Fascinate

paper...she is fascinated with paper. it's like she can sniff it out. even when i think that we have picked it all up she manages to find it. so at her birthday party, grabbing the gifts that were wrapped were awesome to her.

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Patience

patience...that is the name of the game when it comes to my first born, my oldest, my boy...so patience we must have with him.

see my little guy came into the world two months early.

he weighed 2lbs and 14oz

the picture above was the first time that i got to hold him...eight days after he was born...

...patience (he weighed 2lbs 9.2oz)

weight gain was difficult because he was such a fighter....very active and always moving...

...patience

he started having apnea spells after a bottle attempt that was probably to soon...

...patience

after 48 days in the NICU we were able to take him home (but on an apnea/heart monitor)...

...patience
at three months old he had to have surgery for an inguinal hernia...

...patience

over a year old and he still wasn't walking...

...patience

at three years and three months his speech still seemed like it wasn't improving with speech therapy and we found out he needed hearing aids....

...patience

he is now almost four and is speaking full sentences. there is still lots more to work on when it comes to understanding his speech but he is doing so wonderfully.

so as you can see...we've needed patience through it all.

NOW LOOK AT HIM!

to participate in this challenge, check out this post.

Twist

Photography...I love it

to look at it and the idea of it

Photographer...I am not

my mom and my sister got that

I take pictures to remember

moments...

this may or may not be a moment that i want to remember.

right now, as we are going through it, it's not one I want to remember.

lots of reasons too...

diapers...expensive
poop and pee...gross
struggling with a strong baby...not fun

but wanting to remember because she will never be this small, this age, going through this stage again.

so remember moments like this...definitely

as for the photo...may not be the best shot/capture but it will be there for me to remember and that's enough for me.

so,

twist.

my baby girl, twisting on her changing table

she does it afer her bath, when it's time to get dressed, and for diaper changes

to participate in the twist challenge check out this post

New Baby

there is a new baby in our life. not our's but my niece, Jianna Paisley. she is so sweet. look at those pretty lips.

11 Months

i can't believe that i am just now getting her 11 month picture up but even more so i can't believe that she is already 11 months. it went by way, way, way to fast.

Tornados

it's strange when i open my fridge to see it so empty. but then i think of all the people that lost their fridge, family and maybe even life. as I'm sure you know or may have even heard we had terrible tornado's tear through the Tennessee valley last Wednesday. they are calling it April's fury. over a week later and there are still trees to pick up, debris to go through, and families devastated from this disaster. we had no electricity for 6 days. what a relief it was to get it back. there are so many things that we take for granted.

a good friend of mine posted this about the tornados and i agree with her. i grew up in an area with bad hurricanes and i would for sure take a hurricane over this. (although ask the people hit by Katrina and they may tell you different) tornado's are just so unpredictable. there is just no where to hide from them. just please continue to pray for the people who lost homes and family members and were majorly affected by this. I am so blessed that my family and friends are all safe and untouched by this disaster. my in laws had a tree pulled up by the roots in her back yard and it was a foot away from the house. blessed indeed.

Festivals

my hubby and i love to go to festivals. spring or fall it doesn't matter. if we don't have plans we and there is one going on, we are there.
this weekend we went camping with some friends and on the way home from the camping trip we stopped in south Pittsburgh, Tennessee. there were yellow signs on side of the interstate for the National Cornbread Festival. never heard of it and definitely had never been to it so my hubby looked over and me and smiled. i knew that we would be stopping.

once we entered we were amazed at how great it was. we had such a good time. there was cornbread to taste (lots of it and unusual and fun kinds) the bacon, jalapeno, ranch was our fave. we were surprised at how big it was, and how well of a job that they did on keeping it clean. there were a lot of youth that were making sure the trash was empty and everything looking nice. it was great. we knew that we would be coming back next year for the event.

i was very upset that i didn't have my camera with me while there but little guy slept the whole time and baby girl just took in the sights. the photo above, of our cornbread pan, stamped hand is it for pictures. shows we were there, right?!?! for me i was amazed with the porta potties. strange i know but they had a woman's and men's section and in the woman's there were silk flowers in the urinal (no need to have a urinal in the woman's one but i understand they they come all made the same) and then there was some silk vines hanging behind the seat part. it made it look nice (for a porta potty) and they had a flower scent to them so you didn't have an overwhelming scent of pee when you walked in. all in all, we were very impressed with the festival and are excited to go back next year.

