Family weekend in Boone

We had a wonderful, snow filled, fun filled family weekend in Boone. Irelynn cheered for App State and the Steelers at the game and loved yelling first down. We made it half way through the second quarter before we began freezing solid and walked back to the car. We had a great dinner at the Japanese steakhouse and then a great brunch at the village cafe in blowing rock. We also paced in some good shopping in king street. Katie is flourishing in college. She looks so happy and healthy and just good. Makes my heart happy ! Livie had a great time with giga and pop. 

Right now, I'm downstairs and everyone else is asleep upstairs. It's summer, so Katie sleeps in, Travis has been working late some, and my precious baby is sleeping better than ever. (although she was awake at 4am this morning). Time alone can be glorious! I remember a day when alone time was either boring or lonely. Now it is neither. It's time to regroup and be silent. It's something I never thought I would need. Now there are so many things that I could be doing, but writing has given me strength in the past, so I am making a conscious effort to get back into it. The challenges of everyday life sneak up on us so quickly, and we forget to prioritize the things that make life enjoyable. I get so caught up in making sure the house is clean, work is done, etc. . I want to make sure the house is clean, kids have everything they need, dinner is fixed, that sometimes I forget to look after what I need. Right now I need this... just to be.

Christmas 2013

Ok, so a lot has happened since the last post. New year's resolution... write more and do yoga. I think those two things will be good for my sole. Other than that, I plan to spend my years taking care of these....3... (yes, now there are 5 of us)... children. One is not really a child anymore, but I'm still counting her. Katie is at Appalachian State, Irelynn is 3 (almost 4) and Livie is 7 months and growing so so fast. Travis is working like crazy and doing his best to spend any other time with us. We were nervous to take Katie to college but she has thrived during her first semester. Although final exams were a little harder than expected, she made the Dean's List. Her favorite Christmas present was an ENO, which is a hammock. Yes, seriously, if you would have asked me 6 months ago what she would want for Christmas, a hammock would not have been on my list of predictions. Learning new things and exploring life, isn't that what college is all about. Irelynn is as clever and beautiful as ever. She spent the month of December picking apples. This meant pulling ornaments off of the Christmas tree. Her favorite gift was a spring horse from Santa. Although she was terrified of the very idea of someone coming into our house while she is sleeping, presents or not; she did like the end result. She also liked the many toys and beautiful clothes from Giga and Pop and the Barbie Dream House from Grammy and Papa. Live was really into the wrapping paper. She laughs and giggles and loves to be held. She is calm and has beautiful brown eyes that draw you in instantly. She is observant. She is already crawling and even pulled up a couple of times. I was so glad that this week was when she chose to crawl because I got to really see her change over the last few days. Christmas was hectic and wonderful. We got to spend time with both sets of grandparents and even the great grandparents. Excited to see what the new year will hold!

Value Life

Recently we had the opportunity to appreciate life. I guess we always appreciate it, but so many times we take each day for granted. Last weekend we said goodbye to our Rocky, our boxer. Well, this was Travis' boxer. His only boy, only son. Sometimes I think he loved that dog more than anything else in his life. Rocky was a good dog and and a best friend to my husband. As hard as it was to see Travis struggle with this, I do believe that for a while, it has made life a little clearer for us. We appreciate the relationships that we have a little more and we value each moment with the ones we love. We miss Rocky, but he is in a better place and our lives have been made better because he was it them. I know that when Irelynn still calls "Rockyyyyy" up the stairs or in the office Travis is able to smile about the times that they had together.

Irelynn continues to grow and change everyday. She is saying so many new words. She can practically repeat anything that we say. She picks up on everything, even some things I wish she wouldn't. "Oh gosh," she will say swinging her hands out to the side. She also says "I'm sorry" whenever she falls down or gets a boo boo. She has started hugging me when I get home from work and acting excited to see me. I think that's my very favorite part of the day, walking through that door. It makes the day away seem worth it.

Well, I guess that's it. Tomorrow is parent night at PCHS. We will get to trace Katie's footsteps through first-semester Junior year!! More to come...

