hand writing and a birthday

Back on December 31 {I obviously forgot about these pics}, Hadlea and I spent time writing her name. She is really into letters and writing lately. She doesn't always get them write, but for the most part, she has done really well!

I wrote her name first and then she wrote each letter underneath.

I was pretty impressed!

Her daycare teacher text these to me yesterday, which made me think of the above. They are tracing their numbers. We have been working on tracing too, but these are pretty impressive since she hasn't been doing that well with tracing lately.

Hopefully she gets her daddy's writing skills. I have the worst writing!

And another thing I forgot to post...

our sweet Riley's 11th Birthday Party.

We took some of his friends to play laser tag.

Since Hadlea and a couple of the other kids were too young for laser tag, they played in the arcade... which you will never get any grief from Hadlea doing that. They also all rode go-carts!

I think it was a successful birthday party!

over parenting...

I think with the arrival of baby #2 coming at warp speed, I cannot help but think back to my parenting skills with Hadlea. I was definitely one of 'those people' that thought they knew the ways of the parenting land before I even had a child. I knew what they should be eating, drinking, learning, etc... or I sure thought so! Man... what a hard headed, picky, stubborn and sassy willed child will do to your 'knowledge' ...and self-esteem!

I swore Hadlea would NEVER drink pop. IF she got juice it would always be watered down. She MIGHT get candy on a VERY rare occasion. She would NEVER sleep in our bed as a baby. She WOULD have a strict routine bed schedule. She would NOT be staying at any one's house until she was old enough to tell me what she did while there.

I had another thing coming! The sleepless nights will make you sleep anywhere with your child just to get some rest. I can honestly say Hadlea never 'slept' all night in our bed, but she did lay with us when she wouldn't sleep.

Another thing that opened my eyes to my 'before parenting' thoughts was I had a friend that said she 'over parented'! I know I looked at her very strange. She continued on saying she couldn't just 'play' with her kids because she always worried about the mess or things being unorganized. She was ALWAYS stressed trying to make the very best decision for them. She just couldn't LIVE in the moment. She hated to go to parties because other people allowed their kids to drink pop, eat junk food and candy. She didn't allow her kids to do that so it only upset her kids and ended up with them crying at the party.

There is a little girl we know that is only allowed to eat what her parents send for her. So if there is a birthday or holiday party, she cannot eat what the other kids do. At Hadlea's school parties, we are only allowed to bring fruits, cheeses, crackers, etc. They do allow cookies or cupcakes at each event, but only one parent will bring them so there is not TONS of junk food. The sweet girl that cannot eat this is ALWAYS very sad. I just CANNOT imagine that being my child. I just want to sneak that kid a freaking cookie!

All of this really got me thinking... Would a 'small' drink of pop kill my child? Would a small piece of candy kill my child every few days? And of course that is NO! We hardly give Hadlea any candy at home. Unless someone is at our house or we go somewhere for someone to give her candy, she doesn't get it but on rare occasion. We don't keep pop at our house unless we are having company, so she wouldn't be drinking that at home.

I also know that a little pop and candy are probably better than the fast food that we eat. And man, I do LOVE Chick-fil-A... and so does Hadlea.

I just think there is a middle ground. I think most of us grew up probably drinking and eating whatever we wanted because our parents probably had no idea how bad some of the stuff was back then... and we totally survived. I remember going to my Granny and Grandads and my cousin, Malisa, and brother, Jake, and I would get Dr Pepper in little tiny classes for breakfast. We had tea parties with sweet tea and Dr Pepper. Those are some of the greatest memories I have with Malisa... and since she is no longer with us, I don't get to make any other memories. Would I remember having ALL of those tea parties with water... probably so... but since it was something we didn't get to do at home, it made it all that more special.

I guess my point to all of these thoughts are... I hope I can live somewhere in the middle. I want a healthy, happy child... and I want them both to be able to make the right decisions as they get older when I am not there to make the decisions for them. But at the same time, I want them to enjoy something sweet and unhealthy on occasion. I know I couldn't live without it in my life! ...why should they have to?!

