MOTHER

Our mother's day was pretty low key...mostly because I was out of town the days prior and flew back to Orlando returning the evening of mother's day.  Steve had a meal planned to cook, but had to adjust plans since my flight was delayed and we were pushing up against Karis' time to eat!  So he took me out to eat at Longhorn steakhouse.  I think the best part of my day was Isaac and I coming home and getting to spend the evening with Karis and Steve!  It was fun to be away, but I was glad to be home.  Steve and Karis had spent time planting flowers with cousins, Char and Eloise, along with Uncle Rob on the Saturday before mother's day to give to the mommy's in their lives.  It was fun to hear the stories Steve told about Karis "helping" plant.  Apparently she liked playing in the dirt more than anything!  I didn't get a picture of Karis with my new plants until a couple days later, which was perfect because there were several really pretty blooms on the plant that day. 

she was happy to have Isaac and mommy home

dinner with my babes

She picked out the card all by herself!

every hat is a silly hat to Karis, she is our silly girl!

getting so big

she likes smelling flowers and I encourage it as often as possible,
I want her to learn to enjoy the beauty she sees around her

Karis-almost 21 months.  Steve said the flowering
plant is from Karis, and the little plant is from Isaac ;)

In light of mother's day, I've been thinking about my role as a mommy.  I've been a SAHM (stay at home mom) for almost a year now.  I was telling a friend of mine this morning that it is probably the toughest job I've had to date.  I never had to deal with co-workers throwing themselves on the ground in a full on tantrum - although I get a kick out of picturing that happening!  I struggle often on how to discipline and get my eldest little one to listen to mommy.  I have days where I want to pull all my hair out (yesterday) and then there are those sweet days and moments where I just look at Karis and she makes my heart melt.  Isaac, the laid back one, seems easy after having one child already!  It will be fun to watch him grow and see how his personality begins to form.  So far, it pretty much consists of sleep, eat, giggle/smile and repeat!  Even though he's the "easy" one for me right now, it's still a juggling act trying to manage two little ones under the age of two!  People say it gets easier, I just think you get more acquainted to crazyness!  Over the past few days as I've been thinking about my role, I've had a few thoughts come into my head that define me as a mother, so indulge me in a little light hearted fun:

M-Mind reader.  Ok well not exactly, but as a mom I've become very good at studying and knowing all about human (aka toddler) behavior.  I can pretty much pick up what she is about to do or if I'm in the other room, know what she IS doing in the other room!
O- Others focused.  I will say I pretty much stink at this 98% of the time, but I'm forced into this on a daily basis.  Having children helps extinguish constant focus on self and you have no other choice but to focus on them.  It has become more of a challenge to treat myself, but Steve often helps me do so by getting a night away as often as possible.
T-Translator.  Have you ever heard a toddler speak?  I mean really, you pretty much are a translator if you can understand and interpret what they are saying,  even if no one else can!  Although there is this phrase Karis says over and over again that we have yet to figure out what she's saying!  Anyone want to take a stab at it and whoever can guess, we'll give you a prize!
H- Hair stylist. So I don't have to worry about this with Isaac, which is kind of refreshing to not always have a bow in hand!  But with Karis, if you don't at least brush her hair, she looks like a wild child!  When I find time and if she will sit still long enough, we have braids.  But most days, she ends up with piggy and pony tails.  I'm not ready to get her hair cut...one day soon though!
E- Energizer bunny.  Even when I think I can't do it (whatever "it" happens to be that moment), you have to find the energy to go on...again and again and again!
R- Relational.  Being a mom has taught me how to be a better person by cultivating my relational skills.  Teaching me by learning to be more patient, kind, patient, loving/caring, patient, speak clearly so the other understands, patient, helpful and just in case I didn't say it enough patient!

I am thankful to be a mother and even in the midst of the crazyness on most days, I often tell people, "I wouldn't have it any other way!"

Five Years...and counting!

Five years ago today, Steve and I began the journey of our relationship.  We went out on our first date May 15, 2007.  I still remember it like it was yesterday!  I'll keep the details to a minimum ;)

I had been working at the Texas Tech Baptist Student Ministries (which is how I met Steve in the fall of 2006).  We had been building a friendship with the intentions of dating.  We both didn't really want to waste time in a pointless relationship, so we were very intentional from the beginning.  Some time in April, we had a conversation about how when I was finished working at the BSM we would like to start dating with intentions of marriage. (Because I was working with a student ministry on campus I wasn't "allowed" to date students-so this is why we waited until I completed my time with the BSM to start dating).