Pretty

When you have a 16-year-old and a 16-month-old, the word "pretty" can take on so many meanings. It is so easy to convince my 16-month-old that she is pretty. She looks at her self in the mirror, puts bow after bow on the top of her head and just knows that she is a knock out! "pretty" she will say, referring to herself of course. The 16-year-old; however, isn't so easy to convince. What is it about teenagers that they have to compare everything about themselves to their neighbor. Self-worth is so often based on cute shoes or shiny hair, and another person's attributes often make them feel inferior. "She's so pretty," is what the teenager always says. No matter how many times she is told she is pretty, it is easier for her to see it on someone else. I would like to tell her that this is just a teenage stage, but in reality it will never completely pass. Although the many distractions that ocurr as we age cause us to steer away from our jealous comparasons, we often tend to base the perception of ourselves on those around us. What I want to tell her is...yes, maybe that girl's hair is shinier than yours, or her shoes are cuter. Maybe the other one is taller, or skinnier, or more athletic. But, neither one is better than you. And right now, they are looking at you and thinking that your dress is prettier, or your hair is longer, or your skin is clearer, or your body is better. Right now you are both looking at each other focusing on the other ones attributes. If you can find a way to continue to do that while also realizing your own, you will have it all figured out. So while some parents want to tell their kids that they are the best or the smartest or the prettiest. I want mine to know that they are the prettiest, smartest, best kid that I know. That they have something better than each person in the room, and each person in the room has something better than them. Notice the "pretty." Notice it and then let it pass as you would a beautiful flower or nice car. Don't strive to achieve HER pretty. Embrace the "pretty" of your own.

Happy Day!

The joy of teaching your child something new is like no other joy. Irelynn is learning something everyday. This weekend, she said so many words and did so many cute things, I don't have the time or energy to list them all. Today, we went to Nannie's house for her birthday dinner. She was ecstatic to see us all, especially Irelynn. Before heading up there, we tried to teach Irelynn to say happy birthday. When we realized that that was a little much, we shortened it to "happy day." She has been saying this phrase over and over all weekend. We all had a wonderful afternoon together. Irelynn has also been expanding her spanish vocabulary with Si, aqui, agua, and a few other words. Counting is really fun for her and we count everything with her. Animal sounds are pretty novel right now. She has been getting the cat and the cow sounds mixed up. She get's so into it though, it's priceless. Each day, she changes and grows more and more.

Melting Pot and More!

Katie had her Sweet 16 Birthday Party on Thursday night at the Melting Pot with 5 friends. They all had a great time. It was so much fun to listen to them interact with each other. Really takes you back to high school. She has a great group of friends right now and a sweet boyfriend named Teddy. They all dressed up and we drove them over there. We were there for like 3 hrs and they talked the entire time. We sat at a table for two beside them.

Irelynn stayed with her Pappa while we were at dinner. She did great. She has started crying when we leave, so I made Travis take her. She and Pappa played in her toy car and really had a great time. She is starting to doing so many things. Everyday it's something different. Like right now, she is sitting in her little chair singing along with the Micky Mouse theme song as she watches cartoons. We went to the pool yesterday and dunked her head. She loved it! She also crawled up the netting into the playhouse at the pool (with a little help). Sleeping is better. Wed and Thurs night she slept all night and the last two nights, she just woke up once or twice. She has started brushing her hair when I hand her a brush and she can point to her hair, eyes, nose, and teeth. What a smart girl!

Saturday night Travis and I took Irelynn and Hunter to chapel hill to eat and walk around on Franklin St. We got ice cream at Ben and Jerry's. Irelynn loved every minute. She walked and squealed. She was precious.

Lately...

Lately things have been really busy. I'm working way more than I want too. Travis' job is getting really busy, Katie adds on more activities everyday, and Irelynn is growing and learning so fast.

Katie has been volunteering at Rex hospital in Cardiac and Endoscopy. She is loving the excitement of the hospital and being able to help out the patients. She and I have been volunteering a little bit with the SPCA and Ronald McDonald house for NCL, our community service club. This past weekend, we had Katie's family "Sweet 16." Later this month, she is planning a birthday dinner with friends at the Melting Pot.

Irelynn is doing all kinds of new things. She is great a shape games, like putting shapes through holes on her toys. She has started playing pretend with things. When I'm cooking dinner, she stirs her Cheerios or Goldfish or air in one of the pots and then pretends to put it on plates. She also loves to feed us her food. She has started singing a couple of words or humming along with her favorite shows on TV, which I think is precious! Her teeth are coming in and really bothering her. She has had a couple of really rough nights, but I think they have broken through and are bothering her less. I give her frozen waffles and cucumbers, and frozen go-gerts all the time. I'm most proud that she has started saying "peese" and "thank u" when prompted.

She has done a few funny/embarrasing things. I'll just touch on the highlights. We were eating dinner at a friend's house. When we went upstairs, she leaned over and spit over the inside balcony. That's when I learned that she and her daddy do that all the time off of the back porch;)

What a great week and weekend. Grana and Pop visited us this week. Then we spent July 4th at the Puff's house. Irelynn, Hunter, Travis and I went to the pool. Irelynn did great in the water. I can already tell she is going to be a little fish. She loved walking, splashing, and playing. She and Hunter had a blast together. She has also started rolling and catching a ball.

