Mirror Image

I am taking Greer to have her 12 week pictures taken this morning. I pulled out Knox's picture at 12 weeks old and found it a little crazy how much they look alike. Most people say she doesn't resemble Knox too much anymore, but clearly they are wrong. Umm...my little Knoxette needs to start growing some more hair so people will know she is a girl! My friend Brady and I decided to go with the theory that Greer doesn't look like a boy...it's more so that Knox looked a little like a girl when he was a baby. I'm just going to stick to that notion :).


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Hot Date

My sister watched G-girl yesterday afternoon so that I could take this guy on a hot date. I tell you what...it was goooood for my soul. I loved having him one on one, and I have no doubt he enjoyed it, too! After getting his haircut we ate lunch at CFA (naturally) and then came home and played in the backyard for quite a while. how can anyone stay inside with this beautiful weather?? I wish I had pictures to give you a visual of him on the trampoline. He doesn't really bounce too well...he more so likes to run like crazy into the net and then fall backwards and bend like a pretzel. Looks painful, but he thinks it's hilarious. Well, I decided to hop in yesterday and bounce him around a little bit. It started off light, but soon turned in to me double bouncing him practically above my head. He was screaming laughing and drooling all over the place. Whenever I would stop he would shout "pweeeeease!" so like a good mother, I kept on. Until, that is, I noticed some chicken nuggets being regurgitated. I decided to call it quits and move on to playing T-ball in the sprinklers. He has a lefty swing right now, by the way, and grunts when he hits. Awesome!! He is so much fun and saying so many funny things. I'm posting this because I'm crazy sad right now. He left me this afternoon to go be spoiled by Lolli in Auburn for a few days (thanks, lolli!). My plan is to spring clean this house like crazy and do things I wouldn't normally have time to like update baby books, clean out closets, make Greer's Easter basket, and just plain spend time with quite possibly the sweetest baby girl on the face of the Earth. Hopefully I can toss her a dust rag and she can jump right in and clean with me! I mean, she can sit up in a bumbo seat now, so doesn't that mean it's time to introduce her to the vacuum?


Gotta earn your keep around here :)



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This and That

I don't really have just one thing to report in this post, more like a hodge podge of things. First of all, and most excitingly, C.K. came for a visit this weekend and it was MORE than awesome to have her here. We all went to a baby shower/bunco night for a friend Friday night, and then we all walked in the Fairhope Spring Fever Chase today. The weather seriously could not have been more beautiful! I mean, I love Fairhope all the time, but I REALLY love Fairhope in the spring time!

The bunco night was super fun...considering I have never ever played before. It got a little out of control loud at times, which I loved. I think I am addicted and will definitely need an invite from ANYONE who reads this blog and plays bunco. If you question my skills, lets just say that I sat at the high table most of the night, IF you know what I mean. That is, if you can call throwing dice on a table skills...

Here is Andrea and I chatting before the chaos began:

The girls after the walk this morning:

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics of the Arts and Crafts Festival today. Downtown Fairhope is slammed with cutsey booths and vendors all along the streets. It's incredible and so fun. We are planning on heading back tomorrow, so maybe I will snap a few then...

Let me slip in some comments on my girl, Cathie (top row, second from the left). This sweet girl came down to get filled with girl time, and ended up spending some of here time here...with this guy:

Yup...the pediatrician. Why, do you ask?? Well, we had a multitude of reasons. First off, Foxie was super, DUPER eager to get his hands on the pork loin that daddy was cooking the other night. So eager that he walked right up to the grill and placed his fingers on it:

Am I a bad mom for posting this? I promise that we watch him carefully (most times), and he only cried for a few minutes after it happened. Poor Lee felt HORRIBLE. Knox hasn't been bothered by it at all really, but he started running a low grade fever the other day, off and on, and I was worried that it might be infected or something. Luckily, no infection and the doc said it's healing well. He also had a chemical burn, that's right, chemical burn on his bottom! Most children would call it a diaper rash, but since this little guy has skin as sensitive as Casper, he woke up with a dirty diaper the other morning and it had literally peeled sheets of skin off his bottom since he had slept in it for a little while. I would post the pic of what it looked like, but then child services would be at my doorstep within a matter of hours, and I would prefer to have my children live with me. We got some prescription cream and it has pretty much cleared up now, so that's good. Yesterday morning we let him walk around the house without a diaper on after his bath so that it could air out. Don't worry...I started feeding him oatmeal standing up since it hurt him to sit down and about 5 bites in to it, I felt some warm liquid on my foot. I guess Knox thought my toes needed some watering because he relieved himself right there on the spot. All I could do was laugh at the poor guy, and then run to the bathroom and wash my foot off immediately...

He wouldn't smile for the camera so I got an action shot of him playing with the car:

Anyways, all this to say that Cathie is a trooper for coming with us since she had just spent the week dealing with her sick child and Dr's offices. 

I have a few more pics of some randomness that I will post. Nothing too exciting these days. Still loving on and am super emotional about the family that God gave me. I know that I mentioned it before, but I seriously recommend the book Crazy Love. It has, hands down, been one of the most eye opening books that I have ever read. The more I read it, the more I am blown away by how much God loves me, and how I only give Him whats "left over" at the end of the day. He wants and desires so much more from us, and I desire to give Him everything, but somehow I manage to let the small, non-significant things get in the way and distract me so easily. I love meeting with the girls each week. It's so encouraging to hear everyone's different view and what they are learning. It's also awesome accountability. I am so thankful for the women that God has placed in my life. I think I mention that in almost every post, and I will continue to do so because the body of Christ is so important, and I have been so blessed. I don't think I really grasped that until I graduated from college. While I was in college, I totally took it for granted. 

So, back to the pics. A little bit of here and there...

Lee was cutting the grass with Knox the other day and ran inside to get his wallet. I wonder why?? :) That's right. Our neighborhood still has the 1980's ice cream truck stroll through. If you look closely, you can see the blinds that Foxie likes to peek out of. I let Lee be in charge of the cold treat while I was inside with G-Baby. This is what I came outside to find! I love it!: 

We went to the Fairhope Art Walk the other night with Trotter and Murphy. Aren't they adorable?

Twinkies :)

Sheriff Foxie:

I'm not sure how much longer these stilts for legs will be able to fit in the car seat!

Laying around the house:

Tummy Time:

This might be my favorite for the week. Look at her and Holland holding hands! LOVE IT!!!

And lastly...I wanted to report some big news...

G-BABY SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT LAST NIGHT!

Praise the big man above for that one! Lee woke me up by shaking me like I was robbing him to tell me that it was 6:45 and neither one of us had gotten up with her. After I saw she was breathing on the monitor, I was like "Close your eyes, you crazy man and go back to sleep!" 

WHOOOOOP WHOOP!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

2 Months Already!

Today was Greer's 2 month check up. I can't believe she is 2 months old already, but man am I glad that she FINALLY got her shots and we are able to really get out and about. I am not sure if it's because she is a girl or what, but her shots were a lot more traumatizing for me than they were with Knox. She cried a little, turned red, and held her breath. Mommy wanted to do the same!
Stats:
weight: 11 lbs, 15 ounces - 60%
height: 23 and 3/8 inches (how technical is that?) - 90%

Waiting patiently for our turn:

Waiting in the room and liking the crinkly sound of the paper:

Then the nurse came in, and well...you know the rest. 3 shots. 2 in one leg, 1 in the other, and an oral dose as well. This is her face at check out...she already has the pouty lip DOWN!

5 minutes after we left:

Saddest picture of the day, by far!

And this is pretty much all she wants to do right now...