On May 15, Steve had been doing some odd jobs around the BSM offices (mostly to spend extra time around me and also so my boss could get to know him-my boss acted as a "father" figure asking Steve all sorts of questions and making sure he was suitable for me!  I was thankful for that.) and when I finished up working he walked me out to my car and asked me out on a date.  It was funny because we already had the date planned, but he was being cute!  I went home to get ready for our date, I was so nervous, which was funny because by this point I had already known him for 6 months and had gotten to know him pretty well so had no reason to be nervous!  He came and picked me up, flowers in hand and chocolate kisses (a little inside joke we had-thanks to Stevie Wonder!)  He took me to Cagles (I'm not sure if that's how you spell it), it's a great steak restaurant in Lubbock.  We went to get ice cream at coldstone afterward, where Steve bought a homeless guy icecream (he has always had a big heart for people and would give the shirt off his back-I've literally seen him do just that!)  After icecream we went to the park and sat on a blanket and talked.  I was so excited, thinking how I could spend the rest of my life with this man...and thankful the Lord answered that prayer and has allowed us to be married for four years already.  We pray and hope for many more to come! 

I'm thankful for how the Lord orchestrated our relationship.  Thankful for the friends who were vital in us meeting and asking questions about our motives and intentions of each other.  Thankful for Tim, Justin, Brianna, Matt, Meg, Brooke, Ray, Joanna, Keith & Tonya.  And I'm thankful for the countless friends and family who prayed for our relationship as we started to date on May 15.

Steve, I love you and I'm thankful for the memories we have from May 15th and how it's always going to be a special day for us!  Thank you for striving to love me as Christ loves his bride, the church.  What an amazing five years ...God has done a lot in our lives.  It's fun to watch you grow and I love living life with you!  Happy May 15 babe, mwah!

A couple pictures from that night...

sitting outside at the park

LOVE HIM SO MUCH!

Braids

Karis is in a fun stage these days.  One of the things I find fun is playing with her long blonde hair and making her look "so pretty" as she will say when I'm done.  She is at the point where I can braid it, but have only done so a couple times...afterall getting a 20 month old to sit still for a long time is quite the challenge!  But it's fun to see her than look in the mirror afterward and say, "so pretty"!

Here are some pictures from our first braiding session:

Steve and I tell her often that she is so pretty and that God made her that way.  But we also try to make it just as much a point to talk about inward appearance as we do her outward appearance.  It's always funny to see the look on her face when Steve is trying to talk with her about her inward beauty!  I know she doesn't fully understand it now, but we desire to lay a foundation now that we will continue to build on as she grows as a lady.  We want her to know that beauty isn't just outward, especially in a culture that infiltrates us with that message (especially to women).  I have been challenged lately with how I view my entire beauty...having a post pregnancy body can be a bit discouraging to me at times...however it is not what makes up my entire beauty.  So as I desire to teach my daughter that her inward beauty is of great importance, I strive to examine myself and polish my inward beauty so she will see what we mean when we talk about inward beauty. 

More Jesus

Karis always seems to "teach" me something about life, myself, my imperfections, etc.  She has brought out the best and worst in me at times.  I really do thank God for this little girl and that by His Grace he teaches me through moments with her each day.  This morning was one of those moments.  She was flipping through her Bible while I was feeding Isaac.  As I began reading a story to her, she started flipping through the pages.  Normally I try to get her to focus on one story at a time, but I figured it wasn't worth a fight.  She started saying "Jesus" in her cute little way.  She was looking for Jesus in the Bible.  So we found baby Jesus and she said, "Baby Jesus, night night"! (yea pretty much adorable I know!)  She continues flipping pages and starts saying, "more Jesus, more Jesus"!  I laughed and said yea, we all need more Jesus.  So we flipped through pages to find more pictures of Jesus while she continued on saying, "more Jesus".  Little bit about Karis, when she wants more of something, she will say it over and over, "more fill in the blank".  For example, more car (meaning: I want to see more cars), more music (meaning: play more music mommy) and one of my personal favorites, more donkey (I guess meaning: I want to see more donkeys! Haha I don't know!)

The picture I captured of her on my phone
today as she kept saying, MORE JESUS!

Anyway, I got to thinking about "more Jesus" and how I do need more Jesus in my life.  I need more of God's word to penetrate my heart and bring me to repentence daily.  I need more of His Grace to love and parent my children well.  I need more of Jesus' love to overwhelm me so I can love my husband, family, friends and neighbors well.  I simply need more Jesus.  This isn't to say that I think as a Christian you have "less of Jesus" in your life if you aren't doing x, y & z (that can walk the line of legalistic religious based worship).  Simply, what I'm saying is that I need to walk in the Spirit (more) and not live life trying to please myself (whether I realize I'm doing it or not).  Galatians 5:16 says, "walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh."  My fleshy tendencies creep in often when I don't walk by the spirit.  I get rude, selfish, short with my children and husband, self centered (the list could go on).  However, it's when I walk by the Spirit (when I have more Jesus in my daily interactions) that I find I live a life more honoring and pleasing to the Lord. 

