Gray's four year letter

My sweet Gray Christopher,

How has it been four years (plus a month and some) since you changed my life forever? Four years since you made me a mama? Four years since I first learned about a love that I never knew was possible?

I look at pictures and videos of you from when you were a baby and a toddler and sometimes I think I'd give anything to get that time back. One time I was *kind of* joking with you about how I was going to be sad when you turned four because you were getting so big. You are so sensitive and loving and it just tore you up that I said that, so every time after that that you talked about turning four, you'd follow it with, "and you're not gonna be sad, right Mommy?!" Bless your sweet, gigantic heart!

You are still a very tall boy. At your four year well visit, you were three feet and almost seven inches tall, which put you in the 92nd percentile. You weighed 38 pounds and six ounces, which put you in the 74th percentile. Aside from bathing suits and shorts, you've been wearing size 5 clothes for almost six months now and you wear a size 10 shoe. We were out somewhere a few weeks before your birthday and someone asked you what GRADE you were in. It was almost too much for me to handle.

You continue to have a huge love for tractors, trucks and anything that goes. You are all about doing "jobs", all day, every day. You can tell me what any and every kind of tractor is and what it does. You love seeing construction sites when we are out and about. You love tools and "fixing" things with Daddy. You still love to ride your gator outside. You ride your bike very well and we plan on taking the training wheels off soon. You would rather be outside than inside any moment of the day.

Watering the garden with your dump truck.

You love digging for worms and looking at bugs.

You have a heart of gold. You see people or hear about people with "boo-boos" and you don't forget about them. In fact, you remind us most nights about people we need to be praying for. You say and do the sweetest things to me and Daddy and it melts my heart every time. One time it was your idea to cut me some roses from the back yard. Your daddy is teaching you well and I hope and pray you'll always treat others with love and kindness.

Although you two definitely have plenty of brother moments already, you adore Walker. You are always super protective of him when we go places, especially to the Y (you'll put your arm around him and ask to be in the same play room as he is). You love when he wants to do "jobs" with you, which is more and more often now. You love taking him for rides on your gator, though we are working on how to share and let him drive now that he's big enough.

Y'all love to put on concerts!

Hard at work on a job.

You love books! You love to look at them by yourself and for people to read them to you. You are not at all into tracing, writing, coloring, puzzles, etc. That breaks my heart and concerns me, but I also know you are just a four year old boy and you have the next 20 years to worry about all of that. You loved preschool and I'm hoping your love for writing and learning your letters will just come naturally in the next preschool year. You also love to hear stories and are forever asking someone to tell you a story "from when you were a little boy/girl".

You love Sophie and animals so much. Any second that you aren't reading a book or playing with your tractors, you are snuggled up and talking sweet to "baby girl". You are learning to be more gentle with her which is helping her to love you back. ;) I even let her nap with you one day and it was the SWEETEST!!

Speaking of naps though, you maybe take one twice a month if I'm lucky. You have to rest quietly in your room every day, but you just don't fall asleep often at all. When I start to feel frustrated about it, I remind myself of how fast time is going and that it's sweet one-on-one time we get to have while brother enjoys his three hour nap.

You are still a great eater. You used to want a cheese quesadilla every single day and all of a sudden stopped liking them, but other than that there isn't much you won't eat. Your favorite foods are pizza, broccoli, waffles with peanut butter and syrup, mac and cheese (I promise we don't let you eat junk food 100% of the time), cheese dip, yogurt and watermelon.

You aren't super into soccer or sports yet. You love the idea of it, especially getting dressed in your soccer uniform but otherwise, you spend most of the time coming out of the "game" for water breaks. Daddy and I don't need you to be a big soccer or baseball player. We want you to be active and find something to do that you enjoy, but we will be happy with whatever that is. You LOVE swimming, are great at it and completely fearless. You jump off the diving board and do flips off the side of the pool like it's your job. So maybe we'll be spending long days at swim meets, and that's more than ok buddy!

I'm in no hurry for you to keep growing up, but I do love watching you learn and grow and I can't wait to see what year five brings.

You make me so proud and I'll never get over the fact that I get to be your mama. Daddy and I love you to the moon and back and thiiiiiiiis much!!!!

Mommy

June happenings

Ok, I'm here for yet another attempt at keeping up with this blog a little better. The days are so busy that I have trouble remembering what we did last week, so I know I'll love to look back on this blog one day to recall what we were up to in this crazy beautiful season of life.

