And the fun continues!

I just don't understand where the time goes. I mean, seriously. I find it very hard to believe that we have an almost 5 month old in our home. It really honestly seems like yesterday when we brought that little sprite home. A time where she stayed where you left her and slept 18+ hours of the day. When none of her clothes fit and I wanted to do nothing else than hold her all the time, whether she was sleeping or awake. Well, I still want to hold her all the time, but SO much has changed with our little beauty! At the doctor's office, she weighed 13lbs, 15oz and was 24 inches long. She's hanging out in the 25-50th percentile, but growing completely normal on her growth curve, so no one's worried! She's just a petite cutie! The girl loves to hear herself talk and enjoys rolling about the floor. She laughs and smiles all the time, making our household happy most of the day! She's eating homemade baby food and cereal at least 2 times a day and has tried sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, avocado, and bananas. This week, she's experienced her first case of the snot head and has developed an angry relationship with the bulb suction. She's on her way to growing out of her 3 month clothes, but still not quite big enough for 6 months ones...so that's a fun transition! Same goes for diapers...on her way out of 1 and trying to not have size 2 fall off! She went all the way through a church service last week without having to have me paged and even took a nap amidst all the nursery screamings! She is growing WAY too fast for this mommy.

Jacob and Andrew are coming over this weekend and I'm so excited! It's Andrew's 10th birthday today! Do you remember when you turned 10? I do. I remember waking up and being ecstatic that I now had a 2 digit age. We asked Andrew what he wanted to do for his birthday, and he enthusiastically declared that he wanted to go to the shooting range...so that's what we'll be doing on Saturday afternoon! He was pukey yesterday, so I didn't get a chance to ask him what kind of birthday cake he wanted. I love making cakes, even if I have zero decorating skills. Hey, they all taste the same going down, so my messy attempts will still be delicious! I'm very thankful that we're going to get to have him this weekend for our own family celebrations. Last year, we introduced him to trick candles...I guess we'll be kinder to him this year!

Work continues to go well. I am constantly reminded what an awesome company I work for, especially since Miss Olivia has arrived. My patients always are asking how she is and want to see her latest pictures. I work at 2 different clinics and have two amazing supervisors that are very flexible with my schedule. I will have been with this company for a year on Wednesday and couldn't have asked for a better experience! I will also have been a nurse for 7 years next week. WOWSERS. I remember the day that I took my nursing boards like it was yesterday. It was a Thursday morning. I drove to the testing facilty and got there earlier than I needed to. I sat in the car, prayed, and listened to Avalon's Testify to Love about 8 times in a row. I mustered up my courage and went in the test. The test is automatically generated as you take it so the more questions you answer correctly in a row, the harder the questions get. Once the test believes you have answered enough correctly, it shuts off. The minimum number of questions you'll have to answer is 75 and that's precisely the amount I had. When I hit the "next" key after answering the 75th question and my computer screen went black, I breathed a sigh of relief. Two days later, I decided to just "check" to see if my results were in. We had been told it would take 48 hours, but since my 48 hours fell on a Saturday, I didn't expect the results to be up. I paid my $9 to open the website and my eyes fell on that beautiful little word. PASS. I screamed, ran into the bathroom where my sister (who was living with me at the time), was showering and most likely scared her to death as I screamed I PASSED! I PASSED! Ah, it was a great day! Now, 7 years later, I have been blessed to work with many different kinds of patients and in different facilities. Nursing has been my niche and I'm very thankful I decided to take the leap of faith and change from teaching to nursing.

Thank you to all who prayed for Hannah's little brother, Knox. He did end up having surgery at 4 days old, but went home just a few days later! He's now spending his time getting big and fat, with a completely repaired heart. God is so amazing!

Thanks for checking in!

Happy 2012!

Jason and I were just talking the other day about perspective. When I was probably a very early teenager, I couldn't quite imagine what life would be like in the year 2000 or even that we would get to that year. Now, it's 12 years past that and I remember that night that turned from 1999 to 2000 like it was yesterday. Wow. I feel old. 12 years ago, I had just graduated from LeTourneau and was in my first year of teaching junior high. Man, time does fly. Those sweet and gangly 7th graders are now in their early 20's and getting married and having babies. I'm old!

