SOLD!!

It's done. We can move on, learn from mistakes, make life better....and most importantly, not dwell on the negative. Most know, we built our first home, and then decided to build a second (I'm still trying to remember the conversation we had about doing this). Economy was great, we could build a bigger house, sell the first one, take the equity and put it into the second and have the same payment as the first. Sounds great, right? Bigger house, same money? Yeah--everything looks good on paper.

Well..to make a REALLY REALLY long story, short--we lost the house to a short sale. Which isn't as bad as it could be. The bummer part...is the guy (yes..a single guy in a 4000 sq foot house, go figure) gets the house for a SCREAMING deal. He knows it. He's content and very happy. Nice guy..single, never been married...LOTS of toys, and a pilot. Can he give his favorite neighbors some plane tickets? eh?

Anyhow, we signed the papers yesterday to make it official. Our realtor was amazing. He did a fantastic job and was patient. So prayers do get answered, trials happen, and all we can do is have the hope that things will get better and just enjoy the blessings around us.

I"m off to wrangle the baby before he plummets down the stairs. Don't worry, Mom. I wouldn't ever let him do that!!

he's growin' up!!

Is it just me, or does the idea of plain rice cereal sound gross? and yet we give it to our babies. I decided I'd start Kyle on some cereal yesterday, and he was not liking it so much. He didn't do too badly with his tongue, he just didn't want it.

He'd make faces, etc. He did a little better today. He's already crawling. Well, army crawling. He gets up on all fours, does the rocking, and then scoots on his belly. I can't believe it. He seems too young. He started almost 2 weeks ago and it just seems like the babyhood is almost done! Last night he slept from 7pm to 7am--2 times for feeds--and ALL in his own bed! wahoo!! Don't get me wrong. I am not against babies sleeping with their moms. I just want him to use his bed more. He takes his naps in there, sure, but night times he loves to snuggle with me. I'm fine with it. I encourage it because I do it from day one. He can just sleep longer without me now, and so we are going to work on that! I love the little butterball!

I also forgot to add some pics of Justin & Kevin from Halloween! Here they are, in all their glory! Justin was Peter Pan, Kevin was Tinkerbell and James was "John, from Peter Pan.


notice the legs on Kevin? He totally picked out the stockings!!

Life...

It has been a crazy week this week. It started on my birthday. My friend called me, for what I thought was a birthday wish. Um...wrong. She just told me, something terrible happened. Yes, I engage in Bunco with friends, courtesy of Allison. One of our "groupies" had been involved in a car accident with her family and her 13 year old son died. Not what I expected. I was so sad, it kind of has thrown me off. I love Donna. She makes me laugh and just remember to have fun in life. She loves her family, they have the best time together. I hate that we have to have things like this
to make us "remember" our family. We do though, why is that? Shouldn't we always be thankful for our families, always leave the house with a kiss, tell your kids you love them a million times a day and never let them leave your sight without them knowing how much you love them and how wonderful they are.

I've never really posted about how much I love my husband and my family. Sure, my husband and I have our problems, I won't lie. I'm sure most reading this will chuckle and say, yup...they do. But I know I do love my husband. He may drive me nuts, make me take deep breaths and keep on doing what I'm doing, he may not "get things"...but who really does? He does this wink that makes me blush, he kisses me good-bye every morning, even if I don't remember it (I try! but it's early!!) He works hard for our family and he doesn't make too big of a deal when his clothes drawers are empty. They are just on pause, in the basket. He loves me and will do anything for me. For that, anything is worth it.



James is an amazing boy. He has gone through a lot, yet he is respectful, kind, obedient, funny, loving, AMAZING brother, and I am one lucky step-mom. I was thinking about how I would feel if I were in my friend's shoes. All I could think about was how sad I'd be for Justin and Kyle--because they have a brother who loves them unconditionally. James loves his brothers and handles them so well. He can put a baby to bed, better than most dads. He makes Kyle do the best giggles. Justin cries when he can't be with James and calls out his name almost every day. He even sleeps with James' picture at night. It's love.

