Faith, Grace & Giggles

Meltdowns and Toofers

2012-02-02T10:01:00.001-06:00

On Tuesday, James woke up crying... I mean in pain crying. He normally wakes up happy and giggles when you go in to get him... on this day - he just cried and put his hands over his ears. Then when I picked him up - he put his head on my shoulder and snuggled. None of this is normal for James... he is pretty independent and wants to be on the go.

My first thought was: Does he have an ear infection? Then I thought about those pesky 2 year molars that are sure to pop up at some point soon for us. I don't have anything to go on with the ear infection issue - because he has only gotten 1 in his entire life... but this just doesn't seem like it's a sick issue.

Yesterday, we went to MOPS...and this issue reared its ugly head again. I went to drop him off at his class and my baby who normally just scampers off into the room to play - without looking back - was reduced to tears. Hysterical, clawing at the lady to get to Mommy tears. I feel horrible leaving him because I knew that he just simply is hurting... but I told them to page me if he didn't settle down in about 5 minutes... they never paged me, so I let him stay.

When I picked him up though, his eyes were this sad purplish red color... and I knew he was not only exhausted, but just plain done. We rushed through our Chick-fil-a lunch and then put them in bed as fast as I could. James slept for 3 hours, and I've been keeping him with Tylenol as needed. He did sleep without waking up last night - and was pretty happy and giggly when I got him out of bed this morning. No tears at the MDO drop off... so maybe he's doing better.

We have no teeth poking through - so I don't know what to think about those 2 year molars... they could still be rearing their ugly heads, but I'm just not 100% sure of what our issue is right now. If the problem is teeth - I wish they'd just come in and be done with it... so he can have this teething mess behind him.

It's interesting - I was talking with another Mom at MOPS yesterday and she has two boys as well... a drooler and a non-drooler... we have the same phenomenon going on with that. Our non-drooler seems to have more pain with teething issues (James) and our droolers seem to have plenty of water works but not as much pain. (Tyler)

What's your experience?

A Swing and a Run

2012-02-01T08:15:00.000-06:00

Santa finally came by to finish the boys' gift during nap time a couple of weeks ago, and I know two little men that couldn't be more thrilled with their new play ground in the back yard. Wait until this summer when we add in their tiny picnic table and the extra large pool that Mom scored on clearance just before Christmas. I feel that they will want to live outside.

Here are some photos from our first experience playing on our new kids gym. It was fairly cold the day it got set up - so they had to wear their new hats too - we wanted them to wear their gloves as well, but they weren't cooperating with that part of the day. (Plus a couple of bonus shots)

I just love this picture of the boys - I wish I knew what the joke was... but it's just precious anyway you go. Love their sweet little faces!

Eating our first Oreo cookies... James did great just having the cookie whole... and seemed to enjoy it. I ended up buying a bag of the mini Oreos for them to just have a couple here and there.

I broke Tyler's cookie up - he's just not really good about chewing... and I'm terrified of his gag reflex. I might be breaking his stuff into small pieces until he goes away to college.

Getting ready to go outside... and the rest are photos from the playing, running, swinging, sliding, and just general baby boy fun!

It just doesn't get cuter than those little faces poking out of their little hats. Cracks me up and melts my heart at the same time. They did pretty well with them - in terms of leaving them alone too - which was GREAT since it was pretty darn cold!

Q is for Quickly

2012-01-31T08:17:00.003-06:00

When I became a mother, I was given the advice to savor every moment because it would pass too quickly. I heard it and it was just one of those things that went in one ear and right out the other... you know how that goes.

Mothering the really young is HARD, and sometimes the days seem like they go on forever... you're just praying you can make it to bedtime... but then you look back and realize that months - years even - have passed. Somewhere in the monotony of those long days - time passes and those kids grow up.

The reality of this has hit me a time or two over the last 22 months - but nothing hit me as hard as hearing the words that James would be graduating out of his mother's day out program after next school year. Ya'll, my baby will start preschool in the fall of 2013! That just breaks my momma heart!

While I know it's not a huge deal - it'll still only be 2 days a week or possibly 3... but it's in a different building and there is just such a difference in the programming. It makes me sit here and think about how not very long ago... he looked like this...

It's truly amazing, isn't it? I guess the older YOU get - the faster time goes in general. It's crazy to me the changes he has gone through since that photo was taken - I mean a completely dependent little newborn is now a toddler running through the house with some definite opinions on how things should be done!

I'm shocked how fast it has happened too - all while I've been just trying to make it through the daily struggles.

Then look at this guy... who is another crazy toddler tornado running through my house, but just 16 months ago - looked like this...

Mind blowing, isn't it?

At this very moment - they are destroying my living room... literally blanketing it with toys, couch pillows, and little boy giggles. My how time flies, it will seem like an eternity and a blink of the eye - and I'll be dropping them off at Kindergarten and 1st grade... oiy. Be still my Momma heart.

Well, just like that - we've got an all out duel over a toy... so I'd better go referee... is it bedtime yet?!

Photo 366 - Week 4

2012-01-29T09:15:00.001-06:00

Are you ready for week 4? I know some of you are trying to NOT use iPhone photos, but that's typically all I have near me unless it's planned... so that's mainly what mine are. We're just not very exciting people... but here we go...

January 22 - We had some severe weather tear through our area, so we had to wake the boys up around 10PM to go shelter in our half bathroom. 2 adults, 2 babies, and a dog all in a half bathroom... good times. They did pretty well though, considering... and we were all in bed by midnight.

January 23 - Tyler has been having some trouble with napping - so he wasn't sleeping while James was - instead her decided to sit on the potty. The potty happened to be sitting on top of a book, but he couldn't figure out why it was hard to get the book out while sitting on top of it. HA! (I wrote a pretty amazing post about him this week - you should check it out.)

January 24 - I've been working with the boys on eating with utensils, but also trying to teach them that when they are done... they should pick up any food and put it on their plate with their fork. Breakfast is typically a lot of finger foods around here because Mommy isn't quite ready for all that is involved in utensil eating. Anyway, this morning - I was working on loading the dishwasher or something and looked over to find this. James was finished with breakfast and had put all of his french toast stick pieces in his cup holder. I got a giggle out of that.

January 25 - I was taking dinner to a lovely family that had a new baby on Thursday, so here is a photo of their dessert. I haven't posted the recipe for these Brown Sugar Blondies yet, but it will be on Momma Hawk Cooks soon! I also took them Chicken Spaghetti and Green Bean Bundles. (My chicken spaghetti recipe is much different than most that are floating around these days - and I think it's WAY better)

January 26 - The boys had school today, and they love it so much. We're usually the first family there for drop off (sometimes last for pick up too - oops) but the boys just literally jump out of the stroller and run into the class. They never look back anymore... no tears, no fuss. They are super excited to see me when I get back to pick them up though!

January 27 - This photo pretty much sums up the days around here right now - we've got LOTS of fighting over toys and pretty much anything. It just started this week, but we've been waiting for Tyler to take up the slack. For the longest time - James would steal anything Tyler had... and it wasn't a big deal - Tyler would just get something else. Now, he's fighting back - so Mommy does a lot of refereeing with toys. (and hats)

I've got a link up of my own on Fridays for anyone that would like to join in - it takes a look at our Chronos and Kairos moments. I've done it for two weeks, and would love to have some folks join in with me. Here is where it all began... Week 1 AND Week 2

January 28 - This is just funny to me - Tyler is 6 months younger than James but his feet are a size and a half larger. They are so much longer. In general, Tyler is longer and leaner than James - but when standing side by side - it's hard to tell. James was about a half inch taller at their last appointments... but he doesn't quite stand as straight as Tyler - so it looks like Ty is taller. Anyway - the proof is right there - Mr. Big Foot in full effect.

Want to join in with us? Go to the link at the top and start taking a photo a day!! As you can see - I go for real life photos - which means that all I've got are Instagram photos for the most part. I am going for realism... and besides when I use the real camera - that deserves it's own post in my mind. HA!

Chronos and Kairos - Week 2

2012-01-27T08:41:00.000-06:00

I'm back to give you some insights into our week... I will do better next week to get these posted on Thursday nights so that you might be able to link up with us.

This week was really not too exciting for us in terms of getting out. Tyler has been recovering from a monster diaper rash - so we stuck close to home for the most part and just played... and tried to rest. I'm not sure why it is, but my kids are just not on a "normal" nap schedule for their age... so our lives are still a bit off from the rest of the world of toddlers.

Chronos moments: (real time)
- Tyler having a horrible diaper rash and literally spending a whole day unable to walk
- The helpless feeling you have when your baby is in pain and there isn't anything you can do to instantly fix it
- The boys have started fighting over toys this week (good times)
- Food being thrown all over the floor
- Not making it to Bible study because of the diaper rash mentioned before
- Finding out that every other study week - there is extended time on the childcare so the Moms can go enjoy lunch together... knowing that there is ZERO chance of the boys being able to deal with that.
- Wishing that the boys didn't nap at 10AM... and did afternoon naps like most of the other kids their age.
- Losing my cool more that once with the boys during the week

Kairos moments: (God's time)
- Being able to comfort Tyler while he was hurting
- Snuggling with both of the boys one-on-one at least once during the week
- Watching my little men run into MDO and not look back - knowing that they enjoy it
- Picking up those boys from MDO and seeing how excited they are to have me come back
- Watching the boys light up at a commercial for a learning program we are planning to get them for James' birthday
- Just trying to be grateful that the boys get a decent nap - no matter what time it is.
- Knowing that even though I lose my cool with the boys - they are forgiving and are open to my apologies

I'd love to hear some of your moments from this week...

Tyler Was There

2012-01-26T09:00:00.000-06:00

Sometimes the bizarre (supernatural) way that our family came together takes me by surprise. I still, to this day will stop and think about it from time to time. (on the rare second that I get a moment to myself) As I was sitting there thinking about it - some of you went on the journey with us... some are joining in more recently... but through a good portion of the craziness - Tyler was there.

What do I mean by that? Let me show you.

January 2010:
- we were finishing our home study for our adoption agency - by the end of the month - Tyler was there

February 2010: (I will be doing another post on these topics)
- met our first birth mother, and fell in love - Tyler was there
- went to the hospital for the birth of that baby girl, ended up not becoming our daughter - Tyler was there
- went back to work a few days after having left for maternity leave - Tyler was there
- spent a good part of the month grieving for that lost baby - Tyler was there

March 2010:
- got a call from our second birth mother, even through apprehension... met her - Tyler was there
- met with our birth mother a few times - Tyler was there
- exchanged all of the stuff we bought for the little girl and bought stuff for our baby boy - Tyler was there
- had some SERIOUS health scares and issues with John, spending 5 days in the hospital - Tyler was there

April 2010:
- went to the hospital for the birth of our son, James - Tyler was there
- spend the first few hours of James life getting to know him - Tyler was there
- almost passed out feeding James his first bottle - Tyler was there
- saw James' birth mother in the hospital after the delivery, looked very sick - Tyler was there
- signed all the adoption papers to bring James home 2 days after his birth - Tyler was there
- middle of the night on our first night as parents...

We found out Tyler was coming!

Crazy to think about all of those emotional roller coaster moments that Tyler was present for that we didn't even know he was there for... isn't that amazing?! Can you see a little bit of why I wasn't able to tell that I was having morning/afternoon/night sickness... I thought it was just stress! Oh, the Lord is a funny funny man.

Menu Planning

2012-01-25T11:26:00.002-06:00

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but over Christmas - we got an iPad, and upon the recommendation of a friend - I downloaded the Menu Planner App. This has literally changed my life! I don't have to keep notepads or anything around anymore - and I can plan until my heart is full.

It is so easy to add recipes or food items - you can do it either way, then look at a calendar with all of your meal plans right there on the screen. You can keep a recipe book, as well as import recipes from most of the popular recipe websites out there. (Food Network, Pilsbury, Taste of Home, Clean Eating, and many more) You will want to edit the recipes slightly when you import them - but it is super easy. The only thing that would make me love it more right now would be if they would develop the ability to import recipes from blogs.

Once you've planned your menu, you can then go into another portion of the program and make your grocery list. With a couple of clicks of a button - you can pull in the entire list of things needed for your menu plan recipes for whatever time frame you'd like to do your shopping for. You can then take things off of the list if you don't need them this trip - or add in other items as needed. Once you've got the list ready, you can export it to your email and print it for your shopping trip.

I've made it my goal to have all of our meals planned and my shopping list ready for Thursday mornings - as soon as I drop the boys off at school... I head to the store. I enjoy grocery shopping entirely too much - but that's beside the point - this app has made my least favorite part of the process even easier. I enjoy the cooking and prepping recipes - but the planning and preparing shopping lists stresses me out. I'd love to hear your tips and tricks on menu planning...

P is for Perspective

2012-01-23T10:40:00.002-06:00

There is so much in life that is different for each of us based on our own life's course and our perspective on the situation. Take pregnancy for instance... some love it because their experience is magical and doesn't involve being sick for 36+ weeks - others hate it because of the aforementioned illness and swelling that is nothing short of being absolutely ridiculous!

As we were driving to MOPS last week, we passed a church that had about 200 tiny little crosses in their lawn. I didn't notice it on the way, but on the way home - I saw the sign. Each cross was representing an aborted baby in our area. This got me thinking.

We all have our own thoughts and opinions on abortion and if it's something you'd consider for yourself - those things are based on various different points within your life's perspective. Politics, Ethics, Morality, Spirituality, Circumstance, or even just plain Choice. This post isn't about debating those issues.

This post is about my own perspective... when I saw each of those crosses - a name in my life crossed my mind. John. James. Joshua. Gabriella. Carl. Tiffany. Addison. David. Tristan. Stephanie. (I'm sure there are others) Each of those names is a person in close relationship with my family and/or me... each one is adopted. Each one could have instead been a cross on that lawn.

Can you imagine? It is hard for me to fathom the choice that the ladies that would become these birth mother's had to make, but I thank God for everything they endured for these people. It takes on a whole different meaning when your own child's name is on that list though.

I remember sitting in the doctor's office in September 2009 hearing the words and knowing in my heart that our journey through infertility treatments was over... there was nothing else those doctors could try that would give us any more hope. I remember thinking that it didn't matter to me if I carried the baby myself or if someone else did it, but one way or another - I would be a mother. On the flip side of that, I couldn't imagine carrying a baby knowing that I wouldn't parent that child. My own perspective prevented me from understanding that decision - or how someone could make that choice.

I'm grateful that things like that are outside of my understanding, but that God has a plan and holds the birth mother's hand through it all. I'm grateful for her wisdom beyond her years to know that there is a life out there for her child even if she isn't in it everyday. I'm grateful for people like Sara, Cindy and Susan who work at New Life Pregnancy Center in Texas that minister to so many of these ladies and help them make the choices and plans that best bring God's glory to the lives of these babies.

Finally, I'm grateful for God allowing me to understand that motherhood isn't about carrying the baby - it's about pouring your love and heart into the life of the child you are given to raise. Of course my perspective has changed on this several times, but no matter what - I am beyond words grateful that the lives of my husband and son are a part of my family instead of being a cross on a church lawn somewhere.

There are so many families out there waiting for their hearts and lives to be filled with babies of their own - and I wish that more ladies would have the education and courage to be able to help give those children they are carrying a chance to fill those hearts and families. I'm not writing this today to judge anyone that has made a different choice - I'm just hoping that if one person out there might read this and know the difference that adoption has made for me... they might change their perspective and fill a mother's arms who is waiting for her baby.

I know it's incredibly difficult and painful... but I'm here to tell you that it can work. We view James' birth mother as a part of our family and would love to have her involved with us as much as she wants to be. We didn't start out with that perspective on the situation - but we grew and learned how that relationship could work, and can't imagine anything different.

Everyday we live changes us in ways we may never know. You see things. You experience things. You read things. You decide things. All of these things change your perspective a little bit - and mold you into the person you are this very moment. I for one am glad that I can look at that display and see so much in those crosses - I'm sad for the ones that are planted on that lawn today, but at the same time... I'm beyond grateful for the ones that aren't there.

Project 366 - Week 2 & 3

2012-01-22T07:00:00.000-06:00

Due to the cooties that took over the house last week... I didn't get to post my photos. So here is two weeks worth to get us caught up to date.

January 8 - Working on keeping up with the boys' memory calendars. I'm already anticipating having a great time next year comparing the day from 1 year before... I sincerely hope that next January 8 we aren't talking about stomach viruses.

January 9 - These two are going to be the death of me. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've said "sit down" when they are in a chair or on the couch. Tyler is the more stubborn of the two boys as you can see from this picture.

January 10 - My little, Tyler looking so incredibly big. Playing and turning over a chair to sit in it "his" way.

January 11 - I got an AMAZING deal on Groupon... I got an hour massage for $29, but I had $20 in credit on the site for it being my first order... so I got an hour massage for $9!! SCORE!

January 12 - Picking my men up from Mother's Day Out. James doesn't nap at school... so I usually bring him straight home and put him in bed. Tyler on the other hand is the best napper in the class... so we just hang out until James gets a little rest.

January 13 - When John got home from work, he put one of the boys Christmas presents together for them. We've got stock in Little People at this point... we've got one of just about everything!

January 14 - The first of the stomach virus surfacing here. We had been up all night with Tyler being sick every half hour... so we all were looking rough, but this just looks so sad - he wanted to badly to feel better and play with his brother.

January 15 - My little men playing, looking so happy to see their Momma for the first time in the day. I was deathly ill and had been in bed up until about 12:30.

January 16 - I was still feeling gross, so John stayed home with us and James was THRILLED. He loves waking up and having his Daddy come get him from bed. You are always greeted with a smile like this when entering his room. :-)

January 17 - James was WIPED out after MOPS. It's a fairly good drive home from our group, and he was a mess when I got him from his class... so by the time I got him home and gave him some lunch - he was DONE!

January 18 - James is enjoying his dinner in this photo. We've had about 4 successful dinners this week... they are doing so well eating with their fork, and even trying new things. It makes my Momma heart so full to have them eat something that I've prepared for them.

January 19 - This little stinker is playing with the fireplace... he likes to lick it, chew on the edge of the brick, climb on it, and scratch his toys across it...

January 20 - I just love this boy... that smile, that heart, that spirit. He's growing up so much right now... picking up new words, minding, and trying new foods. It's amazing!

January 21 - Rub a Dub Dub... Two Boys in the Tub! It was bath night, and I just thought this photo was cute since they rarely are both looking at me when I want them to be. Bath nights are a splish splashin' good time in our house. There is water everywhere!