Coming off the holidays and spending alot of time with family and friends, I kind of felt like Hadlea had eaten alot of junk. I started offering her better choices and praising her for making the right ones. Like... "Would you like juice or water to drink?" If she said water, I would always say, "Great choice. You make me so proud!" {And if she chose juice, I would just water it down.} Recently, she has been choosing nothing but water. It could be a phase, but  I will continue to praise her hoping she will continue to make the best decisions. Same with snacks, food, etc.

At dinner the other night, she chose water. She said, "What are you having to drink?" I said, "Water". She said, "Great choice momma. I am so proud of you!" ...and wouldn't you know... she does pay attention to me sometimes after all! :-)

Now... Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Close Friends... this does NOT mean you get to start offering her whatever you want! What she gets now is far more than I ever thought she would get, but I think I stressed so much about it when she was super little that I have learned with time that there has to be a middle ground... or a ground that is going to give me a little stress relief! I would honestly be most happy if you never offered her anything but a cup of water and an apple... but I am being realistic after all! :-)

phone dump friday

Did I really just hit one of these things on a Friday?!

Talk about a miracle... and a good day!

Today has been an awesome day! ...it IS Friday after all. Baby girl was in a GREAT mood going to school today... and I got a call saying my baby brother is moving here! I will have both of my brothers in the SAME town! Some days I just feel super blessed... today would definitely be one of them!

So I am not sure where I left off on my last phone dump, most of these are super out of order but I guess it will give you an idea of what we have been up to!

We went to Cherry Berry one night while Riley was with us!

Always makes for a super happy girl!

We had a nice week a couple weeks ago so we spent more time down at the pond.

My big vicious dog thought he ruled the place with his stick!

Hadlea loves to hold Berkley in the car. Thankfully he is good to let her.

One day while Hadlea was sick, she decided to play dress up!

Did yall ever play with these as kids? Jake and I did all of the time.

We have spent alot of times building 'castles' so Hadlea can take a picture of them.

We dressed up for Aunt Amanda when KU played KState.

These little gorgeous suckers... I want! {They are on etsy.} The hubs says no. So if someone could buy them for me, it would save me alot of grief! :-) ...because if you know me, I will end up ordering them... eventually!

I am still not sleeping so well after two weeks of being sick, so while on conference calls one day, I laid on the couch. Baby boy was moving and Berkley was asleep... so just a picture of my boys!

Our house is being painted! I need to do some before and afters, but this is after for the living room. It has made THE biggest different. I LOVE the color!

Happy Friday! And happy weekend!

We don't have much planned other than avoiding our paint smelling house!

ok. you win! ...his name!!

I had no intentions of sharing his name today. Honestly, I didn't think that many people would care. But it is SO nice to know that I am not the only nosey curious one out there when it comes to people's baby's names.

I big fat happy HEART baby names. Common ones, Weird ones, Straight out of nowhere ones. I just love hearing what someone will be naming their baby. I think this has also evolved with time as I got older. I remember my cousin Shelly telling me at the lake one summer that she was going to name her baby boy Charlie. I was like, "what? why?". And funny thing today, Charlie is one of my favorite names. And her sweet Charlie, looks just like a Charlie. I just cannot imagine a better name for that boy! {sorry Shelly! love you! :-) }

I think as I get older, I realize I'm just not at nosey {true story} as I used to be. Or maybe it is because I just have so much more responsibility these days that I just don't have the energy to seek out certain things! Ha! And... I realize as I get older "to each their own" is totally true! We all have our own opinions. Ask me, and I will give you mine!

So onto names...

I said in a previous post that I have always kept a document with baby names on it. Most of these names have been on here since before we even got pregnant with Hadlea. I have added or deleted over time, but for the most part, I knew I wanted to use one of these for our future kids.

Girls: Hadlea, Hynlea, Leven, London, Lynnee, Lucha, Jaylea. {and I hope to have a little female yorkie one day named Lucha. I LOVE that name! Our names for Hadlea were down to Hadlea, Lucha and London. I think Hadlea just fits her, and I am so glad that we went with it, but I LOVE Lucha... and so did Justin.}

Boys: Hudson, Haze, Maddyn, Kason, Kizer. {if Hadlea would have been a boy, she would have been Haze.}

Boys names are HARD! I never really thought it would be that difficult, but after having to REALLY decide on one, I just couldn't help to think that boys are mean {and so are girls these days too}, but I just couldn't help but think what other boys would eventually call him.

