And it's beginning to feel like Christmas! yay!

We put up our Christmas tree last night while drinking eggnog, it was great fun. I couldn't wait to see the kid's reactions and smiles in the morning and sure enough it was the first thing Conner saw when he woke up. "Wow! Pretty! Look Mom...pretty tree!" was his first reaction. Then he had to show his cousins straightway and them him. Even though it was mighty early, it made my morning, ahhh, I love the simple joys and the ways that kids enjoy every moment so perfectly and fully.

Will post pix soon.

Thanksgiving pix!

Only took a few, but hope you enjoy! (The food pix are for you Linda. Not the best but I tried.)

So much to be grateful for!

Happy Thanksgiving! It's definitely been a one-of-a-kind year with its shares of ups and downs, challenges, changes, uncertainties and all the rest, but I think for those reasons it's made the good times sweeter and even more special and there's definitely been enough of those to be thankful for. The past while I've been thinking about thanksgiving and just all I have to be thankful for this year and the list seems endless. There's just soooo much to be thankful for!

Hope everyone is enjoying a day as blessed as I feel I am today! And to all you in my life who make it blessed just by being in it -- thank you and I love you!

Let the Holidays begin! :)

Ponderings...

Raising two boys this close together is a lot of hard work, very physical and demanding in a lot of ways and I find myself continually trying so hard to "make something fun happen" for them. And I'm not gonna lie -- it can get strenuous!! And with babies it usually goes something like this: spend an hour getting ready to go, making sure we have all the diapers, wipes, clothes, necessary equipment, etc., once all that is done and you're finally ready one of many things happens before you make it into the car and out the door: baby loses it, needs to nurse (even though you just nursed him), he's tired, poops, spits up all over the cute outfit you laboriously picked out, etc., etc....ahhhh!

Sometime during this process I usually start stressing about little Conner, worried that I'm not doing enough for him, that it's taking so long to get out the door that maybe we won't even get out, etc., and it'll break his little heart (slightly exaggerated).

Then usually I'll glance over or he'll tug on me and say "Mama, Mama, look!" and there he is finding excitement, fun and joy in something, anything that he can and it's not even dawned on him that we're furiously trying to get out the door to do something more fun. To him, he making the most of this moment, regardless of what is going on around him, no matter what I'm stressing about and recently I've stopped to watch such occasions and it's taught me so much!!

I've realized that sometimes I get so caught up in trying to make him happy, when all along he's been happy and finding fun in every instance, in any situation.

Boy oh boy!

I often think about this now and have decided I want to be more like this. I guess that's why kids are more often than not so happy and it doesn't take much. They've learned to find joy in the little, everyday things, the "normal" moments and it's an art I feel I lose sight of in always trying to "do more" to make them happy, or getting caught up in the emotions of what's going on around me.

And I think perhaps we all can be like that. Mothers are usually trying to find new and better things to do with our kids to the point of stressing or wearing ourselves out, sometimes I think we do this because we feel that it makes us better mothers (though I know that's not the only reason). And while there is nothing wrong with this and I'm sure I'll continue to do this, I'm also going to try to not rush through so much of life to where I lose sight of those little more "normal" moments and learn to find joy and fun in those too, sometimes I will give up my big plans of grandeur to sit down next to my little ones in the midst of everything else going on to stop and enjoy the little pleasures alongside him.

Well, I don't know if this makes much sense to anyone else, but it was something that came to me and if it can help one other person, I'm content.

Trevor is 3 months!

Weighing in at 15 lbs/6.82 kilos - whew!! He's already catching up to Conner, heh!

Some milestones for Trevor:

-- Rolls from tummy to back and can almost roll from his back to tummy.
-- He laughs.
-- Holding his neck and head up pretty well now.

He's such a good, happy little boy who just loves attention and to talk and smile. Please keep praying for him though, we're still battling thrush.

Another milestone for Conner

Dear little Conner gave up his pacifier as he was getting far too addicted to it to where if he couldn't find it in the night or during a nap, he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, so after losing an extra lot of sleep over it, we took the plunge and weaned him. It took him a few days to where he stopped asking for it but on the overall, I think he's been a pretty good and brave little boy about it.

In other news, my (Amy) parents are officially our heros!! My back went out a week ago to the day and so the boys have been enjoying some wonderful Grammy time. TG I'm pretty much all better now, but thanks for coming to the rescue, Mom (& thanks for letting her come, Dad)! I wouldn't of made it without you. Thank you too honey, for saving me those first couple of days, I wouldn't of made it without you either.

Happy Halloween ya'll!

Our three little munchkins of love! Conner and his cousins/bffs, Dean and Noelle.

My little pumpkin. ;)
Isn't he a doll?

He and I had so much fun trick or treating. He hung onto his basket pretty tightly and enjoyed either getting his own candy from people's baskets or seeing them put it in and afterwords wouldn't let it go. Ha! We didn't get too many at our house, but I was so happy to see him have fun and to be able to experience it with him and through his eyes! (And thanks Mom, for watching Trevor!) All in all, it was a great experience.