She Gets Me

2012-01-20T12:16:00.000-06:00

I rarely get a minute to sit and read something, but this morning - I found myself in the lazy boy while the boys were sitting and drinking their milk watching Lazy Town on Sprout... and I had a minute. I opened Facebook on my iPhone and there was an article recommended by 5 of my friends - so I figured that I needed to read it. I am SO glad I did! You need to go read it here - then come back...

I can't even tell you the number of times that I've had people tell me the same thing, "enjoy it - it goes so quickly!" My reaction - depending on the moment - is either a wish that I could sucker punch them in the throat OR a quick reflection of how much time has already gone by.

One thing is for sure - motherhood is a mine field. We've all heard the stories of what a mine field is like - where you're scared to take a step in any direction because you might trigger an explosion... oh yeah, that's exactly what my days are like. Do I move one step to the left and cause a toddler fit or do I step to the right and let them do what they want even though it might end in tears from a fall or accident?

One thing is for sure, most days - I too am just simply counting down the minutes until John gets home... or bedtime. It's a marathon that you can't truly prepare yourself for... and my marathon is different from most. I've got two of these boogers 6 months apart... so we're sort of in a never ending myriad of developmental issues. When one begins... I've pretty much got to get them both through it before we can move on. We can't really go out in public right now because I can't possibly keep them both safe and inline by myself. We just aren't the typical family.

A trip to the doctor's office creates a spectacle that I, myself, am not even prepared for. We walk in and the questions start from everyone in the waiting room... are they twins? No. They're 6 months apart. One is adopted.

Then it begins again - oh, what a blessing... you are so lucky. Yes, I know that - I really do... but it's not easy. I'm exhausted and pushed to my limits 90% of the day. I love these boys with everything I've got... but typical parenting advice doesn't exactly work here. If you've got one child, or they are separated by a year or two - your life is different from mine. Twin parents have a slight inkling of what this is like... but these kids work together to drive me completely nuts!

The author's concepts of time being in - Chronos: is time that we live in AND Kairos: God's time. This is where I find complete brilliance. Chronos is where you're standing in the middle of Target while your child is having a fit, and you're wishing that you were invisible. (or that you could beam them out and into their bed immediately!) Kairos is when things calm down, they've got their head on your shoulder - and you're just there listening to them breathe. (Why doesn't that time last forever?)

So this had me thinking... maybe it's time to sit down once a week and chronicle these Chronos and Kairos moments. Just to be able to look back and laugh at the craziness of real time - and the beauty of the supernatural. Who wants to join me?

Grab the image and join in... then link back to your post at the bottom of this one. You don't have to be a mother to have these moments - I think as women - we ALL have them!

Chronos Moments:

* Going to pick up James at MOPS to hear him crying from several rooms away
* Picking up Tyler from MOPS to find that I had only put extra pants in his bag - and that's the day he decided to spray "tee tee" all over everything he was wearing - so he was literally in the extra pants and his jacket... nothing else.
* Picking up the boys from MDO to hear that James only took a 5 minute nap the entire time
* Tyler reducing James to tears by hitting him in the head repeatedly with a puzzle piece
* Having to sleep on the twin bed in Tyler's room so that he would get some sleep
* Having about 5 more things on the "to do" list when it's time to go pick up the boys from school
* The 3 or so solid days of stomach virus plague that hit our house last weekend

Kairos Moments:
* Snuggling with Tyler to put him to bed
* Every single smile that James flashes my way... it's the happiest melt my heart smile on the planet!
* Seeing both of the boys light up when they spot me in the doorway of their classroom at school
* Being able to comfort a sick baby just by being there with him
* Finally seeing both boys start to catch on with using their fork
* Preparing 2 successful meals for the whole family (trying to get away from baby meal vs parent meal)

Next week, I'll try to have more - this is all I could come up with since I just got the idea today. What are your Chronos and Kairos moments from this week? Link back and let me know!

Need Some Pretty?

2012-01-13T14:05:00.000-06:00

I'm hosting a sample sale on some of my Stella & Dot items that are going out of stock. I try not to talk about Stella & Dot too much on my blog or anywhere else - because I don't want to be obnoxious... but wanted to bring these fabulous deals to you.

The proceeds from this sale are going directly toward renewing my stylist license for the year and my website - so that I can continue to sell. I'd love to take anything above that and buy some new samples to share with folks at my parties.

Additionally, I would LOVE to host a party for you and your friends if you're within a couple hours of Memphis. It's super easy, and all you have to do is invite some friends and provide a snack or two! Drop me an email if you're interested - I'd love to help you earn some free jewelry!

I've sold a few of the items from the original sale date - so I'm only including the items that are left. I do highly recommend you check out the sale section of my website though, and also check out the new collection for spring 2012!

If you find something here you are interested in - leave a comment with "SOLD", the name of the item, and your paypal email address for me to send you an invoice. I'll be billing the price of the item plus a $5 shipping charge. You can email me the paypal address directly if you'd feel more comfortable with doing it that way.

Carnival Necklace can be worn long or short - a lovely chunky piece that would be great in every season! Originally sold for $198 - Sample for $75

Carnival Bracelets - set of 3 bracelets that stretch to fit - Originally sold for $37 - Sample for $19!

Chameleon Earrings - $15 - You can buy charms to add color and versatility to these earrings!

Audrey Cluster Necklace - Original $98 - Sample $50 - Vintage-textured chain with faceted glass champagne stones and brown and ivory pearls. 39" length with 2" extender.

Bridgette Bauble Necklace - Originally $69 - Sample $35 - A vintage textured chain accented with intricately faceted stones set in pave petal caps. 38" length with a 2" extender. Lobster Clasp closure. This style looks amazing when layered together with the Audrey Cluster Necklace! There is an Audrey Cluster Bracelet that I had in the sample sale that sold already - but can be purchased here for a complete look!

Camilla Necklace - Originally $158 - sample $75 - A refreshing statement of bold glass, wood, Czech crystal, and dyed jade beads. Approximately 18" length with two ring extender. Toggle closure.

Rachel Necklace - Originally $89 - Sample $45 - Freshwater pearls, crystal quartz, glass beads and silver plated rings combine in this day-to-night piece. 31" length when worn alone, or use the included grosgrain ribbon tie closure to wear as a double strand necklace.

Little Dottie Necklace (Girls Line) - Originally $29 - Sample $15 - Colorful beads accented with a sparkly pave ball and daisy flower. 10" of beads, with 15" of ribbon each side. Blue ribbon tie closure. Lead & nickel safe.

Tatum Necklace (Girls Line) - Originally $29 - Sample $15 - A pretty chiffon flower adorns this strand of lavender and transluscent beads tied with a feminine silver bow. Flower unclips from necklace to be worn as barrette. 8 3/4" of beads, 15" of ribbon each side. Self-tie closure. Lead & nickel safe.

Baby Pave Hoop Earrings - Originally $34 - Sample $16 with the Pearl Dangles included - Simply elegant. Each and every pave crystal is hand set. A perfect pairing with the Fresh Water Pearl Dangles - the dangles slip on or off for two very different looks with one pair of earrings! Measures approximately ½” inner diameter with sterling silver post backing.

Christmas #3

2012-01-12T12:16:00.001-06:00

Our third and final Christmas celebration... We started out the week with cousins and a special pop show!

Spent some time playing with our Aunts, and more time with cousins...

Worked on a family puzzle...

Opened some gifts...

Took off into hiding with one of our stocking stuffers...

And two weeks later - we were headed home with lots of new toys and even more memories.

Christmas 2

2012-01-11T12:05:00.002-06:00

I'm going to just give this to you in photos... this was our second Christmas celebration - actually on Christmas...

Playing with cousins...

Baking a cake for my sister in law and celebrating her birthday!

Christmas Eve:

Christmas Morning:

We typically open gifts as small families and then get together later in the day - after Santa and parent gifts... but since we were traveling - we did ours at John's parent's house... and waited until later in the day for his sister's family to join us for dinner and the big family gift exchange.

One more Christmas photo post coming... and then we can officially move on. :-)

Silliness

2012-01-11T11:35:00.000-06:00

I just remembered a story from the holiday trip that I still giggle about and have to share with you. On New Years Eve, in order to help all of us stay awake - or those that were willing to ring in the New Year together - we played the game Catch Phrase.

Have you played this? It's like a game show (I think with the same name) that used to be on - where you have a word you need your team to guess, but you can't use that word to give them clues.

Anyway - my niece and I were on the same time - she's 14 and I'm 33... and I'd never really noticed the age difference until we had clues like: Smokey the Bear, Rain Man, and Liberace. For the record - lets also call her "Country Mouse" and me "City Mouse"

Toward the later part of the evening... I got the clue "Barn" - and this is the insanity that came from that:

Me: It's in the country... you put your animals in it...
B: A COOLER
Me: <through laughter and tears> It's a building...
B: A TREE!

We lost that round... but forever have a story... and if she wasn't a hunter - I'd be seriously frightened. Then it struck again:

The word I had was "Morning"

Me: It's not night... It's....
B: DARK!
Me: <shaking head> No... It's not evening... it's....
B: MORNING

Hilarious - I tell you. My sister and I laughed so hard... I mean on some of these things age is everything - like Rain Man - all I would have needed to say to her would be "30 minutes to Wapner!"

We are a cut throat group of folks though - I mean games get serious and competition is fierce. How does your family play? Or are you not board game folks?

Whoa Baby!

2012-01-10T14:36:00.001-06:00

Got your attention with that title, didn't I? I can't help it - I'm more than a little excited about the deal I just got on Groupon. I wish I could have gotten more!

The deal for the day in Memphis was a $60 - 1 hour massage... down the street from my house for $29! Since it was my first purchase since signing up - I actually only paid $9! What, What? Can I get a shout out?!

$60 for a massage is actually fairly reasonable too - so the full price could be an option for gifts (Anniversary, Mother's Day, Birthday... whatever, yo) if I like the place and enjoy the massage.

I felt that I had to share this information with you, just on the off chance that you are missing out on the great offers in your own city. They've got Groupon sites for tons of locations - so you should click this Groupon link to find out if you're missing out!

Back later with more family photos and all that fun stuff.

Photo 365 - 1

2012-01-10T12:23:00.000-06:00

I've decided to join the Project 365 (366 for this year though) that my friend Laura is hosting. I'll likely only post my photos for the day once a week for her link-up... and just collect them as I go.

For day 1 of the year, this photo just makes my heart melt. This is James cuddling with my brother in law, Kevin. We went through our greatest moments of the year the night before - and Kevin actually mentioned James & Tyler coming up to him as one of his. The boys have 3 great uncles, but I know that Kevin is ready to teach them all the manly things like hunting, camping, and things that Momma doesn't want or need to know about.

The second day of 2010 - we spent traveling. Literally 10 hours of driving... so here is a photo of my sweet little men in a brief nap.

The 3rd day we worked on getting some things around the house settled back in after being gone for 2 weeks, but John made me this with my new Keurig machine... and it was such a lovely treat!

Day 4, I was unpacking some gifts, and came across this one that my sister made for us. It goes down as my favorite Christmas ornament addition of 2011!

Day 5, with the boys back at their first day of school - I was able to clean up the toys and actually have the living room look like this for a good couple of hours until they got home. The first thing they do every time is pull everything off the book shelves!

Day 6, my happy little man! James has really gotten to such a great stage - he didn't skip a beat on his naps or bed time throughout our traveling... and is just so happy and smiley most of the time when he is awake. If you just happen to make eye contact with him - this is exactly the bright happy smile you will get in return. Unless he is sleepy - then you will get a glimpse of him blowing you a kiss.

The 7th day of the year brought us to the doctor's office for Tyler to get checked out and get his second flu shot. We left with two prescriptions for allergy medicine for my tiny man, and since I'm running late on getting this post done because of his illness - we would be back 2 days later for antibiotics for a sinus infection as well.

It's not too late to join in on the fun!!

Not My Own

2012-01-09T21:08:00.001-06:00

All great intentions are well and good... but when you have children... your life is no longer your own most of the time. I was planning last night on jumping in on the Photo 365 deal that some of my bloggy friends are doing this year - and I still plan on getting around to that - but life took a different turn for me last night.

Almost immediately after putting Tyler down for bed - he started coughing excessively. He was waking himself up, tossing and turning, and it was clear that sleeping in his own bed wasn't going to be an option. So we quickly brought him downstairs and held him so that each of us could get something to eat and get ready for bed.

During that time he continued coughing continually - and even made himself throw up. Poor baby. So got cleaned up and went to bed. He was just restless and had a lot of trouble sleeping - so we moved around a lot and even ended up the two of us spending a good portion of the night sitting in the lazy boy chair in the living room so that he'd be propped up enough to have the junk drain instead of getting caught in his nose and throat.

I called the doctor this morning and they wanted us to come in because there is so much pneumonia and RSV going around right now. Can I just say that it's a little unnerving for me to be a walking spectacle - I mean literally the whole waiting room was watching us the entire time. Asking questions about the boys... the whole bit. It's been 21 months since we became a walking freak show (newborn and visibly pregnant Momma or two boys that look like they might be twins, but not quite) - and I still haven't gotten used to it.

We went in, and while we were waiting in the exam room waiting - the boys were playing - and Tyler took one of his classic swan dive falls. Hello, goose egg! It was a dozy too - the doctor came in not long after that and immediately checked out his little head and ordered x-rays of his head.

2 hours, 2 babies examined, 1 blood draw, and a set of head x-rays later... we headed off for the pharmacy. Our official diagnosis is that Tyler has a sinus infection now on top of his allergies... and James is fine. There is a chance James could catch the crud, but for now - he's alright.

We dropped off his prescription and while we were waiting for it to be filled, I knew Tyler had fallen asleep as he often does in the car when he is that level of tired... I decided to roll with it and keep driving. We went to get a Starbucks for me to calm my nerves and hopefully give me a boost to get through the rest of the day... and by the time we made the loop back around to the pharmacy - his medicine was ready.

All of this only 2 days after seeing the same doctor with Tyler and being put on two new allergy medicines... so he's now on an antibiotic, Allegra, and Flonase. My poor little men. This weekend has been insanity - we had John sick, James with what I *think* would be his 2 year molars coming in, and Tyler with all of this mess... I'm one worn out Momma. So with that, I think I'm going to go find my long lost pillow and reintroduce myself.

Tales from the Road

2012-01-06T09:00:00.000-06:00

Traveling 10-11 hours with two toddlers is certainly an endeavor for the strong - because it'll kill you if you let it!

This was our 4th road trip since we've moved, and it certainly was better than any of the rest in a lot of ways. James was much better about it - just watched his movies and as long as his meals weren't delayed... we just kept on trucking. Tyler on the other hand was still a bit fussy about being stuck in his seat for so long.

We kept them fed while moving - thanks to Chick-fil-a, McDonalds, and Subway. One of us sits in the back with the boys so that we can feed them their meals as well as monitor bottles and juice consumption. Otherwise they'll throw things and not be able to reach it - which would mean a stop to retrieve the item that was thrown in the first place.

Other stops - which this trip coincided with meal or gas stops - include diaper changes. Our car has always been incredibly packed - so there isn't really space to change them... what do inventive parents do in that situation to avoid gas station bathrooms with babies? We change them in the driver's seat. Oh yes, they are getting too tall for this... but Momma will teach them to do a standing diaper change when needed. We will also carry a portable potty with us when they get old enough to be potty training - so that we can stop when needed, but don't have to expose them to the yuck that you can find out there traveling.

Speaking of this - funniest moment of the trip came close to the end on the way down to TX. We were about 45 minutes from my inlaw's house when James started trying to poop. (sorry for the TMI) I can't imagine trying to do that in a car seat that provides a lot of resistance... but there he was, my poor little dude with some constipation issues to begin with. I could tell he was trying, and he started to cry. He eventually started to panic - so we had to pull over immediately. The only thing was we were on a BUSY major interstate freeway in Texas... so we pulled off the road and grabbed him out of his seat. He finished his business, we got him changed... then we had to put it in 4 wheel drive to get back on the freeway.

I think that might be one of those classic memories that will haunt James for years to come - because his Daddy is still bringing it up and laughing about it. Poor baby!

Forever Friends

2012-01-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

So many of you fall into the Forever Friends category for me - and will soon be getting let in on a little New Years goal of mine - once I get it organized this week. Trying to get caught up on this blogging deal and then will be jumping off on that one.

While I was gone though - I had an opportunity for a girls night out. I met two of the greatest friends in the world for some yummy Cheesecake Factory food and hilarious girl talk. You know those friends that you don't talk to regularly or see often... but when you do - it's like no time has passed at all? Those are the ladies I was with!

We had a fabulous time - even after I drove around the mall for 45 minutes trying to get a parking spot because the valet was closed. Finally, it reopened and I was able to valet to get inside the building. It was insanity though - I had like 3 parking spots stolen from me!

We laughed, giggled, talked, and ate for about 3 hours - and I left feeling totally refreshed. I miss those girls like crazy, but we made a standing date for every trip back to Houston. We may change the restaurant - but the get together will happen!

Before I moved we had the same girls night out - including one other very special friend who was out of town this time... but the 4 of us WILL get back to this routine on my next trip. We will plan it before I even arrive next time.

Do you have good girl friends like that? I felt very blessed for their friendship and understanding of what it's like to move, have toddlers, and know me well enough to know what I've been going through without me having to articulate it.

May 2012 be the year you foster friendships like this - and intensify their bond in your life. No time like the present to put the focus in your life one the people that will be there for you no matter what! I will fill you in on my friendship New Years Goal as soon as I get it started and flushed out - give me about a week, and you'll know the details!

Christmas #1

2012-01-04T14:00:00.000-06:00

In these parts, we have somewhere between 3 and 4 different Christmas celebrations when all is said and done. One with each set of grandparents... and one with just the 4 of us. Well, on the 18th... we spent the day with my Mom. The boys had a blast - and it was fun to watch them enjoying their day with Nana. Here are some pictures of my little cuties!

Tyler riding his 4-wheeler

James riding the lawn mower with Nana

Tyler riding the lawn mower with Nana

Chillaxin in the lawn chair

Tyler on the giant boot

The boys loved splashing around in the hot tub - they splashed each other, and all of us... but James decided to "wash" his hair too. He's been helping while in the tub with washing his hair - but this was hysterical.

My sweet little "Bubba" - he had the best time the whole trip!