Now... as a mother, I feel like I get 90% of the vote to name the child. I know... I am totally selfish, but I am selfish in alot of things.. why would naming a child be any different?! ;-) Enter Justin... we talked and talked about names. We set many nights on the couch scouring the Internet to look at names. We both made lists and removed what the other didn't like. We got it down to two names...

Kastin & Kason

Justin: Kastin {like you're 'casting' a fishing rod. and yes, I am totally serious} and Me: Kason.

We have been stuck on these two names for a good 3 months. We have went back and forth. Polled everyone we knew. Or I polled everyone I knew because I knew they would agree with me! Ha! The one thing is, I actually liked Kastin. I thought Justin was SUPER creative with coming up with it, and he was totally getting those bonus points. But I LOVED Kason.

A couple weeks ago, I told Justin that we just needed to settle on something. I am NOT one to wait until the hospital to see their face. That is JUST. NOT. ME! I need things personalized and monogrammed. I told Justin if he was 150% sure on Kastin, we would go with it. I named Hadlea, and I would give in. But he gave me a look that didn't say he was even 100% sure. He just said if he had a choice today, that would be it. And I couldn't go with that...

Hadlea had been setting in the floor playing during this conversation of Kastin vs Kason. She looked right at Justin and said, "I don't like Kastin, I like Kason." {and she has referred to him as Kason for quite some time.} And that was the final straw. Justin said, "That's it. Hadlea can choose." and it was settled!

We will be welcoming...

Mr. Kason Havoc

And I guess you want to know where Havoc came from?! Ha! It is fishing related. Justin's idea... and I LOVE it! I just think it totally fits us!

And just for a sneak peak of his room... someone might or might not be creating us an art piece for above his crib! But you won't talk me into that until the room reveal! :-)

**and feel free to use any of the names above. we are totally done naming anything that isn't small, furry and has four legs! ;-)

changes...

I 'think' we have all finally recovered from the flu! ...or whatever I had. It has been a rough couple of weeks for all of us. H seemed to finally be back to her ol' bossy, sassy self on Monday. I still have a pretty bad cough and cannot sleep due to said cough, but other than that, we are perfect!

And if all the sickness wasn't enough for us, we decided to add in a bunch of house changes/updates!

Since Gigi was in town helping take care of H and I, she wanted to go and buy Hadlea's big girl bed. We have been talking to Hadlea about big girl beds and giving her crib to her brother for quite some time. I was just too nervous to bite the bullet. I guess I just needed Gigi here for a little push!

We picked it up on Saturday and daddy got it all put together. She is so super proud of her bed! We are still waiting for the trundle and another piece to come in. I also got her bedding ordered! {and oh my word, it is adorable!} Thanks to Gigi and Poppa for the bed! You made one happy girl! ...and one happy momma since the transition is going so smooth!

We have been working on getting a few things for our bedroom. I had been searching Pinterest high and low for things I loved.... then I put my good friend Taran to work! Doesn't it pay to have awesomely talented friends?! Taran made me some large square euro pillows to match the ruffled throw she made me! She also made my curtains. I got the throw and curtains last night and cannot wait to get it all put together!!

We ordered some storage for the new playroom, which daddy got put together too. We started moving the playroom to our old office and cleaning out baby boys room. I feel like my house is in a constant state of clutter.... but with two kids, I may feel like that for life! Ha!

I also got in baby boys bedding! His colors will be black, gray and lime green... with a few others added in. My friend Taran is making this too. I cannot wait to see it! Eeek!

And if that just ISN'T enough... our painter started yesterday on painting our entire house. Or all but the bedrooms. It will take them about a week, and then we should be on our way of getting the final touches done before baby boy gets here!

Oh... and guess what?! Baby Boy has a NAME. More on that later...

eleven years old

Today, my sweet nephew turns 11 years old. I know I will say this every year for the rest of his life, but I have no idea how that is even possible. I was in the room the day he was born, and it feels just like yesterday! He has always been a highlight and VERY important piece of Justin and I's life together. Not very many times did Justin and I go somewhere without dragging him along!

