Weekend Outside

I was trying to get them both smiling.. ha. Everytime I would react to his smile - she wanted to see it too and kept looking at him. Cute.

little man is getting fat.. i love it.

and she is getting skinnier and taller... she must take after me. ha!

this girl has legs for days... can I be jealous of a two year old?

sweet and sleepy

check out those fat legs.. and how dark he is.. my little mexican baby! :)

There are similar features (at times) between my children, but overall.. he looks like he is from south of the border and she looks like she is from Ireland... maybe our next one will look like they are from yet another continent. ;) ha ha..

Thumbs Up - or Thumbs Down?

The last couple of days I've noticed that when William has lost his paci he has been improvising with his thumb to soothe himself only at naptimes... Not sure if I should let him have it or try and break that habit before it is too late... I was a thumb sucker when I was young and embarrasingly enough didn't stop until I was probably in the second grade!! another interesting tid bit - i sucked my right thumb and wrapped my pointer finger around my nose like he is doing.. hilarious!

any advice mamas? (or papas)?

Familiar and Foreign

I wanted to update and let y'all know that we've had a really good couple of days here. Audrey has been adjusting more and more which makes my day less manic. She has had no accidents yesterday or today - praise God! She has been very well behaved thanks to a new jar discipline system (thanks kenzie for the idea) it is working like a charm. As for Mr. William, he is wearing me out during the night still waking up to eat twice each and every night and whining, grunting, cooing, snorting, moaning and squealing in between. Making for very short nights and loooong days.

Last night we had company come in from out of town - My dear friend Christy, her husband Matt and their son Cayden. We really enjoyed their company! Christy and I haven't seen each other in over a year and we just chatted away and before we knew it - it was already 11:00 p.m. I was up with Will at 2:30, 4:00-5:00 and Audrey woke up around 6:30.. exhuasted is a total understatement.. several of these nights are totally catching up with me and our very busy days are just adding fuel to the fire.

Trying to jump back into a fast paced life style from our slow laid back South Carolina life sometimes feels like trying to hop into a jump rope game (*you know that fancy kind when they are swinging around two jump ropes and the young girls can hop and lift their feet at just the right time so they don't get nailed with the jump rope..) only i'm not hopping and jumping quickly enough and I feel like I keep getting hit in the head with the rope. ha ha..

In other ways it feels very familiar but also foreign at the same time - almost eerie. If you can imagine having a very full life and then slipping into a coma, going to prison or just falling off the face of the earth for exactly one year and then coming back to society- in some ways it feels like we never left and in others it feels like i'm in the twilight zone... hard to explain... but hopefully you get the picture.

I intended for this to be a short post - but I went rambling on.. to sum it all up in one sentence:
We are adjusting nicely - I'm exhausted - and we are already SUPER BUSY... & trying to keep up with lots on the calendar.

** By the way - we LOVE being back in Texas and appreciate all the wide open arms welcoming us back :) It is SO GOOD to be here again...
Love,

Tee Tee Terrorist

Audrey is going bazerk on us and I'm not sure what to do about it..

The Scenario:
Off in a room alone and she just pees on the floor with her clothes on and everything.

The Evidence: A yellow puddle left behind for someone to step in.. usually mom is the victim

The Cover Up: Audrey goes into her room, changes her panties and clothes, puts the wet ones in the dirty clothes and acts like nothing ever happend.

Frequency: Twice today, once yesterday

The punishment: currently, the spoon & a natural consequence: clean up the mess.

UGHHHH

On the outside, you'd never know in her personality that she has gone thru some major changes, a new brother, new house, big move.. etc.. but I have a feeling it is affecting her more than it shows.... I am so frustrated and angry, yet feel sorry for her all at the same time... guilt of uprooting her once again. I gotta pray her thru this one.

Bed Head

These are some pictures I took before, during and after the move.. thought they were funny... enjoy!

