Sean and Lexi...a true preschool romance

  The girls were busy in the playground when I saw Sean come out with another boy. They had guns. They looked like they had a mission.  When I told Lexi that Sean was up by the slide, she immediately stopped what she was doing and ran up there saying, "Sean's up there?" I admit, I was very curious to see how Sean would be with her having his older friend there. Right away he started playing with Lexi and when Kaity started climbing the stairs the older boy said, "Here comes someone else!" Lexi said, in a very protective tone, "That's my sister!" The older boy said, "Okay, our mission is to protect the girls!" And so they did. Shooting at every invisible "bad guy" you can imagine. Sean right away took the girls over to where their supply of guns were to get them fully armed as well. First handing a gun to Lexi and then gently handing a gun to Kaity. It's so sweet how he includes her as well.

 The gang off on their mission.

Kaity was a little behind the group...she might have also been holding the gun backwards?? 

After they climbed back up and were driving the ship, I heard Lexi say to Sean, "I love you!" He looked at her and without hesitation said, "I love you too!"

Meet Sean

 

 When we told Sean we had to go home to eat dinner since it was almost 6. He said, "You can go across the street and eat and I'll be here when you're done, I promise! They even have seats!"  haha  I told Sean that since it will be nicer weather we'll be over there more this week. He said okay and gave Lexi and then Kaity a hug.

  They're just so cute! 
He's truly winning the heart of mommy and little sister as well. I think daddy has even warmed up to him. :)

Disclaimer: I do not like taking pictures of other peoples kids, but oh my goodness, how can I not take a picture of her first boyfriend?

A Mothers Prayer

DISCLAIMER: You may cry, I'll wait while you get the kleenex.

I just wanted to share this with you.  For each of the girls I made a slideshow of their first year and then put it on a dvd. I played the 15 minute videos on their first birthday. While I would love to share the actual slideshows I created, I really don't know how to, so I'd like to share this beautiful song instead.


This is the last song that was on Kaitlyns dvd. 

The chorus is beautiful to sing to your babies.  

A Mothers Prayer by Rachel Aldous

A Mothers Prayer 

Rachel Aldous

My sweet baby on loan from above.
No better treasure could I more love.
I stand here beside your bed as I pray
I lay my hand on your head and I say:

May you grow up to serve Him
all of your days.
May He lead you and guide you
in all of your ways.
May His hand bless your future with
friendships that last.
May you cherish your youth
and not grow up too fast.

I stare in wonder at your tiny frame.
Just to think that God knows you by

name.
He knows every hair on your beautiful head.
He knows your thoughts before they are said.

May God grant you peace in the midst of a storm.
May God give you strength even when you’re forlorn.
May you answer the door when Jesus comes knocking.
May wisdom guide when your mouth is talking.
May discretion protect you and

keep you pure.
May you never stumble or fall for a lure.
May your heart remain humble to the very end.
May uprightness and truth be what you defend.
May the world not ensnare or change who you are.
May the light that's within you shine like the stars.
May angels surround you body, spirit, mind.
May favor and peace be yours to find.
May rejection and pain never reach you.
May your spirit grow bold for what you’re called to.

As you rest in God’s care I will rest, too.
Knowing that Jesus is watching over you.
Amen

Alexis and The Little Boy

Well, at age 3, Alexis has her first boyfriend. I am claiming it and trying not to get too upset that she’s old enough to like a boy and vice versa.  

This is the same little boy that a few weeks ago had pulled her down by yanking the hood of her coat at the playground. He’s at the playground a lot and ever since the day that daddy stood up for his little girl, he’s been very sweet with her.

I have thought for a while that they have a crush on each other. They have given each other hugs before, but today they gave each other tons of hugs, he kept asking her to follow him while wanting her to chase him and....deep breath...he let her ride...his scooter. At one point almost taking his little brother, age 2, down to give it to her. Ok, so that wasn't so nice.

So, I finally asked his name today as they were playing because I figured this was a name I might want to write in her baby book. He told me his name is S-E-A-N, yes he spelled it out. Also, he's 5, yep, she’s going for the older man.  They are so cute as they run around and play. It’s very sweet to see how he is with her. He even sneaked around the corner at one point where they had a little privacy and gave her a hug. No worries, I was RIGHT there watching every sly move.

