Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Visiting an old friend

Way back in sixth grade, my life changed forever for the good.  I didn't know that many people on my sixth grade team and I happened to meet a girl that was on my team and was interested in many of the things I liked too.  She read books going down the hall, went to church, was on the nerdy end of the spectrum and was musically inclined.  Erin Selby and I became friends that year and through the years have stayed in touch even through difficult times in high school and going to colleges that were 14 hours apart.  I admired her for many of her qualities-her unbelievable musical talent, ability to eat snickers and Pepsi and stay skinny, and her creativity with clothes, food, art, and our beloved projects!  (Our school projects sometimes kept us up all night but by golly we finished them and got the A+ we deserved!) We used to plan to get married, build houses next to each other, and raise our families side by side.  I remember calling her when Jason and I got engaged and her calling me 6 months later to tell me that she was now engaged.   She is one of those friends that needs a call for big news because we were miles apart but she is too good of a friend to get that news through facebook or email.  She was in my wedding and I was in hers-just six months after mine.  And we both started our married lives within six months of each other but hours apart.  She was in Atlanta and I was in Spartanburg, SC.  Then we moved to Texas-and we were further apart.  I also remember calling her in January of 2010 to tell her before telling the masses that we had surprisingly found out that we were going to have a baby in August.  She was so happy for us and I asked her if they were planning on trying for a child soon.  Then came her unexpected response.  You see, we still kept in touch but we weren't as close as we had been over the years.  She told me that she and her husband Josh had already been trying for 2 years to have a baby and it just wasn't happening.  FRIEND FAIL!!!!!  She wasn't upset with me for asking but it really put things into perspective for me.  We were expecting a blessing from God that we weren't trying for or asking for yet and here she had been yearning for a baby for over two years.  I ended the conversation with her in a hopeful-well things seem to happen to you right after they happen to us so just maybe you will get pregnant soon.

When Spencer was born I had no idea that in that next month, Erin would be undergoing IVF to eventually get pregnant.  I was so excited when I saw her caller ID on my phone in December.  I just knew she was pregnant.  Sure enough she was calling to tell me that she was expecting-TWINS!!!!  I was sooooo happy for her.  Sam and Kate were born the following May and when we moved back to this side of the country, I couldn't wait to go see her new little instant family.  Spencer and I made the trek to Atlanta in November and spent a few days with Erin, Josh, Sam and Kate.  Spencer loved the babies and wanted to stick pacifiers in their mouth, give them bottles, swing them in their swing and bounce them in the jumper.  It was nice to see that she enjoyed seeing other little ones around her.  It was also great catching up with an old friend.  Here are the twins with Spencer:

 And then there was some petting...I think Spencer sees little babies as a pet like her dogs!

 And here is Spencer with Erin expressing her "cheese" face!

Erin is such an awesome mom!  I have no idea how she handles twins-two babies at the same time needing the same stuff!  You can read about her journey to getting pregnant here. 

I count my blessings that God has given me friendships that last through all the stages of life.  Erin is one of those lifetime friends!  We can wait until we visit again!

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The Pumpkin Patch-while it is still FALL

Since moving and starting to work just in the home, I have joined a MOPS group here. In October, we had a playdate field trip to Holiday Farms in South Carolina for a Pumpkin Day. Of course, being that it was Spencer's first time going to a pumpkin patch, she had to be dressed for the occassion. Her GREAT and FABULOUS aunt Bonnie (my aunt) had already given her a diva pumpkin tutu and I found her shirt and pants on sale and they were the last ones and they just happened to be in her size. So I figured it was meant for her to wear them! Thanks Aunt Bonnie-everyone there complemented her outfit!
It was a really neat little farm. As we drove up, the people had decorated an old satellite dish as a pumpkin and had enormous hay bales painted like pumpkins. For $5, we got to do all the games, rides, petting zoo (more on that later), a hay ride, and a pumpkin. Here is our pal Lincoln playing one of the games. It was two water pumps on each side and little rubber duckies would race each other as you pumped the water to the other side. Then two other people would pump them back to you. Spencer couldn't do this game yet but we enjoyed watching Lincoln.

