Picture Time!

I've struggled a lot lately with getting my Nikon out and taking some good pictures of the kids. It's hard when life is busy and grabbing my phone and taking a picture with that is so much more convenient. While visiting family last month, I decided to get my camera out and take those pictures that I was hoping to get at Easter. I'm so thankful that I did. The kids and I had fun and the pictures turned out great. Enjoy!

 

Her new silly face.

My new favorite picture of these three.

Trying to get everyone to look at the camera doesn't always happen. Still love the picture though.

He seriously cracks me up with his model pose and looks.

This young lady is growing up too fast for her mama.

Birthday Girls

February and March brought along two big birthdays in our household. We officially have a 2 year old and a 13 year old. There's a bit of an age gap between the two but they have a special bond that only sisters can have. Samara loves hanging out in Iyana's room listening to music or just being around her. She wants to be like her big sister and copies her frequently. Iyana loves to constantly give Samara kisses and hugs. She's such a big help with her and I truly appreciate that.

Samara Joy
February 1, 2013 

 

She's our little love bug who also has a strong determination to do things her way. She likes to see just how far she can go before she crosses the line of being in trouble. Some of her favorite things to do besides hanging out with Iyana is to play with Dayson and her friends from church. She's a tough little cookie with a lot of tomboy tendencies but has a soft side to her as well. She's also gotten the art of tattle telling down quite well. It's funny to listen to her as she still doesn't say very many words that we can understand.

 

 

At her 2 year appointment, she weighed in at 27lbs. 8oz. which is in the 60th percentile. For her height, she was measuring at 31 inches which is only in the 3rd percentile. She's our little shorty. I think she will probably be around my height when she's older. Though her height isn't a concern at this point, her leg situation is. Like Dayson when he was a toddler, she's been dealing with bow legs. She has it a bit worse than he did and so far she hasn't outgrown it like he did by this age. We've seen the specialist twice now. This last time we were there he said he wanted to wait 6 more months in the hopes that she will either grow out of it or grow tall enough to have braces put on her legs. Right now her legs are so small that any bracing they do would have to be specially made. So, we wait. Other than falling down somewhat frequently, she does really well. Sometimes she'll tell us that her hips or calves hurt which we think is due to the bowing. Most times though she runs as fast as she can and jumps as much as possible.
 

 

Iyana Maelyn

March 4, 2002

 

Our outgoing child who likes to talk a lot and make those around her laugh. I think this year is going to be an interesting one. As much as she has wanted to finally be a teenager, she's now struggling with it. She likes the fact of being older and being allowed to do more things but at the same time, she still wants to be a little girl. It's hard when most of her friends are younger than her and don't get to go to youth group. Going from being the oldest in class to the youngest has definitely brought out some insecurities. I'm so thankful that we have women in there to help guide her and make her feel welcome. Some of the older teens have been doing that as well which is a big plus.

 

Iyana has officially passed me in height which she is so excited about. It's only by half an inch, but still, she's taller than her mom. I knew this day would come sooner or later. She's growing into a beautiful young woman both on the inside and out. I pray that she would come to know Christ better each and every day and that she would apply His truths to her life. Serving at church is such a big thing to her. I love that she has a servants heart, especially for the children.



 

This cake was so delicious! If you've never had a cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes, you really should try it. Iyana chose a white chocolate, raspberry cake with cream cheese frosting. Definitely a favorite.

Though our swimming get together didn't go as planned, we still all had a fun time over at one of the local frozen yogurt places.



 

Many blessings to both my girls. Happy birthday!! Love you much!!

4 Years Old

Little D (who's not so little anymore) is officially a 4 year old. He's been waiting for this day for a long time. For most of August we heard about his birthday coming up in September...almost every day. Needless to say, when the day finally came, he was pretty excited.

 

 

First thing after he got up in the morning, we had him open a present which was this Angry Bird's mug. He's been loving having cocoa in the mornings but I've felt kind of funny with him drinking out of a Hello Kitty mug. Now he has his own big boy mug and it's one of his favorite characters. Upon opening it, he was so excited to find a packet of hot cocoa in it with marshmallows.

