Life's Blessings

I was blog-reading tonight, and it hit me what a blessing I have in my family. I have a wonderful husband who loves me and our boys. I have two wonderful boys that have been given to us when we least knew that we needed them. I am thankful and humbled that God has entrusted me with such a precious gift.

Let Them Eat Cake!

Sam got cake on his face right after blowing out his candle.

Both of my darling, precious boys. 

After!

After his haircut. It looks a little weird because we discovered it doesn't lie very well after the haircut. I still think my baby is cute. :-)

Before...

David is getting his very first haircut by my cousin Samira.

On Birthday Parties, Crawling, Etc.

I have wanted to bloc about Sam's birthday party ever since it was over. I have not had the chance this past week and a half to do so thanks to my two little ones. David does not want to be held, touched, or looked at by anyone other than me. This poses a problem when Sam decides that David's idea is good and follows suit. *sigh* It seems to be passing, which is a good thing since not much has been accomplished during this time.

Sam's birthday party was a blast! We got a cotton candy machine and a snow cone machine that were a big hit. Sam had so much fun running around with all the cousins and having his fair share of all the sweets. For the first time, it was raining here in southern CA for his birthday. Usually the weather is pretty mild and the days are sunny. This time it poured buckets! This is also the first year that we weren't rushing to and from AZ to celebrate with our families. Even the year he was born, we only made it back to AZ ten hours before his birth! I thank the good Lord we made it home in time. lol

David turned 8 months last week. The day after that he got up on his knees and started crawling like mad. No more little soldier crawl. He is also pulling himself up on things and standing up! He is getting more mobile quickly! He has about 6 teeth that I can count trying to come through. Which explains why he has been so incredibly miserable. I will give many thanks once all his teeth are through. He is now clapping when we say "yeah" to him. He is also giving kisses whenever he gets scolded for something. *groan* He also talks back, and it is a good thing it's unintelligible or I'm sure it would be unprintable! LOL He has recognized his name for a while now. I get so excited to see all these different developments and growths in my children. I remember when Sam started recognizing his name I was so excited I rather drove my friends nuts gushing about it. Our neighbors had 2 kids, so I am sure they understood my excitement (especially since they had seen Sam growing since birth and we were lucky to have them share those moments with us!), and the other friend is soon to be married and will have his own children someday! David has also gotten his very first haircut! When we can get a comb near his head, it looks really nice and grown up.

Fiona is growing and integrating herself into the family. She and Sam are such buds. I am glad we made the decision to get this dog. We still have to go through all the puppy stuff, but once that is over she will be a great dog! She now has a new turquoise rhinestone collar. Very girly!

My three men are asleep. I had better get to bed soon if I plan on sleeping any before they wake up. Good night to all.

Happy Birthday, Sam!

Wow, my little guy is now three! It seems like I have had him for forever and like I just had him yesterday. He has changed my life in so many countless ways. He is such a joy and blessing in our lives. I love the way he will come up to me and put his arms around me and tell me he loves me. Or when he goes up to his brother and gives him a hug just because he's there. I love the way he lights up when Daddy gets home from a long day at work.

Everything is ready for his party tomorrow. This is the first year that we will have winter weather for his party. :-) Typical to southern CA weather, it has always been mild and sunny. This weekend we have a few storms headed in.

Happy Birthday, my Sam! I love you so very much.

Bathtime

The boys were enjoying a bath together. I was finally able to take a good picture of bath time.

Ringing in the New Year

We were awaiting the new year. This is my sister, Donna, holding her nephews.

Hi!

The boys and I have spent the entire day sleeping. We caught a stomach bug yesterday that left us feeling so miserable. The highlight of the day was when David started waving hi to us. He is so incredibly cute. When I had him do this for his grandparents, he had his thumb in his mouth, but he waved at them that way too. :-) We have most of what we'll need for Sam's party this weekend. I have a couple of more things to buy, which I will hopefully finish tomorrow. Soon, I will have more pictures to share.

Happy New Year!!

We start another year. We spent last night at my parents' place to celebrate the beginning of this year. We all managed to stay up except for Ben. (Even the baby made it! :-) ) I spent today calling our family to invite them to Sam's birth next weekend. We weren't sure what we wanted to do, but have finally decided on having a get-together at my mom's. Should be fun.