Jason and I rang in the new year quietly. We played a vicious game of Bible Trivia, a game he and I both have played for years and are fiercely competetive when playing. He beat me by the tiniest margin. Arg! We also played Scrabble which has become so much more hilarious since the creation of Words with Friends. My scores are now so much better! We didn't actually finish the game, but I was declared the winner. Family game night was how I grew up bringing in the new year. We would always start with this game that my parents got sometime in their college years, I believe. After that, the games varied, but usually consisted of Life and at least one other game. We'd eat queso, spinach dip, barbeque weenies, and a variety of other not so fancy, but oh so traditional Emerson New Years Eve foods. We'd watch the ball drop and scurry off to bed to await the next day and the Rose Parade (complete with my mother saying about every 10 minutes how much she despises the commercials and announcers). I was glad Jason and I decided to keep it low key this year. We went to bed sometime around 1 and spent our New Year's Day at church with the boys. It was wonderful!

Olivia Kaylynne is quite the character. Every day, I am amazed at what this child can do. She's decided that it's not necessary for her to consistantly roll over (even though we know she can), but she can get around the floor in her own way. It's always entertaining to see where she ends up. The child has absolutely found her voice and now likes to spend a great majority of her awake time screeching and squealing happily. She's been sleeping with her new fabulous "Baa Baa Lamb" sound machine (thank you Aunt Connie!), and I really think it helps her to block out some of the excess apartment noise and not wake up as easily in the middle of the night. We've started cereal and vegetables since the child is always acting hungry and it's been highly entertaining watching her devour them! So far, we've done oatmeal, sweet potatoes, bananas, and carrots. A few days ago, she had so many sweet potatoes up her nose that she sneezed them out for about a day. Hilarious! She's getting L O N G too! Our next doctor visit is the 13th and I just know she's probably grown another 2 inches. The majority of her 3 month clothes still fit, but she's starting to be too long for some of them. I still find it hard to believe how much she changes week by week. I was looking back at her newborn pictures the other day and was laughing because she was SO gangly and had little bird legs! Now, she's chubby, smiley, and getting so big! She loves her big bubbas and idolizes her daddy. Such a blessed little girl!

I would ask your prayers for a sweet little new friend of ours. Hannah's newest little brother, born 1/2/2012, was born with a narrowed aorta and a hole in the bottom 2 chambers of his heart. He's a big healthy boy otherwise! He will need to have surgery in the near future to correct this problem and should then have no issues. Please pray for Amanda and Jason as well as the rest of their family as they are taking care of this new little life. I can't imagine the stress of seeing another one of your children in the Cardiac ICU. This family is amazingly strong and has lifted up Knox to Jesus even before he was born!

2011 was an absolutely amazing year for my family. We were able to take the boys on their first airplane ride and vacation as a family. We welcomed Miss Olivia and have enjoyed watching her grow. I am constantly amazed at the blessings God has given me when I know I don't deserve them. What an amazing God I serve! My prayer for 2012 is that I show Jesus in all I do to the three little lives I have been gifted with.

A Merry Christmas to all...

Whew! What an amazing Christmas week we had! We were so blessed to have the boys for the week before Christmas to do all kinds of fun and adventures! Here's just a snippet of what we did!

Jason, Olivia, and I went to get the boys on the 16th. We headed to downtown Fort Worth to take some Christmas pictures with the gigantic tree in downtown and in front of this massive collection of LED trees. It was cold and Olivia refused to wear socks but we got some great family shots. Jason's become an expert at the taking of pictures with the giant tree. Thanks to this, we were only outside in downtown for a short time. We warmed up by looking at Christmas lights and heading home for some hot chocolate with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. YUM!

Saturday, Andrew had practice at church for the performance the kids department would be doing in the service the next day. After he got home, we watched Christmas movies! He had a sleepover that night, so while he was gone, the rest of us watched one of MY favorite Christmas movies "The Christmas Toy". Yes, it's corny and outdated, but still one of my favorites!

Sunday, we all headed to get Andrew and then on to church! Andrew did an awesome job in the performance and even got to be one of the prop holders! It was so much fun watching him sing! We headed to a thrift store after church to get the final pieces of the costumes for the murder mystery dinner theater that my family would be doing later on in the week. It was actually a hilarious trip because during our searching through racks, someone actually came over the loudspeaker and asked if anyone knew if they had a Ouiji board! I certainly hope they didn't! That afternoon, we headed over to Dallas to celebrate my niece's 1st birthday party. Since my sister and her family live in Virginia, we weren't all able to go to her actual party, but this gathering was an awesome substitute. Jacob and Andrew really enjoyed hanging out with my brother in his fabulous Lord of the Rings/Star Wars/vintage Nintendo office.

Monday, I had to work. Thankfully, of all the days the boys were with us for Christmas, this was the ONLY one I had to work! Hooray for a job that gives me time off to be with family! Jason, Jacob, and Andrew headed out to play golf with my dad while Olivia hung out with my mom for the day. They ended up getting rained out on the 10th hole, but still had fun in the process.

