Synchonized nap times?...it is possible?

Yep, trying to synchonize naps is very difficult and even comical sometimes.  Today, about 2 minutes ago, I put Abigail down for a nap and Tai was napping in the pack-n-play and I thought...Wow...I might be able to blog today. The very minute I walked back into the living room, opened my laptop, put my feet up in the recliner, Tai woke up screaming. Yep, I laughed outloud! So, I have him in my lap and am determined to blog a little today. Oh, wait, I just heard Abigail say "Mama" in her room.  Haha! Maybe she will fall asleep. Anyway, this is a day in the life of a mommy with 2 little ones. I wouldn't trade it for the world! It may be frustrating at times but what I keep telling myself is those times are but a few minutes of each day. Ok, may a few minutes a few times a day but overall there are so many awesome ones. Here are a few recent things to post.
*Abigail is talking allllll the time.  Her sentences are really coming together and making sense. We have real conversations now.  It is adorable. Her newest sentence is "have a good day."  She is quite the social bunny at the store. She waves and says hi to everyone.  Most recently she started saying Thank You without being prompted. She also repeats everything I say. Oh boy, I better be careful huh?
*Tai boy pushed his second tooth through yesterday. He isn't even 5 months old yet!! Wow, how different the 2 of them are. He eats like a little piggy. He loves his cereal and boy does it give him some nasty diapers. woooweeee! He smiles all the time. In fact, even when he is up at all hours of the night he is still smiling and laughing. He "talks" so loud I am afraid he will wake up Abigail and Daddy. It is pretty cute even though I am thinking..."dude, go to sleep it is 3 am!".  Speaking of sleep or lack thereof., the boy does not sleep very much. Ugh! It is exhausting, literally. He did sleep better last night and only woke up at 2am to eat.  My biggest frustration is what to do. He doesn't seem to have a real consistent pattern. It is a challenge as a mom...for sure! But we are sticking to it and trying to work out a routine. I have started writing down his nap times and feeding schedules to see if I can make sense of it. Of course, teething throws everything off too. :)
*Tai's achievements:
rolling over both ways, push ups, giggles, knows mama and daddy's voices, recognizes big sister and loves to play, (we have caught them playing together when they didn't know we were looking...precious!), loves loves loves to suck his thumb, can move all across the bed, reaches and grabs stuff, even big sisters hair (yes, the first sibling hair pull with tears to follow), toes made it to his mouth, everything in the mouth
*Mommy's favorite time of day..
***With Abigail, right before bed when we sing our songs together. She loves to sing "Jesus loves me" , "Father I adore you", Abcs, Row Row Row your boat. It is a beautiful few minutes and I love it. I hope we always have these times together. I love her so much. Every once in a while she will take my hand or crawl in my lap and I just smile so big.
***With Tai, actually as much as I love to sleep those middle of the night snuggles are my favorite. He buries his head in my neck and I feel him breath. Also, he is starting to recognize me and when I come around the corner to pick him up out of bed he smiles, giggles, and kicks his legs with excitement. So awesome!
***With Daddy, when he gets home Abigail sprints to the door and says Dada home and after Jerry comes in he sees TAi and Tai smiles from ear to ear. Really, these are the moments that make all the screaming and poopie diapers worth it. These are the moments that God places in my day to remind me that I am so blessed by these amazing gifts.

Well, I must sign off. Sssshhhhh........both kids are sleeping I suppose I should get up and get a few things taken care of around the house. Maybe I will take time to love on the puppies since they don't get too much attention anymore.
Enjoy your day. God bless you!
*Jenny

How fast they are growing

This week has had many firsts.  Last Saturday, the first Saturday of college football, Tai and I were watching a game together for the first time - well at least he was in my lap as I watched.  He got upset once when I yelled at the ref because he didn't throw his flag for pass interference.  I hope Tai got upset at the spontaneous loud noise and not the fact that I was yelling at a ref.  Later in the afternoon I put Tai in his play pen so I could get the grill ready to cook dinner.  As I stepped inside, I found him on his stomach turned towards the TV and focused on the football game - not the position I left him in.  He stayed in that position for several minutes before he realized I was back in the room.

Next we have a story about Miss Abigail.  For a few weeks now she has been saying sentences.  But last night was something special.  As Jenny was going thru her normal bedtime routine of singing "Jesus Loves Me" to Abigail, she started singing along with her.  Got most of the words (granted not fully pronounced) and was 100% on tune throughout the entire song.  They even did it twice so they could make me cry even more.

What a blessing from heaven these two little angels are. 

Love to all,
Jerry

Amazing little blessings....

Every day seems so busy and the hours just tick by so quickly. I feel like i am missing all these moments with our babies.  Jerry and I just said today that we can't believe how big Abigail is getting.  Every day she does something new and amazing. And Tai....well, he is so so big.  He will probably pass Abigail up in height and weight before he is one year old.  Yep, you read that right.  He is already 13 pounds at 3 1/2 months old and Abigail is 21 pounds at 22 months old.

