TWO years old!!!

My dear, dear William, you are two years old! I just can't believe it. You are just the sweetest little thing, and learn something new every single day! You just amaze us!

We haven't been to your two year checkup yet, but we have been to the doctor a couple times this month, so I have an estimate on your weight - 26 pounds. You are still our thin, but tall little boy. You wear a size 5 diaper, and your longalls are size 2T, while shirts and pants stay around 18-24m. We just bought you new shoes for the fall, and you jumped from a 5 to a 7.5!!! You still LOVE your paci. I know, I know, we need to work on it. But now you actually say, "My paciiii" when you want it, and it just kills me. There are worse habits... You still take a nap most days. Mostly only once a day, in the afternoon, for about 2-3 hours. You go to bed around 8:30-9, depending on what's going on in our life at that time. Thank goodness you are pretty flexible.

You are a decent eater. Some of your favorites are: cheese quesadillas, mac and cheese, cheese sticks (anything cheese, really haha. If we ask you what you want to eat, you say, "Cheeeeese"), hot dogs, turkey, bread of any kind, yogurt, Honey Nut Cheerios, raisins, fruit snacks, and lately you are obsessed with my sour cream and onion chips. You still won't eat a baked or mashed potato! Your favorite drinks are water, milk, and juice. You do love your sweets, but luckily get tired of them after a couple bites. You will begggg, "Cupcake, peassse, cookie, peassse". It is too cute to resist!

You are a talker!! I LOVE it. In fact, around 20 or so months old, I was keeping track of words you said in my Notes on my phone. I read somewhere you should know at least 50, and goodness, lately you have passed that by leaps and bounds. I couldn't even begin to estimate how many you know. You LOVE going around the room or table and telling us who each person is. It is just the sweetest thing. I love when you say your prayers, and say, "Dear God" and tell Him who/what you are thankful for in your life. Then. you give this big, evangelistic AMENNN!!! afterwards. It tickles us!!! Some favorites of mine to hear you say are: Beeeeannnn (Breanne), luhhh oooo (love you), Mama, Daddy, RiRi, Gayyyce (Grace), awwww (when you see something sad or sweet.

You know a lot of body parts - arm, leg, foot, knee, bottom, toes, fingers, hand, head, hair, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, etc. I love it! You loooove doing animal sounds also. Some of your favorites are: dog, cat, cow, horse, dinosaur, lion, bird, monkey, elephant, snake, owl, pig, duck, frog, chicken.

You have so many little friends. We are so blessed in that department!!! The funny thing is, you have mostly girl friends. In fact, there are only a couple boys your age invited to your birthday party, ha! You and Molly have been tight from the beginning, and you LOVE to hang out with Grace. We have a lot of fun family dinner with the Robinson's and you love playing with their three girls. One of your favorite things to do is to walk outside and see if anyone is outside playing. If they are, we hear "play, play" until we take you out there. You love joining Ella, Maxx, Lucy, and Asher out there with bubbles, balls, sand, etc. You are very bold. I am so thankful you don't seem to be shy. You walk right up to your friends, and say, hiiiii. Ha! We have had a few bouts of tears at nursery drop off at church, but they are pretty rare, and stop as soon as I leave you.

You started preschool this month! You are only going once a week, on Mondays, but you LOVE it. You have already made your first craft, and celebrated a birthday with those new friends! You have the sweetest teachers, who have nothing but good things to say about you.

Your nursery teachers at church say you are just the best at helping clean up. This is not the case at home. I struggle with which is more important - helping at home where WE benefit, or helping when other people can see it haha! You do LOVE to sing the Clean Up Son though. You are very good about helping me unload the dishwasher. You know where the silverware, pots and pans, and tupperware goes, and you are more than happy to help out with that. I have caught you on more than one occasion sneaking in the pantry and getting out Riley's box of Milk-bones, and just feeding her one after the other while chanting, "Bone, good girl, good girl". She LOVES it of course.

On September 7th, you broke your arm playing at the park. We were sooo nervous, but you handled it like a champ, and The Lord was so gracious. You only had a buckle fracture, and it is healing so nicely! We saw an orthopedist last week, and you are free to play and use your arm as much as you feel comfortable, yay! Restricting a two year old's activity is tough. You have been relatively healthy this year, though. You did have a bout with croup that wasn't too pleasant, but for the most part, we have been lucky.

