our wonderful, crazy life

snow day

2012-02-13T15:04:00.000-06:00

finally, it snowed!!!

we took full advantage considering it will be back up in the 50's later this week.
crazy winter.

noah helped me shovel the entire driveway. a first for us both.

loving the snow!

i'm glad he got to wear his snow boots once, at least.

swinging

2012-02-07T10:30:00.002-06:00

i've come to realize that a huge perk to parenting (besides creating and watching this little humas grow) is acting like a kid again.

i had forgotten how much i love to swing. it is so fun. with this crazy warm winter, we have been swinging nearly every day. i love this one on one time with my little man while the girl is taking her morning naps. :)

i love our chats and walks on "the mountain".

the world must seem so big and amazing,

like this giant playground just waiting for him to explore.

i need to start looking at the world through his eyes...

and start doing more exploring of my own.

the very hungry one year old

2012-02-03T15:18:00.001-06:00

mila's one year stats:

weight: 18 lbs - 10th percentile
height: - 28 inches - 15th percentile
head: 53rd percentile

girlfriend only gained half a pound in 3 months, which is shocking considering she out eats her brother most meals and sometimes even me! it's like the food runs right through her. she has developed a sensitivity to cheese and milk products, so i've cut that out. but sometimes other things bother her, too. right now, it is a guessing game to see which foods are going to upset her tummy on that particular day. one by one we are figuring it out...well, we are trying.

get it girl.

little bird birthday party

2012-02-02T09:10:00.001-06:00

since mila is truly our little bird, i decided to give her a little bird birthday party.

party favor bags:

the boys got a $1 tonka car and the girls got a flower clip for the hair...of course.

bird houses that i got in the dollar section at michaels.

i painted them and hung them on a small tree i chopped down in the woods behind our house.

mila (in her little bird nursery-another reason to carry on the bird theme to her party) all dressed up and ready to make her entrance.

slightly overwhelmed with all the excitement.

i made the cupcakes using this recipe from pintrest. holy moly, delish.

first bite

yum....

we sure love our little bird.

i still cannot believe you are one, sweet baby!

one!!!

2012-01-28T23:06:00.001-06:00

today, was a BIG day! full of family, friends, laughter, love, tutus, and lots of cake!

many more pics to come!

p.s. i got an iphone 2 days ago and i'm obsessed with instagram! hence the awesome phone pics.

happy happy birthday, little miss!

2012-01-26T08:33:00.000-06:00

seriously, i cannot believe it has been a year since this little love came into our life.

gosh, she is perfect.

mila,
i am not sure what we did without you. you are such a joy, such a blessing.
you are our sweet, baby girl.

what i love about you at this age:

your littleness. you seem like the smallest baby ever made compared to your big brother. he was a massive infant and you are this dainty little thing.
even though you are little, you are mighty. you pester your brother right back and it's awesome. i have a feeling you are going to be tough.
the way you play with my hair. you have done this since you were a newborn. it is a comfort thing. now that you have your own tuft in the back, you like to play with yours too, but you still prefer mine. i love that.
your babbling. you have a lot to say and sign these days.
the way you look and laugh at your big brother. you love him a lot. and he loves you.

the way you still wear your hair bow. i thought for sure these days would be over by now. i am keeping my fingers crossed. you look so cute in all 200 of them!
the way you scream out and crawl as fast as you can when daddy walks in the door.
the fact that you are such a girl, even at one year of age. you like to put on your beaded necklaces yourself and wear them around.
how you are such a little mama already. you LOVE your baby dolls. you give them kisses and pat them on the back all day long.
your perfect, pouty lips. one cannot help but kiss them.

happy birthday, sweet little doll!

we are so lucky to call you ours!
we love you so much!

house project #1 of many: chalkboard wall

2012-01-25T17:15:00.001-06:00

no surprise to anyone i'm sure, but i am a huge, HUGE pintrest fan. i am so excited to finally have my own home again, so i can start on my many pintrest projects i want to do.

my first project was painting a chalkboard wall. i have wanted one for a long time. they are so practical and super cute, but where to put it? well, i do not have a ridiculously huge house by any means, but i sure as heck do have a ridiculously huge pantry. so i thought, why not put it in there.

besides being adorable, i also think this visual aid will help me stick to my new meal planning schedule for the week.

fyi: i did the magnetic paint underneath the chalkboard paint...not so sure i would do that again. it is expensive and was a yucky mess. plus, it barely holds a single piece of paper with a magnet. you live and you learn.

duggar philosophy

2012-01-24T16:03:00.001-06:00

i love the duggars. as in the duggars from the show "19 kids and counting" if you didn't know. they are an awesome family with great morals and strong faith. who cares that they have 19 kids. i would, too, if i didn't have to be pregnant 19 times.  anyhoo, i love their "buy used, save the difference" way of life.

since having kids, i have become a HUGE fan of this type of lifestyle.   garage sales and consignment shops have become my new best friends. my clothing budget for the kids goes 10 times further at these places and the clothes are hardly used. just to name a few, i've gotten a bob double stroller, a pottery barn kids table with 6 chairs, a soccer goal, radio flyer horse, and tons of clothes for hardly anything. it feels so gratifying finding awesome deals.

so applying this philosophy once again, we got another fantastic deal. we got a swing set. it was much earlier than we had planned on getting one, but we could not pass up it up. my girlfriend had a co-worker selling this and she immediately thought of us. thanks mel!

we were originally thinking we would go wally's or toys r us in the future, but this one is from a actual manufacturer show. who knew they had swing set shows.   the thing is made out of redwood, which according to my husband is the same thing brick. he's kidding but it is good quality wood. i'll take his word. i am no woods-woman.

the people selling it told me they paid over $4000 for it, but that they'd sell it to us for $500, deliver it AND set up no extra cost.... excuse me, did you just say you paid over 4G's for a swing set....whoa.....    "ummmm, yeah, we will take it. can you put it here? thanks!"

after a good power washing it should be good as new. pretty cool, huh?

makes me NEVER want to buy anything new again.

thanks duggars for changing my life. :)

noah was pretty ecstatic to come home from school to find this in his backyard. :)

my boy

2012-01-09T20:13:00.001-06:00

i love this kid so much.

i love his wild nature,

his sweet voice,

how he verbally processes everything,

the way he loves his little sister and prefers having her around.

he is so sweet and ridiculously smart.

i want to bottle him up and remember this age forever.

i want to always remember his love for trains and the sound of his little voice making his imagination come to life.

i want to remember the dimples on his knuckles from the baby chub he still carries and how i make sure to kiss those chubby hands every day.
gosh, how i love those dimples.

he has such an incredible spirit that i hope never fades.

his laugh is contagious just like his daddy's.
and those eyes...you could lost in them and i do, frequently.

we were truly blessed the day God gave us our noah michael.

i love you, little man, to the moon and back.

i'm not sure why i'm such an emotional mess, but i am having one of those kind of nights.
the kind where you go wake a sleeping baby just so you can hold them to feel that sweet breath on your skin and play with their silky, baby hair.
well, i do this often, but i usually do not start crying when they look up at me and smile.
and no, i'm not preggers.
we are totally waiting a bit longer this time...or so we say.

parenting, you are a funny, emotional, amazing rollercoaster.
thanks for letting me ride.

the girl is 11 months old!

2012-01-09T09:54:00.001-06:00

i cannot believe girlfriend will be ONE later this month!

i sure love that little face.

what the little bird is up to...

she has started saying "uh-oh", "dog", "bubba" (for brother), points and says "wow!" to everything (life, in general, is pretty amazing to an 11 month old), and even says "whas dat?" anytime she hears an unfamiliar sound. hearing little people find their voice has to be the cutest thing ever.
sleeps 12 hours at night and still takes two, 2 hour naps. the girl needs her beauty rest.
continues to be a mama's girl but what's new.
cruising on everything and will stand by herself. i'm fine with her waiting a couple more months to walk, however. mom is not ready for that.
claps for herself. mila thinks she's pretty awesome. i'd have to agree.
is still a bottomless pit when it comes to eating. we are highly considering putting her in one of those hot dog eating contests. she'd win for sure.
has a loud opinion about everything. can you say dramatic? we have even been told that she is already quite the little actress. wowzers, we are in trouble with this one. :)
follows brother everywhere. she already thinks he is the coolest person ever.

mila is our little ray of sunshine. life would not be the same without our sweet girl.

her party is quickly aprroaching and i need to get into major party planning mode...stat!

january and 60 degrees

2012-01-06T08:53:00.000-06:00

i'm pretty sure we moved to kansas, but these last couple of days have been more like a florida winter. trust me, i am not complaining. it has been fabulous getting outside, meeting neighbors and watching all the kids play. maybe God knew that we needed an easy transition into the typical, brutal cold winters and gave us a break? ha. i don't know and i don't care. it's awesome and we are taking full advantage.

as much as i would love to see some snow for a day, MAYBE two, i am totally fine if old man winter decides to skip out on us this year.

christmas continued.

