A sweet little prayer and a giggle

Lately, Darryl has loved to pray. He will stick out his hands at the table, close his little eyes with a squint, and pray. What's even cuter is that if he notices that others at the table arn't praying with him, he will simply sit and stare at them until they do.
The other night we tucked Darryl in for bed and prayed with him like we always do. After we prayed, he looked up at Chris and I and said..."wait... Darryl pray" and held out his hands. We grabbed him and smiled with delight as he prayed...

"Jesus... Josh...Jenny... Lila.... Mommy...Daddy..."

(Every night when we go to bed we thank God for the people who we saw that day...)

"Sissy...Mamaw...Papa...
...Pattycake...
...Pattycake...
...Roll them up...
...AMEN!"

His prayer included all the hand motions of course. So Chris and I laughed all night about how our son played pattycake with Jesus before he went to bed.

Payton is as sweet as ever! Today we were over at Kim and Darryl's house and Darryl got her to give her first little giggle. It wasn't a full on laugh just yet but she is definately getting there.

I can't wait for her to get old enough to play!! We love our family and feel so blessed every day.

Darryl loves his sissy...

Darryl loves Payton. It is the sweetest thing in the world. Tonight, she was laying on a blanket in the living room when Chris said "Darryl, go lay down by Sissy!" So Darryl walked over, and laid right next to her and started playing piggies with her feet (This little piggie went to the market...). Then he gave her a hug and a kiss before exclaiming "Mommys!" and ran over to the couch and grabbed one of my bracelets. He walked back over, laid by Payton and put the bracelet around her wrist. He laughed and laughed and gave her another big hug.

So sweet!! I never want to forget these sweet moments!!

By the way... Happy Halloween!!!!!

Reflection on my maternity leave...

I can't believe it but this Sunday I officially go back to work. It is crazy to think that I have been on maternity leave and that Payton is already almost 8 weeks old. I am excited to go back to work, but it has been such an incredible past couple of months that I have gotten to spend with family and friends. I wanted to post some of the highlights...


After just a few short weeks, Payton was only needing to eat once at night so Chris and I decided that we needed a little family getaway. We loaded up both kids and both dogs and headed to Chandler, OK to stay in a cabin at Jacobs Ladder. It was absolutely incredible. Darryl had a blast running around with the dogs and being outside as much as he possibly could while Payton enjoyed eating and sleeping :). Kim came and stayed with us the first two nights and it was so fun to get to spend time with her. Then, the last night that we were there Mark and Rachel came out and brough Karis. The kids had SO much fun together and it was a blast watching them play. We made tents out of sheets, went on numourous golf cart rides, played fetch with the dogs, played with play dough, and pretty much did everything you could possibly imagine. It was an incredible weekend.

While at home, I got to experience so much with my kids. I fall more in love with them every day! We enjoyed getting to spend lots of time with our friends. We went to the zoo on several occasions, swam, jumped on Darryl's new trampoline, and had a blast getting to be with so many amazing people. Our small group even threw two parties to welcome Payton! It was so much fun and such a blessing to us.

Darryl started CLC on Tuesdays and Thursdays and loves it. It has been an adjustment since he is not used to being away from Mommy but it has been so fun to watch him do so many big boy things. The other day I needed to pick him up early so I peaked in his classroom to spy on him. They were all sitting at a big boy table eating their lunch. He was so cute eating his lunch and talking to the other kids (they mainly just stared back but he was enjoying himself). He even brought home his first craft! It was a paper with purple circle stamps on it because that day they were learning about purple circles.

Having two kids under the age of 2 definately has its hectic moments! My favorite moment took place in the waiting room of the Dr.'s office. Darryl had an ear infection so we rushed over to the doctor. while there, everything was going great at first...Darryl was being really sweet and was walking around the waiting room talking to everyone. Then...chaos broke loose. First, Darryl tripped and bit his lip, causing him to start screaming. While I was comforting him, he grabbed Payton's stroller to get up and sent it crashing into the wall. This scared Darryl so he started screaming harder when Payton woke up and started screaming bloody murder. I tried to find her pacifier but couldn't (I found out later it was digging into her back). So after a few minutes of both children screaming I decided I would just feed her. When I reached down into my diaper bag to get her bottle, Darryl decided he wanted to help me so he grabbed the container of formula. When he pulled it out it exploded! It went EVERYWHERE! All over the carpet, all over the stroller, and all over the still screaming Payton. Luckily I had formula in the car so I grabbed both kids and ran outside to get it. When I came back in I started feeding Payton when Darryl decided he would make a run for it and started running across the waiting room toward the door. I put down Payton and ran after him to discipline him. Causing them both to start screaming once again.

Needless to say... I was very tired (as I'm sure everyone else in the waiting room was!) by the time we saw Willie, but of course both kids were perfect angels for him the whole time. What is amazing is that I didn't freak out! I stayed surprisingly calm the whole time. But it was definatly an interesting time! I immediately called my friend Jolene to tell her all about it sense I knew that she had stories that like to!


My parents have also gotten to come into town a lot which has been so great! Darryl loves his Grandma and Papa. It is so fun to watch him with them and to see how quickly he remembers who they are even though they live in Nashville.

My birthday was a couple weeks ago and it is so crazy to think that I am 27 with two kids and a mini van! I am blessed beyond words. I totally forgot my birthday of course due to having my hands full but several of my friends through me a surprise party and I also got a massage and amazing dinner at Red Rock as well! It was a great birthday, I can't believe how incredibly blessed I am to have so much at such a young age.