 

He's growing up too fast for my liking. So hard to believe that we waited 6 years for him to come along and now he's already 4 years old. Amazing how quickly time flies by when you're busy enjoying your kids and life.

 

We had a small family party for him this year. For gifts he mainly got clothing items as he keeps growing out of things. Lots of Spiderman and Angry Birds themes going on. Funny how he's never watched Spiderman before but yet that's all of a sudden another one of his favorite characters. I guess there could be worse things.

 

Gotta have a Mario shirt.

 

He received an Angry Birds backpack which he loved. What we didn't realize until he was looking all through the bag was that it had this rain hat tucked inside a small zipper at the top. He loves it and will walk around with it on inside. Maybe one of these days when it's raining, he can test it out.

 

Mama's little (big) boy. Love him so much!

 

I've been trying to write down some of the funny things he says. I had a good list going a few months ago but must have accidently thrown it away. I'm so frustrated as there was some good ones on there that he doesn't say anymore and I can't remember them. Over time maybe they will come to mind. Until then, here's a couple of them that make us chuckle.

 

• Yo dirk - yogurt
• Coke coke - cocoa
• Mac or a cheese - Mac n Cheese
• Peek the poo - Peek a Boo
• Clip clops - flip flops

1 year, 2 years, 3 years and now 4 years old.

Love his new sunglasses. Unfortunately, they didn't even last a week. Not sure, but we think Samara got ahold of them. Guess she doesn't know her own strength.

 

Excited to see what this next year will bring. We're already seeing more of his personality coming out, a little bit on the bossy side. It's a fun time of learning for all of us and enjoying these special times together. Love you little Mister!

18 Months

Amazing how quickly time can fly by. I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that my baby girl is a year and a half now. It really seems like just yesterday that she was born.
This little gal has been such a fun blessing. She's a handful for sure but definitely fun. She has so many expressions and a sassiness that I wasn't expecting when she was younger. It's going to make life interesting as she gets older, that's for sure.

The measurements are what I was able to do here at home. The official ones will happen next week at her doctors appointment. Even if I am off a little on her height especially, I think she's going to be my shorty. Maybe I'll have a child who is my height?

 

These are some of her typical expressions that we see on a daily basis. Life around here is never boring.

Tried doing a photoshoot on this day to get her 18 month pictures done. This is pretty much how they turned out. She just wasn't in the mood and there was no changing her mind, even with fruit snacks.

We got to spend some time up at our pastor's cabin a few weeks ago. It was a blast as always. Playing in the water, running around in the yard and relaxing, we all had a great time. This little one was so tired afterwards that we weren't even out of the driveway before she was fast asleep in her car seat.

 

I'm happy to announce that she is finally (almost consistently at least) sleeping through the night. It didn't happen until I was able to get her to wean. For the longest time I didn't think she would ever give up nursing. We had tried in the past only to be met with severe fits and crying and then her going into a panic. Decided it wasn't worth having her go through that. Her doctor had said that 18 months seems to be the time when they're ready to move on. I was in complete shock when right around the 18 month mark, it happened. We'd been praying about it and it's been such a smooth process. The other shock is that she now goes to bed at the same time as Dayson. We get our hug and kiss and then she waves goodbye to us and lays down. Simple as that! What in the world?! Before it was almost an all out fight to get her to bed and now she just goes in like it's no problem. Not sure what changed but I'm feeling very thankful. Getting some extra sleep has been weird but nice. 

Watching the older kids play. Most of the time like this, she has a pretty solemn look on her face.

This picture cracks me up. She was so excited to have the net after the big kids had been playing with it. She had no idea what to do with it but she was still happy about it.

My little bathing beauty.

Look! It's an airplane. Funny how Dayson never noticed planes or anything else in the sky for a long time. Maybe it's having an older brother who now points all those things out that has made her interested in them.

This is a very typical face we see. If you haven't heard of it yet, this is what we call her stink face. Sometimes she even gives it to us when we ask her to do something. Why do I have a feeling that this cute face is not going to be so cute anymore when she gets a little more defiant?

 

A very half-hearted smile.

Ok mom, I will pose for one more picture. ☺

  

As usual I'm excited to see what the next days, weeks and months will bring with this little one. So thankful for the blessing of being able to raise her.