He's 2!

Wow is this post late. I just haven't taken the time or had the energy to pull the computer out. :) We had a wonderful birthday weekend with Drew. Hal and I are blessed with one great little boy who makes us laugh every day. Not that every day is easy. Being the parents of a 2 year old is also teaching us a lot about ourselves and making us turn to the LORD for direction!

Drew-

At 2 you are SO full of energy! I love to see your passion and excitement come out when you see or hear something you love and I pray that God will draw you to himself so that one day your dad and I will get to see you express that kind of passion and excitement for God.

You are crazy about choo-choo's and animals especially elephants! It is so fun to watch you sit in the floor and play with your train. You are really starting to talk and use your words to tell us what you want. You love to be around other kids and are usually the loudest and most outgoing one there! You have enjoyed football Saturdays this fall and love to point out every football you see and have learned to ring your cowbell and call the Hogs!

Happy Birthday little man!

I am 2!

Opening presents...so fun!

Yummy cake and invitation.

Ready to blow out the candles!

And the best part....the icing!

A Look Back at Year 2: Post 3

A Look Back at Year 2: Post 2

Here are a few of the favorites from Christmas last year!

Love those rosy red cheeks

This Florida boy wasn't sure what to think of the freezing weather in Arkansas, but he loved the lights on the square in Fayetteville.

One of my absolute favorite pictures from last year!

He started walking just a week or so before this picture taken in Laurel.

A Look Back at Year 2: Post 1

Somebody will be 2 in just a week. Unbelievable!! I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures from the past year. These pics are from the Friday after Thanksgiving. It was one of those great family days that you look back on. Even though Hal's dad was in the hospital, we had a great day together. Looking back, I feel like it really firmed up in our minds that our desire was to be closer to family. This was Drew's first trip to Starkville.

At Little Dooey with Daddy for the first time.

Madison, Jess, and Drew

Unkie and Drew

Almost ready for bed after a long day of cheering for the Bulldogs.

Hal was off on Friday so we decided to take Drew to the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans for an early birthday present. He is REALLY into animals these days so we couldn't wait to see his reaction. He had the best time and as we expected the elephants were by far the favorite. I think he had just as much fun running around everywhere. Jessica met us there and then we went down to the French Quarter for an early dinner and beignets at Cafe Du Monde. It was an absolutely wonderful day!

Coming in May 2011

We are so excited to share that we are expecting and due in May! The due date is May 29th so I am just over 10 weeks. It is crazy how I really don't remember details from my pregnancy with Drew, but I feel like I have been more sick with this baby. The last few days my stomach has felt better, but I still don't have much energy! Of course that could be because I am chasing a 2 year old around now. :) That's right, a 2 year old. We are oh' so close to his birthday and I am a bit sad. He is such a little boy these days. My baby is gone. This picture makes me laugh in light of this post. It is like he is saying, Momma, what did you say??????

I can't write this post without also telling you that while we are beyond excited, we have been on somewhat of a roller coaster since finding out we were pregnant in September. I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for October 7th but had some spotting the weekend before so we saw the doctor on October 4th. They did the normal first appointment sonogram. The tech quickly found a heartbeat and said that while it was a little slow that is normal for the stage I was at. We were both so relieved and I felt like I was finally taking a breath for the first time since the ultrasound started. The tech then said, "It looks like there is something else here." She found another heartbeat. I think I Hal stopped breathing at this point. :) She told us that this baby was a little smaller and the heart rate was slower also. She printed pictures for us and then we waited to see the doctor. The doctor said that the smaller sac around Baby B could be an ominous sign or it could be fine. She wanted to bring us back in a week for another ultrasound. We left the office excited, scared, shocked, and thrilled all at the same time. We shared the news with family and a few close friends and asked them to pray. It was a great week of excitement around our house! My grandmother that passed away this summer was a twin and for as long as I can remember had made comments about Lindsay having twins and having to stick around until Lindsay had the twins. It was special for me to be carrying twins for that reason plus so many others. We went back for the 2nd appointment on October 12th. At this ultrasound, the tech was only able to find 1 heartbeat. Baby A looked strong and healthy, but Baby B had not grown much and did not have a heartbeat. We saw the doctor who assured us that Baby A looked ok and that my body would take care of Baby B. We left the office that day not sure of how we felt at all. Such extreme joy that I was carrying a healthy baby but such sadness that we had lost Baby B. The next few days were much of the same. Just not sure what to feel. Thursday I went to BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) where we were studying Isaiah 6. In this passage Isaiah has the vision of the LORD and he is face to face with God's Holiness. In the opening we sang two songs, Holy Holy Holy and Immortal, Invisible. I couldn't hold back the tears as I sang those songs. A few versed in particular of Immortal, Invisible seemed to just heal my soul.