After they played about an hour he had to go so we told the girls we had to go as well. As we were walking away, Sean asked her where she lived, we didn't tell him. Then he went on to ask her for her phone number. Yes, this 5 year old boy asked for my 3 year old daughters phone number.

So there you have it, my 3 year old has her first boyfriend. My hearts broken just a little and this is JUST the beginning. Wow it starts early, so many more boys to meet and years to go through this. Not sure how parents handle this, I know it doesn't get any easier.

Jesus please protect our sweet babies even when they don’t think they are our babies anymore. I now know the truth, your babies are ALWAYS your babies.

Terrible Twos? No joke!

I’m thinking that I just might, MIGHT, have the most stubborn 2 year old on the planet. Yeah, I know, you think you do don't you? I really know this isn’t true, but my goodness she puts up a fight over the simplest requests.

This morning at the end of our brunch, she decided it would be fun to throw the rest of her eggs and potatoes on the carpet.  Right away I told her to pick it up, but of course she yelled, “NO!” So I put her in time out, she HATES time out! She fought and screamed the entire 2 minutes. I’m sure these neighbors are about to call CPS if they haven’t already! After the 2 minutes, I walked her back over to the mess and asked her to pick it up, again, I got a, “NO!” and a nasty look. This time when I went to put her in time out, she fell on her knees and wouldn’t budge so I picked her up which then she went completely limp. My goodness it’s hard to pick up 27 pounds of dead weight! After another 2 minutes of screaming in the corner I tried again and she just sat there starring at it, but didn’t say anything this time. After ignoring my request 3 times, I put her back in time out. This time, even though she was crying she didn’t fight it as much and stayed with her face in the corner. After another 2 minutes, I walked her back over to the food and asked her to clean it up. As she slowly leaned forward to pick up a piece of potato, my heart felt peace. FINALLY!!!  I WON!  Okay, it's not ALL about "winning" but if she doesn't start listening soon...wow I might be looking of the next train outta here! ha

You might be wondering why I'm posting about this, well because today was a much more positive response and I'm proud of her. I know consistency pays off, just happy it's starting to! Hopefully she will save mommy and daddy some grief and start listening better.

On a somewhat same note, although my dog Nico isn't with us anymore. Throughout the 8 years of having him I joked with family and friends several times that there must be a reason God gave me such a crazy, trying dog! Now I know that this must be it and the best thing I learned from my stubborn, adorable Nico is, BE CONSISTENT! 

Every day I’m learning more and more from my girls about parenting. I have MANY moments of frustration more times during the day than I could ever count, but almost every day there is something new I’m discovering about myself and today I learned that it is possible to stay calm and get something positive from my incredibly stubborn, incredibly adorable 2 year old!

A Mommy's Heart

This Mother's Day I am blessed to be able to celebrate my 4th year of being a mommy.

This is just a personal thing, but I don't like to call it "Mother's Day", I like to call it "Mommy's Day" because when my babies say "Mommy" it completely melts my heart, even on the days I've been a little grouchy! I think it effects me so much because I know the days of being called "Mommy" by my girls is numbered because soon they will be too big and all of a sudden it will be weird for them to call me Mommy. So I'll be Mommy as long as they'll let me.

In no way can I admit, in all honesty anyway, that these four years have been easy. There was a conversation that Ben and I had when Alexis was tiny.  We have remembered this conversation on the many occasions when we were stressed and just plain exhausted with the every day life of having children, especially so close together.  Alexis was only a couple months old and she was asleep, as she usually was at this age and Ben and I were watching a movie, in the middle of the day, as we usually were when she was this age. We looked at each other and said, "Man, whoever said this baby thing was hard is crazy, this is easy!" I'd like to say we were kidding, but we were not...How VERY naive we were! And now we know how blessed we were to have such a great baby for those first few months who loved to sleep in until 9 and then most of the day.

Because she was such an easy baby we talked about getting pregnant again when she was just a few months old, but decided that wouldn't be the best idea until he found a secure job. While we were in Texas for 6 weeks staying with his parents, we found out I was pregnant.  The day before I took the test I had just hit my pre pregnancy weight. Alexis was 5 months old. Were we shocked, YES! Were we excited, YES! Were we nervous OH MY YES! But we knew that God had a plan for us.

