Good Fences...

...Make good neighbors.  And, that would make us, umm, bad neighbors.  Our house turned 15 this year, and our fence is also that ripe old age.  And, in typical teenager style, our fence has been rebelling and causing all sorts of trouble.  In fact, last fall, one whole section threw a massive hissy fit and just plum fell over!  Poor John!  In the midst of trying to work on the girls' room and the guest room, as well as keep his preggie wife happy, he had to rig the fence to stay up.  Fortunately for us, this neighbor is practically family.  She did not mind the franken-fence.  Well, we finally got our acts together, and John and his dad began the process of helping us become good neighbors again.

Notice Penny in the background.  She is, of course, enjoying 'mega-yard'!  In fact, earlier this week, the girls and I went out to run some errands.  When I came back home, there was a message for me from Auntie Linda informing me that she and Penny were chilling out in her house.  Hah!  I think Linda may actually prefer for us to leave the fence down!  

Cora, naturally, wanted to be outside in all the hubbub.  Yiayia came up with the idea of letting her play in the water hose.  Y'all, that simple little activity would keep her occupied for an hour at a time!  Suh-weet!  When she started to get a little restless with just the hose, we gave her a big cup.  Ahh, to be young again!

Notice anything exciting in these pictures?  No swim diaper!!  That's right, folks, we are almost potty trained. She has one function down, and we are diligently working to get the other function under control.  But, for the past 2 (yes 2!!) weeks, she has been wearing big girl p@nties during the day with only a small handful of accidents.  Hallelujah!  

Carys, who also loves to be outside, snuggled with Yiayia and made cute faces like this:

And, this:

And, of course, this:

I could just pinch her!  (But, I won't!)

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

So, Carys wasn't really diggin' the rice cereal.  (Cannot imagine why!)  I had been reading up on homemade baby food, and most of the experts were suggesting that you don't have to start with cereal or even introduce it at all.  Fine by me!  We moved on to bananas.  As much as I had to coax Carys to eat the cereal, the opposite was true for the bananas.  She would actually reach for my hand to pull the spoon in her mouth!

Look at her little hand grasping mine!

Good stuff!

Next: sweet potatoes.

Thirty-Six

John, you're 36.  What's new?

Your knees are a little creakier.

Your hair is a little grayer.

You've learned to build a fence.  You got to use heavy equipment (2-man auger)  in the process!

You're now wrapped around 2 little girls' fingers!

Your wife is as gorgeous as ever! ;-)

Life is good!

John's birthday was Wednesday, and Cora was super excited to celebrate.  (Mostly because she now knows that birthdays involve birthday cake!)  We made Daddy a special meal, and his favorite cake.

(It appears that these may actually be some of the worst pictures I have ever taken!  Yeesh!  But, you get the idea!)

Instead of putting 36 candles on the cake, we decided on a group of three and a group of 6.  36 candles is a lot for one small cake!  

After cake, John got to open his presents.  The girls gave him a Superman t-shirt (cuz he's their superman, of course!)  And, I got him a Captain America tee since he's my American hero!

Happy birthday, John! I love you best of all!

Five

Carys, you're five months old today.  What's new?

I'm not sure your exact weight and height, but you have for the most part grown out of your 0-3 month clothes.  You can still wear clothes marked 3 months, but we're having fun dressing you in your 6 month summer wardrobe.

You have started going to the nursery at church where you have been charming all the workers.  Every week we get a report about how happy you have been.  You love people (and attention!)

We started you on rice cereal today.  I love your happy, smiley, charming self, but momma's tired!  You still wake up 2 to 5 times a night.  I'm hoping the cereal will help, but if it doesn't, I still wouldn't trade you for all the uninterrupted sleep in the world!

I think your face says it all!  I tasted that stuff.  It is not fine dining by any means!

You have learned to pass a toy from hand to hand.  (You have also learned to take the paci out of your mouth with your little hands.  But, much to my dismay, you have not learned to put it back in!!)

You can sit unsupported for a tiny while.  You soon tip forward, but you do manage to stay somewhat upright.  You love to do 'squats.'  I will hold you under your arms and you will use your strong legs to push your body from a squat to fully upright.  It appears that I have another athletic baby!

Every day I recount how blessed I am to be the mother of such a beautiful, healthy girl!

And, She Chooses to Play With Sticks

I have mentioned before my dismay at Cora's choice of toys.  It's not that I don't appreciate her active imagination.  Maybe it's that I wonder why I keep falling into the trap of buying her new toys.  Yiayia and Dado recently bought her some toys that she could keep outside.  (I was informed by one of Cora's older friends that her backyard was "way funner" than ours.  Apparently, a trike, a wagon, and some sad patio furniture do not a playground make!)  So, Yiayia and Dado graciously added golf clubs and a bowling set to our sad little play area.  And, she chooses to play with sticks...