There is so much more to write about but I'm tired! Payton is still only waking up once a night, but now she sleeps in 6 hour stretches from 10:30 til 4:30 a.m. so I'm hoping it will be anytime now that she sleeps on through the night! She had her 8 week appointment today and she weighed 10 pds. 3 oz and is 21 inches long! She is so fun and amazing.

More to come! Here are some photos..

Welcome baby Kal!!

Oh wow, its been four weeks!!!

I can't believe Payton has been a part of our family for four weeks!! It is crazy how quickly time has flown by. As you can probably imagine, I have been a little busy juggling two kiddoes so I haven't gotten a chance to post, but I wanted to be sure and jot down some memories...

Payton is growing so fast! At her two week appointment she had already gained a pound. She is such an amazing laid back little girl! She eats well, sleeps great so far, and is perfectly content laying on her boppy watching big brother drum, slide, or jump. Chris and I are so very much in love.

Darryl is adjusting well to having a baby sister. There were a few rough days at first, but now he LOVES being a big brother. He is really gentle with her now and constantly wants to hold her and kiss her. One of our favorite things that he does is he loves to climb into her crib with her! He will lay down beside her and say "night night". He hasn't figured out how to say Payton yet, but calls her "Sissy". Every time he hears her cry he runs over to me, points to her room, and goes "Sissssyyy". It is the sweetest thing.

The other night they spent the evening with Kim and Darryl and when Chris and I went to pick them up Payton started crying on the drive home. All of a sudden, I heard whimpering from Darryl's side of the car. I turned around and he had big tears streaming down his face as he pointed at Payton and said, "Mommy.... Sissy owie!" It broke my heart as I tried to explain to him that Sissy wasn't hurt, she was just a baby and thats how they talk. It was sad but so sweet to see him be so concerned about his sister!

Darryl also enjoys his big brother gift from Grandma and Grandpa. Its a trampoline that we put inside his room! He has already had lots of friends over to jump in it with him. He loves it! It is so funny to watch him jump jump!

I have loved getting to be home with the kids. Darryl started CLC on Tuesday and loves it. He is struggling some with being away from me which has been hard. He never went through a seperation anxiety stage because for as long as he can remember I've been going to work during the day. But now that I've been home with him the past four weeks he does not like it when I'm gone. He is so social and active though that his teachers said he shook it off really quick. It is so cute to see him with his little CLC bag and his nap mat! I can't believe how big he is!!

We are so excited because we are going to spend the weekend in a cabin in Chandler with friends. It will be so fun to take the kids and dogs out there and to get three whole days in a row with Chris home.

More to come!

And then there were four...

I can't believe that Payton is here. It's funny when I think back four years ago, when Chris and I were about to get married, that we would talk about what our family would look and be like... and now we can hold them and see them!

On Monday, August 1st I got home from work a little early to try and pick up my house before I went to pick up Darryl because we were having people over that night. When I got home, I thought about how badly I would love to have the baby that night. When Chris got his job at Penske, he added Darryl and I to his insurance but it wasn't going to kick in until August 1st. So I had spent the previous weekend laying on my side, trying to keep Payton from coming out because if she waited until the 1st we would save a lot of money on medical bills.

So when I got home, I was very ready to see Payton! So I purposefully ran around the house like a crazy person, bending over a lot and cleaning really quickly. Sure enough, within 20 minutes I started having contractions. I called Chris and he came home to take me to the hospital. We were so excited!

When we got to the hospital, my contractions slowed down a little so we wound up staying on the triage floor for a few hours before they gave me the official thumbs up that I was going into labor. After making some really excited phone calls to family and some friends, they moved me to the 6th floor and into the room where we would see Payton for the first time.

I opted to wait to get my epideral until I felt that I really needed it. Chris and I knew how tired we would be when we got home, so we decided to try and get some rest once we were in the room. I was having a steady dose of contractions, but they weren't bad so I was able to snooze a little bit. Then, around 4 am, the contractions got really strong and really close together. I woke Chris up, saying that I was definately ready for the epideral. I got it around 5 am, and at 6am a nurse checked me and said that I was a 7. They said they would check me again in an hour and call my doctor.

At 7 am, Madeline came in to be my nurse! She is the nurse who delivered Darryl (for that awesome story, go to babywehunt.blogspot.com). At this time, Chris and I were laughing and chatting with Evan who had come to take pictures. Madeline said she needed to check me, so Evan left the room.

Thats when the craziness began...

Madeline lifted the sheet to check me, and quickly exclaimed... "uhh...there's the head!" and asked Chris to hold my leg while she went to get help. Before I could process anything that was going on, Madeline ran back into the room, followed by a dozen nurses who had been out in the hall doing a shift change. Chris said he could literally hear purses hitting the floor as they ran in to help. Madeline came back in the room, said "ok here we go!" and grabbed Payton and pulled her out! I didn't even have to push!!

It was the most bizarre thing I had ever experienced (and Madeline, who has been a nurse for 50 years, said it was the first time she had never seen anything like it either!). Chris was amazing the whole time, and just kept telling me how beautiful she was. I was pretty freaked out until I heard her cry.

Payton is beautiful. It was so amazing to get to see her for the first time. Within the hour, the delivery room was full of friends. Our families came soon after, and it was so amazing to get to show her off.

We are so blessed to have two healthy, amazing children. We are so thankful to our friends and family who have been such an amazing support for us and who have loved on our kids so much.