Meanwhile...

I got a call from my friend Jennifer who had some devastating news. We used to work with Coach R.  Coach R and his wife have an older child and then they had twins in December, a boy and a girl. His wife went back to work and their children went off to the babysitter's house. I don't know all of the details, only the horrific ending. The baby girl twin died somehow. I can't believe it. I can't imagine it. Please be praying for this family.

meanwhile...

There were many families from all over with their applications in to Haiti for adopting Haitian orphans. As many of you may have heard on the news I'm sure, those families that were in the later stages of the adoption process were given the green light to finalize the adoptions and get their sweet children and bring them home. Many many children were allowed to leave Haiti and run into the loving arms of their incredible new families. Well, much of that has changed now thanks to UNICEF. As the Howerton family so clearly tells it, UNICEF has added ridiculous steps to slow the process down and many many more children are suffering because of UNICEF's outrageous ways of making themselves first and these children a very distant second. The Livesay's who are in Haiti, have given some first hand accounts of UNICEF's selfish ways. Please be praying for these children and these families.

meanwhile...

Matt Chandler is still battling stage 3 brain cancer and undergoing daily radiation and chemo. He still gives his weekly updates through videos and here is the latest article written about him that I've seen. God is being read about and talked about all over the world because one man has brain cancer. It's incredible. So many other people battling probably every type of cancer under the sun are being prayed over and loved on because they are making themselves known all because Matt has brain cancer. I have no idea what it's like to be so sick and so strong. God has truly been powerful and loving and people are getting to see that and believe that and feel that through Matt's story, and the stories of so many others. Please be praying for the Chandlers  and the countless people making the daily drives for treatment to beat this disease.

meanwhile...

My husband and the band are driving back from Florida today. They have to drive all day and all night. They are on the road right now so please be praying for their safety. I start back to work tomorrow and so the boys will be home with one extremely exhausted daddy. :)

meanwhile...

After I finished my Master's this past summer I took a nice long semester break to give my brain a rest I guess! Not to mention get everything ready for Judah to be born. But now I've been kind of bored. Not bored like I have nothing to do, because that is almost laughably not the case. But bored like I need to be learning something new. So, I've decided to really learn about photography. I have an awesome camera, an awesome lens (thanks to my brother Josh), and a love for all things artistic. I have no idea where to start, or what to do, but that's what I'm going to do.

One of Wes' new year's resolutions was to love discipline, and 2 Timothy 1:7 says "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, or love, and of self-discipline."

I have to admit that I'm one of those people who backs out of or gives up on things when I think that I can't do them. It's so silly. I act all confident about almost everything I do, but that's because I usually only do what I'm confident in! But that's not why we were created and that's not what we were given. So because of that, I'm going to learn about my camera and figure out this whole photography thing. Any of you amazing photographers out there, feel free to pass on some tips!!

Oh, and I finally gave Ebony a bath. You're welcome.

Love you friends!

Time to get extreme?

So we've started our workout program which is called Chalean Extreme . Ever heard of it? I really thought she may have changed her name to ChaLEAN just for this program, but her real name is Chalene. Only changed the spelling :) It's a 90 day program broken up into 3, 30 day segments. I just completed day 5 of the first 30 days. It's hard. Of course, everything is hard to me considering I literally can't remember the last time I worked out before I got pregnant.

I'm working out. I'm doing everything she tells me to do (with the exception of this crazy push up thing... haven't been able to do that ...yet). I took those completely humiliating "before" pictures and hope to see some sort of improvement every 30 days. I'm really really sore but I refuse to stop. I really want to finish this thing! I'll keep you posted. :)

completely random: I'm watching America's Funniest Home Videos and just saw one of the best proposals ever! It was a bunch of friends out on a boat and the guys went diving. The girls were all on the boat and when the guys came up they said they found a little treasure chest at the bottom of the lake! They brought it up and the girls were freaking out. One guy opened it up next to his girlfriend and she started freaking out because she saw a diamond ring in there not even realizing what was happening! She picked it up and he started to go down on one knee and everyone started screaming! ...now that's a GREAT story!