Tyler will tolerate the swings... but isn't a big fan.

Walking with Nana and Berkeley

James LOVES the park - he had a blast sliding.

Tyler liked the smaller slide, but went on this one with Berkeley and got scared

James thinks swinging ROCKS!

More walking and exploring

Close up of my littlest man

One last slide for the road

A good time was had by all, and it was a great kick off to a very good vacation with lots of family and friends!

Goals and Transitions

2012-01-04T12:19:00.002-06:00

I have every intention of posting every week day of this year - if I can swing some weekend posts - I'm going to go for that too. Here is my attempt at day 1 - even if it is 4 days late.

I've got so much to catch up on... so bare with me for a couple of days. We've had 3 Christmas celebrations since I last posted - so lots of photos heading your way. I'm going to try my hand at doing some collages if I can manage to get the time to do them.

In the meantime, I've set up my New Years Goals... and gave myself a pass to get them started once we got home and settled in from our trip. We've been gone for two weeks and there has been some reprogramming of a baby that needed to be done from the travel.

Tyler can not stand his pack n play... and ended up having some sleep troubles over the two week trip - so we're in the process of getting him back to normal. We've rocked him to sleep and put him in his crib, but he's woken up several times throughout the night the last two nights.

This morning we made some good progress though - he woke up crying when I was making John's breakfast and lunch for today - by the time I was finished, he had gone back to sleep. That was the first time he's self-soothed in a couple of weeks. He then proceeded to sleep until 9!

I put them down for naps, and Tyler wasn't really falling asleep... he was playing with my hair. So I put him in his bed, turned on his musical animals... and left the room. He cried for a little bit, but has been asleep now for almost 2 hours. He is in a big sleep deficit and needs these naps in a BIG way. I've just got to get him to a place where he doesn't freak out when we put him down... and where he can soothe himself back to sleep in the night.

Another issue is that we started using the projection on our sound machines while we were gone, and I think James loves it...but I'm not so sure about Tyler. It makes his room brighter - so I'm wondering if it is causing some of the waking up that we've experienced.

In addition to the adjusting back to life at home... we've also gone from 3 bottles a day for the boys to 1. I didn't want to go completely cold turkey - and clearly it's warranted because right now the best serving of milk they take in is the bottle before bedtime... but it's time to get them to drinking from cups only. James should have done it a while ago - but we're very in to having everything our brother has.

I talked through this with the pediatrician and she thinks that we'll face lots of milestones like this - James a bit late and Tyler a bit early. That way they can do it all together and no one is jealous. Things are going well with it though - they aren't drinking as much, but they're not complaining either.

That's about it for right now - I'm dealing with some health insurance issues today - so I'm off to make some more phone calls... it's always something.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

From our family to yours - we wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Enjoy celebrating the reason for the season,

Have a wonderful time with family & friends,
Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

With Love Christmas Card

Shutterfly has classic, elegant Christmas invitations for your party.

View the entire collection of cards.

Wish I Knew

2011-12-22T08:00:00.000-06:00

There are some things in this journey of parenting that I wish I had known, and been prepared for. Things that I think some people might be better at juggling than others are... things that in combination with a cross-country move... can be very isolating.

I remember when my Dad & Lynne adopted my brother, Josh, (9) and my sister, Gabby, (8) - I had no true concept about. About the time that the kids came along - it became very difficult to get a phone call in to Lynne... and even when you did - it often would be cut short by a couple of little people needing various things. You'd have to catch her during nap time or while the kids were at school... and during that time I was working - so it was next to impossible to make that happen.

I didn't realize that having babies/toddlers can be truly one of the most isolating things there is. It is a season of life, for sure... but it's a long and lonely season at times. You are pretty much in a crazy maze of feedings, diaper changes, bottle washing, napping, bathing, and playing. Life is consumed by these gorgeous little miracles - and it's easy to forget the person you were before they came along.

Add to that moving away from your family and friends... and becoming a stay at home mother - and you've got a recipe for some long days. I desperately miss some of my friends both physical and virtual from the days before the boys came along. The church family we had - that prayed with us through our infertility, adoption and pregnancy... are deeply missed.

The friends that picked me up and carried me when I couldn't bear the burden of my emotions and struggles - once again are deeply missed. Having adult conversation - can be deeply missed when you're in the land of folks that don't speak English yet.

Please don't hear - poor little me... because that isn't what I'm saying at all. I am very blessed to have two amazing boys that I prayed for throughout the first 8 years of my marriage. I am blessed to be at home with them watching each developing skill and personality trait that they have. I am blessed beyond measure to have a husband & partner that is an amazing father.

What I'm saying is that the people that I spent time with before the boys came along are deeply missed - both in the time that we'd spend shopping, laughing, and hanging out - or communicating online... you all have a special place in my heart, and the parenting combined with the distance makes me miss you all that much more.

I have also missed blogging regularly... which has lead to some of my favorite readers to probably move on... but my resolution for the New Year is to blog daily Monday through Friday at the very least. Maybe I should jump off and do another one of those blogging 365 challenges like I did in 2008... I think making it a habit was the most beneficial both to those reading, but also feeding my love of writing.

So, most loved and trusted friends & readers... what would you want to hear more about with a regular posting plan? Topics that I haven't talked about in a while? Things I've never talked about?

O is for Opposites

2011-12-21T08:00:00.000-06:00

From the very beginning we knew that our boys were opposites in almost every way... COMPLETE opposites. It has been almost comical.

Where James was loud and fussy as a baby - Tyler was quiet and reserved.

Where Tyler was laid back and relaxed - James was demonstrative and let you know when he didn't like something.

Where James' fussiness was brought on by reflux and milk intolerance - Tyler had issues with a SEVERE gag reflex... and to this day - I swear John and I have been vomited on enough to have 6 children thanks to Tyler.

Where James took a little extra time to master a milestone before truly beginning it (like walking) - Tyler took to it early and stumbled through the early phases of it.

Where Tyler likes to cuddle - James only does it on his terms.

Where James wouldn't allow anyone to rock him to sleep - Tyler did it until he was about 13 months old. Even still, he loves to cuddle - he just won't fall asleep like that anymore.

Where Tyler likes to bring you a book to read - James would rather sit on the floor and flip through it himself.

Where James likes to play outside - Tyler wasn't as big on going outside until recently.

Where Tyler likes to take an actual shower from time to time - James HATES having water pouring over his head.

Where James loved to go swimming from about 6 months old on - Tyler didn't learn to appreciate it until his 1st birthday... with a LOT of training in the backyard before hand.

It's an amazing journey of learning to parent each child differently to their strengths and weaknesses. In the early days and months - I remember thinking: "I did this with James... so it should work." Only to find that it in fact DID NOT! There are so many things about parenthood that people don't tell you - some I think are because if it was widely shared with people... our population might cease growing any larger. Other things, I think just vary so much from family to family and/or child to child - you just can't predict what can/will happen and what won't.

It's all a great big guessing game of trial and error - all with the hope that you will parent well enough that they become good citizens with a caring spirit and a gentle heart. It is an amazing adventure that can not be truly explained or shared until such a time as you can sit back, laugh and say - "yep, it's a crazy wild ride."

Cookie Boxes

2011-12-20T08:00:00.000-06:00

At home in Texas, typically in addition to John's company Christmas party - we'd make some cookie boxes for his coworkers and mine too when I was working. I love baking, and it was always fun to share some Christmas cheer with people that we spent most of our days with.

This year, there wasn't a big company party so John set off to have a breakfast party for his department - he made sausage & cheese kolaches and sausage balls. We supplied some drinks, and they did a white elephant gift exchange as well.

In addition to that, we made our traditional cookie boxes for about 14 people in his office, and a couple for our neighbors. Thanks to Pinterest, once again, I set off to make some festive things that we'd never had before. I was pleasantly surprised... 3-4 batches of each of the 5 types of cookies - which took us really only 2 days to accomplish... everything looks and tastes great!

The recipes are already online over at Momma Hawk Cooks but here are some direct links to the things we made specifically for these homemade treats.

I hope that everyone enjoyed these as much as we did. It was fun to make them, and to do some baking with John. He did all the rolling of the dough and the engineering of the pinwheels as well as the engineering on the fudge-filled cookies. We even have plenty of the fudge-filled cookies, pinwheel cookies, and the pecan balls to take them with us on our trip. The salty turtles are so easy that I bought supplies to make them once we get there too - it took us all of about 10 minutes to get those made, and they are truly delicious! I hope you will try some of these cookie treats, and brighten your holiday!

Memory Calendar

2011-12-19T08:00:00.000-06:00

I was browsing through Pinterest one day, and saw something that I just thought was BRILLIANT. Ok, who are we kidding? I think it's all brilliant. Anyway... someone had made a craft item that they hadn't officially named, so I'm giving it a name as I recreate it. Let me introduce you to the "Memory Calendar" - for someone like me (read: super sentimental) this was SO up my alley.

It is super easy to make, and you don't have to be crafty to pull it off. Now, I know some of you could come up with way cuter things to do with this, but I was looking for something timeless. My initial thought was to make one of these for our family... but then I took it a step further. I decided that I'd make one for each of the boys (and hopefully their future sibling as well) to have as a keep sake someday. Personally, there is nothing more meaningful to me than getting the gift of a handwritten item to keep forever - with the idea that the item will live on even when you are not.

So my hope is to keep this going for each of our children throughout their childhood - then at some point to be determined in the FAR future... it will be given to them to keep. (If I can ever part with it!) Can you imagine becoming a parent - and receiving the gift of a daily memory of your life from your parents' eyes - featuring every milestone and achievement in your life? Granted I'm about a year and a half behind on both boys - but that's not too far behind to get started... and I'd encourage anyone with older kids to get started wherever you are now... if that's something you feel lead to do.

Let me explain what this is as we look at it through pictures. In the end, I've started making 3 of these. One I'm giving as a gift this Christmas - and one for each of the boys.

Here is the box that I am using for each of them - I bought them at Hobby Lobby for $9.99 - but even got it at 50% off. Very affordable. I then took a chip board letter for part of their initial... painted it with metallic gold paint and glued it to the box for a little added personalization. I could see this being just as cute painted black or a more bronze shade of gold too.

I headed off to Office Depot for the rest of my supplies. The example that inspired me from Pinterest used a date stamp for each day of the year, but I wanted to use a different color for each month of the year. My choice there either meant buying 12 different stamp ink pads OR coming up with another solution. I found a set of fine point Sharpie markers that had 24 different colors included (I think) for a reasonable price - so I opted to hand write each card.

I chose to use 4x6 index cards, and bought a pack of 300 for each box I was making plus one additional set of 300 to fill in the remaining days of the year. For the dividers - they didn't have blank dividers at Office Depot - so I bought a box of those from Amazon.

When it came down to it - I actually had to cut the cards and dividers with a paper cutter to make them fit in the box. The cards will still have room for about 11 years of memories on the front, but they were just a bit too tall for the box. I think I cut off a line and a half or so of the card - but that was just my planning. So if you'd like to avoid the cutting - maybe go with the 3x5 sized cards and dividers. (Just know there will be a little less space to write your memories.)

I wrote this note to the recipient of our gifted box this year... and it shows an example of what the concept behind this calendar is... basically - you make a card for every day of the year (include February 29th too!) then you write a memory for that day every year. The text in green kind of gives an idea of how it would look. The first year would be the least gratifying in the process - but think about every year after that writing down your memory for that day while also being flooded with the memory of things that happened that day in the years before.

I made a divider for each month - and for my boys - I took it a step further, which I will show you later in this post. The recipient of our gift box is VERY crafty... so I think that she will follow our lead on this and make it a project for herself or for her daughter. Which I think will make their box more personal to them.

I made a card for each day of the year... (three sets... a LOT of writing!) So on our January 1st card - we will go to the second line of the card and write "2012 - <insert special memory for that day>" but be sure to only use the first line... then you'll go back on January 1st 2013 and fill in the next line with that memory. The idea is that you do it everyday.

For our calendars - I took our January dividers and modge podged a favorite photo from their first year of life. I will do the same for February with a favorite photo from 2011. Then each year from here on - I will take the next month and put our favorite photo of each of the boys... when we get through December - I will turn the dividers over and start on the back. My goal is that when they receive the box - it will also have a photo for each year of their years growing up.You could absolutely just choose your favorite 12 photos of your family right now - and use those. It's not like you can't make different dividers over the years. (They come in a box of 100 after all!)

I initially thought of making one of these for the ladies in our family with young kids - but then thought about the time it's taken to make them - and the true feasibility of them actually using it... and I think there is one other person in our family that would use it... but I'm just going to tell her that if she'd like me to make her one - I'd be glad to do it in the new year... and she can just start writing her stuff in a notebook for now.

I am so proud of how these turned out, and I can't wait to start filling ours with memories for the boys in a couple of weeks. It will just be something they grow up with watching me fill out everyday - and I think that will make it special too. A new habit of creating a special gift for our precious miracles.

Ornament Wreath

2011-12-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

I apparently didn't get any photos of this in progress, but I can give you detailed instructions on how I made it instead.

I set out to make exactly what was on Pinterest, but when I got my clothes hanger out - it just didn't seem big enough for our front door. I wanted something to decorate the front door, and thought that this would be perfect because I used cheaper ornaments - so if something happened to it with the weather - I might not feel as bad as if I purchased a more expensive premade version.

John and I talked about other options, and he went to Lowe's and bought a spool of 9 gauge wire - then cut it for me to make the wreath.

I bought the ornaments from Hobby Lobby - and just as a PSA - make sure that you buy the ornaments with the wire fixtures at the end - half of mine were plastic and had to be drilled out to fit on to the thicker wire. You can choose any color, size, or shape you like - I made sure to get shatterproof (aka Plastic) ornaments for mine just in case it fell off the door because of the wind we have around here.

The ornaments I chose - I used 16 of the larger red glitter balls, 4 packages of the multi-sized candy cane balls, and only about 6 of the small red balls. I got it all at 50% off - so it wasn't too expensive in total.

Once you are ready, take all of your ornaments and hot glue the fixtures to the ornament itself. I took my hot glue gun and went around the entire end of the ornament. Thus enclosing the entire portion that could come apart in hot glue. This will prevent the ball from popping off when you are stringing them on the wire.

When they are all glued and cool - start alternating the different sizes and colors that you have chosen for your wreath. You might want to think through what you have and plan the pattern that you are going to use. I ended up having to go back for more ornaments, but I am so thrilled with the end result that it didn't matter.

Choose your ribbon and either make your bow or you can buy one - like I did. I happened to find the perfect bow at Lowe's when we were there getting our outdoor decorations and wire.

Once I got finished stringing the ornaments on the wreath, John cut the extra wire and fastened the wreath together with an enclosure we bought at Lowes as well. Both ends of the wire fit through the enclosure and we bent them out opposite ends to keep it in place.

I found that there wasn't enough space between our storm door and the front door to hang it inside for protection - so I used some of those Command Hook products and some additional wire to hang it on the outside of the door.

There you have it - it was super simple and looks FABULOUS! Let me know if you have any questions if you choose to make your own.

Christmas Decor

2011-12-15T08:00:00.000-06:00

I thought it would be fun to show you how we decked our halls this year... I kept it fairly simple because of the little hands that can grab things and break them. I tried to not put out the more precious breakable items. Here is our little tour de Christmas...

Our main Christmas tree - in the dining room - FAR from little hands.

I picked these up at Hobby Lobby this year - pretty and glittery

Another set of new glittery snowmen... LOVE them!

I like to buy things in 4's, but they only had 1 of these - and I needed it anyway.

Picked these up at JC Penny - got a Tyler, James, Mom & Dad

My plan is to buy a new ornament each year for the boys - and when they move out - they can take some or all of them.

More Hobby Lobby finds... LOVE blue, silver, and glittery

Got these last year at Walmart, still really love them.

Got these online last year from Bronners - aren't they sweet?

One for each of my little men - I'm weird about hanging them at the same height on the tree too.

Our little family "mantel" ornament - also from Bronners... so cute!

I also love these - they were a wedding favor from John's cousin who got married 2 years ago.

My entry way jars with their December decorations

Our stockings - I ordered them last year. I also got a blank one for when #3 comes along!

The mini tree on top of our mantel - this one the boys enjoy looking at all day.

Our entire fireplace all decorated

The ornament wreath that I made, as inspired by Pinterest.

I'm writing a post on how I did it for tomorrow.

A little piece of home out in front of the house.

Our Santa & Rudolph

The house all lit up for Christmas.

We alternated red & white lights for a candy cane theme.

James' ornament that his teacher at school made

Tyler's ornament from school

So many things out this year that I love. Still some that I didn't put out - but there is love in every bit of it. Naturally, my favorite new decorations would have to be the ones the boys' school made. So cute, personal, and totally unexpected. I can't wait to pull them out every year - and smile at the memories from this year... and eventually hear the boys talk about how silly they looked. <wink>

Coming up - I'll tell you about my 1st Pinterest project the ornament wreath... then I'll tell you about the cookies we made inspired by Pinterest... and finally some gifts that I made that were Pinterest inspired as well.

Thanksgiving Recap

2011-12-14T15:45:00.000-06:00

I know that I couldn't be more over due on putting this post up - but what can I say? Ya'll... I totally need to do a relaunch on this blog - I miss the days of having people read and being a regular poster. My goal over the holidays is to get myself in a position to have some regular posts scheduled so that I can keep new content going up as often as possible.

Anyway, I think I've said before... but the stomach virus/ear infection mess kept us in Tennessee over Thanksgiving. We didn't do much of anything - but had the regular meal... and watched LOTS of football. Even watched our beloved Aggies lose to t.u. for the last time in the foreseeable future.

The boys didn't participate much last year in any of the eating - so for all intents and purposes this year was their first taste of holiday food goodness. To say that they LOVED it would be an understatement. They ate a little bit of everything... but loved the sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, jello and pumpkin pie. Tyler enjoyed the turkey while James really loved the ham a bit more. They also ate the Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, dressing, and some of a roll. Surprisingly, James loved the cranberry sauce as well - and the next day enjoyed a grapefruit. It's so funny to me the things that he likes.

Here are some photos from the day:

James looks so cute waiting for dinner

Tyler chillaxin before dinner - drinking his juice

Our dinner

Happy diners ready to load up

Me with my lovely black eye

Tyler enjoying some pumpkin pie with Daddy

James eating mincemeat pie... YUCK!

Then on Monday after Thanksgiving - it snowed our first snow of the season

It was gorgeous!

