Laid Back Weekend

We had a low key laid back weekend with some beautiful weather! We got up early Saturday morning because we had a 9:00 appointment with Teresa to get the kids Easter picture taken. I think they will turn out super cute, I'm so excited to see them! 

She posted this picture, after I started this post.  Cute huh?

After pictures we headed to Springfield to hit Babies-R-Us and the mall. We were back home by 1:00, which was fabulous! Nathan and I decided that this is how we will do Springfield with two kids from now on! Saturday afternoon Nathan mowed the yard played outside with Amelia while I worked around the house during Asher's naptime.  Saturday evening Amelia and I went and grabbed some groceries before it was bedtime. Nathan and I finished up the evening watching the NCAA Tournament.
Sunday was a busy but great day, if you don't count my team losing in the NCAA Tournament! We started off with church, where Kylie went forward to make public her salvation!!  We were so proud of her, she was VERY nervous.  After a quick nap for Amelia we headed to Mema and Papa's for lunch and some time playing outside.

Love the crazy hair!

First time swinging, he loved it!

After lunch we ran home and prepared dinner to take to my mom's house where we celebrated Wyatt and Jim's birthdays and played outside some more!  We took FULL advantage of the beautiful weather!

Amelia and Aden 'fishing' off the hot tub.

All in all it was a great weekend, couldn't have asked for anything better than hanging out with family and playing outside!

Random Ramblings

~ Sleep training little man has been put on hold because of the cold he has.  That means we are now up twice a night instead of once.  Plus I had to get up last night with Amelia because she was coughing so much she got choked.  My last good night of sleep was 6 1/2 months ago.  I sure do miss it!

~ We are going to the horse races in two weeks!  I can not wait, I think I'm more excited about sleeping all night long! Even if it is in a hotel bed.  I'll take it!

~ I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest.  I currently have no less than 7 projects started because of Pinterest.  I really need to work on completing them, but I'd rather be pinning.  :)

~  I stink at 'dieting'.  End of story.

~ Hunger Games comes out this weekend, I can not wait to see it, just not sure when I'll get too.  I LOVED the books!

~ The new babysitter trial has been put on hold as well, due to the sick children.

~ There was a Harry Potter Marathon on this weekend and we watched a lot of it, since then I have started rereading the books.  I'm a nerd. 

~ I need to find a crib for Asher at Mema's house.  Amelia has one there, but she still sleeps in it.   I'm thinking I'll check out Craigslist.

~ I need to get my act together and start meal planning dinner again.  But that would cut into my pinterest and reading time.  :)

I think I'm done rambling about nothing.  It's a cold nasty rainy day today and I'm at work.  Lois just sent me this cute picture of the kids, they built a tent and are playing in it.

Check out Amelia's face!

Sick Kids

My kids are sick, again. I absolutely hate having sick kids. They aren't throwing up nasty sick, but snotty nose, coughing, sneezing sick. It started with Asher Friday and Amelia woke up with it Saturday, a definite downside to two kids, they both get sick. Therefore we did nothing this weekend. We even skipped church Sunday. Which Amelia wasn't happy about, she wanted to go to Sunday School. It's already Tuesday and they are both still snotty, I'm hoping we'll make a turnaround in the next few days. Sorry for the boring post, but that's where we are at right now and what's going on.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Six Month Pictures

We got Asher's six month pictures taken this past week and Teresa posted two previews on Facebook.  I am in love with these two and can't wait to get the rest!  I can't believe my baby is getting so big already.  Mema just text and said he had a snotty nose, and was coughing.  Sick babies are NO fun.  :( 

Pictures courtesty of Teresa's PhotoWorks.

Our Life is a Circus!

Most days we start at the break of dawn, if not earlier, only to run to work, run all day, run home and run until bedtime only to collapse into bed and start again only a few hours later. Hence our life feels like a circus!
However this past weekend we went to the actual circus for the first time with the kids and it was a huge hit!
Friday night Nathan mentioned that the circus was in town and he thought it would be fun to go. I thought it was a great idea and grabbed my phone and text Lois to see of her, Joe and Kylie wanted to go. She said yes, so we made plans to attend the 3:30 show.  Saturday morning we told Amelia we were going to go do something fun; go to the circus.  She was very excited, although she didn't have a clue what the circus was!
I put Amelia down for an early nap and as soon as she woke up we headed to Springfield. The doors were supposed to open 1 1/2 hour before show time, so we arrived shortly after 2, not knowing what to expect. Turns out we were near the front on the line, which was ideal. We got to see them bring the elephant's in up close and personal and we were one of the first families in the mosque, so we got great seats and were able to do all the fun stuff before the show actually started. We ended up leaving at intermission, which was at almost 5:00. Three hours is about the max time you want to be out and about with a toddler and six month old! Amelia loved it, and we loved it just as much. It's such an awesome thing to make memories through you children's eyes.     

Hamming it up before the doors opened.

Amelia watching them bring in the elephants, this was her standard face throughout the whole experience.

Amelia and I being silly before the show started.

Daddy and Asher watching the show.

SECOND time on the pony ride!

Riding the Elephant.

Only half way good family picture I got, Amelia was mad because she wanted to go 'ride' the jump house.

