Baby Shower!

This past weekend is becoming a blur already! I just had to look at my pictures to remind myself what we did...terrible my memory is that hazy today!

My mama and I trying to keep Maryclaire occupied.

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of going to one of my dearest friend's baby shower. I met Melanie in middle school (oh dear, I just realized that was probably close to 20 years ago..Eeek!) when we played on the same softball team. We ended up reuniting our freshman year of high school and were instant best friends. I love this girl...she is a true gem.

I'm so excited for her and I can't wait to meet baby Rett! Melanie looks wonderful..just cute as she can be.. and this is going to be one spoiled rotten baby!




I was excited to take Maryclaire with me too. I put one of her "best" smocked dresses on her eager to show off my little cutie. Well, missy had other plans when she blew out her diaper in her car seat on the way there. Totally gross, totally ruined outfit. I tend to put my least favorite outfits in the diaper bag for back up emergencies. Am I the only one who does this? I don't put her cutest stuff in there b/c I end up forgetting about it and then she doesn't get to wear that outfit much. So, I only had "play" clothes to change her into. And, I didn't even have an extra pair of bloomers in the bag so she showed her panties diaper the whole time!

Me, Mel and Laura...we were all on that softball team together to many years ago. And notice Mc's dress...and showing her diaper...Ugh. Mommy Fail.

But, we had a wonderful time and Maryclaire was so well behaved. I got so many compliments on what a good baby she was...and she really is!


Vaughn took Asher to go see Rio at the dollar theater. I love the dollar theater...it's the only way we get to see movies before they make it to the Redbox!

Sunday Cuties

After church on Sunday, I pulled out my camera and snapped a few pics of these two cuties playing side by side. They were so cute in their blue!

This boy loves his sister.


So Cheesy!

I don't even have words for how precious this baby is!

I can't believe this little girl learned how to pull up during her naptime on Sunday!

Love!

Asher has as much fun playing with Maryclaire's toys as she does.

Perspective

I have so much to blog about I'm going to have to break it up into lots of little posts. First, I feel a little guilty after my last entry. Talk about being a Debbie Downer! After reading through Kelly's Korner prayer request list, I really don't have anything to complain about. My children and family are perfectly healthy. My daily struggles pale in comparison to what so many people go through on a daily basis just to keep their children healthy...alive. I'm so blessed. Our financial struggles and parenting struggles do not even register compared to what some people have gone through...are going through. I am praising my Jesus just a little more today.




And what a sweet little blessing this is: I won a $20 credit to Sew Blessed Embroidery from Megan of In this Wonderful Life. I cannot wait to do a little shopping at this store. I am seriously excited.

Look what I can do!

We had a wonderful weekend. I'll blog more about it later when the kids are napping. I didn't get to last night because Maryclaire did not go to bed until WAY past her bedtime. She was up until 10:30 practicing her newest trick...PULLING UP!!! Wow, what a big girl!

Mid-Week Funk

I've been in a funk this week. I need to buy new batteries for my camera. I don't have many pictures.

I keep thinking she's going to be crawling any day!

Maryclaire has given me the hardest time going to bed the last several days. She's just doing so much these days...who wants to go to bed? I had to lift the railing up today on her crib. She can now get herself in a sitting position and the mom in me thinks she's going to catapult out of her bed. Ha ha.

Big girl want to help with her feedings! Why do solids have to be so messy?

I've cut Asher off of TV (we're on week 2) so my house keeping skills are suffering. I thought I might go nuts today if I heard "Mommy" one more time. I swore the day he said first said "Mama" I would NEVER get tired of hearing it. I waited 18 months (yes, you read right, 18 long months!) for him to say that precious word. Well, that was 2.5 years ago and probably a trillion "Mommy"s later...I'm sure we'll hit the 2 trillion mark sometime this year. :)

We've reinstituted the nap for a certain mouthy 4 yr old. I think this hair says it was a good one.

Deep breath. Now, exhale.

You did understand I said funk, right? I'm expecting to snap out of it any day now...unless God has something bigger he's trying to teach me. Perhaps these are growing pains...

I am excited about going to a big consignment sale with my Mama tomorrow. I hope I can get some cute things on a budget. I'll post any good finds.

Here's to the rest of the week and hoping I get out of the "blah-ness" asap!

What a Weekend!

We've had one of the best weekends I can remember in awhile. Just us...adding a few special touches in a mostly ordinary weekend.

We have started having movie nights with Asher occasionally on the weekend. It's just something little and special (and cheap!) we can do just with him after Maryclaire goes to bed. We cuddled, laughed and ate popcorn on our pallet we made on the floor. I usually spend movie night blogging or doing something while Asher is occupied, and it made all the difference in the world (to me anyway) to stop and really let the evening be about him. Our movie choice on the other hand did not impress me. I'll review Rango in another post, but be warned, it's not the kid movie you think it will be! Saturday morning I got to run errands solo while Mc napped and Vaughn played with Asher. It's always refreshing to be able to do that every once in awhile.

