"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!