Christmas 2012

We had a great Christmas this year.  We stayed in town and spent a lot of time with the family and enjoyed a white Christmas.  It was so fun!  The girls got some great stuff, and it was fun to experience Christmas through their eyes.  We tried to downplay the whole Santa thing as much as we could; however Avery caught on pretty quickly so we did get a few things from Santa this year.  The tension between the sacred and secular at Christmas time is a difficult line to walk.

The girls are growing so quickly; I can hardly keep up!  Avery turned 3 in November, and we had a small family party for her.  She enjoyed being the center of attention for the day and helped me make the cupcakes, so she was a happy girl.  My Mema was even able to come from Amarillo for the fun, so the day was extra special for her.

She is really becoming this wonderful little girl.  She is sensitive and sweet and loves to play with other kids wherever we go.  She thinks everyone is her friend, so we will have to have to "stranger danger" talk soon.  She still loves going to "school" (Mother's Day Out) on Fridays and continues to soak up everything around her.  She is so sharp and remembers EVERYTHING, which can be good and bad.  She has a sweet personality and is starting to understand the basic foundation and principles of our faith, and I can't wait to see how the Lord is going to use her for His purposes.  I know He has big things planned for her.

Hailey is changing on a daily basis, it seems.  She is talking up a storm and says new words all the time.  My current favorites are "banana, bless you, apple, and thank you."  Her sweet little voice just melts my heart.  She adores her big sister and thinks she can do anything Avery can do.  This can be funny, dangerous and sometimes just plain annoying to Avery, but I think it is sweet.  One of my biggest prayers for them is that they will become close friends in life and not just sisters.  She is still a tiny little thing and is so much smaller than Avery was at this age.  She is still very much a mama's girl and does not want to be far from my side.  Her favorite thing to do is sit and read and is much less active than Avery.  I think she may end up being our introvert, but she does love to play ball so hopefully she will keep that up and end up being an athlete.

Since it has been so long since the last post, I have tons of pictures to share but I will just share the most recent that show just how big and cute the girls have gotten.

Bad blogger

That's me. I know it. I would like to say I am going to change and start updating every week, but that is probably a lie and I am not a liar. So, I will say, "Here is what is going on in our life now and for the past few months. Enjoy because you might not hear from me again for a while!"

 In all seriousness, we have been busy and enjoying life. I can't believe it is already August; however I am ready for a reprieve from the 100+ temps we have been having lately.

 Avery has had a good summer. She has been going to Mother's Day Out ("school" to her) twice a week and really enjoying it. She has the sweetest teachers, and I know we are both going to miss them when we move to the next class in a few weeks. They have been so good for her and been great for the transition out of our diapers. Speaking of that, we are completely potty trained except for overnight, which I think may take us a while. I am ok with that; I am so happy to only be buying diapers for one child. Our bank account is happy too. Avery really did a great job and only took a few weeks to get it all down. Well, by a few I mean about 6, but I still think that is pretty good. I know it can take some kids much longer.

 She has loved going to the pool over the summer, so we have tried to go as often as possible. Jenn & Tommy have a neighborhood pool, so we have hit that up many Saturdays over the summer which has been fun. I hope next summer to get her signed up for swim lessons since it will be a bit easier for me to keep Hailey entertained than it would have been this summer. I know Avery will really enjoy it, and I want her to grow up having fun in the water.

 Other than that, she has just been her crazy, fun-loving self. She is still such a good big sister and LOVES Hailey, sometimes a little too much. She knows her ABC's (capital letters), numbers up to 25, all her colors and is starting to memorize a bunch of the books we read. Josh and I always joke that her memory might be better than ours! She is such a joy, and I don't know what we would do without her. She keeps us laughing ALL THE TIME (mostly, she is still 2!).

 Hailey is also growing and changing faster than I would like. She turned 1 last month and is becoming less and less of a baby everyday. She has 6 teeth and can eat anyone under the table. She may even out-eat Josh at a few meals. She LOVES food. I just pray she has a high metabolism! If you even look at the kitchen, she thinks she needs a snack. She is still much smaller than Avery was at this age, but I don't know how long that will last!

She crawls like a crazy woman everywhere and is on the brink of taking her first steps. She loves to cruise around the furniture, pulls up and climbs on just about anything, and will walk around the house holding your hands for as long as your back will let her. She can say "da da" and "bye bye" but that is about it. Avery had 5-6 words by this age, so Hailey may not have the expansive vocabulary Avery did at such a young age. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying she is quiet; she just does not have the words - she has the grunting, pointing and screaming needed for communication. She was such a quiet and easy baby that we thought she was going to be a quiet and easy going child. Haha, were we ever wrong. She has plenty of spunk and attitude. I would even say more than Avery did at this age. It is so funny to see how God made them so different at such young ages. I love it.

 To say Hailey keeps our life fun and interesting would be an understatement. She has the most wonderful smile and laugh and makes everyone around her happy. She loves to cuddle and be the center of attention when her big sis will let her. She is truly a blessing.

 Here are some pics of life at our house lately (or the last 6 months).

 We celebrated Easter at church, then went to Pop Pop & CC's for the rest of the day.

We went to see Mir and Grandad in Midland and dressed alike, which we don't do often since most of Hailey's clothes are Avery's hand-me-downs.

Avery did some tutoring.

Avery cheered for Daddy's team.

Hailey celebrated her birthday and got some good loot.

She LOVED everyone singing to her.

She loved the cupcake even more.

