And we have a big boy!

As of Christmas Eve, we have a potty user in training. We aren't ready to break out the big boy underwear anytime soon, we're just letting him use it before bed and a few times during the day. He loves the attention and praise when he does use it though. And just for the sake of I'm his mom and taking embarassing pictures is a rite of passage, I leave you with this...

Hey, we'll work on early reading skills and kill two birds with one stone ;)

Merry Christmas!

This was our first Christmas with 2 children and we made some great memories and traditions that I hope will continue for many, many years. I am all about traditions and holidays, so this time of year is amazing! Some of the traditions we have started so far with our kids are...

~a pizza Happy Birthday Jesus party on Christmas Eve. What a fun way to teach our kids the true meaning of Christmas and take some of the emphasis off of presents. And any excuse to eat pizza and cake in the playroom is a winner ;)

~Daddy reading the Christmas story to the family on Christmas Eve, after our birthday party.

~opening one gift on Christmas Eve. Last year- pajamas, this year- board book Christmas story.

~Christmas morning biscuits. Nana's recipe, cut out with Christmas cookie cutters. Porter even ate one! (food has been quite a battle around here lately, so that was a definite success)

 

 

(singing Happy Birthday to Jesus)

(opening his Christmas Eve gift)

(Christmas Eve. Freshly bathed, snuggly babies)

(Listening to the Christmas story)

(Christmas morning biscuits)

 

 

Christmas morning was extra special because we were able to spend time with both kids one at a time. Savannah woke up at 6:30 ready to see what Santa brought her (and hoping it was milk ;) so we were able to feed her and snuggle her before putting her back down for a nap.

 

 

Porter slept until closer to 8:30 (which was driving me crazy...of all mornings to sleep in?! I was dying to play with him!) and got up (not as happily as his sister, I might add) ready for breakfast before he would even think about opening presents. He walked right by his presents on his way to the kitchen.

 

 

After some delicious breakfast, he was ready to go! He didn't get quite as into opening presents as I thought he would this year. He was FAR more worried in stacking the presents in size order (teacher's child, anyone?) and putting the wrapping paper back into his stocking as he opened things...

 

 

 

He did find a favorite present though, and I think he had a great morning. Being able to spend Christmas morning at home with our babies is something I'll never take for granted. Each holiday will be special in its own way, but this is one for the books!

 











Thankful

Tonight, in the aftermath of an unthinkable tragedy, I will hug my babies a little closer, kiss them a little longer, and pray an extra prayer of thankfulness over them. I cannot even begin to imagine the heartache and pain that so many parents and families must feel after finding out that they won't be able to do the same thing tonight because of the evil and wicked act that someone has committed. Our only hope is that the end times are coming and our Lord is coming back for us. Until then, Christians need to be spreading the message loud and clear and loving on our families like there is no tomorrow. Thank you Lord for one more day to love on my sweet babies!

Happy 1 month baby girl

Somehow the first month of our tiny girl's life has already flown by. So many exciting, new things have happened in this last month so it's hard to know where to start with the recaps. This little angel has come into our lives and fit in so beautifully that life before her feels like a distant memory. She and Porter are already the best of friends and their relationship is just the sweetest thing! He adores her beyond belief and she is highly amused by all of his antics already. (side note: this kid is quickly learning to sleep through anything and everything. Quite a useful skill when you have a big brother that thinks the louder something is, the better!) She is just the sweetest, most precious, angelic little girl I could have possibly imagined. I truly believe that the Lord fashioned every part of her sweet little personality to fit into our family just perfectly. If you haven't gotten the picture yet, all 3 of us are quite smitten with her ;)

