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.