I am just so proud to be his Aunt Hova!

and I know a little girl that loves him pretty much more than anything in this world....

Happy 11th Birthday, Riley Biley!

You will just never know how much you mean to me.

we've been hit...

...by the flu bug!

I am going to go ahead and blame my mom and MIL for this one! Last week my mom and I had a conversation about how healthy our family was. Other than Hadlea's ear infections as a baby, she has never been sick. Justin has only been to the dr twice in our almost 12 years together... once for a 4-wheeler wreck and once because I made him get a complete physical. I probably haven't been more than 4 or 5 times in our 12 years together other than checkups.

So right after my mom and I have this conversation, my MIL brings up the flu shot. We normally do not get them. I did think about getting it this year due to the amount of sickness going around, but I never got around to getting them for all of us. ...this happened on Thursday.

On Friday, Justin heads to work and comes back home throwing up. He was pretty miserable all day. Never ran a fever, but he couldn't keep anything down.

Friday night, Hadlea sleeps with me in bed and starts doing this whole trimmers/shaking thing. I first thought it was my dog chewing on something, but after feeling them both, realized it was Hadlea. Justin was still up after sleeping all day, so we checked her out and she had a 102 fever.

We tried everything to get it down without medicine. We headed to Urgent care after lunch on Saturday, and she tested positive for Type A.

They prescribe her Tamiflu, but due to the outbreak, we couldn't find it anywhere. We had to wait until Monday for a compounding pharmacy to open where they can make it themselves.

She was SO miserable! I felt like the worst mother EVER!

She would drink pedialyte really well so I never worried about her staying hydrated, but she wouldn't eat ANYTHING... I did finally get her to eat like this...

laying down covered up. Her request: chicken and ketchup!

On Sunday night, I started getting the same symptoms she had. Bad cough, congestion, etc. My body was sore. I hadn't slept since Thursday night so I thought maybe I was just tired. I ended up calling my OB and PCP on Monday morning to see if I needed to start something too. It was a total mess!!

Justin stayed home with us on Monday and my mom came up to help on Tuesday. Tuesday, Hadlea started coming around to her old self again... our pretty princess!

She is acting so much better today. I am starting to feel better other than a cough that I would love to get rid of! Oh... and if I could sleep at night that would be awesome too! I know I am keeping everyone in my house up coughing all night! So hoping we are all on the mend!

Baby H2 {26 and 27 weeks}

{sorry... iphone pic is all you get since I can barely remember to post these! :-) }



How far along: 27 weeks

Net weight gain/loss: 17 pounds

Maternity clothes: All maternity!

Stretch marks: none. and I am going through the lotion like crazy! :-)

Belly button: innie

Sleep: I don't think I have slept a good night in a couple of weeks. I swear I use the bathroom 42 times a night!

Baby movement: He is quite the mover!

Gender: BOY! {and he MAY have a name!!}

Food cravings: Mexican, cereal, plain blueberry Eggo's, sandwiches, chocolate milk, tea and Coke icees.

Food aversions: anything that is not listed above! :)

What I miss: The days of not being incredibly tired!

Looking forward to: Getting our house in  order! We have ALOT going on. Since we moved into our new house, we knew we wanted to repaint almost everything due to the walls being a flat paint. It shows EVERYTHING and drives me crazy! We have been here 6 months and never made it a priority, until now. I all of the sudden want it ALL painted NOW. So I got a few estimates, we decided on someone, and they start next week. Can someone PLEASE provide me THE PERFECT GRAY PAINT?! I.Cannot.Decide! Ugh!

We are also moving 3 rooms around. We moved our spare bed to my brothers {thanks A&A!}, I ordered a King size self inflating blow up mattress for company, we are moving my office to the spare bedroom, we are moving the playroom to the old office and then the playroom will become the nursery! We ordered storage for the playroom, and it arrived this week. Justin will be busy this weekend! Ha!

I decided on his nursery colors and bedding. I ordered the material last week and my friend, Taran, is making it. I found someone to do a painting over his bed, and I need to order shelves. I cannot wait to see it all come together! Eeeek!