(At least she loves them enough to name them!)

It's Been A While

So, it's been a while since I've posted.  This is mainly due to the fact that we are dwelling in the seventh circle of potty training hell.  I'd like to assume that we're already in the lowest of the low ninth circle, but I have this strange and sinking feeling that we haven't reached rock bottom just yet. sigh  And, really, I doubt that the internet universe really wants to know the details of my personal purgatory.  We have seen progress, though.  And, this progress, however small it may be, is the one thing keeping me clinging to a few small shreds of my sanity.  Anywho...I definitely wanted to share this little nugget of the bffs.

(Naturally, by the time we had the camera out and ready, the laughter wasn't nearly as enthusiastic.  But, it's still pretty darn cute!)

I cannot emphasize enough what a great big sister Cora is.  She cannot get enough of Carys.  In fact, earlier tonight, I told her she had to take a bath before she could hold Carys, and the poor thing burst into tears!  Cora loves her Sissy!  And, Carys can't get enough of Sister!

Mother's Day

Carys Anne - May 8, 2011

I am not unlike most little girls.  When I was young, I dearly wanted to become a mother.  I wanted to become a teacher also, but if God would have only granted me one of those dreams, I would have happily forgone my professional career in favor of having a family of my own.  Sometimes it seems surreal to me that I have any children, much less two happy healthy little girls.  Although I know I could never prove myself worthy of two such precious gifts, I am humbly in awe and unabashed in my thankfulness to God that for the rest of their lives, I will be their mommy.

This Mother's Day was especially meaningful to me because this morning Carys was dedicated at our church.  For those of you unfamiliar with this tradition, it is somewhat similar to an infant baptism.  We brought Carys before our congregation  and pledged to do our best to raise her to be a Godly and God-fearing woman.  Our deepest and dearest desire as parents is that our girls will come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  This ceremony signified that John and I will do all that is within our power to raise Carys to know the Lord.  (We had a similar ceremony for Cora almost three years ago.)

Brother Danny's message this morning was about mothers and grandmothers, and he shared testimony from his life about how his mother raised him to be the man that he is today.  I felt like his message was a call to arms of sorts for me personally.  A child's relationship with her mother has such a huge effect on the person she becomes.  I know that I would not be the wife and mother that I am had I not been taught to be so by my mother.  And, conversely, John would not seek to be the caring provider that he is had he not been nurtured by his mother.  I can only pray that my imperfect example will still lead Cora and Carys to not only be Godly wives and mothers, but to seek out good and Godly husbands.  

Thank you Mema for your patience and persistence with your stubborn and hard-headed little girl.

And, thank you Yiayia for helping John to become a man of honor and integrity.

We are blessed by who you have been to us and by who you will be for our girls!

The Spirit of the Law

Sometimes it's scary how much Cora is like me.  Girlfriend loves her sleep!  She still requires 10 to 12 hours of sleep at night and takes a 2+ hour nap every day.  There are days where little missy will come and ask me to put her down for her nap.  (Oh, how I dread when this phase is over!!)  Most days, she doesn't actually go to sleep right away.  She will play or read her books until sleep takes over.  The rule in our house (as mentioned before on ye olde blog) is that she can play as long as she wants IF she stays on the bed.  Clearly, Cora has a loose interpretation of that rule.  The other night, I had to go back into her bedroom not two minutes after we put her to bed to retrieve some jammies for the wee babe.  She looked like a deer in the headlights when I opened the door to find her dancing on the rug by the crib.  I believe her exact words were "Oh! Hi, momma?"  Needless to say, I was not exactly surprised to find her not exactly on the bed the other day during nap time.  I was, however, surprised to find the manner in which she was not exactly on the bed.

Notice the method to her madness.  She used her legs to push the bed away from the wall.  Then, she got her toys and played in the new space she created.  Not exactly on the bed, but not exactly off it either!  I waited until she was asleep to take the incriminating photos.  I guess if she decides a career in paleontology is not for her, she can always pursue a career as a judge!

Wordless Wednesday

Somebody...

Learned how to roll over last week!

Yup!  When I put Cora down for her nap the other day, I came back to the living room to find that Carys was on her tummy.  And, I say to you, she was none to happy about it!  Yet, after I roll her back over on her back, what does bebecita do?  You got it! She rolls herself right back over to her tummy!  Silly girl!  I guess she also doesn't realize that this means her days of swaddling are rapidly coming to an end.  We'll see how that goes come bedtime!!