Memorial Day Weekend

What a great day. Irelynn, Travis and I went strawberry picking. Irelynn ate so many strawberries! I'll have to admit that they were pretty tasty. She is so much fun! She is really starting to exert some independence. She has started pulling her hand out of ours when she walks. She wants to do it all by herself. Taking her grocery shopping alone is out of the question this month. Last weeks trip was an absolute disaster. People were actually asking me if I needed help. I probably looked like a neglectful mother, but i just had to carry her screaming most of the way. She wasn't even distracted by her cookies. She just wanted to be down on the ground, walking the direction of her choice. Travis helped me grocery shop this week. We also went to Home Depot with little Miss Independent. She carried around paint rollers. I let her get a small American Flag, which she waved all through the store.

Sunday, we went to Loco Pops. Irelynn sure loved the cookies and cream pop! My favorite too! She also liked her dad's brownie pop! Monday, we went to the Puff's for Memorial Day cookout. Irelynn kissed little Preston on his head. It was really cute. We had a great dinner with the whole family.

Some really cute things that Irelynn has started doing...

She loves carrying shoes around by their shoe laces, taking things out and putting things back in containters, walking down the sidewalk beside our house, holding the dog leash, picking flower petals off of flowers. She knows how to pick dandelions and blow off the little fuzzy seads. She loves to pick the mint that is growing near the front porch and smell it. We taught her to put it up to her nose and smell. She knows the word nose and will point to hers when you ask her where it is. When I say, "noses," she will rub her crinkled nose up against mine. She definitely knows the word shoes and if her love for shoes doesn't fade, we are in deep trouble. When she gets mad, she screams ...Apple, Apple. I have no idea where she got that, but it is hilarious! She claps and plays patty cake. She is just doing so many fun things now. I can't believe how she changes each day.

May 16, 2011

We all had a great weekend, especially Irelynn. Grana and Pop came to visit, we went to the art museum, and ate Mexican food... Irelynn loves black beans.

Step by Step

Irelynn has started taking some steps! I wouldn't say she is walking, but when we hold something that she likes in front of her, she will take 2 or 3 steps towards it. It is a really cute wobbly step and her eyes are filled with full concentration each time. Her early birthday present was a bike trailer, which has been a lot more fun than I ever thought. I wasn't sure how she would like it, but it has been a big hit with her. The first couple of rides, we put her car seat in the trailer and pulled her around that way. The trailer is great. The big wheels make it really easy to pull (well, that's what Travis says... I haven't attempted to pull it yet.) Irelynn has been saying a few words. Dog comes out like "Gowg." That is her new favorite word. She will also say Duck. She will point to the monkey in her room when I ask her where it is in Spanish.

Irelynn's first birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks. We are going to try to make a piano cake, since she loves the keyboard that her Nannie gave her. Pictures to come.

Just Dance!

Irelynn has learned to play the Wii. Tonight, she crawled into the gameroom on her own, grabbed the Wii remote and hit the power button on the TV. Then, she cried because Just Dance was still not on the screen. She crawled over to me, hoping that I would turn on her favorite game. Her two favorite songs are "Yo Ba Ba," which she twists and bounces to, and "Who let the dogs out," which she loves to yell, "whoo whoo" along with the singer. You would think that these two hits would loose there luster after a while, but we are going on about 3 weeks of Just Dance fun. Some parents put their kids to bed after a couple of books and a bottle, we prefer a little "Who let the dog's out," to send our baby off to dreamland. Speaking of sleep, Irelynn is doing a little better with the whole sleep thing. Although many nights we still have a middle-of-the-night feeding, she has begun to sleep through the night more frequently. She will also go to bed a little earlier and a little easier.

In less than 1 month, my baby will be 1-yr-old! I can't believe how with each passing day comes something new and exciting. Sometimes, I wish I could slow it all down.

February Fun

Uh' Oh'! Irelynn's new favorite word. Her vocabulary has expanded a little and DaDa and Uh'Oh are among her favorite new words.

She is starting to eat many new foods. Her favorite so far...anything from K&W. She ate green beans, pintos, mac n' cheese, ground beef, and a couple of bites of mashed potatoes. Another night, she had blueberries. We will never do blueberries at night again. I think she is having a little bit of reflux, but she loved them while she was eating them. We are trying to work on the sippy cup, which is going ok. Irelynn is starting to get the hang of it, but she still wants someone to hold it for her. Her newest hobby is walking the dogs. She sits in her stroller and holds the dog leash. She pitches a fit when we have to take it away from her. Last night we let her bring it inside and play with it beside Rocky. She was entertained for about 30min, which is a lot for my baby.

