2013 Christmas Card

Here is our Christmas card. If you read this blog you know that I was quite stressed out about getting some pictures in the planned out outfits, then designing a card, and getting them out.  The evening after I wrote that I went home and took these pictures in front of our Christmas tree and ordered this card.  Thankfully my boys did amazing for the pictures and I couldn't have asked for them to have turned out better. Sorry for the crummy quality.

I hope you enjoy!

A Lord of the Rings Wedding

This past weekend we had my cousin Randy's wedding.  It was in Gatesville and about a 3 hour drive.  Randy and Abbey love the Lord of the Rings series so they incorporated it into their wedding.  It was a fun way to shake things up a bit but not go overboard.

My in-laws kept the boys for us because it was an adults only wedding.

There was mixed information on how formal the wedding would be and with it being winter and outdoors we wore long dresses.  It had been pouring down rain all day long but cleared up just for them and it was actually gorgeous outside.  I wore my coat but took it off for pictures.

Me and my handsome husband

Me with my gorgeous baby sister!

We had my mom take a second picture because she is our height and isn't looking down on us : )

My mommy and daddy! They love each other so much and set such a great example for us girls and our marriages.  My dad was dressed up way more than we ever see him and he looked so nice. With his shades on he looked like he was in the FBI : )

They told guests they could dress up in costume and a few actually did. Notice her ear pieces that were homemade the day of the wedding!

Adorable table decorations.

Amazing grooms cake.  This picture does not show all of the amazing detail.  Melisa and I had to serve the grooms cake and it was quite challenging, but I let Melisa handle that while I held the plates and added forks. Ha! Not only does it looks amazing but it tasted amazing too!

The hobbit brides cake.

Us with our cousin Erica. The quality sucks but whatever.

Love this picture of my parents! I had to do some editing with an app on my phone because it was red tinted so that is why it is a little grainy.

Us cousins! Only missing Angela and all of our boys.

We had a great time at the wedding and we are so excited for Randy and Abbey.

Weekend Recap

Last Friday we took the day off and headed down to College Station for Kyle's brother, Tyler's graduation from Texas A&M.

 

The boys slept most of the drive down and Cooper did some reading for the last 30 minutes.

 

We were bored waiting for the ceremony to start so we took so 'USies'

 

The graduation was nice but very long. We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel the next morning and then headed to Ennis.

 

 

My parents kept the boys so we could attend a Christmas party.

 

Cooper and Grandaddy went and checked on the piggies and cows. Then I got this picture of them hanging out together until Babi and Casen got home.

 

Casen didn't sleep well, but luckily my mom doesn't mind too much.  She took this at about midnight.

 

Then this one at 6am when they were getting ready for church.

 

Cooper picked out some cupcakes from the bake sale.

 

Checking out his cupcakes.

 

Casen playing with the kids' Christmas tree.

 

Isn't my mom awesome and taking pictures for me?  I love knowing what they are up to.

 

I took these pictures yesterday morning of the boys to send to the grandparents and other family.

 

Whenever Casen wears this outfit or his other one Kyle says 'there's the baby in a bag.' Ha! I like these outfits.  They look comfy. 

 

Cooper didn't really want to pose this morning but Ms. Jamie promised to read him a book.

 

I am off work today to get some shopping, cleaning, and prepping for our weekend done.

 

Happy Friday!

Casen is 6 months!

Time for your 6 month update (2 weeks late as usual)

I think you look like your daddy here.

Your stats-

15lbs 15oz (27%)

26 1/4 inches long (35%)

Size 2 diapers

6 month and 6-9 month clothes

Still no shoes
 

I think you look A LOT like me in this pic below

We started cereal with you at about 5 1/2 months and you loved it from the start.  Sometimes we add cinnamon to it for a little something extra.

You tried baby food green beans also and you gagged on them just like Cooper.  To this day Cooper still doesn't like green beans. We will keep working through other baby foods to see what you like.
 

This month you decided to start sucking your thumb. It was absolutely adorable to watch, but I worried about the habit.  I was a finger sucker so I guess you get that from me.  But I have heard lots of stories over the years of trying to get me to stop sucking my fingers so I wanted to avoid that with you.  We can take a pacifier away but you can't do that with fingers.  We decided to deter you from it when we saw it and you stopped. You do it occasionally now but I think you are chewing on it for your gums more than sucking it.
 

Now that you are eating I am trying to introduce sign language like more, up, and all done. I am pretty forgetful about it, but am trying to make it a habit.
 

This month you really discovered your voice and laugh.  You have the cutest laugh with a little squeak in it. You have started jabbering but not with consonant sounds yet.

You love to watch the dogs and laugh at them.

You have the same bottle schedule as before.

There is also no real change with your hemangioma.

We got you more medicine to treat your thrush at your 6 month appointment because it still wasn't gone.

You are still drooling a ton, but no sign of teeth anytime soon.

You spit up A LOT and after pretty much every feeding.  The doctor isn't concerned with it, but it is pretty annoying.  We always have multiple burp cloths with us.  I think you have spit up on pretty much everyone.  Cooper spit up a lot too, but I don't think it was this much.  And his got better at 6 months so I am hoping yours will too.

