Play date with Angela and Cannon

The kids and I have been down visiting family this week to give Blake some time to work on papers and study in peace. Only a couple of weeks left in the semester which equals crunch time! Since being down here we have shopped (Ikea, I love that place), seen lots of family (my Nana and Paw-Paw met Owen for the first time!), and have just relaxed! Yesterday Karis, Owen and I had the chance to hang out with my college roomate Angela and one of the little boys she nannies for. We hit up the park for some fun since it was such a beautiful day! Cannon is just a few months older than Karis. He's shy, and Karis is not shy at all! She was running up to all the other kids and trying to talk and play with them! Here is a picture of the two kiddos, so cute!

I think Karis looks like such a big girl in this picture! She's growing up too fast for me! We had a great day! We will head back home tomorrow. I'm so anxious to get home to Blake, but sad to leave everyone here. It has been a great trip, as always!

"Girl, you need to blog again!"

In the words of my bff Angela, "Girl, you need to blog again!" Yes, yes, it's been nearly three months, so it goes with me and blogging. I do have great intentions, I really do. I think about blogging a lot, but just haven't done it. So, there's no better time than the present huh!?!

Angela encouraged me today to just blog about life, the realness of your days, whatever! It is a great tool to look back through and recall what has happened. I ran across a blog the other day of a girl who blogged every day for the first year of her son's life. She would put up a picture, share what they did, fun things that her little boy did, and whatever else to document his first year of life! That is pretty awesome to me, and I want to be able to look back at things like that too. So, here is to blogging about the everyday things that happen, and perhaps some other things too!

Well, to catch us up to speed, here are a few little things about the past months....

Life with two little kiddos:

-It has been a MUCH easier transition than I ever thought it would be! God has been incredibly gracious with this new phase of life. I get out and about with both kids quite frequently, and with not much drama! My life saver is my Ergo baby carrier! Wow, that thing is AMAZING! I can't imagine life without it now having two kids! It's like a magic sleep inducing item for Owen. I pop him in and he goes right to sleep! It has made my Target shopping trips so much easier.

-Having two in diapers = lots and lots and lots of diaper changing and diapers everywhere!

-Owen doesn't like to ride in the car at all! Karis would knock out on our three hour trips to my mom and dad's area really quickly when she was a few months old. But Owen, not at all! He maybe slept an hour on one trip down. Other than that, he's a screamer! (Hmmm....if only I could figure out a way to combine the Ergo and his carseat....)

-I have only had one day where I thought, "I think two kids is enough for me!" Other than that one moment, I am completely open to more little blessings if the Lord so wills.

I LOVE my kids and am so thankful for the opportunity to be their momma! It has been a wonderful three months with Owen, and a wonderful almost 22 months with Karis! I'll blog more about our new adventures with them later (and hopefully be more consistent in the future, but how many times have I said that? But this time I'm serious! No, seriously, I'm serious!) : )

It was nice to blog again. Thanks for the encouragement Ang!

Karis and Owen

It has been another long time since I have updated things here, but I have a moment and thought I would! Being a mother of two little babies now (our son Owen was born on January 21st!) has been, for the most part, great! Owen is super easy right now, as he really only eats, sleeps and yes poops! He is perfectly content to hang out in the bouncy seat, but he is quick to let you know when he is hungry and ready to eat! Karis has really done a wonderful job with her baby brother. It is so sweet to hear her say "Heyyyyy" to him whenever she sees him. She's really curious when he cries and will say "Ok" (her way of telling him that it's ok, no need to cry!) but does it so sweetly and gently. She definitely has a very caring way about her with him. This video was taken when Owen was one week old. Karis climbed into the glider in their room, held up her arms, and said "baby." We think it was her way of telling us that she was ready to hold him. I had waited a while to let her hold him, but I thought, as obviously Karis did too, that this was the time to let her. So, here is one of the sweetest moments yet of my two kiddos....

I will try to be better about posting on here. Trying to adjust to this new life with two is taking a little time, but I will do my best!

Thanksgiving in Oklahoma!

