These are the days

We have had so much fun with Shea this Christmas. He has loved every minute of this holiday season and really gets the fact that we are celebrating the birth of Jesus and also that Santa is coming!! He is always making hilarious comments or randomly being extra sweet to me or Zoe Cate. Last night I was sitting on the couch and Shea was playing with our new nativity set when he comes up to me, lay his head in my lap and says "Mommy, I love you so much. I'm so glad you are here.". I scooped him up and just squeezed him tight. I don't ever want to forget these precious moments!

Sweetest Thing!

My sweet Zoe Cate is an absolute doll baby!! While she is definitely a firecracker, she has a sweet, loving side, too. Today we were trying to kill 30 minutes before nap time. We went to the library earlier this week and picked out some new books to read. Shea and I were in the floor reading some books, while Zoe Cate played around us and every now and then sat on my lap to hear the story.* While we were reading, Zoe Cate made her way down the hall to Shea's room and came back carrying one of Shea's trains. She had the BIGGEST grin on her face as she handed it to Shea. Shea and I both thanked her and told her what a sweet girl she was and off she went...back down the hall! We repeated this process until she had brought him 5 of his train cars. IT WAS PRECIOUS! The grin on her face each time she toddled around the corner just melted my heart. As most moms do, I tried to make this a learning experience for them both but especially Shea. He has the tendency to be a little rough with Zoe Cate and doesn't always 'share' like he should. I used this moment to try and impress on his heart that she just REALLY loves her big brother and wanted to make him happy by bringing him some of his favorite toys. Did I get through!? Who knows!! For a brief moment though they were both so pleased with each other and this Momma's heart almost burst from the love I feel for them!! I'm so blessed and so grateful to God that I get to be with these children every day!






*Zoe Cate is not near as in to books as Shea was at her age. However, I read to her every day and while sometimes she'll sit on my lap and interact, I continue to read to her while she roams around where ever we happen to be at the time. I'm not sure what else to do!? I know how important reading is in life and I feel like her at least hearing me read a book she'll pick up on the rhythm of speech? Any educators who might happen on this entry [LEA!! :)] care to chime in??

Ahhhhh, It's 1pm...

It's the MOST wonderful time of the day!!!! 1pm means nap time for the babes and REST time for the Momma!!!

Zoe Cate at 1pm...


Shea at 1pm...


Mommy at 1pm...

I tried to take a pic of the TV but it didn't come out to well. I love 1pm!!!!

Three

Shea is three years old today. Just writing that out seems insane. I cannot believe that he is already three!!! These past three years have flown by. I can remember the first few weeks of his life when I was so overwhelmed with happiness that he was here but also so sad and overwhelmed by what having a newborn entailed!! He was such a sweet, calm baby. He rarely cried or fussed unless he was hungry or tired. Charlie instantly fell in love with him when we brought him home.

I want to remember absolutely everything about Shea at this age. His mannerisms, his sweet sayings, his determination, his inquisitiveness, his joy, his spunk, EVERYTHING! He never ceases to amaze me or Eric with something he has come up with. He has such a loving heart. Now, don't be confused by my choice of words :).... Shea can be rough and tumble with the best of them!! He is DEFINITELY all boy. We've known this for awhile but it was solidified this weekend when we went to Tennessee to see our family [whom Shea has NEVER met]. He took right up with my older cousin David. He and David rode the riding lawn mower for an hour raking up leaves. Shea was in charge of lifting the rope to dump the leaves out by the side of the road. After their hard work was done, David let Shea steer the mower himself up and down the street.
After riding the mower, they took off with their 'walking sticks' to the pond. David told me later that Shea saw a trout and wanted to catch him. David said "But we don't have any fishing poles." David said Shea just looked up at him, held up his stick and said "But we got these!!" HA!! My silly boy! David said he did have a point so he held on to Shea while he stabbed around in the water trying to catch something! He came up empty handed but had a fantastic time.

We had a FULL day. We basically did whatever Shea wanted to do!! For breakfast, Shea had powdered doughnuts on his 'special' plate. Then we headed to the zoo! He wanted to ride the train so we rode [Zoe Cate got a free ride thanks to the nice Conductor!] and they both loved it. The conductor knew it was his birthday so he let him sit up front in the engine but Shea was a little leery of that. Then we had lunch at McDonalds, home for nap, and off to Cracker Barrel for dinner. I asked Shea last night what he wanted for his birthday dinner and he replied "I think I just want a kids meal from Cracker Barrel.". HA! What makes that even funnier is that we rarely eat there in the first place! We had cake and opened presents at the restaurant and he loved his dinosaur his Gigi and Pawpaw got him. We came home and finished off the evening watching Merry Madagascar. When he was going to bed he told Gigi "You can just leave that dinosaur here..." So sweet! We had a fabulous day and are so thankful for the blessing that Shea is in our lives! Here are a few pics from our day....

