Exersaucer time!

Amelia Jayne turned 4 months old on Xander's birthday. I'll be posting her 4 month post soon. Here are some pictures of her newest adventures!

Airplane

We love to play airplane!! At least, Xander does. AJ looks kind of scared. Ha!

Xander - 3 years

Warning - this is a long post. :)

My boy is three!
Oh my goodness how time flies. :) He is a big boy. A big, big boy.
What a day weekend we had!
He turned three last Friday.

We started out the celebration at his preschool on Thursday. David, Mimi and I took cupcakes to his class and got to share in the birthday celebration.

He, Amelia Jayne and I spent Friday, his actual birthday, together doing things that he loves. He was allowed to open one present from Mommy and Daddy when he first woke up. 

A new Scout movie
He's really too old for this movie now, but he still loves Scout...and loves the movie because Scout's in it!

I made pancakes for him (this was not on my list of things to do, but he asked and I couldn't refuse him on his birthday :)). Then we drove uptown to the library where we took the train to the arena. There we stopped in to the Charlotte Bobcats team store and got him a basketball and Bobcats T-shirt. He is very proud of that shirt. :) It looked like a tornado might hit at any minute with the wind picking up and the sky getting eerily dark, so we decided to take the train back to the library. 

I carried Amelia Jayne in the baby carrier - she did fantastic!

Waiting on the train

On the train

Looking at the Arena from the platform

Watching the clouds roll in

We went into the library for a bit, saw some of my co-workers, played with the train table and some toys there, then headed over to Chick-fil-A where we picked up lunch and drove to Daddy's office for a fun lunch date with him.

Playing with the toys at the library

We had lunch together as a family, chatted and played some ball with David's co-workers, and then headed home for a much-needed nap.

When David got home from work, Xander opened his presents from us.

His new favorite game - Cars Memory!

After opening some gifts, we drove to Concord Mills to visit the Disney store. Xander got some money from his GG, great aunt Karen and great uncle EC, so we told him he could pick out a toy there. Of course he got some race cars from his favorite movie, Cars - Nigel Gearsley, Max Schnell, Raoule Caroule, and Lightning McQueen - and yes, I know all the names of all the race cars in the movie and I'm pretty proud of it :). After that we ate some dinner at McAlister's and then drove on to Mimi's where we spent the night.

The next day was his party and boy, did we have fun! We decided just to invite family again this year. Xander isn't too excited about little ones his own age yet. He loves his family though, especially his big cousins (and Aunt B). He had a Cars pinata, Cars tattoos, Cars decorations, even a Cars cake (made by yours truly and Mimi). The kids decorated goodie bags for the treats from the pinata and they even played a Cars game. It was tons of fun!

Decorating goodie bags

We had waffles for lunch (one of Xander's favorite foods) with all kinds of fillings/toppings. They were yummy!

Proudly displaying his Bobcats t-shirt and birthday hat.

Aunt B

Kaitlyn, Ee-oo and Aunt B

The decorations

The cake!

Mimi

He wanted to drive the cars on the cake - it didn't work too well on the oreo road!

We went home that evening. Xander fell asleep when we were about 5 minutes from home. David carried him up to bed and held him while I stripped off his clothes and put new ones on him. He never even woke up. He was exhausted. :)

I call it a successful birthday. Oh how I love that boy!

Things I love

I was inspired by this blog post and decided to do one of my own.

I love...

Laughter.

My little boy's laughter.

The beach.

Jesus.

Kindness.

My husband.

Faith.

My son.

My daughter.

Singing.

Books.

Old books.

New books.

My baby girl's coos.

Pajama pants.

Movies.

Old movies.

New movies.

Tapas.

Coffee.

My mom.

Chocolate.

Old pictures.

Massages.

Comfy clothes.

Scented candles.

Pretty stationery.

Dryer sheets.

Fire.

Coconut rum.

Autumn.

Kisses.

Music.

Diet Dr. Pepper.

Sunshine.

Butterflies.

Sweaters.

Pizza.

Redeeming Love.

Nerds.

Goat cheese.

My sister.

Friends.

Springtime.

Family.

Christmas.

The mountains.

Hot tea.

Dresses.

Football.

Sushi.

Children's books.

Chocolate chip cookies.

The Princess Bride.

Butter.

The lake.

Blankets.

Puppy breath.

Big cities.

Gone with the Wind.

Ridge church.

Vocabulary.

Tennis.

Libraries.

The country.

The Avett Brothers.

Wicked.

One.

Champagne.

Reading.

Snuggling on the couch.

Watching TV.

Waumba Land.

Jewelry.

Lists.

Pancakes.


All of these things...in no particular order :)

Potty time update

Xander has started wearing big boy underwear full-time! (Except during naptimes and bedtime.) He's told us multiple times that he needs to go to the potty. I'm so proud! In fact, he seems to tell us better when he's wearing the big boy underwear. I think the pull-up is so much like a diaper that he didn't see a problem with going to the bathroom in it. Makes sense to me! Hopefully we're making great strides in this department. :)

Life is not a bed of roses...or is it?

It's been an emotional week for me. I've probably cried close to 15 times. Seriously. And the crazy thing is, I really don't know why. Things are actually going very well overall and I don't feel like I have much to complain about.
My 3-month old baby sleeps very well - anywhere from 7-10 hours at night. She's a good baby who really only cries when she's sleepy or hungry. Her little smile and sweet cooing melt my heart.
My almost 3-year old is amazingly well-behaved, calm and patient for his age. He helps me with his sister, getting things I ask him to get and doing what I tell him to do most of the time. He will read books and look at pictures for hours, literally.
My husband has a good job (praise the Lord!) and helps me out with the kids and around the house. He loves me, tells me so and spends time with me.
What do I have to complain about?

I talked to my mom today and she spoke some words of wisdom to me. She reminded me that going back to work, even just part-time, and having two children (emphasis on the word two) is hard. For someone like me who likes to make a list and check items off, it's very difficult to end each day. Rarely is my list completed by the end of the day.
I have an ideal world in which I would like to live. I also have small children. Those two worlds have a hard time co-existing.

Here are a few things I've been dealing with:
David logged 57 hours at work last week by the end of the day Wednesday. He also worked full days on Thursday and Friday. That means he worked a total of 73 hours last week. I like when that number is closer to 40.
My kids are both sick. They have colds. They've had colds since November, it seems to me. I'm so over it!
Though I love my job, it's fairly stressful to be gone for 3 months and attempt to figure out organizational changes (for which we've had many since I left), reschedule programs and reconnect with daycares and schools, go through my supplies to see what I need for the next year with programming money that must be spent by the end of February, and get back in the swing of working outside the home.

So what do I need? Grace. I need to give myself some grace. I have a wonderful husband who is easy-going, easy to please and doesn't ask much of me. My kids are forgiving. They don't know or care if the house is clean, the laundry done or their Valentine's Day was celebrated "good enough." I have this ideal picture in my head and when I don't live up to my own expectations, my world crumbles. Nobody's perfect. So, grace. That's what I need to get through this time.

Thank God that his grace is sufficient for me.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
2 Corinthians 12:9

Happy Valentine's Day!

I got a call from David right before lunchtime.

He asked if I could meet him in the lobby.

And this is what he brought me.

Hand-delivered and sealed with a kiss.

I love that man!!

I will not reveal how many of the chocolates I've already eaten. :)

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all!