Unexpected!

I believe that sometimes the most unexpected things can be the most fun of all.  Last night Julie, Steve and the kids all came over for dinner. We have all been trying to be better and proactive in doing things together at least once a month. It is silly not to because we live in the same town and some people are not as blessed to have their loved ones in the same city! The kids have so much fun together and are so stinking cute playing with one another. Henley and Preston just play, but Christian and Bennett are just so interactive with each other. They might not be the best at sharing, but they are getting better! I LOVE listening to their conversations and the things they talk about! They are inseparable! Which brings me to my point...Last night when everyone was leaving, Brian was telling Bennett (who already did not want to go home) that next time they played she could spend the night. Brian continued with visions of crispy cream donut trips and ice cream running through her head! Well, that did it! Bennett was absolutely, 100% not leaving our house! :) Fine with us, but she was not prepared to stay the night. Bennett sleeps with blankies and they did not have them. Christian however, sleeps with lovies and he has many of them! Mommy learned her lesson once by leaving them at Grandma's, so we have extra on hand! Christian told Bennett that she could sleep with one of his lovies and proceeded upstairs to retrieve it for her. Bennett eagerly agreed and we also picked out some blankies of Henley's for her to sleep with too. I went upstairs and they both followed me up to get pj's on and Bennett's bed made...right next to Christian's! I knew that trundle would come in handy one day and it has! Bennett had her pj's on and blankies in tow and was ready for bed! They were so excited to be together that I had to tell them to go downstairs and say goodnight to mommy and daddy (Aunt Julie and Uncle Steve)!

Well, to make a long story short we thought the kids would go to sleep because they both spoke of tiredness a little earlier! Nope, they were so happy and excited to keep playing and I think the cupcakes and brownies after dinner helped just a little! We put a movie on for them to watch and they stayed up and watched it! In fact, neither of them were asleep until 10:00pm or later! That is alright! It is not to often they get to enjoy each other's company that much! They behaved and were quite the little angels! We adore our niece and nephew and they can stay at our house anytime!

Christian is such a stinker and sneaks down to out bed quite often and I use that term loosely! :) When Bennett woke this morning I think she was a little scared because she was upstairs alone. I heard her crying for her mommy around 6:00am. I went upstairs to get her and discovered that she was indeed scared. I took her down to show her just were Christian was and that seemed to soothe her right away. Now, I think this is where we get into trouble. Christian is a horrible, picky eater, so you can imagine that I have everything under the moon to eat in my house. I want my kids to eat healthy, but sometimes it just is not happening! Christian loves oatmeal and in fact eats it four to five days out of the week for breakfast. Bennett too eats oatmeal. I knew Brian was taking them all to Crispy Cream that morning, but I thought I would try to feed her something because it was so early. Henley in the meantime had woken up and so her and Bennett were playing sweetly together. I asked Bennett if she would like some oatmeal and she told me no. She had said that she was hungry, so I was trying to find something for her to eat. I gave her and Henely some of those miniature blue berry muffins, but after a bite..nope that is not what they wanted. Bennett told  she wanted cereal, but she wanted to pick it out! Alright, go ahead. We have cheerios, fruit loops and apple jacks in out house. Easy enough...so I thought. Bennett picked out the fruit loops and told me she wanted to eat all the pink ones! I did not find out until later that she has never had any of those sugar type cereals! Sorry Julie! :( I had no idea! However, she really seemed to like them...Brian then took them all to get donuts where they loaded up on more sugar! Aunts and Uncles are family like grandparents...are we not supposed to spoil them too???

We had a great time with Bennett and her unexpected stay was the best kind of all! Here are some pictures and video I got of them last night and this morning. They all got in our bath tub and played in the bubbles earlier today. They are all so precious and we love them so much!

Big Heart!