I  had many moments when I would worry if my heart could love another child as much as our first. Of course when I saw our beautiful Kaitlyn, I knew there was no reason for me to ever feel that way.

Kaitlyn has proven to be a very, very loving child, but a much different baby and toddler than Alexis was. Kaitlyn didn't sleep nearly as well as Alexis did as an infant, like I was so desperately counting on in those first few months. The girls never napped at the same time so I was completely and utterly exhausted and battled a pretty nasty bout of depression for a few months, all the while not telling anyone.

The girls are now 2 and 3. Are we financially secure? NOPE!  Are we less stressed? Absolutely not! Are we happy? YES! We love our girls so much, as crazy as life is.  If we would have waited until we were financially secure, we would not have our sweet Kaitlyn now and of course, we can't imagine life without her. 

I am still in awe, when I think of how much Alexis, at 14 months old, took care of Kaitlyn. I have wondered if it was the other way around if Kaitlyn would have been as caring at that young of age since she is so different. As different as she is, she is our snuggle baby and there's not much more I could ask for in those very special moments. I love snuggles and I know one day, sooner than I'd like, those snuggling moments will be gone.

Of course, we're not sure if God has more plans for us to complete our family or if this is it. If it is, we are more blessed than I imagined we would be.  And yet, I do have moments where I feel there's one more face I haven't seen, small hand I haven't held and voice I haven't heard. For the time being, we're just trying to focus in and listen to God's small voice. What is your plan for us Lord? I'll try to listen carefully so I can hear your whisper or knowing us we need you to hit us across the head with something big. Who knows maybe that's what you're doing now?

And if one day we do have a third blessing....I know now that my heart will grow yet again because I know a mommy's love is never ending.

"NO ONE ELSE will ever know the strength of my LOVE FOR YOU. After all, you're the only one who knows what my HEART sounds like from the inside!"

HAPPY MOMMY'S DAY TO ALL YOU BEAUTIFUL MOMMY'S OUT THERE!

One of those shopping trips!

In my younger years, before children, I admit that I, on occasion, might silently judge the frazzled, upset mother in the store by thinking, “Wow, control your kids” or “Who’s in charge you or the kids” as she’s screaming at her child, “I TOLD YOU TO SIT IN THE CART!”.

Today’s shopping trip may very well have been the worst 45 minutes at the grocery store that I have ever had. Yes, PAYBACK TIME!

It started with the girls being pretty whiny in the morning; I got Kaitlyn, my 2 year old, down for a nap an hour before she normally does. She woke up 2 hours later in quite a mood, not normal after a good nap. Oh well, I HAD to get out of this house and get to the grocery store!

I asked Alexis, age 3, if she would rather go to the store where she rides in the car or the store where she can play with other kids. Several times she said she wanted to drive the little car. I was surprised so I made sure she understood that there would not be kids to play with. She didn’t care; she just wanted to drive the little car. So we headed off to Safeway.

We get there and the girls both rush over to the car cart jumping in and laughing as they buckle themselves in. Happy kids make for a very happy mommy, but they were about to quickly turn into the unhappiest kids that the store has probably ever seen. Of course, I know that’s probably not true, but when you’re the parent, they are the worst, am I right?

I started in the produce section. I didn’t get half way done with produce before Kaity, was screaming because she didn’t want to be buckled in anymore. I unbuckled her and went on our way. Before I knew it her legs were hanging out the side as she was trying to climb out of the car. Her feet ran across a display, not sure exactly what it was as I was just mortified by the screaming and was scared of her knocking stuff over. She finally got out without knocking anything over although I’m sure I was getting some looks. I’m not completely sure because I have pretty much stopped making eye contact with people in the store when the kids act up. I don’t like the disapproving looks and judgments. I let her get out and came around to push the cart. As she wasn’t screaming I wasn’t going to cause a fight on trying to keep her in the cart like I wanted to. Then Alexis wanted her buckle off and was trying to get out. She listens better at age 3 so I got her to stay in the cart. At this point she started saying she didn’t want to ride in the car, but she wanted to go play with kids, which is at the OTHER store. I ignored her, which isn’t usually the best option if you don’t want them to start saying it louder. MOMMY, I WANT TO PLAY WITH KIDS! At this point, Kaitlyn just wanted to be held, so I was holding her, pushing this stupid big car cart with a kid in it that didn’t want to be in it, all while TRYING my hardest to get the best price on our groceries for the week.