Oh... and if that isn't enough, I decided to tackle my Master bedroom too! I got a new comforter for Christmas so then I picked out curtains, a ruffled throw and some pillows that Taran is making also. I also got a new mirror and lamps.

I.Am.Tired! :-) But obviously most of it is self inflicted! Ha!

Best moment this week: Getting started on our house projects!

Milestones per babycenter: This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with his legs extended. He's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing his eyes, and perhaps even sucking his fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if he were born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother him, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

I had my monthly appointment today and everything looks great! I was supposed to do my glucose test, but they forgot to tell me last time so I just have to take it some time in the next week. I will have another ultrasound at 32 weeks to check the placenta previa, and I now start going every 2 weeks! How am I already at the two weeks mark! It is going so FAST!

happy birthday to ??

On Sunday, Justin and I went to a couples shower for Alan and Amanda. It was a no kids shower, so Aunt Leslie, Riley and Hannah came to babysit H. I brought H home a cupcake from the shower. Once her daddy showed it to her, she was ready and willing to eat it! ....but NOT before we got a candle and sang Happy Birthday!

Not only did Justin and I have to sing to her, but her and Justin had to sing to me and then her and I had to sing to Justin.

I think she has a bit of an imagintation!!

hope you enjoyed your fake birthday H! :-)

2012 in review

So I thought I would go back through 2012 and recap some of the things we did or just some of my favorite pictures! It was such an awesome year! But I know 2013 will be even more memorable! {Am I really going to become a mother of TWO?! ...or FOUR counting Justin and Berkley?! Ha! God sure does have alot of faith in me!}

January

We: celebrated my nephew's 10th birthday! drove to Arkansas for an Eric Church concert, went to Little Gym. visited old high school friends.

February

We: drove to Louisiana to watch Fred participate in the Bassmaster Classic. Hadlea stayed in Medford with Gigi and Poppa. attended Lacy and Cody's wedding, made a trip to Kansas City to see the Justice family.

March

We: went to dinner with friends and watched KU in March Madness. got a visit from our Zimmerman cousins. went to Katelyn's 4th birthday. went to an Easter party. went to the circus. Hadlea had school pictures. played in the rain!

April

We: celebrated my nieces birthday. watched Hadlea hold her first fish! went to Arkansas to watch Fred fish a tourn. celebrated Easter with our family. watched my nephew get baptized. took family pictures. spent ALOT of time outside. took Hadlea's paci away and bought a sandbox in return!

May

We: watched my niece graduate from Kindergarten. celebrated Berkley's 4th birthday. celebrated my Uncle Gary's 50th at the lake. spent Memorial Day with the Justice Family on Tenkiller. celebrated Mother's Day. took pics with Riley and Hannah.

June

We: put our house on the market and bought a new one. Eeeek! had our final class at Little Gym. celebrated Fathers Day. had a girls high school weekend at the Hard Rock. spent every moment possible outside swimming or at the splash park.

July

We: took Hadlea to her first 'friends' birthday party. started moving into our new home. celebrated the 4th with friends and family at our old house. spent evenings and weekends at either the pond or pool in our new neighborhood. drove to Kansas City to say 'bye' to Shan before their move to the East. received 'to infinity and beyond' necklaces from Shan because she thought that sounded better than my tattoo idea! went to Matt and Megan's wedding.

August

We: found out we were expecting #2! worked on decorating the house. made a trip to Indianapolis for the MotoGP races with Julie. Granny fell and broke her hip. Grandma fell and broke her leg. Uncle Gary had his wreck. had several visits from the niece and nephew. got a visit from the Hammons family. i was SICK most of the month!

September

We: shared with our parents that we were expecting #2. got to see #2 at our appointment with daddy, momma, H, Gigi and Nana. went to visit Granny in the hospital. found out A&A were having a GIRL! took Hadlea for her first pedicure.

October

We: went to Riley and Hannah's fund raiser at school. played in the rain. went to homecoming in Medford. went to the zoo ALOT. celebrated Halloween with the cutest costume EVER and lots of parties. received my autographed Troy Aikman poster from my brothers and SIL.