It oddly enough snowed over night, but mostly melted before morning

Here it is the next morning - too wet and slushy to take the boys out to enjoy...

plus I'd like John to be home for their first snow play time.

Ornament Exchange & Very Bloggy Christmas

2011-12-13T09:52:00.000-06:00

Let me preface this by saying that this post might not be up to my normal standards, but I'm in internet jail and it is causing serious technical issues. We've got a repair man coming today to get us straightened out - because I've got sooooo much to share with you guys!

I participated in two fun exchanges this year... an ornament exchange and a gift exchange as well. The ornament exchange was hosted by a bunch of my twitter buddies, and was a lot of fun. We got to submit some ideas for what we might like on our tree... and my partner Lena, did an amazing job. She sent me an ornament that her 89 year old grandmother made! Such a special treat!

Isn't that the cutest little crown ever? I love it!

I also joined in a blog swap hosted by my friend, Laura. It was called "A Very Bloggy Christmas" - and we were paired up with another blogger to spend $20 on and send some fun items in the mail. I was paired up with Erin, and I actually sent mine off before the deadline - and sort of forgot about it. Can I just say that she totally got me too?! When this little box arrived - I was so excited.

I opened it up and found this amazing little snowman snow globe and a Starbucks gift card! WAH HOO! A little Starbucks yumminess on vacation is always welcomed! The postal service must have enjoyed the snow globe because it was "on" when it arrived and the battery was dead... hahaha - we'll get a new one and enjoy this little gem through the holiday season.

Thanks to both of these lovely ladies for spreading a little Christmas cheer to one seriously frazzled Momma!

N is for No

2011-12-07T15:53:00.001-06:00

Any toddler Mom will tell you that No is a word they are all too familiar with. I feel like I say it all day - every day. No wonder my kids aren't learning a big vocabulary... all they hear is "no, no James" or "no, no Ty" 9,000 times a day. It gets said in almost every instance... in the car - shoes are being taken off, I say no. At meal times - food or utensils go flying, I say no. During play time, it gets said in many different instances. Please, don't even get me started on the computer... they think my laptop is a toy that is all theirs! Even as I tried to post this - I found that James had disabled my wireless connection! Oiy!

It is also currently being used in relation to the Christmas stockings too - because Lord knows, they think those must come down and be tampered with! This is one major reason we put the Christmas tree in the dining room - can you imagine? It wouldn't fit in the living room - but I'm actually happy about that - because I would make myself nuts!

I am blessed with two very curious, adventurous, climbing, rowdy boys - who pretty much will try anything to get whatever it is that they want to do. Even if that means climbing on top of the toy boys to get something up high... or standing in a chair.

I'm not sure how long it will be before I can start using some of my other vocabulary words again - but lets hope that I don't forget them in the mean time!

James has started repeating it back - which I know one day he will say it in defiance and I'll just about come unglued. Then when Tyler starts up - I may just become certifiable. The toddler years are just a season in the parenting cycle... and I know I'll miss them when they're over... but I'm not sure that I'll miss having to repeat "no" so many times!

My Sweet Boy

2011-12-06T08:43:00.001-06:00

Let me start by telling you how the day began... because seriously - if I didn't live it - I wouldn't have believed it either. We currently are on an HMO insurance plan, so we deal with the referral system - it's a small inconvenience for a good amount of savings on our part. When our pediatrician recommended us going to the neurologist with James - they did the insurance paperwork online and gave us 8 visits. They told me about it, and said that the neurologist's office should be able to pull the information they needed without a problem. I called their office to verify this information and was told that I needed to have it faxed over. Okay, fine, whatever. Called and asked that it be taken care of.

Fast forward to arriving at the office. Well, the paperwork hadn't been faxed. Then the receptionist said the words I will never forget - because it's freaking 2011! She literally said to me - we don't do anything online. Really? A doctor's office in 2011 doesn't use the internet to make their lives easier? Did I move to a black hole? I got the pediatrician's office back on the phone and explained that the neurologist's office doesn't know how to get the information online - please fax it over. They faxed some information, but it didn't have the insurance approval's information on it - so I had to literally call Aetna and get their information for them. You know, because I wasn't sitting there for an HOUR dealing with this while my 20 month old is waiting. No big deal right, because he has all the patience in the world.

During that entire time - they only called ONE patient back to be seen.

About an hour later, we were in a room waiting to be seen. The whole process made me uneasy to this point, but within a matter of minutes the pediatrician's suspicions were confirmed and we were diagnosed with a neurological disorder.

I don't want to go into the details of what it is - it is NOT life threatening - because John and I have firmly agreed that we will go to great lengths to make sure that James isn't labeled by something that isn't necessary. Right now, he is perfectly normal - developing right on schedule. This disorder may or may not ever cause him any problems - there are no guarantees - but it certainly isn't the worst thing in the world to be diagnosed with. We will be monitoring him every year... and will learn more when we meet with our geneticist in April. Until then, we will get him an MRI so that the doctors have a baseline to refer to each year to make sure things haven't changed.

I took the day yesterday to be sad and weepy for my sweet, baby boy. I had to remain strong in front of him, but when I put them to bed last night - I fell apart for a bit. I've got so many reasons for why this happened... but it boils down to a couple of bigger points for me:

1) I worked so hard for these boys - and was incredibly blessed to have them in such a miraculous turn of events... but with all of that heart ache and waiting - you'd think that something would go easily. NO LECTURES please. I once again find myself very frustrated and upset with God. I had this happen when we stopped fertility treatments - and I firmly believe that it's okay to go through being mad from time to time. I don't hide from it - God is big, and he can handle it... so I let him know that I'm angry and pray that he works on me to help me come to terms with it. He's done it before - he'll do it this time too. The reason I say that is because I want people to know that I believe it's okay to be mad at God - there is a difference between being mad and turning away from him.

2) Every once in a while, life slaps me in the face - and I'm totally not ready for it. I still feel like a kid a good amount of the time. Like I'm a little kid playing house or something - but then things happen that make me snap back into reality and understand that I'm the responsible adult in this situation. Which scares the hell out of me, frankly. I'm the one that will be making the decisions about his care, and will be one of the only two people that care enough to keep up with it completely. Lets face it, doctors make mistakes - and you HAVE to be your own advocate... it is completely up to you to make sure that things get done. That is overwhelming at times.

3) It is scary to know of the possibilities. To know that there are things that could happen to my precious boy... it's different than not knowing - and you sort of have to mourn that for a minute. The reality is that something could happen to Tyler at some point as well, but we'll never know until it happens. Now, with James though - we'll wonder and worry with each strange occurrence. Or at least it feels like that right now. I can honestly admit that I don't understand this disorder right now - and the little bit of googling I did - proved to be the WRONG move for me. I don't want to know all of the possibilities. I just want to know the right now.

Ultimately, our family is unique - like every family is... but for us - we don't have complete family medical history for either of our children. We won't for any future children either. We don't have it for James because his birth father didn't participate in the adoption process - and his birth mother blocked most of his information out for whatever reason. For Tyler, we don't have it because John doesn't have any medical information on his birth parents. So, when a wonky genetic disorder comes up - we're in uncharted territory.

That's where we are. For today, my sweet baby boy - who I love more than I ever knew possible - has a diagnosis and that's it. There is nothing more to it. We follow everything and make sure that we stay on top of it - but that's all we can do.

Crazed Momma on the Loose

2011-12-05T08:30:00.000-06:00

Time, yet again, has gotten away from me - which means blogging falls through the cracks. It makes me very sad when that happens though because I truly LOVE writing. I've missed writing, and missed the connection with the wonderful ladies that read this here blog. (If there are any of you left - holla!)

I've got a bunch to tell you about, but I thought that I'd start with the updates from our well-child visits with the doctor on Friday. They were about 2 months late, but they haven't been well enough to have this visit until now. The bonus is that Tyler doesn't have to go for his 15 month visit at all - and will just go for his 18 month visit along with James' 2 year visit in April.

James: 20 months
25 pounds 3 ounces - 30th percentile
32 inches - 25th percentile
Head - 95th percentile

James is doing very well - he's right on target with his motor development. There is some debate on if he is a slight bit delayed on his speech development. There is a thought that he might be slightly behind, but the issue is if that is because of something the doctor called "twin syndrome" - which is the thought that the boys might have developed their own language and don't have the need to develop normal speech as quickly as other kids.

That being said, she recommended that we have him evaluated by the Tennessee Early Intervention Service - and if he needs any help getting his speech going... they can get us that help. He additionally is being looked over by a neurologist this morning for some spots that he has. He basically has a large number of birth marks and a few of them are "big" - they don't look big to me - but they would like him evaluated for a neurological disorder that could be linked to those spots. Additionally, they are sending us to a geneticist for the same spots, but that appointment isn't until April.

While I know that he is developing normally - just hearing neurologist and geneticist - is enough to scare the heck out of any Mom out there. So some extra prayers for us would be appreciated.

Tyler: 14 months
24 pounds 1 ounce - 60th percentile
31.5 inches - 70th percentile (notice who is only 1/2 and inch shorter than his brother now!)
Head 95th percentile

Tyler is doing great - developing normally. I was shocked that his head was in the 95th percentile. His head looks so much smaller than James' - but the doctor reminded me that James measures on the smaller end of all the other curves, while Tyler is pretty proportionate. I was also shocked to find out that Ty is getting all 4 of his 1 year molars right now... he is so easy going - I literally didn't know.

We talked more about the twin syndrome with regard to Tyler. The thought is that for most major milestones - I will have to treat them as such. For instance, James will be a bit late on things... and Ty a bit early. Our first one will be getting rid of the bottle - which we will try after Christmas. (Any suggestions on that are completely welcomed!) The thought remains that things like potty training, moving to a big boy bed, and the like will have to be balanced between the two of them.

Once again, prayers would be welcomed for us today - I fully expect to go and find out that things are fine and we don't need to do any further scanning or anything with James... but there again, I could be completely knocked off of my feet and be in for a big mess of emotions. I will report back as soon as I can... and start working on all the posts that I've wanted to write over the last week or two.

Here We Are

2011-11-23T11:59:00.001-06:00

Because things around here aren't fun enough... I thought it would be great to have a migraine. We took the boys to school on Monday and did our shopping for all of our Thanksgiving meal preparation... you know you're not doing well when your husband asks you no less than 5 times in the store if you're feeling alright. Apparently I looked bad, and was acting really spacey. From there we went to lunch the on to Lowe's for all of our outside Christmas decorations, and Hobby Lobby for a couple of remaining things I needed to my ornament wreath to be completed in the next day or so.

From there, I lose Tuesday... the headache was so bad yesterday that I was sitting on our couch watching the boys play, and in my peripheral vision on the right side - I saw all sorts of squiggly lines. It was crazy. I took most of the day easy - I managed to make the cornbread for our dressing, and helped John make some Jack Daniels sauce for some chicken we made last night to go along with some roasted broccoli. (Thanks Pinterest!) I will be blogging more recipes as soon as I get my Christmas list completed for the family. (Said Christmas list is due on Thursday... so I've got to figure out what I want/need)

This morning, John took the boys to "work" - they had to go pick up a ladder for him to use to do our outside Christmas lights over the weekend... and he gave me a little break by taking the boys with him. While they were gone, I took Missy (our dog) to Starbucks and then we came back to work on cleaning out the dining room. I have sort of used it as a storage room since we've moved... and I'd like to set it up for our Thanksgiving dinner... and we're putting the big Christmas tree in there so that the boys don't mess with it.

Anyway, while I was moving some things around. We had one of those cheap plastic CD storage things in there - I have hated that thing for years and haven't put it out in either of our last 2-3 homes... so I was planning to put it in the attic... only when I had it in my arms - it came apart, and hit me right in the eye socket. So, lets add a black eye to my list of ailments at the moment.

If you add my black eye to the bruises on the boys' eye/nose/forehead... we look like John is some sort of tyrant. I offered to punch him in the eye so that we can all look "special" for our photos of the holiday... but I don't think he thought that was a good idea.

So that's about all that is going on here... we're just in prep for our big meal... and trying to get well. Here is our menu for our Thanksgiving:

Appetizers:
Cheese Ball
Sausage Balls
Armadillo Eggs (it's a stuffed jalapeno dish that John makes)
Cranberry Spritzers (3/4 Sprite and 1/4 Cranberry juice)

Main Meal:
Turkey
Honey Glazed Ham
Cornbread Dressing
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Souffle
Green Bean Casserole
Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Rolls

Dessert:
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
Strawberry Jello
Memaw's Praline Cookies

I will post recipes for the Sweet Potato Souffle, the Brussels Sprouts, and the pies once we get them made and I can get photos. I also plan on getting a photo of the cheese ball for the blog too - it's too good for there to be no photo to make you drool. HA!

Now, if you choose to accept the mission today... I am in desperate need for some Christmas list ideas. What are some things that YOU think I need this year?

Last Few Days

2011-11-17T09:56:00.001-06:00

Seems like just when I feel like we're heading into a good patch... the bottom drops out again. Last week was a blur of stomach virus mess with James... then lead into the weekend and he picks up a cough. I also haven't been feeling well, so I knew that we had a cold coming on.

We did alright on Monday, but more of the same on Tuesday... so when we woke up, I decided that I needed to get the boys checked out. We were planning on traveling home on Friday, and I wanted to get them well before we left. I got us an appointment for that afternoon, with a new pediatrician within the same practice. I loved her! (praise the Lord!)

At the end of the visit, I learned that both boys had an ear infection and had a prescription for antibiotics for each of them. I also learned that James needs to see a neurologist and a geneticist for the excessive number of birth marks that he has. Apparently the number and the size of some of them can be linked to a disorder, and since we have limited medical history for him - it's better to be safe than sorry. (He is NOT going to agree on that one)

We got home and I gave them their first dose of their medicine with dinner - and that's when the craziness started. Immediately after dinner, Tyler threw up. Like something from the Exorcist. It's not uncommon for him to throw up - so I didn't initially think much of it. We did our normal routine - clean everything up, John gave him a bath, I gave him more of the medicine that he threw up, bottle, and then bed.

Of course, the night that they're both sick - we have crazy storms and the power goes out from 3:30 to 5 in the morning. I was a nervous wreck, and was awake the entire time. I wanted those baby monitors back on the second the power came back on! When it came back on at 5... I crept upstairs... went to James' room first... and turned on the monitor. He started moving a bit, so I hit the floor so he wouldn't see me. He stopped moving, so I quickly turned on his sound machine and headed for the exit. Next, I went into Ty's room. Same procedure, except when I turned on his monitor - he sat up! I did some sort of Kung Fu Panda move trying to be stealth so that he wouldn't see me! (I'm about as smooth and graceful as Kung Fu Panda - that's for sure) After a minute, he was back down and I turned on his sound machine... and made my swift exit. John was watching it all from the monitor and I'm sure was laughing.

We made it through all of that, and when we got up - I went with normal procedure. Made the boys a bottle, got them up, changed diapers, and fed them. Tyler proceeded to throw up twice in this process. I gave him some time, and when it came to breakfast he was fussy - so I thought he was hungry - typically that's what it is. I gave him some yogurt, but didn't give him any of the antibiotic... he threw that up.

I had already called the pediatrician, so when they called back - I explained the situation... and our thought is that either he was having a problem with the consistency of the medicine OR he now has the stomach virus too. Good times. They also said that I could bring him in for an antibiotic shot that afternoon. I opted to do that.

After the shot, we came home and he took a little nap. From the time he woke up at 4 - he would not let us put him down. The few times I did, you could tell his leg was bothering him and he would just cry or whimper. He went to bed, but couldn't get comfortable - so he ended up sleeping in our bed last night. Poor thing! So far today, he's doing better.

In the meantime, I've got a sinus infection as well - so three out of 4 of us are on antibiotics... we are a PARTY folks... We have cancelled or postponed our trip home for Thanksgiving - so it might just be a quiet holiday at our house... cooking, cleaning, and Christmas decorating.

Shutterfly Winners

2011-11-11T14:51:00.001-06:00

The lucky winners of 25 free Christmas Cards from Shutterfly are:

Lucky #s:

4 - Ashley!
23 - Jennifer S!
9 - Jennifer G!

Ladies, email me at KBHawkins00 AT gmail DOT com - within 24 hours to get your claim code for the cards.

Congratulations!!

By A Thread

2011-11-11T11:36:00.001-06:00

I've got every intention of writing everyday in this old blog - but lately, things are getting the best of me. Life is completely out of control!

With a baby going to the ER this week, and me having a 3 hour long root canal yesterday - not to mention - I think Tyler might be coming down with some of the same symptoms James had earlier in the week... I can't get a break!

I'm not even kidding when I tell you that today, I think my jaw hurts worse than yesterday. (Ok: my jaw, my tooth, my dried out lips, my eyeball, and general pounding head) They didn't give me any medicine to take for pain - just told me to take Advil, but I'm not kidding that this hurts worse than my C-Section did. I think it's just where it is and the things effected.

Anyway, while I'm healing up from this... I thought I'd take care of a couple of things I've neglected. I need to draw winners for the Shutterfly Giveaway, and take care of the Fall Blog Swap... which I will be doing today.

I also want to make sure to tell you about the new look and fun going on over on my recipe blog. Momma Hawk Cooks is the new name I chose, and my lovely friend Laura did the design for me. John got a kick out of the design - asking if when we get pregnant if we'll add an egg to the nest... and when I go in to have said baby - if we'd put a crack in the egg... then finally a new bird in the nest.

Who knows... but it does sound creative and cute! What do you think Laura?

That's about all I've got for today - trying to survive and keep the pain under control. I hope you're all well - give me a shout out and let me know what you'd like to read about in the next week or so.

M is for a Mother's Heart

2011-11-08T07:40:00.000-06:00

It is National Adoption Month, and a blog post has been floating around in my head for a while... I just wasn't quite sure of the format that I was going to take to get the words out. Insert, Twitter a week or so ago... and it all fell into place.

I happened upon a post that mentioned adoption... and it actually set my blood to boiling instantly. Not at the person that posted it, but just the whole situation behind the tweet. This particular Twitter friend of mine had an encounter with a friend who adopted two children. Lets call my friend Robin, and her friend that adopted Susan.