At 2 months, she is still a super easy baby. Last night she slept from 10:30 to 5 this morning, which was awesome. I look forward to the day when she sleeps from about 7 to at least 7. I know it will get here...just have to be patient. As far as who she looks like, I am not too sure right now. In most pictures, she looks like Lee and Knox still. She has Knox's little pug nose that he had when he was a baby :). That is definitely on my side of the family. Her hair is still brown, but it is not quite as dark as it was when she was born. You can't tell by the pictures, but her eyes are very blue right now. A big part of me has always wanted a big brown eyed baby, but if she keeps the blue eyes then at least that's something from me as well. As you can see she is starting to chunk up a bit..YIPIEE!!! I really, really need her to have Knox's cheeks. I mean, really need her to. She eats every 3 hours. Stays awake for about an hour and a half, and then sleeps for an hour and a half. She likes to sleep, so I usually have to wake her to feed her. She has great neck strength and seems to do well following objects with her eyes. She likes to swat at her mobile and the little animals hanging from her bouncy seat.

Side note: As I type this, I wonder...Who in the world cares about this boring stuff?? Ha. I'm telling you, after I re-read all my posts, I was excited to see that I have awesome documentation for the kids one day, so I must persevere!

And these were the pics we took on her actual 2 month birthday, March 5th.

What is this face???

Sweet profile :)

And...she had enough!

Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday. Just wanted to add that some of the girls and I have started reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan, and I can't describe how awesome it is. Truly. If you are looking for an "easy" read that challenges you in HUGE ways, this is the book for you. We have been so encouraged by it and can't wait to pick it apart and dig deeper. I love that I have an amazing core group of friends that I can do that with. 

Have a great week!

Happy Mardi Gras!

One thing that I will never ever get tired of is Mobile Mardi Gras. Tonight was M.O.T., which is the parade that my family has ridden in since before I was born. We went with our family and took Knox this year, and he had a blast. Screamed at the floats the entire time...imagine that!

"Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez!"

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"Baby Trumps Blog"

This is my response to those who have inquired about my lack of blog updates. Baby trumps blog. My, oh my, do I have good intentions of blogging regularly, but when push comes to shove, I would MUCH rather hold my sweet baby daughter or shoot hoops with my gargantuan son. Notice I said shoot hoops. Yep. It's true. Lee shoots with him every night and at first it was just a "walk up to it and put it in the basket/dunk it" kind of thing, but now he likes to stand back a little and actually shoot the ball into the basket. There are absolutely many misses in which I am running down the driveway retrieving the ball, but there are also quite a few "swooshes" as well, and when those happen...it's just awesome. And I don't even really like the sport, but I sure do love playing it with Knox.

Anyways, life has been hectic to say the least. I am using my only down-time to blog about it today :). I can sum everything up about life these days with this one sentence:
I love it.

Is it ridiculously hard? Yes
Do I get stressed? Yes
Do I fail on a regular basis? Yes
Do I wish for more sleep? Yes
Do I question myself at times? Yes

I still love it. If I got right down to it, I can honestly say I love it way more than I could have ever imagined. I can also go ahead and tell you (I hope you are sitting down) that at this point I can't imagine not having more. I can't believe I am saying it, but it is so true. Here's the skinny on that. When Knox was born, everything was just so hard. And I mean everything. He literally screamed from sun up to sun down...and every time he woke during the night. Nothing helped. I was exhausted. My family was down here and I felt so alone and SO much like a complete failure. So naturally, that's what I expected it to be like with Greer...since it was all that I knew. Well, Greer came along and changed everything. She is the absolute sweetest baby, and so laid back...it's unreal. She is probably nothing out of the ordinary...probably the norm for most babies. But to me she has turned my view of newborns completely around, and I praise Jesus for that.