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessèd, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,

Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish—but naught changeth Thee.

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
All laud we would render; O help us to see
’Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee,

It was one of those moments where I knew that if I claim to have a relationship with Jesus and I believe that God is Holy, the Sovereign Creator, then I had to bow and trust Him fully. There have been days since that I have been sad and I am sure that as the pregnancy progresses I will feel sad again, but I don't think God minds the sadness as long as our perspective is right.

The doctor brought us in the next week for a 3rd ultrasound. We were able to see that Baby B still did not have a heart beat and had not grown. We were also able to see that Baby A had grown on schedule and that the heart beat was perfect. I think I needed to see both of those things to truly move on.

We are so excited and looking forward to our next appointment in November and the big ultrasound in December to find out if it is a boy or girl!

I know this is the longest post ever, but I also need to say that Hal has been absolutely amazing through all of this. Work has been crazy for him lately, but he was with me at every appointment and has handled my crazy emotions. He has lovingly spoken truth and been a rock and a constant reminder to me that God is in control.

Pumpkin Patch

A Whole Lotta Drew...

We have had a busy past week or so. It seems like I have a lot to pack into one post. :) I have gone back to work part time for The Bank of Fayetteville. So Drew and I spent last week in Fayetteville. I worked at the bank and Drew spent some quality time with Grampy and Grammy. We will see how I can handle working from home with an almost 2 yr old!

If you have eaten a meal with Drew, then you can hear him saying, "mmmmm."

He had a big time playing in the yard yesterday afternoon. We were out there almost two hours!

Tired after a couple of hours of playing hard. :)

Drew was happy to see his daddy last night! After dinner, he drank his milk while watching football with his daddy. It reminded me of a picture when he was much smaller.

September '10

January '09

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great Labor Day weekend! We left on Friday for Houston to stay with the Stroh's. It was great to see the boys together again. Friday night we had takeout from Pappasito's, our favorite Mexican restaurant from Houston. Saturday, we left Drew with Nate and Kim and headed to Marble Falls just outside of Austin for our friend Vani's wedding. It was fun to catch up with some friends and spend some time with Hal. Sunday we spent a few hours in Austin and then headed back to Houston.

Nate and Kim were brave enough to take all 3 boys to the grocery store!

Hal giving the boys "tickle bombs"

The best picture we got of the happy couple. Congrats Tim and Vani!

Our placecards....

We had breakfast at the Bluebonnet Cafe in Marble Falls. Yum!

Of course our trip through Austin wouldn't have been complete without a look at the stadium.

Thanks Nate and Kim for helping us out this weekend!

I could not write this post without mentioning that my husband was beside himself with happiness when he got the text from my dad on Saturday night that Ole Miss had been beat by Jacksonville State.

Anxiety

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1

It is isn't something I have battled all my life, but in the last few years it seems that I face anxiety and fear often. Worrying about Hal when he traveled turned into worrying about selling a house turned into stressing over my pregnancy to then stressing A LOT of things once I was a mom. Sadly, these are just a few of the things that I can find myself lost in worry over. The verse above is a reminder to me that I have been set free from worry and fear. Christ has set me free. I can rest in the fact that God is in control. I make a choice to let anxiety and fear control me. God's choice for me is to be free from these things and to rest in Him.

Praying I make that choice today!

H-A-T

Drew has really been into hats lately. I picked this army helmet up the other day and it has been the new favorite. We have had a long few days without AC, but are glad to have it back on! Drew was quite the trooper through the heat. Momma was not quite as great! :)

Random Friday

1) Hello Random Friday....it has been awhile. Welcome back. :)

2) Drew and I were so excited to take Paw Paw out for lunch today. Not that we wouldn't be normally excited, but getting to take him out today is a really big deal!! He had his last appointment with his transplant doctor here in Jackson this morning and they released him! Since his bone marrow transplant, he has been unable to eat at restaurants and has to be very cautious about being in public due to germ exposure. He has been looking forward to his 100th day just before Labor Day, but he was released five days early.