Justin is the most independent child I have ever met. He made ME a bagel yesterday--toasted and with butter. What 2 1/2 year old does that? Better yet, what MOTHER lets their child do that. The kid feeds himself most of the time. He "helps" himself to his own snacks. No...i do not approve, but he's "very very sneaky". He is a bit OCD--everything has to be done the "right way", so he feels comfortable. Yet, it's not EVERYTHING. It's only when he THINKS it needs to be done right then. He loves to snuggle and just started asking me to rock and sing to him. He loves playing with my hair and he is just so darn cute, skipping everywhere.



Kyle is my sweet, happy baby. I could snuggle him every night. I need to stop. I just get more sleep!! I love seeing his big eyes and bright smile. I used to think I wouldn't be able to love the "new baby" as much--and I am wrong. I love his giggles and his chubby legs. I love to take showers with him and just be with him. Babies just relax us!

I love my parents. I love my brothers and I love my in-laws. I am grateful for Kevin's family and for their love and acceptance of me. I've never had sisters, but I love his sisters as my own. Kevin makes fun of me because I talk to them more than he does--but come on. We get along so well, why not! My parents are the BEST out there and the best in laws anyone could ask for. when I talk to others about their parents or in laws, I think...wow. We ARE lucky!!

Families CAN be forever. I pray everyday I am doing my part to make sure mine IS forever.

My birthday

I told Kevin, all I wanted for my birthday was some shampoo. Am I pathetic? You know you are poor when your "ideal birthday present" is the NICE shampoo. I love it. I used it yesterday--and it just makes you feel pretty!!! He had me going that he had nothing planned....stupid me. I should know better by now! He ALWAYS has a surprise planned. The BEST surprise was the fact that his mom (Thanks Diane) came over and watched all 3 boys so we could go to dinner. That the first time without ANY kids since Kyle was born and only the 2nd time that we have gone out in a LONG LONG LONG time. It was nice to get out and not have to worry about your meal getting cold before you get it to it, while at the restaurant. Thanks honey for the great 31st birthday. Even if my brother told me it was my 30th birthday and my dad told me I was born at night...and he had to go to work in the morning. Sorry dad, it was 10 minutes before church started...on a Sunday. Nice try!

Comparison with Justin

So my sis-in-law suggested I put a pic of Justin at 4 months....so you can see the difference in kids. So here it is!!

What a CUTE baby!

Not that I am biased or anything!! Ha ha ha....here are some shots of Kyle. I will try to add in a baby pic of me at 6 months...maybe he does look a LITTLE like me. I think he looks like my cousin's kids more!

Reason to Celebrate

I am always looking for reasons for it being a "good day". Last night was a good night. I'll probably go on a little tangent or two as well. So most know, I sleep with my babies, as newborns. I am not a huge fan of "cry it out"...but that is me. I know it works for others, I just have my reasons. I hope I have not offended anyone. Anyhow, normally what I do with my kids and sleeping through the night, they start off in their cribs, and sometime during the night, when they wake up, I either feed them and put them back in their cribs, or bring them to bed with me. It starts to get longer and longer and more spread out over time. I stop feeding and just go in and comfort with the bink and walk away. Lately, I don't even remember how Kyle ends up in my bed. Kevin tells me it's between 1 and 2, so that is good since Kyle goes to bed around 8-9.

The reason for my happy news....last night he went to bed about 8:30...woke up at 11:30 and I fed him, no big deal since I was still "awake". Well, Kyle woke up at 1:30 again, but I didn't feed him. I told myself when i went to bed that I HAD to wake up when he did and not just be a zombie. I went into his room, gave him the bink and walked out. He woke up again at 4:30 and I did the same thing. He woke up again at 6:30 and I picked him up to feed him (his hands were like icicles...poor kid. I almost yelped when he touched me, while feeding him. Yes, we turned on our heater last night, too). Many will say...shouldn't your happy news be that he SLEPT through the night? Well...to me, not having to "get up to feed" is a HUGE step. for him not eating for 7 hours is HUGE!! I didn't even pay attention to his grunting after the bink. He just went back to sleep. This means we are working our way out of the late night feeding! THAT is my happy news!! My not so happy news was how engorged I was..but we'll deal with that. Anyhow---many are saying...let him just cry. I think Justin has done well with his sleep and just got off two naps right before he turned 2..so we did something right! This weekend was another story (sorry Lori), but we all get out of sync when we are gone from our own homes, right?!

So here's to cutting out night feedings and working on sleeping the whole night (10-12 hours is the "whole night" for me)Well get there...zombie or no zombie.