We did a photo shoot in the backyard to document our cuteness.

We even tried some corn-on-the-cob on July 4!

We did some modeling on the couch one Saturday morning.

We even took time to take a bath!!

We are truly blessed with these two girls, and I couldn't imagine a crazier, happier life right now.

It's Been A While

Four months, to be exact. I have good intentions about updating this blog but never seem to follow through. Shame on me. I am going to do better. I loved chronicling Avery's monthly activities when she was a baby, and I have been so horrible doing that with Hailey. I guess that happens with the second one, but I still feel bad so here is my attempt to start letting the world know all about my girls.

I will start with Hailey since she gets the shaft most of the time. She is still the sweetest thing in the world. She is always so happy and joyful and makes my heart smile everyday. It is hard to remember our life without her. Avery still loves her and wants to take care of her all the time. Sometimes her hugs and kisses get a bit overwhelming for Hailey, but for the most part Hailey loves all the attention from her big sister.



Hailey has starting eating people food but does not get too excited about it. I have been making her food and try not to take offense that she doesn't like it, but I am starting to wonder if she doesn't like my steaming and blending. She will seriously eat three or four bites, then turn away. I try not to worry about her since she gets everything she needs from her bottle, but I hope she comes around soon or she is going to be one hungry girl when she stops getting 5 bottles everyday! She likes Cheerios and puffs, so maybe it is the consistency of the baby food that is the problem. I guess time will tell. She still doesn't have any teeth, so I am a little apprehensive to give her much table food. I have a fear of her choking even though I am sure she could handle more.





She is STILL not sleeping through the night and wakes up twice a night sometimes. I know that is probably our fault but I hate just letting her cry. Avery was always such a good sleeper that I don't really know what to do to make Hailey sleep better. This might be her way of keeping us from having another child... I tell Josh that this reminds us that she is not a perfect child because other than this, I might think she was.



She is not crawling but can get up on all fours and doesn't know what to do from there. I think crawling is in our not-too-distant future. She can pull herself up with a little help and is getting pretty good at standing while holding on to something.



She can say dada and mama but doesn't really say it to either one of us - just yells it out sometimes. She is getting more and more chatty to compete with her chatty older sister.

Those are the basics for Hailey. She is such a sweetie; I just can't get enough of her.



Avery is growing up so fast and is truly keeping us on our toes these days. Her vocabulary is ridiculous and she is very smart. She knows all her colors, shapes, can count to 20 and recognize numbers 1-10. She can sing the ABC song but we haven't really started working on letters too hard at this point. She has used the potty a few times in the past few days, so I think full-fledged potty training is right around the corner for us. She has been going to Mother's Day Out on Fridays and loves her "school." We will probably start going 2 days a week before too long, but I am enjoying being with my girls everyday so it is hard to give up another day with her. She is almost 2 1/2, so she spends her fair share of time in time out. I know it comes with the territory, but this is the part of parenting that I could do without. She is still hilarious and makes me laugh all the time. I don't know where she comes up with some of the things she says, and I will have to start writing them down because she is one funny girl. She is becoming such a little kid these days which makes me excited and sad. My baby girl is growing up, and I can't make the time go any slower.





As you can see, our life is always exciting and a little crazy too. I still LOVE being with the girls everyday and am so thankful to get to do that now. I can't imagine having two sweeter girls than we do, and they are truly wonderful blessings.

Life Lately

Well, we are finally settled in Garland and getting the hang of our new routine. I am having so much fun staying home with the girls and so thankful for a hubby who has worked so hard to make this happen. I know I am way behind on blogging; however I will give some highlights of the past two months.

Hailey started rolling over about a week before she turned 4 months.



Avery, Josh and I did a Partnership Walk for Josh's work. It was a little chilly that morning, so Avery had to bundle up.



We've hung out with CC & Pop Pop a lot! (Sorry no pics of Pop Pop!!)



We celebrated Halloween at FBCG's Fall Festival with CC & Aunt Jenn.







We celebrated Avery's 2nd birthday.









Aunt Carolyn came in for the party!!



We enjoyed playing with our toys when the party was over.







We celebrated Mommy's birthday - the last one in her 20's.



We've spent the rest of our time just being cute!





The girls are growing so fast - I can't believe we have a 2 year old in the house! They are both such sweet girls; we are truly blessed.

Avery is talking so well these days. She is starting to speak in short sentences and says the funniest things sometimes. I know I will have to start writing them down soon. She is a funny girl. She is beginning to learn her colors and can spot yellow, blue, and brown most of the time. She still loves Hailey and is quite the little mom. She loves to wipe her face (sometimes a bit too roughly) after she spits up and ALWAYS lets me know if Hailey is crying (as if I can't hear her). While she is a sweetie most of the time, I would be lying if I said we didn't spend some time in time-out from time to time, but what 2 year old doesn't!?!? She is such a joy and fills my day with laughter and sweet hugs!!

Hailey is growing much too quickly for my liking. She is still a very easy baby. She rarely cries and is pretty content most of the time. It is difficult for me not to forget about her sometimes when Avery & I are playing because she just sits in her swing or chair perfectly happy to watch us play. She is a very happy baby and will smile at anyone who gives her some attention. Josh & I joke that she is going to be our little missionary because she just exudes sweetness & joy when you are around her. It is so funny to see how different her personality is from Avery, even at this young age. She is still not the best sleeper, but we are working on it!!

We are humbled by God's blessings always, but it seems they have been poured on abundantly lately.