The best of 2014

January

We had just found out on Christmas Eve that baby number two was a boy. We picked a name and I started feeling those amazing kicks every day. I went to Kenya for the fourth time and got to experience it with my best friend (Paul's first time). We rang in the new year with the most precious, grateful people.

February

We enjoyed a huge snowstorm which meant lots of days off with Daddy. We went sledding and ate way more snow cream than we ever should have.



Celebrating Valentine's Day in the snow

 

 

March
Paul surprised me with a two night babymoon at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville.

 

April

We celebrated Easter by worshipping our Risen Savior, Gray went to his first Dash game and my brother took a few Easter/maternity pictures. Daddy also finished building Gray's big boy bed and he made the transition like a champ. Mama was getting bigger by the minute and we were all so excited to meet baby Walker.

 

 

May

This was quite the month of celebrations-Mother's Day, Daddy's 34th birthday and then we welcomed our second son into our family and watched Gray become a big brother. And also, this was the month my heart nearly exploded.



June

Another crazy month...adjusting to life as a family of four, my 33rd birthday, Gray turned TWO, Father's Day and we celebrated five truly wonderful years of marriage.

July

We went to the beach with my family. This was Walker's first beach trip and although he had been extremely fussy for weeks leading up to our trip, he was pretty content during our vacation. This was the first year Gray seemed old enough to really take in the beach and he had SO much fun!

 

August

After what seemed like waiting forever, we finally bought our first "real" home together. We were so excited to have more space, a big yard and a place that would feel like home and one we knew we would raise our family in.
 

September
This might go down in history as the hardest month of my life. And I am fully aware that the reasons for that mean I am so incredibly blessed. But it was still hard. Walker screamed pretty much every minute he was awake, Gray was acting every bit of a two year old boy and Paul was pretty much never home because of soccer and meanwhile we moved into our new house. Shall we skip to October?

October
Our sweet Walker finally started feeling better after a long first few months of pain, discomfort and alot of screaming. The boys and I snuck in a few soccer games and we "celebrated" Halloween with the cutest Olaf and pumpkin you ever did see.

 

November

Paul's soccer team won the 4-A State Championship!!! We celebrated Thanksgiving with Paul's extended family in Boone and then later that weekend we hosted Thanksgiving at our new house for my family.

 

 

December

We got to experience our first Christmas as a family of four. And though we do a very scaled down version of Santa, it was still so magical and exciting through the eyes of a two and a half year old. After Christmas we spent five nights in Williamsburg with Nanny, Papa, Uncle Jon and Aunt Laura. It was the first time in well over a year that we'd all been together and we had such a sweet time. Sorry but I'm not sorry for the major picture overload here...

I am very humbled by all of the blessings God has so generously poured out on our family. 2014 will be hard to top but we are excited to see what the He has in store for us in 2015!

Brace yourselves...

For two of the cutest elves you've ever seen...

Thanks to my blogger/Facebook/Instagram friend, Lindsay (whom I've actually never met), for modeling her precious son in these pjs and then telling me where to find them (Target!).

Happy Friday y'all!

Walker-6 months

Welp, our sweet boy was half a year old on Saturday. He had his six month well check on Monday. Despite some major concerns with eating (more on that in a minute), he is growing and we are thankful for a healthy baby!

Measurements-
Weight-16 pounds, 11 ounces (33rd %tile). At 6 months Gray weighed 17 pounds, 1 ounce (42nd %tile).
Length- 27 and 1/4 inches (75th %tile). Gray had the exact same length measurement at 6 months!
Head-17 and 1/2 inches (82 %tile), which is also exactly what big brother's was at 6 months.
Wears mostly 9 month clothes, size 2 diapers

