Kate Turns 3 !

WOW, what a great day. Kate had so much fun that she told me as she was going to sleep tonight that "We have to do it all over again, my birthday you know". All the hard work and planning was really worth every minute. Last night I started making the Cinderella Cake and failed twice, Jerry decided we should just cut the leg down to fit the cake, It traumatize Kate, she saw me take out the Doll without the legs, so needless to say right after nap time I went to walmart and got her a new one. Kate's O.K. now. We took a little time in the morning to open up presents as a family, Kate loved her new Princess Bike/two wheeler. She also loves her Aurora dress and the Doll house Gramma & Poppi Mott got her. She really got into opening presents this year and love to open each one, she love her card she got from everyone, Mamaw and the Aunt Karrie and her family, and Gramma. We then took a nap which worked out great for me, I frosted the Cinderella cake, along with her Gus Gus Cake. Everyone said it looked great, I'm glad it turned out, Kate was so surprised when she woke up from her nap. I have pictures of her reaction. We then watch Cinderella and Enchanted. While we watched Enchanted, Kate and I danced like we were at the ball together, twirls and a couple dips. We then had some of Kate's closest friends from Church come and celebrate with us. It's always so nice to have good friend when your not able to be close to family. We had the Thomas's, Guistina's and the Gardner family attend the party. I was worried about the space in our apartment because literally there isn't any, but it worked out great. Now I know it can be done. We had the kids eat out on the patio and the adults inside where it was cooler. We had pizza and Cake, following that we open up some presents. She got a beautiful suitcase full of princess surprises from Brian, Stacy and Ammon. It was so beautiful. She got lots of fun books to read and a very fun make your own tiara from the Hutto Family. Thank you for thinking of Kate. We then went to the pool to cool off from the heat. Everyone had a great time, I did too. Kate gave out little party favor bags out to all the kids, filled with candy. I sent them all home on a sugar high, the moms loved that. All in all it was a memorable Birthday, and Kate had so much fun she didn't want to go to bed. I had a special request to leave all the Decorations up for a couple of days, she said "Don't take my party down yet." I promised her I would save her another piece of cake and the decoration to stay up for tomorrow. I can't believe me little baby girl is 3 years old now. Jerry and I just held her and gave her extra Hugs and Kisses today, realizing what a wonderful little angel we have been blessed with. I think we all didn't want the party to end. We love and miss all our family, and wish you where here with us to celebrate, I hope you like the pictures.

Birthday Prep

Well, It's hard to believe but my little girl is turning 3 tomorrow. I have been really trying to plan a nice party for her. She decided she wants a Cinderella party. So as some of you know my mom had this wonderful tradition of making our Cakes for us as a kid anything we asked for she would make it. I remember having a Bunny, Dog, Gumball, and Castle Cakes, you name it she made it. Well I've been attempting to do the same with my children. My mom never told me how hard or how much work it was. I truly appreciate her efforts in making my cakes so special. I made Kate a bunny cake her first year and a penguin cake her second year (Happy Feet Theme) and this year I am attempting to make her a Cinderella Doll Cake. I hope it turns out, I worry the whole time until It's finished, I want it to look good. The penguin cake was a huge undertaking last year so I'm hoping this cake will be a little easier.
Kate has also picked out her party decorations and has birthday cake flavor, not my favorite but it not up to me. She picked the white with rainbow colors inside. She has also asked for a two wheeler princess bike ,since Christmas I might add. She has to test it out every time we go to the store. Jerry said he's going to pick it up after work tomorrow. It's going to be the big highlight of the day I think. We are going to have lot of Kate's friends over to celebrate with us. We plan on having Pizza and Cake and going swimming in the pool afterwards. It should be a lot of fun.
I took some time to think back and remember my little girl and all the fun memories we have made, it's hard to believe she is going to be three. I love her so much and she is such a sweet girl. She truly has blessed are lives and I am grateful that Lord has given me the chance to be her Mommy. Three years really does go by quickly, pretty soon she will be starting school. Well I very excited for tomorrow and I will definitely post some great pictures!

I spoke to soon

Well I spoke to soon, no sooner did i post my last entry I got a knock on the door and it was the Mailman delivering me a package from my mom. The Package was filled with capris and shorts and some cute shirts. The best part was they all fit me. I'm so excited I have some new clothes, Thank you so much Mom! Your the Best! It's funny the timming of the whole thing, It's true when they say you mom know you best . I'm set for a while now. I guess my clothing blues have been lifted. Thanks Mom!!!!