I have had a few people ask me about life with 2, and when they hear I want more they are floored. I just look at my life right now and constantly think "This is it. This is the good stuff. We are exhausted, toys and diapers are EVERYWHERE, I rarely get to dry my hair anymore...but this is it. I am watching my own children grow before my very own eyes and I will never ever get this back." I cry every time I think about it, and I am officially OK with that. Call it hormones or call it a life-altering change that's taken place inside of me, I don't care. I rock Greer and hold her WAYYYY more than I ever did with Knox because the books told me I would spoil him, and I wanted to "go by the rules". Who cares about the rules?? I actually regret that I didn't do it more often with Knox. This go-round I want to drink it all in, and very slowly. With Knox I kept waiting for the next stage because I was ready to get past the acid reflux and the colic, and once we passed that stage I was ready for him to do all the fun stuff like crawl and walk, get his first tooth and start talking, but then I opened my eyes last month and realized he is no longer a baby. He will never be again and I am sad that I rushed it. I wish I could just stop time, and I know there are a lot of mommies out there that know what I'm talking about. My new "goal"-if you will-is to take one day at a time and enjoy every single second of my children. Some days it is ALL about survival around here. Some days the whining and fussing aren't too "enjoyable". It's in those times as well that I want to take a deep breath, relax, and just roll with it...reminding myself that this won't last too long and there is really no need in stressing so much over the small things. I keep thinking about rehearsal dinners and weddings that will prayerfully be in our future, and I know that I am going to want to give my right arm to have these days back-whining and fussing included (yes, I am a bit dramatic). Therefore, I want to make the most out of my time with them and love them as best and as much as the Lord will allow me. We'll never get it back...

Whew. Sappy enough for you on this Tuesday afternoon? Sorry about that. I feel like it's a good sappy, though. My poor husband listens to this come out of my mouth all day long, and he is probably counting up in his head all the children that I am going to "ask" him for while he is at work right now. Bless him. Let me just add this tid-bit about Lee. It seems like the more children you add to your family, the more stress it can be on your marriage. Maybe that's just with us, but we are on our toes 24/7 around here and it can get pretty tense at times. Lee goes out of his way each and every day he is here to help me with the kids. There is never a time that he is at home and not helping. He is the absolute BEST father to that little red headed boy napping in the other room, and I honestly don't think he could love that child any more. He adores him and loves him to the absolute core. Seeing the 2 of them together is one of the best feelings in the world. Lee is so patient and loving and kind. He has a way of calming me down (usually!) when I am stressed or overwhelmed, and he is always always slow to speak and quick to listen. Even on the days when I "unleash" my sleep deprived craziness on him, he loves me. Bless him. He teaches me everyday what it means to love unconditionally. And even on the days I want to ring his neck, he gets me laughing hysterically about 10 minutes later and I am SO thankful for that. No, he is not perfect, but I can 100% say that he is perfect for me.

I have quite a few pictures to post. Nothing too fancy, just shots that I have managed to squeeze in here and there. Greer will be 8 weeks tomorrow and 2 months on Saturday. She slept for 6 hours last night before being fed and went right back down afterwards. There is no denying that Knox is a very very very active and sometimes wild little boy, but there is also NO denying that he loves this baby. He has been extremely gentle and loving with her. He wants to hold her, sit next to her, rub her head or her feet, help bathe her, etc. He smiles every single time he sees her and completely lights up every day when he sees she is in the car with me to pick him up from school. I love that wild kid. I do believe his heart for his sister is about equal to all the crazy energy he has :).

Starting to smile:

Knox helped Daddy put a desk together, and blinded himself in the process of handing him the tools:

Very serious:

When did he turn 15 and get a big boy stool? He is obsessed with it:

Daddy/daughter date night so I could have dinner with friends:

Picnic and play at the bay. I wonder who weighs more?:

So big!

Ready to bump, set, spike:

Should I be concerned about how much she looks like her brother??:

Busy with sidewalk chalk while sister naps:

Way more fun to yell in the bucket:

Helping me bathe while giving me an anatomy lesson. Bellybutton was today's topic:

He loves to hold her hand. AHH! The sweetness!

Picnicking at the bay:

Developing cheeks :)

Sweet Dreams:) :

2 points!:

His favorite position to read:

Showing off her biceps:

tummy time :

My pink burrito:

She loves the monkey mobile and wub-a-nub paci. I have the same exact pic of Knox when he was this age.

And lastly...WaWa saw this ad in her mail and clipped it out to set it on her side table by her chair. She said it made her laugh every time she saw it, so she was going to keep it there. She's about to be 87. Hilarious.

That's all for now! Hope everyone has had a wonderful first day of March!