The final season of LOST comes on soon. ughh... I hate that LOST is ending.

Oh! We found out that the little boy we sponsor in Haiti is ok! There are many sad stories out there, but we were overjoyed to hear that he and his family are safe. If you are interested in sponsoring a child from Haiti, please check out New Missions . Such an incredible gift!

Eli turned 2 on December 18. I just wanted to post his 1 year picture and his 2 year picture. SO sweet :)

One more week

Well, my internet is back! hooray! I love it when Verizon tells me to use their website for troubleshooting and I can't get to the website because my internet was down! (sigh) But, we're back in business!

So on Wednesday, Judah is going to be 8 weeks old. I'm not counting him 2 months old until his official February 2 two month old birthday. I absolutely think things are flying by with Judah so much faster than they did with Eli. I look at him and just can't even believe that he has grown so much! He still only smiles at the fan every once in awhile BUT today I got a big ole smile right at ME! It just melts my heart!

Judah is so good at tummy time. He will stay down there a long time as long as that paci is close by. :) Lately he's been napping on his tummy under my watchful eye. I probably am annoying him beyond belief because I check on him like every 5 minutes!

Eli is of course growing like crazy and we are loving it! He is talking a lot... A LOT!! And I'm pretty amazed every day that he picks up on stuff as fast as he does! We're leading him out of his baby talk words like "yo yo" for "yogurt" and "atch" for "applesauce" and getting him to say the actual words. We kind of hesitate before we ask him to say the full word because it's just one more reminder that he is growing up. He is so precious. :)

So I have one more week here at home before I go back to work. I'm not really letting my mind go there completely yet, but I will say only working 1/2 a day is already making it much better for my mental preparation. I won't be gone too long and I'm looking forward to seeing my students and my coworkers! ...but my heart still breaks thinking of being gone from the boys again. Wait! I'm not going there yet! ...moving on...

I have more to discuss but my oldest child has been talking in his crib after his nap and it's getting into that high pitched squeal voice which means he is beyond ready to get up! ha! I'll be back tomorrow!

Eli's first and last haircut

...kidding... sort of :)

We finally went and had Eli's hair cut by our dear friend Lindey . She did a fantastic job and I am SO glad that we went to her because she's a mom of a two year old too so she understands the extreme emotional turmoil that I was going through! haha...

I think she did a great job but I miss his long hair so much! ...ugh... but without further ado...

He sobbed the entire time, I held strong. I lost it when I got in the car and looked at him. Obviously in the grand scheme of things this isn't that big of a deal, but ugh! He's my baby!

Thank you Lindey! You were so sweet to endure this with us!

Week 2

So today is the beginning of Look Like Heaven on Seven One Seven: Week 2. I lost 2.5 pounds last week (whoo hoo!!) and I am very happy with that. Still a good long way to go, but I am willing to be patient ...as long as it's off by Meredith's wedding! :)

I had my doctor's appointment today to see how I am healing. Everything looks good! I'm released to start exercising and my incision looks great. C-sections... blah. But, at least I'm not sore anymore!

Eli is changing so much. He used to say "atch" for applesauce but now he just plainly says "applesauce." His "r" sounds are coming along and he's even saying "Gramps!" I can't remember if I wrote this before but my dad wanted to be called Gramps. Forever Eli called him "Josh" and then it was "Peach!" (which we have NO idea where that came from) and then it was "Virdie" (since that's his name and what my mom calls him) and then "Dad" (which is what I call him). Actually he still calls him all of those, except Josh.

After the Christmas Eve service Eli came to all of us in the house and shook our hands and said, "How ah you?" haha... so random! gosh I love that kid!

He's also started to want hugs all the time and will say "I uh you mama" I love you too baby!

But a lot of my favorite things about him are still alive and active. He still sings as loud as he can. He dances to every single bit of music he hears no matter how short it is. And he can spot a star, a cow, or a horse from a mile away. Precious precious!