I admit, I probably should have just left the store and come home to deal with the girls, but I was there and sometimes when you’ve had a challenging day, you just want to get it done and not have to try the whole thing over again tomorrow.

Kaity was going from wanting me to hold her to wanting to ride in the car to wanting to push the cart. Finally, I had them both back in the car and not making a sound…for the moment. I picked up an item off my grocery list just in time to look over and see that Kaity had her hand on a small display case with wheels on the bottom and was dragging it around the isle. A young lady, probably 20 or so came up behind me; honestly I’m not sure how long she was watching this whole thing. She had one of those tiny little carts; you know one that you might use when you don’t have children. She looked at me, the poor frantic crazy mom and literally ran by me with her tiny shopping cart saying, “I’m sorry!” I’m not even sure if she got what she wanted from the isle, but I think she just wanted to get away from the woman who looked like she was about to lose it in the condiments isle. I didn’t say a word, but I’m sure I scared her away from having children.

I didn’t get 3 items on my list, but who cares at this point, so I made my way to the checkout line. There was no way I was going to do the self-check out like I do a lot. I just didn’t want to deal with the kids touching the scale and screwing up the whole transaction. I just wanted out of there!

Of course, there usually aren’t this many people there, but there were lines everywhere so I just picked one. The lady in front of me had two boys in her cart, they were a little older. She just kept looking at me and smiling, no words, just smiling, almost to say, “I’ve been there!” It was a very consoling smile that I appreciated very much.

I switched lanes because I thought another one was going faster. Keep in mind, I’m holding Kaity again and she’s whining about wanting her binky and Lexi is in the car saying over and over again, louder and louder that she wants to play with kids at the other store. Another cashier came up to open a new lane and pulled me over to where she was. I thanked her profusely and she said “I understand, I don’t let my kids get the car cart anymore.” I said, “yep, lesson learned.”

When we got home Kaity went down for a very rare second nap, while Alexis watched a show about numbers as I put groceries away.

So, like I said, I’ve judged other moms in the past. Today I’m saying I’m sorry! For any mom that I ever thought badly of, I apologize!  I know that my girls aren’t always like that, but those people that were in the store with us today might very well think that this is an everyday occurrence. I have had my moments at stores in the past 2 years. I have had my days of being the frazzled, no makeup, hair undone in a sweatshirt, sweating as I run around the grocery store with cranky kids mom.... Here’s hoping the next grocery experience is less adventurous.

Mommyhood is made up of moments.

A mommy moment as I like to call it, can last a few seconds or a few minutes and they can switch from one moment to the next in a blink of an eye.

Imagine, the hard moments, the moments that you pray will someday make you stronger. The moments that make you want to close your eyes and imagine what it would be like to jump on the nearest Amtrak and just go…somewhere…anywhere, but you don’t have time to close your eyes and imagine because one is pulling the others hair and then there is just food…everywhere that you, mommy, gets to clean up.  So, you don’ t have the time to imagine what it would be like to start a new life in DisneyWorld, but then….a moment hits, a beautiful moment where she pulls her hair then says sorry and gives her a kiss on the top of her head, without you telling her too. Moments like these make you realize you could never truly leave because you just might possibly miss…something.

Think of the moment you see your baby for the first time and you know that with God’s help you and your husband created this beautiful life that you hold in your arms. The first moment your baby smiles, coos, holds their head up, rolls over, sits up, stands up, walks, says mama and that day you start seeing the sparkle in their eyes when their imagination shines.

There are a lot of the moments that make you want to leave, but the few moments you get during the day that make you feel invincible are the only ones that truly matter. Those are the moments you’ll remember when your baby is grown, when your baby is moving out, getting married and holding their own precious baby in their arms. As you look in your grandchild’s eyes, it’s in those moments, you’ll say to yourself….now it’s your turn, little one…it’s your turn to give your mommy, my baby, those incredibly hard and incredibly wonderful moments.

Is there such thing as being TOO prepared?