There are some days when I look at Christian and wonder who is this little person and how did he grow up so quickly? He has definitely developed into a defiant, quick witted, smart little boy with the biggest heart a mother could ask for in a son! There  are some days I want to squeeze and kiss him all day and then there are those other days...where I think DHR might come take him away from me if I yell at him again! 

I do not think that his behavior is that different than any other 3  year old boy. He is trying to find his boundaries and testing them every minute of every day! I mean, how many times can you tell a child something before they actually listen to you? Do I need to get his hearing tested or is he just ignoring me? I have always known men have selective hearing...does it really start this young? :)

I wanted to post a blog of some of the adorable things Christian is doing right now because he just melts our hearts all the time! Lately, he has this thing were he just will walk up to you, kiss you and say, " I  wuv you mommy/daddy"! We just love it! When you have had a bad day it can make it the best day ever to hear those wonderful words!

Brian has always told Christian they were best friends. Christian will also tell you on a regular basis you are his BEST FRIEND...depending on if you are giving him what he wants at that moment. The cutest thing by far is he has discovered a version of bribery. Christian will come to me and will want something and of course I will tell him no. He will look at me with this adorable face and say, " I'll be your best friend"!!! Well, who can resist that? Ha Ha...I can! I laugh and tell him God put me on this earth to be his mama, not his best friend! I do not think he understands that, but it makes him mad to not get what he wants! However, daddy is not so strong willed when it comes to Christian and his requests! In the same sentence he tells you that you are his best friend he will also retract it! When he does not get his way he says, " I not be your best friend no more." I have to tell you that it makes me smile and giggle every time because it is just so cute!

Some other cute things that he does is talk to Henley! I could listen to him talk to her all day because it is just the sweetest thing and the voice he uses is priceless! Julie and I have talked about this before because Bennett does it too. I guess they here the way we talk to the babies and they just repeat it too, but in their little voices. I call Henley "little missy and cutie pie" all the time. Christian will talk to her and say, " what are you doing little missy, don't you do that mommy be mad at you!" He also will squeeze her cheeks and say, " hey there cutie pie, whatcha doing cutie pie!" I do not pinch her cheeks, so I have no idea where that one comes from? The two of them have gotten to the point where they play so cute together. They run around the island in the kitchen and Christian chases her all over the house saying, " I gonna get you Henley, I gonna get you, you better run!" He can be mean to his sister, but also very sweet. He hates to hear her cry! The other day she was exhausted and I put her in her crib. Henley slept maybe thirty minutes and then woke up crying. Well, I was letting her cry until she fell asleep again. Christian heard her and came to let me know Henley was crying and we should go get her. I told him no and that she needed to go back to sleep. The next thing I hear is Henley had stopped crying? Then I hear Christian on the baby monitor! He was saying, " it's ok Henley mommy is coming, don't cry, it ok." Are you kidding me? Is he seriously upstairs in her room?  Christian watches out for her more than I realize sometimes. The other day I was back in our bedroom and Henley started crying because she could not find me (which is not unusual). Then Christian comes walking in the room with Henley in toe and the whole time he was saying, " there's mommy Henley, here she is I told you!" The whole time he is telling me that Henley has been looking all over the house for me! :)

We are so blessed to have such a sweet, loving little boy! He honestly has the sweetest heart sometimes and I just want to hug on him all day! There will always be sibling rivalry, but right now I enjoy the moments...few and far between as they may be that the kids do get along! 

Future Gold Medalist!