2012-01-05T08:45:00.000-06:00

life has been out of whack... moved from florida. lived out of suitcases for 4 months. moved into a house 2 days before christmas. continuing to set up the house while chasing, feeding, changing 2 littles. trying to decide which house item i prefer getting here first, the blinds (they have arrived and should be installed this week. i'm super stoked, as are the neighbors, i'm sure.) or our washer/dryer (it has been back ordered. thank goodness for the laundry mat of linda. she still folds my underwear. why, i'll never know. but seriously, thanks mom.)

we are getting closer to being settled, but i cannot wait to get back into a groove. one day soon (i hope) i will be back to blogging regularly. until then, here are some more christmas pics mainly from my sis-in-law because her camera and skills are a million times better than mine.

santa came!

spoiled rotten

noah and his hero, sun.

little girl has gotten over her fear of facial hair and became best buddies with her uncle.

gf with one of her babies. she got 5 and loves them all. ridiculous.

baby's first christmas x2.

cousin sun is a huge hit with the babes.

christmas was fab.

home for christmas

2011-12-30T13:04:00.000-06:00

can i just say how amazing it was to wake up in our OWN home christmas morning regardless that half of the house including the christmas tree were still in boxes? it has been something i've always wanted, my little family having our own christmas celebration first before all the other christmases. and i am pretty sure we will make this a christmas tradition/requirement. i grew up being home christmas morning and i want my kids to have the same experience. there is something magical about waking up christmas morning and running downstairs in your pjs to see what santa brought.

i know, people want pics of our house, so here you go. the above pic is of the front doorway and to the right is the dining which we made into a sitting room/play area. ha.

home at last

2011-12-29T12:11:00.000-06:00

so we are finally in our home and we could not love it more... but it was a rough road getting here. everything was smooth sailing until 8 days before closing. appraisal #1 came in low...appraisal #2 came in even lower! we darn near walked away from the whole deal 2 days before we were supposed to close. panic attack? pretty much. apparently, this economy blows for selling a house and building a house. we did not want to pay more than the house was worth out of principle and pure intelligence. i typically run from uncomfortable situations and this got very uncomfortable . luckily, for me , my husband does this for a living... don't bs a bs-er. long story short: we took a risk, put our trust in God and ended up getting one heck of deal and a gorgeous home.

we closed and moved into our home 2 days before christmas. crazy, is an understatement. my parents (as usual) were a HUGE help. we cannot say thank you enough.

now, we are getting settled and it feels so good. the kids are doing great. mila loves exploring her new environment. noah had a rough first couple of days but we were expecting that. as soon as he saw his new train table sitting in the basement christmas morning, the new house quickly became his favorite place on earth. luke and i are in heaven being home owners again and are ready to make this house our home. we are also thoroughly enjoying our bed. oh how, we have missed it. we slept on a futon for 4 months (our choice, but we would not recommend it). :)

my favorite things about the house:

my sink. it is an amazingly, huge black hole. thanks lanell for the recommendation!
my dishwasher. a good dishwasher can change your life!
the carpet...of course!!!!!
the sunset views from the back of our house. we sure loved our water front view in florida, but i think this will do.

my homebody self is pretty darn happy to be be home. finally.

christmas awesomeness

2011-12-09T17:27:00.000-06:00

i turn us into elves every year. i cannot help myself. they are hilarious. this is totally my kind of humor. enjoy.

10 month old diva

2011-12-02T09:46:00.000-06:00

this past month my sweet girl has become quite the little diva. mila might only be 10 months old, but she has an opinion about everything...and her opinion is often times extremely loud and persistent. it's hilarious...sometimes. i love how their little personalities shine through at such a young age.

besides being a bit tempermental, mila is also eating like a champ. it amazes me how tiny she is and just how much she actually eats. i mean, this girl can chow down. she puts noah to shame eating two or three times more than he does. where does all that food all go, little bird? are you storing it in those cheeks for winter?

little stinker with hilarious monster-sized front teeth. she has 5 now!

love that little face

i love this stage of baby-hood. so curious of their environment, so fascinated with the smallest things, and really starting to change into little people. being a mama is my favorite thing ever.

best. holiday. song. ever.

2011-12-01T13:07:00.000-06:00

please ignore the amazingly, bad music video.

make fun of me. i am not ashamed. i love me some nsync. and i love this song. and so does my sister. and we like to blare it as loud we can in the car. and dance. it's kind of a tradition and it's ridiculously awesome.

give it try. i'll bet you cannot keep yourself from dancing. think of this as my christmas gift to you. :) it's december 1st! wahoo! crank that christmas music up!!!!!

It's that time of year
Christmastime is here
And with the blessings from above
God sends you his love
And everybody's okay
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays

thanksgiving-mena style

2011-11-28T17:12:00.001-06:00

i cannot even begin to describe how great it was to get back to mena, ar for thanksgiving with luke's family. we have missed the last 3 years and i almost forgot just how much i loved it. being with family during the holidays is the best.

aunt julie once again made an incredible feast and continued to feed us all weekend long with her amazing cooking. julie and jeff went above and beyond to make us feel so welcome and we cannot thank them enough.

this year was a little different than last time. we went from 1 kid to 5! it was total chaos all weekend full of playing, coloring, puzzles, naps, frequent potty runs, sharing lessons, countless timeouts, and a whole lot of lovin'. it was a blast!

the rowdy bunch eating their thanksgiving feast.

even uncle donald got in on the coloring action. this was moments before noah decided to color with black crayon ALL over the carpet stairs. baking soda and a damp rag does wonders. sorry again julie!

family photo

aunt casey and gavin

this little girl melts my heart. she is so cute and hilarious!

molly was in love with mila, and little miss was in love with all of molly's baby dolls.

roasting smores

grandma renie with all of her grandkids

the whole gang

technically, we were not "home" for this holiday, but it felt like it. there's nothing more important than family and i am so happy we got to share it with these amazing people. it made my heart happy and totally recharged my battery.

i am already looking forward to our next trip to mena. noah repeatedly asks to go to "miss juwee's house".

things i wish i would have brought...

2011-11-18T15:00:00.000-06:00

more clothes for me and the hubs. at the time 3 1/2 months did not seem so long. haha. we continue to wear the same clothes repeatedly.
more baby bottles.
my ice scraper. not sure where that darn thing went, but it's a must have when you're parking outside and it's frosty out.
underwire bras!!! huge mistake to not bring these. i only brought my nursing ones. dumb and probably tmi.
our bed.... oh how we miss thee.
the twilight saga dvds to get me ready for "breaking dawn part 1". dumbest of all!!! i. cannot. wait. and no, i did not go last night. shame on me.

less than a month until we move into our house. wahooooo!!!!! don't get me wrong, living with kelly has been great and we cannot thank her enough, but being in the comfort our your own home is a priceless feeling. :)

i also cannot wait to roll around on the new carpet and run my finger and toes through it. soft carpet is a magical feeling.

happy friday.

the goose

2011-11-17T16:07:00.000-06:00

noah has sure loves his time with goosey. i have a feeling he will be a little sad when move into our house and goose is no longer down the hall.

we cannot thank kelly enough for letting us stay with her and loving on our kiddos every single day.

i'm sure she is counting the days until our departure.
our stuff has taken over her house!

sick

2011-11-11T22:46:00.001-06:00

we are apparently in the process of building up our immunities against our new environment. both kids have pretty much had runny noses since we moved here...2 months ago. and last week, we ALL(including the goose) got strep throat. well, everybody but noah. that little turkey was most likely the carrier that got us all sick. mila even got it which is very rare for anyone under one year of age. awesome. she has been a mess. the poor girl is also cutting all 4 top teeth at once. lucky girl.

good thing about being sick? lots of cuddle time.

last week was rough. this week can only get better. :)

bath time

2011-11-04T12:52:00.000-05:00

i'm totally loving that i can put both kids in the tub together at the same time. it makes my life a whole lot easier and they love it!

and who doesn't love nemo?

it makes me wrinkle my nose, too.

trick or treat

2011-11-01T11:31:00.001-05:00

all dressed up and ready to go.

noah's first time trick or treating.

adorable little buzz.

noah was so excited to put on his wings that he was shaking with excitment. he said, "daddy, i fly to infinity and beyond." gosh, i love kids.

halloween was a HUGE hit! noah loved every minute of it. but who wouldn't. it is a day where you get to dressed up and eat free candy!

happy halloween!

2011-10-31T12:23:00.000-05:00

it's hard work being this awesome.

9 months

2011-10-28T12:20:00.003-05:00

our little nose wrinkler

STATS

height: 25th percentile
weight: 17 lbs, 4 oz - 30th percentile
head: 75th percentile

what the little bird is up to...

-saying "mama" and "dada".

-continues to be our laid back, happy girl.

-she loves feeding herself table food. i'm super happy with this. baby food is annoying.

-waves bye-bye.

-gives tons of opened-mouth, slobbery kisses.

-trying so hard to clap.

-has an extreme mama attachment.

-LOVES her baby doll more than any other toy.

-sucks her thumb all. day. long.

