Uno!

Our baby girl celebrated her First Birthday last week! We didn't have a party for her (I know, we're bad parents!) We realized after Grayson's first birthday that having a party for a one year old is really more about the parents than the child. And as the parents, we just don't want to deal with the stress of a party until she is old enough to appreciate it (maybe age 3?) :) Luckily for Camdyn, various things brought several of our family members to our house in the days surrounding her birthday, so she was plenty spoiled with gifts from grandparents and aunts and uncles!

And of course we let her experience the wonderful rite of passage of shoving cake in her face! And because she is already pretty much obsessed with food and eating (although you would never know it by her little petite size), it didn't take her long to dive in! I think the best part was when she decided to poop while she was eating the cake, which made for pretty much a disastrous bathing experience because she was covered in nastiness from head to toe!

I'm not walking yet although I'm still fast enough to get into all kinds of trouble (like regularly trying to eat dog food and removing each tip from every door stop in the house.) I am little miss independent. I don't really love to cuddle or be held; I'm way too busy exploring the world for that kind of non-sense. I am expanding my vocabulary daily with my first official word at 11 months (uh-oh). I've since added "Da-Dee," "Ma-Ma" (although I think this one means "more" because I don't usually say it in correlation with mom, but usually with food),"Hi," "Bye," "Ta" (for our dog Tag), "Yay," "Yum," "Sop" (Stop - an important one to know when it comes to my big brother and Grandma's pesky dog), and "Tanks" (Thanks). My Daddy already has me trained at giving out high-fives. I adore my big brother; he is the only one who can always get me to grin even when I'm at my grumpiest. On the rare days when I wake up before him, I quickly find my way back to his room and bang on his door until he comes out. I'm growing by the day and my parents are soaking in every minute of it! I am one loved little girl!

Our sweet one year old! What a joy you are in our lives! What a testament of God's perfect plan and unending faithfulness! We love you Camdyn McLaine!

Just a little tid bit from our sweet life

We spend alot of our time making sure our son doesn't kill our daughter :)

A sweeter one

Fun in the tub

Happy 4th!

A little comedy from our boy who always keeps us laughing...

Brad: "Grayson, did you know that God made you special? He put you together in Mommy's tummy!"
Grayson: "But, how did God get in Mommy's tummy? And did he have tools? Did he use a hammer and nails to build me?"

Brad came through the living room and lovingly slapped me on the butt.
Grayson: "Mommy, Daddy just spanked you and grown-ups don't get spankings."

Brad: "Where do you want to eat?"
Haley: "I was thinking about C-H-I-C-K-F-I-L-A."
Grayson: "I was thinking about O-R-G-J-T."

Grayson: "Mommy, my monkey is going to get 55 spankings for not listening, for messing up my room, for not sharing, for not being kind.... Mommy, is it okay if I give my monkey 55 spankings?"
Me: "Sure, buddy!"
(For the record, we've never given him 55 spankings :) but I guess he feels the need to exert his authority over somebody)

Look Whose Crawling Now

8 months

I'm 8 months now. I'm up on my hands and knees rocking away and will begin crawling any day now. But, even without crawling, I get where I want to go, even if it meets dragging myself across the room or rolling repeatedly until I reach my desired destination. I am already stealing my big brother's toys, and call me a tom boy, but I love playing with cars. I adore my big brother, and my face lights up every time my daddy walks in the room. I've just started a little bit of solid food in the last couple of weeks, and I'm determined to feed myself, which makes the whole feeding process fun for mom and dad. But, that's okay because I have plenty of extra meat on me just from mommy's milk. I'm quite the little chunky monkey, especially in the thighs. I am a really easy baby and bring so much joy to my family and everyone around me. Even when I'm fussing, I will still look up at whoever is holding me and grin. So far, I am a determined, strong willed little thing just like my big brother. I guess I have to be that way if I'm going to survive in this family!

Four!

As is becoming the norm these days, here is another post that is well over a month old.

Our baby turned FOUR back in March. I think this birthday hit me harder than any of the ones before. In fact, I felt like I was going to burst into tears the whole week of his birthday. I just didn't know how it was possible that we could have a four year old. He just transformed from a little toddler to a big kid right before our eyes.

He was very specific about what he wanted for his party this year. I guess the days of us having ideas for his parties are over :) About six weeks earlier, he had gone to a birthday for one of his friends at church and from them on, he was very clear that he pretty much wanted the exact same party his buddy, Canaan, had. So, at his request we had a Cars themed birthday party at a park near us. It could not have been a more gorgeous day (Pics Below).

I think the most important thing about Grayson turning four is that it means that we survived three! :) Although there were many moments during his "terrible threes" that I wondered if we both needed counseling, his little season of rebellion and defiance went away just as quickly as it began. Of course, we have now entered an arguing phase, but that is nothing in comparison. I will take arguing any day over the daily outbursts of anger and wondering fearfully every time we went out in public if I was going to have to pick him up over my shoulder kicking and screaming and carry him out of whatever restaurant or store where the meltdown happened to occur.