Tuesday, we piled in the car and headed to Jason's mom's house in Denison. She had a Christmas dinner waiting for us and the kids were able to open their Christmas presents with her. It was a quick trip, but still fun and the roads were thankfully not too crowded there and back. After we got home, everyone was pretty tired so we played it low key for the rest of the night. Jason went and played "Santa" and picked up all the multitude of presents we had wrapped the previous week and were storing at his dad's house. The boys were both asleep when he got back so they were able to go to sleep with no presents under the tree and wake up in amazement at the collection!

Wednesday was our Christmas with the boys. The precious angels waited EVER so patiently until 8:30AM (hey, I could NEVER have waited that long...I have no idea how they did it!) to wake us up! We opened presents as a family and got to be a part of two very excited boys! Olivia was a noisy observer and mostly was intrigued by the red tissue paper! Jason's step mom came over with her presents for the boys and the Christmas fun continued! After all the opening and the eating of yummy breakfast, the boys were itching to spend their Christmas money. We headed out shopping and did find a few good deals. Jason made a full Christmas dinner complete with ham, dressing, corn, sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes. YUM! We were stuffed!

Thursday we headed to my grandma's house in Wimberley! This was one of the things I had been itching to do since I met the boys. I just knew they would love roaming about the woods and seeing all the awesome stuff in my grandma's house. Her house is filled with treasures from all over the world that my grandparents collected during their time in the military. Olivia did amazingly well on her first long car trip and we made it down there without too many distractions. Olivia met my grandma for the first time and it was love at first sight.

Friday, we woke up nice and early (I mean, it's the country...it's just what you do!) and the boys were out the door to explore the woods. I kept seeing flashes of them and their Nerf guns go by. They were outside for several hours, even though it was FRIGID! They helped Jason and my dad with some "grandma chores", but were able to explore the entire 17 acres. We anxiously awaited the rest of the family's arrival. Michael, Jen, Kim, Evan, and Aubrey rolled in around 3 or so. My cousin Cory was the last to arrive around 5. Connie, mom, and I had been working on dinner items for the murder mystery dinner. Andrew and I made 2 pies (he's the best helper EVER!), a pecan pie and a pumpkin pie. SO fun! Promptly at 7, the festivities began and my family emerged from their respective dressing rooms clothed in 20's garb for the murder mystery dinner. One word: hilarious. My mom and sister in law were in full flapper regalia complete with fringe. My husband, father, and cousin were gangsters. My brother in law was a booze dealer. My sister was some sort of lounge singer. My brother was a crooked police chief. Andrew was a movie producer. Jacob was the mayor. I was the speakeasy owner. My aunt was the private investigator. SO MUCH FUN. Jacob and Andrew were a little nervous going in, but caught on REALLY quickly. They both did awesome.

Hilarious!

Saturday, we opened the Russell Christmas presents since we were heading back to Fort Worth that afternoon. After the opening, we packed up the car and the whole family headed to town. We adopt a needy family in the town every year and we were so blessed to deliver the Christmas gifts to them. It was a single mom and her three children who were SO very thankful. What an amazing way to show the boys the true meaning of Christmas. It's always one thing to talk about it, but a completely different thing to actually follow through. I think they enjoyed seeing the family so happy! We all went to town to eat lunch and then our family headed back home so the boys could be with their mother for the rest of Christmas Eve and Christmas day. It was very hard giving them up after having them for that amount of time. Olivia actually cried after they left. She loves all the attention they give her!

On Christmas, Jason, Olivia, and I spent the morning together and then headed out to his dad's house to a family dinner in the afternoon. His step mom was GLOWING as it was the first time she'd had all her kids for a Christmas dinner in several years. We deemed our Christmas traveling complete and spent the rest of the evening just the three of us in front of a warm fireplace.

Can you see why I started the update with WHEW? Jason and I keep talking about how much fun we had and how BLESSED we were to be able to share the days with the boys and the rest of our family. We were able to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Lord and Savior. What an amazing experience!

Christmas spirit

I love Christmas! I always have. I think you have to be silly to not love this time of year, yet it always amazes me how many people don't. To me, the spirit is contagious.