Saturday afternoon we made an impromptu visit to an animal rehab center called Noah's Ark. It's really close to our home and I can't believe we waited this long to go. It was really awesome getting to see the animals close up. We all loved it and will definitely be going back.

After we got home, I started concentrating on dinner. I feel like a true southerner after cooking my first ever batch of FRIED GREEN TOMATOES! They were so yummy. Vaughn even called his mama to brag on me-Hehe!

The Lord even made a way for ALL of us to get to church this morning, which is a miracle in itself! Maryclaire slept in until 9:45 which made her nursing and nap schedule work out perfectly for us to go. We visited a new church, which is whole 'nother blog in itself too, and it was so nice to sit together as a family (all 4 of us!) and listen to God's word. Both kids were so well behaved and it was truly an enjoyable experience.


Then, I'm afraid I had to tackle all my chores while everyone napped. Boo! Oh well, at least I got some of them done without a little voice asking, "Mommy, will you play with me?" every 5 minutes!


My parents invited us to dinner, which is always awesome. I don't have to cook AND I get to visit with two of my favorite people. There is not a day that goes by that I am not thankful that I live so close to them now. It's been two years and I don't take a day of it for granted! It's such a blessing!

Now, here's to the beginning of a new week and remembering to make all those little moments count with my sweet babies!

Happy 7 Months, Maryclaire!

I know I say it every month, but where does the time go??? Often the days seems long, but the weeks and months fly by! And what an exciting month it's been!

At 7 months

1. You weigh 14 lbs and I have no idea how long you are. For comparison, your brother weighed almost 17lbs at 7 months. You are such a string bean!

2. You can wear 3-6 and some 6-9 month clothing.

3. You nurse every 3-4 hours during the day and are eating 2-3 solid meals. You have tried just about all the fruits and veggies and will eat all of them. There is nothing you won't eat as of yet. However, your poor tummy does not like solids as much as you do!

4. Your sleep is still inconsistent. You mostly wake up every 3-4 hours to nurse, and a couple of times you only woke once through the night. I am praying for those nights more often. 7 months of sleep deprivation is catching up to me!


5. You took your first beach trip. You had a great time and were such a good girl.

6. You seem to have reckoned with the car seat (for the most part). You'll even take a nap when we're on the go if you get tired. This has made carting you around so much easier!

7. Still no teeth!

8. Just in the last week you learned how to sit by yourself (and you can do for quite a long time)
and you started rocking on all fours. You will be crawling soon! We also retired the bouncy seat (you were trying to sit up in it) and moved you into the high chair for feedings. We are also about to retire the swing b/c you are trying to get out of it too.

9. You love to play with toys...especially your brother's! And everything goes into your mouth these days!

10. Started babbling with consonants. You have babbled mama, buba (I think brother), gee, and yaya so far. Your daddy is just green you haven't babbled dada yet!

11. Your stranger anxiety seemed to peak this month, but the last week seems to have gotten better. Of course, you still like mama to hold you the most!

12. You are absolutely loving your brother. He can get you to laugh and smile so much!


13. You are taking two naps during the day, sometimes three. You go to bed around 8 every night. The hours between 5-8pm are the longest ever for me...not your happiest time of day.

Love you, sweet girl! We're looking forward to an exciting month with you!

You never know...

what your kids will think make the best toys.



Yup, that's part of my breast pump. Asher has no idea what it really is...only that it look like an awesome fire hose nozzle to put out those imaginary fires.


The couch also makes a great red firetruck.



At least someone is getting some use out of it because I think I've pumped all of about twice with Maryclaire. Who has time for that with two?

What a Week!

It's been a fun and busy week. Asher took another week of swimming lessons. Although he didn't "pass the test" to move to level 2, we were super proud of him.


I loved his teacher and she commented that she loved how smiley Asher was. I love it when people say that because I think Vaughn and I did good by his name, which actually means "happy." I hope he always smiles as much as he does now!


Tonight we had a little FREE fun and a great dinner. We went all out for Chickfila's Cow Appreciation Day. Even Maryclaire got in on the action-I couldn't let my girl feel left out. We loved watching all the others "cows" come in and loved getting our dinner for free. Asher got a kick out of dressing up and "Chicken Lay" is his favorite place to eat, so it was a win-win for all of us.





In other exciting news, after renting our home for the last two years we are finally on the buying home front. We made an offer on a bank owned house almost 2 wks ago and finally got an acceptance on Wednesday. Yay! So, (pending the inspection) we'll be doorknob owners once again in the next month. I'm really excited about owning again. This is definitely not our dream home, but it fits our needs and more importantly our budget! God is so good.