You took your first "big" vacation this year - Disney World!! You loved it sooo much more than we thought you would. We can't wait to take you back again. We also took you to see Sesame Street Live, and that was a huge hit! Your birthday party theme is Sesame Street, since that has been a big hit around here. You enjoyed the pool a lot this summer, as well as attending VBS at church for the first time (albeit only in nursery;)) You and Nana had a lot of bonding time this summer over your love of the movie theater. We took you for the first time in June, and she took you several times. She loved having a movie partner! You also played at Chick Fil A for the first time, a couple months ago! You are OBSESSED with it...which is why I hesitated so long to start it. Now, as soon as we pull up to CFA, you are saying, "Play, play! Gayce, Gayce!" You remember that we always meet Carolyn and Grace at CFA. ;) We visited Marbles for the first time with Shelley and Conner a couple months ago. Both of you just loved running around and playing with everything!!

Some of your favorites right now are, Winnie the Pooh, Lightning McQueen, Sesame Street, Sully and Mike from Monsters U, Buzz and Woody from Toy Story. Buzz and Woody have been REALLY big lately. You still love Mickey, Sofia, Doc McStuffins. You love having our iPhone and looking through all the pictures. You actually have posted to our Facebook a few times, haha! You also managed to order a skateboard from Nana's Zulily app. Hilarious. You love to carry around your books, talking Toy Story dolls, little Sesame Street plastic figures, etc. You love getting dizzy, and singing Ring Around The Rosie.

We are definitely getting into disciplining on the regular. You love to shout, "NOO" in a really sassy voice. It drives me insane. Sometimes that is accompanied by you throwing your paci or toy on the floor in anger. Shew, disciplining is HARD!!!


You are just such a joy. I don't know how else to explain it. I still struggle with raising you to be a gentleman, and we just pray that you will follow us in our faith and trust The Lord. I hope you always love us as much as you do right now! We just love you to pieces!!!

Love, Mama and Daddy

Being A New Believer

Lately I have had a lot of comments about my spirituality. A lot of people say things like, "you have flipped over 'this religion'", "you are hardcore now", etc. Maybe that is true. But nothing has ever given me the overwhelming peace and comfort that I have felt since becoming a believer.

My testimony is totally awesome and gives God all the glory, but I am not ready, and not sure if I ever will be, to share it publicly. The little part I am willing to share is this: God has changed my life. As a mother, as a wife, as a person totally. I remember clearly a day in January. Robbie was doing The Love Dare. Through that, he was discovering all sorts of things about himself and us. He texted me that day in January about how he had re-dedicated his life to The Lord. That in order to make our marriage stronger and better, he wanted that relationship with Christ. Through my blurred vision, I wrote back that it was the best text I have ever received. I was so happy for him, but what about me?? I had never given my life to the Lord, even though I believed in Him. After I saw how happy Robbie was in his renewed faith, I started asking a lot of questions. On February 6th of this year, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. So awesome!

Sometimes I am overwhelmed. I have so many good friends who are like little theologians, walking around ministering to people and their blog posts are filled with bible verses that are totally related to their situation. However, that feeling of inadequacy is not the point of being a Christian. Believing that God sent his only Son, Jesus, to die for US! For you and me! Even though we were full of sin (and still are), he died to give us eternal life. In our bible study, we studied God's love this week. God loves us as much as he loves his own Son!! Can you imagine?! I know I can't imagine loving everyone (or anyone, really) as much as I love William. I am still figuring it all out myself, but I will tell you - it is just overwhelming and sooo comforting to know you always have someone with you and with your best interests at heart.

The thing is, Providence Baptist Church is my happy place. Robbie and I serve on the leadership team in our Sunday school class, on Sunday nights at BLAST with the four year olds, and I attend a wonderful women's bible study that I just love. When I am there, it is like home to me. However, attending all of these events, and listening to K-Love radio, and saying "Praise God!"; that isn't all there is to it! You have to truly believe!! And I can tell you, I truly believe, and try to live my life for Him everyday. Will I make mistakes? Of course. Every day can't be perfect. But, my marriage and my life as a whole has improved since trusting God. I will also tell you, there is nothing sweeter than seeing a little baby put his hands together and bow his head to pray, and whisper "Dear God", and start listing all of the things he is thankful for. Thank you, Jesus!!

  

        

Happy Birthday, William!!!

The night before turning two!!!

Y'all, my BABY turned two on Sunday!!! I can't even believe it. In so many ways he seems grown, but then I still see little glimpses of that sweet little baby in there too! We had a BUSY day Sunday. I hope to do a post soon on all of his two year happenings, and this weekend we will be busy with a dedication and birthday party on Sunday!