BIRTHDAY PARTY PLANNING

Starting to plan a birthday party for February in August....is this normal by any means? Probably not, but this year we are combining both girls’ birthdays and just having one MEGA birthday party. I need to see what places are out there that would hold the people we are going to invite. I'm sorry I like to plan. Oh and yes, I have created 3 different invitations for their birthday bash. I like to play with my options! It's true, the interests they have now will most likely change by February, but that's fine, I'll just have fun creating yet another invitation and theme for their party. At least I'll have an idea on where to have the party, what food we will have, etc.

STARTING TO PACK FOR A CHRISTMAS VACATION IN SEPTEMBER

Yeah so, what's wrong with this? Maybe packing 3 months in advance is a little crazy. I'll only admit, a little, but what’s wrong with packing items you won't need until your vacation? What's wrong with making lists on what to bring and which bag to put which items in. Is it just a little too much? Maybe, but it does relieve a lot of stress. I am stressed enough as it is with traveling with the kids on 6 hour flights. Kaitlyn will be _ months and Alexis will be 1 month shy of being 3. What temper tantrums will we have to look forward to on the plane? We have bought some items for them to play with which will hopefully last longer than 10 minutes.

1. Each of them will have their own pretty pink DVD player, in which they will have many choices for DVDs to watch.

2. My Quiet Book - We bought it from One Step Ahead for $25, which is no longer available there. I did find one through Amazon here. It has detachable pieces that I have spent a few hours sewing on so we do not lose any pieces.

3. Colorback Sea Turtle from Timberdoodle. Another $25 purchase I'm hoping will keep them busy for a long time.

4. Snacks, Juice and binkies (or as Kaitlyn calls them "bobos" - Of course we couldn't go anywhere without these handy items.

I'm sure there is more that will come to me as we get closer to our journey. We are so excited to spend this Christmas with Ben's family for a whole week.

A bit of catch up...

I really cannot BELIEVE it's been 2 years since I have written in our blog. There's no way to completely catch up, so I'll just start fresh.

We have been living with my parents since November 2009 and will probably be here until Ben gets out of school which is another 1 1/2 years away.

We have been talking about the possibility of moving to San Antonio, which is where his family is from, but nothing is set in stone yet.

I'm home enjoying and going through normal challenges with the girls every day and my parents really help out with them a lot. 

The girls get along so great, Alexis has proven to be a very loving mother to Kaitlyn. She really shows concern if Kaitlyn is upset.

Alexis started walking at 13 months and is really starting to put words together now. It's so much fun communicating with her. Of course, she's in her terrible two stage and it can be rough at times, but it's just something we're working on.

Kaitlyn started walking at 11 months and has started saying some words already. She so badly wants to be like her big sister. :)

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Ben and I went to a home school conference recently so I've been busy looking at curriculum's to start with Alexis when she turns 3. We will just have to see how it goes and hope we are all able to do the "school" thing. She has really started to show more of an interest in learning. We go through our "Your Baby Can Read" books more now and her attention span is holding better when I go through colors, shapes, alphabet and she can count up to 5 (when she feels like it of course). She also tries to count down from 10-1 which I think has a lot to do with "Mickey's Numbers Round Up" which is her favorite show. She currently does good at drawing circles and lines and she lets me take her hand and help her trace over letters I write.

Cinderella or "Rella" as she calls her seems to be her favorite movie. She has even named one of her dolls Rella.

 This is Rella

 

 Wow God has truly blessed us with an amazing family. We just had our 3 year anniversary on the 12th, we got to celebrate last night by going to the Keg.

 Until next time, hopefully it won't be as long. :)

Her First Road Trip

It looks like we're heading to Texas. Ben has seperated from the Air Force and is going into the Reserves. He has to go to San Antonio for Tech School for 6 weeks and Alexis and I are going with him. His parents live there and we're so excited to have them meet Alexis. We should be leaving around the 26th of this month and we're stopping in to see his brother in Albuquerque, NM on the way. Ben's schooling is done May 14th. Packing and driving 30 hours with a 9 week old should be interesting.. Will try to keep you posted!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Lubenow.

First Professional Pictures...

We went to Olan Mills to get her first professional pictures taken. She was so good and didn't cry at all.

1 MONTH YOUNG