Here are a few things I was reflecting upon today...
A note to my sweet daughter:
Today and every day I am in awe of your beauty. You have a beautiful face but an even more beautiful heart. You love to help mommy with so many things...
cooking, sweeping, feeding Tai, giving puppies treats, washing (playing) dishes, reorganizing the bathroom drawers, (un)folding clothes, wiping Tai's mouth and patting his back after he drinks his bottle, closing the doors as we leave a room

Mommy loves the way you.....
give me a hug and a kiss out of the blue, hold my hand in the parking lot, say hello and goodbye to everyone that will hear you, sing your ABCs with "mElmo", sit in my lap at night and sing Jesus loves me, scream Hi Dada when he enters the room, hold Daddy's hand every where you two go, hold me tight tight tight when we dance in the living room......Baby, I love you more than words can say and I am so thankful God let me be your mommy.

A few words to my little man:
Tai you had me at hello! :)  You are starting to smile as Mommy enters the room. Our midnight, 1, or 2 am snuggles are my favorite, You are starting to hug my neck and hold on tight, I love to see you grow and boy are you strong!  You giggled for the first time on Saturday and it made me giggle too. What a great smile you have and it is so contagious. My favorite thing is the way you look and smile at your sister.  You two will be the best of friends.  What a blessing you are!  I love you and can't wait to hear your little voice say Mama. Thank you Lord for the son I always knew you had for me.

Love,
Jenny aka...Mama

Health and Heat

It has been a while since I have posted anything and based on Jenny's last post I'm sure there are some questions about how I'm doing.  The craziness associated with my collapsed lung has subsided.  I have my last follow-up doctor visit today.  I saw a specialist last week and he assured me that this was something out of my control and I did nothing to make it happen.  I'm just one of the people that is at risk for it.  He said I am cleared to go back to doing everything I normally do, just maybe laying off the maximum weight lifting for a while.  The other thing I can't do yet is swim because my wound from the chest tube is not fully healed.  That's a bummer because I was off work last week and couldn't get into the lake to swim or ski.

Enough about me, last Thursday we took the boat out in the morning for Tai's first trip to the lake.  He did awesome, loved every minute of it and like most babies fell asleep to the hum of the motor.  Abigail did great as always and had fun swimming with Mommy.  She does a great job of following directions and loves to "drive" the boat.  They are both growing so much.

Abigail is now wearing size 4 diapers but she is also starting to tell us when she is going to the bathroom.  I have a feeling we might not ever see size 5 diapers.  Tai never seems to stop eating.  It is funny how different they are because we had to constantly force feed Abigail with her bottle but with Tai we have to make him stop.

They are a constant joy to both Jenny and I.  We just wish that it wasn't so oppressively hot outside so we could enjoy the long evenings.  Yesterday our digital temperature gauge read 114 degrees at 4pm.  Just way too hot for the little ones, even in the shade.

More to come later including pics from our few outings last week.  Time to go to work.

Jerry

Another month goes by...

We were finally getting into a routine and then an unexpected hospitalization for Jerry came up this week.  Praise God he is home and recovering.  Last Tuesday he woke up with pain in his side and progressed to a mild cough each time he inhaled.  By early evening he was in the ER getting a chest tube placed for a spontaneous pneumothorax (collapsed lung).  This is a very rare thing and we all were in shock.  He spent 4 days in the hospital and is now resting at home. 
This was such a surprise.  I was at a meeting and the kids were with me waiting for Jerry to pick them up when he called on his way to the ER.  I was in disbelief!  I told him to quit messing with me and I honestly didn't believe him.  Once he convinced me I went into crisis mode and called the neighbors to watch the kids so I could go be with him in the ER.  By the grace of God, Jerry's best friend is a surgeon in Waco and he was available to meet Jerry in the ER.  I made it just in time to hold Jerry's hand for the procedure. 
But at the end of the evening when Jerry was resting in his hospital bed I was faced with a difficult realization.  For the first time in 11 years of marriage I couldn't be there for him.  I had to go home to stay with the babies and leave him in the hands of someone else.  I knew he would be ok but it was VERY difficult to leave him.  I wish I could have been in 2 places at once!  But I knew that my babies needed me more.  Sweet Tai had had his 2 month shots that morning and he was running 101 temperature.  Abigail was a trooper and went straight to bed when I asked her to at 930pm.  Tai's temperature reduced with one dose of Tylenol and was doing better by morning.  Then began my 4 day juggle of kids and hospital visits......
I am still in awe at how our friends and family came to our immediate aid.  Jerry's mom came down Wednesday afternoon and will stay a week to help out.  I couldn't have gotten through it without her.  She stayed with the kids 2 nights so I could spend the night with Jerry in the hospital. 
Each day Abigail went over to play at some friends house and had a blast!  She did get to see her Daddy for a brief visit.  It was precious....she held his hand when he walked around the hospital corridor/nurses station.  She smiled at all the nurses and waived.  It made their day they said.  (She continues to brighten peoples day even in the stressful situations.)  She even painted her Daddy a picture and I put it in a picture frame for him to look at in his hospital room.
Tai and Grandma bonded and are the best buds.  She snuggled him all day long and will really miss her and that when she leaves.  :( 
Through all this stress I continue to be in awe of how, when you accept help that is offered, friends/family will do anything for you.  I am learning that I need to accept that help not just for myself but for those that offer it.  We are truly blessed here and I know that God is showing us peace and healing through all this. 

In the midst of this crazy week we got confirmation that TAi's reliquishment papers were filed in the court and the birthparents rights are officially reliquished.  He is one step closer to being a Snider and we are thrilled!!  He is a blessing!

So enjoy these pictures........Have a blessed day.
Love,

Jenny