Sunday morning, William and I made it out of the door for church by the skin of our teeth. We had to run to the doctor Saturday morning because he was wheezing (happens every time he gets a cold!). Sooo I had to give him a breathing treatment Sunday morning. Anyway, once we got to church, I dropped him off and headed to a baby dedication class, for his dedication THIS Sunday. After church, we met Shelley, Brandon, and Conner at Dickey's BBQ for lunch. I was SO happy they stopped to see us! They got William the coolest Chuggington set (he had us open it immediately). Carolyn, Paul, and Grace also stopped by with a gift. William was sooo happy to see "Gaaayyyce". He is now obsessed with his RC car and Buzz Lightyear toy!

 

 

Driving Shelley's car!

Thank you, Grace!

When we got home, William's Papa was almost to our house to see him! Therefore, he had no nap. And that is just not good on a Sunday, haha! By the end of their visit, he was fading fast. Totally sassy and grumpy. Papa got him the new Big Hugs Elmo (it is sooo cool!) and a tshirt from the mountains! Annette got him two new movies!! He also opened his gift from Hannah - the talking Woody, talking Buzz, and talking Jessie, from Toy Story. Obsessed doesn't even describe it. He LOVES them.

Playing with his two new Buzz Lightyear's!

What is it?!

Ohhhhh!

Aww!!

When Papa and Annette left, it was dinnertime. As soon as we got in the car with Mama, he passed OUT. I knew he would. We decided to skip a nice dinner, and just grab Firehouse Subs. He slept the entire meal! After dinner, we had to run to Wal Mart (it was our turn to take snack to preschool on Monday). Nana bought him some mini cupcakes to celebrate him! He loved them, and kept asking for snacks (I guess so, you didn't have dinner!) He got pretty irritable while shopping...just completely exhausted. We got home, gave a bath, and were {guiltily} happy to get him to sleep. Isn't that awful!? But, we knew he was exhausted, and the whining had just reached its end with me!

Knocked OUT!

Yummy cupcake!

Sweet boy!

Monday at preschool, the celebration continued. He took applesauce and mini Oreo's for snack, and when I picked him up, he even had a Happy Birthday crown. That he would not take off! LOL. He kept telling me it was his "happy hat". He LOVES when people say/sing Happy Birthday! Haha!

<3

 

Even when he is a frustrated little sleepy boy, we still just love him to pieces and are SO thankful God chose us to be his mama and daddy. We look forward to every single day with him!

{Almost} Free to Go!

Yesterday, we had our follow-up appointment with an orthopaedist for William's arm. They took more X-rays, and this experience was much more positive than the ones taken at the Urgent Care. There was no crying, yay! William was just excited that he got two stickers for being such a good patient! The doctor came in and said that the fracture is healing nicely, and there is no need for William to wear his sling anymore (YAY!!!). He really doesn't have to restrict his activity either. We are sooo glad to hear this! I figured it was getting better, since we haven't had to give him Motrin in a week, and he had been using his arm as if nothing happened - which was a BIG change from when it first happened.

We have to have another follow-up in 5 weeks, just to make sure that it has completely healed, but we should be good to go! The doctor wasn't concerned at all. We are just so so thankful for such good news! He handled the entire situation like a true champ! Praise God for healing!

Lunch at Village Deli before our appt ;)

Waiting to be called back!

So high up!

First Preschool Craft!

Oh my goodness! When I picked William up from preschool yesterday, he had made the sweetest little craft. I just love it! It is the first one that he has done that I didn't help him with. It's just sooo sweet. I have been looking forward to these little crafts ever since he was born, and I am so glad that they are starting!! :)

BLAST!!!

I have had sooo many people asking me what BLAST was, so I figured I'd do a quick post about it. BLAST stands for Bible Learning and Sharing Together. It is a Sunday night program for children aged 2 through 5th grade! You don't have to attend Providence to come, so if anyone is interested in bringing their children by, let me know! :)

With Robbie's work schedule, we could not commit to serve in any areas on Sunday mornings, since he misses most Sundays. However, BLAST is from 6-7:30, and he usually works a day shift on Sundays. So, this way, we can serve, and serve together, which was really important to us. We got paired with an awesome couple, the Le Chatelier's, and we love working with them! :) We teach the 4 year olds, and we just love it! They are all pretty well-behaved and are very interested. They go to games, which they LOVE, and then to music class, and then back to our room for snack and the Bible lesson, and then craft! We have sooo much fun each week with these sweet kids, and love serving Providence in this way!!

