A fun visit!

Spring Break was last week, and even though the kiddos aren't in "school," all of our church activities were canceled for the week. Micah had some work stuff he needed to take care of in Fort Smith, so we decided to pack up and make a few nights of it. The kids and I headed down earlier on Tuesday and had to drive in a terrible rain storm. Yuck! It ended up being pretty cloudy and rainy the whole week, but we still had fun being able to stay in and snuggle!

Landry just loves Gigi and Papa-D, and even though she often acts like a little stinker while we are there, we love getting to visit. I am sure other mamas can relate on how the kids want to have nothing to do with you while they are at the grandparents, but Landry was QUICK to want to snuggle in my lap as soon as we got home. :) She is a mess, for sure!

The kids cuddled and played on daddy's old bean bag!

Gigi got them some foam bunny glasses, and Landry thought they were so funny!

She wore them for her tea party...

Collier wore some that matched his pj's...

And Gigi and Landry put them on after lunch!

 I know I have posted about this before, but Micah's grandparents live next door to his parents. It is always fun to see Grandmama and Grandad, and I love that the kids get to know and play with their great -grandparents! Landry can't quite say Grandmama, so she was calling her Me-Mama...it was cute! Grandmama loves to play the piano, so she and Landry had a great time playing and singing "Jesus Loves Me."

Sweet picture of Grandmama and Landry!

We had a great visit! Collier mastered crawling while we were there, so now he can move around without doing the "army crawl" everywhere. Our lives have changed a lot in the last week with him being officially mobile!

A post from Collier...

Haha! My mommy has been playing with ME instead of blogging and keeping you up to date! We have been having so much fun! I wasn't here last Spring, but this is really a super-fun time of year to be outside. :)

 I got to go to my first Razorback Baseball game last week, and I looked gooood. I got to wear an awesome baseball hat that my daddy's best friend got for me and a fun monogrammed shirt that I got as a baby gift before I was born. People thought I was just precious!

My mama thinks I look like a serious baseball player in this picture!

I really enjoyed the game and acted very nice. We were inside a box, so I even had a nice warm place to have my diaper changed. What a life! My parents are already talking about how they will spend lots of time at the ballpark when I start playing sports. What do they know?! I will probably just like video games or something.

Anyway, my mom will be back soon. She has lots of other exciting things to update you about...like our trip down to Gigi and Papa-D's!

Next Month

I knew that this was coming, but I still feel like this moment has completely snuck up on me. Over the past two years, we have answered the question, "how old is your baby?" more than I can count. The answer has gone from days, to weeks, to months, and I seemed to handle that all okay. Last week, there was a big change. Someone asked that simple question, and before I could answer with 23 months, Micah blurted out, "She will be TWO next month!" It felt like a punch to my gut, and I honestly had to take a minute to keep myself from crying. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN that she is turning two NEXT MONTH?!

Honestly, she is at such a fun stage that it is hard for me to be sad, but it does make my heart ache to think about how fast the time has flown.

So...because I want to, I am going to share some precious pictures of my 23 MONTH OLD and tell you all the fun things she is doing right now. :)

-She is constantly singing. Her favorite songs are the main song from Rio, Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle Twinkle, and her ABC's.

-She counts everything and has 0-10 totally down. She actually picked up a washer (you know, the things that go with a bolt or nut or whatever...ha!) the other day and said, "zero?" So cute!

-Landry loves for her Daddy to tell her how pretty she looks. When I get her dressed or he comes home from work, she will run up to him and say, "Pretty?" :)

-She has finally started trying to say her own name. This has taken a while! When she says it, it sounds like Andy. We have started calling her that some, and I think it is so funny! 

-Landry had never shown interest in walking down our stairs, so we have always let her crawl up but get carried down. Last week, I was upstairs with her when Micah got home from work. She heard him come in, ran out of her room, and they were talking through the stair railing. I heard him ask her, "Are you coming down to see Daddy?" and then I heard her answer, "Yes!" I ran from her bedroom and saw her holding on to the railing and walking down the stairs herself! I walked right behind her, and she made it all the way down with ZERO help!

