Thanksgiving...

This year, we are so thankful for the gifts God has blessed us with. I thought I would compose a list...of course this is not all inclusive...

For P and P's health...first, he is an amazing husband and father. He is very patient (with me especially) and the children and I adore him! By the way, he had an excellent check up and there is no surgery on the horizon (well, at least not for a few years - praise God!)

For our beautiful children. They bring me more joy everyday than I could ever imagine. AR is so smart, and she is so wonderful with her baby brother. And J is my snuggle bear. He is just the cuddliest guy ever.

For our families, for their love and support in all our endeavors. They all have been there for us in one way or another.

For our friends...they listen (endlessly) to me...they are always there to bounce things off of, or just cry with, or laugh with. I can only hope to strive to be the type of friend they are to me.

For our jobs, that we are blessed to have them, and they allow us the flexibility for me to stay home with our children. I never thought it would last almost 3 years, but it has, and it's an amazing gift from God that we are able to do that.

For our home...it was very scary selling our house and buying another. It might be half empty, but it's warm, comfortable, and slowly becoming our own. I am working in our master bath right now. Once it's finished, I will post some before and after pictures.

And finally, and most importantly, for our faith. It has taken us through some of our toughest times. Having almost lost my husband, and losing 2 children, some days I am amazed that I am not a complete mess. But I contribute everything to my faith in God. He has been (and will continue to be) the most important part of our lives.

We hope all our friends and family have a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving Day! We hope you spend it with your loved ones and we hope it's peaceful and blessed.

Random thoughts and pictures

Good morning! Just thought I would share some pictures over the past week. First, we have officially graduated J from the little baby tub to the big tub, and at the same time with AR. Although both P and I have to be right there, it makes bath time much quicker and easier. And we have discovered that the shower head (which is the wand kind) is the best thing in our house. :) Easier to get hair wet, easier to rinse off soap...quick and easy - just the way we like it. :)

J is standing up like a champ, and cruising around the furniture. He actually took a few steps with his walker. I am not ready for a walking baby yet! What happened to my sweet little infant?

This one was captured just after waking up from his nap...Probably not very nice of me...check out all the drool on his chin! We have 4 teeth now...2 front top and 2 front bottom. And he uses them to bite me wherever he can sink them into.

And finally, this one is from this morning. I was cleaning up the kitchen and came into the living room to find my 2 year old had undressed herself. Now, it's usually not chilly around here, but it was only in the mid-30's this morning.

And on a final note, we are officially "sleeping through the night"! It's been a long, long, long 9 months. We finally decided to try a soy formula, and low and behold...the first night of the soy J slept through the night. If he does wake up, it is much easier to put him back to sleep (5 minutes compared to 2 hours!) We are keeping our fingers crossed that this really is how it will stay. It's been a week and a half. :) Mommy and daddy are feeling so much better.

Oh...and another final note. P had his yearly check up. He is doing fantastic. The surgeon is so pleased with how his heart looks. He said everything is stable, no changes from last year. He does not suspect he will need any kind of surgery for at least a few years, if not more. We are so thankful and blessed for P's great health! God is awesome!!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day! Love all of you!

Talking to God...

I had to run by the church office today to mail something and pick up P's mail. Afterwards, I was sitting in the car in the parking lot, and my mother called. As I was talking to her, the priest walked up and spoke with my 2 1/2 year old daughter. I heard her talking about her bunny, and telling Fr. Chris about how the bunny hops. Fr. Chris waved good bye and went on his way. After I hung up the phone, my daughter says to me, "Mommy! I just talked to God!" :) Very cute! Here's to hoping you have a few minutes to run into God today!

Happy Halloween!

Here are a few of our pictures from halloween! AR just had a blast, once she realized that you actually get CANDY when you say "Trick or Treat!". She just kept saying, "Let's go to MORE houses!" We let her go to about 10 houses, than back to our house to give out candy. She tried to become friends with all of our Halloween guests! She was very cute!

J is a red baby dragon (RAWR!) and AR is a pink pup-pup (picked out by herself!)

J didn't look very happy in his costume. :(

Ruff-ruff!

Hope everyone had a safe and happy halloween...now we start looking forward to Thanksgiving! AR is already talking about going to papa-daddo and mimi's house and seeing all our aunts, uncles, and cousins! She is very excited!

Very first candy bar...

Well, I caved in and gave AR her very first candy bar...a miniture Kit Kat. Oh boy...check out that mouth and those hands. She exclaimed "It was awesome!" :)

BTW, she is going for a haircut tomorrow. ;)

The moments mommies live for...

AR: "Mommy?"

Me: "Yes pumpkin?"

AR: "You're my best friend!"

Me: Heart melting, tearing up! :)

Hope all my mommy friends are having a wonderful week!

Terrible two's...

Well, we had our first real life tantrum today. We had the pleasure of going swimming today at someone's house who is in the mom's group. It went pretty well for about 1 hour, and then I could see that AR was starting to crash. I gave her the 5 minute warning that we were leaving, packed our things, and went to get her. Oh boy...my child hit me in the head while I was putting on her shoes. Needless to say, she was in some serious trouble, having to go into time out in front of the entire group. She cried, yelled, hit the house, hit a plant nearby...it was tough. I finally got her to the car, calmed down and on our way home when she so politely asked could she please have her "gummies" now. Prior to going swimming, I told her if she behaved she could have gummies after we left. No, I did not give in...she did not get the gummies. I am not ready for this by any means!

Otherwise, we are getting back into the swing of things. P is back to work, I am home again. I have an awesome video to post. I will try in the next day or two. The video is not really worth anything, it's the sounds of Joshua laughing...belly laughing...at his big sis. It's so cute. Hope you will return to hear it. It will put you in a great mood! Love to all our family and friends! A.