June was such a busy month! I turned the big 3-5 on June 1st and the first weekend was the boys' joint birthday party. Gray had been asking for a pirate party since August of last year. He has never taken an interest to pirates until we really started planning a pirate themed party. Last summer we went to a birthday party where Captain Jim (a REAL pirate, as Gray says) was there entertaining and Gray has talked about him nonstop ever since. Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Laura were so generous to pay for Captain Jim to be at the boys' party this year. Although he knew we were doing a pirate party, we kept it a surprise from Gray that Captain Jim was actually going to be coming to THEIR party! It was a hot day but the party was so much fun. We had about 25 kids, some of both boys' closest buddies, at our house to celebrate our big two and four year olds.

Gray loving his new pirate costume from "aunt" Lindsey.

My precious, precious Gram.

We skipped church Sunday and spent time with Nanny and Papa before they had to head back home.

Sweet boy excited about riding the paddle boats at Tanglewood.

The shirt does not lie y'all!

Best buds.

Walker was not a fan of the life jacket.

Gray started swim lessons again. He is such a little fish! He doesn't seem to have regressed from last year at all. He's completely fearless, which is good and bad. Thankfully he is such a rule follower that it helps me to be more comfortable with him in the water but I will be glad when he can officially swim. Walker is so much happier at the pool this summer than last year. He loves the baby pool and is content to splash and jump around in there for an hour or more. He got in big pool last week with his puddle jumper on but didn't quite know what to think of that yet.

The weekend of Gray's actual birthday we surprised him (and Walker, though he didn't really know what was going on) and took them on their first airplane ride! One of our friends Elliot is a pilot and graciously offered to make Gray's dreams come true. We met Elliot in Lexington where we watched him land from bringing a couple back home from New York. The plane had to fly from there to Greensboro for scheduled maintenance so it worked out great for us to come along. Elliot's precious wife, Daniela, wanted us to all be able to experience it together, so she met us in Lexington and drove my car to Greensboro. Before and after the flight, Elliot let the boys sit in the cockpit and check out all the buttons. It was seriously like a dream for our big boy. Walker didn't really know what was going on but he was excited nonetheless. Neither boy was the least bit hesitant or afraid. It was such an amazing experience and we are so grateful to Elliot and Daniela!

The boys and Pilot Elliot ready for flight!

My sweet hubs is notorious for coupons and finding good deals. He signs everyone in our family up for any and every birthday special, etc. I got a text from a friend the morning of Gray's birthday saying we'd better call and claim the birthday bundle that our local Christian radio station gives to ONE lucky winner every Friday. We were so surprised and excited! Tami from WBFJ hand delivered a huge Ketchie Creek cake, tons of CDs, a t-shirt, four tickets to a Dash game and lots more little fun surprises.

In between weekends we spent a lot of time in the pool to beat the upper 90 degree heat.

Father's Day weekend we had a Hicks family reunion in Raleigh. Gray and Walker had 20 cousins to play with and they had an absolute ball!

Dash game....

The last full week in June was VBS at our church, which is actually called Kid's Camp. This is the first year we have done it. Walker wouldn't have been old enough to attend, but since I was teaching he was able to go to. The program they did this year was called Submerged at it was awesome! The lobby, sanctuary and every classroom was decorated with a sea theme and it was just amazing. Even the golf carts used to bring people in from the parking lot were decorated with fish, sharks, submarines, etc. I'm so thankful for our wonderful church and that the boys already have so many opportunities to learn about Jesus and fellowship with their little friends.

June 27th Paul and I celebrated seven years of marriage. I can truly say it's been an awesome seven years, and I am so humbled and thankful for our strong (not perfect!) marriage. My brother and sister-in-law gave us a very genrous gift card to Ruth's Chris and watched the boys while we enjoyed the best steak of OUR LIVES!!!!

Walker's 2 year letter

My sweet, precious Walker-man,

Mommy hasn't been able to find much time for blogging over the last few months but I just can't bear the thought of forgetting anything about you at this stage in your life. You turned TWO a month and a half ago now, which is crazy since I just had you like yesterday. ;)

The last year has been bittersweet-watching you become less and less of a baby and more and more of a big boy. I love your age so much! You are growing and learning new things every day and I find so much joy in being able to watch your little sponge of a self soak it all in.

You are a tall boy just like your brother. At your two year well visit you were 36 and 1/4 inches tall, which was the 93rd percentile! You weighed just under 27 pounds, which was the 34th percentile. I was so proud of how big of a champ you were for your finger prick and shot-you didn't cry at all or even get mad and you were so excited about getting band-aids! You are wearing size 2T clothes, size 5 diaper and size 6-7 shoes.

Though you still rock the classic Walker grumpy face with those scrunched up eyebrows a good majority of the time, you are happy and content more than it appears by your facial expressions.