Robin was commenting about her disgust for a comment that Susan made... so I had to hear the back story. Basically, Susan has infertility problems - I don't make light of this in any way, but want to keep the story to the basics so that I can get to my thoughts and point. She (Susan) adopted two kids, but still struggles greatly with wanting to have a biological child of her own. She has really deep jealousy issues with people that get pregnant around her, which is where Robin started having problems with her. Susan reacted very badly to Robin getting pregnant and caused their friendship to crumble. When I say reacted badly - it's an understatement. Somewhere along the way, Susan informed Robin that "People just don't understand. When you adopt your children, it just isn't the same."

It was at that moment, this post came together in my mind... I knew what I wanted to say. I firmly believe that Susan has a lot to learn about what it means to be a mother. I can't say for sure if it is just the extraordinary supernatural circumstances around our adoption process... or the training that we got from the 3 amazing ladies at the agency itself, but NEVER once have I ever thought of adoption as a lesser choice for becoming a parent. It was never a "back up plan" for me.

You see, I have always wanted to be a mother. How that happened for me was of no consequence - pregnancy, adoption... fall from the sky... I never cared HOW we became parents. I just knew in my heart that we were meant to be parents. Additionally, I am saddened at the idea of this woman ever having a biological child - because I couldn't imagine the hurt and pain that the different love would cause for the two beautiful kids she currently has.

We suspected there was a slight possibility that I might be pregnant before we went to the hospital on James' birth day, but I loved him so much already - I couldn't bring myself to even consider that until he was at home with us. I had the unique experience of adopting and being pregnant at the same time... and can honestly say, both were beautiful experiences. The day that we met James - just minutes after his birth was truly magical... from the instant we saw him - we knew he was ours and that we were chosen to be his parents. John and I were head over heels for this precious little boy from the moment we met his birth mother, truly. I love her as a part of our family too... and wish that our relationship with her was as close as we hoped it would be on the day we met her. She has forever changed our family, and with the open nature of our adoption - I wish someday to be able to connect with her again.

Forty-eight hours later, we signed the papers on our adoption and brought our son home. During the night, on our first night home - I took the pregnancy test. I think to a certain extent, I was in denial about Tyler growing inside of me for a long time. I had a rough pregnancy, but never once did it overshadow or take away from the joy and love that I had in being James' mother.

I remember getting the call the Friday evening before Tyler was born that he'd arrive on Monday because of complications - and all I could think about that entire weekend was James. Would he get enough attention? Would he know that he was loved? Was I short-changing him because he wasn't going to have a good solid amount of time being the only child? The guilt was staggering. Just as God has his hands all over our boys coming into our family in their unique ways... he had his hands on all of us through this process.

We have never looked back. Our situation is unique to be sure, but it is beautiful. Our family is a creation that we could have never planned for ourselves - but it is a product of YEARS of prayer and in the end - a beautiful creation because we gave up trying to have it come together because of our control, but allowing Him to work his will.

Today, I am asked constantly when we are out in public if the boys are twins. I feel compelled to say that they aren't. Occasionally, women put together that it's pretty much impossible to have children 6 months apart... but IF I choose to explain that adoption is part of our story - I don't indicate which of the boys is adopted. Sometimes, even I forget. They are both every bit a part of me, they are my sons... and I don't love them them any differently for the way they came into our lives. They are both a part of me in every way... and just last night - it wouldn't have mattered which of them needed to go to the ER... I was physically ill worried about him, and waiting for news. I feel like I have the heart of a true mother. My kids are mine, and are equal in every way... they are both a part of me no matter what their story is.

Always Something

2011-11-07T14:32:00.000-06:00

My baby boy is sick again... this is pre-pneumonia and a stomach virus within less than a month of each other. Let me give you the details.

Saturday morning, we all woke up and things were completely normal. My boys all went for a quick trip to Home Depot and then to pick up breakfast at McDonalds. Everyone was fine, at breakfast - actually enjoyed it more than my boys typically do. They then took their naps as usual... but for the rest of the day, James wasn't eating much if at all. I noticed his tummy was a bit bloated, but thought that everything would be fine.

I got him to eat a little bit the rest of the day, and put them to bed a little later because of the time change. When we woke up on Sunday morning, he had thrown up in his bed over night and was a mess. Poor baby! He didn't really want to eat much or drink much at all yesterday - but we tried to encourage as much as we could. I kept him to the BRAT (Banana, Rice, Apple Sauce, Toast) diet with a few other things added in. We also gave him some Miralax - because that's been a problem for us in the past, and sometimes that makes everything all better.

Around 12:30 in the morning, he woke up screaming. I went up to get him and he had thrown up two more times in his sleep. We brought him downstairs and noticed that his diaper was pretty much dry - from 6PM to after midnight... so we decided he needed to go to the ER for fear of dehydration or John was worried he might have some sort of intestinal blockage. I stayed home to wash all his bedding and stay with Tyler.

The hospital did an x-ray on James' tummy and didn't see anything to be too worried about. They gave him a Tylenol suppository, a Popsicle, and a prescription for some Zofran. They got home around 4 this morning, and he went straight to bed.

John went to bed at the same time and headed for work around 7... poor Daddy, got about a total of 4 hours sleep - 2 hours before the hospital trip and 2 hours after. We're watching James today, he's sleeping quite a bit today trying to catch up. I'm also trying to get him to drink as much as I can... he's not eating so far today - but I'm not worried about that too much right now.

They said that Tyler might get this too - so we're praying that doesn't happen and trying to be diligent about keeping things separated and clean. It's always something, isn't it?

Just Keep Swimming

2011-11-07T09:08:00.000-06:00

I'm shocked that this is my first post in November. I remember sitting here last weekend, thinking that I would post every day in November... guess that didn't happen. The last couple weeks have been a blur with me not feeling well... trying to keep the boys cared for, and the house basically running. (even if it's barely running)

I spent the better part of the last two weeks feeling nauseated and exhausted - which lead to a quickly resolved pregnancy scare. We are not pregnant, and for the first time in my life - that information is actually given with a great sigh of relief. I absolutely without question want another child (I'd have two more) but as I was faced with the possibility of 3 kids under 3 years of age... I was terrified. Ya'll, honestly - most days the two I've got kick my butt and ware me out beyond being able to put together a sentence by bedtime. Adding another to the mix is down right insanity!

So with that, we survived through Halloween... which is our least favorite holiday in this house. I'm not a huge fan of having strangers come up to my door - and yes, I know they're kids. I'm not a fan of taking candy from strangers either - one of my friends on Twitter said it best "One night of fun...and weeks of retraining the kids that taking candy from strangers is bad." We don't know anyone local yet - so trick or treating at the homes of people we know isn't really an option. I don't know what we'll do next year. In the end, we gave out candy while the boys played in the garage... and I battled guilt that I hadn't dressed them up to take them out. I guess next year, I'll lose that battle.

John took off a couple of days this week - so we got to spend some time together while the boys were at school... complete with lunch. Ya'll, I can't tell you the last time I went to a restaurant and ate food while it was hot... and didn't have to worry about our noise level or feeding anyone else. Wait, yes I can... it was the week that I came to Memphis to look at houses! We then spent Friday shopping with the boys - Momma got some great new tops for my winter wardrobe... of which I didn't have before Friday's shopping. Still on the lookout for a good coat. I don't have so much as a jacket - so I've got to get something soon.

It was my intention to get a lot of blog posts scheduled this weekend and get caught back up - but it didn't happen. We tried to get everything adjusted for Daylight Savings Time... which worked out alright - until we woke up to James covered in vomit. Good times. We've tried giving him the B.R.A.T. diet today - and he nibbled some, but the main noticeable difference is that he's not drinking much. We gave him some of the Miralax that our wonderful pediatrician back in Houston told me to use with him - and we'll see how things go tomorrow. I pray that we're not headed back to the pediatrician - because I truly can't have a sick baby this week... Momma is scheduled for a root canal on Thursday and I need to get that over with. Prayers would be appreciated.

I'm behind on a couple of things:
1) my Fall Recipe Blog Swap needs my attention... so I will be emailing the participants directly in the early part of this week.
2) The winner of the jewelry giveaway is Katie Waters - she's chosen the yellow necklace - so the purple and the pink are still up for grabs in my Etsy store.
3) I will choose the winners of the Shutterfly giveaway and announce them by Tuesday morning.

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

2011-10-29T20:40:00.002-05:00

I'm fresh off of our photo session for our 2011 Christmas card, and I am really grateful that we got some good shots this year. So I thought, I'd take a look at the new designs for Shutterfly cards this year. I used them last year, and they were FANTABULOUS!

Some of the designs I'm loving are:

I haven't decided 100% on which design I'll use, but when I get our photo CD back - I'm all set to get them ordered. Which will also mean that it's time to get the official 2011 version of the Hawkins Family Newsletter written to be inserted with the cards. It's funny how many times I've been hassled if I don't get that thing written!

We are huge fans of Shutterfly in our house - we used them for both of the boys' birth announcements, we've made photo books, and also made calendars last year for the grandparents. This year, we'll likely turn to Shutterfly for some of our gifts again - because with us living so far away - we want our kiddos to always be front and center for their grandparents.

The cool thing this year is that Shutterfly is allowing me to give away THREE credits for 25 free Christmas cards of your own! Of course you can use them on any cards - so if you happen to celebrate something other than Christmas... you're all set.

You've got until November 4th at midnight to enter... and here is how you can earn entries - each entry needs to be submitted in a separate comment:

1) Be a follower of this blog
2) Be a follower of my recipe blog - which got a new facelift this week. (Momma Hawk Cooks)
3) Follow me on Twitter (KBHawkins00)
4) Tell me how many Christmas Cards you send each year...
5) What is your favorite type of Christmas Card to receive? (photo? newsletter? handwritten?)

Lions and Monkeys

2011-10-24T06:09:00.000-05:00

We aren't trick-or-treaters in this house, and even if we were... the boys are really too young to try it. So our only option for this year's Halloween dress up fun was to take the kids to one of the Fall Festivals at a local church. We're sort of in between churches right now, but our wonderful neighbors invited us to theirs.

The boys are really still too young for most of the activities that they had at the festival, but it was great to get outside and look at all the costumes... and well chance James around for an hour. He burned off some serious energy that he stored up while being sick!

Want to see what their costumes looked like?

The boys started hugging in the middle of us getting their photo... and it was just about then that my heart burst into a bazillion pieces. Is that not the cutest thing you've ever seen?!

We had such a good time, and the boys didn't make a single peep tonight when we put them to bed. HAHA! Love that!

What a Day

2011-10-21T15:07:00.000-05:00

Our day yesterday started out fairly normally. We got up and had our breakfast, bottles... and headed out to run an errand. I saw on Twitter from a friend the day before that Sonic was having 2 happy hour time slots - so I was excited to go check our early one out... only to find out that it's not happening here. BOO!

We went on to Kroger to get the milk we needed. Can I just tell you that we now go through 3 gallons a week of whole milk?! It's insanity - but cheaper than formula... so I'll take it. I just look like I'm feeding an army when I go to the store. Maybe I should just buy a cow for the backyard?

Here are the boys while on our trip in Kroger...

We were home by a little after 9 - so they had their bottles, and were super fussy - so instead of trying our new nap time from earlier in the week... I put them down at 10 for our old morning nap time. They slept better! We had been trying to stay busy until lunch around 11 and nap by 12... but James was only sleeping for an hour and at 18 months - that's just not enough nap to get us through the day. When he does the 10AM nap - he will sleep for 3+ hours! We'll keep that! I just need to get Tyler to only do 1 nap at 10 and we'd be set.

Our afternoon and lunch time were incredibly fussy yet again, and I even tried a new activity with them that I got off of Pinterest. That will be another post for next week, but when Momma starts losing her cool... it's time for a break. So I took the little stinkers back up for afternoon naps. I knew James likely wouldn't sleep, but typically he goes up and quietly plays while Tyler naps. I settled in the kitchen to bake up some more of my Candy Corn Cookies - because John loved them.

Everything was going smoothly, and I got the cookies baked. I looked at the monitor when they were finished to check on James, and all was well. I brought the monitor into the living room to sit down for a minute... and noticed that it looked like the back of our crib was coming apart... so I literally darted/sprinted/ran up the stairs to his room... and found him dangling in the back... and this was what the crib looked like.

I still have no words, and no clue how it actually happened... but I was so angry about it - I brought him downstairs and had one of the worst ugly cries I've ever had. Literally sobbing and wailing. It was one of those days that I was questioning what in the world I prayed for all of those 8 years... but as with most bad days - it seemed worse in the minute than it really was. He was safe... we are all fine. The crib was fixed before bed, and all ended up just fine.

I'm grateful to my ladies on Twitter for talking me off the crazy cakes ledge yesterday... because I was teetering for a few minutes. Today though, we're having a good day...and the boys are making each other giggle a lot - which in turn makes my heart almost burst with love. Tomorrow, I'm having some "me" time with a haircut and some time to just walk around the mall alone. Maybe some preview Christmas shopping... I don't know - but it's absolutely needed so I can regroup a little bit. I'm still holding out hope that John will suggest a pedicure too :-)

Things We Love

2011-10-20T13:05:00.000-05:00

I thought that I'd share a few things that we're loving in our house these days... I need to get better about buying cheaper options, but I'm desperately trying to get them to eat anything that they will actually ingest. So that makes food a challenge.

At least as far as James goes... he really won't eat much in terms of meat... so I'm improvising as much as possible. He will literally only eat all beef Bologna, and sometimes all beef hotdogs... I'm trying to get him to eat other things, but it's a slow process.

Tyler pretty much will eat anything.

We have been using these as their dessert, but Tyler has been throwing up every time I've given them to him lately... so I'm laying off. I'd give them 1 a piece, and James will gnaw on the whole cookie - for Tyler I'd break it into pieces. As I said though, lately he's been having some coughing issues while eating them which then leads to him losing his whole dinner... and quite frankly... I'm tired of cleaning up vomit for the time being. So they'll just be for James... and Ty can have applesauce or something else.

I bought these for James to try for breakfast sometime - haven't given them to him just yet because right now he has to eat a lot of starchy food so that he can take his medicine and it not make him sick... so once we're done with his meds - I'll give him these to try.

James absolutely loves these - they're like baby cheetos... he loves the cheese and the veggie dip flavor. I there is another tomato flavor and a maple flavor. We've given him the maple ones before, and then he smells like a waffle all day - for some reason that smell just stays on his hands all day long - so I prefer these and the veggie dip ones.

We go through Puffs like they're going out of style around here. Tyler LOVES them - and truly, it's about the only way I can focus on feeding one of them at a time... I throw some of these on their tray and let them snack while watching Sprout. It exposes them to some shows beyond Baby Einstein, and keeps their attention... but we go through lots of Puffs... we like the Apple Cinnamon, Strawberry, Cherry, and Banana best... but they also will eat the Sweet Potato ones.

I bought these when I got the cereal bars, and about the same time Tyler started not being able to handle cookies anymore... so they haven't had too many of them, but they are Cinnamon Graham crackers - and they look GREAT. Once we get through these though, I'll likely just start buying regular graham crackers or the Goldfish version. They do really well with Goldfish because they're small and they love picking things up - so I'll probably start with those until Tyler is ready to have things like this again.

I got these for James too - to go along with the cereal bars, he hasn't had them yet... but I'm going to cut one up for him to eat with his lunch today. I could probably give him the whole thing, but at least until he gets used to it - it's easier for me to cut them up for him.

Tyler has been giving these a whirl... he loves them. James did too when he was younger. We've done the Beef & Tomato ones a couple of times. He's also had the Chicken & Carrot ones, and I got him the Turkey Vegetable ones today. We've also got the Spinach & Cheese version as well.

I bought these, they're new... they've got the Blueberry and they've got Apple Cinnamon as well. I got these because it's one way to mix James' medicine in and get him to take it without fighting us... but I like to give them yogurt, and the little bit of extra grain is always good too. My main reason though initially was because of James' medicine and the need for him to take it with starchy foods - this seemed like a great option. They really enjoy these two flavors as well though.

I bought a couple of these to keep in our diaper bag - for emergency snacking purposes - this is Apple Cinnamon & Sweet Potato, but I also got Banana & Blueberry as well. I've been caught a few times with nothing to give them while we were out and about - so I'm hoping that this can be an option to get a little something into them if we are running late to a meal.

James LOVES raisins... so I got him these berry raisins - it's raspberries, cherries, and blueberries mixed together. He seems to be enjoying them. But they were like $5.25 for the bag. Now, he's been eating on them for over a week... but that's still fairly pricey. I'm not sure if I'll get them again - or go back to the little boxes of raisins, but it was a way for him to try something a little different. I might get a different version and just keep mixing them with regular raisins - a little expensive to go with our reasonable. He loves fruit, so I want to encourage him to eat things that are good for him.

I mentioned earlier that James is in a little bit of an anti-meat phase... I'm not sure what the deal is, but he LOVES these. I was having them one day for a snack and of course the little beggar wanted some - so I let him try them. Right now he will gobble them off his tray faster than anything else. At 8 grams of protein per 1/4 cup - I'm running with it. We bought him three more bags of them today. I also saw on this company's website that they have little individual packs of them branded with Dora and Spongebob... I haven't seen those in our store, but what a great idea. Not the cartoon thing, but the little individual bags would be great!

I was looking around the web for the berry raisins, and couldn't remember the brand - and was too lazy at the time to get up and go look... so I was looking around the Dole website, and found a few products that look like they'll be making their way into our house soon. I saw these, they've got three different flavors - apple, strawberry, and a mixed berry... if these are cheaper than the Gerber ones - I'll be getting these instead. I think they'd be great for adults too... as a snack that is quick and ready to throw in your bag for the car or whatever.

I'm going to have to look in our freezer section for these - there are a few different flavors of these as well, but I think these would make a great breakfast for me... so I'm going to pick up one or two to try when I go to the store on Monday.

Lastly, I saw these on their website... they've got strawberries, blueberries, and pineapple. Supposedly you can eat these like real fruit use in smoothies, or whatever. If it's like having real fruit though, that's a great option for us to have so that the boys can have blueberries, strawberries, and pineapple when they are out of season. Also, though we don't go through them that fast - so it might be a good way to always have them on hand and not waste so much fruit. I'm going to look around and see about getting some to try.

I'm in the process of getting a membership to Costco, and trying to overhaul how I shop for groceries... so any good budgeting tips you might have would be greatly welcome. I want to keep our meals changing so that we don't get bored, but also want to cut our spending too. So I'd love to hear your tips!

L is for Labels

2011-10-19T07:02:00.000-05:00

I know, it was time for me to get back to normal... and I was having so much fun with my ABC posts. I hope that you guys are enjoying them as well, and getting to know me in a little different way than normal.