Savannah Joy, at 1 month you...
~are super close to sleeping through the night. You go to bed around 10:00, wake up about 4:30ish for around 45 minutes, and sleep until 7:00. (I think you're trying to convince Daddy that #3 is feasible ;)
~still sleep the majority of the day. Your 2 long awake periods are in the morning and right before bedtime. You stay awake for about 2 hours both of those times.
~seem to be able to sleep through just about anything, which is amazing because keeping your big brother quite is no easy task! (You even slept through your own baby dedication and first church service this morning, which was not exactly quiet!)
~have been nicknamed quite a few (some a little more interesting than others) names by your loving brother: baby girl, baby sissy, baby, my baby, anna, and our personal favorite... cookie. Yes, he calls her cookie. Only every now and then, but it's quite hilarious!
~are a champ at going back and forth between nursing and taking pumped milk from bottles, which makes feeding you on the go (as in chasing your brother around the house) much easier! When you have bottles, you take about 4 oz. You eat every 3 hours (almost on the dot!) during the day and can go quite a bit longer at night.
~still love sleeping in the Nap Nanny! I think the elevation makes you feel more cozy. We take that thing into whatever room we're in because you love it so much. (The only time you've gotten upset in it was when Porter tried to get in it and go night night with you. Don't worry, I saved you!) You even sleep in it at night, hey whatever works!
~love, love, love to snuggle. You fall asleep almost instantly when mommy or daddy snuggle you close to us after you've just eaten. (And you'd better believe I'm soakin' up every one of those snuggles before you outgrow the snuggly, still phase!)
~have a love/hate relationship with your paci. Sometimes you absolutely cannot fall asleep without it and other times you act like it's choking you to death. (Yes, I do believe we have a bit of a drama queen on our hands!)
~have rightfully earned your middle name. You are such a joyful, sweet baby girl! You are proving to be quite a bit less challenging than your brother at this stage. (Anyone who tried to ride in the car with us for the first 11 months of Porter's life would attest to this truth. Don't get me wrong, we love our boy to pieces, I'm just sayin'...) You have brought so much joy and happiness to our family already!
~are loved more than you could possibly ever realize! We have no doubt that you were fearfully and wonderfully made just for our little family. Daddy and I thank God for you and your brother every single day!

Happy 1 month birthday sweet Savannah Joy!

Oh Christmas tree

One of my favorite things about having a toddler is being able to see the world through their little, curious eyes. Things that I might overlook are so fun and so new in his little world. This morning, when he came down the stairs to see the Christmas tree all decorated and lit up was one of those times. So cute!!! He ooohed and ahhhed for quite some time. I heard WOW, COOL, and AWESOME many, many times. He touched (or more like swatted at) the ornaments near the bottom and spent the majority of the morning staring at it intently from his side of the gate. The rest of the morning was spent carrying around two tiny light-up snowmen that I have never been all that amused by. Again, something I take out of the box every year and never put that much thought into. I thought the newness of the tree would have worn off by after nap time, but wouldn't you know it was just as exciting as this morning. I love this boy and his curious, adventurous little self! What a fun Christmas season we have to look forward to! 

Then there were two

Life with two under two...where to begin. I'll start with an apology ahead of time for any typos or misspelled words, because as I type, I have one adorable, squirmy, sleeping 2.5 week old on my shoulder and one handsome, crazy 20 month old boy crawling all over my legs desperately trying to get to his sissy. Have I mentioned he is obsessed?! No joke! 

When I was pregnant with Savannah, people gave me all sorts of advice and "wisdom" on what life with two young kids would be like. Some was solicited and some was not, another story for another time. But it was one of those things that I knew I would not truly understand until they were both here, together, and in my lap. Well, they are here and both currently in my lap. Life with two is crazy, yet works just perfectly. It is sometimes overwhelming and yet, always more joyful than I could have ever expected. It is wild and loud and silly and happy and chaotic and pretty downright perfect. It's going to have to get a lot crazier or Sean's idea of stopping at two just might be out the window (sorry honey)! Yes, we do go through about 25-30 diapers a day (just ask our poor garbage man!) but thank the Lord for friends and family that blessed us by helping to stock up on such useful things! Two in diapers and cribs at the same time is every bit as adventurous as it sounds ;) I'm just glad no one has had to witness the acrobatic skills necessary to wear one child in a sling on my front while lifting the other child into his crib at nap time. Whew! I wouldn't have it any other way, but boy will I have some good stories for our babies when they grow up (which, by the way, isn't allowed to happen for a long, long time). Until then, I am soaking up every crazy minute of this wonderful life that I have been blessed with! 