A few weeks ago I finally convinced Brian to let me sign Christian up for Gymnastics. He is in that stage were he needs an activity, but not really old enough to participate or get anything out of sports. Anyway, I signed him up to start the end of March, but when we went the the gymnasium he loved it! He wanted to start right then and there! Christian was out on the floor jumping around and playing on the balance beams. Anyway, to make a long story short there were three more classes for this semester, so we signed him up. Christian has had gymnastics for the past three Thursdays and had a blast! I do not think that it hurts that his best little friend is in the same class! The class wears him out! They start off doing warm ups and running around, then they go to the obstacle course. The course consists of rolling, climbing, jumping and balance. They then go over to the balance beams ( there are a number of them at different heights) and walk across those. They climb up ladders, they swing on the bars and they jump on trampolines and jump into the foam pits! Christian has a blast and just runs around most of the time! I am not sure that he follows instruction to well because he is just having fun. When the next class starts after we get back from skiing, hopefully he will learn more! Everyone I talk to tells me how wonderful this is for his balance and agility going forward in other sports! Right now we are just having fun and getting all that energy out of his system! Here is some video of him...it is only his second class, so don't laugh too hard! I am pretty sure he thinks this is a big play place to have a free for all! I loved gymnastics as a child and you never know with his little body...he could be in the running for a gold medal one day! :) No pressure!

Anyhow, the video quality is not that great because I was trying to coral a one year old too! Henley wants to be out playing in the middle of all the other kids! They do not like the little ones running around...so I did not have an easy job holding onto her and the camera! Enjoy!

The future Mr. and Mrs.

This is just a cute post of our friends Susan and Ethan's little boy Porter and our sweet Henley! We were pregnant at the same time again and her third and our second are just 11 weeks apart! Obviously, since they are opposite sexes we have betrothed them to one another! Do you think they would protest an arranged marriage?:) They are so cute and Porter speaks her name so cute and clearly! They all came over for dinner the other night and here is some video of them!

Typical Crazy Alabama Weather!

If I had to take a guess all the weather men in Alabama are giving each other high fives right now!! Why? Well, because for once in their lives and in the past four months they have been right about something! Here lately we have been threatened with the horrible, don't dare say it or the city might shut down...SNOWSTORM!!! Here in Alabama the whole city goes nuts and you can not find milk or bread anywhere to save your life! It is as if the world is going to end? I do not know why people react this way, but they do! Personally, I am disappointed every time they predict snow and nothing happens! I would not like to live in the North where snow is a constant expectation every winter, but I would like to have it on occaison! We have had some flurries off and on this past winter, but nothing that stuck around for any length of time! Finally, on the Friday before Valentines Day we got our wish! I think for about a week they were forecasting the weather and that a big snow was headed our way! Unfortunately, the weird thing about it was that most of the Southern part of Alabama was going to get the snow and Central Alabama might get a dusting to an inch! We were hoping for more if any at all! Midnight was when the snow was about to start and we were going to wake to a beautiful, white wonderland! HA! When we awoke Friday morning...Nothing! Oh Well, they were still saying, that the snow was coming later in the day, but expectations were not high for me! We had heard this before!

Brian headed out the door for about an hour drive North, which I thought he was crazy! We wanted him to stay home and wait for the snow to come..so we could play! I checked the school to find out if the kiddos were off for the day and of course they were not! Henley was with me because she has no school on Friday! I dropped Christian off and quickly realized he had no jacket! What if they went out to play in the snow if it started?  I ran home and got his jacket and got back to school, just in time for the snow to start! They told me school was closing in about 45minutes! Huh? They were supposed to have a Valentine's party and his teacher was in a  panic because she had nothing ready! I volunteered to stay and help...what else did I have to do? I was going have to be back here in 45 minutes, so why not stay and help with the party? Henley, played with the big kids (which she loved) and I helped get all the Valentines in the bags and set up for the goodies to eat! We had a quick party and then time to get ready to leave! The kids were so excited about the snow!They were jumping up and down and running around yelling, "It's snowing, It' snowing"! They were so cute!