We are HERE! so glad this is winding down. After 5 nights in a hotel and many nights painting 'til midnight we are exhausted and excited. It is SO GOOD to be back in the "real" south. Our house is fabulous *especially my new fancy kitchen! I will be taking pictures and sending them soon. Big Thank You's to our families - mine: for taking Audrey to Lake Charles while we painted and unpacked... she had so much fun! and to Charles' mom and sister for all the labor of painting and unpacking - they worked SO HARD. We painted the living room, kitchen, office, master bedroom and Audrey's room... whew! I am really looking forward to getting back into a routine and getting some structure back into our lives. I appreciate all the emails and phone messages this last week - and sorry if I couldn't answer or call back yet - but with a newborn and moving I have had not even a minute of down time... (i'm looking forward to some of that too!) stay tuned for pics to come.. :o)

Day One is Done

Wow.. what a whirlwind of a day - the trucks got here at 8:30 and got to work immediately. I am shocked at how fast these guys work.. Literally they packed everything we own and were done by 2:00! We only moved a year ago and and it took them (different crew) 3 days to pack the same exact stuff. Audrey was very well behaved all day and refered to them all as "the mans" She was super chatty with them.. to the point where I needed to run interferance a couple of times b/c if she wasn't my kid, I would have been annoyed. I'm VERY glad I packed us up (Me, Audrey and Will) last night since there is no way I could have done it today - they were so fast that Audrey's snack cup full of teddy grams was packed up just because she set it down for a few minutes. I think her sippy cup was too. Seriously, the guy packed up the contents of the dishwasher and it wasn't even clean! ha ha.. That will be fun trying to figure out later.

We also ordered some new furniture for our house and it came today. The driver thought I was nuts since I was carrying my 4 week old around in a sling and my 2 year old was following me around and my entire house was upside down.. I guess it is not the typical scene they deliver new furniture to. The furniture is GORGEOUS and I can't wait to see it in the new house all set up. I am thrilled to announce that after 5 years (almost) of marriage, we finally got a grown-up and an up to date bedroom furniture set.. woo whoo! I have always put our bedroom on the bottom of the priority list - making all other rooms looking nice and finished and ours was embarrasing - not anymore!! :) Charles also got some super fancy office furniture and of course we bought it sight unseen.. off the internet... we are getting in a bad habit of that lately... it has worked out to our benefit since each purchase we've done that with have exceeded our expectations. lucky us.

Back on the move...
The plan has changed a little bit - they are way ahead of schedule so they will load up the truck tomorrow and just leave beds behind and they will come and get those Wednesday morning. We will now have to rent a car and get a hotel room for an extra day/night. Thursday the carpet cleaners are coming and a cleaning service to spruce this place up. We are still leaving on Friday night and arriving in Houston late. We are still calm cool and collected at this point... lets hope it continues.. stay tuned .