**so after the fourth frustrated, unsuccessful attempt to load 
pictures, this post is going up pictureless. So sorry to any visual readers!**

Our darling daughter

While our tiniest babe is asleep on my shoulder, it seems like the perfect time to record some of our favorite things about her right now. Savannah Joy, at 12 days old you:

~sleep remarkably well at night, which we could not be more thankful for. You go to bed around 10:30 and sleep until 7:00 with one hour awake period from 3:00 to 4:00.

~tolerate your brother's noises and kisses very well. You actually seem to enjoy his hugs and kisses very much. He thinks it is very funny when you "kiss" him back. Little does he know that you are just hungry ;)

~are an extremely calm, peaceful baby unless you are hungry, tired of being swaddled, or need to poop. Speaking of poop...you seem to be quite proficient at it! For something so cute, sweet, and dainty you sure do make some loud, smelly diapers, wow!!

~love to snuggle anywhere, anytime. If you have a hard time falling asleep, all we have to do is lay down with you and off you go. So sweet! 

~have the most expressive faces, even in your sleep. We can always tell how you're feeling about something. 

~seem to love riding in the car, which is a welcome change from your brother who cried (screamed, really) on every car ride for the first eleven months of life. Did I just jinx us?!

~ sure do have your dad and brother (and mom too, who are we kidding??) wrapped around your tiny, beautiful finger! 

Boy meets girl

For my entire pregnancy with Savannah, I dreamed about the relationship that our children would have and the things they would love to do together. Well, let me just say that I could have never dreamed anything as sweet as how much Porter loves his Sissy! In his little eyes, she was created just for him. Smitten doesn't even cut it. This boy is utterly obsessed with his little sister. The look on his face the moment he laid eyes on her showed us he knew exactly who she was. He squealed and giggled and laughed and kissed her a bazillion times. My heart melted and I knew that exact moment that any crazy, hectic day we have will be worth every second just because of the love they have for each other. He ran in the hospital room and after the initial excitement set in, he plopped his cute little self down on the couch and told us "Sit sit that baby!" He held her like he had been waiting forever to meet her and I will never forget the way he just stared down at her face like he wanted to learn everything about her. 

I told Sean that after we got her home, the newness would probably fade and he would be on his merry way with his usual routine. Well, she is nine days old and every time he wakes up, she is the first person he asks for. Every few minutes, while playing, he stops to come find her and see if she is sleeping and who has her. He wants to help feed her, burp her, change her, and loves to try and share his snacks with her. I can only guess that she will have her first table food a little earlier than we might prefer ;) All choking hazards aside, I could not be more thankful for our two beautiful, healthy children and the relationship they are already developing. I am one blessed, thankful mama! 

Welcome sweet Savannah

Before my memories get foggy and life catches up with us, I wanted to record the story of how our little princess entered the world. I had prayed for weeks that my labor would begin on its own and that I would not need to be induced. However, the Lord is sovereign and had other plans. I went three weeks at 1 cm dialated and almost fully effaced. Even still, we made it to induction day and the Lord worked many miracles all throughout the day. 

Sean and I arrived at the hospital at 7 am and begun paperwork right away. Shortly after, we met the sweetest nurse I could possibly imagine, Abby. One part of the induction that I was most scared of was the IV. Abby was amazing! She got it on the first try and it was almost painless. Pitocin was started at 8 am and contractions got going almost instantly. The dr recommended that I go ahead and get the epidural before she broke my water, and I am so glad she did! I got my epidural at 9:30 and she came in to break my water at 10. Savannah was still very high and over my right hip, instead of down in my pelvis, which made breaking my water very difficult. Thank goodness for epidurals!!! After that, things progressed slowly. It took from 10 am to 5 pm for me to change from 1 cm to 3 cm. I was getting very discouraged and starting to feel some of the contractions. I worried that with having broken my water several hours, I would start to get an infection. Things changed quickly after that. I went from 3 cm to 6 cm in the next hour and a half and was officially in active labor. However, during that time my epidural stopped working in most places and even higher doses were not helping the pain. I started feeling intense pressure and knew that I had to push. They kept telling me I was only at 6 cm and it was not time, but I knew what my body was telling me. About that time, shifts changed and I got a new nurse, Courtney, who was also wonderful and made for a much better labor coach a little later on. Finally, the dr (who by the way was the dr that I had hoped all along would be able to deliver Savannah) came in and said she would let me try pushing anyways. Short version, I pushed for ten minutes and she suited up and ordered the baby nurses in. Another ten minutes of intense, painful pushing and the most precious baby girl I have ever seen was laid on my chest. It was all over and she was perfect. She weighed 7 lbs 7.7 oz (777 is the number of perfection and she was exactly that) and was 21 inches long. Things went even better than I could have planned myself and I am so thankful for a God who cares about us. 