They also had a "milk the cow" station. I helped Spencer do it the first time but she didn't seem that interested. Then we went to a rope the longhorn area and Spencer turned around and went back to the cow to milk it herself. I guess she wanted to do it by herself. The entire day she did not want me to hold her. She was all over and enjoying the wide open field of fun.
Spencer enjoyed the swing set A LOT!
Then it was time for our hay ride. You waited for your hay ride under this covered area that also housed a petting farm-complete with pigs, peacocks, donkey, piglets, ducks, baby ducks, chickens, rabbits, pony and a turkey. Spencer was given a At the Farm book for her birthday and we read it every day, multiple times a day. The book has pages of animals and Spencer easily found the dog that looks like Evee and says, "Dog". We have really been working on other animals and their sounds so she will not call everything a dog. She saw all the animals and only called the Donkey a dog. Then we saw this pig. She looked really sweet and she would kind of lick your fingers. Spencer wanted to pet her (don't worry I had hand sanitizer near) so she walked up and got ready to pet the pig. Right after the shutter closed for this image, the pig got excited and snorted really loud. Which sent Spencer backwards and she fell on her bottom and started crying. Needless to say, she didn't really go near the other animals just looked them from a distance. But I do think she knows what sound a pig makes now! :)


Then we finally got to ride on the hay ride to the field to get our pumpkins. By this time, Spencer was hungry and she really just enjoyed that she was getting to eat some Cheezits.

Spencer loved the pumpkin field. She ran all over it and looked at all the pumpkins. Here is what she found.And of course, the reason for the occasion for mommy-photo ops!


We had so much fun and we can't wait until next year!

What have I been up to?

Last April, when God answered one of the biggest prayers in my heart, I had this vision for what being a stay at home mom would look like for me. I guess it is kind of like when you are pregnant with your first child and you image how it will be to become a mother and take care of your baby knowing nothing about what real life with a baby is about. I imagined that when we moved and I didn't have to run off to school every morning Spencer and I would do crafty projects and make cookies and the house would be clean and I would not feel tired all the time like when I was working. I would blog at least once a week and become a good cook. Heck-I also imagined that I would become one with my sewing machine and start whipping up some dresses/outfits for Spencer-you know the regular super momma domestic diva all rolled into one!

HA HA HA HA HA HA-this is me laughing at myself.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being a stay at home mom. And I am grateful to God for making this happen for our family. But it is nothing like I thought it would be. Definitely not the "I wouldn't be tired all the time" part. And obviously I need to blog more.

We get up, get ready, play, eat breakfast, I clean, do laundry, read children's books, clean, eat, nap (Spencer, not me) as I clean, organize, and then she wakes up and we read, eat, and you guessed it-I clean again. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love seeing my daughter discover new things, I love seeing her playing with her toys and pretending to take care of her baby doll. I love seeing her try new foods, find her favorite books and watching her gain confidence in her locomotive abilities.

But I do feel like time has sped up even faster as I have been taking care of her. I just wish it would slow down. What I am learning as I stay home with my baby girl is to treasure our time together. I am also learning to forgive myself if the house isn't perfect or we didn't get everything done that I wanted to because we played longer doing something Spencer enjoyed or she needed to nap longer because she was really tired. And right now I think that is the most important thing about being a mom!

A Whole Year!

Baby Spencer at one day old:



Baby Spencer at One Year Old:

It is hard to believe how fast this year has gone. Baby girl, Mommy and Daddy love you so much. At 12 months, you were not yet walking. But you could stand by yourself and walk by holding on to the furniture. You weighed 20 lbs. and 4 oz. (although we didn't like the new doctor and you were messing with the scale so that could be a little off) and you were 30 inches tall. You said: Momma, DaDa and Dog. And you loved your dogs. You had a total of 3 birthday parties-one with just mommy and daddy on your birthday, one at CeCe and PawPaw's house and one at Nana and Papa Jay's house.

Baby girl, we feel so blessed to be your parents and so glad God chose us for you. You continue to amaze us in how much your understand. Your favorite time at home is bath time. You love reading your books "What Makes a Rainbow" and your green caterpillar book. You put everything in your mouth and you are down to only one nap a day. You have 6 teeth and you enjoy "feeding" yourself-even if the food ends up all over you. You did not like your smash cake but you did enjoy some bread at your birthday and seeing all the balloons. You are a very brave girl who loves going up the stairs and trying to climb up things. You love swinging in your outside swing and giving Evee a hug.

Happy First Birthday Spencer! We love you.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy!

One year ago...

It was the day before my due date. We went to the doctor to find out that I was contracting enough to go to the hospital. This was the last day I was pregnant for the entire day. This was the last day it was just me and Jason. We were excited, scared, nervous, happy-all at the same time. And my parents started the trip out to Texas!