Some ladies around the interwebs have been talking about blogging as a community and as a craft. It is something that I have grown to love - it's an outlet for my writing, and a way to keep in touch with family & friends. Along the way, it's become so much more to me.

There is a community in it that is amazing - some of the women that I've met through blogging and now Twitter are every bit as special to me as women that I've met in real life. They are real to me, in every sense. I go to them for parenting advice, to share my triumphs, to share my weak moments, to share just about everything life has going for it. I enjoy communicating with them... and I hope in turn that they feel the same for me.

My ability to do some of the things that I used to love like commenting and reading have changed a bit with these boys that I've got... but I still make every effort to fit it into my routine as much as possible. I know that most of us don't blog for comments, but it is nice to know that people are out there reading...and that they care - so I like to show that I'm one of those folks to the ladies that I read.

I'd like to take this to a different level though, one that I've covered before... but haven't talked about in a long time. I dare to think that things have changed since the last time I've talked about it, but ultimately that doesn't really matter. The point remains the same. I am so much more than just a blogger....

I am a Christian, first and foremost... a child of God who struggles daily to try to live a life that would bring glory and honor to Him. Trying to love people without judgement - and to love the sinner but when needed, dislike the sin. To be a light to the world and share my faith with those that can benefit from my beliefs.

I am a wife, second... above all else in this world - doing my best to be the helper that God intended for John. Doing my best to lift up my best friend, and be the partner in life that he deserves. Loving the man that he has been since I've met him, and all that he has grown to be through the last 12 years of living life together.

I am a mother, third... the mother uniquely chosen for James and Tyler. Even if, for the life of me, I can't figure out what God was thinking giving them both to us so close together. I'm here to guide them and love them through all of the ups and downs of childhood... to teach them how to be a little bit of me and a little bit of their Dad... all while growing into the wonderful Godly men that they are destined to become.

I am a daughter, sister, and friend. Doing my best to keep these relationships going with the attention they deserve. Sadly, right now... some of my attention on these is lacking because I am spending so much energy on some of the things that come above that right now.

I am a blogger... which as you can see - is an ever changing thing based on where my life is at the moment. When I started this blog in 2007... I had no idea what my life would be like in 2011. At that time, I was focused on having weight loss surgery. In 2009, I was focused on my infertility struggle. 2010, brought our adoption journey... and the birth of two baby boys. I don't know where I will go next... but the way that I am labeled will continue to change as life does... it's an exciting journey, and I hope you'll stick with us and see where we will go next.

Handmade Jewels Giveaway

2011-10-18T14:39:00.000-05:00

I thought it might be time for a giveaway to get some of you guys to come back around this little corner of the web. I know my posting has been inconsistent since moving and having the boys... but I'm working really hard to get back into a regular posting routine.

It's time for me to get back to the ABC's of me posts... and I've got a few other ones that I want to write... I'm keeping a list, so the inspiration doesn't leave the building when I sleep.

In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to bless one of you readers with a handmade jewelry item from my Etsy shop. You will get your choice, if chosen to be the winner of: 1 handmade necklace. It is a double strand piece with a lobster clasp in the back. The shorter strand is about 18-19 inches in length, and the longer is 20-21 inches.

Rose Quartz

Citrine

Amethyst

How can you win? Here are the details...

Winner chosen on Monday morning - so entries must be complete by Sunday 10/24 at midnight. Each entry must be in a separate comment!

1 entry for following this blog via GFC

1 entry for following me on twitter (KBHawkins00)

1 entry for joining in my Fall Recipe Blog Swap

1 entry for posting about this giveaway (leave me a link to the post)

1 entry for posting about the Fall Recipe Blog Swap (leave me a link to the post)

1 entry for tweeting about the giveaway (leave me a link to the tweet)

1 entry for tweeting about the Fall Recipe Blog Swap (leave me a link to the tweet)

Pint-Sized Bosses

2011-10-17T10:30:00.000-05:00

In honor of today being Bosses Day, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about my two bosses that I am currently working for. If you've been around here for a while, you'll know that I've worked for some really BAD bosses... my past is checkered with a lot of horrible work experiences. Today though, I've got some great supervisors... although they are extremely interesting!

I thought I'd give you some insight into my day:

** Has your boss ever decided to start the day by screaming at the top of their lungs into the office intercom system?

** Have you ever been sharing a meal with your boss, and they sneeze food all over you?

** Has your boss requested something from you, but when you get up to go get it... they scream and cry?

** Does your boss throw themselves on the floor and have a fit upon you showing them that they were wrong?

** Has your boss ever spit food back at you to show displeasure in what you are serving them?

** If you happen to have two bosses, do they move in opposite directions while you're supposed to be following them both?

** Do your bosses throw things across the room while having free time?

** After cleaning your office, does your boss come in and make a complete mess within 2 minutes of coming back from break?

** Has your boss ever embarrassed you by yelling on a lunch date?

** Does your boss need you to be constantly present so that they don't break the office equipment?

** Do your bosses speak English?

** Have you ever needed to rescue your boss from having their head stuck in a storage container?

** Ever had your boss throw up on you after a meal or snack?

** Ever felt the need to wipe your boss' nose?

** Has your boss ever needed you to clean them up after pooping during a meeting?

** Does your boss ever get caught chewing on the user manuals that you have in the office?

** If your boss doesn't feel well, do they ever call you in the middle of the night to make them feel better?

My bosses do all of these things, and so much more... but I wouldn't trade one minute to be anywhere else. I love my bosses unconditionally, and while they might drive me completely nuts from time to time... they also give me the most reward for my work out of all the people I've ever worked for.

Not As Planned

2011-10-14T14:44:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the unexpected day without a post... but we ended up here with a very unexpected day yesterday. We've all been sort of feeling weak and under the weather a bit around our house... but when the kids got up yesterday, I thought Tyler seemed to be getting worse. During breakfast for the boys, I decided that I needed to call the pediatrician and get them checked out.

I debated taking James to school because he seemed fine, and it's always easier to take one kid to the doctor as opposed to two of them. I in the end, thought better of that and went ahead with the plan to get them both checked.

They had their breakfast by about 8:30 and both wanted to go back up for a nap already... so I let them. Our appointment was at 10:30 - so I needed to get them up by 9:45 or so to load the car and head to the doctor's office.

Both boys' ears, throats, and noses checked out alright - but James' white blood cell count was 21 (normal is below 10) so the doctor seemed concerned. We did a chest x-ray, and found that James has the beginning stage of pneumonia. We came home with some antibiotics and made an appointment to get rechecked on Saturday morning.

James didn't nap all afternoon yesterday - in fact he sort of acted like a crazed kiddo in some sort of hyper active state... he wasn't bad, but did a lot of pacing around the living room and around the coffee table. Other than him being a little bit extra clingy - he really seems like he's fine.

John came home a bit early, and made plans to stay home with us all day today. We got the boys to bed around normal time, and we all slept well last night. The boys just woke up sounding a bit worse. James sounds all crackly and has a yucky cough. Tyler still has the stuffy/runny nose/cough thing going on... and we're all just laying low for the most part.

This certainly isn't how we planned things, but it could be so much worse. I feel like it was absolutely divine intervention yesterday that caused me to go ahead and get James checked out, and I'm so grateful for that. I can't imagine what could have happened if we hadn't gotten him checked out then... we could be spending the weekend in the hospital or something.

I've been beating myself up for the "almost" and the things that could have been... but I'm trying not to. Instead I'm focusing on taking care of my boys... I'm heading into the kitchen right now to make them meatloaf, mashed potatoes, a Red Lobster Cheddar Bay biscuit recipe, and candy corn cookies. We'll get back to regular posting next week, I promise.

Please check out my Fall/Recipe Blog Swap and get entered!!

Fall Blog/Recipe Swap

2011-10-12T16:19:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone! As promised, I want to do a fun swap with those of you that want to participate... and PLEASE pass the word on so that we can get as many participants as possible. My goal would be to pair people up based on location - it would be fun to get recipes from someone in a completely different part of the country and see how different it is from what you're used to.

So what I'm thinking is that we'll start with recipes - focusing on Fall and the holidays...

You'll send your partner:

1 (or more) recipe for a breakfast item
1 (or more) recipe for a main dish
1 (or more) recipe for a snack or appetizer
1 (or more) recipe for a side dish
1 (or more) recipe for a dessert
1 (or more) recipe for a beverage
1 (or more) recipe with your favorite item on your holiday table

Now, get creative - don't just type up the recipe... get crafty ladies. You can totally do something digital - if you're not a scrapbook person... but make it something fun and special. Add stickers, or whatever you want to jazz up what you're going to send. You could even include a story about why you love the recipe.

Then I thought it would be fun to take it a little further... and send a little something special. I'll leave that up to you - please don't spend more than $20 at the very most. I was thinking you could send a scarf, some hot tea, cocoa, Starbucks card... something that brings a warm smile to your face and a virtual hug to the person that will receive it.

I hope that this will bless each of you as we start the Thanksgiving holidays and round into Christmas.

To join in on the fun, please leave a comment with your Name, a Link to your Blog, the State you live in, and your email address. Sign up for the swap by October 23rd. You don't have to have a blog to be part of this - it just helps people get to know each other a little bit.

We'll put our things in the mail by October 29th, and do a post about it by November 4th.

Pumpkin Patch Trip

2011-10-12T10:40:00.001-05:00

This past weekend, my MOPS group took over a local pumpkin patch for the morning... and it was a great time. My kiddos didn't last long - it was hot, and right at nap time... but we got some good photos just the same.

This is my favorite photo from the day, all four of us together - everyone looking at the camera... amazing! Even if the boys don't look very happy about it. HAHA!

For reference, this is our pumpkin patch photo from last year... Tyler was just barely out of the hospital, and James just barely sitting up... what a difference a year makes, right? I remember this day so vividly - I think John was still off work from having Ty, and we went during the week - so we were the only ones there.

Here is Mr. Tyler this year - his facial expressions crack me up... he's just so animated! HAHA! I'm sure he was laughing, but the face doesn't quite show that.

James just walking everywhere - he kept getting down and crawling though... I guess to get his hands into everything. Check out those dirty knees!

Swinging... he loved it. He wasn't thrilled when we made him let Ty have a turn. Oh, sibling rivalry... it's alive and well in our house.

Ty's turn... he hated swinging last time we took them to the park - but this time went much better. I'm not sure that he totally loved it, but he didn't look like we were beating him this time either - so it's progress.

Those eyes... he's just such a sweet little guy. Easy going, happy to be around anyone & everyone. Funny thing, I just realized that those eyes... they are 100% mine. I never realized it, but they are exactly like mine. Finally a little piece of him looks like me!

My little silly man, he hasn't ever really gotten too excited about taking pictures before - but this night... he just kept hamming it up. He is our more demanding little fellow... if he doesn't like something, he'll let you know - quickly and loudly. Every once in a while though, he slows down enough to cuddle - and is just one of the sweetest little guys I've ever known.

They're starting to play together these days, which is both a blessing and a curse. There is lots of toy stealing, but Tyler is just so easy going - he doesn't really much care. Mom is usually there to give him something else to play with - which then gets stolen too... rinse, lather, repeat.

Within the last couple of days, Tyler has started standing and walking on his own. He's not 100% there yet, but he's getting better and stronger every day. Right now we're at about 2-3 steps before he falls, but it's already getting interesting. Kids into everything. Tyler also has instantly started climbing too - which James didn't do right away... he's just getting into that right now - I guess bad behavior deserves company... so I'm constantly trying to pluck them from whatever they are on top of - so that no one falls down.

I'm guest posting over on Between the Lines today - Laura is on vacation, and allowed me to write something for her so that she could take a much needed break from all things blog related. Please go over and read, you'll love Laura - she's super duper sweet, funny, a great cook, a super photographer, and has one of the cutest baby boys I've seen - next to mine of course. :-)You should go check out what I wrote, but also stick around and get to know Laura too.

I'm working on the details of the Fall Recipe Swap with a Twist... so look for news of it to come tomorrow or Friday.

Sacred Marriage - Chapter 2 & 3

2011-10-11T11:00:00.001-05:00

My apologies - I couldn't get my act together last time and when I finally did... our internet went out! GAH! So, I'm going to double up today and write about both chapters 2 and 3.

Chapter 2:

The beginning of this chapter talks about how scripture is constantly comparing our relationship with God to that of a marriage. This imagery is incredibly powerful, because we can explore our relationship with God through our marriages. The ideas of reconciliation, connection, love, joy, trust, peace, faithfulness, and self control all come up when I think of the different aspects of marriage. Basically, you should be able to find all of the fruits of the spirit within a healthy Christ centered marriage, but a marriage that focuses on the negatives of their spouse - is doomed. Just as one seeking to follow themselves instead of obeying and following the will of God in our lives will leave you out of the eternal kingdom of Heaven.

In my personal opinion, there are ebbs and flows within any relationship. There are days that you will wake up and not be able to get enough of your spouse... romantic days when it feels like you are back dating again. There are also days that you will wake up and wonder who the person is next to you... and during tough times (which we all have... it's called life) these days will seem more often than the romantic ones. Just as with God, you've got to cling to your relationship with your spouse and know that they will stand with you... just as your God won't forsake you - my belief is that your spouse shouldn't either. I know that isn't the case with everyone's marriage... but I feel that it is with mine. There is absolutely one thing that is certain - we are a team. It is John and I... navigating through life and if something doesn't seem right for the two of us - or our boys - we will stand against it together.

The author talks about marriage being a place for: offspring, faith and sacrament. He goes so far as to tell you that you can live without faith and offspring... but you can't live without the indissolubility. You have to know that your marriage is going to withstand the test of time and all that life throws at it. Our church back in TX, did a demonstration once a few years ago that was so powerful - it has stuck with me. They gave each member of the congregation a tiny container of play-dough. Each spouse had a different color. The pastor told us that our container represented ourselves... and the other our spouse. He then asked the married couples to mix their two colors together.

He said that marriage is to be considered much like this new lump of play-dough... where you are now 1 and you will never be able to completely separate the two. You become 1 new unit out of the 2 that you used to be. There is a reason that at the end of marriage ceremonies - they say "what God has joined together, let no man tear apart."

If you are living for God and for your spouse - you are truly living your faith. When divorce comes into the picture - especially with children - their spirituality suffers. (I know it can't be helped in some instances) Children often use their parents' relationship to help them to understand spiritual concepts - and when that relationship is lacking... it is hard for them to fully understand some of the concepts in their own literal ways. When their parents stop acting as a team - and heaven forbid, start cutting each other down in front of the children... it is almost impossible for them to learn about Christ-like love.

I'm sure I'm going to get hate mail over that... but keep in mind that I am a child from a divorce... and have formed opinions based on that.

Chapter 3:

This chapter talks about learning to love. It makes the connection that loving God and loving your spouse are not different - but aspects of the same thing... that by loving your spouse well, you are showing your love for God at the same time. Love is not a natural response that pours out of us - but we have to choose to love. Hate comes naturally, but we have to force it down and act in a Christian manner to combat that which comes naturally.

How amazing to think that God feels the most love when we love others in spite of the things they can do to us. Think about it - loving your spouse can sometimes be the hardest... that might sound strange, but consider the one person that knows you the best. They know your flaws, your weaknesses, your buttons, and you are the most vulnerable when you are known on that level. Loving inspite of all of that - without fail... is the definition of Christ-like love.

Did you know that in Deuteronomy God even spells out for us that we should concentrate on making our spouses happy? That shows love to Him, but us showing love to the person we chose to be our mate. So spend time thinking of ways to make your husband or wife happy. What are things that would bring a smile to their face today? What small ways or large ways can you think of today to show that you love them and are there for them - no matter what? I'm going to think about that, and try to do one thing today and everyday I can to show John and I love him. It is important for him to know that his happiness is important to me.

Step out there, and do something today to show your spouse that you love them... and I guarantee that you will be rewarded. You will feel rewarded by their happiness... and you will be inspiring them to potentially show you a new level of love and commitment as well.

Our God deserves the best of what we have to offer, and he gave us our marriages to help us show him that. In this world, your spouse is the person that deserves the best of what you can give them... in spite of your faults and theirs. You are to show them unconditional love anyway - and if you aren't doing that - you aren't showing that you love God either. We've got to get outside of the conventional worldly views of today - serving ourselves, instant gratification, and the like - and get back to treating those we love with the time and effort that they are worthy of.

There is nothing more worthy of your time than your marriage, and your children. In that order.

Favorite Things Giveaway

2011-10-10T12:47:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago Kodi, came up with the idea to do a blog swap where we partner up with another blogger and send each other a few favorite things. How fun is that?! I jumped at the chance for some friendly happy mail to arrive for me, and to send a little smile to someone else as well.

I got paired up with KM, and had the best time shopping for her. I am just getting started reading her blog, but you should check it out. She is such a sweet person, and is currently pregnant - so I had to find her some great stuff for relaxing! I set out to do just that and couldn't be more pleased with the things I found. I hope that getting the box blessed her and made her smile.

When I got my box, I was beyond excited... and couldn't wait to open it. Of course the boys wanted their lunch... so I had to wait, but was greeted with some great things that were worth the wait.

How fun to open the box and find pretty paper... I was giddy with excitement to see what she had found for me... we had a $20 limit, and that was just perfect.

I was initially greeted with a sweet card. I loved it, it's always fun to get something handwritten these days... it's getting more and more rare - so it feels extra special.

She did perfect - a wonderful candle that is going straight in by my bathtub for those relaxing bubble bath evenings... some note cards and note paper... and ya'll - as if she knew exactly how to get right to my heart, new pens!! I LOVE pens!

I had the best time with this, and am actually thinking of hosting a swap of sorts here. I'm thinking of doing a "Fall Festival" swap... who is interested? Leave me a comment telling me if you'd like to participate. If I get enough interest - I'm going to get it started later this week.

Climbers

2011-10-07T11:26:00.000-05:00

My little men have so much fun climbing the stairs these days - I let them try going up at nap times, bath time, and bed time. Tyler is still working on it, but James pretty much has it down. He actually now is trying to work on going back down... which freaks me out because it's harder to be in a position to keep him from falling going back down the stairs.

I decided yesterday to take some pictures of these little stinkers going up the stairs from both angles... it was fun... and here is some of what I got.

Aren't they funny? It's fun to watch them climb and get so excited about it. Of course it leads to them climbing on things they aren't supposed to in our living room too - but we're working on that too.

In other news:

My October display in my entry way is done...