I'll give more details in the next blog about Porter meeting Savannah, our hospital stay, and life since becoming a mommy of two. Until then, enjoy some pictures from the big day. . . (some of the pictures are sideways, so sorry, I'm blogging on my kindle while we are laptopless)

Growing up

Someone must have informed my tiny boy that he is about to take on the big brother role, because he sure is doing some grown up things lately...

...like going for walks on Daddy's shoulders

...and eating dinner at the table like a big kid

...and using a fork to feed himself.

I'm not so sure my mama heart was ready to see my tiny boy become a big boy over night, but here we are and I could not be more proud of all he is learning these days. Ok, maybe I should say most of what he is learning these days. Along with his new found freedom has come some acting out as well. Such things as holding his ears when we tell him no, taking his shirt off whenever he deems appropriate, and swiping things that he finds lying around (phones, glasses, food, etc.). I guess it's all par for the course, but there is no rest for the weary (aka very, very pregnant mama) around here. 

One busy little boy!

Keeping this active little boy busy this week has kept me on my toes, for sure! We (along with Aunt Jesse, who's visiting for the week) have gone on all kinds of adventures...

we colored. a lot!

we turned the heat on before we FROZE! Even dinosaur was cold :)

 

 we practiced our counting on Mommy's new Kindle. SO cute!

we made fall cookies with Aunt Jesse

we decorated (umm, a.k.a. ate) those fall cookies

(Porter's creation)

we had a picnic in the park on the perfect fall day

and played at the park. Happy boy!

we (ok, Porter and Aunt Jesse. Mommy doesn't do all that much climbing these days, lol!) climbed up and down and over and under everything at the park that would stand still!

had such a fun day!

When only Daddy will do...

Yesterday morning started with me going to get Porter out of his bed after hearing him wake up. Only, he shook his head and said "No, Dada!". Okkk...so we went downstairs and got Dada. I tried to put him in his high chair for breakfast, but he only wanted to eat breakfast in Dada's lap. I tried to wipe his face off after eating...he only wanted Dada to do it. Seeing a trend?! Well what do you do on a day like that? Be thankful that you have a husband who's able to work from home for a day so that a little boy can have his Dada within reach ALL.DAY. Not kidding! My usually whole-heartedly Mama's boy wanted nothing to do with me. Ouch! Instead, he was Dada's sidekick. Sean sat on the couch, so did Porter. Sean got on the computer, so did Porter. Sean had a snack, so did Porter. Yes, that was our whole day :) While it was very sweet, we were beginning to wonder how we were going to explain to Sean's work that his office space needed to be turned into a playroom so that his tiniest intern could join him at work. Thankfully, mommy and Porter are friends again today and Daddy was able to go off to work. I'll forever remember this day as "The Day Daddy Was Forced to Work From Home"...

Oh yea, and not only did he have to SEE Dada, he also had to be able to TOUCH Dada. Poor Dada worked with Porter's foot in his lap for a few hours.

And when he moved to the desk, Porter moved faithfully close beside with (with his farm animals. Never go too far from home without your farm animals!)

And when Dada got done working and sat on the couch, so did Porter...

...but not without being able to touch him ;)

 

 

Porter, one day when you think you want to have nothing to do with mom or dad because you're way cooler than us...I'll remind you of this day ;)