Four

Carys, you're four months old.  What's new?

You weigh 13 pounds, 6 oz (50th percentile)
Your height is 23 1/2 inches (20th percentile)

(I would describe your figure as a bit buddha-esque, hee hee hee!)

You love to stand up.  You will take hold of our fingers and use your abs (and a little of our assistance) to pull yourself up to a standing position.

You are trying very hard to sit up on your own.  You will hold yourself upright for a few minutes in the boppy.

You are also trying very hard to roll over.  You have almost made it from back to front as well as from front to back, but your pesky old arm keeps getting in the way!

You love to hold your toys (even though you're not quite sure what to do with them when you have them)

She's pretty pumped about her new skill.

You love to talk and  laugh.  We're anxious for cold and flu season to be over so you can go with your baby friends in the church nursery.  You keep getting us in trouble by vocalizing your agreement with the preacher.  (Though we wouldn't have it any other way!)

You are quite the social butterfly.  You will coo and smile at anyone who pays you attention.  You love to be around people.

You just light up my life baby girl!  I sure do love you!

Easter Playdate

This past week I hosted an Easter playdate for some of Cora's friends.  This was my first time hosting a kid party.  (I know, I know.  I have an almost 3 year old. . .it was about time for me to jump into the kid party pool!)  I'll be honest; I was so nervous, y'all!  After one of Carys' early morning feedings, I lay awake just going over the details.  Apparently, the teacher in me refuses to die!  My thoughts swirled around the order of events, transitions, timing, etc.   It was like I was working on one giant lesson plan all night!  Fortunately, the event came and went with only a few minor hitches.  (And, it totally would have gone great without me laying awake worrying/planning all night, sigh...)

Naturally, Cora started off the party like this:

Eliana's Hattie wanted to do something fun for all the kids.  So, she brought everyone a big mylar balloon.  Apparently, mylar balloons are akin to the boogie man in Cora currency.  Oy!  Who knew?!  

Nevertheless, we plowed through.  I read a preschool friendly book of the true Easter story.  And, then, we headed to (the safety of) the backyard where there were no balloons to strike fear in the hearts of small children!  (At least I know I can save money on balloons at her birthday party!)  

The actual Easter egg hunt was really fun.  The two older kids knew what to do and needed no assistance.  

Skylar on the prowl.

Aniketh scoring some Easter loot.

Everyone else had an adult filming/assisting the process.

Julie filming Aiden.  

Yvette filming Lily.

Susy filming Eliana.

Auntie Linda helping Cora.  (I was filming her, naturally!)

(Talk about the mamarazzi!)

My wonderful friend, Smitha, held Carys while I was busy being a shutterbug.  (It is clear to me in this picture that baby girl needs some sun.  She's practically translucent!)

Then, it was group picture time.  That was an adventure!  Here are the outtakes.

This is the best one as far as I could tell.  Or, at least it is the one where you can see pretty much everyone's face!  I have come to realize that trying to take a picture of a group of preschoolers is much like trying to herd cats.  Can I get an amen?!

After some snacks, we introduced Carys to her new boyfriend, wink!  Don't tell Carys' dad.  This is Skyler's brother, Cooper.  He is about a month younger than Carys.  He really didn't seem that interested in her, but I'm sure he's just playing hard to get.  What a cutie!

Right before the party ended, Susy offered to take some pictures of me.  You guys know how it is, right? Once you have kids, the pictures you have of yourself are few and far between.

Sweet Skylar was making me laugh.  She REALLY wanted to be in the picture.  

I'm so thankful for all of our friends who came to play!  And, I'm even more thankful for a Lord and Savior who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - 

even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:6-11

Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti!

In the Nature vs. Nurture Debate

I'm leaning toward nature!

Carys Anne 4 months

Me approximately 8 months

It's Not Summer Until

You run through the sprinklers in just your skivvies.

(No, not me!)

(I realize that it's not really summer as far as the calendar is concerned, but in this part of Texas, summer starts around mid-March!)

Y'all, I have discovered the joys of a child who can entertain herself!  Lately, it has been beautiful outside.  So, I've been able to open up the back door and let Cora out to experience the freedom that a completely fenced in backyard can provide!  This is a lovely little arrangement until our sprinkler system decides to turn on. . .but, what is childhood if it is not running through the sprinklers in the summer?  Naturally, (pun intended) we just strip ourselves down and enjoy the fun!

Happy summer, y'all!