Now, I find myself looking at him daily and just thinking what a beautiful, good big kid he is. We did resurrection eggs with him this Easter, which was so neat. It was so special to see him understand for the first time the very thing on which our faith is founded. About a week after Easter, he even told me, "Mommy, that toy is red, just like the blood on Jesus' head from the crown of thorns."

He is also in a phase right now that he loves to use big words even if he doesn't know what they mean. Recently, he'll just go around yelling: "Japanese" or "Guacamole." He also started really emphasizing his vowels in certain words that comes out as a twang, making it really clear which state we live in, although, with the accent you would think he's from Podunk, TX instead of Houston :) It's incredibly sweet to watch him with his little sister too as I frequently hear him say, "It's okay, honey" or "Camdyn, you are so precious!" OR "Stop all that fussing, I can't concentrate." :)

While we hate that he is getting big so fast, we are so proud of our big four year old and it is such a gift to watch him grow up!

2011 Family Photo Album

Click here to view this photo book larger

Start your own Shutterfly Photo Book today.

Every year I put together a digital photo album of our family photos. I love doing it because I love telling the story of our year with pictures and seeing how our kids have grown in just a few short months. I usually give myself a self-imposed deadline of the end of January to have it completed. Needless to say, I didn't quite make that deadline this year, so yay for it being completed before the end of April :) Anyway, if you spent enough time with us in 2011, you're probably in it. Also, even on full screen, some of the photos and captions look really small, because the actual photo book is bigger than a computer screen....so sorry about that. Enjoy Family & Friends!!!

Good-bye my Faithful Friend

I remember the day I got my Xterra. It was one day in May 2002 shortly before graduation. After putting in my request for an Xterra (because my Dad did not want me driving to college in my 10-year old Toyota Celica), and after my Dad had done some research for the best deal, I was driving it home from the dealership and it was pouring rain outside. I remember feeling so thankful and beyond blessed to be driving it. I remember thanking God for this beautiful vehicle (that was a lot prettier ten years ago) and for my parents working so hard to give it to me. I prayed then that he would help me drive it safely and I would take care of what he had entrusted me with. Even more, I was thankful that my parents (with a little help from me) had it paid off before I finished college so Brad and I didn't start our marriage with that debt. I vowed I would drive it until we either had too many people in our family to fit in it (add one more and we wouldn't) or until it would drive no more. And after today, it will drive no more...

We all have those moments when we get to a destination and think, "Oh my Gosh, I have no idea how I even got here," because our minds are just somewhere else and we go through the motions without mentally focusing on what we're doing. And that was me today! I was taking Grayson to pre-school and we were talking (no, I was not on a cell phone, Grandpa!). Even as I was going into the intersection, saw I was about to hit this guy, and slamming on my breaks, I was wondering if he was turning left and supposed to be yielding to me. I even had a split second to realize that I was the idiot going through the red light before I slammed into him.

My air bags deployed and my car quickly started filling up with smoke/power from the air bags. I guess I've watched too many fast and furious movies because I was having visions of my car about to blow up. So, I quickly started grabbing my kids out of the car who were surprisingly calm except for a complaint from Gray about the powder being in his eyes. I relocated them both to a median on the side street where the nice college kid who I hit watched them (yep, I let a stranger watch my kids while I dug for my cell phone which went flying when we hit -- he didn't have one).

Thankfully the cop was nice, the guy I hit was nice, the EMTs were nice, the tow-truck guy was nice. Of course, no one had a reason to be mad when I immediately admitted that I was an idiot and it was completely my fault! A random lady who saw it happen and obviously felt sorry for me even went and got donuts and brought them back to us, which was an amazing blessing and wonderful thing to keep my 3 year old still and occupied as he sat on the median. I just kept saying over and over again, "Thank you God for air bags, and car seats, and car insurance, and that my vehicle was 10 years old, and that no one was in the guy's passenger seat (because God forbid, that person would not be in good shape), and that Carrie was late getting to the gym and could come get us, that we had already been saving for a new vehicle, ect, ect, ect.

Thank you Jesus for watching out for us today! And for watching out for us every day when we don't even realize all the ways you protect us!

After we left the accident, we got in Carrie's car and Grayson said,
"Mommy, that was SO bad!"
"You broke your carhicle!" (yup, that is a combination of car and vehicle if you didn't catch that -- he doesn't know the term SUV yet)
"Don't worry Mommy, we'll get you another carhicle just like that one."

So today, I say good-bye to my Xterra which transported me out of high school, through college, into marriage and into parenthood, in the four different cities in which we've lived. And I thank God for keeping me safe in it for the last 10 years. And especially today for watching over my precious angels in the back seat, that I love and cherish and will try my hardest to never take for granted. Because they are precious cargo!