First Day of School!!

Yesterday, William started "school!" He is going to Mother's Morning Out at a church by our house. I really wanted him to go 2 days a week, but at this church, they don't offer 2 days for his age. He just misses the cutoff for the 2 year old class. So, he goes on Monday mornings from 9-11:30.

We woke up and he had a special breakfast - a doughnut!!! He was loving it! (See evidence below of the face to the doughnut) LOL!

YUM!

Cheeeese!

We tried to get a few pictures, but he was kind of grumpy. He woke up extra early for him that day, and I think his arm might have been hurting. I have been waiting forever for him to wear that precious school longall. I am a tad obsessed with it! 

I really AM excited!

<3

Are we done yet?!

We got to school and he ran right in! There were some ride-on toys in the lobby, and he started playing. So we had to redirect him to his actual classroom! His teacher, Ms Wendy, is SO sweet. He also has an assistant, Ms Kassie, who is also so nice! He didn't cry or anything when he went in the classroom, so I was happy!

Excited!

William and Ms Wendy!

When we picked him up at 11:30, he was in the lobby playing with a ton of toys. He did great, even wearing his sling. I was surprised to see it still on him actually, ha! When we walked in, he must not have wanted to leave, because he ran to the other side of the room and said, "NO!" I think he was just having too much fun!! We are so glad that he liked it, and hope he will have a fun year, making new friends! When we told him the night before that he was going to school tomorrow, he kept saying, "Grace, Lucy??" I had to let him down gently that they wouldn't be in his class and he would make new friends, haha! We went to lunch after his day, and he was super grumpy. I think he was just exhausted. Sure enough, Robbie texted me a picture as soon as they left, and W was already passed OUT! He took a 3.5 hour nap when they got home! Bless his heart, school wore him out!!

Sweet boy!

Just Slingin' Around...

We had an eventful weekend! Saturday, Mama and I did some back to school shoe shopping for William, and rode around while he napped in the car. When he woke up, we were still waiting for Robbie to get off work, so we decided to take W to the park at Brier Creek to get some wiggles out. There were some older children there, and of course, he wanted to keep right up with them. He did fine for 30 or 40 minutes; just climbing the steps, sliding down, getting in the train. Then he went to another side of the play set and was trying to climb DOWN a ladder, facing OUT. Before I could even holler to him, he fell and was on the ground, crying. I went and grabbed him up, and he usually stops by then. But he kept right on sobbing, so we left the park and got in the car, with the air blasting on us. He kept saying, "Ow, Ow" and holding his left arm. I have zero experience with getting hurt (I am such a baby and try to be annoyingly careful)...so I wasn't sure if we should take him to a doctor or not. But, since it was almost 7 on a Saturday night, I decided we'd jet over to urgent care before they closed, and avoid an ER trip later in the night.

Choo choo!

Sliiiiiide!

Luckily, the urgent care is right across from the park, and there wasn't a wait. William was taken right back, and our friend Brent was the nurse! So that was awesome, because he was super nice to us. He even gave William a Buzz and Jessie sticker, so he was pretty much a favorite in our house! ;) Poor William was just miserable. He has had a cold for a couple days, so between a runny nose, still being hot from the park, and his sore arm, he was just done. The doctor came in, and couldn't determine if it was broken or just dislocated, and their X-ray machine was down. So, he sent us over to the other urgent care. We waited forever there, and the tech finally came in and said that there was a miscommunication, and she was getting the X-ray set up now. William DID NOT like the X-ray at all. We had to hold him down for her to even get a decent shot. She said if she couldn't get them, our only other option was the ER...and we were NOT going there!! She sent them back to the dr at Brier Creek, since their UC was PACKED. There were like seven people ahead of us! And it was already 8:30. Finally, after some begging from me, the nurses gave him some Motrin. The funniest thing - when we took the meds, he kept putting the syringe back in his mouth saying, more, more! He was so hungry!!! I hadn't even thought about him being hungry, but it WAS late! The nurses all joked, saying they wished all patients took their medicine so well. We hooked him up with some water, Toy Story fruit snacks, mini muffins, and one sweet nurse heard him asking for cheese and brought him a cheese stick from his own lunch!! The doctor from the first urgent care actually drove to this one, to evaluate W one last time before sending him home. The radiologist at Duke said the X-ray didn't show a break, and he didn't act like it was dislocated since he was moving it so much more, so we were sent home, finally, at 9pm, with instructions to come back tomorrow if he was still not using it. As we walked out, another sweet nurse gave W a rubber fish toy and a helicopter! He LOVED them!!! Mama and Stephanie were out in the waiting room all that time, and they were so glad when we finally came out! We were all starving, so we ran to the Mexican place by our house and grabbed something. William was starving, bless his heart!!! Thankfully, he went on to sleep after a bath and slept all night! Shew!

