"Um, yeah....sure!"

 "Um, yeah...sure!" is a new phrase in our house that I hear 5 million times a day. It is Collier's answer to any question we ask him. It has gone from everything being "no" to this in a matter of a few weeks. It is the sweetest thing to hear him talk, and he is doing a lot of it these days! He is learning so many new things, and he has changed drastically in the past few months. He is a sponge, and I just love watching him soak everything up. 

Here are some things that C is doing at 21 months:

-He loves to feed himself, but he won't eat unless he has silverware. 

-He is still super duper easy to put to bed...as long as he has "dainty" and a cup of "mulk." 

-He loves to laugh and will act so silly to try to make us laugh too. 

-He has the absolute sweetest personality and is very easy going....until he isn't. :)

-He loves being dirty.

-He calls pee pee "poo poo." When we are out places and he wets his diaper, he makes a scene by loudly announcing, "I poo poo, I poo poo!" until I will change him. We are going to start potty training soon....I'm not really looking forward to that!

Collier is starting to look so big. He is slimming down, but is still SO heavy and solid. If you look at the picture on our header (the family pic with Parke), you can see how much he has changed in just a few months. That picture was taken in February, and his face shape has changed a lot!

He loves to sing, and one of his favorite songs is "If You're Happy and You Know It." When I start singing and get to "clap your hands," he will say, "No! I want feet!" He loves to stomp his feet...it's his favorite part followed closely by "Hooray!" 

His vocabulary has seriously blown up this month. I can't wait to have long lists of funny things he says, just like Landry. I keep a notepad out on the counter to write things down before I forget. I love being able to tell Micah everything when he gets home and I love reading back through them! 

Currently, my favorite things from both of them are:

Landry: When I give her strawberries, she asks me to leave the "grass on." She loves eating around the stems!

Collier: When he asks for a "mama tiss." (Mama kiss). melts.my.heart. 

Landry's new room!

This project has been a process. These "before" pictures were taken in November, but things have been just a little wild for us. :) Landry switched to a big girl bed last fall at about 2 1/2 years old. She has done so great, and she never gets out of her bed without asking us over the monitor first. She stays in bed all night, and sleeps like a champ in her big bed! Even though we switched her bed, her new big-girl decor has taken a little while to finish. I loved her nursery, so I wanted to be sure to keep little pieces of that and not change it up too much. 

Here are the pictures of the nursery...with our little girl in her crib. She has grown SO much since then. 

We completely cleared it out and started fresh. 

I looked for a long time to find the perfect bed for our sweet girl. I finally found the shape I wanted, but it was a little rough. I refinished the bed, and I love the way it turned out! 

These are the before pictures of the rusted/paint-chipped mess. :)

So, here it is! Light and fresh, girly and sweet. 

I changed out the curtains and went with an overall "lighter" color scheme. I still kept pops of the bright nursery colors by having a pillow and some artwork made from her old bumper pads. 

My good friend, Gina, from Willow Way Handicrafts made these precious shades for the chandelier. I love how it tones down the pepto-pink and breaks it up a little bit. :) 

Gina also made these covered canvases with some new fabrics and some nursery fabrics that we already had. 

I also love the re-purposed mirror from the nursery that was painted with Landry's name! 

Landry didn't seem to mind being in an un-decorated room  for so long, but she absolutely loves being a big girl and having a "new" room now. Collier also loves Landry's room because the bed is low enough that he can climb up there to "bounce, bounce, bounce!" 

It wont be too awfully long before he gets a big bed of his own! 

{You can find Willow Way Handicrafts on Facebook or contact me for Gina's info....they do a little bit of everything and are SO talented!}

Life Lately...

Since we got back from vacation, life has been a little bit of a blur. We have been busy....we have also been fighting off the stomach bug that hit Collier the last day of vacation and then hit Landry in the vehicle on the way home from the beach. YUCK! 

I've been in a bit of an emotional funk thinking about Parke as we have traveled this past month. These trips were things we talked about with Parke's doctors when he was doing better than expected. We planned on him possibly being around to go with us, so it makes it weird to do things without him that we thought he might be with us for. Does that make sense? Not that we thought he was going to be "fixed" since it was clear he wouldn't be, but we had discussions about him holding on a lot longer than originally expected. It's just hard to explain. Excuse the rambling...

On the way to Florida, we took a detour in Little Rock and ate lunch with Parke's cardiologist and his family.  It was an awesome 2 hour break for the kids from being in the car, and we had a wonderful time visiting! They are precious, precious people. 

Rachel, one of the daughters, babysits for us some when she is in NWA. Landry loves Ms. Rachel!

In other news, we have been playing outside a lot lately. Collier would live outside if we would let him, and he throws an absolute fit any time we make him come in. Our neighbors texted us this picture yesterday of a snake they killed in the backyard (which is totally open with ours). I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit. I am not a fan of snakes....at all. I know this is a black snake and is "safe" and is "good," but no thank you. Also, a yellow jacket built his home in the kids swing set (already!), and a wasp built her home ON our front door. I have a feeling I am going to have to toughen up this summer! 

We are enjoying this long weekend already. Micah is mowing and kids are napping in between birthday parties today. Church and dinner with friends tomorrow. Staining our garage doors and shutters on Monday...and hopefully a little relaxing somewhere in there! 

My favorites...

These could possibly be my favorite beach pictures ever. 

Collier has been determined to do what he wants this week, and Landry is just as sassy as ever. 

Happy Friday!

Beach fun!

There isn't much to say in this post except that we are having a wonderful time! The weather could not be better, and the kids are soaking up the sun! Enjoy these somewhat random pictures from our first few days. Like always, more to come! 