November

We: got our family pictures. went to a shower for Kayman and Charlee. went to Alabama for Thanksgiving. laid our Grandpa Kilian to rest. spent alot of time outside in the crazy warm November weather.

December

We: celebrated Hadlea's 3rd birthday and shared with our families that we were expecting a BOY! went to her daycare Christmas program. went to the Christmas Train. went to the zoo. looked at alot of Christmas lights. visited and got a visit from Santa. celebrated Christmas with family and friends.

Such a great year!

Cannot wait to see where we are come January 2014!

NYE 2012

Oh to bring in the new year prego... Justin and I were invited several places for NYE, however, there just weren't many things that sounded fun to do while being pregnant. It doesn't bother me in the least to see others drinking, because frankly, I am not really that big of a drinker, however, staying up past 10PM is a killer!

After several of us changing plans, we all decided on a pj party! We did this a couple years ago and it was pretty fun!

Roumbanis', Ray's and Us!

One thing I did notice, pj pictures while prego just aren't that flattering! :-)

We ended the night with fireworks and were home by 1215!

Hadlea had her first babysitter. My friend, Deanna's, daughter had asked a long time ago to start babysitting, and we had told her we would atleast do dinner on NYE and she could watch Hadlea. Hadlea was in heaven having Courtney all to herself!

Happy New Year!

phone dump

I had 2363 pictures on my phone and finally deleted some of them this weekend. I HATE deleting pictures as I am SO afraid I will lose them... and yes, I back them up in two other places. It makes me very thankful for these posts... you know, incase my other two backups get destroyed! :-)

my hubs at the EC concert. there are just certain pictures where I think he is super hot! this would be one of them! ;-)

while Gigi was in town, we went to Rhema, which is a college that has a crazy amount of lights! It is such a cool place!

i loved this tree!

with my babes!

the morning of Hadlea's 3rd birthday! i sometimes have a really hard time looking at this picture without getting all emotional. she is REALLY into praying and talking about Jesus. plus, she has such a great relationship with her gigi. just the most perfect picture.

lovin' her Mola!

Mola doesn't get far from her side. She has even taken over Hadlea's highchair during dinner!

playing go fish! if you have a 3 year old, or even older, get this game! super cute and fun!

we tired the elf on the shelf. she was totally not interested!

ready for her Christmas party at school!

this is how we ride to school. Mola in a high chair in the front seat and Berk on the console. I seriously feel like I already have 3 kids at times!

we went to the zoo a couple days before Christmas! The weather was awesome!

we went to my nephew's basketball game. he even got in some Mola time before his game. Ha!

I think my sweet baby girl pictures are becoming fewer and far between... this is about what I get now!

we spent several afternoons taking walks and throwing rocks in the pond. Berkley gets a little concerned when she gets near the water. notice his foot up? he will start barking at her!

and of course, several of our walks included Baby Mola!

I gave all of Hadlea's Newborn through 2T clothes to Alan and Amanda as they await the arrival of Kayman. I would be lying if I said it wasn't hard to see them go. But I CANNOT wait to see them on my sweet NIECE! Eeeeek!

All the presents wrapped and ready! And these are all but Hadleas!

Hadlea still has birthday presents rolling in from friends and family. She got this cooking set with a hat and apron and wore it most of one day!

Hadlea got a Pottery Barn luggage set from Auntie B. I has no idea she was getting them and I got her the backpack so she ended up with the set!

And because Hadlea had to take a picture, then Mola did too!

Granny got Hadlea and Mola matching dresses! She thought this was the greatest!

"Momma... feel my baby? She's kicking. Oh wait... no, she's sleeping! Is my brother sleeping too?" Thankfully, she acknowledges she is having a brother now!

Ready for the Cowboys vs Redskins game. No comment on the game or season. Ugh!

Lunch with my sweet niece and nephew!

We finally got in all of our couch from Mathis Brothers. It only took 6 months!

To say they are at the top of my crap list is an understatement! Ugh!

This is how I get to watch football on my tv... snuggled down with Baby Mola, Hadlea and baby boy... and Barney blaring over the tv! But atleast I get to watch the game!

Hadlea had most of her babies all lined up on the couch this morning so I had to send a picture to my brother to let him know what his Saturday mornings will look like in 3 years!