? Well he is... AMAZING! I'm so lucky to be married to him. And this weekend I was so proud of him, he got baptised during our baptism service at church.

Ryan was baptised as a baby, but never as an adult when it was his own decision. This weekend at church he felt convicted to go up and get baptised. I'm such a nerd and started to tear up when he told me that he wanted to do it. So very cool to watch your husband do something like that.

These pictures aren't fantastic because they were just taken on the phone, but it's all I had at the time.


 I love you Ryan! I'm so lucky and proud to be your wife...always. :)

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Birthdays Galore!

We celebrated a very special day this week, Papa's 60th Birthday! Nick, Annie, Cole and Finley flew in to help celebrate the occasion and we put this little photo collage together. (More on their visit to come.)    
















We are so blessed to have such a wonderful Dad, Father-In-Law and Papa. Happy Birthday Clair!

Another very important man also had a birthday this week, my Grandpa Kenneth turned 90 on Thursday! We weren't able to make it out to Kansas to join in the birthday festivities, but we were definitely thinking of him on his special day. Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Things, Things, Lots of Things

It's been awhile, so I have lots of random things to talk about. Mostly about the girls and what they're up to lately.

Cameron loves books and loves to "read". One day I found her reading "Praying for Your Unborn Child" (yes totally random!) in her baby doll stroller. Silly kid! She actually sat there and "read" the book for awhile. I was cracking up.


Sydney has started to eat food in the last few weeks and it's been pretty fun to watch. She liked rice cereal, LOVED sweet potatoes, wasn't such a fan of acorn squash and was totally digging pear. This picture was one I took the very first time she tried rice cereal. She looks pretty excited about the whole thing doesn't she?


Cameron is such a sweet big sister. This day she wanted to get into Sydney's bed with her to play after she woke up from a nap. Sydney thought it was the coolest. Also, notice Cameron is wearing a fairy tutu skirt. She has been really into wearing skirts and dresses lately. A lot of times during her nap she'll get up and go search in her closet for the outfit she wants to wear when she gets up.


Sydney took her first bath in the big bathtub with her big sister a couple days ago. They thought it was pretty cool to be in there together. We eventually ended up putting the bumbo chair in there so Sydney could sit up by herself.



Cameron is quite the artist. She likes to color, paint, glue... recently she has been "taking notes" and drawing in notebooks too, which she likes to do with a pen. The only problem with the pen is she often gets carried away and the pen ends up other places besides the paper (i.e. on the floor, her arms, feet, belly, on our sheets, the table, etc.). One day she was so excited to show me some of her "artwork" and she said "Mommy, Sydney's face!" This is what I found! I was cracking up inside, even though I kept a straight face so she would understand that it wasn't ok to decorate her little sister. The best part about the whole thing was that Sydney couldn't be happier! I think she was just excited that Cameron was paying attention to her.


The weather has been really, really nice lately which is so awesome! I love summer time. It's been great because all our neighbors come out and we get to see everyone. So fun. There are a lot of kids around which is awesome too. Yesterday we were walking over to play at Cameron's little friend's house and this is what she insisted on wearing...her boots! She loves her boots, even in 80 degree weather apparently. HA. Some battles just aren't worth fighting. Also, notice the notebook and pen in her hands. Yes, she was equipped just in case she needed to take notes on something while we were in route to the play date.


Sunday afternoon we took the plunge and had Cameron say good-bye to these guys, her "phires". She is SUPER attached so I've really been dreading taking them away from her and we've been putting it off for awhile. Finally on Sunday we decided to go for it. We left them in a bag at church so that Jesus could give them to other babies that needed them. Well, Cameron did not take the whole thing very well. She cried as we left church. We eventually we got her distracted by taking her out for noodles (her favorite thing to eat!) She's been doing pretty well for the most part, it's just when she starts getting tired that we have problems...big problems. She cries and cries and cries and says "phire at church no more" and "phire in momma's pocket" (because she used to be able to find them in my pockets). It's really been heartbreaking to watch the whole thing. But hopefully she'll adjust soon.


In hopes that we could get Cameron attached to something else besides her phires, Mimi got Cameron a monkey, just like her cousin Cole. She LOVES the money and was so excited to tell me about it when she picked her up from Mimi's house yesterday. Unfortunately, it hasn't quite taken the place of her beloved phires yet. Let's keep hoping that it does soon!



Sydney has really been on the move lately. She is rolling and scooting all over the place now, I'll put her down in one place and two seconds later she's on the other side of the room. And just in the last week or so she's started pushing up the the plank position. Last night she started pulling her knees in a little bit too. I don't think it's going to be that long before this little one is crawling! (God help me!)



Sydney loves hanging out with her big sis. The other morning she was relaxing with Cameron on the bed. Look at her with her little foot up!


Last Thursday was my Grandma's birthday, so the girls sent her a little message to wish her a happy day.  


That's pretty much all I've got for now. Hope you enjoyed the update!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Jersey Girls

We took a girls trip to New Jersey last week to visit my mom's family. It was a ton of fun. We always love seeing everyone. Plus, no one besides Aunt Mac has met Sydney yet, so she got a chance to meet the family!









Cameron made a new best friend...Longfellow, my aunt's basset hound puppy. He was super cute and Cameron was in love with him the second she saw him. She was so sad when he had to go take a nap. She kept asking for the doggie and she would go and sit right by his bed waiting for him to wake up.






We stayed at my Uncle Ray and Aunt Anne's house and they had a ton of fun toys, including these Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls that sang "I've got you babe" (over and over and over and over and over, you can see why Cameron loved them so much!).