The last weekend in Feb was really fun. Katie and I had our NCL tea party at the art museum

in Raleigh. The mom's dedicated a tea cup to their daughters that represents them. Katie's is in the

shape of a bright pink rose and the saucer is also a bright pink rose. It is bright, beautiful, and full

of life, just like my favorite teenager.

We are looking forward to March and Irelynn's first birthday!

January

January has been a very busy month. Travis and I took a weekend ski trip and left Irelynn to play at Grana and Pop's. She had a blast, and so did we. Travis and I both slept 8 hours... rejuvenating. But we also missed Irelynn and Katie. Katie has been driving all over the place (with an adult in the passenger's seat), of course. She is applying to volunteer at Rex Hospital this summer, and she made all A's on her report card this semester. Now she is getting geared up for new classes and softball season.

Irelynn is driving all over the place too! Well, she is driving her walker all over the downstairs. We moved the furniture to give her a pretty good race track, and she is pushing that thing all over the place. She leans forward and those little legs just go and go. She has started saying "hi" to people and gives us a "baso" (kiss in spanish). She gets really excited over the pictures on her wall and will even kiss the giraffe when we hold her up to it.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

First white Christmas I've ever seen. It was a truely beautiful site once we were all safely in Conover. Christmas eve, Irelynn attended her first church service and behaved better than I've ever seen her behave. She played quietly and with the help of the puff cereal, we made it through the entire service...what a blessing! Then, we went to the Puff's for some family time, food, and gift giving. Irelynn got a great train that she can now use to balance her as she walks. She also got a really cute car and some other toys. Katie got black Uggs, which she loves and some other clothes and accessories. Christmas morning was filled with the tradition of Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas," breakfast casserole, and present's galore. Then, we were off to the Myers' in Winston-Salem to see the Boone/Myers family. We started seeing snow about half way, and hurried through a fabulous meal, to make it safely to Conover. There, Irelynn got a play house from her Grana and Pop and a keyboard from her Nannie. She also got some of the cutest clothes I've ever seen. We are so lucky to have such wonderful families! We arrived home on Monday and Irelynn was so tired from all of the playing that she has slept all night long for 2 nights in a row. This is a first for my baby girl. Go Irelynn!!

A few new things that Irelynn has started doing:

Playing peek-a-boo like a champ and pulling the pages back on her peek-a-boo book all by herself.

Playing "chase" where we chase her around the room and she crawls as fast as she can giggling all the way.

Clicking her tongue and making a fake coughing sound.

Making all kinds of talking noises and taking turns talking with someone.

Mommy is finally starting to feel like a real person again. This baby thing was way harder than I ever thought. There are so many things to worry about and so many things to do! Mommy guilt is something that I never gave much though, but it is as real as any feeling I've ever known. Being a mom opens up a whole new area of your soul, one that was rarely entered before the birth of your child. Once Irelynn was born, my world felt much bigger, much fuller, much more wonderful, but much more complicated and I'm pretty sure that that feeling is here to stay. As I watch my baby grow and change, I realize how quickly time passes and how precious each moment of every day truely is. I feel a richness in my life, a love so deep that it aches, a responsibility so encompasing that it is, at times, utterly overwhelming. With all that said, month 9 is my favorite yet! Baby I is growing and learning and mommy is starting to figure some things out.

Sleep

Last night, Irelynn gave me the best birthday present I could ever imagine, a good night's sleep. She slept from 9pm to 7am, only waking one time to feed. Now this may not sound like much to many mom's, but our nightly rituals have been less than pleasant lately. We have had several middle-of-the-night crying sessions and a couple of feedings. So, clearly, last night was nothing short of a miracle in my eyes. I am hoping that this becomes our new nightly ritual, but I won't get my hopes up yet. Sleep is just one of those things that I never fully appreciated until Irelynn was born. I think I have learned the definition of sleep deprivation and how it can be used as torture in some settings. Thank you, Irelynn, for giving your mom such a wonderful gift.

I just got back from a 3-day, overnight, work conference. I was so nervous about leaving. The night before I left, Irelynn cried for almost 3hrs on and off before I finally put her in the bed beside me. I left the next morning for the airport at 4;45am. Irelynn, Katie, and their daddy had a blast while I was gone, but I know they all missed me....

Irelynn is starting to really be a talker. I love her coos and sounds. It sounds like she is singing a song. When we talk to her, she coos and makes sounds right back at us. Lately, she has found a lot of entertainment looking at herself in the mirror. She will talk and talk and just stare at herself. She has also started to gain strength in her arms and legs. She can put most of her weight on her legs and pull pretty hard with her arms. She is so cute when she looks at her hands and tries to get them into her mouth. She just hasn't mastered their movement yet. She saw her feet the other day and was amazed by them! Even though she kicks and kicks, she doesn't quite understand that they are part of her body.