Friday, December 24, 2010

Blessed...

So much to be grateful for this Christmas season!


we have been a busy bunch since my last posting and I honestly don't have too much time to post about everything, but here's a shot at a summed up version. after finding out about our two little blessings we decided to put our house up for sale and take a leap of faith and purchase a new one that could accommodate these two little beans and our growing family. we were scheduled to close on the new house on december 13th and with many prayers we got an offer on our old house exactly one week before! it was truly amazing that it sold so quickly and that we were saved from the grief and stress of trying to sell a house and possibly taking on two mortgages in the new year. we truly believe that someone was looking over us through this whole process; and although we are sad to leave the house that we moved into two weeks after our honeymoon, the one that started our family, our first "home," we are excited to embark on this new chapter ahead. i have yet to get a picture of the new house because the last two weeks have been crazy hectic, but in the process of moving we were able to get up what we call our "charlie brown christmas tree" (let's just say the options are pretty slim the weekend before christmas)!




in the midst of all of this we had david's first christmas program for grace preschool. we couldn't be prouder of our little man and his musical talents. he did so well that it brought mommy to tears (I literally could not stop crying and I attribute some of this to double the hormones). he was not shy at all; he sang and participated in every song that they did. i was impressed with the show that his music teachers put together. how they got a group of two and a half year olds to stand up on stage, dance and do gestures to christmas songs beats the heck out of me but it was probably one of the cutest things I have ever seen. seeing the the look on my sweet boys face when he figured out mommy and daddy were there to watch was priceless!









we were also blessed to have some christmas visitors throughout all of this chaos. dave's parents have moved back to the states and came down to see us for a few days before christmas. it was so nice to spend some time catching up with them and to have them around to help out with things accompanying the move. we are excited that they are only a quick plane ride away from seeing us (and viceversa, however I don't know how much traveling we will be doing with three kiddos). thank y'all for coming to see us and baring with us throughout all of the mess!



we are officially on our "twin vacation." we had our last visit at 13.5 weeks and both babies are doing great and growing perfectly; as is my belly! goodness...this thing is out of control! i am almost 16 weeks, but I think I look about 20+ weeks pregnant. from what I read it is common to measure 4-6 weeks ahead with twins, which seems about right by the looks of things. we have our next visit on january 3rd; we will get some measurements then and hopefully hear both heart beats. we are scheduled for the big anatomy scan on january 26th, so stay tuned!


Baby A, 13 weeks 3days





Baby B, 13 weeks 3 days


so i cannot say we are officially settled at this point, but we are currently in round rock visiting my family for the christmas holiday and enjoying a nice break away from the chaos in houston. christmas shopping is complete and we are looking forward to celebrating the holiday with those we love. we want to wish our friends and family a merry christmas; we hope each and everyone of you are as blessed as we have been this past year!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

"hi santa"

So we managed to get through our sitting with Santa this year without shedding a single tear! We are so proud of our big boy. I think the fact that Santa was handing out suckers to all the kids helped a bit, but like everything else...whatever it takes, right?!?!

Friday, November 26, 2010

TWO more things to be thankful for this holiday season....

Baby A- 11 weeks, 1 day 4.7 cm


Baby B- 11 weeks, 1 day 4.6 cm



David is going to be a big brother and it looks like he will be gaining more than one playmate in the process!! We were completely thrown off guard when we went in for our first ultrasound at 7 weeks and my doctor told us "two for one!" Dave's response "you got to be kidding"; mine "how did this happen?" Needless to say we have been in complete shock since and are still amazed how this came about (apparently it runs on Dave's side of the family, but evidence is uncertain to whether or not the male can influence multiple births). Three ultrasounds later, we are coming to terms with the whole idea and excited about our new family of 5! The babies are growing exceptionally well, as our doctor says "perfect, couldn't get anymore textbook" and are making mommy pay for it in the process. I should have known something was different when every symptom in the book kicked in at 5 weeks! It is gradually getting better as I approach that 12 week mark this week, but I am afraid that it probably will not last long considering this belly that has suddenly popped over the past few days. We are currently seeing my OB every two weeks, which means we get to see these little beans quite often! If everything looks good at our next appointment we will get what they call the "twin vacation" and will have a month off before we start back on a two week schedule with our OB and a specialist. We look forward to keeping you all updated throughout this crazy journey! Please keep us and these two little blessings in your thoughts and prayers in the mean time.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

doughnuts with dad


These pictures were taken by David's teachers at school on Doughnuts with Dad day a few weeks back. David really enjoyed taking daddy to school, just a much as he enjoyed the doughnuts (maybe more). It is safe to report that we are finally past the initial shock of life without mommy two days a week. Tears are rarely shed and mommy is not getting phone calls during the day, whew! We had our teacher conference last week and his teacher said that he is doing great! His favorite part of school is when they go to music class on Wednesdays (which comes as no surprise to us) and he loves running races on the play ground. It is amazing to see the changes that have occurred just from a few months of MDO. He is socializing with kids more, which is huge for him although he prefers older children. He recites things from school and is getting very good at following directions, especially when mommy tells him to pick up his toys...yeah!!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

