AtlantaMama'sExpressions

Our Family Update and
Highlights from March 2011

This is one of the reasons I blog... it's a way to keep records of my kids, about my kids, and for my kids.  It will be familiar to them to grow up in a generation where your whole life has been "shared" on line.  And while I do am careful about what and how I post... I do love sharing milestones.

This past month both kids have been sick a lot.  Mainly cough and cold stuff that just kept getting passed around (even to me and both grandmothers).  But we are finally all getting well. Yay.

Early in March we had a service for the passing of the kids great grandmother.  She had been sick for several years but it was still a very difficult loss because she was so dearly loved and super loveable.  My husband was asked to pray at the family visitation and even spoke at the service the following day.  He did a lovely job of honoring his sweet grandmother.  We know that this is not the end but the beginning of her time in eternity.  We will be together again Nanny.

Early Then on March 9th the baby turned 16 months old!! WOW!  Where has the time gone?  He's talking a lot... he says short sentences, he knows some animals and their sound, he loves to take about cars and airplanes, he loves to DANCE, and he will only feed himself (will not be fed).  In month 16 he also started saying "I love you"!  He melts my heart.  In month 16 I've had to call poison control twice... and we now have a lovely butterfly bandage on his head. (The head boo boo took place this Sunday, March 27 and it's healing quickly!)
  I say he's busy.  My family says he's active.  My husband says he's a billy goat because he has to climb to the highest point and he eats things like paper, side-walk-chalk, crayons, and diaper wipes all the time.  So, the point is... I can't turn my back on my little Jack Russell for one minute.  Literally in the time it took my to go pee pee the other day, he was on the fireplace, taking tiny rocks and other items out of the actual fireplace and covered in black dust.  We now have child proofing on every drawer, cabnet, pantry, door knob... everything.  I have my HAND FULL in this stage of his life.  And I am praying for God to teach me how to keep him safe but also how to embrass his love and desire for FREEDOM.  That's just in him!!  He does not sit still.  He's always happy and on the go... And I love him SOOOO much!  God's got BIG plans for this kid... LOOK OUT!

My Toddler is growing up fast and turning into Mr. Pre-K.  He knows his alphabet and sounds pretty well and we are starting to play with some writing.  We made the decision to homeschool next year!  Yikes!  Here we go... Whatever happens, it will be an adventure.

He's also my helper in every way.  He helps with clean up, cooking, baking, clothes, trash, and most importantly right now, he's my watchdog... He'll yell, "Mom, the Baby's doing something dangerous!"  ; )  He's a good big brother.  They are amazing friends and love to play together!  And I enjoy watching them have fun and GO at their crazy energy levels until they crash.  I also enjoy movie nights with Mr. Pre-K.  We enjoy the pop corn and he talks about what we are watching and gets so into it. 

We are getting to know his little personality and his heart even more now.  He 's learned how to pray with us at night and that's just AWESOME!  He's a good kid!!  We are also seeing more and more of his creative skills.  He's into drawing, singing, art, play-doh, and playing different instruments like drums, recorder, piano, and his new fav -- THE HARMONICA! 
In this month of March, the Harmonica has LIVED with him 24/7.  It goes in the car, in the sand box, in the bed, and even sometimes in the bath.  He loves his yellow harmonica.  So this past week (we have been stuck inside with a lot of rain) He put together a concert for us!!  He picked out the outfit, he rehearsed "songs" and "tricks", and even practiced taking a bow while I clapped.  So much fun! 

I have taken 3 month off from blogging.  And I've missed it.  I went through a time where I realized I needed to cut back on some things, that were extra, in order to better focus on the things that were and are most important.  So the blog took a back seat for a few months.  I now feel the freedom to come back to it WITH FREEDOM.  Freedom to post when I can, when I have time, and when it's not taking away from other things.