Christmas was always a big deal growing up. My siblings and I usually had some sort of countdown going, most often represented by one of those red and green paper chains. Our family took one whole Saturday to get our tree (always a real one!) and decorate the house. We would get SO very excited watching my mother unwrap all of our favorite ornaments each year. To this day, I still have my favorites: The glass Smurfette (of course we have a smurf. We're children of the 80's!), the miniature German figurines, Pinocchio (the German one, not the Disney one), and the one of me as an angel (don't laugh, I look precious!) are some of those. Michael, Kimberly, and I would always fight over the setting up of the nativity, most specificially whose camel got to sit up on the balcony of the stable. Yes, I realize it sounds silly, but it's tradition. Of course, no one would make a big deal out of switching their camel...it was more like a covert operation. Those were the days before DVR when you had to scour the TV guide (oh my gosh, the one on actual PAPER!) for the Christmas specials and you waited eagerly for Charlie Brown Christmas, Garfield Christmas, The Christmas Toy (a Jim Henson special...it's AWESOME), the Grinch, and It's a Wonderful Life to make their appearance.

This past weekend, Christmas has exploded into our house. There is literally NOT a space in the house that doesn't scream Christmas! The tree, the mantle, the bookshelves, the DVD cabinet, the bathroom counters, etc... Jason and I set up most of the apt on Thursday and eagerly awaited the boys weekend arrival to set up the tree. On Saturday, amidst the horrific cold and rain, we hiked out to get our tree. Yes, it was frigid and wet, but that didn't matter. We were successful and brought our tree home for beautification. Jason and Jacob hung lights, while Andrew decorated his miniature tree complete with lights and ornaments. Olivia pretty much just hung out and squirmed around on the floor (her new favorite pastime!) On Sunday, after the tree had all the water it wanted and the branches had fallen out, we went into decoration mode! It took quite a while, but at the end of the evening, we had a fabulous tree that took everyone's breath away!

The boys will be with us starting on the 16th and going through Christmas Eve. We have lots of fabulous plans! We'll be taking them down to the beautiful Christmas tree in downtown Fort Worth. Last year, we got some amazing pictures in front of both the massive Christmas tree and the menagerie of LED trees. Hopefully, Miss Olivia will decide to behave for pictures so we can get some good family shots! We've also got LOTS of Christmas movies to watch! It's always so much fun to snuggle up in blankets and air mattresses for the nightly movie-thon. We're also planning cooking baking and painting! Thursday morning, we'll pack up the car and head to my Grandma's house for a few days of merriment. The majority of my family will be there and I'll get to introduce Jacob and Andrew to the fun of Grandma's house at Christmastime. We'll head back home on Christmas Eve afternoon so the boys can spend Christmas with their mother. Jason, Olivia, and I will spend the day celebrating Olivia's first Christmas and preparing for the after Christmas decorating sales! We are not planning to be in the apartment next Christmas, so we're gonna need more decorations to revel in the merriment.

As the time gets closer, I get more and more excited to share the Christmas season with my husband and kiddos. Celebrating the birth of our Lord is such an amazing experience to share with family. I know Olivia won't understand any of it this year, but I still see the way she looks at the Christmas tree and it makes me very happy!

This weekend, we'll spend getting things finalized for the kiddos Christmas fun. I've got a wonderous grocery and Costco list going, so I'm sure that will be in the plan. Besides, I LOVE Costco during the holidays...so why not! :)

I hope your Christmas season is going as wonderfully as mine. Remember the true reason for the season...the birth of our LORD!

Giving of thanks

2011 has been such an amazing year for our family. I have so much to be thankful for. I couldn't even begin to list all of it, but I thought I'd put down the highlights!

I am thankful for...
1. A husband who loves me unconditionally and makes me smile every day. He loves Jesus with all his heart and wants what is best for our family. I am amazed at the wonderful man God brought me.
2. Jacob! At 15, most boys would despise the "wicked stepmother", but Jacob and I get along swimmingly. He has such a tender heart. I wish I had a 10th of his musical talent! I always have such a good time with him, whether we're discussing music or his latest girl crush. I really enjoy seeing him with Olivia. He is so gentle with her and she absolutely eats it up.
3. Andrew! This almost 10 year old spitfire is usually either making me laugh or making my eyes get big and think "Where did he come up with that?". He is a mini-Jason and I see it SO much as he gets older. He's spunky and has an amazing sense of humor. He would be perfectly happy with his set of drumsticks and a pile of pillows that he will make into a drum set. I love watching him carry Olivia around and just parking her next to him so they can "hang out".
4. Olivia! This 12lb chub has brought a whole new dimension to my little family. It's so much fun watching 3 guys dote so heavily over one little girl. She is SO loved. She's such a good baby too. I try to remember that when she has moments of evening fussiness. She doesn't have colic. She doesn't reflux. She doesn't have a heart condition. She's absolutely perfect. God truly blessed us when he gave us that 5lb 10oz spitfire on August 25. She certainly came into the world dramatically and she has continued to form her own kind of drama. I still am in shock that she will be 3 months old on Friday.
5. A roof over our heads. It isn't the prettiest roof or the largest roof, but seeing as there are people who don't have one, I am certainly thankful. I am thankful for 600 square feet because it lets us be so close together, especially when the boys are home. There's no hiding out in a room far away from the rest of the family when there is limited space. Jason and I are planning to relocate by the time our lease is out next spring, but for now, I am just thankful we have what we do.
6. A job! In January, I was blessed to find this nursing job. I work with great nurses and amazing patients. Since I work out of two different clinics, I have two managers who are both so supportive of my family and great to work for.
7. Health! I had a "high risk" pregnancy with my lovely blood disorders, but I was so blessed to sail through under the protection of God and the watchful eye of my doctor. I had an emergency C-Section to get our daughter out ASAP, but neither she or I have any issues now.