-continues to look more like noah every day. wowzers. the only thing they both got from me is my big bottom lip.

i am so happy friday!

it's that time of year...

2011-10-27T08:29:00.002-05:00

to throw your head back, your arms up and breathe in mother nature.

such a little man.

noah michael, oh how you make mama's heart smile.

i cannot say it enough, i love being in kansas for the fall. the trees, the colors, the familiar smells, the crisp, cool air... it's glorious. it's home.

poop-tastic

2011-10-26T12:14:00.002-05:00

this past month, noah has officially become potty trained. whoop! whoop! he had the peeing part down months ago except for a slight hiccup when we first moved here. going #2, however, was a different story. he was afraid or didn't quite understand. we bribed, begged and pleaded with him. nothing worked.

after taking advice from other parents, we put a toy bucket next to the potty so he could pick a prize after doing the deed. the toy bucket set there for about a month...untouched. noah was excited about the toys, but not that excited. i eventually took the toy bucket away for about a week or so and tried again. it worked this time, mainly because i put a couple trains in the bucket. the trains were way more expensive than the rest of the dollar items in there, but hey, we were desperate. once he saw bill and spencer (thomas trains) in there, he decided pooping in the potty was train-worthy.

what i've learned:

potty training might be my least favorite thing about parenting.
not to expect more than i should from noah. he is a smart little dude and i forget sometimes that he is only 2. i need to remember that.
lastly, if mila refuses to go, put a couple of trains in the bucket. :)

i'm so proud my little guy.

90 years young

2011-10-25T16:21:00.002-05:00

a few weekends ago we celebrated my grandpa's 90th birthday! it was a wonderful celebration for a wonderful man.

a perfect cake for a farmer

grandpa and his girls

mila in her party dress.

playing trains with uncle scooter

singing happy birthday. grandpa was really touched. :)

sweetest man i know. :)

ty partied hard.

the patch 2011

2011-10-24T10:14:00.001-05:00

how many pumpkins tall this year?

little bird's first trip to the pumpkin patch. she loved it.

cousin gavin got to come too!

straight up gangsta...shoooooooot.

best part of the trip. i think the adults had more fun than the kids.

luke is convinced he needs to build one in our backyard.

babe, you build it and i will fly down it all. day. long. for reals.

daddy, help! haha.

fall is the best season ever.

sharing and lovin's

2011-10-21T13:54:00.001-05:00

now, that mila is mobile and into everything, her favorite thing to do is to head straight for brother's train tracks and destroy them. noah FLIPS out every time. haha. it's time to start sharing, little buddy.

eyeing her next target for destruction

little gnome on the move.

they really do love each other. :)

(please ignore the nasty bruise on noah's face. apparently doorways and two year olds do not mix.)

sister getting smothered with lovin's.

playing nicely for a change.

i love watching my babies interact and play.

building

2011-10-19T14:23:00.000-05:00

we are building a house.
this was never the plan. we wanted an older home that had all the things a new home doesn't - a fence, blinds, landscaping, character, etc.
we looked and looked could not find anything we liked in the area we wanted to be in.
apparently with the economy the way it is, people are holding onto their homes until they can get a better return of investment. makes sense for them, but did not give us much to choose from. soooooo, we decided to go through the nitty gritty and build once again.
this time around is way more fun, still stressful, but way more fun.
this time we know what we want and what we can live without.
now, we watch and wait....patiently.

we are pretty excited for this little dude to finally have his own yard to frolic in. :)

notice percy in daddy's hand? the trains go with us everywhere these days. i never knew a two year old could have such a crazy obsession with something, but he does. it's pretty cute.

park fun

2011-10-13T15:08:00.003-05:00

mila's first time in the swing. she was a huge fan.

if you can't tell, my dad is to the moon elated that his florida grandbabies are back in town.

honestly, who sucks their thumb while swinging...

we are enjoying this glorious and warm fall weather as much as we can. before we know it there will be snow and ice on the ground and the kids and i will be heading back to florida with luke as much as we can, or so i hope. :)

mowing

2011-10-12T14:52:00.000-05:00

noah got to "mow" the grass with daddy for the first time. it was pretty cute.

most kids probably do this a lot earlier, but luke did not mow once while we lived in florida, so noah never got the experience. all noah was used to "mowing" was carpet and a whole lot of tile.

we lived in a neighborhood that had professionals landscapers do all the work. sounds fabulous, but not so fabulous when you're doing dishes in your bra and underwear (what, you don't do this?) and a group of men tromp through your backyard or when they wake you, the babes and the damn, barking dogs up before 7am! hello?! who mows at 7am!!! the landscaping perk is included in the home owners $300 PER MONTH hoa fee!! totally worth it... not so sure. of course, being renters, we never had to pay that, nor would we.

well, that was a bunch of rambling...but anyhoo, not having to do do yard work is a nice thought (and was probably in our favor going from the midwest soil to the swamp), but we missed it. one of the first things luke did once we got settled here was get his old toro tuned up to mow goose's grass. he missed his old friend. ;)

i cannot wait to have my own yard again and plant my flowers... gosh, i love flowers and fresh mulch. i still like to drive by our old house and look at all the trees, bushes and perennials we planted. weird? maybe. i do not miss our first house (that much), but i do like to see that we left a mark. :)

good man

2011-09-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

i've got a good man.
no, i've got a great man.

he works hard for our family every day and not once have i heard him complain.

he sacrafices to give us the world.

he continues keeps me on my toes.
he has determination and drive, which is something i find extremely sexy.
he makes me laugh...a lot.

he listens to me talk circles and boy, do i talk in circles.
he dances in the car, in the house and on the street with me.
he encourages me daily.

he loves me, he wants me, he needs me.

but i need him more.

he is the center of my world,

my rock, my home base, my everything.

but you want to know my favorite thing?

it's the way he plays with our kids.
i'm mean he really plays with them.

he gets down on the floor every. single. night. and plays with our kids.

he is never too tired. he never says "no".

he always choses us. always.

we are lucky and he is incredible.

babe, you're the best. ever.
love you.
xoxo.

8 month old doll baby

2011-09-26T12:27:00.000-05:00

this girl and i love playing dress up.

mila is 8 months old today!

sister is a crawling, pulling up, babbling, smiling, nose wrinkling fool.

last week, she got her first tooth! noah at 8 months had 8 teeth...man child.

mila is such a joy and has her daddy wrapped tight around her finger.

we could not imagine our family without our little doll.

kid's day out

2011-09-22T16:43:00.001-05:00

two weeks after we moved here, i threw another wrench in noah's life: school.
bad timing? maybe. probably. but he needs it. i need it.
being a child with a stay at home mom, noah needed to socialize with other kids.
it's one day a week 9a-3p. the first two weeks were rough, but this week he did great. no tears! he was excited to go.
it's so neat watching him do his own thing and i love the stories he tells about his day at "school".
my little boy is growing up so fast.

the backpack was a HUGE hit.

when he is not going to school, noah insists on cramming every single train he has into the bag and must take it everywhere we go.

you would not believe how heavy this little bag is and yes, i make him carry it, because i'm mean like that.

oh and what do mila and i do on our special days together? whatever we want.
so far we have gone up to atchison to shop nell hill, went shoe shopping, met grandma and a close friend for lunch, we've snuggled, we've played, we've run errands, and this is only week 3!
who knows what the year will bring! i'm pretty sure this will be our errand running day, because, wow, i forgot how easy it was to run errands with only one child. kid's day out is a win-win for everybody. :)

crazy, busy, but oh so good.

2011-09-19T22:08:00.004-05:00

life has been a tad crazy, which explains my lack of blogging. noah started school, mila is crawling everywhere, luke has been away more than here, and in my "free" time, i'm picking out tile...craziness, i tell ya. it's hard to justify blogging time when i am still trying to remember where i put our sweatshirts, because, yeah, it's been that cold at times. our routine went out the window and i like routines. slowly, but surely we are getting back on track and figuring out our new normal.

life is good, completely unorganized and all out of sorts, but oh so good. :)

the weather has been glorious and we have been loving every minute.

while walking the trails luke said, "i love the woods. it smells like boy scout camp, it smells like home."

gosh, i love my hot, eagle scout husband. :)

adjusting

2011-09-09T17:27:00.001-05:00

MILA:
girlfriend is doing great, as expected. she's a go-with-the-flow type of baby and the move did not phase her one bit. we brought her crib, so things are not much different for her. feed her, change her, love her and life is good.

NOAH:
big brother, on the other hand, is all out of sorts. he is, of course, extremely happy to see the grandparents every day and is loving all the attention, but he is not himself. i'm not quite sure if noah is just confused with life or if he is just being two. probably a little of both. he still asks to go to luca and sophie's house (his best florida buddies). he still talks about how "noah's house is empty" and how "orange chair" (his chair he used to eat lunch in every day) is on a truck. after the movers came we slept in our "empty" house. we probably should have stayed at a hotel. noah has starting having pee-pee accidents and throwing tantrums like i've never seen. i am trying to remind myself over and over that he is two and that has been through a lot, but wow, he's wearing me out. i cannot wait to see the look on his face when he is reunited with all of his stuff. it will be like christmas morning!