Pumpkins, Corn, some fall leaves, and naturally fall peanut M&M's. I'm having so much fun changing these out every month!

We are heading to the pumpkin patch tomorrow for some fun, and I hope some great pictures too - it'll be nice to get outside for a bit and compare the photos to last year. The boys have gotten so big in just 1 year's time... it's scary how quickly it all changes.

How Do You Do It?

2011-10-06T07:36:00.004-05:00

I get this question A LOT when we are out and about with the boys. I've pondered many answers from the truthful to the snarky, and it all comes back to 1 thing for me.

It's all I've ever known as a parent. I've only really ever known having two babies really close in age. We found out that I was pregnant the same day we signed the papers on James' adoption - so literally, from the moment we became parents... we knew another was on the way.

Is it a struggle, absolutely. Does it bring me to my knees a lot of the time, definitely. Do I somewhere within me find the strength to keep going and going and going, for sure.

Having a baby is exhausting, having two is downright insanity. The diapers, bottles, baby food, and energy needed for them both is incredible... but when you look into their sweet little faces - what choice do you have? They need you. You need them. It's an endless process born out of love and they need you to keep going everyday.

I do get down from time to time - I'll need a nap or I'll get sick, and it gets much harder to take care of both of them at the same time... but still they deserve everything I have to give. On the days that I get to the end of my nerve and ability to deal with two toddlers... I might lose my cool, but then I feel guilty for not giving them the best that I can.

Maybe every mother feels that way, I don't know - I've never had 1 baby pushing my buttons... I have two of the cutest little monsters you've ever seen doing it to me on a constant basis. One thing is for sure, by bedtime - I've run out of every bit of energy I had... which isn't saying much. Those two wear me out... but in a good way.

So, when people ask me... all I can think is "what choice do I have?" It's hard today, but every day they learn something new that leads them toward the path of independence and being able to do things for themselves... which makes things a little bit easier and harder at the same time. (I may or may not need to super glue the entertainment center cabinets shut) Eventually though, they will be through all of these learning stages and go out in to the world on their own... which makes me sad already... it will happen in the blink of an eye.

Again, what choice do I have? That day is coming - faster than most of us realize, and it's up to John and I to get them ready to face all that the world will throw at them. It's a huge responsibility, but when you see your child successfully do anything - whether it be a new toy that they've mastered or watching them take over Wall Street... you are incredibly proud.

Those moments of pride watching them soar and succeed - THAT is how I do it.

Parenting Philosophy

2011-10-05T12:11:00.002-05:00

I want to preface this post with the understanding that none of us has all the answers - I know I don't. I just know what works for us, and where we plan to head with our parenting of James & Tyler.

Recently, my sister sent an email to a group of women talking about Harry Potter being against the Bible and being something evil. She has a right to her opinion, to be sure - and she had an article that was attached to the email - I wish I still had it to be fair to her... but it's not exactly what I want to talk about here anyway.

I want to really go broader than that - because it's not about 1 book series to me - it's more of a philosophy. John and I have had this discussion several times - on may levels. Schooling options and all sorts of other issues. I know that people struggle with their choices over homeschooling, private schooling, or public schooling. I can't say one is better than the other - you have to make that choice for your family and children.

For us, I can tell you that for us - we plan to public school our children. At least right now, that could change in the 4-5 years between where we are now and the boys actually starting school. Our philosophy about school gets that the route of our overall parenting style. We feel like it's our responsibility to expose our kids to different things - that are reasonable and age appropriate - even things that we wouldn't want to teach our children... things they might pick up at school... and use them as teachable moments.

For instance, they are exposed to political views we don't agree with, religious views, or even racial views that we don't agree with... and we use those moments to teach our children based on God's teaching that we might not agree with the other person's view or actions... but we are called to love them anyway. Love the sinner - hate the sin. I feel like that gets to the route of most issues - we are ALL sinners. We ALL have flaws and make mistakes... but our calling is to love people.

I fail miserably at that most days, but I do try.

For us, we feel like it is better for our kids to be exposed while they are in our home - under our watchful eye - because we can teach them to assess the situation and get through it. The alternative might be that they get out there on their own in college for instance, and they are completely unable to navigate the cruel ugly world that we live in... and they could falter. I'd rather arm them with the knowledge and spirituality they need to get through it on their own - to rise above and get through it even when I can't be there to help.

I guess for me, while I know we are not OF this world... but have to live in it until Christ returns... I want my kids to be able to deal with all the different things that would come at them.

There are certainly going to be rules and things we don't let them do... I'm not saying I'm going to let my 7 year old watch R rated movies or anything... BUT I do feel like age appropriate things are alright. I mean I want them to be readers - and there are fiction books out there, make believe - I want them to have healthy imaginations, and it's up to me to guide them to know what is real and what isn't. So, I don't see them reading Harry Potter when they are old enough as a horrible thing... as long as they know it's just a silly book.

I hope this makes sense, and I'd be happy to delve into it further... if there are other facets of this that you guys want to ask me about. (Just keep it respectful)

Bonus Birthday Post

2011-10-04T12:41:00.002-05:00

I can't help but share this... because I remember being so scared for him when I finally was lucid enough to realize that my baby boy wasn't in my hospital room with me. It was so hard for me - but amazing to look back and see how far he's come in a year. I'm crying like a moron right now... but this video is precious.

John was exhausted and used the wrong child's name, but the stats were correct...

Here he is now...

From 6 pounds to 21 at his last appointment...

From 20 inches to 23 inches... (I think, but it sure seems like he's taller)

Tyler Turns 1

2011-10-04T11:29:00.001-05:00

Today my sweet little Tyler turns 1 - I can't even begin to believe that it's already been a year. I have so many words - I can't even put them together into complete sentences. So I thought I'd try to keep my typing light and just show you the celebration so far... we'll be having another cake and a small gift or two for him tonight.

My sister-in-law and her neighbor do the cakes for free - we of course slip them some cash... but they have such a good time making them. Each cake with animals has something mildly inappropriate on it... Tyler's giraffe has a tiny little butt crack - and James' pig had nipples. HAHAHAHA! (You can click on the pics to blow them up larger)

This shirt was made my a friend from the interwebs - Jennifer - she has a shop on Facebook as well... just search for Braylabees.

Look at the happiest baby on the planet... he finally enjoys the pool! It took a lot of practice to get him to this point though - he used to look like you punched him in the gut every time we'd put him in the water. I guess we're over that now!

Another happy boy shot... what makes me laugh is his arm out the window hanging on the side... like he's already set to cruise for ladies.

My large monkey boy over there crawled up on top of this box while I was talking to someone... he is quick and not scared to climb up on anything. Stinker pants!

In the end... this is Tyler's pile of presents... whew! You know, because my boys didn't have enough toys already... but they are having a great time with these new items!

I'll post photos from tonight later... we're headed out to Target once the boys get up from their naps and have lunch. A little field trip for them and for Mom. I need a Sonic drink for today - to celebrate and remember all of the events from 1 year ago today.

Mojo

2011-10-03T11:49:00.002-05:00

Two weeks of traveling have gotten me SO far off of my game. Not that I truly had much game to begin with - but whew! My 'to do' list is a mile long and I'm either totally unmotivated to check things off or am completely overwhelmed by it.

I find myself wanting to chip away at the stuff, but unable to get a good train of thought going to complete any of the tasks.

Maybe I'm circling the sick drain again... James seems to be as well, so who knows. I do know that Tennessee is MUCH colder - MUCH earlier than anything I've ever been used to in my life. I'm not complaining thus far... but it was 45 degrees this morning, yo! We were pretty much totally unprepared for it - so when John got up for work it was 60 degrees in our house. True story.

While I get my act together - can I tell you that I had the BEST experience this weekend! The boys and I met one of the best bloggy buddies a girl can ask for... Becky! (Go check the link for photos!!) Becky and Connor met us at the play area in a mall - and we had a great time. She is every bit as wonderful as she is online... and I hope that we'll get to hang out again sometime. Becky, I mentioned moving to the Dallas area when we go back to Texas to John... and he didn't laugh - so I guess we're pretty much open to anywhere in TX!

I also am in desperate need of some great soup recipes - because of this cold weather... I want some warm soupy comfort food - so hit me with some of your favorites!

I'll be working on posts that are on my list this week - so all 2 of you still reading can look for: Sacred Marriage Bible Study Chapter 2, L is for..., Tyler's 1st birthday party, parenting differences, traveling with kids, and a few other topics coming soon to a blog near you. AKA this blog.

MIA

2011-09-29T16:23:00.001-05:00

I'm so sorry that have been missing this week. We were out of town for our last meeting with our adoption agency - or well... our last formal seminar. We'll never be done meeting with them or getting their help when we have questions or James has questions.

Anyway, we had our last formal seminar for his adoption process and combined it with Tyler's birthday party. So I've got tons of photos and things I want to blog about. Of course though, when we returned from our trip... our internet service went out. Joy!

I've been working on getting that fixed, and have been running around like a crazy woman for other errands that need to get done. Then, if that doesn't beat it all... I had a HORRIBLE appointment at the dentist today... lets just say that it's going to be painful and expensive. I'm so upset about it, and really just want to go to bed and wake up tomorrow.

On top of that, with my couch to 5K program - I've hurt my knees and shins. The were bothering me a little bit last week, but after doing my workout on our trip... without my treadmill... they are screaming at me. Picture me hobbling around and barely able to walk. Good times... when you've got two little guys to carry up and down the stairs multiple times a day. I worked out today for the first time this week, and modified the program a bit with varying speeds of walking instead of any jogging... we'll see how that goes.

The word for today in my mind is suckage... so it's highly unlikely that I'll get any blogging done until sometime tomorrow. If all of that doesn't beat it, I'm currently watching James sing in his crib after only sleeping 30 minutes at MDO... while Tyler slept 2 hours at school and is currently "out like a light" - amazing!

I have tons I want to tell you guys about and regular posts that I missed writing this week, but I'll be back as soon as I can... if not by tomorrow - I'll for sure be back on Monday with TONS to tell you.

Monkeys at the Zoo

2011-09-21T20:34:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, we took the boys to the zoo. It was a good experience for some and others did not enjoy it as much. Tyler had a blast... and was bouncing up and down in the stroller - having the time of his life. James on the other hand was not enjoying any part of riding in the stroller... so we tried to let him walk some, but it's a lot of walking for a little guy... and he does not enjoy holding hands yet. So our choices were to hold him or put him in the stroller.

Needless to say, there was a significant amount of crying and fit throwing. Before we take another trip - we will be getting a couple of baby leashes. I've already been informed of the unpopularity of the leash concept by some folks... but have heard that others have had some major success with them. I think for us - it allows James the freedom to explore with the safety of not being able to get to far from us.

Anyway, here are some photos from the day - we didn't get as many as I had hoped for because of the fussy pants, but we still got some cute ones.

K is for Kitchen

2011-09-20T16:42:00.002-05:00

If there was only 1 room in my house that I could use to show my men that I love them... I'd say it would be the kitchen. To me food is love. It's probably why I have weight issues, but nothing makes me feel more complete or loved than someone making me something from scratch... and it's in return how I show those closest to me the same love.

I am constantly on the look out for a new recipe that John would enjoy... and for things that I think the boys will enjoy when they are eating table foods. Tyler hasn't really gotten that far yet, and James has regressed back down to baby foods - so I'm still testing things out on John for the time being.

I've always loved baking and cooking - creating things from a few ingredients into a masterpiece. Its the best part of entertaining for me as well... I love sharing things that I've made with our friends. Food gifts are also something that I find great enjoyment in - and thank God for Pinterest... because the ideas for this year are overflowing!

Cooking has become so much more enjoyable now that I am staying at home with the boys. I am able to enjoy meal planning and cooking during the day instead of trying to fit in into the few minutes that are left at the end of a workday. My recipe search right now centers around crock pot items or things that I can prep during nap time to pop in the oven when the boys are eating their dinner. Our night time routine is pretty rushed from the time they eat until bedtime - so John and I typically don't eat until 8 or so after they are in bed.

Since this is such a huge part of me... I thought that I'd share some of my favorites with you guys:

Breakfast:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Crescent Roll Casserole

Dinner:
Zucchini Hamburger Casserole
Chicken Pesto Pasta Bake
Slow Cooker Italian Mushroom Chicken
Chicken with Tomatoes, Olives and Orzo
Shepherd's Pie
Beans & Rice
Jamie's Chili
Layered Chili-Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Chicken & Wild Rice Soup
Chicken Spaghetti
Crock Pot Pork Tenderlion
Lazy Chicken

Sides:
Spinach Berry Salad
Fresh Green Beans
John's Crab Stuffed Mushrooms (inspired by Red Lobster)
Pappadeaux Greek Salad
Green Bean Bundles
Crunchy Coleslaw (amazing!!)

Dessert:
Creamy Lime Squares
Mixed Berry Cheesecake
Sopapilla Cheesecake
Berry Cheesecake Parfaits
Chocolate Walnut Tarts
Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
Memaw's Caramel Iced Cookies
Orange Fluffy

Beverages:
Feaux Mimosa
Awesome Party Punch
Thanksgiving Punch

The One Where Everything Goes Wrong

2011-09-19T20:54:00.000-05:00

Anyone notice that I ripped off the naming convention of a popular 90's television show? Anyone that can figure it out - you win! I don't know what you win... but I might come up with a prize if someone guesses.

This has shaped up to be the week from hell, and it really was supposed to be great. Ah, that's how these things happen - you have high hopes for things to fall into place... and that's when they start to actually unravel.

It all started last night, we were sitting in the living room enjoying our regular nightly routine. The boys were changed and ready for bed... drinking their last bottles of the night and playing. I was on the floor with James, and John was in his chair with Tyler. When I suddenly heard the unmistakeable sounds that happen when Tyler is getting sick.

We started getting John and Tyler cleaned up - I took James to bed... and then got Tyler to bed after we gave him a bath. John was cleaning up our bathroom, and took it a few steps further to clean the jacuzzi tub. He looked up a process online to clean the jets in the tub, and was in the final phase while I was cleaning the kitchen. Again, things seemed normal until I heard him calling for help... oiy.

One of the jets somehow started shooting water up on the wall of the bathroom - thus flooding the room and causing a big ordeal for us to clean up. Good times, I tell ya. My fajita dinner quickly became Chinese delivery with all of these shenanigans.

The fun only keeps going today... when I realize that all of the supplies for Tyler's 1st birthday party this weekend are sitting on my doorstep in HOUSTON! FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC! UGH! I've spent a good part of today freaking out about it, and coming up with a plan B... which thanks to some help from some fabulous people will work out fine... but seriously ya'll... what else is going to happen this week?

Oh yeah, and Tyler is getting a new tooth too... swell. Pray for us!

Whirlwind or Tidal Wave

2011-09-14T11:10:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure whether I'm caught up in a whirlwind or a tidal wave these days - but man... the last couple of weeks have been brutal! For labor day, we took our first road trip with both of the boys. To say that we're not good travelers might be an understatement.

We drove the first day in the afternoon/night - which we thought might be a good plan because the boys might sleep. Notsomuch. James is not a good car sleeper - and Tyler even had some difficulty which I found amazing. He's always been such a good sleeper in the car, but then again we've never been in it that long before.

We had a good few days away, but along the way we caught some sort of stomach bug (James) and a cold (Tyler) - well... the cold eventually made its way to all of us. We're still trying to get rid of it! So there we were, having to drive back home with a terrible diaper rash and a cold.

To say that it took us quite a bit more time to get home - would be generous. We had to do 5 poopy diaper changes for each of the boys... 3 wardrobe changes for James, and two meals. It was brutal. The drive back though we started in the morning and finished by bedtime - so it did go better. They got frustrated with all the getting out and back in the carseats, but overall - I'd say that the traveling went a bit better.

When we got home though, Tyler had a projectile vomiting experience - so we had to deal with that along with unloading the car and getting James to bed. We finally got everyone down, and that was the end of it. Craziness!

I took the boys to the pediatrician after we got home, and that was another crazy ordeal - we waited 2 hours to see her. Which I think is totally ridiculous. I mean if they were 7 years old it would still be rude and unprofessional... but with babies - it's downright wrong! We finally saw her, and got a prescription... only to get to the pharmacy and find out that they didn't have the medicine in stock. Nice, right?

I left the pharmacy at about 1:30 with two babies who hadn't had lunch or a nap...and desperately needed both. We left with the understanding that they'd call the doctor and get a substitute prescription and I was going to have John pick it up on his way home. That didn't happen - because the doctor never would call the pharmacy back - even after I called and got a little rowdy with the nurse. It wasn't until 8PM that we finally got through after two calls to the after hours answering service...

So here we are almost a week later, and I'm starting to see signs of things getting better on the cold front.

In other news though, James might just be breaking into the terrible 2s - already. He is climbing on everything, and has recently stopped understanding what the word NO means. He pushes Tyler down... and is just generally defiant. On top of that, he has stopped eating. I mean, boy won't chew. He just spits out anything with any substance. So I've been forced into feeding him baby food again... just to get something into him.

Help me!!! Serenity Now! All of this... and Tyler is turning 1 in like 2 weeks!

Blog Bible Study - Chapter 1

2011-09-13T11:47:00.001-05:00

A group of ladies from around the interwebs are joining together to do a Bible Study from home - we chose the book Sacred Marriage to be our study. We've only read chapter 1 and I already feel like I've learned some things about myself and about marriage.

The first chapter talks about how we are each sinners and selfish in our own right - and the idea of romantic love being the ideal for marriage is an unrealistic ideal to set for ourselves. Marriage is meant to be for the glory of God ultimately, and a way for God to teach us some of the characteristics that we need in order to live our lives more like Jesus.

A professor in a marriage and family class I took in college once told us that marriage has good years and bad years - ebbs and flows. I never truly understood that until I was myself in a marriage. There certainly are good times and not so good times... times when you feel romantically connected, and times that you don't. The one truest thing though is that God has provided you a partner to share your life with - share the journey... share the ups and downs... and learn so much about Christan life through the daily struggles.

I said earlier that we are all selfish and sinners by design... which can cause friction in a marriage - we are also designed very differently. Men and women process things in ways that seem completely foreign to each other. I've noticed this at different times in my own marriage - neither way of processing is wrong - just very different from each other. I'm more of a sit down and process it on paper type of person while John is more of a talk it out in the moment type of personality. At times this is frustrating for us, but eventually we come together and work it out.