Me with my girl....love being her mommy! 

We got an updated family picture! I love the silly personalities coming out. :)

My mom and Aunt Linda

Aunt Linda LOVES her great nieces and nephews! 

My precious husband and a REAL (not forced) smile! He is relaxing!! :)

And lots of beach time...

I'm crazy about documenting these sweet memories with my kids. I really am enjoying the trip...I take a few pictures and then put the camera down and play...promise! 

My Grandparents...

We are so fortunate that Micah and I have had all of our grandparents around until the past few years. At our wedding, we had all 8 grandparents there! We have lost Micah's PawPaw and my Mamaw since, but it is so special to be able to talk to our kids about their great-grandparents and tell them important traits about who they are...things that will shape their lives! We are so, so blessed to be able to spend time with my grandparents this week. 

Grandma and Grandpa took our family to Destin with my cousins every year that I can remember growing up. We have pictures on the beach with broken arms, diapers, eye patches and more...not much stopped us. :) 

3 years ago, my grandfather decided that he wanted to start the trip back up. He wanted to be able to see his 4 great-grandbabies enjoying the sand and water just like his grandchildren got to. We've been to the beach the last 3 years and have enjoyed every trip! Even though Grandpa can't make it down to the sand with his walker, he sits out on the patio and enjoys watching the kids playing. He is so happy to see them happy. 

Grandma and Grandpa (or G.G. and Pepaw as the kids call them) will be married 61 years this year. They are a testimony to what good people are, and we are blessed to get to share this time with them. 

 On top of all of that good stuff, Landry and Pepaw have a special bond. Some might even agree with me that she is his favorite great-grandchild. :) Tonight around bedtime, I was trying to find Landry. We found her in Pepaw's room "making donuts" in bed. They were describing how they tasted and what they were decorated with and "feeding" pretend donuts to each other. It was precious. 

It seriously makes my heart smile to see these two together! This week is so special...can't wait to share more with you! 

A Time to Relax...

We are away for a time of  relaxation, and that is exactly what we're doing....

 Tons and tons and tons of pictures to come! 

Parke's Beads...

Today would have been Parke's 4 month birthday. I've told several friends lately that this is an interesting milestone for us. I remember when Landry turned 4 months old and Micah commented that she came to life all the sudden. She was smiling, she was acknowledging that she knew if we were there or not, she started showing preferences to different things. We looked forward to this milestone with Collier knowing that the "newborn" days were short lived and soon we would have a baby that would be fun to interact with in ways besides feeding and snuggling. It was a fun transition for us from newborn to baby. 

That would have been today. Parke would have been changing, developing, learning new things. I've struggled with seeing some babies lately and wishing I had him back. I've broken down at the most random times...I can feel it coming on, and can sometimes excuse myself before I make a spectacle of myself boo-hooing over a strangers baby at Target. :) 

Tough times, but God is so merciful. He gives me so many bright spots in my day with sweet memories of Parke. Landry says the most precious things about her brother in heaven, unprovoked. She talks about him all the time, and even said "Something is missing! Oh, it's Baby Parke." the other day. 

We have such precious memories of him, and try to find neat ways to honor him as a part of our family. Here's something we finished about a month ago...

When Parke was at Arkansas Children's Hospital, he was accepted into a program called Beads of Courage. You an read about the program here, but basically they provide beautiful beads for different milestones for critically ill children. While kids are in the hospital, they get different beads for each night they stay, each IV poke, each x-ray, etc. They beads help tell the child's story, and they have them on lanyards that the older kids wear. We saw some kids with 10+lanyards full of beads! 

Since Parke was only there a few days, he had just the right amount of beads for us to put together some sweet keepsakes. 

I knew I wanted Landry to have something special to remember Parke, so I picked 3 beads to make her a necklace. The middle is a blue heart (showing P was a heart patient) and two glow-in-the-dark beads (for x-rays and or echo-cardiograms). After that, I knew I wanted to have a bracelet made for myself. I took the leftover beads into a local shop planning to add some things to it to make it a complete bracelet. Once the sweet owner put it together, it fit perfectly without any additions! I am thrilled with the way it turned out, and I have worn it every day since I got it back. My favorite bead is the big pink heart....it was the "parent bead" given to me at the hospital. All the beads are hand painted and unique. I just love this sweet reminder of our boy! Landry doesn't like to wear her necklace much yet, but she likes to show people and tell them it was from Baby Parke for her birthday. :)

Happy 4 month birthday Baby Parke. Give Jesus a big grin for us! 

Collier's New Friend

This is a happy and a sad blog post. First, I have to admit that my baby boy has no friends. Second, this was Collier's first official play date. All of our play dates seem to be with Landry's friends or older kids who don't want to play with the "baby." :) 

The happy part is, that Collier has a new buddy! And...he got to have a play date that was all about him and had a good time with his friend. Landry was not thrilled about that, and she had some funny things to say before Braxton came over...

She said, 

"Collier, he really wants to play with me. We are going to do girly things, and I will dress him up like a king!"

After I explained to her that they were going to play together and probably not dress up...

"Yeah. They are going to do boy things and probably say, "Hey! Where's my basketball?"" 

And, she was kind of right! 

They took a little while to warm up to each other, but they did end up playing basketball. 

Then we played upstairs and ignored each other for a while...

And, we finally got some hugs in before nap time. 

The boys are a month apart and will be two in August and September. It was so fun to watch Collier play with someone his own age, and it was absolutely adorable that we accidentally dressed them like twinkies. :)

So fun! 

Now, I don't have to worry that my kid is the one with no friends. Ha!