Judah hasn't smiled since the double smile the other day. That's ok though. He can be serious for a little while longer :)

The Biggest Loser comes on tonight! Are you watching???

:) times 2!

aaahhh!! What a great day! Does it matter that I was spit up on 4 times? NO! Does it matter that I still smell like spit up after repeated attempts to find where it's coming from? NO! Why? Because...

Judah smiled today! REAL smiles! Two of them! Melt my heart! He is fantastic... I love seeing all of his little firsts!

On top of that I just saw that 3 of my sweet friends, Caanon , Jamie , and Eryn , are all pregnant with their second babies! I am overjoyed for them and their growing new additions, but it's also really a selfish happiness for me as well. Honestly, sometimes Wes and I feel kind of out of place. We don't have that many friends who are married with kids, much less two of them now. Obviously everyone's life plays out in it's own way, but it really does make me feel a little bit more normal to know that other people out there are doing the same thing. Does that make any sense? Anyways, congratulations girls! We are all so excited for you!

The boys

The boys are great! Judah is already a month old! I definitely think time flies faster with the second one. Wes and I are learning our footing and it's becoming easier and easier to have two! Judah slept for like 6 hours last night and of course that helps!

Eli: just bouncing around doing his thing! He is actively leaving toddlerhood and becoming a preschooler! Every time I look at him I am shocked at how much he has grown. He'll say phrases or do things I didn't even know he knew! It's pretty incredible. And my friend Jennifer was telling me about how she finally realized that we are creating our kids' childhoods- what they will look back on and remember just like we do. That kind of floored me. She's right! I hadn't really thought about it in that way and it actually made me feel really old! Two kids? Two childhoods? what?! But actually it's pretty awesome!

Judah: he is very different than Eli was as a baby! He spits up, he's gassy, he seems so much bigger, and he's looking less and less like me every day! ha! He doesn't mind a wet or dirty diaper for a while whereas Eli (annoyingly) had to be changed that very second a speck of anything hit his diaper! He's learning to use his little voice with some gurgles and goos every once in awhile. I'm still waiting on that first real smile! He loves loves loves to be held and walked around- it's probably his very favorite thing! precious precious! I will say he's fussier than Eli so the walking around thing calms him, but I'm using it as a perfect opportunity to burn some calories! Glass half full! :)

Wes: he's a GREAT dad. He has been busy traveling, working at home, and balancing me, Eli, and Judah. I truly cannot imagine doing any of this without him! I love you babe!

Me: this time around I'm much more present. With Eli I was under that postpartum depression spell for a good while. It was just the regular baby blues with Judah, thank you God!! We've been out and about, I've already lost a little weight, and I feel like I'm doing the best I can at taking care of myself and the boys. It's not near as overwhelming as I thought it might be. But those first 4 weeks were definitely hard. C-sections are super annoying. I could not have done it without constant help from Wes, my sister, and especially my mom. Truly lifesavers!!

My friend Meredith is getting married on July 17, which just happens to also be my anniversary! So, of course she's wanting to drop a few pounds as many brides are, and hello... of course so am I! So, last Tuesday we started the Look Like Heaven on Seven One Seven (7-17) weight loss/lifestyle change plan. Basically we name everything we do together so that's our latest endeavor. We weigh in every Tuesday (because that's the night Biggest Loser is on) and we aren't eating any fried foods (which I accidentally ate chips tonight because I forgot they were fried, and once I realized it, I ate like 10 more! yikes!) or any sweets since that is my biggest downfall. It's worked for us in the past so hopefully it works again!

On top of changing our terrible eating, we'll also be working out. I'll let you know once that starts for me. And I'm taking those humiliating "before" pictures so once I start getting some results I'll post those. We haven't started that part yet. baby steps people :)

Anyway! I've missed this blog. I think about it every single day. Now that I don't feel like my world is swirling around me hopefully I'll be better about posting. Love you guys!