So, yes Karis, MORE JESUS! 

One and Two

I had every intention of writing Isaac's one month blog...but here we are at two months!  I can see why as a third child it's hard to find many pictures of myself as a baby/child, let alone a baby book (no offense mom...I totally get it now)!

 

Month one:
this is a blur mostly...even with my mom here to help the entire first month of Isaac's life...there isn't too much I remember about his first month.  He did the basics: eat, sleep, poop.  That pretty much sums it up!  He did start to hold his head up a little on his own if he was leaning up against your chest.  Definately a better sleeper than Karis was in the first month (although he is a very noisy sleeper, so we were glad to move him to his own crib/room at 4 weeks old)!  In the first month, he proved to eat like a champion and like to spend as much time getting mommy's milk as he could...now earning himself the name "Big Man" and oh so affectionately "Chubs" or "Chugalug".  It's adorable to hear Karis say Big Man (imagine the highest pitch possible coming from a 20 month old)!

Some pictures from month one...

1 month old

starting to focus on objects like the mobile on his swing

little grin

1 month - love his old man hair look in this one

Karis at 1 month - thought it would be fun to "compare"

proof that our children cry! (some
people think they don't since all they
see is happy babies in public!)

tired and ready for a bath to end the
one month "birthday"

Month two:
still a blur looking back, but getting a little more sleep on occasion.  He has given us two "full nights" of sleep.  One was a five hour stretch and one a seven hour stretch.  He surprisingly enjoys tummy time at longer intervals than I expected of him.  But a lot of the time he just wants to rest his head on the side and chill!  He has also practiced holding that noggin up by sitting in his bumbo chair.  He makes coos often, especially when he sees mommy, daddy or his favorite big sis!  I like when he does a real loud happy squeal!  It's been fun to watch him start smiling more and we make it a point to get him smiling a lot once he starts grinning.  He will smile when you smile at him or even when you come into view, especially mommy (as daddy says, "he knows where his milk supply comes from and it makes him happy!")  He was a healthy little boy when we went for his two month check up on Monday with the stats:

• Weight-10 lbs, 2 oz (17th percentile)
• Height-22.25 in (right around the 25th percentile)
• Head circumference-38 cm (12th percentile)

Some pictures...

try to capture the smiles when I can!

Intense Isaac

this makes me laugh

2 months old!

snoozes on mom are always the best

out for a walk to celebrate 2 months

family time-walking on the trails in our neighborhood

Big yawns!  On his 2 month "birthday" we had a wedding
rehearsal to be a part of, he had a late night but did great out so late!

Hi mama!



konked out-it's hard turning two months

We're having a blast with two kiddos!  It has been an adjustment but we're making it work...just with a little more messy of a house than normal ;)  I'll end with a favorite picture of him at 2 months, 1 day smiling big for mama!

PS. this was the night he slept 7
hours straight for the first time!

 

Little Birdy

We were out for a walk this morning when we came upon a mama birdy and her 4 or 5 little baby birdies.  Karis enjoyed seeing this and quite honestly, so did I!  There's just something about little fuzzy baby birds hopping around with their mama that makes me smile :)

As I watched the little birdies run around, their mama trying to get them all together, I had to laugh because she looked how I often feel with only two kiddos to round up! I wanted to help the little mama bird round up her little birds (especially the one running into the street!) and make sure they were all safe.  I seem to get a bit frazzled on most days for example when trying to get out of the house if I have errands to run or somewhere to be.  I can also get easily frustrated with Karis who seems to choose those very moments to have a meltdown.  I hate that I lose my patience and get easily frustrated some days. 

But I'm being refined...refined as a Child of God and as a mother.  God is using the frustrating, frazzled moments to refine me...to remove the selfish ways in me and to refocus my attention from getting everything and everyone out of the house at just the right time to enjoying my children in every moment!  These little years are flying by so I want to enjoy each moment.  For example, Steve was dancing in the living room with Karis the other night, and all I could think about was the next thing I know it's going to be them doing so on her wedding day! *tear*  This is not to say that being timely isn't important, but there are other important things at hand (such as loving my children well in the midst of a rush). 

So I thank God for the little birdy(s) I saw this morning running all over the neighbors yard and the mommy bird who seem to hop all around trying to round them up...it not only made for a good laugh but it helped me have a little different perspective today as I went throughout my day.

Isaac Haddon Birth Announcement

Isaac's Birth Announcement turned out so great.  Thank you Lauren for taking a great picture of our little man!

Click on the link below to see it...

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1Act2Ldy3aM3QQ&cid=SFLYOCWIDGET