We are currently out in Oklahoma visiting Blake's family for the Thanksgiving holiday.  We have been so looking forward to getting out here and seeing everyone.  We come out once a year, either for Christmas or Thanksgiving, so it has been since last Christmas since we've seen everyone.  I have been thinking a lot about our trip last year and how Karis was only a little under 6 months old, just started to roll over, and was so much smaller then.  Now, she's running around and laughing at her big cousins!  She has grown so much, but I know that's how it goes!  

I want to share some videos from our time our so far and will hopefully share some more as the week goes on.  

One thing I was really anxious about was the plane ride out with Karis.  Being her first time on a plane, I was really expecting and preparing for the worst.  We had an hour flight and then a 3 1/2 hour flight.  I prayed for abundant grace and mercy, and the Lord was so gracious to us!  Karis did SO well on both flights!  There were no issues with her ears popping, so was fascinated with looking out the window, she looked through the "Sky Mall" magazines, and we set her up with this..

She's a natural traveler!  However, she does get cranky when she doesn't really nap during the day.  On our day of traveling Karis only slept about 45 minutes on the second flight.  She was a sleepy sleepy girl when we finally arrived.  Here she is while Blake was getting our baggage.

She slept well that first night for sure!  It's been a great trip so far.  We are in Oklahoma City right now visiting Blake's mom and sister's.  Tomorrow we will travel to the Tulsa area to see Sondra, Blake's step-mom.   Finally, we will head to Kansas City to see Blake's Dad's side of the family.  It's going to be a quick visit with everyone, so we'll see about getting more posts on here!  

We miss everyone out in North Carolina but are thankful for the opportunity to spend some time with family in Oklahoma.  Hopefully there will be more to come!  

Currently on my mind....

There have been so many times that I have thought about blogging certain things, but then I get busy doing other things (chasing my walking one year old around, cleaning up the house, taking a nap!) and blogging gets put aside.  But tonight, Blake is taking a break from working on the computer, and so I get a little time to update and share some things!  I am quite excited!  

For the past few weeks, I have been so encouraged and challenged by my time reading in the Bible.  I try every day (although, it doesn't happen every day, but I still try) to take some time while Karis is napping, to just sit, read, journal, and meditate on the Bible.  There are a few verses that I keep coming back to that God has been using so much in my heart and life.  First is Colossians 1:9-12 and also 2 Peter 1:3-8 (I will share more about the 2 Peter verses in a later post).

With Colossians, I have been really challenged in the area of my prayer life by these words...

9 "And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding"

10 "so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."

There are so many examples in the Bible of great prayers to pray for others.  I was humbled by the fact that not only do I not pray like this for others, but often times I go without praying much for others at all.  Clearly Paul had a huge heart for prayer for the people that he ministered to and cared for, and it is my desire to cultivate a heart like this for the people in my life.  These verses have been so challenging for me, but I have seen growth in my prayers!  God's grace for sure!  We are about to do a book study at church based on the prayers of Paul, so I am very excited to dig deeper into the example of prayer that Paul gives us in the Bible.  I will have to share my learnings on here once we begin (not until October).  I am really looking forward to it!  

So that's one way I have been challenged lately, how about you?  Are there verses or an area that you feel challenged to grow in?  How is the fight for growth and faith going?  I would love to hear!  

One of Karis' many talents...

For a while now Karis has been a pro at drinking from a sippy cup.  She has no problem with chugging her water down!  But, there is something else that she has discovered that she can do with the water she drinks.  Here is evidence of one of Karis' many talents!  

We will have to teach her that this may not be the most polite thing to do at the dinner table with water.  It's cute for now though!  : )  

My poor pregnant mind....

You know you've got a pregnant mind when....

....You have been driving a car for over a year, fill it up with gas a lot, and yet somehow forget for the first time what side the gas tank is on.  Oh the joys of getting back in the car and driving over to a different pump that's on the side where your tank is.  

...You have lived in a town for over 3 years, have eaten at all the available restaurants numerous times, and yet forget for the first time that there is an Arby's in the town.  I LOVE eating at the Arby's here and just ate there a few days ago, but I still forgot for a moment that we even had one.  Man, that's bad!

....You are trying to remember the third item for your list, but you can't remember it.  I totally had three examples to share, but I can't remember the third.  My poor pitiful pregnant mind!  

Hopefully it will all come back to me!  : )