Poor baby! :(

Feeling better!

Late dinner with his new friends!

Sunday morning, Robbie and I went to Sunday school, and left William at home with Mama. He was acting fine, but just in case! Well , while in class, the doctor from UC called, just to check on him. Then, I noticed he was calling a second time! I stepped out of class to call him back. A different radiologist at Duke saw his X-ray, and he said that William has a buckle fracture on his left arm, up by his shoulder, on the outside of his upper bone (I think the humerus??). Since his bones are so soft because of his age, his bone didn't break, just kind of buckled. It typically heals on its own, but they wanted him to be fitted for a sling and wear that as much as possible. After lunch, we ran back over to Urgent Care, and he quickly got fitted. The doctor put in a call to an orthopedist, so we will have to see him for a follow up. Hopefully everything is healing fine, and he will be good to go in a couple weeks!!!

Nervous about this room...

Big boy!

All done!

He has done pretty well with the sling. I think they obviously know a 2 year old will not be keeping that thing on 100% of the time, but he does pretty good I think! He wore it to preschool today, and actually kept it on. I think sometimes it frustrates him, because I will hear him saying, "Off, off!" Kind of hard to explain to a 2 year old, but we try! "William, we need to keep the sling on to make your arm strong again." If you ask him what happened to his arm, he will say, "Sliiiide". Bless his heart. We are just so so thankful that it isn't any worse. So many children and parents are coping with sooo much worse, and would give ANYthing to have a broken arm. So, we are trying to stay positive. For some reason, I was pretty calm throughout it all. I knew he was ok, and would be ok, so I wasn't too stressed. Little boys (and some little girls haha) are going to take falls and jumps, and I just have to be prepared! We are so thankful that God was watching that sweet boy, because he fell from a pretty high spot, and protected him from having any sort of brain/neck injury. Two days later, we are still praising The Lord for so many blessings: the wonderful nurses, doctors, medical advancements to make it all possible, and such a minor injury as a broken arm when so many parents and children are fighting such huge obstacles. God is good!!!

August Wrap Up!

I cannot believe it is already September!! The summer totally flew by, and the fall is going to be so busy - with a sweet boy turning TWO, a Sesame Street birthday party, dedication at church, BLAST, and preschool!! Here is an August photo dump! ;)

Obsessed with pulling the dinosaur train around!

<3 these boys!

Soda snatcher like his friend Eleanor!

Waiting for dada to get a haircut and pretending to drive!

Is Mike thirsty?

William shares so well with Riley, ha!

He loves to share popcorn with dada!

Bunch of work girls at Deon's wedding.

Congrats, Deon and Kari!

Ring around the rosie with the Robinson girls!

Excited about corn on the cob!

He was so proud that he lined up all of his Cars.

Helping Mama cook!

Nana brought him a cupcake, and we kept telling him it was a surprise. All we kept hearing was, "sapwize, sapwize" :)

Beep beep, beep beep!

Back to my brunette roots!

When the diapers come in the mail, William has to check to make sure Elmo is on the box!

New bookbag!

Pouring his granola in the yogurt

New obsession=airplanes. 

So excited to have his own cheese dip at lunch with Papa!

Papa got W a big Buzz and Woody!! He LOVES them!

Grocery shopping with these two guys!

Our church had Celebration Sunday a couple weeks ago. What a wonderful time of worship!!

Sunday lunch with Mama, Hannah, the Butchers and Robinsons! <3

Sweet girls!

Love!

Seeing Planes for the second time with dada!

Sweet boy enjoying a cookie before bed.

Just a little train traffic jam before church!

William was busy making a huge mess!

Having dessert with GE and Eleanor!

Hannah babysat while Robbie and I went to parent orientation at his preschool. She sent me this DARLING pic on their way to Jason's Deli!

So full of drama. Didn't want to go to bed!

Eating pizza like a big boy!

Driving a train, chewing a bone.

Love this! He LOVES his sister!

Doing a little reading before Grandma and Grandpa arrive!

Shopping with Grandpa at Home Depot!