The next day, she and Collier woke up from their naps about the same time. I had him in my arms to carry down the stairs and asked her if she wanted me to carry her to. Her response was, "No Mama. Andy big girl!" WHAT!???!! I immediately said, "No you're not!!" :)

Anyway, she is hilarious and totally lights up my life. She keeps us laughing and on our toes!

Now, for the sweetest pictures you have ever seen...

Landry checking out her booty while shopping in STL. We were in the family restroom changing diapers and feeding Collier, and Micah and I were dying laughing while watching her. She knows she looks good! :)

 In the pictures below, she was having a complete conversation with herself in the shoe mirror at Nordstroms. She was laughing, offering herself juice, and making faces at her new friend. So silly!



Princess Landry at dinner last night. She loves dressing up!



"Where {fill in the blank} go?" The question we hear 5 billion times a day!



And finally, a picture that makes my heart skip a beat. I REMEMBER this day, and it does not seem like it could possibly be years ago within the next few months.  

Andy, you are SO much fun, but please stop getting older! I am not sure how much longer I can handle this with grace. :) 

St. Louis!

Sunday afternoon, we loaded in the car and headed to St. Louis to visit some of our favorite friends! I have known Camille and Jason for 5 or 6 years. She and I used to work together, and I just loved her to pieces. She is super cheery, hilarious, and loves to sing to me. :) They have always been the friends who had dogs, loved OUR babies, but said they were happy and weren't interested in having babies of their own. Honestly, Camille used to say that she was happy to purchase baby gifts, but attending baby showers was a no-no. Well.....God had different plans for our sweet friends. They came to visit after Collier was born, and Camille told me she was PREGNANT! I was shocked and screamed and cried like crazy! Micah laughed and said that I was more excited hearing that they were pregnant than I was with either of our pregnancies. :) I really was thrilled for them. I had always been a little sad thinking about them not having kids because I just love them both so much and knew they would be such fun parents!

So, I tell you all that to say that Sterling Hazel was born in February, and I could not wait to get up to St. Louis and get my hands on that little bundle! She is just a doll, and Jason and Camille are totally relaxed and act like they have been doing this forever!

While we were there, we ate a lot of awesome food, visited the Children's Museum, shopped, and just relaxed and enjoyed our time with the Hectors. Jason is a super-star chef at an awesome restaurant, and we got to eat there one night. It was ahhhhmazing. I really like having friends that like food as much as I do! Ha!

Now...pictures!



Camille and Landry (being a little stinker).

Yea for baby Sterling!!
She is just so tiny. She is less than 8 pounds at a month. Micah said, "I don't remember Collier ever being this small!" Um....because he wasn't!!

One of their furry babies...Tinker. She was Landry's favorite!

Ebony.
Seriously, their dogs are like children. Look at how she sits on the couch! Cracked me up!

Landry got to have her first Shirley Temple at the hotel reception. She thought she was BIG STUFF!

Our visit to the children's museum was AWESOME! Landry had such a good time. Only one picture of Collier because he was on my back most of the time...I promise, he was there! :)

My pictures are not in the order I want them, but I can't get them to move around today...you will still get the point!

This little booger is so strong!

Look at that face!

Hilarious! You can't tell that anything is happening to Micah's hair, but Landry's was the perfect length. :)

Camille and Sterling (yes, she is in that tiny little pouch!!) about to be surrounded by a bubble!

One of my favorite pictures ever. Look how happy she was!! And on her tippy toes. :)

Daddy checking out the fun

Landry going down the big slide.

Lots of tunnels to crawl through!

Landry loved this big "light bright" type toy!

Within 5 minutes of getting in the car after our fun day!

We tried to get a picture of all three babies together, and this was the best we got...still sweet!

We had SUCH a great visit, and we are already planning a trip back to do Grant's Farm and the Zoo when it is a little warmer. It is definitely tricky traveling with two crib babies, but we made it work. We always make sure we have a hotel room with seperate living/sleeping areas to be sure we can seperate the pack-n-plays. This time, we ended up having to pull the mattress off the bed and move it to the living area to work for our set-up. It was hilarious trying to move furniture around in a hotel room, and we laughed each time we walked back in the room and saw our set-up. To give you a real visual, picture the pull out sofa pulled out and then a big mattress on top of that! :) We left the "do not disturb" sign on our door all 3 days so that the workers didn't have to deal with our craziness, and we put everything back neatly before we left.