THE DOGS:
i cannot tell you how happy they are. it is so weird. our pug, sampson, is playing again. he really hasn't played much since we moved to florida. crazy! jack has had less panic attacks and i even was able to chew gum around him! this is huge! maybe it's the soft grass, the familiar smells, the ability to go outside for long periods of time to run the yard, or the fact that granny goose gives them lots of loving, but it's like the boys know they are home.

LUKE:
he was the one who would have lived in florida forever, i think, but he is doing great. he's enjoying the weather, the barbecue, and knowing where he is going. honestly, though, luke has not had much time here because he's been traveling a bunch.

ME:
i am so happy. the end.

dear florida,

2011-08-30T09:19:00.000-05:00

it's been real getting to know you.

i won't miss your deathly hot summers, the weird break-your ankle-when-you-walk-on-it grass, the terrible drivers, the ridiculously crowded malls, or the expensive toll roads...

but i will pretty much miss everything else.

you lived up to your name, "the sunshine state" and we have thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine nearly every day.
blue, sunny skies can turn any grumpy mood upside down. :)

seeing palm trees in my yard makes me smile. i love palm trees.

having so many neat things to do and so many theme parks only a short drive away is awesome.

having visitors. who wants to come vacation in kansas. ha!

even the gators are not so bad. kind of cool actually to see one swimming in the pond behind our house. wow, cannot believe i just said that. but then again, i do watch "swamp people" and bruce taught me how to handle myself in case of a gator encounter.

thanks for the AMAZING winters. they make up for your unbearable summers.

and a special thanks to some of your finest citizens:

good-bye party our friends threw us.
i love these girls.

thanks florida for the amazing ride and incredible memories.

we'll miss you, but who knows, maybe we shall reside with you once again. perhaps next time near your sandy shores. retiring on the beach sounds pretty fab to me. :)

until we meet again,
amy

7 months

2011-08-29T15:42:00.000-05:00

mila continues to be our happy, baby girl.

she is such a content little thing.

if all babies were like her, i have 10...just kidding...well, maybe.

girlfriend has mastered sitting up. i love this stage. you can sit them up with a toy in front of them and they'll play forever.

she has also started crawling...and my world is about to get a lot more hectic.

mila doesn't really babble yet, but instead screams at the top of her lungs in sheer delight. it's quite loud.

she's a total mama's girl and prefers me at all times.

mila is a drooling machine and soaks a shirt in less than 15 minutes. the teeth have to be coming soon.

she is the snugglebug of all snugglebugs and

there is nothing sweeter than snuggling with this little lover.

looooovvveeeeeeeee...

noah is the best big brother. most mornings he comes into our room and says "mila wake up. mommy, you go get her." he is gentle, loving and so kind to his sister. noah will even share his trains with mila.

20 months apart seemed crazy at first, but i love having them so close in age.

and we're off!

2011-08-23T06:23:00.001-05:00

if only i could click my heels...

cheesy, corny, kansas material? yes, but i couldn't resist.

movers packed up the house.

mom and i are flying the kids back. i'm extremely thankful to have an extra set of hands this flight.

dad drove one car back this weekend. he made it safely, PTL. we are incredibly thankful he offered to do this. thanks dad.

luke and the dogs will drive back later this week.

please pray for safe travels for everyone. thanks.

it's sad to say good-bye, but we are excited to start another chapter of our life.

packing shmacking.

2011-08-10T10:09:00.005-05:00

what have we been doing lately? packing? who has time for that?!

we've been splashing at splash parks.

we've had countless play dates with our girl, sophie. or soph as noah calls her.

we've been teething, but still no teeth.

we've been swimming...a lot.

we've hunted alligators at the science center.

we've played a little music.

we've been driving trains.

we've been flying helicopters.

we even met some dinosaurs!

this one was even found in kansas. i kid you not.

noah was amazed. i think he would have stood there all day. this skeleton moved!

basically, we have found every excuse NOT to pack.

but that's okay. i've got time.

plus, i only need to pack the essentials to make it through a few months. the movers will do the rest. PTL for a company move! no bubble wrapping the dishes myself!

it's been a fun, florida summer and we will continue to enjoy our remaining days here. :)

i'm sure next week (our last week), i will go into crazy person, packing mode. well, i hope i do.

bittersweet

2011-08-09T08:04:00.001-05:00

are my thoughts on the upcoming move.

florida has become our home, our friends here are incredible, our church is exactly what we had been looking for, and we love, love, LOVE the warm weather.

but kansas has a lot to offer: family, lifelong friends, seasons- ha! for me, kansas has always been our home, where we grew up, where we know our way around. i have made it pretty clear on this blog how much i miss our families and i do. i have missed them so much. i can't help but want our kids to grow up with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins nearby. i want to be there as my sister dives further into motherhood, i want to meet my brother up for lunch in downtown lawrence (probably the best place there is) and then do a little shopping on mass street. i want to have family dinners at granny goose's house. i want my dad to teach my kids how to throw a ball. i want to chat with my mom about nothing with a starbucks in hand. i want to travel to mena for thanksgiving with luke's entire family-one of my favorite weekends of the year. i want to have christmas in OUR house with our babies which is something we have yet to do. any idea how excited i am for this?! soon enough this will all be happening.

but dang, we have the greatest friends here. they have become part of our family. they have helped us raise our babies. they have given us so much priceless advice and direction. we have fallen in love with their children. our kids have become best friends. we have been blown away how they give themselves selflessly and would drop ANYTHING for us. they have challenged us in our faith and given us the desire to know Him better. they have been there no. matter. what. we have never done life with people like this before...and it's incredible. these people will always be our florida family, our forever friends. gosh, we love them and cannot thank them enough for opening their hearts to a couple of kansans. :)

we will always believe that this move was the BEST thing we have ever done. it gave us a chance to be completely on our own, to get out of our bubble, to leave our comfort zone, to start fresh, to do life differently, to explore a new place, to dive deeper in our faith, to depend completely on one another, to fall in love, and create our own little world. florida has given us so much and we have been so blessed with this opportunity. we are looking forward to this new chapter of our life to begin, but we will miss the life we created here. like i said, the move is bittersweet... but exciting.

i will probably get this picture (taken by miss emily) printed on a large canvas and hang it in our home. i love it. luke and i surrounded by the beautiful florida scenery.

hungry girl

2011-08-01T09:00:00.001-05:00

we gave mila her first meal and she LOVED it.

first bite

more please!

let me help

telling us all about it.

i guess it's baby food making time once again. so fun! :)

ROCK STAR

2011-07-29T14:09:00.004-05:00

tonight is my 10 year high school reunion. i am bummed i cannot go, but it doesn't make much since to travel back when i am moving there in 4 short weeks. dang it, i would have loved to see old friends. but for everyone going:

party like rock stars

and have a great time!

i will celebrate tonight, too. don't you worry. i might stay up to 11pm and catch up on the dvr. exciting, i know. :)

delicious baby feet

2011-07-28T15:48:00.000-05:00

i have heard of babies doing this, and i have seen it on occassion. noah never could get his feet past his pot belly, so i find it quite fascinating that girlfriend does it all the time. if mila isn't sucking her thumb, she's sucking her toes. silly, little baby with the cutest toes ever. :)

6 months

2011-07-26T14:15:00.000-05:00

miss m continues to be our happy little baby. her whole face lights up when she smiles and has the cutest dimple on the right side of her nose when she gets really excited. it's my fav. i always say this, but it's true, she is just so SWEET. having a girl is very different. not better, just different in a sweet, softer, more calm (lol) way. she's our little ray of sunshine.

mila's ninja face when she's about to yell out a super excited squeal.

little, love bug

6 months stats:

height: 26 inches- 60th percentile
weight: 14 lbs, 5 oz - 20th percentile
head: 16 1/2 inches - 40th percentile

i looked back at noah's 6 months blog and he weighed 5 lbs heavier ...5 whole pounds! haha! these kids continue to be polar opposites in every way and i love the variety they bring into my life. :)

gee-us and friends

2011-07-25T13:01:00.001-05:00

today, at lunch, noah says,

sophie, let's pray.

dear gee-us (jesus),

thank you for mommy, daddy, caillou, and movies.

amen!

super cute, but seriously, caillou. haha. what is it about that bald-headed kid? noah, has an attention span of 3-5 minutes with most shows, but second noah hears caillou's whiny voice, he immediately goes into a trance and will sit the entire time! there must be hypnotic material in there, because many kids i know have similar reactions.

can i just say how much i love this little girl???