That gapped tooth grin gets me every time!

You are so ticklish, especially on your under arms. You love for me to say, "raise your hand if you...." and when you raise your arm, I tickle you until you just fall over from laughing so hard. It never gets old.

You've had a rough, rough time with your two-year molars coming in but one finally came through about a month ago and I'm hoping the rest are easier for you. You are independent and driven. You don't mind playing by yourself and you work hard to figure things out by yourself. Your love for tractors, trucks and all things that go grows by the day. Your most favorite right now are Jeep Wranglers and mail trucks. You love to ride your John Deere mower toy outside and especially love for brother to take you on gator rides. Speaking of things that go, you just rode in a real airplane for the first time! Our friend Elliot is a pilot and was so nice and generous to take us all flying. You didn't really seem to know what was going while we were in the plane but you loved pushing the buttons in the cock pit and seeing where the plane parked.

You have a big love for books too, which makes me so happy. As busy as you are, you plop down in my lap numerous times a day and say, "read me book!". You always ask for "one more book" at nap and bedtime and I almost always give in.

You also love animals SO much!! Any and all kinds. If it's alive and moving, you are ecstatic about it. We have a tradition of rolling down the windows in the car every single time we pull in the neighborhood so you can look for cats. You yell "kitty, kitty!" as loud as you can and it breaks my heart every time we don't see one. You love our Sophie but are still learning how to be gentle with her; she spends much of her life running away from you but you just laugh and say she is playing "chase". One of your favorite animals right now is a cheetah-you love to talk about how fast they are. You got a book about them and a little stuffed one for your birthday that you love to sleep with. You also love characters and mascots, especially the Chick-fil-a cow and Bolt, the W-S Dash mascot.

You love your brother so much. Sure, there are many moments every day that I am frustrated and sad at the bickering and aggravating that already goes on, but man do you love him. If you wake up before him in the mornings, he's the first person you ask for. And when he was at preschool this past year, you would sometimes cry for him. The times that y'all are playing sweet together are some of the happiest I've ever felt in my life. Y'all are almost always doing some kind of "job", where you use all of your tractors and trucks and make construction sites or pretend to do landscaping jobs outside. You are forever talking about a "job!".

A big "job" in the making

You are a big time mama's boy, but Daddy can get some of the best laughs out of you and according to you and brother, he is the ultimate tickler and wrestler. Daddy does this thing with you where he will say, "Walker, have you had enough kisses today?", to which you grin from ear to ear and reply "noooooo!" and then he kisses you all over, tickling you with his facial hair and you almost stop breathing you are laughing so hard. It's the best, buddy! You love to mow with Daddy and ride on his shoulders when we are out and about. You don't quite know it yet, but you have the best Daddy in the entire world. He loves us so well and works very hard for us so that I can be at home with you and Gray. I pray you will be even half the man he is when you grow up one day.

You are talking so much! You say so many new words every day and are starting to use more and longer phrases. You love to sing songs too and it's the sweetest sound to my ears. "Jesus loves me" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" are your top two favorite songs.

You love puzzles and coloring. You know that your name starts with a "W" and can even recognize a few letters. You have even spelled your name a few times, which makes me squeal and clap with much excitement!

You appear to be a natural born athlete. You amaze me with how well you can dribble a soccer ball, and have been able to since you first started walking. You throw the ball well too and can catch it a lot of the time. I wasn't even able to keep you at brother's soccer practices this past season because it was such a fight to keep you off the field. I can't wait to see what sport/s you learn to love and play as you grow older.

You are fearless, just like your big brother. This is both good and bad. I'm shocked we've only had minor injuries to deal with so far. You love to play with older, bigger kids and aren't the least bit hesitant around them.

You are also a people person just like Gray. I guess it's because both your Daddy and I are too. You love to be around people and aren't one bit shy when we're out and about. You love to tell people your name and that you are two years old. You never cry when I drop you off at any kind of child care but you are always so excited when I pick you up. Emmett is your best buddy. You talk about him constantly and love being around him. Y'all are in the same class at church and it's precious to hear the teachers tell me what you boys do on Sundays-playing rough is always at the top of the list.

You and Emmett snacking at the pool.

You are an amazing eater. You have been since the day we introduced "real" food. I'm so thankful your reflux and swallowing dysfunction are no longer problems. I can count on one hand the number of things you don't like to eat-thank you Jesus! It is incredible that you can eat the amount of food you do and only weigh 27 pounds. Your most favorite foods are cheese, broccoli, french fries, pepperonis (ronis, as you call them), watermelon and grapes.