God has been doing a lot in us lately.  Well, He's always at work.  But this has been a season where I can feel the work.  It's not like having your teeth worked on with no drugs... no, no... it's more like truth boot camp.  Almost like a coach who has you doing sports boot camp until you can hardly feel your legs underneath your body... but you know it's all for a goal and purpose.  And you want to be there.  I feel that.  And I am grateful to be in this season.

The kids are doing well.  WOW!  They are growing up.  The oldest, "Bear" is 3 & 1/2 going on 4 and the baby love, "Pumpkin" is now 16 months old!  They get along super well and laugh at each other all the time... even when it's nap time.  I am very grateful for them and I am loving being a Mom to two boys! 

I'm leaning everyday with two toddlers... God is guiding me through the roller coaster days of messes - diapers - time out - cleaning - stepping on toys on the way to the bathroom - have teachable moments - watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse instead of the news - "let's share and take turns" over and over - all of the day in/day out things... I am learning.  I love it.  I love them. 

I am really enjoying getting to know their personalities.  In fact, I'm thinking about changing their blog nicknames.  Hmm, we'll see?!!

Well... it's good to be back!

I want more time to blog so that I can keep a track record of all of the great stories of my kids and our family life together.  This summer was super busy with trips and visits to their grandparents.  Then we took a huge step with our company so I have just stayed busy!    We enjoyed our church summer camp this summer, and our first big family fishing trip to a lake and river area in north Georgia, we enjoyed lots of swimming time and cooking out together, we celebrated Nana's 50th this summer, we found out that our brother and sister in-law are going to have a baby in Feb 2011, we enjoyed lots of other friends 3rd birthday parties from our playgroup... I met two of these mom's in our Lamaze class over three years ago!!  It's been a busy summer.  This summer also brought some harder times with our house on the market and more importantly Gran Gran has had a lot going on with his heart and A-fib issues.  Wow, we have been busy!

We have recently enjoyed our toddler's 3 year birthday and our little baby love is now 10 months old!

The baby is pulling up all day long and will even let go and just stand.  He'll be walking soon!  He's also teething very fast... already up to 7 teeth!  He's a busy baby.  He does not stay still for long.  He's a talker too... tellin' us all about it!  We are so blessed by him.

Our amazingly funny toddler is almost fully potty trained now.  He likes the "big boy pants" and being a big boy "like Daddy".  The poopy was our hardest step but we are doing better and better.  We are enjoying this age because we talk and talk and he just says the funniest things.  He's always been into animals and we continue to talk about animals and become animals and draw pictures of animals.  It's his thing!  We are doing homeschool pre-school... yes!  I never thought I would homeschool... but here we go!  He is so smart and I love to watch him learn.  We are doing more now with some Leap Frog stuff and he's just doing great.  We do lots of hands on art work to talk about colors, shapes, letters, etc... and then we hang the art work up to show it off to Daddy, Kiki, and Gran Gran.  He is an awesome kid!!  We are so close and I love our relationships with in our little family of four. 

The boys love each other and laugh at each other often.  They laugh at each other when it's time for naps or bed time and I don't even know what they are laughing at or why they think the other one is so funny.  It's a brother thing.  My Husband and I are really working on honor being the key thing in our home.  We want to set an example of honoring each other and showing love and respect.  We set that out there for them too... even between each other.  We believe if we encourage them to honor, respect, and love each other (and us) then that will translate outside the home to other friends, and other adults.  Character is more important than schooling.  Character is built through example and relationship.  We are are all learning... the kids are learning about each other and how to treat each other and we are learning a lot as parents of two boys.

I am very busy with the kids, homeschool stuff, our company (I am a photographer), and my own stuff - like our small group and our mom's groups... but I sure do miss keeping up with my blog.  It's a good outlet for me.  Me time is few and far between these days.

Please continue to pray for my Daddy.  Pray for our house to SELL.  And please pray for favor over our family run company!!!

I have not been on (blogging/on-line) in a few days...
1.) Due to my computer being sick (but we think it's Ok now)