noah and sophie are exactly one month apart and have been great buddies since day one. so have sophie's mom, liz, and i. we are sure going to miss them. i pretty much forced liz to leave soph with me, so we could play. this move is going to be bitter sweet for sure. it's been so nice having another first time mom to do things with, let our kiddos play and swap mommy notes. it also doesn't hurt that sophie is semi-famous. her mom is tinker bell, afterall. seriously, like the tinker bell that jumps off the castle during the firework show. pretty cool if you ask me. :)

day with dad

2011-07-15T08:23:00.000-05:00

i got my hair cut (first time since before mila was born...she's almost 6 months old. it was a must.) and luke was on daddy patrol. of course, the one day i have something planned, luke has to go handle an issue at work. on a saturday. awesome. so instead of ruining my plans, he packed up the kids and took them with him. PTL, momma needed a couple hours to herself.

noah was thrilled. going to daddy's work means he gets to see his favorite thing ever, trains. luke's work has box cars that park (if that's what you call it) directly behind his buildings to be unloaded/reloaded. luke snapped a few photos with his phone. noah was in heaven.

i love how small he looks next to the box cars. every day since then, noah has asked to go to daddy's work. i'm pretty sure he thinks daddy has the coolest job EVER!

stay at home mom: not for the weak

2011-07-13T14:13:00.003-05:00

with the numerous (daily) timeouts, the whining, the crying, the screaming, the constant state of picking up toys, cleaning pee off the floor, wiping bums, making meals, doing laundry, etc. i have found myself extremely exhausted. a little voice in the back of mind saying, "going back to work would be much easier." i know from experience that it is. do i really want to go back to work just yet? no, not really... well, maybe a little when i find noah in the bathtub with the dog pouring shampoo all over him and everything else. our dog, jack, has panic attacks every time there is a storm, we chew gum or mila screams and the bathtub is his safe place. it's rainy season in florida, so these attacks happen daily. lovely.

it has just been a hard couple of weeks in the momma department. luke has been traveling, noah is being a tantrum-throwing nightmare and mila has entered the clinging/screaming phase. to make matters worse, our summertime activities have become slightly limited due to the extreme heat and humidity. the sun is so intense that if you walk outside, you burst into flames. we still (occasionally) go to the pool but it's starting to feel like a hot tub. not pleasant.

mr. always-naked-stubborn-pants noah

miss don't-walk-out-of-the-room/put-me-down-or-i-will-scream-my-bloody-head-off mila

mila's scream reminds me of a mandrake.

"The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it."

—Hermione Granger^[src]

A Mandrake, also known as Mandragora, is a plant which has a root that looks like a human (like a baby when the plant is young, but maturing as the plant grows).

anyone seen the harry potter series? um, if you haven't you should like right now. the final movie comes out tomorrow at midnight!!!!! luke and i are super excited! we are HUGE hp fans!

all joking aside, these kids are my world. they are these amazing little beings came into our lives and completely changed everything for the better. oh yes, they created a lot chaos, but along with that, they have brought a whole level of happiness to our lives. some days are just H-A-R-D and that's okay. i still wouldn't change a thing. i love being home with my little monsters. :)

mother's day 2011

grown ups

2011-07-11T12:06:00.007-05:00

saturday was our 6th year wedding anniversary and as we were eating dinner, looking at our 2 beautiful babes, we started reflecting:

here we are 12 years and 2 kids later, carrying an extra 12 pounds, and living 1200 miles away from where we started...who would have guessed?

in true high school sweetheart fashion, luke and i started dating when we were kids. and really, we grew up together. precious? i think so. we graduated high school. we graduated college. we got jobs. we got married. we got dogs. we bought a house. we moved to florida. we sold a house. we made a baby. we made another. we became a family. each step we did together.

somewhere along the way we must have become "grown ups". this thought made us laugh. while we may look older, have more responsibilty, bills to pay, and cute little mouths to feed, we honestly don't feel much different. are we really the grown ups now??? nah...most days we still feel like those crazy, young kids who joke constantly, laugh a ton and love each other like crazy all while taking life one step at a time. together.

oh babe, i'm pretty sure YOU will never grow up and i'm thankful for that.

you are perfectly silly just the way you've always been. :)

i love you!

happy anniversary.

super baby

2011-07-08T08:35:00.003-05:00

totally random, but i love when you pick a baby up like this and no matter what they go stiff as a board. it's hilarious. it looks like they are going to fly off and save the world.

this girl sure loves her daddy, but who wouldn't, he's the best.

i am so glad it's friday and luke will be back from his travels. for one, we miss him and two, i'm tired of playing trains. noah NEVER lets me be thomas.

"momma, be henry!"

have a great weekend!

so this is really going to happen?

2011-07-07T12:03:00.000-05:00

we are in the process of quoting different moving companies and you'd think having movers come into our house to take inventory of our things would help me realize that this move is coming up...FAST. nope, it hasn't really sunk in yet. moving back has been talked about for a long time and has always seemed so far away. maybe when they show up with the trucks and starting packing up our stuff it will begin to feel real.

luke kindly, in a manner to not freak me out, (because i'm totally the freak out type ) just reminded me that we are moving next month..........for reals?!?!? NEXT month! like whoa. we are pros at moving. we have done it A LOT, but this will be our first time moving with a family. moving us, our kids and all of our/their stuff half way across the country will be no easy task. i guess i better start getting our life organized.

now, if i could only figure out where to start???

obsessed...

2011-07-06T07:10:00.000-05:00

with that face! gosh, i love her. :)

embarrassed, shocked, relieved, and deeply saddened

2011-07-05T22:58:00.017-05:00

the last several weeks, i let the casey anthony trial CONSUME my life.  it's nothing but ridiculous on my part. i got caught up in the hoopla. i got my mom, my sister, my friends, and random strangers hooked on the case. i have spent more hours than i would like to admit in front of the television watching every moment.

i watched the trial during the day. i watched the highlights at night. i watched the talking heads carry on. i never missed a day. i have watched the trial from day 1 and i am slightly EMBARRASSED.

my fascination with this case started in july 2008 when we were sent down to orlando by luke's company to find a place to live. caylee was reporting missing around the same time we were visiting and that sweet child's face was plastered EVERYWHERE. once the trial started, my fascination continued as they were mentioning streets i frequently drive on, stores i shop at, places i knew of, etc. i. could. not. stop. watching.

well, today, the verdict came in: NOT GUILTY on ALL major charges.

i was shocked. not really what i (or the majority of the world) was expecting, but nonetheless, it is what it is. i do, however, think the prosecution put on one heck of a case, and to be honest, they had me convinced. but the problem was, the circumstantial evidence was huge and the clear cut evidence was lacking (mainly because her body was left in a swamp for 6 months washing away any real evidence).  even though i hate myself for saying this, i see how the jury found reasonable doubt. damn it.

personally, i am relieved the trial is over.   this such a heartbreaking, sickening and disturbing story to watch and hear about day after day and yet, i could not turn the stupid television off...ugh. when the verdict came in today, i felt SAD- that poor child, that poor family, that crazy, lying mother...

so many people are saying that justice has not been served. i guess we never really will know. regardless, that mother's life is ruined and if she did kill her baby, true justice will be found. we will all have our true judgment day.

caylee's death will probably always remain a mystery, her family will forever be destroyed, and her sweet face will NEVER be forgotten. may God BLESS her little soul.

sweet child

2011-06-27T09:37:00.002-05:00

little miss is about as sweet as they come. she's content, laid back, and happy with life in general.

mila is 5 months old and getting more vocal by the day. she is quite the chatterbox and has so much to say. mila mastered rolling from her back to front a couple of weeks ago and now, is a rolling machine. she has become a total thumb sucker and as much as i encouraged the paci (because it's a lot much easier to take away than a thumb), girlfriend wasn't having it. she'd rip the paci out of her mouth, throw it across the crib and replace it with her thumb. haha.

perks to having a thumb-sucking babe: a thumb is always accessible, cannot get lost and is the cutest thing ever. :)

it's crazy how much noah loves his little sister. :)

look at noah in the background. this picture totally depicts his wild nature. in case you were wondering, rocking underwear with sandals is common attire at our house.

new friends

2011-06-22T15:42:00.009-05:00

while back in kansas, mila got to meet some new friends.

besties already...just like their mamas. :)

mila and miss dailyn-born 2 weeks apart.

meeting the twins: cooper and cohen-one month older.

not sure she is boy crazy just yet.

mila's outburst made the boys upset, too. haha.

payton and noah at deanna rose farmstead. so cute.

it will be neat watching these kiddos grow up together. :)

ty-man

2011-06-20T07:19:00.001-05:00

so i finally got to meet mr. man...

and he's precious.

proud mama

wanna see how small tyson really is?

look at the difference in thighs!!! i love it! ty has just now reached mila's birthweight and he is a month old! i love that kid and his sweet little bird legs. i am so happy i will be able to watch him grow. :)

happy father's day!