You used to only suck your thumb when you were sleeping but once those molars started moving around and causing you pain, that thumb started being in your mouth most of the time. Dr. Brown says not to worry about it just yet and I'm glad because I can't lie, I think it's so precious.

Just when I think I couldn't love you any more, tomorrow comes. You won't be able to know the depth of my love until you have your own children one day, but I'm sure gonna spend every day trying to see that you do. You are pure joy and I am so thankful you're my son!

I love you thiiiiiiis much,
Mommy

Hello February!

I don't even know where to begin in catching up on our lives the past few months. I continue to not have the time for this blog, yet know I'll wish later in life that I had more of our memories documented. So here's a brief catch up that will have to do for now.

Since Walker got strep while we were traveling for Christmas, I feel like at least one of the four of us has been sick every single day since then. Gray got a really bad upper respiratory virus that left him with an extremely high (like, almost having to go the the hospital high) fever for four days. I think the doctors really thought he had pneumonia so he was sent for chest x-rays but thankfully his lungs were clear. Since then we have all had the cold virus again and the boys have another one now plus a nasty, lingering cough that they just can't kick. My mom was hospitalized for a few days a couple weeks ago due to a bad case of pneumonia. I am so thankful she is recovering well now. Needless to say, I am over these Winter germs and am more than ready for spring. However, God continues to give me perspective and I am made aware that these little health concerns are nothing in comparison to what some people go through. Our friends just lost their 4.5 month old baby yesterday. She had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and her almost five months of life was nothing short of a miracle. Her heart was actually strong when she took her last breath yesterday, but she had sudden bleeding in her brain that ended up taking her life. Would y'all please join me in praying for Matt, Lisa and big sister Brenna? It's hard to understand the WHY sometimes but what I do know is that God is good and He doesn't change and I just have to cling to that.

On a lighter note, we enjoyed the snow we got two weeks ago. It wasn't as much as they predicted but it was plenty for playing in and enjoying the view. Daddy was off work for almost a week and we soaked up some good quality time as a family. Walker wasn't a fan of the snow. I think it was more that he didn't like all the layers he had to wear and not being able to walk in it very well. But Gray could have stayed outside all day, every day. He cried when it melted and is still asking me when it will snow again. 

It's been nice for this type A girl to be back in the swing of our normal routine after the big snow. This past Sunday Paul's dad was inducted into the Field of Honor, which is like the hall of fame for high school coaches. He is retiring this year from teaching and 25 years of coaching. He has pretty much coaches every high school sport but soccer has been his biggest passion. The ceremony was in Raleigh so it was an all day event. We let Gray go but Walker man would not have been able to hang so my mom and Gram kept him all day. Gray was the BEST boy the entire day. People complimented him and then joked with us about what kind of sedative we'd given him. He really is a very well behaved little boy but he was on his very best that day I was so proud of him. Maybe a little too proud because the second his feet hit the floor Monday morning, it was on and brother followed right behind him. It was like I didn't even know whose children they were. It was one of the hardest, worst days I've had yet as a Mama. God sure has a way of keeping us humble, doesn't He?! ;)

On a totally unrelated note, for the few of my blog readers who don't already knows I am going back to Kenya! It will be my FIFTH time and I leave in just six weeks. It's a much shorter trip than any I've been on before and I'm so glad because I could already cry at the thought of leaving my boys for over a week. Yes I'm nervous to leave my family and travel that far, but I don't think God leaves "parents of young children" off of His list when He calls those to missions. So I'm going and trusting in His provision and care for my family while I'm gone and for me as I travel. I would covet your prayers for us as I prepare to go and while I'm gone. 

Despite some really challenging days as a stay at home mom, we seem to be in a "sweet spot" for the most part and I am reminded daily of why the 15-24 months age is my most favorite. Walker is talking so much and soaking every little thing in. He keeps us laughing so hard and I could just squeeze him right up and kiss his cheeks off every second of the day. And Gray is the sweetest boy y'all. He has the most kind and gentle spirit and he just melts my heart. He definitely has his moments of selfishness, but then on his very own can be so selfless. The other day Paul took him to get a hair cut. There was a long wait so they walked next door to get a milkshake. Paul asked him what kind he wanted and he said, "you can pick today, Daddy!" Then Paul told him he could have the last couple sips before it was gone and he said, "no, I think we should save it for Walker." Those sweet moments are the ones we cling to when we are having our bad days. 

I really am just so happy I get to be these precious boys' Mama. So I may not have the time to stop and write down all the things we're doing and the funny and sweet things they say, but I'm trying to soak in the moments and not take a second of them for granted. 

But maybe, just maybe, I'll blog more than once in February!