Post Baby Clothing Blues

Here in Alabama it's pretty much tee-shirts and shorts kind of weather all year round except for about maybe 3 months out of the year (if your lucky). I have just had a baby two months ago and my clothes from before I had my baby are just plan worn out from wearing them so much. Also having to wash them so often because of the Humidity and just stepping outside and sweating. I don't sweat that much, but if anyone stood in this heat down here for very long it just drips right off of you. Needless to say I'm in desperate need of a new clothes. There is a point to why I'm bring this up, here's the dilemma I'm having; Do I wait a few more months to take some of the baby weight off or just get some new clothes now? My clothes are looking really terrible right about now. Hey I just had another option, do I buy some transitional items to get by? Oh and another thing I also have to get is the dreaded Swimsuit we all love to hate. I don't know something about me in a swim suit after two kids, doesn't sound so great. I just don't have that 20 year old body anymore. What to do, What to do? I go swimming with Kate a lot in our pool here at the apartment. We also have swimming/play date every Friday here, so I want to wear something nice. Jerry has been really great, he said that when I wanted to go shopping I could get a new wardrobe, it's his thank you gift for having to be pregnant for so long, and to make me feel better. It was great after I had Kate, it was so nice to get some new clothes. I'm just trying to figure out what I want to do. I guess I'm having post baby clothing blues, if there is such a thing. Sorry this post is so weird, it just something that's been on my mind.

Caleb's 2 Months Old

Miss Independant!!!

Does any one remember the little boy in the movie Daddy Daycare starring Eddie Murphy that had to wear his Flash Gordon Costume everyday. Well Kate from the moment she wakes up to the moment so goes to bed wants to wear her Swimming Suit. The funniest part is sometimes she has to have her bathing suit on with a Sunday dress over it, the other half of the time she is up and about. I hid her suit one day and I didn't hear the end of it, all day long she nagged me mommy, mommy where is my swimming suit. I don't know what's worse having her wear her suit all the time or the constant nagging. I told her I had to wash it, which was true. I ended up going to the store and buy another suit so she can swim in one and have a different around the house, so one will be dry. She loves her new purple suit she danced all over the house. Yesterday she didn't want to change so we could go to the store, she wanted to wear it to the store, she threw a huge tantrum over it. I told her if we aren't dress properly we won 't be able to go in the store, the whole no shoes no shirt, no service idea. She was not having it. Today Miss Independent had some of her friends over and we made brownies. I told her she had to take her new suit off to lick the spoon so she wouldn't get it dirt. I was trying anything to get that darn suit off of her. She actually took is off without a fight. After she was done she marched back upstairs and put it right back on, I couldn't believe it. We then got ready to eat them and I told her again that you can't eat brownies with your new suit on, so she took it off and put her clothes back on. I thought she would get tired of changing, boy was I wrong, to no avail she went right back upstairs to put it back on. I GIVE UP AAHHH!!! She now as I'm writing this she is wearing her swimming suit. Once she figured out how to dress herself she has been very much become a little miss independent. I hope this is a phase, I guess it's not the worse thing to worry about, the suit will get smaller on her as she grows. Have any of your children gone though a phase like this??

A day out on the town!

Well yesterday was a well deserved break. Jerry has been working 12 hours shifts this whole week, so after eight hours of sleep and 12 hours of working, it added up to only 1 to 2 hours a day that I would see him. It has been a really Challenging week, with a lot of ups and downs. Kate was really in the mood to test me at every turn, being two sure does bring it's challenges. Caleb was also very fussy from his acid reflux and some colic. I thought I was never going to get out of my house. Jerry said where do you want to go, I told him I didn't care as long as we were out of the house. We ended up going out to eat at Logan's Road House, we had never gone there before, it was pretty good. We then went to Target to get a sit n stand stroller for the kids. I'm very excited to have it, it will make going out with the two children/ taking walks easier. We then got caught in a huge rainstorm, we where soaked. We then met up with some friends after the rain stopped to go putt putt golfing. I was so excited to be out of the house I didn't quite want to go home yet, so we went to IHOP for dinner. I had such a great time, It felt like it had been months since I've gotten out of the house, I didn't want to go home, but alas it was getting late. I need to get out more I think.
It's be so depressingly hot, the heat has made it hard to want to take the kid outside. I took a step back after this week and realized I had some great moments thru the thick of all the frustrating moments. For example Caleb didn't cry during his bath for the first time, I got a nap, I went swimming with friends to cool off from the summer heat, it felt great. I also got to share with Kate her first time seeing a Rainbow, it was really wonderful to see the excitment on her face. I had a great teaching moment, and reminded her about the story of Noah's Ark. I reminded Kate of the promise the Lord gave us when he sent the rainbow, to never flood the earth again. She pointed out all the colors and was really excited. So in the end, despite feeling like a single mom for a week, with all the struggles I had (sleepless nights, tantrums and colic), I took a moment to look at the positive things and it's really made me appreciate my struggles and trials even more. It makes me stronger!

Caleb's 2 month Checkup

I went to the pediatrician yesterday, with both kids, not my ideal situation, but Jerry had to work overtime at the last minute and it was to late to get a babysitter. Kate actually did really well, we only had to go pee pee 4 times and pooh 1 time in a matter of an hours and a half, I think part of it was just her wanting to get up and out of the room, but she did go each time quite a bit, so she must of had to go. She talked the nurses and the doctor's ear off and told them how she old she was " I 2 1/2 and I going to be 3 on my birthday". She told them about her princess party for her birthday. It was funny after the nurse gave her a tongue depressor she pretended to go water skiing, then she proceeded to tell them how she went water skiing with her daddy. They couldn't believe how articulate she was for her age. I told them if you let her she will definitely talk your ear off.