Eating Habits-I mentioned in the 5 month post that Walker was getting hard to nurse again because he was so distracted and interested in everything going on around him. Well that got significantly worse over the last month. He was already nursing less and less and then he got sick and literally only took a few ounces a day for over a week. Once he was feeling better and still not nursing or taking a bottle well, I got concerned. One night he slept 11 straight hours and I had already pumped when he woke up so I could tell how much he would drink and he only took ONE ounce! So I called the doctor and he wanted to see him that day. The doctor and I were both shocked to see that he weighed 16 pounds, 13 ounces (which was 42% and he was 38th % at 4 months). I had been giving him a lot of oatmeal with breast milk mixed in and that must have been helping a lot. After talking to the doctor about him seeming uninterested in nursing and taking a bottle and his physical exam checking out fine, he said he really thought it was just related to his swallowing dysfunction. You can imagine my surprise to him saying that since his swallowing test that he had done at Brenner's several months ago showed everything was "fine." To make a long story short, although he was not aspirating (milk going into his lungs), the test did show some mild swallowing dysfunctions. They told us at the hospital that day that everything was fine and the problems must be just from his bad reflux. So when the pediatrician's office called me a few days after the test to ask me if I wanted them to go over the results I told them no. I never asked for a copy of the report because we were told everything was fine. Needless to say I wasn't a very happy mama. It's my own fault for not getting the report but I trusted what they told us at Brenner's that day. Anyway, there isn't anything we can do about that now and it probably wouldn't have changed what we could have done over the last couple of months, other than help me not to worry about him as much. Our pediatrician said babies with swallowing issues tend to start drinking less and less between 4-6 months but will usually eat solids well, which he certainly does. He should grow out of it around a year but he told me not to expect him to drink very well before then. Of course a couple of days after that appointment he started nursing a lot better again but when we went to the doctor on Monday he had actually lost two ounces, which completely baffled the doctor and me. I think I am going to start adding some formula to his oatmeal and a scoop when he gets a bottle to add some extra calories. He goes back in 30 days for his second round flu shot and a weight check.

Because of his eating issues, Walker really isn't on a set eating schedule. He eats oatmeal and other solids three times a day and I pretty much offer nursing feedings to him before and after every nap. He could eat oatmeal and fruit all day long but isn't too wild about most veggies, although after I keep trying for a few minutes he does get them down. He still takes his Prevacid but we are hoping to try taking him of soon.

And I'm sure by now only my mom and Gram are still reading this but I am happy to report that I've added dairy back into my diet (slowly but surely) and it hasn't bothered Walker. Praise the Lord!!

Sleeping Habits-3-4 naps a day, sleeping anywhere from 1-3 hours. He goes to bed around 7:30, usually sleeps at least 9-10 straight hours at night waking between 4:00-6:00 to eat and will usually go right back to sleep until around 7:00/7:30. Still takes an occasional nap in his swing and falls asleep pretty easily in the car.

Milestones/New Discoveries-Sitting up and first tooth! One of his bottom teeth finally broke through the skin last week and I imagine the other one is close behind. He is babbling more and more and I just love his sweet little voice. He is really reaching and grabbing for things. Wearing jewelry and my hair down are things of the past. He pushes up on his arms and is already trying to crawl. If he keeps this up I think he will be crawling before Gray did, which was at 8 months. Walker is also really starting to respond to his name and gets excited when we praise and/or clap for him. He also does this new thing where he smiles really big and buries his sweet little face in my neck or shoulder when Daddy talks to him-it is sooooo stinkin cute!!

Temperament/Mood-Happy most of the time these days, especially if we are out and about. He smiles at everybody and people tell me I have such a happy baby, which is something I wondered if I would ever hear. He gets pretty cranky after 5:00 or so when the witching hour sets in. No matter how late he has napped, he just is so tired and can't hang very happily. His teeth have given some fussy moments too but he is happy more than not and I am so thankful for that!!

Likes-LOVES his big brother, sitting up, his feet, grabbing at my face, Sophie, exersaucer, jumper, the bath, his mobile, crawl ball, his Sophie giraffe, toys with buttons and lights, being read to, watching us clap and hearing us praise him and get excited for him

One might think he was teething on his brother's face but this was definitely a kiss ;)

Dislikes-he gets really ticked when solid feedings are over (I think he would eat until he made himself sick if I would let him), being put in his car seat (though thankfully he is still happy once we get going), being tired, those mean 'ol teeth

Special memories-Going to Boone for Thanksgiving and picking out our Christmas tree.