"trick-or-treat"

David had a blast this year on Halloween! Again, we were a little worried that he would not be interested in wearing his costume (which he picked out all on his own), but he wore it like a champ and caught on very quickly to the whole routine. He was a little hesitant at the first few houses, but then it was game on. All we heard the rest of the evening was "next house" and "more candy!" It's all he has been talking about since; well that and the scary house with bones and scary noises, haha! Definitely an unforgettable experience-Halloween through a two and a half year old's eyes. We look forward to so many more!








Monday, October 25, 2010

Dewberry Farm

We super sized our annual pumpkin patch trip by adventuring out to dewberry farms. Our friends Katie, Mike and their daughter Lachlann joined us again this year to continue the tradition. I will have to say dewberry farms was definitely a step up from the place we visited last year! If you live in Houston and have not been it is worth the trip. We all had a great time, however the only thing that could have made our day better was some cooler weather!








Little Farmersville


Fort Dew Hickey



Rubber Ducky Races




Such a cute picture minus the nasty rotten pumpkin next to David!

It was a tough day for getting the little man to smile for the camera. He was exhausted within in the first 20 minutes, so we struggled a bit. Still, it was a great step up in our annual tradition!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Blood, Sweat and Tears

Is what our first few weeks of preschool have been like, minus the blood (at least for now)! Poor little guy is not adjusting to change very well. I knew this was not going to be easy, but never expected it to be this hard. We have yet to make it through a full day without any tears. I have been called twice by both preschool directors; First phone call led to me picking him up two hours early because he would not stop screaming and was having difficulty regrouping and settling down before nap. The second phone call led to some private negotiations between me and the little man over the phone...."David you go night-night on your nap mat and when you wake up mommy will be there to pick you up and we will go get ice cream." Needless to say that did the trick and it has become a reoccurring event everyday after school...thank goodness for berripop! His note this week said that he struggled coming in from the playground and the directors had to come help out (mommy interpretation- he threw a horrible blown out fit). Lets just say that we are all now on a first name basis at Grace Preschool! I just keep praying that this will get easier and that he will learn to love school. I know he is upset and misses his mommy, but I also believe that part of him is just trying to test his limits! He is too smart for his own good, which does not make many things in our life easy these days. The picture below is before his MadHatter Party at school; all the kids in his class got to wear hats for a day. He specifically picked out his Mickey visor and as his mommy I have to say he looked so handsome sporting it! Let's keep our fingers crossed that next month is easier...on both of us!






Thursday, September 9, 2010

First Day of School


Yesterday was David's first day of MDO. He is in the 2 year old class at our church and goes Monday and Wednesday. Unfortunately there were tears shed on both sides (I think I cried the better half of the morning). Thank goodness daddy was there to get us through it all. David's teacher said he did well with an occasional meltdown here and there. I was really worried he would loose it around nap time, but apparently he was one of the better ones. They said he struggled going down and got upset because of the other kids crying, but he did finally go to sleep. He was exhausted when I picked him up! His teachers report said;
"David had a GREAT day!! He really enjoyed playing with
friends and doing the numbers puzzle. He did so good showing me the numbers and
telling me what they were! David also enjoyed playing with a foam football!
Today was a great 1st day!"
So, based on that and the feedback they gave me I guess I can assume it went okay. My how I would love to be a fly on the wall to see what actually goes on, haha! The only thing he said when asked what he did at school today was "got diaper changed." Sounds eventful! Round two on Monday...we'll see how we do without daddy there.

Here he is supporting his back pack for almost a full minute. We were lucky to even get this picture because he does not want anything to do with it!




Running to his classroom.



Debating on whether or not he should go in.....



We can do this; piece of cake.




Maybe not....saying bye-bye. Thank goodness daddy didn't get a picture of us both in tears!

Friday, September 3, 2010

future longhorn in the making....

I cannot tell you how excited we are about football being back on the television; especially longhorn football! We are looking forward to an exciting new season and the little man is ready! We have not decided whether or not we will attempt to take him to his first game this year. I've been looking at tickets and you cannot find one that is less than $85.00; which is a lot of cash to shell out for a two and a half year old that may not even make it through the first quarter! It's tough though because I really think he would enjoy the band and the whole atmosphere of it all. We'll see...in the mean time we are preparing him to continue the longhorn legacy!! Please excuse my singing; I seemed to have forgotten that I was trying to get a video for the blog, heehee! The funny part about it is that he got mad because I did not sing the entire song and I know y'all don't want to be subjected to that! Hook 'em Horns!!!