Love you Jason, Camille, and sweet Sterling! Can't wait to get back up soon!

Baby Dedication...

We had Collier's baby dedication at our church last Sunday, March 4th. Our whole family came to celebrate this special day for our little man, and it was such a sweet time to have everyone there! We chose for our pastor to read Proverbs 3: 5-6 for Collier's dedication..."Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways submit to Him, and he will make your paths straight." Pastor Wes and his wife, Lisa, prayed over Collier and our family. I absolutely love this time for our sweet babies! It is such a blessing to have a wonderful church to love and support our family!

I could absolutely kick myself for not getting more pictures of everyone who was there, but here is who was able to make it:

COLLIER, Daddy, Mommy, Landry, Gigi and Papa-D (Micah's Parents), Grandmama and Granddad (Micah's Grandparents), Mimi and Papa (my mom and step-dad), Dado and Nana (my dad and step-mom), Grandma and Grandpa (my grandparents), Aunt Emily, Uncle Kyle, Jackson, Avery, Uncle Drew, Aunt Jamia, Judd, Laurel, Uncle Tyler, and Aunt Emily #2!

That's right...24 people including 2 sets of his great-grandparents! This is one lucky little boy to have so many people that love him!

After the service, everyone came over to our house for brunch. We had a blast eating good food and getting to catch up. At Landry's dedication, we went out to eat afterwards...I have to say, this was much better! We were able to visit without having to rush, and it was just perfect getting to see everyone.  

Collier and his daddy before the dedication. Everyone thinks Collier is Micah's mini-me. His Grandmama even teared up and said she remembered Micah looking JUST like this. :) I am going to have two handsome men on my hands!

Pastor Wes and Lisa praying for our family. Collier was checking out the Pastor's tie, and Landry had a death-grip on her "color" (aka: pen).

Uncle Drew with Collier afterwards.
Drew said he heard about my blog post from a few weeks ago, and he wanted me to know he loved me. Ha! He even offered to give me a hug! :)

Judd, Avery, and Landry.
Judd and Avery are only 3 days apart!

"Look Collier!" What a great big sister!

Judd, Laurel, Landry, Collier

Beautiful flowers that my grandmother brought. We were able to fill 5 mason jars...so pretty!



One of the only group shots I got that day...
Gigi and Papa-D with all four grandchildren!

 I love looking back at the pictures from Landry's dedication and remembering that commitment that we made. For those of you who don't know what a baby dedication is, I'll give a little breakdown of what it is to me. I grew up in a different denomination, and we were baptized as babies. At our church, we dedicate babies and baptize when the person reaches the age to make that decision on their own. The dedication is a time where Micah and I commit as parents to raise our child according to God's word and commands. It is also a time where our church is asked to pray for our family and commits to support us in raising Collier in a way pleasing to God.

Such a special day, and such a great time with family!

After the dedication and brunch, we loaded up the car and our little family headed to St. Louis for a few days. A whole post on that trip will be coming soon!

I didn't know...

I didn't know that I could love another someone so much...

 I didn't know my heart had any extra room!

 I didn't know my life was missing something...

 I didn't know HE was the perfect fit to the empty spot!

 I didn't know that he would have piercing eyes like his Daddy...

 and in turn get away with everything for the rest of his life! :)

 I didn't know that he would need me SO much... 

 or that I would love that part the most!

 I didn't know that his smiles would melt my heart,

 and his kisses would warm my spirits.

 I didn't know that the time would fly even faster with him than it did with his sister.

 I didn't know that 6 months could be such a BLUR!

 I didn't know that I could survive on such little sleep...

 and be thrilled and thankful to be doing it!

I didn't know that this sweet little bundle was going to light up my life like nothing I ever imagined!

I am thankful everyday for God's special surprise for our family!

I just LOVE this 6 month photo shoot that we did a few weeks ago. Landry's 6 month pictures are some of my absolute favorites, and I can't wait to frame some of these and hang them up together. It is such a sweet stage! I cannot even narrow it down to which ones are my favorites. Which ones do you like?!