3) Mother's Morning Out went really well this week. When I dropped him off on Thursday, he took his teacher's hand and walked right in without any tears! I was able to get a lot of errands done. Both days I spent some time at a coffee place with my Bible and my journal. It was nice to be able to sit for as long as I wanted!

4) Look a this big boy sitting in the swing all by himself. The last few afternoons have been a little cooler and it has been nice to get back outside and enjoy his play set.

5) I have start couponing this summer and I am finally starting to see the results. Our grocery bill has really gone down and I am saving big money on personal care and household items. Last week I got over $60 worth of items at Walgreens for $20. We will see how long I can keep it going.

Have a great weekend!

Girls, Painting, and Potato Head

Drew and I have had a busy couple of weeks! Grammy and Aunt K came to visit for a few days. I didn't manage to get a picture of them together. It was great to have them here. We spent time cooking, shopping, laughing, and playing with Drew! Thanks to the help of Aunt K, my freezer is stocked with meatballs, Chicken Spaghetti, and Gumbo. I think I could get used to the idea of paying for the groceries and someone else cooking. :) Last Tuesday night we had a full house! My friend Christi and her girls came up from Florida to spend a few days with us. Mom and Kathy left on Wednesday morning. It was fun to see the girls and Drew play together and it was great to spend some QT with Christi.

Drew and his girlfriends

This has also been a busy week! Drew started Mother's Morning Out yesterday. I have talked about it non-stop since I enrolled him in the spring and have been SO excited about it....until yesterday. I had serious trouble leaving him, but felt better after I picked up and looked back on all I had accomplished in my morning. He seemed to do great as well. He will go on Tuesday and Thursdays. I will have Tuesday for me and Thursday I will go to BSF.

Monday we decided to do a little finger painting. He is pretty funny about having things on his hands, but I think he enjoyed it.

You want me to do what?

This is pretty fun!

But really, get this off my fingers!!

We decided to head outside to get cleaned up. :)

We bought a Mr. Potato Head at Disney when we went in February. He hasn't played with it since the Spring. It was fun to watch him with it this morning. You can really see how much he has changed. This spring, he played with the pieces and didn't really mess with the body. You should have seen some of the creations he came up with today!

Almost 21 Months

Forgive this video. It isn't really full of anything exciting, but I thought the grandparents would like it. :) I love toys that they play with for a long time and aren't just for one stage. He has played with this basketball goal since last summer. I also love to see how his play changes. At first he just played with the basketballs at the bottom and now he has to wait until he hears just the right song and then takes off dancing! It seems like a good number of the pictures I have taken lately have just been in his diaper. Forgive us, but it has been HOT. ;)

One of these days I am going to print out my blog in a book since this is the only scrapbook I will probably ever finish! Mom bought me digital scrapbooking software which I really need to use again! Anyway, I wanted to put up a few milestones for Drew so I will have them for whatever becomes the scrapbook. :)

Drew-

At almost 21 months here are a few things you have been up to:

- To say you love Elmo is the understatement of the century! You say the word "Elmo" about 500 times a day. You can pick Elmo out from a long way away in a store and you let everyone know when you do.

- You are quite the dancer. You and momma have a dance party to praise music almost every day in your room.

- You are wearing 24 month/2T clothes and a size 5 diaper. I am not sure about your height or weight, but I know you are growing. Before we left for Arkansas in June you could easily walk underneath the bar in the kitchen. We quickly learned when we got home in July that you could not walk underneath it and you have learned to run WAY around it so not to bump your head.

- You love to color. Including the wall in the hall that mama managed to clean up.

- Lately you have loved playing with Mega Blocks. You can sit in the floor and put them together and take them apart for almost 10 minutes. That is a long time for you to play with one toy!

-We were happy to drop you off at Sunday School last week with NO TEARS! You have had a difficult time adjusting to new surroundings at church, but are doing much better.

-You love to hold momma and da's hand when we pray and you always give us a good AMEN.

You are fully of energy and are learning something new everyday. Da and I can't wait to see how God is going to use your energy and desire to learn in the future!

Mickey Mouse

August '09 9 months

February '09 15 months

August '10 21 months

Splash Pad Fun

Drew and I went to a Splash Park really close to our house this morning. To say he loved it was an understatement! I am not sure he stood still for more than two seconds the whole time we where there.

So excited!

Wa Wa...Momma! He kept saying it over and over again.