Thursday, August 26, 2010

Two Year Old Tidbits


Gee....I have been a bad blogger this month! I am going to have to blame pure exhaustion and glee re-runs for that! Our crazy, insanely busy weekends have not helped either; I think we have been to 4 birthday parties already this month. Oh, and maybe that little teeny tiny factor of having an almost 2 1/2 year old who is non stop is contributing to all of the above...maybe just a little bit!

I figured it has been quite some time since I have documented what our little man has been up to; so here we go.....

He is obsessed, and I mean OBSESSED with his letters, numbers and shapes. That is all he talks about all day long. Don't get me wrong we are so proud that he is so knowledgeable in these areas, but the constant need for confirmation and reaffirmation makes for a long day!

He LOVES puzzles, especially the ones that involve the previous note.

Shapes have been the new addition this month. He knows the following; circle, square, rectangle, star, diamond, pentagon, hexagon, and octagon. He counts and knows how many sides each one has; except the circle he has not grasped that it does not have sides.

His favorite food is "chips and spicy" aka chips and Julios HOT salsa. He would eat it at every meal if I let him and he thinks its cool when he gets a really spicy bite. Crazy, I know but the way I think about it is at least he is getting some of his daily requirements of fruits and vegetables out of it.

He has successfully made it through 4 consecutive Sunday school classes without having mommy and daddy paged out of church!
He has been going poo-poo in the potty almost everyday over the last two weeks, but will not go pee-pee. Which I find weird because I hear it is usually the opposite!

He is a picky eater. He won't even try new things. I am stressing over what to put in his lunch box next week for his first day of MDO because he won't even try a bite of a sandwich or peanut butter crackers.

At dinner when Daddy asks him what we did today he will respond with the big events of the day or the ones worth remembering such as snow cones, swimming, a friends house, ice cream, etc.


He says "that's funny" when he finds something we or he does humorous, "thank you so much," "I want ____" which is usually followed by us saying "you need to ask nicely" and then we get "pleeeaaase!"

I caught him singing along to B.o.B's Magic song this week in the car. (Don't ask, because I don't know! It was playing on XM20). I downloaded it to show Dave and apparently we now have to listen to it everyday!

He is a silly, sweet, stubborn almost two and a half year old and we love him so much!!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

pee-pee in the POTTY!!!




Ok, so it really is the little things in life that get you so excited; but seriously this is a BIG deal!! We have been reading books, watching movies, talking about the business, etc. since before he was even two and the kid has shown no interest. His potty has been in hiding since January because it became a play toy instead of functioning as what it was intended for. Our pediatrician said to wait until mid-later summer to start pushing it a little more; so we honestly have not been in that big of a hurry. About a month ago I was at Babies R Us and purchased an Elmo potty seat that attaches to the regular toilet in David's bathroom. Again, he liked that Elmo was on it but showed no interest in wanting to use it. I left it there to collect dust until mid-last week when David was talking about pee-pee in the potty a little more (I think it's because we had Elmo's Potty Time playing in the car that day). We decided to start sitting him on the potty every night before bath time to see if he would do anything. We would run the sink water, tub water, even pour water on him and nothing! Daddy embraced a little milestone on Friday evening when after having him on the toilet seat with no results for 5 minutes he placed David in the bath tub and heard him say "pee-pee in the potty" while beginning to tee-tee in the tub. He preceded to pull David out of the tub and onto the Elmo potty. By the time mommy got up there to celebrate David was just sitting on the potty like usual and there was barely any (if none) "pee-pee" in the potty. Daddy claims it must of all ended up on the floor and toilet seat, but whatever we celebrated he got M&Ms and a sticker and we moved on to several nights with no results. This morning while finishing up breakfast David's face started turning red like it usually does when he needs to use the restroom; um hum you know where I am going with this! I figured I might as well ask him if he wanted to do it in the potty and got an "okay" as a response. We quickly ran upstairs, undressed and went straight to the potty. He sat....and sat...and then said "pee-pee" I looked down and he was actually going pee-pee in the potty! I was completely shocked that I started screaming and jumping up and down! David of course thought it was the greatest thing! When he finished he said to me "mommy, I go pee-pee in the potty again!" He was so excited that he wanted to do it again! I couldn't be prouder; I have been very nervous about potty training and this was a huge milestone/start to a long road ahead......yay David!!