2011-06-19T13:37:00.000-05:00

God seriously blessed me with the most amazing man and our kids with the most incredible daddy. you are this family's rock and we love you so much!

love, your biggest fans

baby giggles

2011-06-12T17:08:00.000-05:00

the kids and i are in kansas. we are having a blast seeing family and friends. we miss daddy tons and he is missing us. lucas, here is something to make you smile:

love you, babe. see you in a couple of days! xoxo.

the move

2011-06-03T13:24:00.004-05:00

several months back, we were told by luke's company that he would need to be back by the turn of 2012 and we were fine with that. plenty of time to emotionally and physically prepare. well, early this spring that all changed. they would like us to move back THIS SUMMER.... hold the phone, that's in a couple of months!

after that news, i starting panicking, because we have to find a house, pack up our stuff and move us and our 2 small children 1200 miles.  i have spent hours and HOURS looking at homes online like a crazy person. to make it a smoother process, however, we have come to the decision that we are going to move back and THEN find a home. i am so relieved. it was just too much for me to deal with this far away. we do not want to rush into a purchase this big. you'd think since we grew up in kansas we would know exactly where we want to move...not even kind of.

since we are moving there first before any home decisions are made, goose has welcomed us to live with her until we find our home. bless her heart, i'm not sure she knows what is in store for her. we are a rowdy bunch. we are so thankful for her love and support.

our deadline to be back is september 1st. so in true luke fashion, we are planning to move a few days prior. lol. he will enjoy florida EVERY day he possibly can. gosh, i love that man. but in all honestly, we haven't made any concrete plans.  luke continues to assure me that there's still plenty of time...right? i think he's in denial.

how do i feel? happy, sad, nervous, thankful, scared, excited.   it is a cycle that continues to repeat itself.

i apologize in advance for multiple posts about the move, but i have held onto this news for so long that i feel like i am going to explode! i have so much to say and so many feeling to express. hang in there with me.

one final surprise

2011-06-02T08:26:00.000-05:00

a couple months back, my sister had her baby shower. since i could not attend, luke and i came up with an awesome gift to give her.

i think she liked it. :)

kansas...we'll be seeing you soon.

jump up, it's your birthday!!!

2011-06-01T07:40:00.004-05:00

saturday was noah's birthday party. we had it at puzzles, a place full of bounce houses...it's awesome. the kids (and parents) jumped for hours.

we love bounce houses!

bounce house dodgeball

baby ana getting in on the action!

mr. keith and caedmon

driving some race cars!

how many andersons can fit in a car?!

ms. emily and mila...yep, she's definitely ready for #6 :)

dad and mom with the birthday boy

noah's cake that i made.

it was a great time! we were so blessed to celebrate noah's special day with our florida family. we sure love them. :)

4 months and 2 years

2011-05-27T21:52:00.002-05:00

girlfriend is 4 months old! mila measured in the 50th percentile in weight, length and head circumference at her doctor's appointment today. she has become very aware of big brother and noah can really get her cooing. i could watch them interact all day. oh wait, i do. :)

she is so sweet.

at little man's 2-year check up, noah measured in the 25th percentile for height and the 50 percentile for the rest. we knew it...shrimp of a kid.

here noah is playing with a water gun grandma and grandpa sent for his birthday. he thinks it's hilarious to shoot mom, dad and sister in the face...awesome.

note to self: never, i mean NEVER go to the doctor alone when both kids need shots. it. was. a. disaster. 2 nurses, 1 secretary and 1 mom to control the situation. all i could do was laugh. noah has become terrified of anything health care related since his previous hospital stay. he was so hysterical he wouldn't even eat his lollipop...now, that is upset! this kid loves candy almost as much a his parents...almost.

look who's two!!!

2011-05-25T08:41:00.000-05:00

today, noah turns 2!!! seriously?! where has the time gone? i still look at him as my baby but he is really growing into such a little man (tear).

those big brown eyes are captivating.

things i want to remember about noah at this age:

-his favorite book is NOT MY TRAIN! and he asks to read it every night.

-favorite toys: buzz, trains, cars, and any kind of shark

-loves to DANCE. he's definitely our child.
-refuses to share toys with his friends.

-favorite character: BUZZ lightyear, hands down

-favorite movies: cars, buzz (toy story), and penguins (happy feet)
-loves his baby sister.

-every morning he wants a bagel for breakfast. every morning.

-LUCA is his best bud and noah is in awe of everything he does.

-likes to dip his food in everything. like father, like son.

-noah is obsessed with the MOON.

-BUBBLES make him go wild and stop the tears at church.

-favorite foods: blueberries and yogurt

-he is such a lover. so many BIG HUGS and kisses to go around. :)

happy birthday, noah michael!

you have brightened our world in every way possible.

we love you so much!!

home is where your mom is

2011-05-23T09:52:00.000-05:00

i love this saying. the hardest part of living far away is being apart from family, especially your mom. and today, i am missing her.

is it weird that i call my mom just to hear the sound of her voice? well, i do (frequently). nobody knows you like your mom, and i am pretty sure i have the best mom ever. :)

an oldie but a goodie. she's beautiful.

i love you, mom.

miss dramatic

2011-05-20T09:48:00.000-05:00

startle reflex in full effect

this happens multiple times throughout the day thanks to a rowdy, big brother. it's pitiful to see.

haha. happy friday.

edward: not for sissies

2011-05-19T08:38:00.001-05:00

noah found edward the other day and i graciously let noah play with him. N is completely entrigued by him, but seriously, who wouldn't be. edward has awesome hair and sparkly skin. noah likes to throw edward to the dogs...

...and the dogs like to play fetch. poor edward.

and if you are wondering why i have an edward doll, i won him in a white elephant gift exchange. i did, however, bring him to the exchange and win him back. booya!

this post is ridiculous. i know.

we love summer!

2011-05-16T11:57:00.001-05:00

we are the kind of people who crave the heat. we love it. we hate the cold, therefore, becoming floridians has been a perfect fit for us. one awesome thing about florida is that pool season starts earlier and ends later. i am a sun worshiper and i like to spend the summers at the pool.

mila's first dip in the pool.

she loved it which was no surprise. our kids love the water.

practicing our "splashy kickers" as ms. carole calls them.

gotta love baby swimsuits and chunky thighs :)

daddy was proud of his tan, little fish.

after 4 days of swimming lessons, the kid has no fear. noah was jumping in all by himself saying "ready, set, go!"

it will be interesting to see how noah does after week 2 of his lessons.

ty's debut

2011-05-15T14:09:00.002-05:00

i love this one. such a handsome little man.

the proud parents :)

this last picture shows how tiny the little bird really is. he is so precious.

tyson is doing great. the pediatrician is very pleased with his progress. we pray ty continues to grow stronger every day. thanks friends for your prayers.

little fish

2011-05-13T12:10:00.000-05:00

week 1 of swim lessons is complete!

little man is doing great! he sinks more than he swims, but is getting better every day.

platypus face

sweet nephew

2011-05-13T11:54:00.001-05:00

tyson scott

5 lbs, 5 oz

19 inches long

mister ty entered the world yesterday! he came 5 weeks early and therefore is needing a little extra help. please pray for this sweet baby boy and their parents, who just want to cuddle their new precious babe.

los and scooter, we are so happy for you! we love you three! hang in there.

incredibly blessed...

2011-05-08T12:03:00.000-05:00

to be a mom.

happy momma's day!

okay, okay. i see it.

2011-05-05T10:54:00.001-05:00

so many people keep telling us how much mila and noah look alike and i just couldn't see it. i would even argue with them about it...emily, i am sorry.

after looking at these pics i took yesterday, i see it. finally. i am surprisingly shocked.

this one especially...wow. they are even making the same expression.

i do have to say, mila looks completely different than noah's baby pictures, but she sure looks like him now. when mila was first born it appeared she was taking after my side. now, i am not so sure. either way, she's cute as can be. :)

summer is here

2011-05-04T12:20:00.000-05:00

and it is HOT! all i want to do is jump in the pool, which is not an easy task with two kids under two. i need to find a pool with a wading area, stat!

note to self: space next kid out further, so you can go to the pool. haha. j/k.

little miss in her summer gear.

clarification

2011-05-03T21:25:00.007-05:00

when i said (in the previous post) we have "school" in the mornings, i meant noah and i play. we dance, sing, read books, count, throw the ball, practice our letters, count, color, build things, make stuff, do whatever...together. basically, it is a set time where i stop whatever i am doing and really bond with my little man.

i feel like i am always busy doing something- laundry, unloading/reloading the dishwasher, picking up the house, running errands, getting noah on and off the potty, wiping bums, feeding/holding/changing mila, making breakfast, lunch and dinner, etc. and that i am missing that one on one time with noah that we used to have. so i started "school" during mila's morning nap. it's a special time where we get to play face-to-face, no distractions. i call it "school" because i try to make the activities somewhat educational. why not learn and play?

life gets busy and there are so many distractions. i've come to the realization my house will always look a wreck, there will always be clothes to wash and put away and there will always be errands to run. and that is okay. those things can wait. they have to. all noah wants to do is play with me and i will be sad the day he doesn't want to anymore.

also, i was kidding about letting him "occasionally watch a movie." we watch a lot of movies in this house. i am not sure how we would survive without them. :)

abc...1,2,3

2011-05-03T10:03:00.003-05:00

at our house, school is in session! i think the true geek in me likes having "school" in the mornings for my nearly two year old. school's cool!