Sam decided to stay another day with my folks, so we won't be seeing him until tomorrow. He was ever so excited because he got a ring from my parents. Ben grew up not wearing jewelry, so it bothers him. I grew up seeing my dad and uncles all wearing jewelry, so it doesn't faze me. (I am not talking about earrings or piercings, which I am NOT okay with and none of them did until the new generation of cousins. Yuk.) Sam has a necklace that is always tucked into his shirt and a bracelet that my mom had made for him on his first birthday. Sam has been wanting a ring for the longest time. I don't know why, but he just did. Well, these past days that he was with the gp's he got one. I thought it was really nice. Ben only wants him to wear it on special occasions. *sigh* I think we have come to a truce. *big sigh* Sam is truly so thrilled about it and I don't want to kill that.

My parents also had a gift for David. He got a new little bracelet that he thinks is so cool. He can look at it and play with it. :-) I'm sure part of the motivation is trying to chew on it too. LOL We have started him on foods. I might have mentioned that before, I don't know. We tried him on the baby rice cereal and he had a horrible allergic reaction to it. We laid off foods for a couple of weeks after that and have been able to determine that he IS allergic to rice. Go figure. Hubby allergic to wheat and corn; Sam is allergic to wheat and oranges; David is allergic to rice. Great. I know there are lots of grains to choose from, but the most common ones are getting nixed pretty fast. Anyway, he loves oatmeal, peas, and bananas. That's all we have tried him on so far. Sam was nursed exclusively for 10 months that I feel rather guilty for starting David on foods so early. I consulted my midwives and they said if he has teeth (6 of them) it was kinda time to slowly start him on it. He LOVES to eat. Especially when it's a mealtime and he gets to join everybody else. He is so funny. Speaking of eating and meals, it has been so quiet at dinnertime without Sam and his chatter.

I love my boys. I truly enjoy them and love being with them. I am off to enjoy the one in my possession right now. Happy New Year!

Christmas Aftermath

Wow. Another year gone by. We had a very wonderful Christmas. Since Ben and I have been together, it has been our tradition to do Christmas Eve with my parents and Christmas Day with his parents. Since we've had kids, this gets a bit crazy. I was so proud of Sam. He is almost three, and he behaved so well with the gift opening. He wasn't going crazy having to have only gifts for himself. He had so much joy passing gifts out to others and being excited over what they received. When he did happen to get a gift for himself, he was so excited and appreciative for his gifts. I usually don't enjoy Christmas very much because it has become such a materialistic, commercialized holiday. I want my boys to grow up knowing the true meaning about this day and not concerned over what they get or how much. Like I said, Sam was so good it did my heart good. As is typical, David was enthralled with the papers and the bows and the boxes of his new toys. :-) With all the cute new outfits they got, my poor camera is going to be overloaded! Sam's birthday is a week away, and we still have to decide what to do for him. Fun, fun. :-) I look forward to these times, especially since he is so much more aware of what is going on. Well, Sam is down with my parents for a couple of days. Having only one child makes chores a whole lot easier to accomplish. ;-) I am going to go take advantage of that. Have a happy, healthy New Year.

So Big!

Sam's solemn expression is somewhat marred by the chocolate on his face. So grown up!

Gimme!

David is busy trying to talk me out of something. He is such a darling.

Mama's Zoo

Here is my little zoo. Both boys were ready to go ask for treats.

Random Thoughts

My Christmas pile has grown bigger. Mostly for Ben and the boys. Like I have said, I very much enjoy buying for them. This is probably why the good Lord has seen fit to keep me on a limited income. ;-)

My poor Samster is sick AGAIN. I have attacked this cold a little more aggressively than I normally do, but he is just so miserable I want it gone. To help him feel better, Grandma M bought him a 3-pack set of find-this-character-in-the-crazy-picture books. He loves them. He is so good at finding the pictures!! Unfortunately, he has become so antisocial! He was never overly friendly with those he didn't know, but it is worse now. He doesn't want people looking at him, much less trying to talk to him. And heaven help those who try talking to his brother!! It really is kinda cute how he tries to protect his brother, but it is embarrassing how rude he can get. I am hoping an end to this. He is so crazy over Fiona. She is very good with him, as they are both crazy little puppies. :-) He was rather funny today. He, Ben and I made a quick trek to Walmart for some medicine. We left David as he had just fallen asleep on Grandpa. About halfway to the store, Sam pipes up with "Hey! Where's David?!" We left him with Grandma and Grandpa. "NO!! GO get David!" That was rather sweet.