(FYI...the picture above is not from today's events. It was taken a week ago before bath time when David would not do anything!)






Thursday, July 22, 2010

Painting with Blueberries

That's right! Did you know that July is National Blueberry Month??? Neither did I, but hey it was a great excuse to try a new craft out with the kiddos. We had David's friend Lachlann over the other day to attempt painting with blueberries. If you notice I use the word "attempt". That is because that is exactly what it was, a bad attempt! David was frustrated because he wanted to paint with his paints NOT the blueberries. He let me dunk his hand in and humored me for a little while as he flopped mushed blueberry juice on his poster board. He then was "over" it and wanted it off of his hands immediately. Lachlann hated the whole idea! She was so upset about the thought of getting her hands dirty; typical girly-girl! She sat there stirring the mixture and occasionally flinging whole blueberries onto her poster board, but when her mommy took the plunge and forced her hand into the bowl she got sooooo upset and started crying! Quite the experience let me tell you and I will not even bother posting the directions on here because I wouldn't recommend doing it! The best part of it all was after they were done creating their masterpieces Katie and I looked at each other in disgust because while admiring their artwork we soon realized it might start to smell and mold! We decided we would save them to show off to the daddies and then throw them out; well David's is still in the kitchen but I plan on tending to that shortly!





Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Swim Lessons

We started our first round of swim lessons a few weeks ago; we are actually on our last week that's how behind I am! We decided to partner up with one of David's buddies to do semiprivate lessons at the YMCA. It was originally set for 30 minute lessons with both boys in the water at the same time with one instructor, but we learned quickly that was not going to work out. Think about it....2 two year olds in the pool, both with stranger anxiety, screaming and crying. It was a mess! We decided we would split the lessons up 15 minutes per child with the instructor and with a little M&M bribery it has worked for the last 2 1/2 weeks. Out of a total of 10 lessons David screamed through 5 of them, and as a mother it was difficult to sit back and watch. The funny thing about it was while he was screaming and crying he was doing exactly what the instructor was telling him to do and learned quite a bit! Must be a natural.


Here are a few snapshots of our swimming lesson adventure Summer 2010. Mommy got the whistle blown at her because apparently no cameras are allowed in the pool area...oops!!








Thursday, June 24, 2010

goodbye twenties....hello thirties

So, I am officially thirty and it isn't so bad!

Although Napa was our big birthday celebration; my amazing husband went above and beyond to make this particular birthday unforgettable. The festivities began Thursday evening with a surprise party at our favorite Mexican restaurant here in Katy. All of the mommies and kiddos from our play group and close friends who live out in Katy were there! I was completely shocked and amazed that he even pulled it off without me knowing. David loves birthdays and was so excited to help mommy blow out her candles.









On Saturday the hubby planned a dinner out at the Oasis in Austin with some close friends and family. We enjoyed the view, food and drinks. We picked the Oasis for several reasons, but the biggest was it being kid friendly. After dinner we took David up to the dance hall to see the live band. He is obsessed with guitars and music, so we just knew seeing it live for the first time would make his evening! He loved it; we even got to see some new dance moves on the dance floor!










I wanted to thank all my friends and family who made this birthday so special. I am truly blessed to have you all in my life; especially my husband Dave! I love you honey!!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Family Beach Session

Check out the previews from our family beach session here;
Amanda Green Photography

I am very pleased how these turned out considering the fact that all three of us were sweating profusely 10 minutes into the session. Whew was it hot! Note to self....plan a beach session before we get the Texas summer heat wave.

Thanks Amanda for doing an awesome job; we cannot wait to see the rest!

Friday, June 4, 2010

San Francisco

After our wonderful time in Napa we drove through Sonoma, across the Golden Gate Bridge into freezing cold San Francisco! I believe the high was 52 degrees, which was a nice break from the 93 degree heat we have been facing in Houston but still a tad chilly. We met up with our friends Melanie and Travis, who flew up there to spend some time with us and celebrate; thanks y'all. Here are some of the pictures from our visit to San Francisco enjoying the sites, food and the company!










Alcatraz








Irish Coffees at the Buena Vista



Lombard Street


On Friday evening we headed out to dinner at a restaurant in the Marina district called A16. When leaving the hotel we called for a cab and actually got a limo!?!?! I don't think I have been in a limo since middle school; classic! The restaurant was super cute and we actual had a famous run in with Michael Keaton...batman! We wanted to ask for a picture/autograph but he was leaving the restaurant alone and we figured he probably did not want to be bothered. It was a good celebrity sighting though!




On Saturday evening we dined at an authentic Chinese restaurant in china town. It was quite the experience. Very interesting.....