i was a nerd in school- meaning i loved to study, do homework, read, etc. my parents never had to ask me to do my homework. i just did it in a completely nerd-tastic way. so having "school" is very fun for me!

daddy, on the other hand, was the cool kid who liked to have a good time and party. we are really hoping our kids know how to balance life better than we did. i was (am) definitely too uptight and missed out on a lot fun. and lucas was probably a little too relaxed. lol. i guess we both turned out alright.

so far, noah seems to like "school" given his attention span only lasts about 15 minutes max. regardless, he is an alphabet learning fool! smarty mcsmarty knows almost all his capital letters. next on the curriculum...numbers!!! don't worry, i still let the kid play and occasionally watch a movie. ;)

noah with his thinking cap on.

super short

2011-04-27T09:43:00.000-05:00

mila might be super sleep, but her big brother is super short! i don't think he's grown in a year...seriously. i was picking out his easter clothes and a had to skip past the clothes he wore last year because they still fit!!! in some brands, he is still rocking 12-18 month clothing! we bought him some 2T clothing in advance and he looks like a hoodlum in them. maybe he can wear them next summer. haha. it's hilarious because he is extremely articulate and you wouldn't expect to hear a child this small to have a full blown conversation with you! we have been expecting a growth spurt for months and not an inch. one day.

short, stocky little dude

super sleep

2011-04-26T11:02:00.000-05:00

we have nicknamed mila "super sleep". she sleeps ALL the time. we have to wake her in the morning after she's slept 11-12 hours (trust me, i'm not complaining). we have to wake her from nap time to eat. in the last month, i think she has cried twice for being hungry...uhhhh, not normal. mila cries because she's tired. some days it concerns us, but i think we are forgetting how much babies sleep? apparently, being a baby is exhausting.

pretty sure we have a rare, precious gem on our hands :)

easter

2011-04-25T11:59:00.002-05:00

my 3 favorite people

after church, we hunted eggs. noah had a blast! having kids sure makes holidays more fun. their excitement is priceless.

it was a wonderful, relaxing day celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. the only things missing were mom's cheesy potatoes and family. :)

pink

2011-04-20T07:22:00.000-05:00

not being a huge pink fan, myself, i thought i would be sick of the color by now....

not a chance!

this whole girly-girl thing is WAY too much fun!

excited

2011-04-15T14:43:00.000-05:00

tonight, i have a date with harry.

tomorrow, i have a date with my man.

it's gonna be a GREAT weekend!!!

potty training 101

2011-04-13T10:28:00.003-05:00

this kid is a potty training fool!

i never thought i would even start attempting potty training before 2 years, but noah was interested. he actually brought it up and started talking about the potty months ago. after that, i went out and got a potty. noah liked to sit on it and hide his toys in it, but never made any peeps or poops, so i waited. finally, he made peeps in the potty and got the concept.

a couple of weeks ago, i (sort of) started the potty training process. it's hard to potty train and take care of a newborn, but this week, i finally feel like noah and i are getting the hang of it. it is a learning process for both of us, but we are officially in full potty training mode at our house! noah is doing great and does better every day! we are so proud of the little guy!

i called luke, yesterday, at work to tell him noah made his first poop in the potty! we were to the moon excited, as getting him to #2 in the potty has been quite a challenge- he holds until nap/diaper time. it's funny what excites you once you have children. i love how life changes.

noah has been super enthusiastic about potty training, mainly because he gets a "special treat" (a m&m or reese's pieces) when he does his business!

thanks to my friend, shana, we are doing the bare-bottom method (we were having too many accidents in training pants/undies) and like shana told me, "it works!" we have had very few accidents. but any advice on how to get the kid back in underwear?

her name

2011-04-07T09:55:00.002-05:00

we have gotten a lot of questions, comments, opinions about the name "mila" so i thought i tell the story of how we got to this name.

shortly after noah was born, luke told me he was ready to try for another baby-crazy man. and if it was a girl, he wanted to name her mila. i liked the name, but at first i wasn't sold.

over the next year, the name grew on me. i told the name to my dear friend, delia. she loved it and told me that in romania (where she was born and raised) the word "mila" means mercy. after hearing that, i knew mila would be her name. i was in love.

her middle name, diane, comes from my mom and i. it is both of our middle names and i always knew i wanted to pass that namesake along to my first daughter.

when she was born and we saw her sweet face, we knew mila fit her perfectly. i love her name and i love that her daddy picked it out. :)

smile...

2011-04-01T08:49:00.000-05:00

it's friday!!!

sibling love

2011-03-30T16:54:00.000-05:00

i hope they grow up best friends. :)

home at last

2011-03-29T09:39:00.002-05:00

back in october, i shared a link to help raise money for our friends, the andersons, to bring home their daughter, elsa, from ethiopia. after a long journey, she arrived saturday evening and we were all their to greet her! it was one of the most amazing things i have ever witnessed.

waiting for elsabeth

so much love and support for the andersons :)

last pic of em with only 4 kids!!!

here comes keith and elsa!!! (sorry it's blurry)

elsa meeting her siblings. she went right to her momma with no hesitation. :)

family of 7!

the anderson GIRLS!!!

keith and elsa

that sweet smile never left her face. it was like she was thinking, "finally, i'm home!"

what a joyous day and an unforgetable experience. elsa is finally home and boy, did she luck out with an amazing family. hopefully, the anderson's story will open many people's hearts and minds towards adoption. i know it sure did for me. click here to see a video of elsabeth's homecoming.

welcome home, elsa!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 months!

2011-03-28T13:04:00.001-05:00

stats

weight: 12 lbs, 5 oz- 80th percentile
height: 22 1/2 inches- 60th percentile

mila is a growing bean and i swear, she gets a new roll every day! there must be special powers (and a lot of fat) in my breast milk to make our kids super chubby and freakishly strong. super baby is still rolling over and already wants to stand at all times. her sleeping schedule is sporadic. she will sleep anywhere from 3-6 hours during the night, but last night she slept 8 HOURS!!! i am hoping this was not just a fluke! momma felt like a million bucks this morning!

mila definitely looks more like my baby pics but she definitely has her own look. it will be interesting to see how she changes over the next few months.

so tired after our shots

noah's big thing this month is that he narrates EVERYTHING he does. i love to hear him verbally process. cutest. thing. ever. besides being cute, noah has also been extremely challenging. luke and i are both strong-willed and i think he got both sides...yikes. let's just say i am reading a lot of parenting books at the moment. lol.

baby girl

2011-03-25T12:38:00.000-05:00

we love you, baby girl...

so unbelievably much.

God picked you just for us...

and you are perfect.

we love you, little miss,

now and always.

*ollie wren photos

mila's room

2011-03-23T12:15:00.000-05:00

i am just now putting up pics of mila's room because well, we just now have the bedding put on and the bed raised back up. with all of our visitors lately, noah has been staying in mila's room. i am so happy to have her room back in order. :)

i started off not wanting a theme for her room, but everything i found was bird related. so therefore, mila's room has a bird theme and i love it.

it all started with this painting i found online

everything is kind of crammed on one wall because the room is a pentagon...not the easiest to work with, but it's temporary so i can deal.

my favorite piece of her room- the birdcage memory board.

mila seems to love her room as well.

and just because those cheekers are irresistible...

uncle d

2011-03-22T10:40:00.000-05:00

uncle donald came to visit and we had a great time. don and i watched a TON of basketball. besides my dad, he is the biggest sports nut i know, therefore, it was a blast watching the tournament with him. he knows so much about every team!

noah also got a lot of playtime with uncle d. they did countless puzzles, blew lots of bubbles and even went for a dip in the pool...yeah, it's that hot here already.

we love when don comes to visit. he is hilarious and we always have a good time. luke is extremely close with his brother and their relationship is the main reason we wanted our kids so close in age. we can only hope that our kids are such good of friends.

and yes, that is a giant wolf on donald's shirt...like i said, he's hilarious.

the kids with their uncle

we love you, d! please come back soon!

everything baby

2011-03-21T09:53:00.000-05:00

baby feet

baby hands

baby legs

baby face

i love everything baby and

i love having a baby in the house again.

as always, photos courtesy of ollie wren

30!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-03-19T18:21:00.000-05:00

happy birthday, lucas!

i cannot believe you are 30! gosh, we are getting old, but at least we are getting old together :). i love you, babe!

make a wish!!!

tired

2011-03-14T19:47:00.001-05:00

now that i have been a mom of two kids for 7 weeks, i can officially say two is a bit more tiring than one. i have hit a new level of exhaustion. mila is not the greatest sleeper and luke has been traveling a ridiculous amount since she has been born. so that means, a mama who has been up all night and all day with no one to help or give me a 5-minute break. i. am. so. tired. luckily, luke's 4-week traveling stint has come to a end and i could not be more thankful. daddy duty is on in full effect.

off to get some shuteye before this little one needs to eat again...