Perfect Encouragement... How God spoke to me today

I Know How I Designed It
6 Apr 2009Van Walton"…we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus…" Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)My amazing husband can do anything. He's a fix-it man. There isn't anything he can't repair or create. He rebuilds damaged computers for family and friends, repairs weed eaters and garage door openers for neighbors, and rescues broken furniture from trash heaps. Recently he brought a chair home from a dinner party. It wasn't a gift and we didn't steal it. Someone sat in it and broke it! After two days of taking the chair apart - performing what looked like orthopedic surgery to me, you know when pins and screws are inserted to keep bones and joints from further damage – followed by a little gluing, sanding, and staining, the chair looked brand new."Wow!" I said, impressed."Sit in it and rock back," he encouraged."Rock back? I don't think so! What if I break it?""Oh, believe me. You won't.""How do you know?" I asked, not convinced."I know how I designed it. I know the pressure points and how much stress it can take" he responded with a smile of confidence. " Go on. Sit in it and rock back."I sat down and rocked back.The chair was solid. I don't care who sits in it, or how they land in it now, it will not break.I think about the times we don't believe we can handle any more stress. The pressure seems overwhelming and we cry, "Time out! I can't take any more!"God responds, "Trust me. You will not be destroyed. I know your pressure points. I know how much stress you can take. I know how I designed you."I cannot describe the peace I felt when I related the work of my husband's hands to the work of God's hand.Of course He knows how much I can take. After all He is my Creator, the one who bent down by the river and fashioned me with His hands. He's the one who knit me together in the depths of my mother's womb, the one who is called the Potter.He knows the exact temperature needed in the kiln to create the perfect clay vessel. He knows how hot the fire must be to separate the dross from the silver and gold. He knows how much pressure a diamond or emerald must withstand in order for it to come forth solid and brilliant. He knows how long the irritant must sit in an oyster before it becomes a pearl.My Father knows exactly how much I can take. He knows because He designed me. With that realization I am able to trust Him and smile at the future, no matter how hard life is today.Lord Jesus, You are the Carpenter. You know exactly how to build a piece that will withstand pressure and stress, a work of art that will not easily crumble. You created me the same way. Rather than tremble in the fac e of despair, help me trust in Your design. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Here We Go Again

I wanted to post this morning to let y'all know the movers are headed our way... They should be here soon and then the fun begins. It is hard to believe that next week at this time I will be waiting for trucks again ready to unload all of our belongings. Having gone thru this exactly one year ago - I feel a bit more mentally prepared as to the challenges that this week will bring. I have tried to think of everything; but I'm certain that I haven't. One thing I do know is that God got me through this once and he'll do it again. OH the trucks just pulled up.. Gotta go. Pray for us.. and if you don't hear from me for a while, don't worry too much - last year they unhooked the computer and packed it up on the very first day.. boo! lets hope they don't do that again.
Love,

"the crawler"

Yesterday after coming home from running a couple of errands, I was on the phone with my mom and unloading bags & car seat carrier etc etc.. Audrey ran (her transportation method of choice lately) into the living room to play and came running right back into the kitchen yelling "THE CRAWLER! THE CRAWLER!" over and over again.. Ah HA! I was afraid I knew just what she was talking about - You see, last Sunday Charles brought Audrey to church with him and I stayed home with Will. As I was nursing in the living room a mouse ran across the room and underneath the couch I was sitting on.. OH MY GOODNESS! was that a sight to see - I probably could have won $100,000 on funniest home video but there would have been some blurring to do since I was .. well, you get the picture. I was horrified and called Charles immediately to stop at Wal Mart on his way home and get some traps. He set about five up underneath the armoire and the couch to be safe - I desperately wanted that mouse caught because I knew he was going to be out of town this week... and didn't want to deal with that problem on my own.

I was kind of nervous when he left early Monday morning since we weren't successful on our mouse hunt... would I see the little critter again? or even worse, would I have to deal with a successful trap?? UGH!

To make a long story longer, I immediately knew what Audrey had seen Thursday morning.. a "crawler" was really a mouse.. When she came into the room I guess she scared it, it got stuck to a sticky pad thing and slid out into the open. Now what do I do with it?! I surely wasn't going to touch it.

Ah Ha! my retired neighbor was walking his dog in front of our house so I flagged him over to help with our little emergency... WRONG neighbor to ask.. you see, this neighbor is Mr. Vegan, animal rights activist, all organic, grow my own food kind of guy. He wasn't thrilled that we set an "inhumane" trap up as he said... but I just wanted the thing OUT!

the neighbor asked me to collect a pair of gloves, a basket and a razor blade... I was like, Huh?! all I wanted him to do was to throw the sticky pad, mouse attached in the dumpster - what are all these tools for?! He told me that he wanted to save the mouse and set him free. Beyond surprised I told him that was fine, as long as it was FAR away from my house!! :) He then spent a total of 30 minutes scraping the glue off of the bottom of the mouse's feet and was successful at setting him free.. strange, but true.