Enjoying birthday doughnuts

Train ride at the zoo

Nap time with "Chachy" as he calls her


Enjoying the last of the frosting for his cake

Birthday pancakes at Cracker Barrel


Happy Birthday, Shea!

Cool dinosaur
We love you, Shea!! Thank you for brightening our lives with your sweetness! May you always find joy in life. I love these lyrics from the song "My Wish" by Rascall Flatts, it truly says what Eric and I wish for our babies!

I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow
And each road leads you where you want to go
And if you're faced with the choice and you have to choose
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you

And if one door opens to another door closed
I hope you keep on walkin' til you find the window
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile
But more than anything, more than anything

My wish for you
Is that this life becomes all that you want it to
Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small
You never need to carry more than you can hold

Happy Birthday, Shea!!

Praise God...

.....from whom all blessings flow





Praise Him all creatures here below...





Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts....



Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost....



I absolutely love the Doxology. I sing it many times a day to Shea and Zoe Cate. Eric and I are beyond blessed with these precious babies.

Reading Time!

I was reminded today of such a special time Shea and I shared while I was pregnant with Zoe Cate. The further it got in to the summer, the later it was in my pregnancy. I was HUGE and it was SOOOO hot outside!! I was also exhausted from being 8 months pregnant with a 20 month old. Many an afternoon, I would lie on the couch. Shea would bring me book after book and climb up on the couch with me. We'd lay there and read for usually an hour. We would read a book and then he would climb down and go pick out another one to read. I so enjoyed that sweet time with him. He's always loved to read and to see his excitement as he would point things out to me in the book was fabulous. It was so nice to just relax and snuggle my boy. I knew that the coming months would not allow for much 'laying' around so he and I took full advantage and did this practically every day!!!



This is how he and I would spend many of our afternoons [minus Eric as he was at work!!].

When I was a little boy...

Both Shea and Zoe Cate have always talked in a different tone to animals and babies. We noticed when Shea was just starting to babble that when he would babble 'talking' to Charlie or my parents dog, Milo, that he would use a higher pitch voice. Almost as if he was doing 'baby talk'. Zoe Cate has done the same thing. It is so sweet to watch her talk to Charlie and love on her!! I can remember Shea doing the SAME thing when he was a sweet baby.

We have had a bit of a time lately with Shea not wanting Zoe Cate to touch ANY of his toys. ANY OF THEM. Seriously. Shea, you've been around a couple years longer than Zoe Cate. You've had a little more time to acquire 'stuff'!!! Earlier, Zoe Cate got a couple of Shea's trains. He started to protest so I told him to just calm down. "She never plays with anything that long. She won't hurt them!", I said to him. So, he was watching her carefully and she was having a great time. Then he said to her, in that sweet high pitched voice reserved for animals and babies, "You like those trains, Zoe? Those were mine when I was a little boy.". His face was full of such love for her. After how rough and not very kind he's been to her this past week, it was sweet to witness him being loving towards her! I am thinking Shea considers himself a BIG boy and not a little boy....he's right!!

Convicted

I just heard this song the other day. Wow. I was convicted. I hope it touches your heart, too.

Piggies

Zoe Cate is not a huge fan of her shoes or socks. She much prefers to go au natural and let her piggies be free. Now that it is colder, I've had to put socks on her. Now that I have to put socks on her, I *have* to put shoes on her!! Her FAVORITE game is to pull her socks off! I have to put shoes on her to ensure she will keep her socks on. She will start cackling laughing before she can even reach her foot to pull her sock off. It always takes her a bit of work to get them off because she is laughing so hard. Of course, Eric and I play her little game and she ends up in fits of laughter!! We are so blessed that we get to hear her sweet laughter every day. It's the little things in life, I hope she will always be so easily amused!!

Put *that* in your Memory Bank...