They also had this fun phone which Cameron talked on a ton...


And this little toy car...



Thanks again for letting us come and play New Jersey fam! We had so much fun and we can't wait until we get to come back and go to the beach. Hopefully Ryan will be with us next time too...I know he was a little jealous that he couldn't come (although he took a last minute trip to Dallas for work and got to see Nick, Annie and the kids, so he didn't get too bored without us!)

A few more pictures for your enjoyment...


Playing outside. It was a little cool, but nice enough that we could play.



Sydney woke up in the middle of the night one night, so I pulled her into bed with Cameron and me so she wouldn't wake everyone else up with her crying. This is how the girls were sleeping in the morning. Pretty cute!


Sydney was asleep, so Cameron and I snuck in a couple pictures with Grandpa and Grandma.


Aren't my Grandparents a good looking couple?


Four generations of girlies.


Cameron is getting really good at throwing and catching balls and she was showing off her skills one afternoon.


Two pretty girls, Sydney and her Auntie Jenna.




Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Six Months Old!

Sydney's Six Months Old!

April 11, 2012
Weight: 16 pounds, 5 ounces
Length: 25.5 inches
Head: 43 centimeters

Our little sweet pea is growing up. We're already celebrating her half birthday! Craziness. Friday was her 6 month doctors appointment and the pediatrician said she looked great! She had to get two shots, :( but she actually handled them pretty well and didn't cry for very long at all. She is growing wonderfully, 57th percentile for her weight, 79th percentile for her length and 75th percentile for head circumference. 

So Sydney, what are you up to at six months old? 
  • You took your first big vacation this month...to Hawaii! Overall you were a great little traveler, although the transition back into "normal" life when we got home was a little rough.  
  • You're still a pretty good little sleeper, although your sleeping routine hasn't be quite as solid the past month. You've been waking up more in the middle of the night and haven't been as consistent with your napping. BUT that's probably a combination of traveling, teething, and other inconsistencies in your life. 
  • You started eating solid foods this month. So far you've had rice cereal and sweet potatoes...and you love them! You always finish whatever I have for you. Next we're moving onto squash and pears.
  • You're still breastfeeding 5-6 times a day. The 6th feeding often sneaks its way in when you wake up in the middle of the night due to the funky sleeping habits.  
  • You wear mostly 9 month clothes (some 6 month still) and size 3 diapers. 
  • You got your first two teeth, the two bottom middle ones. 
  • You've learned how to use your rolling skills to get around. 
  • Just in the past few days you've started to really push up and you've even managed to get yourself into a plank a couple times.  
  • You can kind of sit up now. You lean forward a ton still, but you are able to stay up all by yourself for a bit.
  • You went to your first Baylor Bears sporting event...the women's final four.
  • You started sleeping on your tummy most of the time.
  • You switched to a new kind of pacifier this month, a MAM.
  • You celebrated your first Easter.
  • You are still a super smiley and happy baby. We love playing with you and seeing you become your own little person. We love you so much baby girl!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Easter

We had a really wonderful Easter this year. We kicked off the festivities by dying eggs on Thursday afternoon with Cameron's friend Ian. The whole dying process was pretty interesting with two two year olds. And when I say interesting, I mean it was an intense 5-ish minutes with eggs going in and out of cups like crazy, dye getting dumped out accidentally, egg shells getting cracked, etc. etc. BUT by the time we were done, we had some might fine looking eggs and the kids had a blast, so I would say the whole thing was a success. 





Our church is crazy busy, (i.e. they were expecting 25K people at their Easter services this year) so we decided to go to church on Saturday night instead of Sunday morning. We went super early, so it actually wasn't too bad getting in and getting settled, thank goodness.

Sunday morning, Cameron found something interesting at the bottom of the stairs... a pile of jelly beans!


And after she stuffed a few in her mouth, she realized that there was a whole path of jelly beans...


That lead through the kitchen and out the back door...


And all the way to something special... EASTER BASKETS!!!


She was most excited about the giant bottles of bubbles that the Easter Bunny left for her and Sydney to play with. And Sydney was most excited about her need teeting toy.

But the fun didn't stop there. Apparently, the Easter Bunny made a stop down the street and hid eggs at Ian's house. So we headed on over to hunt them down.







It was pretty funny watching Ian and Cameron hunt for eggs. I would have to say they didn't completely "get it" yet. They were opening the plastic eggs as they found them to see what was inside. And Cameron was trying to eat them. HA Silly girl. Sydney had fun hanging out with daddy during the hunt. She liked holding the plastic eggs.

After the egg hunt, we headed to Superpop and Granne's for some more Easter excitement.



We had a yummy brunch.





And wouldn't you know it...the Easter Bunny stopped at Superpop and Granne's house too! Among other things, Cameron scored a broom and dustpan that was just her size (thank goodness, she had whacked me in the face while playing with the full sized broom earlier in the week). Plus, the Easter Bunny brought Cameron and Sydney a little table. So awesome!





The weather was so nice that we got to go play at the park for awhile that afternoon. Cameron LOVES playing at the park, so it was pretty fun.

A little Easter weekend bonus, our friends Kirk and Annie and their new baby girl Ryan came over for dinner on Monday night. They live out of state now so we don't get to see them all that often and we hadn't met Miss Ryan yet. So fun to see them as parents!


It's weekends like this that I realize how truly blessed I am. Thank you Jesus for giving me such a wonderful family, great friends, and most of all the gift of salvation. For that I am eternally grateful.