David is breaking through yet another tooth! This poor baby has been so miserable. And as the saying goes, "If David isn't happy, aint nobody gonna be happy either." His left front top tooth and the tooth on the right next to were his top canine will be are through. I think tomorrow or the day after the right front top one will be through as well. He has also been rubbing the back of his gums quite a bit lately. Poor little baby. David is not quite sure what to think about Fiona. He's amused by her, but doesn't want to get too close to her.

I can't believe another year has gone by. Two weeks after Christmas and Sam turns THREE!! Where did the time go?

Awaiting Christmas

I can't believe we are already in December. Another year that seems to have just blown by. I am done with my Christmas shopping. I think. ;-) I have so much fun picking stuff out for my guys and my sister. I already got my present from Ben and the boys. She is a darling .75Rottie/.25German Shephard cross, she looks just like a Rottie(my favorite breed) but with a tail. Her name is Fiona, and Sam claims she is his doggy. She is so smart!!

I have so many things to share about the boys, and every time I sit down to write them, I forget.

Sam has been getting to spend some time with my parents and sister. He loves being down ther with them, and they enjoy having him. Because of this, I have been able to get my shopping done early. I love to see his imagination and creativity growing daily.

David has cut two new top teeth. He has been absolutely miserable and cranky. He wants to teeth on everything in sight. *sigh* He tends to be such a calm baby most of the time.

I think from now on I need to write stuff down so that I don't forget. When I find my camera I will post some new pictures. Hopefully.

Catch up

It is such a chilly day today. I love it!! I love winter. It is the only time when you can accomodate the temperature to your liking. I cannot believe that it is already time for Thanksgiving, and Christmas is only around the corner. I am almost done with my Christmas shopping. My one complaint is that I wish I had more money to buy the boys stuff. I have so much fun picking stuff out for them.

Sam stayed Saturday night with my parents. We had gone down in the morning after dropping Daddy off at work, and he didn't want to come back with me. I missed him so much on the drive back. Even though he normally falls asleep before we've even reached the freeway, I know that he is sitting back there. I think this is the first time Sam has stayed over since we've had David. David spent the rest of the evening looking for his brother. When Sam got dropped off yesterday, he was quite heartbroken. He wanted to go back with Donna. He didn't want to be here. My heart broke for the poor little guy. I can always trust that he will be okay when I leave him at my parents'. They love on him, there are no psychotic dogs trying to bite him. I just know he will be taken care of and don't need to be constantly worried about him. I don't think I can explain how special my Sam's relationship with my parents and sister is. I love to see that and wish I had had grandparents like them growing up.

David is ever trying to increase his mobility. I came in to the room last night only to find him standin on Sam's bed by holding on to my bed. (Sam's bed is butted up against ours.) I don't know how he managed to do that, but he was quite proud of himself. He is quite a character. He has been having a hard time teething. His upper gum is so inflamed, and it appears that one tooth has slightly broken through. Poor, poor David. It makes my Mom laugh when I ask him if he wants to nurse. He knows exactly what I am saying. Last night he was doing this new thing that just had me laughing. He was sitting on my lap facing forward. He slightly twisted his body around and threw his head back and nuzzled my breast. Then he gave me this look that seemed to say, "Well, what are you waiting for? I couldn't make my needs any clearer." My boys are so precious. I can't imagine my life without them.

I had better take advantage that the boys don't need me right now and fold some laundry. :-( Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

Vegas

We just got back from a short trip to Vegas. It was Ben's parents' gift to him. We had fun, but the boys did not enjoy that at all. Who can blame them? On the way back today, we tried to stop at the ghost town Calico, but since it closed down in an hour or so, we have decided to make that trip another time soon. There are so many neat things to see and explore in CA. All we need is the time and the money. :-) I'm tired and don't remember all that I wanted to write. Think maybe it's time for bed.

God's Gatorade

So much has been going on in life, sometimes I just want to curl up and go to sleep for a long while. My Aunt finally passed away last Tuesday. This was a blessing for her since she had been suffering from gastric cancer for the past year and a half(although the doctors were only able to diagnose her this past January). Since she died on Ben's birthday, we didn't do much for him. We stayed at my parents for the past week. The boys both had a doctor's appointment this Tuesday. They are seeing my old pediatrician, which pleases me. He thought both boys were doing really well and didn't need to do any bloodwork, which I was dreading immensley. The Dr. didn't give me any grief about David not being on foods yet. My cousin asked me once the benefits to breastfeeding and breastmilk. Ben summed it up best when he explained it was God's Gatorade for babies. I am convinced that David is calling me "mama." Well, I don't have much time for an update since both boys have a cold, again.