my cup runneth over

I love the times when you take a second to step back and look at your life and realize you have it made. As sickly-sweet as that is...it is true. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying that I don't have days when I feel like ripping my hair out...or feel like I am on the verge of some sort of stay-at-home Mommy mental break. But...in the grand scheme of things, I know I have an amazing life.

I am married to a man who can make me laugh so hard I feel like I might pee my pants (let's face it...I've had 2 kids...and all other Mommies out there TOTALLY GET IT). He makes me feel like I can do anything I set my mind to and has total faith in me. I couldn't imagine spending my life with anyone else.

I have this amazing 3 year old son. Parker melts my heart (and sometimes makes me feel like I am going to lose my mind). I am still not sure why people are still using the phase "terrible twos"...I will never understand it. Any parent of a toddler KNOWS that 3 is so much worse than 2! He can be so sweet one second and so loving...then he flips a switch and ignores everything I say. Some days he acts like a caged animal who has just been set free! My sister and I always talk about how all toddlers are bipolar. He is such a boy and I love that about him! But at the heart of it all, he is a Momma's Boy...and I love that too! I sure am lucky.

Parker Loves:

• helping Mommy in the kitchen
• cuddles on the couch after sissy goes to bed
• playing with boxes more than the things that come in the boxes
• truck/cars/trains/and anything else with wheels
• plain noodles or any kind
• white rice
• cereal
• muffins...he actually prefers them to cupcakes
• helping feed sister a bottle

My daughter is such a blessing and I still feel like it is a dream that I actually have a baby girl. I was so sure that I was destined to only have boys and I had come to terms with it during my pregnancy with Delainey. I was so surprised when the ultrasound tech told us it was a girl. I still look at her and can't help but squeeze her so tight, kiss her sweet little forehead, and thank God for such an amazing blessing. I can't help but think about my relationship with my own mother and wish that Delainey and I can share the same bond. I so look forward to all the things we will get to do together in the future. She is growing up much to quickly and I wish she would just slow down a little. (Especially since we know she is our last kiddo)

Delainey Loves:

• chewing on her fingers
• chewing on bibs
• chewing on burp cloths
• being snuggled
• sitting on Daddy and Mommy's laps
• her bumbo seat
• playing on her activity mat and her bouncer
• when you make her same noises back at her
• her lovie...she snuggles her face right into it at naptime
• pulling Mommy's hair
• staring at her brother
• making little crooked "Elvis grins" at us
• ATTENTION

As we continue on through the holiday season I hope that you can take some time to reflect on the little things and the people that make your life amazing too. I have been so blessed with so many people that I get to call mine and I would just like that say thank you to our family for being so wonderful. We miss you all so much and wish that we could have come home for Christmas to see you all this year...God bless!

what we've been up to

At the end of March my parents came to visit. It was so great to see them and we had a blast! Parker was so excited to see his Nonni and Papa!!! The first night they were here he was so sad to see them leave to go to the hotel and didn't quite understand that they would be back the next day. It broke my heart to see just how much he has missed them. While they were here we were able to just all spend some quality time together and show them around our new home. We even went to the base to show them where Travis works and the park that I always take Parker to...just so that now they can put a picture to what we are always talking about.

before dinner at Toby Keith's

I enjoyed having them here so much and I was sad to see them leave to go home and get back to the reality of being "without family" here in Oklahoma. Before they left we made sure to go to the zoo. The weekend they were here the weather was horrible! It had been so nice leading up to it that we had no idea that it would get so bad...WELCOME TO THE MIDWEST & UNPREDICTABLE WEATHER!

Up until a couple days ago the weather has been so great around here. It has really given us a chance to get out and go for walks.

one of our favorite trails on base

It was even nice enough one day for Parker and Travis to go swimming in our apartment complex pool. The water was freezing...but Travis being the amazing Daddy that he is, went in with our kiddo who was dying to go anyway!

Easter Sunday was a little different around here this year compared to last year. Last year we were at my parent's house surrounded by family and other kiddos for Parker to Easter Egg Hunt with! This year it was just the 3 of us...well...3 1/2 if you count Delainey! We filled some eggs and hid them around the apartment so that Parker wouldn't totally miss out on the fun!
We had a very lazy Sunday and spent most of the day relaxing inside because of the insane rain/thunder storm we were having. Parker had a blast jumping in the puddles outside and was sopping wet when we finally made him come in!

doesn't trav look thrilled to be stuck out in the rain with our little man???

Here are some more recent pregnancy pictures...things are going great with this pregnancy and I couldn't feel better!

Miss Delainey is doing great and moves around more and more every week.

16 1/2 weeks

20 weeks

21 weeks

22 weeks

Thanksgivinig in Texas

So, this year for Thanksgiving Parker and I packed up and flew to Texas! Not how we usually spend the holiday...but it was so great to visit Travis. He was still away at Tech. School at that point and was stationed at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX.

Flying with a toddler is a total pain in the rear...but it was worth it to see Travis and know that he wasn't spending the holiday alone. (By alone I mean with a bunch of guys who would also have to spend the holiday without their families.) We were able to spend 10 days in Texas and it was so much fun...except for the flying. Although Parker did SO WELL (we are discovering that he is a dream toddler when it comes to travel...but I will explain more about that when I get to the blog post about our drive from WA to OK!)!

We left from Seattle VERY early in the morning! At least we knew that by the afternoon we would be seeing Travis! Parker hadn't seen his Daddy since August!

all smiles on the plane (for the most part)
playing with his Toy Story toys...Jessie the cowgirl is one of his favorites


Sheriff Woody!

Travis was waiting for us at the airport when we got there and Parker was so tired from the long day of flying that he slept through getting off the plane, being put in his stroller, baggage claim, and didn't wake up until we were putting him in his car seat in the rental car.

While in Texas we played at the park, relaxed, got back in to the groove of being a family of 3, and visited "the falls." Here are some pictures from our trip!










Parker got the camera and took a couple pictures...the first one is okay, not sure what Trav is doing in the second one!

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Thanksgiving Day Pictures


While we were visiting Texas we took a walk to "the falls." It was nice outside and it was good for Parker to get out of the hotel and get out some energy!












We hope you all had as wonderful of a Thanksgiving break as we did!