     

Six Months Old

Little dude had his six month check up with Dr. Sears Tuesday. He's still on the small side in the weight range (25%) and on the high end for his height (90%). He weighed 15 lbs 14 oz and was 27 1/2 inches long. He's a healthy growing baby! Dr. Sears says with his weight and age combo he should be going a good 8-10 hour stretch without eating. Next step; continue sleep training. :)
Sleep training, ugh. We've started the process of 'teaching' Asher good sleep habits. I'm a Health Sleep Habits, Happy Child follower. Some agree with and some disagree with this method, either way we used it with Amelia and she is still a FABULOUS sleeper. So we started it with Asher Friday night. He's doing pretty good at this point, but there still room for improvement!
We are continuing on with baby food and he has now had sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, and green beans. He HATES both peas and green beans. I mean he literally will not close his mouth to swallow, just keeps it wide open. It's pretty funny to watch actually. This is a new experience for us, because Amelia ate everything, never gaged or refused anything! Lois tells me Nathan was the same way, he would not eat anything green! Like father like son?? Look out world!! :).

He LOVED the paper on the table!

Hello Big Boy!

Weekend Rewind

Another weekend in the books as a family of four! Boy how our weekends have changed since becoming parents! I remember dinners out, late movies and sleeping in!!! Those all are things of the past, but I wouldn't trade it for the world right now.
After we got the kids in bed on Friday Nathan cooked us some fabulous hamburgers on his Big Green Egg, recipe courtesy of Pinterest! Side note, serious who doesn't just LOVE Pinterest?
Saturday morning brought a quick trip to Walmart and the kids and I headed off to a family baby shower that afternoon.  Another very exciting thing for us, well maybe just for me, is that Amelia has decided that she will wear clips in her hair!  Last weekend we had some friends over for dinner and their little girl wore a clip in her hair, so Amelia thinks it's alright now.  We talked it up big all weekend!  She looks so cute!   

Amelia feeding Asher a Bottle!

At the Baby Shower, with the Clip in her Hair!

Sunday was more of the usual, church and lunch at the in-laws. Early Sunday evening we met with a couple and their daughter as a possible short term option for watching the kids. I feel very good about pursuing her as an option. We are going to do a few play dates and do a trail run to see how things go in the near future. I'm just trusting God has a plan and if it's meant to be its meant to be!

Playing with Papa

Stay at Home Mom?

We've been thrown for a loop the past couple weeks when our babysitter, Sara, developed unexpected pregnancy complications and had to be delivered at only 29 weeks gestation.  Let me first say that yes, I'm a worry when it comes to my children, OK not just my children, I worry about ALL things.  But I have NEVER once worried about them when they are with Sara, NEVER ONCE.  This is a huge huge thing to me, and Sara has been such a blessing in our lives.  We are in the misted for making other arrangements for the kids for a bit while Sara takes the time she needs in order to care for her precious Micah.  I'm trying my best not to stress and just hand it over to God and just know that he has a plan for my family.  But in the mean time I'm getting some extra days at home with the kids and I'm trying to enjoy every moment I can with them.  Here's some of what we've been up to at home. 

Silly Girl

Playing with his Truck

A nap on Momma

Tea Party with Donald Duck

Yup my Laps Full

Riding her Bicycle

Enjoying Some Time Outside

Asher Lynn Beaver

Our precious baby boy is nearly six months old. I'm going to do my best to get us up to date in this one large post! All about him!
Asher was born on September 8th, 2011 @ 1:22 pm, weighing in at 8 lbs and 2 oz, nearly 2 lbs bigger than his sister, and 21 1/2 inches long.  We had another super quick, easy delivery! 

My Big Boy

We all fell in love instantly with his big beautiful eyes. Amelia reacted fabulously and is still such a great big sister and a wonderful helper!

Big Sister chilling with Little Brother

It seems as if Asher hit the ground running. He's hit all his physical developmental milestones early, and just this past Tuesday has started army crawling.  I know every baby is different, but Amelia didn't crawl until she was nine months old, he's not even six months yet, WHAT?  I was concerned about his general demeanor (fussiness, unhappy, crying) and at his four month appointment our pediatrician suggested changing him to a hypoallergenic formula that is easier for his little belly to digest, and it made a huge difference in his attitude. She also said some babies just have better things to do than be and baby,  I believe this to be 100% true. He is so interested in EVERYTHING Amelia is doing and wants to be right there in the middle of the action!

Getting so BIG

Just this week we started little man on baby food, he's a growing boy after all! We started with sweet potatoes and he seems to be digging them!

Current likes: Amelia, toys, crawling, sweet potatoes, and bath time. He's squealing and 'talking' to us daily and flashing his bright smile all the time!
Current dislikes: SLEEP (ugh, he's not the sleeper Amelia was), being left alone (even if we just walk into the other room), and the nose bulb syringe.  We will be starting the process of sleep training him soon!

Being silly with Momma and Sissy

I'm not going to lie; adding just one small baby to our family has been a huge adjustment! I'm almost certain it's more than double the work, but I feel like we're finally hitting our stride and getting the hang of it! There have been many ups and downs in the past six months, from insecurities about as to whether I could be a mom of two, struggling with breastfeeding Asher, learning to balance work, family and life to the joys of a sweet newborn baby asleep in your arms, his giant smile lighting up the room when you walk in, and most recently seeing him crawl.

Asher is the perfect and possibly the final addition to our family!

Big Eyes and Sweet Smile