I wanted to share some bible verses I have been meditating on this week. I also decided I was going to start a weekly bible verse with Asher. He is in a weird spot right now where he's very fearful of...well, everything it seems. I thought Joshua 1:9 was perfect to focus on. We might focus on this one for a few weeks!

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

This verse really touched my heart this week.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).

Random Recount

We had a great weekend starting on Friday when Vaughn showed up at my mom's house (I was there tidying for her) with these. Within 15 minutes we only had two doughnuts left and by the end of the day they were all gone. For some reason, I've not been able to get back on my normally healthy eating habits since we got back from vacation. I am really giving it a good try today though. I always feel better when I eat better!

This box of yummies got gone FAST!

On Saturday, we let Asher spend the night with my parents and go to a little family get together with them. Vaughn and I opted not to go for several reason. We've been on the go so much lately, my car needs new brakes, and the cost of gas kept us home. It was nice to spend a little one-on-one with Maryclaire. The house was pretty quite with just one kid.

Love my sweet girl!

We got up Sunday morning and watched our church service online. We've been doing that on Sunday mornings since Maryclaire was born (yes, I'm that crazy mom who won' leave my kid in the church nursery and now Mc has stranger anxiety so bad I wouldn't even think about it). But, it was nice this week b/c we actually got to really watch it since our attention wasn't torn with Asher and Mc hung out in her swing.

I know this post had a lot of pics of Mc, but she's just doing so much to take pics of these days.

I picked Asher up around noon from my parents. They said they were all really tired b/c he slept terribly. Mom said he woke up all night just crying and never did settle down all night. Weird, because he usually does so good. We made sure Asher got a good nap because we wanted to go see fireworks near our house that night. We played in the yard a little while we waited for it to get dark. I was nervous taking Mc out after her bedtime, but I didn't want to stay home and miss out.

A little chipping practice in the front yard.

We're on a major budget so Vaughn had a great idea to go by Quicktrip on the way there and get their 79 cents Freezoni . Plus, it's non dairy so it was a win-win for me. I could slurp one of these down every day. It was so yummy.

Yes, Asher went to see fireworks in his jammies. At least they red, white and blue!

We got a great spot to watch fireworks and Mc was so well behaved. We all piled on top of my car. Asher loved it this year! Last year he was not really impressed and really didn't like the noise.

That's my car were sitting on top of...and would you expect anything less than Asher having his eyes closed?

I won't talk about the ride home when our road was shut down for 45 minutes due to traffic and Mc was just about as mad as she could get being in her car seat (way past bedtime, no less.).

Even though it ended pretty sour, I was glad we went.


We had a pretty low key 4th. We had another family 4th celebration with Vaughn's family that we also turned down. It was nice not being so busy and on the go. We grilled some sausage, ate watermelon, made brownies, played in the rain and then Asher and I made red, white and blue jello. It was a fun, lazy kind of day/weekend. Perfect!

My three loves!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!

I hope you are all having a wonderful day celebrating your freedoms!

The Great (family) Debate

As in any family, there is always much debate over who favors who and which parent the kids look like. I think this is surely the debate of all debates...and it can be quite endless...and fascinating...watching the joining of genes and the emergence of lost faces and traits find their way into newer generations.





Just a few weeks ago at Asher's birthday, my aunts and I sat around my dining table discussing and dissecting each other's features. Funny, how each of them thinks they look the most like their mother (my sweet Memaw), how my sister is all Johnston (my dad's family) and then the debate over me...finally deciding I am a good mix of Johnston and Crumpler (my mom's family)-which is PERFECT by me. I like being a little of both.


Me (2), my sis and my Memaw

At any rate, it's been said Maryclaire is her Daddy's girl (by few, by many, ask Vaughn as he seems to be the one keeping count!). I agree she's looks a lot like Vaughn now....BUT, I also remember a certain little 4 yr old boy who everyone said "looked just like his Daddy" for several years until these pictures came out of the woodwork.


Asher at 2

Now, I know this little boy has lots of Vaughn in him too, (I would never take full credit for anything this cute!)I just don't have the pics to prove it! However, a few minutes with both of them and you'd have to be blind not to see it!


Me (4)

My mom sent this picture to me a few weeks ago. I was 4, same ago as Asher now. I'm just a little tickled, can't you tell? I see so much of Asher in this picture. Children change so much, I wonder if Asher will continue to favor me or look more like Vaughn as he gets older...and I wonder the same thing about Maryclaire.

And most importantly, as they grow, I pray my children will resemble their Heavenly Father above and their characteristics will most reflect the love they have for Him.


“For so many marvels I thank you; a wonder am I, and all your works are wonders” ~ Psalm 139:13-14.