Happy 2011

Just a quick note to thank everyone for the wonderful blessing we received this Christmas season. Of course, we thank God first for the ultimate gift of his son. Now that I have children, in my own human way, I may have a tiny bit of understanding of the true sacrifice. We were blessed to see many friends and family, kept safe through all kinds of weather and returned home to VA safely. I will post pictures soon but wanted to get in a quick thank you to all!

November kids update

Cody is a busy man and has lots of exploring in mind. He cut four teeth on the top around Thanksgiving. He was fussy but we were glad to get it over with quickly. He chatters up a storm and says several words now. They include mama, dada, dog, hot, bye bye and hi. He is waving to everyone and very out going. He loves to take things apart and is slowing learning that they go back together, most of the time.

Ani is still busy in school, although the last week or so, they have had many late days to school. Her excitement mounts each day. She ALWAYS has her nose in a book these days. It has been difficult keeping her busy since we cannot play outside so much. It is very windy in VA and that makes cool fall/winter days down right cold.

Christmas with a baby

I have so many things I was to write and often organize my thoughts in my head. getting them onto the blog has been challenging. As I watch Cody pulling up beside me, I know what little time I have now is forever changing. He will be a year old soon and there is something magical about a baby's first Christmas. I remember just watching Ani sleep that night. Thinking about Mary watching Jesus sleep and trying to take in the awesomeness of it all. When I think about what a miracle each child is, my brain cannot comprehend.

For now, I am looking forward to Christmas surprises! I have a few up my sleeve and I am anxiously waiting to see what the kids have in store for us. I think we should all put away our hustle and bustle, shopping mania, and travel blues and see Christmas as it was on the first holy night. Full of wonder, amazement, HOPE, and most of all love. Merry Christmas and more to come.

The Daily Grind

Cody is getting bigger (9.5 months) and now eating 3 meals a day. It is expensive and silly to buy baby food when I can make it myself. Or so I thought. I bought a manual food mill and some green beans and away I went. This should be a quick 5 minutes, Ha! The beans were soft as instructed but I did not get very far grinding them. After 1 hour and only 4 baby food containers full, I am heading back to return it and buy an electric. Thank you God for electricity. I do not think I could keep up with little man under my own power.

Halloween 2010

My costumes were not very elaborate this year. Fine with me since Ani was challenging the last two. We still had lots of excitement. It was actually fun to go trick-or-treating to houses we do not know. Ani had a great time doing that but also enjoyed sitting on our porch and handing out candy too. She was a very cute ladybug.


Cody enjoyed carving pumpkins. At the patch, he chose the biggest one he could scoot to. He was orange from head to toe when it was all finished. He also loved watching all of the kids and riding around the neighborhood and mall in his stroller. He was a great turtle.

I will try to post an update for each kiddo this week too. Hope you are enjoying this lovely fall weather. I hear that snow is not too far away for us. :)

Halloweens Past

Halloween is so much fun. When I was pregnant with Ani, I made a promise to myself that I would strive to do 2 things for her every year...birthday cakes and halloween costumes. I have really enjoyed creating Ani's vision over the last 6 years. She has given me many chanllenges, but I think I have managed to give her a great costume and a wonderful time in make-believe.

I thought it may be fun to visit the costumes of the past before revealing 2010. Looking at these pictures all together make me realize just what a creative kid she is and how much she has grown. Here we go...

Twenty minutes

He is so sweet when he is sleeping. The key word is when. I am not sure what to do with my little bear. He really doesn't sleep. He has been sick for over a week and I tried to comfort him by holding him, rocking and letting him sleep in his car seat. Now that he is getting better, I cannot put him down to sleep. Maybe it is a phase, or maybe I have failed him by not teaching him to sleep? I am not sure there is a right answer or that my brain is functioning well enough to figure it out. All I know is that he is not sleep and that is not good for anyone in the house.

I know that babies continue to bond until they are 9-10 months old, and we are almost there. I do not want to mess up now, for his sake. Here are things I have read....(1) Every baby goes through a bonding stage sometime between 9-12 months, the "don't leave me" stage. He does this to anyone (mom, dad, and ani) when they leave the room, even if someone else is still with him. (2) Nursing babies may not sleep as soundly as other babies. (3) There is another theory that says when they learn to be more active (he is trying to crawl and scoot around), they are more restless at night.

We have tried many times over the past few months to let him cry and it seems to make things worse. He wakes more often and cries longer each time. During the day he is much more clingy too and doesn't want to nap. The mom in me wants to go and comfort him when he cries. The sleep-deprived person in me says to let him cry and figure it out. That person loses after 2 hours of dozing off and crying in a 10-15 min cycle.

I am not complaining, but more praying and asking for prayers that we can find peace in sleep and in the day too. The humor in all of this is that I wore my shirt backwards half of the day, and it is unfortunately, not the first time.