Resistance

For the past seven years I have resisted watching the movie "The Passion of the Christ", until this past Tuesday. You may ask why this resistance? Well, I love to read and I have a pretty good imagination when I am reading. I love to see movies and I can get lost in movies just as much as a book, only in a movie it all comes more real and alive to me.

So if you have seen "The Passion" then you understand why I've avoided watching it. I can't really put into words anything that measures up to the love that God had for us to send His Son to die for us. I feel loved beyond measure.

I was totally take with the woman why played Mary (Jesus' mother.) Seeing a picture of her strength was breathtaking. And her attention focused on Jesus, her son, sometimes it felt like the only way she could get through it was to keep her eyes fixed oh Him, when all I would want to do was turn away from the pain He was experiancing. I sometimes wondered how God must have felt and I think that portrayal of Mary in the movie gave me a little glimpse.

Even as I sat there on Tuesday waiting to watch "The Passion" I can't way that I still really wanted too see it but I am really glad that I did.

With Easter Sunday being tomorrow, remember that He has risen and hold on to your Savior.

Momma Fox

let me first start by letting everyone know that a couple of weeks ago when we were getting back from a trip, our neighbor came out and asked us to follow her into her back yard where she showed us that there were six baby foxes in a small hole in her back yard. crazy, i know. we live in a neighborhood with lots of sounds and people and to think that foxes are that close by is strange. the momma of course is always close by, watching from afar or sun bathing in the neighbors back yard.

these babies are curious creatures. they are very skittish when they think someone is around (which is fine by me) but when they think they are alone they explore the world around them and play to their hearts content.

just yesterday i was leaving my house and i stepped out the side door, with my babies, when i heard a bark. i looked to the yard and the momma was running to the fence line and not soon after that one of the babies came flying to her side. i say this all because I've been having trouble getting little guy to listen to me when i say something, like "come here" and him actually obeying and getting to my side. it's not all the time, usually when he is tired or for whatever crazy reason we decide not to let him take a nap (i know silly right). however, after seeing that my first thought was wow, i wish my baby responded like that baby fox. but i am so glad he's not a fox and that i have this precious human that God has given me to take care of, love, and raise. even if there are times that i may wish he was a fox and would listen right away to my barks. i thank God for him. he may grow up quickly but not as fast as those baby foxes, so trying to cherish these time.

4 months

not baby girls 4months (thats long passed, she's creeping up on 11 months soon. but today is 4 months for little guy to have his tigger ears. what an amazing and eye opening experiance it has been. we always knew little guy was special, being that God gave him to us in difficult circumstances and pulled him and us through it all (litterally at times He had to be the only one holding us up.) and not only is he special but a pretty cool kid too. it is so exciting to watch him grow and learn. we put him in pre-school recently for two days a week and he is loving it. he asks to go to school sometimes even when its not a school day. he's gone from speaking just words to full scentances. there is still lots that we don't understand and frustrationwith it all but he is learning and expressing so much. i hate that it took so long for us to discover that the needed hearing aids but am glad that we found out as soon as we did. the other day i was sitting down with him going over flash cards for speech therapy and when he pointed to the picture of a rabbit i said "good job, that's a bunny." he paused and looked at me and said, "that is not a bunny, it's a rabbit, a bunny rabbit." (said like this, "tha is not a bunny, it a wabbit, a bunny wabbit.") it was so cute. i love all that he is learning, like the clean up song at pre-school that he sing alot. he is precious, amazing, fun, cool, passionate, obsessive, wonderful, a blessing, and mine. i love him.