One thing that we both realize is that the way the media portrays marriage and relationships is vastly different from reality. I think this starts with fairy tales as young girls... we are taught to think that our prince charming will come along and make everything alright. To a degree, he does if you follow God's plan for your life... but no one person can fulfill your every desire in life - only God can do that. Humans are flawed and will let you down from time to time. They don't mean to - and have the best of intentions, but no one is perfect and at times this leads to hurt feelings and let down. God is the only one that will never let you down... He might not always be on the same time table as you are, but he will never let you down or leave your side.

Somewhere along the way, people have come to think that if the romance dies down a bit - you can cut and run from the relationship. It is up to US, our generation of Christians to teach the world that this isn't the true way that God designed marriage. He designed us to be together with one person during our lives on this Earth. It is yet another test of our character as to how we deal with it for his glory and his kingdom. It is designed to help us in our journey to live with the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. If those traits don't define the tests of marriage - I don't know what else would.

I grew up as the child of a divorce, a not so pretty one... and I always knew that when I got married - it would be with the plan that it was a once in a lifetime commitment. One and done. I married a man who grew up in a family with all of his relatives having the life long marriages that I desired for myself. His parents have been married for almost 51 years. That is the legacy I want for my life - for my children and grandchildren... I want them to look at John and I 30-40 years in the future and see the love and admiration we have for each other. Not because it has all been a fairy tale, but because we withstood all the tests and lived the journey together.

J is for John and James

2011-09-12T14:51:00.002-05:00

I know, it's two for one... but how could I choose just one of them to write about on this letter? Not possible... two out of the three loves of my life - gotta combine them.

Let me start with my partner in crime, and the most amazing guy I've ever known. John...

This picture was taken for our adoption profile, and it seems like 100 years ago at this point. But it's about the most recent photo I have without babies included, so I thought it would be a good one to use. John is an incredible husband, friend, father, provider, and man. He is the absolute perfect man for me - God brought us together with a purpose and I'm grateful that he did. John challenges me at times, comforts me, helps me, and makes me laugh too. He is an incredible father - who loves these boys fiercely. In addition, he is absolutely brilliant - if there is something he doesn't know how to do - he will find out and work at it until it's mastered. Aggie Football is a passion of his, and well... really football in general - because ALL games relate back to A&M in some way... high school games are future players and NFL games are former players - so there is interest in all levels. Gift giving is another thing he excels at - the most thoughtful and interesting gifts come from his imagination. He once gave me the 12 months of Christmas which was a gift I opened every month for a year with different things for us to do together... another incredible gift came the Christmas after my weight loss surgery - he gave me my first scrapbooking supplies and had our close friends and family write me letters of support for my journey. Lastly, my man can cook... and I mean he can make a gourmet dinner like no one else can when he has the time to put into it. We've had some incredible special occasion meals over the years. Our 10th anniversary is coming up in February and I can only imagine what the next 10 years will bring... but I know that they will be exciting and we will be there with each other loving every minute of it.

True story, the other night we were watching a DVRed episode of Rizzoli & Isles and someone in the show broke a window with their head. John looked at me and said "I don't know why anyone would want to do that... I mean if it was to protect you or the boys - yes, I'd do it... but not just for fun." Love that guy and his sweet protective heart.

James - oh what to say about this little man. He was the answer to a very long prayer 8 years in the making. I've loved him from the moment I saw him in the nursery at the hospital... he is a screamer though! HA! He makes sure that you know when he's not happy or satisfied in the moment. As he gets bigger - I see a curiosity in him that I find intriguing... I really love watching him figure things out - he'll just keep working at it until it makes sense to him. Sometimes though, he'll bring a toy to me that he knows how to work - just to be next to Mommy. Until this last week, he has been an adventurous eater - I suspect this week's illnesses are just working their way through and once he's 100% again - he'll be back to trying out all the things that Mommy and Daddy eat. Giving kisses is a fun new trick that he's learned - he'll walk up to one of us and lean in for kisses... most of the time his mouth is open, but it's just as sweet even if it's slobbery. He is ALL boy - that's for sure... and climbing is a new game for him - I'll frequently be found getting him off of the top of the toy box, fireplace hearth, or anywhere else he can get a little height. He's taken to climbing on and off the couch and his little chair in the living room - it's sort of cute when he takes his drink and sits in the chair to drink. His smile and little dimple on the one side just lights up my heart - you can't help but smile back and feel like the whole world is just fine again. It's an incredible privilege to be his Mommy and watch him grow up right before my eyes - which is happening WAY too fast.

Friday Favorites 4

2011-09-09T09:02:00.002-05:00

I'm so sorry ya'll. I missed Thursday Things yesterday, and today - I'm not really going to be able to come up with much to say to introduce our Friday Favorite. We are dealing with epic cold bugs over here... I've got two sick babies and a sick set of parents to go along with them. So bare with me, and enjoy reading up about this sweet blogger, and her life. I know you'll enjoy reading about her adventures as much as I do.

1) Tell us a little bit about yourself:

I’m a quirky 30 year-old who isstill dreaming of what I want to do when I grow up. Until I figure it out,though, I’m putting my newly earned law degree to use. I am head over heels inlove with my two kitty boys and proudly hang stockings embroidered with theirnames on the fireplace at Christmastime. I love to do the dishes and alwayshave. I am not a sweets person but do have soft spot for cupcakes. I have noshame in admitting that I am obsessed with all things vampire and have declaredRobert Pattinson to be my movie star husband. However, during football season,my wedded affection belongs to Green Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, known just as“the hubs.”

2) Tell us your mission/goal for your blog:

The best thing about my blog isI have no expectations. I just to love to write and find it fascinating thatI’ve been able to capture, in print, at least a part of my story.

3) Tell us about your favorite post or your best inspiration:

I don’t knowif I have a favorite post… but my best inspiration is definitely Hann. If youhaven’t been around my part of bloggie world, you might not know what a “Hann”is- but she’s pretty much my twin separated at birth. Our paths crossed in lawschool and she’s been “my person” ever since. We also have an amazing group offriends and although we’re separated by miles now, they continue to be myinspiration… not just for the blog, but in life.

4) Tell us one thing you can’t live without: (this could be animal,vegetable, or mineral – it’s up to you)

Just one thing?!?! It’s a tie… Hann andCarl. Best friend/future real-life hubs. I need them both.

5) Your favorite book, and why:

Ummm… duh. The Twilight Series.Because I am a tween stuck in the body of a 30 year old clearly. And perhaps HarryPotter. I just started reading them (don’t judge- I’ve had a busy coupleof years) and cannot get enough. Vamps and wizards. Perfection.

6) Your favorite movie, and why:

I won’t say Twilight series since I justsaid that for favorite book, but I do love them. It depends- during Christmasseason, it’s Love Actually. I love everything about. I love Hugh Grant’smonologue in the beginning, I love the humor, I love the moment when Samfinally gets the girl and is on the top of the world… I love all the love init. To me that’s the best and most magical part of the Christmas season- loveactually is all around. So when it’s not Christmastime, I think I would have tosay Sweet Home Alabama. I could (and do) watch it over and over and overagain. I can’t even put my finger on what the draw is but I love it. Philadelphiais another all-time favorite. Think it might be why I thought I couldbecome a lawyer and change the world.

7) Tell us something unique/funny/interesting about you:

I was adopted whenI was 3 months old. I have a light brown birthmark near my ribs and when I waslittle and asked my mom why I had it, she told me someone spilled chocolatemilk on me. Funny, cuz I’m allergic to chocolate. I don’t eat the ends ofcertain things and I prefer it if different foods didn’t touch on my plate. Ilove Starbucks coffee but only buy decaf. I will only use OPI nail polish andif I could afford it, I would get a pedicure every single week.

8) Tell us how we can find you to read for ourselves: (your blog address)

While We’re Waiting, http://ks-waiting.blogspot.com

Want to be featured yourself? Copy these questions and email your answers to me at kbhawkins AT gmail DOT com - I'll let you know when your post will be featured.

Tyler Photo Fun

2011-09-07T06:40:00.000-05:00

It wouldn't be right if I didn't do the same photo montage for Tyler... so here is a wordless look at the first 11 months of my tiny man's life.

There he is... my goodness, I had such fun going through all their photos - I'd forgotten about some of those moments. They're growing up crazy fast!

I is for Infertility

2011-09-06T06:06:00.000-05:00

One thing that I still would tell anyone that would ever ask me about my life story would be that I'm an infertility survivor. I don't think you ever walk away from it. It becomes a part of who you are - no matter what happens to complete your story.

You never forget the pain. You never forget the months of hope and then extreme let down. You never forget the feeling of being surrounded by people with children - only to have your arms be the empty ones at the end of the day. You never forget feeling that something is missing from your life. You never forget the treatments, doctors, nurses, and phone calls that you endure along the way.

For me, my fertility treatments were a joke. I spent so much time and money on the process - only to find out after months and months of trying that the doctor just plainly didn't know how to get my body to produce a mature egg for them to fertilize. I injected drugs into my hip nightly on at least 3 different cycles for a week or so - made myself completely nuts... and everyone around me nuts... all for nothing.

I'll never forget what that was like - the excitement of starting a new cycle... "this month" would be different. I'd finally get my positive... only to start injections, have ultrasounds... and in the middle of the stimulation portion of the cycle - I'd get the call. There was nothing growing into a follicle. We wouldn't make it to the next step... no IUI for us.

The problems that they were having with my body wouldn't even allow us to do an IVF cycle or anything else... because they couldn't get a single egg to mature into a follicle. There wasn't any amount of intervention that would help with that - unless we wanted to spend an undetermined amount of money just throwing more and more hormones into my body to see if it would respond. When a doctor puts it like that - you know there just isn't much more hope left.

When it came down to it - the doctor had one "hail mary" type of treatment to try in the end, but we ended up canceling it. I remember starting that whole process - thinking - I don't know how I'd ever survive walking away from those treatments without a baby in my arms. In reality, that is just what I did. It wasn't working and for us - we couldn't put more money and resources into a "maybe".

For us, it was also a major time that God was working toward us going in a different direction - to complete our story in a much different way than we could EVER have imagined at that time. Ultimately, I have my miracles... and they are beautiful... in their own way, with their own stories about how they came to be part of our family... and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

But, I also wouldn't be truthful if I didn't acknowledge that all of those infertility treatments and years of waiting didn't shape me into the woman that I am today as well. My story has a happy ending - I truly pray that everyone has the same happy ending... but I don't get to make those choices or decisions about the future for all of the women out there. Just know that if my story can turn out like it did - yours can too. Just keep praying and trusting that somewhere out there - God is working to create the family that you are meant to have.

James Photo Fun

2011-09-05T06:24:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be fun to look back at a few photos of James... it's crazy how fast they grow... so walk with me for a little bit and look at my little men.

That's my big boy... check back on Wed for Tyler's version.

Friday Favorites 3

2011-09-02T06:39:00.000-05:00

Here we are for week 3 and we've got one of the most entertaining women I know... KLaw!! aka Kristen. She is hilarious... I mean really - cracks me up all the time. I met Kristen through a blogging friend, Summer... and watched her go through some infertility issues - while I came in late on her journey... but I was there when she announced that she was expecting one of the cutest and most superfly little munchkins out there, Smith. He is in between my boys in age, but Kristen and I have shared a lot of this interesting journey through being a new mother together... and she also has an amazing stationary/invitation/print goods business that she runs as well. She has designed the 1st birthday party invites and thank yous for both of our boys. I'll let her tell you about it at the end... but it's really got a great message - she's running Little Laws Prints to put money into savings for Smith's college. So help a little guy get ready for some higher learning, yo.

1) Tell us a little bit about yourself:

Oh hai. My name is Kristen. I am a mother, a wife,a full time employee, a blogger of all things Ryan Reynolds, a paper goodsentrepreneur, a cat mother of two, a dog mother of one, a box-o-wineaficionado, and typically about two shakes from losing my shit on any givenday.

2) Tell us your mission/goal for your blog:

I think I started my blog for the same reason everyoneelse does. As an outlet. I had just lost a baby via miscarriage and had nowhereto bitch and complain about how unfair life is. It quickly turned into DIYprojects, and celebrating all things Ryan Reynolds. I talked a lot about mystruggle to get pregnant and now that our little (big) turtle is here, my oneyear old son Smith, it has turned into a diary of all things snarky aboutparenthood. Sometimes coupled with a few heartfelt posts about how awesome heis. I don’t really have a mission, per se, but apparently people think I’mpretty amusing because they stick around and continue to read. Shocking. Consideringhow much I talk about poop.

3) Tell us about your favorite post or your bestinspiration:

Favorite post? Anything about boxed wine, MillerLite, and my baby. Most of the time theyall go hand-in-hand. You know, baby in one hand and a beer in the other. Isn’tthat how all mothers roll? No? Well, it wouldn’t be the first Mom fail in mybook.

4) Tell us one thing you can’t live without: (this couldbe animal, vegetable, or mineral – it’s up to you)

If you couldn’t tell from every paragraph above, itwould be beer. And wine. Oh, and Burts Bee’s chapstick because I have aridiculous addiction to it. And not just any flavor of BB. Its got to be theoriginal, all yellow tube. Stage 5 meltdowns if I can find any of my 4 tubes Ihave on me at any given time. One time I found one in my sons diaper. Yep, heshoved it in his pants. I broke that shit out, gave it a good once over andproceeded to lather it on. I have no shame.

5) Your favorite book, and why:

Us Weekly. What mother of a one year old who has ablog, a full time job, and a full time celebrity gossip problem has time toread anything longer than a page at a time. Besides I just like to look at thepictures and compare my fat ass to those skinny Heidi Klum bitches.

6) Your favorite movie, and why:

Of all time? Holy shit, that means I have tocircumnavigate 22 32 years of movies to find my favorite. Well, if Imust pick one, I’d go all romantical and say The Notebook. Not only becauseRyan Gosseling is Ryan Reynolds level hotness in that movie, but because whenyou strip away all the snark and self pitty I spew forth, I am a sappy romanticat heart. That and because I want RR tomeet me on a dock and tell me “it was never over”. Le sigh.

7) Tell us something unique/funny/interesting about you:

I honestly can’t tell you anything interesting. Istill don’t even know why you’ve read this far down. There’s absolutely nothingexciting about me or my so called life (Jordan Catalano for.evah!).

8) Tell us how we can find you to read for ourselves:(your blog address)

You can find me over at www.kristenlawlor.blogspot.com.Yeah, talk about creativity. Or… SHAMLESS PLUG ABOUT TO COME FORTH…. Find meand my print shop over at www.littlelawsprints.com.Word to Smith’s mom, which would be me.

You want to get in on this action? Copy these questions, answer them and email them to me... at (KBHawkins00 AT gmail DOT com)

Thursday Things - Reversed

2011-09-01T06:40:00.000-05:00

I thought that for today - it would be really fun to do this backwards... I've been telling you things that I love for the last few weeks... and really - what I want to know are some of the things YOU can't live without. What are the top two or three things you're using right now.

It could be things for the kitchen, beauty products, books, kid items, housewares, general shopping... whatever you want to tell me about. I really want to know if there are some items out there that I need to snatch up quickly!

Is there something at the grocery store that is rockin your world? A book you can't put down? Something that is making you look and feel younger? Something your child can't live without? A candle or product for your house that you're loving right now? Accessories that we need to know about? (ahem... I can help out with your accessory needs) Is there something completely unrelated that you want to share with us?

Now is your chance! Tell us all about it!

While you're thinking about it, let me tell you about one thing...

It doesn't really help me just yet, but there is a website offering free education materials for download and print... so maybe your child or a child you know is struggling in a certain subject - you can print some supplemental materials to help them. Maybe you're a teacher needing some new fresh ideas. Maybe you're a homeschooling Mom who needs some new resources to help with a lesson. Whatever your needs - check out superteacherworksheets.com Please pass this on to anyone that might be able to benefit from this site.

Also, ya'll... I am dying to try this - but can't bring myself to buy a whole half-gallon because girlfriend over here doesn't need that much of it!

Kentucky Pie Ice Cream

brown sugar ice cream with caramel sauce, chocolate chunks, toasted walnuts and pie crust pieces

Accent Vlog

2011-08-31T16:30:00.003-05:00

This is SO far out of my comfort zone...so you guys better give me some love. :-)

In the video, just for you guys who might ask... I'm wearing:

Chantilly Lace Earrings

Hematite Link Chain Necklace

If you'd like to do an accent vlog - here are the details:

The instructions are to say these words: Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

And answer these questions:

What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?

What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?

What do you call your grandparents?

What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?

What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?

What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?

What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

If you do join in, I'd love you to tell me in the comments... and also go over and post a link on Jenna's blog.

Edited to add: Tyler wanted to say Hi!

Remembering 9/11

2011-08-31T11:37:00.001-05:00

Last night, we started watching the coverage on National Geographic about the events and perspectives of September 11, 2001. It's so hard to believe that the 10th anniversary of these attacks is coming up in a couple of weeks - when I can remember it just like it was yesterday.

I can tell you exactly where I was that morning, what I was doing when I heard... and the details of not being able to locate John because he was in a conference for work. I remember the days and weeks after the attacks - the emotions, the stories, the interviews, the magazines, the television, the patriotism, the heroism, the heart-break.

We watched the first episode of the series last night, and both John and I were amazed at how we were instantly taken back to those moments both in reality and emotion. It's crazy how much comes up that you don't expect. I got the same chills, nausea, and tears stinging my eyes that I did on the days that it was unfolding.

At the end of this particular episode - they mentioned Pearl Harbor. And suddenly it all connected for me. When people talk about Pearl Harbor around me (which I don't think has ever happened, but go with it) it really means nothing - it's just a date in history. A movie. A sad story that generations before me experienced.

Friends, September 11th is our Pearl Harbor. Our children will never understand what it was like to live through those days. They won't know what it felt like to watch it unfold on live television - watching the plane fly into the building... watching the towers crash to the ground... watching the aftermath. It will just be a date they have to remember for their history classes - but for us, it's a day that will live in our hearts and memories forever.

I shutter to think that September 11th was greater in magnitude and impact than Pearl Harbor was - for the speed of information involved and I think the size and complexity of the attack itself was on a larger scale. The feelings though of our country being under attack rings the same in both situations...

I am scared to think of what event might happen in the future that would become the infamous day that will define their generation. I would hope that they don't have one, but evil lives in this world... and it's unlikely that something large won't happen again. I hope and pray that it doesn't. I pray that for my children. I pray that for all of our children.