I could go on and on. All of these above things are reason enough to get up every day and be thankful. I am the MOST thankful for my Savior. Because of HIM, I was given all those things. I was given the chance to be forever with HIM. In the end, that is the most important thing I have. It is my greatest blessing.

In just a blink

Is November really here? Wasn't it just August and I was completely miserable and huge? Wow. Fast forward almost 11 weeks and that brings us to now! Whew!

Life continues to be good in the Russell household. I'm in my 4th week back at work and even though I don't like it, I am thankful for a job that is so low stress the majority of the time. I only have to work 3 days a week and then get to spend the remaining 4 being blessed by my family. My co-workers and patients are so good to let me show picture upon picture of the sweetness of our household.

Miss Olivia continues to amaze me. Now, I know I'm her mommy, but I seriously think she is the most beautiful baby I've ever seen. No prejudice there or anything! :) That aside, she is growing up WAY TOO FAST. She turns 11 weeks on Thursday and I never cease to be amazed by what she can do! Just in the last week or so, she has started laughing, batting at her toys, and just yesterday, she grabbed hold of a toy to play with it. She has 2 long sleep times during the night and naps a few times during the day. She's almost out of all her newborn clothes, and I really need to pack them away, but I can't bring myself to admit how big she is getting! She has a doctor's appointment this week, so it will be fun to see how long and heavy she has become!

Jacob and Andrew are still head over heels for this little sister of theirs. When they are over, someone is typically carrying her around or playing with her. The other day, we got home from church and Olivia was sleeping soundly in her car seat. I didn't take her out, but just let her sleep in the bedroom in the seat. About 10 minutes later, I hear "Olivia? Please wake up!" and about 5 minutes after that, Andrew came around the corner with her and said "She woke up and wanted me to take her out and play with her." We've been going to get them every Sunday that they aren't already at the house and taking them to church with us. They are really enjoying that! Our church has an amazing kids ministry, and Andrew is always bursting forth with what he learned that day. Jacob sits with us during the service and last week talked to the pastor about wanting to be baptized. Wahoo! :) Olivia just started going to the nursery and they LOVE her. In fact, when I dropped her off last week, the girl who took her said "Oh look guys! She's awake this week!"

I can't believe Thanksgiving is 2 weeks from Thursday! Jason and I are eating dinner with his family on Thursday. Friday, we'll be having Black Friday fun with my sister who gets to come visit from Virginia with Aubrey! Hooray! :) I'm pretty much guessing that Aubrey and Olivia's grandma will volunteer to watch them for part of the morning whilst we shop! Just a guess. :)

I suppose I should get on with my day. It's going to be a long one, compounded by the fact that at night, Miss O is falling asleep in my arms and then getting highly irritated and upset when she is put down to sleep. She loves her family too much to be put to bed, I guess! Thanks for reading and thanks for keeping our family in your thoughts and prayers.

Growing like a weed!

I can not believe that another month has gone by. Our family has been having such a fun time that I haven't even had a moment to think!

Jacob and Andrew L O V E their little sister. They are completely smitten with her. I don't blame them since her dad and I are as well! She loves them too. When they left the other day, she was fussy for a good hour afterwards. It's absolutely precious!

Miss Olivia is almost 2 months old now and growing like a weed. She weighed 9.5lbs at her last appointment and was 21 inches long! Such a difference from the little thing we brought home from the hospital! She eats like a champ and is such a good baby! She usually only has one really fussy time during the day, but is otherwise very content. She's starting to really enjoy the play gym and being on her stomach. I'm breaking out more of her toys since she's starting to really watch and interact with them.

Jason and I continue to be blessed with our sweet family. God is truly watching over us and keeping us safe. I am so thankful.