2011: A Year Full of Blessings...and Some Heartaches

2011...a year that I will definitely fondly look back on. This being for two reasons: 1) we found out we were pregnant with our sweet Landree Claire 2) we joined C3 church and have been incredibly blessed with a wonderful faith family, amazing relationships, and a new aspect to mine and Austin's marriage thanks to Jesus working through C3.

2010 was a hard towards the end of the year. We lost our sweet baby in December. So we knew the next year we wanted to try for another baby. We found out in late August of 2011 that I was pregnant. We prayed and prayed for this sweet girl. We can't wait to meet her, and that's why I'm so excited about 2012...

April 21, 2012 - to be exact!

In early summer of 2011 we started visiting Connection Community Church in Rowlett. I knew when I visited for the first time, without Austin, it was a wonderful place and there was something about it I was drawn to. When Austin and I started visiting, God kept placing these people in our paths and we felt like it was the place for us. I am forever thankful for this. This place has changed our lives, marriage, and parenting. All three of us gladly wake up on Sunday mornings to go. Something else God worked through us was to become servants. Austin and I both proudly serve at the church. I'm involved in helping out with the Children's ministry and Austin works with the sound crew on Sundays. Something we both really, really enjoy. It is so wonderful to be a part of something that is in God's plan. 

Through the church we've made so many wonderful friends. So many. We are blessed to be a part of a wonderful Connection Group on Wednesday nights where we get to fellowship and do life with these people. Something I never thought you would find us {or mainly Austin} involved in. We are...and we love it! 

Although 2011 was good to us, for the most part, it was a difficult year for some of our friends. They lost people extremely close to them and hearts were broken by the tragedies. However, I did not know these wonderful men who went to be with the Lord, but through their death, they left a legacy that has made me look at my own life and change how I live and how I live for the Lord. For that, I am grateful. 

If there's something I've learned through being at C3...you never know what God has in store. Sometimes it's tragedy, sometimes its blessings. Whichever it is, as long as the gospel is shared and people come to know Jesus through our circumstances, then the Lord's will has been carried out. 

I'm looking forward to 2012. The blessings...and the trials. I trust my God and His plan for my life. I only hope that this year, I can live out His word through my own life and actions, and people will come to know him, personally.

Welcome 2012!! 

Happy New Year!

Mommy's {Last Year in Her Twenties} Birthday!

Yes, this birthday marked the last year I can say that I'm "in my twenties." Next year I will turn the big 3-0. Oh, well. 30 is the new 20, right?

It was a wonderful birthday full of family and friends. My mom, AB and I spent the whole day shopping at North Park and lunch at my most favorite, Maggiano's. After a fun-filled day of shopping, we met more family and friends at Saltgrass for my favorite prime rib.

I felt very blessed being surrounded by some of my closest friends. A few of them, I don't know what I would do if I didn't have them.

AB had her BFF and future hubby there with her. He was, of course, too cute not to photograph...so I think I snapped more of him than I did of AB. Here are some of the most precious pictures captured on my birthday night.

Oh, Brycen. Could you be any cuter?

Hmm...I stand corrected.  I think you can!

All the guys! Apparently, plaid is the new fad!

Some of my favorite ladies! Laura has been around for 21 out of my 29 birthdays!

I love this "adoring" look on AB's face!

SMAK!

I feel so incredibly blessed to have so many wonderful people and love in my life. I can't wait until my next birthday (ok, maybe I can since I'll be 30...) to have Miss Landree Claire there with us. Thank you, Jesus, for these wonderful blessings!!

Confessions of a Potty Training Mom

I feel like I could have created a whole new blog just on the topic of potty training. Potty training. Ick. Those words make me cringe as I say them. Call me crazy, but before I attempted to take on this new feat, I thought it would be easy. I knew it may take some time, but never did I think it would cause me this much stress, frustration and emotion! I guess it doesn't help that I'm 6 months pregnant, too.

I noticed the other day that I have three, new {and visible, I might add} gray hairs. All of which I am certain I got from the last four and a half weeks of potty training. In fact, a couple of weeks ago as I was in the middle of a raging fit (yes, me, not Annabelle), Austin told me to just go put a diaper back on her and forget the whole thing? Forget the whole thing?!? What?!? As steam was coming out of my ears and I proceeded to ask him why he thought I should do that, his reply was calm and simple, "Well Babe, I fear this whole potty training thing is changing you as a person. I just don't think it's worth it." Ok. 'Nuff said. I get it. I was over reacting. I needed to take a chill pill. So that's when I tried to take it easy. I certainly didn't want who I am as a person to change!!!!!!!

