"I Hold You Mommy"

Those are the frequent words spoken at our house these past 4 days. Audrey has been sick since Friday night and she utters those words very pathetically and quite sincerely. She just wants to be held - that's it, just held. Doctor Daddy & Audrey's doctor Doctor Kerry ordered some labs and chest x-ray this morning and the poor nugget has RSV.
She'll be fine and she'll get better but until then I'm sure we'll hear a lot more of those words- "I hold you".
Here's Audrey puffing on her new medicine with Daddy today while he was home checking in on his girl this morning.

"Mommy, I so proud of you"

Yes, those words came out of my daughter's mouth. It was the sweetest thing- she had heard me tell her that I was so proud of her for telling me she had to go potty in the restaurant- so she decided to tell me that she was proud of ME!



Nothing like making a Momma feel good.

A "Married" Little Valentine's Day

It wasn't an extravagent Valentine's by any stretch of the imagination ~ it was a "married" valentine's as Chris said.
We had plans for a nice dinner in Nebraska on Friday night but the weather and snow prevented us from going - so we went to the high school basketball game instead which turned out to be quite fun. Audrey liked everything but the Bluejay.
So yesterday I was greeted in bed with the sweetest card made by my two Valentine's and then sticky buns for breakfast. The rest of the day entailed: Pizza Hut lunch with family, a fat nap, 3 hours at home without our daughter- she was with Nana & Poppa and Cousin Garrett. We made a "romantic" taco salad dinner and ate in front of the tv. I then scrapbooked at the computer till my bum was numb and Chris watched a guy flick on tv. It was a hot date let me tell you- but I was completely satisfied.

Happy Valentine's to each of you!

My little Valentine in her heart shirt from Nana.

Doing airplane with Daddy - one of her most favorite things to do!

Taco salad- we even fried the shells ourselves! (that was all Chris' doing)

Mommy's card from Daddy & Audrey- I'm a homemade card lover! They are only the best!

A rose for Audrey from Poppa. (yes, she's the spoiled only granddaughter)

Big Girl on the Big Potty

I've been hesitant to post about our big girl going potty on the big potty but she is and has been very consistant. She loves wearing panties and will tell you several times that "diapers hurt".

I went in to get her from her nap yesterday and the first words from her mouth were "I nated Mommy", she had unzipped her sleep sack and taken off her diaper and her sack. She hates wearing the diaper for nap but we insist- even though she's waking up dry from her naps and immediately going in and going potty. She gets one M&M for potty and two M&M's for poopy. I wish someone rewarded me like that!

Anyway -- just had to share our big news. I'm kicking myself because the the ever obsessive planner in me ordered a big case of 5 diapers about three months ago and now we won't be using them. But, I bet we can rest assured that our little man will use those someday.

Baby Cora

About two weeks ago I came across this blog http://themcclenahans.blogspot.com/ about a sweet family from Kansas going through a huge battle with their precious daughter Cora Paige who is 11 months old. Cora was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer on January 22- yes not even a month ago. I checked this blog frequently and had grown to just love her cute little face and my heart hurt knowing that her parents Jessica & Joel were going through such agony and yet through it all their faith remained strong and our God remained constant.

This afternoon I went to check up on Cora and found these words "Cora is with Jesus today" under a picture of Cora with her parents.

I just sat at my computer and I couldn't believe my eyes- tears came and I felt almost "weird" for being upset when I don't even know this family. Then I became almost "upset" at myself for getting all emotionally attached to someone I didn't even know. But this story and many other stories similar to it touch cords and I get attached and want to know more- yes, they make us sad and worry about our own families and children but more than anything they make me THANKFUL for all I have. Stories like these keep me on the floor playing with my daughter longer and allow my to do list to wait and not get as much attention as I would like. Stories like these make those dust bunnies on the hardwoods seem not quite as annoying, that dirty bathroom sink seem "bearable" for a couple more days and all those toys taking over the living room seem like not that big of a deal afterall. And more than anything it's made me realize that God has His plan and that our children are just on "loan" from Him- what a privilage He has given us. At least that's what Cora's story has done for me.

I read this on another blog about baby Cora that really sums it up: We prayed for the cancer to be gone. And now it is. She is now perfect. Being held by our GREAT AND WONDERFUL GOD.

It's PROOF

It's proof, it's science, it's genes, it's for sure a BOY!
Why you might ask do we know this? We had a sonogram on Monday afternoon and our precious little baby boy had his hand in between his legs (yep- in his crotch) and was probably down there scratching the underside just like all his male counterparts. At first we couldn't get a view of his parts because his hand was right in the way. Eventually he moved it and we saw his boy parts again.
Luckily growing up with three younger brothers I know this is what boys and men so he'll fit right in!
Here's a picture of our little man. Not all that "cute" right now but he has 16 more weeks to work on his looks.