We all headed out the door and ran across the street to the grocery store! I wanted to make sure I had dinners for the next two nights! I did not think the snow would be a problem, but the ice that was expected afterwards! Anyway, we got home and Christian was all about to jump out of the car to play in the snow! Henley thought it was fun and loved it, but her tiredness overruled the excitement and she had fallen asleep! While she took her nap, Christian and I played out in the yard. I taught him how to make a snowball and he has pretty good aim..I took one right down the front of my shirt...BRRR! Christian hates mittens and those are the only waterproof ones he has right now! He had on his regular gloves and they quickly became soaked with cold water! He wanted to go in and defrost for awhile! We went in and had some lunch and waited for Brian to get home and Henley to wake up to play outside some more! The only bad thing is that poor Henley does not have a lot of winter gear to wear! I did not want her out in the snow too long because she has what the doctor calls RSV. I know most moms have heard of this, but those who have not. RSV is just a respiratory illness, that though deadly for babies, it is just a bad cold for toddlers. The problem with this is that she just keeps a cough, runny nose and wheezes often! I know she feels horrible, but it is viral and there is nothing you can do about it! It is just a bad cold that settles in your chest and hangs out for awhile! I honestly believe that this is just the beginning of horrific, terrible allergies for Henley in the future! Anyway, we are watching her and making sure that it does not get any worse, so needless to say, she was not going to be out in this cold weather long!

Brian got home around 2:00 and Henley woke up around the same time! Perfect! We all got dressed warm and snug and out  the back door we went! Henley was not so sure about the snow. She watched her big brother from the door and pointed to all the snow! She knows the word HOT and uses it for everything. Whether it is hot or cold...to Henley it is HOT! She pointed to the snow and said, HOT? I have been trying to teach her cold, but no luck yet! :) Once  out the door she immediately fell on her behind! Thought it was funny and got back up to investigate this white stuff! I had her in tights because I did not think she would really be on the ground or rolling around in the snow. I just assumed that she would walk around, touch it and that would be it. I thought she would watch Christian and Brian build a snowman. Well, I was wrong! Henley mainly wanted to run around and of course slip and fall and then wanted to get on the swing set! All she wanted to do was go down the slide, which was covered in snow! No way! I told her that she would get all wet and there was no way she was going down the slide! Christian heard slide and off he went with little sister in tow! He kept telling her I will help you Henley! I was laughing because there was no way he could help her up the stairs! Brian convinced Christian to go down the slide full of snow and he did! Henley was soon to follow and they were both soaked before we knew it! It was time to go in at this point and defrost and have hot chocolate! We stripped the kids and got them in warm dry clothes and settled in for a fun night. We had bought v-day cookies and we made those after dinner. The kids were exhausted and asleep by 7:00pm! 

Most of the snow has melted by the time I am writing this blog, but there is prediction for more to come! Christian is more excited than ever for our ski trip in March! He keeps talking about skiing and playing in the snow and building snowman with us! We can not wait for the trip! We only hope he does not feel the need to pull his pants down and pee in the snow in Utah, like he did in our backyard! :)

Make sure to watch the video of the kids in the snow below the pictures!

To view the wide version of the video, right click and hit view all or go to you tube and watch it there!

Henley at a Glance!

Henley is 16 months old today and I am finally getting around to writing something about her. We can hardly believe that she is growing so quickly. At her 15 month check up everything went well and she was a whopping 22 lbs and 10 oz and measured 31 inches long! Now to the average person that means nothing, but here is what it means to us. Henley is in the 45% for weight and is closing in quickly on her skinny, no eating brother who weighs in at around 28lbs. She is drumroll please....in the 70% for height? Above average! Is it not crazy how genetics work? Henley is the polar opposite of her brother in every way you can imagine! We are not worried that she is going to be taller than her brother, but we know that she should be taller than me! :)