The kids and I went to Walmart yesterday, but not *any* Walmart, the *NEW* Walmart that is still clean. On the way there I remembered that we needed to glue to do a little craft project Shea got at a birthday party. I couldn't write it on my list because I was driving and well, who are we kidding?? If it isn't written down...IT DOESN'T HAPPEN OR GET BOUGHT!! I said to Shea "Hey Shea! Remind me that we need to buy glue from Walmart!" "Ok, Mom!". So we get to Walmart, we avoid the candy aisle, got all the stuff on our list plus a few extras that Shea just 'had to have, Mommy, pweeease?!?!? Can we?!'. A pack of hot dogs and Scooby fruit snacks later, we checked out and got all loaded up in the van. I turn out on the main road and from the back seat I hear 'MOM!!!!! We forgot to buy glue!!!!!!!'. HAHA!!! I couldn't help but bust out laughing!!! Thanks, Shea!! Just a few minutes too late....

BAM!!! Watch out Emeril....

It happens every day at around the same time. Dinner time. Those who know me know that I am NOT A FAN of cooking. I just do not enjoy cooking. I know how to follow recipes and I've been told that I'm a 'good cook' when I actually do cook. I know as a mom and a wife that is very important for my family to have home cooked meals. I know it's true, but I don't have to like it! :) Shea has really been in to helping me lately. Each evening as I am getting ready to cook, he says to me "I can help you fix it!". Last week he helped me make mashed potatoes. He really enjoyed using the mixer but had to be reminded a few times to KEEP THE MIXER IN THE BOWL WHILE IT'S ON!!!!!!!!!!

Tonight, I made my speciality, Hamburger Helper!! Don't laugh, that stuff is good and y'all know it! Shea, of course, wanted to help so I told him he could help me after I browned the meat. He is so proud of himself!
I love his concentration while stirring, this is serious business. Having a helper does make cooking take a bit longer but he is so happy to help and so proud to be 'big enough' to cook that it makes it worth it.I love this sweet helper. Just wait till he gets to be the big helper when we CLEAN UP dinner! :)

The Great Pumpkin!

We finally got around to taking Shea and Zoe Cate to this little pumpkin patch down the road from our house. In reality, it's just the front lawn of a church with tons of pumpkins. They had some cute props set up that made for great photo ops......if only the kiddies would participate!!

I told Shea to hold on to Zoe Cate and he actually did a good job keeping her upright. By this final picture, she had had enough!!!


We were able to snap a few more pictures but it pretty much went downhill from there!! We did get a decent one of the me and the babes, please excuse Zoe Cate's tum, she likes to air it out!!

Shea did not want to leave and made us promise we'd go back. We assured him we would...in a year!

Changes

A whole 14 months have past since I've updated my blog. My life is completely different, too. I no longer have one sweet toddling little boy but a son who has changed so much in a year and a precious baby girl on the verge of toddling herself. These past 14 months have been full of changes for our little family. In 14 months, Shea has switched to a 'real!' bed, been potty trained and his vocabulary has EXPLODED. No longer do I have to decipher his baby speech, he has his OWN voice and he uses it!! He is a sharp little guy who doesn't forget anything. It's fabulous but has it's draw backs! I spend a lot of time trying to plan routes AROUND McDonald's, Chick-fil-a and now thanks to Nana and Pawpaw, Bojangles. Shea and I went to Target the other night and he saw Bojangles. All of a sudden I hear from the backseat "Mom!! [I'm Mom now, so sad, it's too soon!] You need to take me to Bojangles and get me a biscuit!" Nice. There goes that short cut!! HA!!

Our little Zoe Cate is now A WHOLE YEAR OLD!!!!!!! Where did that year go??? She is firecracker and I am loving her spunky personality, though I am sure it will cause a few headaches down the road!! :) Shea is an awesome big brother and Zoe Cate just adores him. It's been an interesting year adjusting to having 2 under 2. Overall, it's been great. We were very blessed to be able to have our children close together. While it's been work, we are already seeing the fruits of our labors. Shea is growing [too quickly] in to a young boy who adores animals, trucks and singing Old MacDonald at the top of his lungs. Zoe Cate is blossoming in to her own, also. She did have to get tubes but they have done a world of good for her. The afternoon of her procedure she started cruising. While I am no MD [obviously!], it's pretty coincidental that she started cruising the day she got her tubes. I know it helped her equilibrium and balance. She is now cruising down the hall with only the aid of her hand on the wall. Zoe Cate makes us laugh every day with her fiery nature and sweetness. She is taking on the role of little sis just perfectly!!

So, in summary, I love my babies, I love my sweet husband and this beautiful life we've created!! Here's to hoping I can be better at posting!

To update or not to update....

I am so terribly slack. Terribly slack. I am thinking maybe I will try to be more regular about posting for my one reader. HAHAH!!! We'll see!! I do need to put pics of my sweet girl on here. For now, I will post the best picture we've taken yet as a family of 4!!