So, I made a huge deal out of the positives that she would receive and simply informed her of the negatives if she had an accident in her pants. She was doing better, but still have at least one accident a day. It wasn't until she went back to Andrea's that I really got upset. All day long at Andrea's she would stay dry AND poop in the potty. This was what she was having the hardest time with at home. After two straight days of going to Andrea's and completely accident-free, then coming home and pooping and peeing in her pants RIGHT AFTER I asked her if she needed to go, I had enough of it. I pulled down her messy pants and panties before putting her on the potty, and popped her one on her bottom. It would be one thing if she was consistent with her accidents at Andrea's and at home, but for whatever reason she was controlling or manipulating the situation with me.

This was the first real, bare bottom spanking my child really had ever had. I felt terrible. So, I sat her on the potty, walked away for a minute and came back. I sat down on a stool in front of her on the potty, and that was it...I burst into tears. I asked her to please, please stop having accidents in her panties because it was making Mommy very sad. I could see in her eyes she finally got it. She saw that it wasn't a game to me. I was serious. She put her sweet little hand on my face and said, "I'm sorry, sweetie. Don't cry. Don't be sad. I won't do it again." Talk about melt my heart. So, I hugged her sweet little neck and told her that I knew she could do it, and to please try harder from now on. She said, "Ok. I will." She's a girl of her word. She hasn't had an accident since. I don't believe the spanking had anything to do with it. I don't think that spanking will help speed things up with potty training. Ask my mom. I think it was letting her see that I was really sad, and the way to make me happy was to go in the potty.

I've been very sure to give her lots of verbal praise and special treats every now and then for her excellent job in staying dry and going poo poo in the potty.

She's pretty satisfied with the rewards and I know she's proud of herself! So am I!

I don't know why potty training has to drive us so crazy as moms. I was talking to a mom the other day, and I think she hit the nail on the head when she said, "You know, potty training does something to us as moms. It makes us different...and I don't necessarily mean in a good way!" Thanks, Renee, you're exactly right. However, just like potty training itself, we get over the hump and then we're fine. I'm just trying really hard not to think about doing this again in about three years. Oh, joy....

A Not So Merry Christmas Night

We had such a busy Christmas starting Christmas Eve and all day Christmas day. We were constantly on the go and I felt like we didn't stop and breathe for nearly 48 hours! I partly blame that for the nasty bug that attacked my baby Christmas night.

Although it was hectic, it was a joyful occasion to spend Christmas with all of our family. The last family member left our house Christmas night, we got AB ready for bed and then I crashed as soon as I could! I woke up to her crying out for her Daddy at 3 AM. That crazy Daddy was still awake playing Batman: Arkam City that he got for Christmas. Good thing, too. I heard Austin on the monitor comforting AB and saying she had thrown up. For those of you who know me, I DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT do throw up. So, luckily Daddy was the one to go get her. It was the saddest thing to watch my baby feel so bad. Austin got her undressed and put her in the bath. I just sat and watched for fear I would get sick at the smell.

After bath time, she snuggled with Daddy on the couch, and then it hit her again. Austin rushed her to the bathroom just in time. I knew that he had to sleep seeing he had been up the whole time. By the time she was sick again, it was just liquids so I felt I could handle it. I did, too! I stayed up all night with her, until about 8:30 when she was finished being sick. She crashed on the couch and I crashed on the blow up mattress on the floor next to her.

Austin came and took over at ten, and I went to bed and slept for about three more hours. I guess we're pretty lucky that she didn't catch that awful bug until she was nearly two and a half, but as a child who, once a year, got a terrible stomach virus, I was hoping she would dodge them altogether.

She snuggled with Daddy most of the time while he watched tv and played the play station. The pictures below break my heart, because you can see in her face just how draining the whole thing was.



This was her best attempt at her "cheese" face.



Still able to give Mommy a little bit of a smile.

After the virus was all gone. She told me she didn't want to "frow up" anymore! I know, Baby, I don't blame you one bit!

Our First Ralphie Christmas

From the previous posts, we showed you how Ralphie, our elf, entered our lives and how he left us on Christmas Eve. Yes, we sent Ralphie off this year on a mission. He had the big responsibility of taking AB's most prized possession, her paci, to Santa Claus to deliver it to a baby in need. Christmas was weeks ago, yet we are still talking about Ralphie leaving with that paci. It's bittersweet, really. I want her to love that elf and how he will come around to our family every year. On the other hand, she will, for a short time anyway, think of him as the one who took away her beloved paci. Oh, well. She'll get over it...right!?!?