Well back to Caleb they measure him and he was 22 1/4 inches long and a healthy 12.5 pounds, the doctor thought he was 3 months old for just a second. He was in the 75 percentile for his weight. I'm glad to see he is gaining weight. Earlier in the month we had to get an upper GI done to see why he was spitting up so much. It was so much more compared to Kate that they thought it would be best to check it out. He would spit up dinner size plate full all over the couch etc. The doctor and I both wanted to check out to have peace of mind. They didn't find any blockage, but the x-ray did show that he had some acid reflux. Caleb has actually improved a little everyday with is reflux , and the fact that he is still gaining weight is a really good thing. The Doctor said anywhere from 3 to 6 months he should grow out to it. Caleb also got his first set of shots, they were surprised that he didn't cry on the first one, but they spoke to soon, the next two he sure was screaming. Caleb did really well, he quickly calmed down and fell fast asleep. Something happen to the paperwork the first time they did his PKU which is where they stick is foot and squeeze drops of blood onto a paper. I was so frustrated the lady was new at it and didn't know what she was doing and had to stick his little foot twice, it took her forever to get the amount of blood she needed. It was cute Kate decided to sing Caleb a song to make him feel better she sang twinkle little star. Then the nurse asked if she wanted to sing another one since it was taking so long, so Kate decided to sing Book of Mormon Stories (a children primary song), let just say when the words Book of Mormon stories part of the song came up she gave us a strange look. Yes it pretty much pointed out that we were Mormon/LDS and down here in the Bible Belt/ Baptist Community that can be difficult, because of the different ideas/views on things. The nurse just smiled and said what a pretty singer she was.

We finally got done and we went to Mc D's for lunch as promised if Kate was good, she had her good and bad moments but for the most part she was good so we had lunch and then Naps. After that the fun part began. Caleb cried almost no stop until 11:00p.m. that night, I thought my arms where going to fall off because Caleb didn't want me to put him down. Then Kate was not going to bed like she should. She was in her bed just not going to sleep, she eventually drifted off around 10:30, which is 3 hours passed her bed time. I thought I would never get though this day, it was a tough one. I am grateful in the end that I have two Healthy beautiful children. I am truly blessed to have them in my life.

Enjoying the Journey

Have you ever had one of those days where you try to attempt to accomplish the things you need to get done, but the day has something else planned for you. Today I look at my house and saw laundry that needs to be folded and dishes to be done, and vacuuming too. I know it will only take me a good hour or so to really get the job done, but my kids had other plans for me today. Caleb has acid reflux and was fussy and wanted to be held continuously and Kate just needed some extra love and affection. She was crying all day for no real reason. I didn't do much today to someone looking from the outside, but I held a cute baby until he felt better, I played games with my 2 years old and shared some smiles and some laughs. I sat together to watch Kate's favorite movie, and we say her favorite song, "I'm a Child of God". I read somewhere to try to enjoy the time and the moments you have with you kids and not just try to get the daily tasks done. Feed kid breakfast, lunch, dinner, check that off my list, story time, check,getting them to take a nap, check, giving them a bath, check say prayers etc. So when I have had a hard time accomplishing what I needed to get done, I try to look at what I have done that day, and I realize I actually did a whole lot more than I thought I did. After all there is always tomorrow to get the chores done and your kids are only little for a while. I feel a little better just writing this down, I really did enjoy the journey today!

July 4th Weekend!

July 4th Weekend Part 2

We loved going to the Pancake breakfast in the morning at the church. We then went back home and had some friends, the Guistina's come over and swimming in our apartment pool. It felt so nice since the weather was so humid out. We then had all the kids take naps and later on that night we went to their house to have a BBQ and shoot of fireworks. Now anyone that knows my husband knows that the 4th is his favorite Holiday and then comes Christmas. So as you can imagine he buys lots of fireworks. I'll try to post the picture of all the fireworks before we shot them off, I don't think the picture does it any justice. We pretty much had a professional fireworks show without the crowd of people and the terrible traffic to go back home in. The Guistina's Neighbors all came out and started to watch, at the end they all clapped. Kate Love it, she would clap and say "good job daddy, good job!" Jerry was so excited after shooting them off that he could hardly go to sleep that night he was so pumped up, he had a good time. It kind of reminds me of a little kid in an adult body, just how excited he was. We all had a great time, we finish off the weekend by going to the beach in Destin Florida. It was Caleb's first visit to the beach, let just say it wasn't the smoothest trip we had down at the beach. We will have to try it again when he is a little older. It was really windy that day and Caleb had a hard time with that. All in all it was a busy and fun weekend.

Happy 4th of July!