I really can't imagine our lives without sweet Walker and can't wait to watch him continue to grow.

Thankful

I wrote this post four years ago on Thanksgiving. Though I've been to Kenya four times and even seen hunger and poverty in my own city, it's often easy to get wrapped up in my own little world and take things for granted. Today I am thankful God brought this post to my attention. I can't even begin to list all of the many things I have to be thankful for all year long.

Happy Thanksgiving week, y'all. May we praise Him from whom all blessings flow!

Five on Friday

How has it been almost a month since I've actually posted on here? I have so many posts in draft mode that I really doubt will ever make it out. It has just been a crazy season of life and although I get sad thinking that I won't have documented enough about our family, I know my family needs me and is taking first priority and that is far more important than writing about it. So let me get on with it before this one stays in draft with the rest.

ONE.
I really doubt this is news to anyone reading this, BUT-Paul's team won the STATE CHAMPIONSHIP!!! I am so proud of him and his boys and it still seems so surreal. It's such an accomplishment for anyone, but especially for him considering he started the soccer program at Reagan just ten years ago. I hope to blog more (I stay ambitious about this whole blogging thing) about the play-offs and championship game day sometime soon. But just in case I don't get around to it, I must post this sweet picture of our big boy running to his Daddy's arms shortly after the big win. It makes my heart nearly explode into a million pieces. 

TWO.
Number one means that soccer is over. I might be almost as excited about that as I am the championship. I don't want to be a complainer or a negative Nancy, but y'all-soccer season is HARD! It's been in full swing for six months now and there were so many weekends and nights we didn't see Daddy at all, not to mention I often wondered how in the world I could make it through the day by myself with a screaming baby and a busy, challenging toddler. But God saw me through, often giving me a humble perspective that some families don't have a husband or Daddy at all. There are a lot of events and celebrations in the near future because of the championship, but we will be seeing a lot more of Daddy now and I know two little boys and a Mommy that are so happy about that!

THREE.
My boys have been sick, sick, sick! Gray was sick over a month ago for weeks and his nasty virus ended up as a sinus infection. Just a few days after finishing his antibiotic, he woke up with a new virus, which happened to be the day of the State Championship game-yes, I picked up another "mom of the year award" for letting him go to Raleigh and sit in the freezing cold to watch his Daddy's team. Anywho, Walker has had a nasty virus for over a week now too and was just plain pitiful until just a day or two ago. I took both boys to the doctor on Wednesday mostly concerned that Walker is barely nursing and/or taking a bottle (more on that in a 6 month post coming soon) but also wanted to get Gray checked out too because I thought he was wheezing. Two hours later, we left with a negative RSV test but a report of low oxygen and wheezing for Gray. Now he is on Albuterol and Prednisone (which should be illegal for toddlers) and I am stuck somewhere between thanking God that I get to be home taking care of my babies and wanting to run away for the next week. Oh, and did I mention Daddy was in bed for four days and also on steroids earlier this week?

FOUR.
I usually wait until Thanksgiving weekend to decorate for Christmas but am planning on getting started this weekend. We won't be able to decorate full on this year because of some things we still need to do to our new house, but stockings will be hung and Nativities will be set out. And I can hardly wait to cut down our Christmas tree when we go to Boone for Thanksgiving next week. And I may or may not have already busted out my Michael Buble Christmas CD.

FIVE.
I can't believe our baby boy is almost half of a year old. Wait, yes I sort of can. You see, the first almost four and a half months were so hard with him that time really crept by for me. I don't wish it away but the older he gets, the happier he is so for that I am ready to welcome month six and hoping to have a full post about our baby boy before he turns seven months ;)

Happy Friday, y'all!