The times they are a changing. . .

James and I started the New Year off with a weekend without the kids. It was quite enjoyable. I remember when we first had Jonah, I had an extremely hard time leaving him for more than 8 hours a day. Although McKenna had not been without me for one night since she was born. It was not hard to go away without them. I was needing a much deserved break after 6 months.

McKenna is now 7mths - going on 8mths soon. During months 4 to 6, we had some hard sleep training to do with her. She would cry herself to sleep at night. Then she would wake up and cry for 30mins to 2hrs in the middle of the night. Oh, it was tough. James and I would just lay in bed wondering if we were doing the right thing. At one point, I thought she had an ear infection b/c there was no way a baby could cry for 2 hours for no reason. I was wrong - no ear infection and yes, babies can cry for no reason. But now we are passed that phase. McKenna goes down for bed with her lovie snuggled by her face and doesn't make a peep. She sleeps until 7am and wakes up happy as a clam!

Speaking of happy - she is a pure delight. Her smile is so wide and heart warming. She finds her big brother the most entertaining person ever. They will giggle together at the dinner table and James & I will giggle at them while we are cleaning all the food that landed on the table and floor. We think she is going to start crawling soon. She's got the baby bounce on her knees going. When she sees something she wants, nothing stops her for getting to it. I'm hoping the crawling doesn't start for another month or so. I don't know that I'm ready for that phase.

Jonah will be starting a 3yr preschool in September. We found a church in our neighbor that has a great facility and program. We have been talking to him about school and when drive by the church he points and says "Mommy, School". We have been trying to teach manners to him - he's a bit of a comander. Tonight before I started to read to him, he said, "Mommy, I need milky". I said, "what do you say". Reponse - "pleeeeassse" in a give-it-to-me-now tone. So I looked at him and he looked at me. Then he started to smile and laugh. He already thinks that his cute looks will help him get what he wants. I realized at that moment, "boy I'm in trouble". I'm know I'll be getting plenty of calls from the school over the next 16 years.

It's December Already?!

I love Christmas time. It's definitely my favorite holiday of the year. Maybe it's because red is my favorite color or all the glittery decorations. This year is going to be spectacular with the kids. Jonah is going to be really into his presents and McKenna is really into whatever Jonah's into. We put the tree up on Thanksgiving day. I normally decks all the halls in our house but this year I cut back on some trimmings. I have spent the time in other places such as knocking out all my Christmas shopping. I have a couple gift left and then I'm done. I'm going to sit back and enjoy this holiday season!

Basement Issues and other Updates

So our carpet quest ended up with us buying new carpet tiles for the basement. They looked good and I was able to install them myself over a weekend and a half. We got the office back to normal and I even bought a new more suitable desk for the office. After everything was back in place, I actually felt that I could be more productive! I actually had a new office!

And then the rain... AGAIN! I came down one morning about 2 weeks after Atlanta's serious flooding only to find my carpet tiles floating! URRGGG! Needless to say I wasn't too happy. So I had to pull out all the carpet tiles as vacuuming just pulled them right up.

So back to the drawing board... now we have to spend $5000+ just to get an interior drain put in the floor. This doesn't even include the cost to remove the old walls and put them back. NICE!

With all that said, life is good. Our kids make my day, every day. McKenna is growing up way to fast. I forgot about the 5 month old period where babies stop being so unresponsive and actually start to interact with you. It's really amazing. McKenna is much more alert, aware and curious than Jonah was. She is also MUCH stronger than her brother at this age... did I mention bigger too? I actually walked in her room one night when she was crying and she had attached herself to the side rails of the crib like spiderman. Literally she was just hanging on the the rails at a 45 degree angle to her mattress. Granted I was tired and sleepy when I walked in but it seriously looked like someone had velco'ed her to the rails. When I tried to pull her off, she demonstrated her death grip with ferocity. She is strong!

Jonah is doing well and just as cute as every. His vocabulary is exploding as well as his curiosity to see just how far he can push his limits. He spends a good bit of time in time-out for biting Joshua. While the bites aren't malicious (I don't think) they are bites... and they are bites that hurt. Luckily for us (and not Josh) he doesn't bite anyone else... strange.

Recently my immediate family (Bro and Candy) has started a MON night tradtion. Candy and Dave come over on MON nights and we do dinner. They get to hang out with the kids on a regular basis and Jonah LOVES IT! I imagine that he will one day have fond memories of Uncle Dave and Aunt Candy when he was little. I know I have those memories...

Our Carpet Quest

James and I are heading to Calhoun, GA to look at carpet tiles to replace the carpet we had to tear out of the basement. The basement flooded over a month ago and we been deliberating on what to do with the space. Final conclusion: carpet tiles. I had taken two days off of work and this is how we are spending the time together. It’s glamorous, I know.

I’m enjoying this journey for a couple reasons. 1 – it’s a little quiet time away from the kids. Back to where we started – just James and I. He’s driving and I’m writing by blog. 2 – the fall color along the I-75 is outstanding. Beautiful shades of red, orange & yellow. The trees just pop out against the buildings and billboards. The rains that flooded my basement have blessed us with delicious Fall colors. A little Allison Krauss in the background enhances this crisp Fall day.

We have a giggler!

We heard McKenna first true laugh the other day. Luckily we were able to capture it on video. Enjoy!

Smile and the world smiles with you. . .

I have a reminder in my i-Phone that every Tuesday I need to blog. So far I have dismissed about 4 alerts.

Our kids are growing up fast. McKenna will be 4 months in a week. She's all smiles - her smile is so wide and so sincere. McKenna has become an easy baby. She sleeps through the night and only cries when hungry or tired. How did we get so lucky the second time around?

Jonah is becoming a little boy. We started using Pull-Ups exclusively and he has been using the potty. Well, he's only used the potty for Beverly. He gets 2 M&M's for every time he potties!

Parenthood is hard and challenging. Some days push you to the limit as other fill your heart with so much joy you feel like you're going to burst. I never understood the statement "you'll never remember your life before kids" until I had kids. I haven't totally forgotten what singleton life was like - I loved every minute of it. The ability to go anywhere at the drop of hat. But the joys of parenthood are priceless. I look forward to waking up every morning with my kids no matter if it's at 6am or 7am!