When I talk about opposites here are some of the things that Henley does well and her brother absolutely hates. She loves to eat and has just recently started to become picky. We are hoping that she will never be as difficult to feed as her big brother can be. Henley loves to brush her teeth and cries every night after her bath if we forget about brushing them. I know, but she only has four...and more are coming in right now so we should be better.  It is nice though that she is so diligent about it and I do not have to fight her! Changing diapers is not a chore like it was with Christian. She will usually just lay there and quickly get cleaned up. I love that I do not have to pin her down and sit on her like I had to with Christian. Last, but certainly not least is sleeping...what a  BREEZE! I hope I am not jinxing myself by saying that? We learned with Christian that rocking, holding and snuggling your child to sleep every night was probably the most stupid rookie parent mistake you can make! It is an issue we struggle with still to this day. So when are darling baby girl came along it was like this...we love you, kisses and hugs and then right in the bed she went...AWAKE! Self soothing, there is nothing like it in the world! Sleeping is probably what she does best right now. I think she is trying to completely transition from two naps to one long nap a day. Most days she takes a three hour nap in the afternoon, but occaisonally she will still snooze in the morning. All in all I could not ask for a sweeter little girl.

As far as personality goes she is definitely more laid back than her brother. She can get rambunctious, but it is in spurts not all day events! Henley is a daredevil! We are not sure if it is in her personality or if it is from having a big brother that coerces her into trying everything he does? Whatever the case she thinks her brother hung the moon so she follows his lead on any occaison. They have gotten to a stage were they play really well together. I just have to watch and make sure it is nothing dangerous because things can get out of control quickly! Brian was out of town the other day and we had all taken showers. I left them alone playing in the living room to go finish getting dressed. I decided a few minutes later to go check on them and I was glad I did because this is what I found! The kids got a table and chairs for Christmas. For some reason they like to move the chairs everywhere and stand on them to get into things they should not. Brian and Christian build forts all the time, so Christian had taken all the pillows of the couch and made a fort for him and his sister. They had pushed the table and all the chairs over by the stairs and the couch. I walked in to Henley standing in her shopping basket push toy trying to climb up onto the table to climb onto the back of the couch? What in the world are yall doing? Just in time because I think someone was about to take a serious tumble! So the morale of the story is do not leave your three year old alone with your one year old for too long! However, I must tell you that Christian was never a climber at 1 year of age like Henley seems to be. I catch her climbing up things you would never think a child would imagine to climb on! Our daughter might end up with a broken limb before her big brother does at this rate!

I know you all are probably thinking stop enough with Henley, but this is in honor of her and it helps me to journal things that she was doing at this stage in her life. She is talking up a storm these days and probably has a vocabulary of 20 or so words. The average person might not know what she is saying, but we do. Her first word was mama and it took awhile for dada to arrive, but it finally did around November. Some other things she says a lot are: Jetta (our dog), brother, baby, bottle, night night, bath, bye bye, hello and a lot of names of people she sees regularly. Henley, like her cousin Preston loves to chat on the phone too. She will grab it out of your hand and walk around just a talking up a storm. Singing and dancing are among her favorite pastimes too. The kids will sing nursery rhymes together sometimes and it is so cute! One day I will get it on video, but lately they have been shy for the camera! Every time the video comes out, Christian wants to see what is recorded, not be on the other end! We are so thrilled that they finally get along and play together. The big brother has finally realized that his baby sister is not so bad after all! However, I am not so sure she likes all the attention she gets from him now...

Henley is a sweet, sweet girl, but she definitely has a temper! We laugh all the time because she sure gets mad when things do not go her way. Brian is just smitten with her and can not stand to see her get upset, which will be interesting as she gets older! Brian and I laugh because she always tries to pull that card with her brother...you know the one where if he gets near her she screams! The type of scream that always get her brother yelled at because we are so sure he did something mean to her and we just did not see it! :) She has gotten so bad, that he can be a couple feet away from her and she will still scream.  Then look at us, like do something! Now, we just laugh at her and tell her he is not anywhere near you silly! Anyhow, it is never dull around our house and I would not have it any other way!

That pretty much sums what is going on in our house right now! Keeping the peace between loving siblings and trying to remember the funny things they do on a daily basis. I have some video of Henley and Christian that I am going to post. It just shows what a follower she is right now with her big brother and whatever he does so shall she!