...and looking at those cheekers, it's obvious she doesn't miss a meal. :)

the goose

2011-03-14T11:30:00.000-05:00

granny goose came for a visit and it was oh so fun!

she met our sweet girl. (hope i look that good when i am a grandma!)

and played with noah nonstop!

noah sure loves his goose and it was a rough morning once he realized she was gone. we had a wonderful time as usual and loved having her here. kelly was a HUGE help to me and made me miss having family nearby. there is nothing better than watching your kids play with their grandparents. we love GG and hope she is able to come back soon!

accessorize

2011-03-09T12:39:00.000-06:00

right now, i am loving the girly clothes, the bows, the dresses, the shoes, pretty much all things GIRL. luke laughs because every day he comes home from work, mila has some sort of headband on. i just love how it looks. i cannot take her out without a bow or flower on her head. there will be no question this baby is a girl! :)

i am really loving these flower clips that my friend/former co-worker ashlye made.

well, hello there little miss

trust me, Mila loves dressing up...

well, most of the time.

p.s. i love this shirt. looks just like sampson. clueless expression, but cute as ever.

sea world

2011-03-04T10:05:00.000-06:00

last sunday, the weather as usual was gorgeous, so we headed to sea world. noah really enjoyed seeing the animals this time. mila was a trooper and enjoyed the fresh air.

petting the stingray

beautiful tree

noah LOVED the dolphins. he was so excited he was running around screaming like a crazy person.

and let me just say, we LOVE this stroller.

it's called the sit-n-stand. we had multiple friends recommend this stroller and we are so glad that we took their advice. it is awesome for 2 kids and especially great for an active toddler who hates being in a stroller. it gives noah the option to sit or stand (hence the name) which he thinks is SO cool. another great thing, it is super light which is very important to me since i am usually the one hauling it in and out of the car. the basket underneath is HUGE-extremely helpful. but the best thing about this stroller is the price: $139 for a double stroller is a great deal. plus, i used my 20% off babies r us coupon making it even more affordable! okay, enough of my ramblings. i just like hearing advice from other moms about certain products that they would recommend, so i thought i would share. :)

sea world, as usual, was great. we really love that park and seeing how it is about the only park our kids can enjoy, we go there a lot.

Mila's birth story

2011-03-03T14:12:00.005-06:00

here is the whole story (a month later-things were a little crazy) with a recap of my earlier post:

tuesday, january 25th after my amazing massage, i headed to my 37 week appointment. they did an ultrasound because i was once again measuring too small and a previous ultrasound showed low amniotic fluid. my AFI was 4.4, which is dangerously low. anything under 5 and the baby needs to come out immediately.

after that, my midwife sent me directly to labor and delivery. i asked if i could go home first, the answer was "no, it's not safe". okay.

i then called luke and he immediately headed to home to get my bags, drop noah's overnight bag off at the emmans (i had the bags almost completely packed knowing this was a possiblity. i should have just put them in the car) and take care of the dogs.

an hour after being hooked up to the monitors, my nurse came in and asked me if i was feeling the contractions. i told her yes, but they were just braxton-hicks which i had for months with noah and this pregnancy. she said, "well, they are coming every 4-5 minutes." interesting, i guess i wasn't timing them. she checked me and i was dilated to 1cm and an hour after that, i dilated to 2cm.

apparently little one sensed her living corridors were inadqueate and decided to come on her own. either that or i stressed myself into labor.

by midnight, i was still dilated to 2cm and my labor began to stall. contractions went to every 7 minutes or more. around 1:30am, the nurse let me take a shower (the thing ever) before she started the pitocin.

i was really hoping to go into labor on my own and try for a natural (non-medicated) birth. knowing the baby had to come now for safety reasons, i knew a natural birth would be difficult to achieve with pitocin on board. soooo our natural birth plan went out the window. i then decided to take the labor in stride and not to make any promises or unrealistic goals in fear of disappointing myself.

they started the pitocin around 2am and continued to up it steadily to get me into active labor. that night, i only slept one hour. not because of the pain but rather the excitement. plus, who can sleep in a hospital bed-can you say uncomfortable?

i labored all night, but the contractions were hardly painful. around 8am my midwife, cathy, came in and checked me. i was only a 3, so she stripped my membranes (not the most pleasant experience) and upped the pitocin. the day nurse said she has never seen someone on so much pitocin handling labor as well as i was without medication. i thought, maybe i can do this natural. around 11am i was dilated to 4cm and cathy came and broke my water hoping to speed things up. after that, my contractions starting getting closer at 2 minutes apart and much more intense, but still, i was able to breathe through them.

how i spent most of my labor

having a blast. lol.

on the birthing ball was the position that worked for me. it gave me the most relief, so i stayed there the majority of the time. throughout the contractions i was in a complete zone out mode. my midwife asked if i studied HypnoBirthing. nope, i bought the book but read the The Bradley Method instead. until the end, i was able to keep focused and completely relax every inch of my body. the more i tensed up and fought the contraction, the more it hurt. and with noah's labor that is all i did, fought the pain instead of welcoming it which is the worst thing you can do. after having noah EVERY inch of my body hurt afterwards even my jaw from clinching it so hard and i knew i did not want to repeat that.

at 2pm, cathy checked me again. i was sure i made progress due to the intensity of contractions, but i was only dilated to 4cm. WHAT?!? you have got to be kidding me?!? i wasn't even halfway there??? i was extremely exhausted and disappointed after 23 hours. after talking to luke and my midwife, we decided trying an epidural (i had 3 with noah that did not work because of a possible septum in my epidural space) would be worth a shot. if it worked, i could rest. if it didn't, i would still have time for it to wear off so i could get up again. so the anestheologist who put in my epidurals with noah and whom i've gotten to know pretty well by working with him at my previous job, came in to put the epidural in .  the doc was bound and determined that this go around i would have relief. i was praying so, too.

as the anestheologist is setting up his stuff (probably around 2:15ish), i start having extremely hard contractions that are almost impossible to breathe through and i start shaking involuntarily. the doctor took awhile putting the epidural in and the pain is ridiculous. the epidural doesn't hurt a bit compared pain of the contractions....

i should have known.

once he puts the epidural in and i roll onto my back, i immediately tell the nurse i am having A LOT of pressure. she decides to check me and tells me i am a 10 and to not push (after laboring with me for hours, my midwife had walked back to her office after checking me since i was only a 4)! lol, so much for the epidural. oh well, i guess i wanted to try natural any way.

i tell my nurse to tell cathy to RUN because i am pushing. i could not help it. my body was doing it on its own. i had no control. cathy comes running into the room, there is no time to breakdown the bed, this baby is coming ready or not. three pushes later my sweet girl was laying on my chest. it was the most incredible thing i have ever experienced. i was crying. luke was crying. it was amazing. after a few minutes, i yell, "honey, get the camera!"

it all happened so fast!

holy crap bags! i went from 4cm to 10cm in literally 20-25 minutes. and those "i feel like i am going to die, involuntarily shaking contractions" were me going through transition labor. duh, i should have known.

afterwards, i was laughing and telling the nurses i could not believe that just happened! they looked a little flustered and relieved that all went well.  i was dilated to 4cm at 2pm and mila was born at 2:36pm. talk about a quick progression! my nurse laughed as well after looking at the pump and said, "so much for the epidural" because i had only gotten a few cc's of the medication. my midwife said, "next time, no epidural. you don't need it."

dang it. it really bugs me that i got the epidural. i didn't need it. if i would have only known how quick i was going to progress. there was only a short time period i felt out of control. oh well, next time.

luke: babe, you screamed so loud they shut the door so you wouldn't scare the other mothers.

me: lol. well, that's because it hurt like nothing else and i so don't care.

i am really glad that the epidural did not have time to work, because i was able to get up right away like i did with noah even though my feet were a little tingly. but this time i felt so good afterwards that i took a shower less than 2 hours after i delivered.  i think my body was screaming at me, "NO MORE EPIDURALS!!!" okay, message received.

overall, mila's labor was a million times better because it was my second baby, i knew what to expect, i used a midwife (way more personal care and attention my entire pregnancy), and i stayed in control instead of freaking out. i learned that pain is just as much if not more of a mental battle as it is a physical one.

so there you have it, Mila's sweet entrance into the world.

welcome little doll

we are completely in love

Mila's dedication

2011-03-02T12:17:00.001-06:00

while my family was in town, we had Mila dedicated at our church. it was a special day and we felt blessed to have our church family and some of our actual family there for the occasion.

God gave us this precious gift, therefore, it is our responsibility to raise Mila to know and love Him. her dedication is the first step in this journey.

i love this picture of me and my daughter.

the whole gang

family of four!

handsome man

oh happy day

a warm winter day

2011-03-01T08:11:00.003-06:00

while my family was here, we had our first warm weekend here in florida. what better way to enjoy the weather than by heading to the beach. so we drove 40 minutes to cocoa and walked the beach. the warm sun felt oh so good on our pasty skin.

my guys

carli, scott and mom walking the beach. those crazy kansans were getting in the water. brrrrrrr.

mila's first trip to the beach.

luke and i with our florida babies.

cute kids

m & d

i love the beach, i love the florida sun and i love florida winters.