You are working on sitting up by yourself, but you aren't there yet.

No signs of crawling yet but you do kick and wiggle when on your tummy.  You are starting to stick your butt up in the air which is another part of figuring it all out.

 

You and Cooper are still sweet little buddies.  Recently you grab him or something he has and he will say 'no, no Casen'. So far it isn't a real issue, but I know it is just a matter of time.  If you cry he will tell you 'it's okay Casen, don't cry.

On the way to day-care one day you were fussing a little and he said ' It's okay Casen we are almost there.... don't cry Casen, we are going to school...it's okay Casen, I like school, do you like school'.  It was the sweetest little comforting pep talk I have ever heard.

You are such a happy baby.  You smile all of the time and have the sweetest chubby cheeks.  You are also a cuddler which I love.  When you are excited or tired you will bury your face in my neck and squeeze.  It is like you are giving me a hug.

You are such a sweetheart and we love you so much.  You are a wonderful blessing in our lives and I love watching you get bigger.  I hate that it is happening so fast, but I also look forward to the fun times ahead with you and Cooper.

 

Compare to 5 month post and Cooper at 6 months

Is the stress of the holidays getting to anyone else?

I am stressed.  Now I now some of you are reading this thinking 'isn't she always stressed?' And the answer is YES!  I am always stressed or worried about something. But man lately I just feel like I am drowning.  And I wouldn't take Casen back to the baby store for a million dollars, but man having a second one has seemed to make it a lot tougher.

I am just really struggling to find time to do the shopping, the Christmas cards, the decorating, the parties, and don't even look at the current state of my house! Please tell me I am not the only one! I really think that we can all agree that a late Thanksgiving really sucks.  It completely messed things up for me.

I finally got my tree up on December 6th (which felt like December 15th) thanks to a snow day. And we finally settled that lights on our house just weren't going to happen.  Cooper instead is enjoying everyone else's lights.

Luckily I have a few vacation days left that I have been using here and there to get some shopping done. I am down to 10 or less gifts to buy. I hope to finish Thursday and Friday. I took 1 1/2 days off.

I have 6 wrapped presents under my tree.  I am hoping to get some wrapping done tonight after the kiddos go to bed...if I am not in bed also.

I have been planning my Christmas cards for about 6 weeks or more.  I have spent hours....HOURS shopping for our outfits.  I had a vision in my head that looked something like this.

Or this.  Obviously planned and coordinating but not matchy matchy.

I found this collage on Pinterest and used it as inspiration also.

Below is my attempt at a collage using things we already own and a couple of new items.

And after a lot of time, stress, and money...it just isn't going to happen.  It just isn't meant to be.  I have had multiple days planned for pictures and every time it has fallen through.  Seriously I could write an entire blog series on the adventure of Christmas card pictures.  It has snowed and rained and just isn't meant to be.  Ugh I felt a tightness and disappointment in my chest as I typed that.

I am going to try to take some pictures of the boys tonight in front of our tree and see if that will do.  Maybe in January when the craziness is gone we can take some pictures on a nice day. Ha...it won't happen.

Some of you may be thinking 'why didn't you take the pictures in October or November'....well with a young baby I really wanted Casen to be as old as possible...possibly sitting up by himself for the pictures...he still isn't sitting up by himself.

Of course after taking pictures tonight I then have to pick a card, order it, write my Christmas letter to put in my cards, address them and get them in the mail.  My goal is Wednesday! Ha!

I am putting all kinds of stress on myself to do fun holiday things with the kiddos.  I want to drive around in our pajamas (just the boys Haha) with hot chocolate and look at Christmas lights.  I want to take them to see Santa (hopefully Christmas Eve like we did last year with Coop and it wasn't busy).  I want to bake cookies with Cooper for Santa.  I want to do these cute fingerprint/footprint canvas crafts that I saw on pinterest and blogs.  I have enough on my list and keep adding to it.

I honestly have no clue where I am going with this post.  I could type forever about everything going on in my head.  I know that these all are not real problems and just first world problems.  I am just sharing it with you because I think I might feel better.  And hopefully I am not the only one that feels this way.

I keep telling myself that we are in a season of our lives where things are crazy and this time will pass.  I am trying to remind myself to just relax and enjoy my boys.  They are not going to remember so much about this holiday.  But they feed off of my stress and frustration so I need to relax. 

And hopefully next year I will do the following

1. Take pictures in October or November.

2. Put my tree and decorations up Thanksgiving weekend like I used to.  Even if that means I have to say no to something else.  If I don't then it will be mid-December and puts me in a crummy mood.

3. Write my Christmas letter through out the year with the things we did so I just have to finalize it for the card.

4. I am actually pretty proud of my Christmas shopping so do what I did this year.

5. Save a couple of days of vacation to take care of the things above that I didn't do.

6. Relax and enjoy my boys and just let everything else go.

7. Laugh because there is no way that #6 will happen!

Happy Holidays!!!