I wasn't able to photograph Ralphie's whereabouts everyday, but I captured some memorable ones. So, instead of doing a post everyday of where Ralphie showed up each morning, here's the whole month at a glance.

The first night we had Ralphie, we left him tucked snug in the Christmas tree. The next day when we got home. He wasn't there. Oh, where could he have gone?

I love this picture. So puzzled by the disappearance of our Elf.

So, we ran off to find where he went!

Not to worry! There he is on the pantry door!

I didn't believe in our Elf being one of those who got into everything. My understanding of the Elf on the Shelf was to encourage positive behavior so that he could give Santa a good report. Now, how in the world does it make any sense for the Elf to be the mischievous and destructive one, when we're trying to make our kids not be that way? So, I had a long talk with Ralphie when he first joined our family about my expectations for him. He behaved himself pretty well. Only a few slip-ups here and there.

Like the day he went fishing in the bag of goldfish...

It was pretty funny.

"Look, Daddy! There he is! Inside that big sock!" - Annabelle

It's always exciting to see an Elf hanging from the ceiling fan!

This was the face we got almost everyday when she would find Ralphie. Priceless.

On one of the last days that Ralphie was with us, he decided to help me out with the potty training thing. One morning, we woke up to find him on the potty himself!!! Not only that, but he left a note encouraging Annabelle to be a big girl and to use the potty. I think this was probably the most memorable day of all. Annabelle loved having Ralphie on the potty next to her!

What fun it was to find our little friend everyday when we got home. I can't wait for him to come back next year! Next year, maybe we won 't have to send anything with him!

Four Christmases: Christmas #4

Christmas Day

Ahh! There's nothing Christmas morning - especially for a child. I can still remember the thrill and anticipation of waiting to go into the living room to see what Santa Claus brought me. I remember wondering how he could do that without waking me up, too. Especially seeing that I was not a good sleeper on Christmas Eve...I mean, what child is?

Christmas morning got off to a later start than we had planned seeing as that AB didn't get to bed until close to 1:00 AM!!! Then Daddy and I wrapped presents and had a little bit of "Mommy and Daddy" time watching It's a Wonderful Life. That put us in bed about 2:30 AM. Regardless, Christmas morning was still special.

This was the first Christmas I feel like AB started to understand the presents, Santa, Jesus' birth. She was very much into all of these things. I love the first picture I snapped of her...looks like an "I just woke up" picture.

We purposely made Christmas morning low key. She had some presents from Santa, some presents from family, but nothing too over done. I just can't seem to wrap myself around an extravagant Christmas with tons of presents for this little girl who already has so much. So, we stuck to small things we knew she wanted and would really appreciate.

Plus, this Christmas  we talked about how baby Jesus only received three presents at Christmas: gold, frankincense, and myrrh...and he was a King!

I was particularly thrilled with what I got for Austin this Christmas: a Myles Austin jersey- hence a jersey he can walk around wearing that says, "Austin." and a Nelson Cruz jersey. Both of which were (fake) authentic jerseys...but who can tell??? I love Christmas presents you know someone is going to be excited about, but they didn't ask for!

AB got the Nick Jr. Just Dance for the Wii. This features The Fresh Beat Band and some of their hits. She was so excited since she's been watching the commercials all season.

We knew that anything Caillou would be a hit!

I also had Jonas make Austin some washer boards for Christmas. Again, another present he had no idea about, but really liked! Thank you, Jonas for doing that for me!!!

Nana and Papi came over that morning to do our Christmas with them. AB got a Dora tent which was a big hit. Her and Papi played in it all morning.

After Nana and Papi left, Papa and Bebe came over and we opened some more presents with them before we left to go to Mememama's. Right before we left, we had a mini Daddy/Daughter photo shoot on Christmas morning. Some of the most precious pictures of my two loves, thus far.

More presents to open at Mememama's! AB insisted that everyone else needed help opening their presents.

What a fun, family-filled Christmas morning! However the day was filled with rushing around and getting from one place to another. Right after Mememama's we rushed back home to have Christmas night with Austin's family. We are very blessed to be surrounded by family, sometimes it's just an exhausting process. However, it was a wonderful Christmas! I can't complain.