Memorial weekend fun!

We had a great weekend and played outside lots! The babies love to be outside which is something I don't get to do as much as I want when I am by myself because it's hard to chase them both alone! Unless we are playing in a fenced in backyard or I have help, it's just walks in the stroller for mommy and the babies! Brad and I have talked about trying to fence in a little area of our yard for them to play during the day when I am home with them. We pretty much spent the whole weekend with my family in Cicero chasing babies in my sisters yard. The babies had a full weekend of taking rides in their wagon (they call it their "wee") , jumping on a trampoline and swimming. It was a good weekend and reminded me why I love summers in Indiana. TN summers were not as pleasant for me. The humidity was much worse, I probably would have never let the babies run bare foot in the grass in TN! The grass there is much different then it is here! Anyway...here are a few pics from our fun weekend!

I'm back!

I thought I was locked out of my blog forever! I tried for a couple of days to post a new blog and it wouldn't let me log on. I still have no idea why, I thought it was because I no longer have the email address that is my user ID. But I tried tonight and it worked! I was so afraid I was gonna have to start all over! Anyway...it's almost June and that is so crazy. We have been in Indiana for 3 months now and it seems like we have been here forever. We are loving it still! We feel so blessed to be where we are at in life right now. Our house back in TN sold and we close in a few days, that is such a huge wait lifted. Brad loves his job and can't imagine ever being back in a warehouse again. We get to see each other so much more with the church being just around the corner from the house we are in, he has Friday's off (most of the time, unless it's a busy week!) We get to see family tons more, I have met new friends as well as met up with old friends. A couple of weeks ago I went on a women's retreat with the ladies from church and it was amazing. The church has a great group of women that have made me feel totally welcome and at home. Ok...enough about us, I'm sure you want me to get to the babies! Lilly and Asher.....oh where do I even begin. Asher is still my sweet sensitive boy and Lilly is still my drama queen! (she is for sure turning out to be quite the handful). She says lots of words now, at least it seems like lots...let me see if I can make a quick list:

NO! (one of her favorites)

hi

bye

ut-oh

Shelly

Asher

so

I got her out of her car seat one day and looked at her and said "whats up" and so now she has shortened it to "sup"
momma

dadda

papa

nana

thank you

shoe

ball

ok....maybe there are too many to list. She will also try to repeat words and names you tell her to say.

Asher doesn't say as many, he is too busy laughing and acting goofy to care about talking. A few of his words are:

Bye bye

hi (his favorite)

momma

dadda
nana

1...2...3 ( he loves to count to 3, although most times it comes out 2...2....3)

all done

ball

They are so much fun right now as well as so much work! Lilly loves to dance and has some pretty good moves I must say! Asher dances too and will also try to sing when we sing to him. They both love to play outside, Lilly discovered she loves slides and Asher isn't real sure about them. They played in a sandbox for the first time the other day at my friend April's house and that was pretty fun until Asher decided to start eating handfuls of sand! I finally had to take him out and he would still try and sneak over and grab a handful and start to put it in his mouth. Well I could go on and on but I will save it for another day, this one is long enough , plus I need to post a few pics! Love to you all!

Outside fun with the babies!

The last couple of days we have taken the babies to the park and they love to swing! I wasn't sure how they would be at first because my sisters baby is about the same age and she went first and wasn't a big fan, but she warmed up. So We tried Lilly and Asher and it was a hit! They also wanted to walk around and check things out. Lilly sat in the rocks and picked them up and just poured them out of her hand so I was assuming Asher would do the same. NOPE, they all went straight for his mouth. He was putting them in so fast I could hardly even take a picture. Lilly loves to climb on things to so I had to follow her around more. They are really changing, both are walking now and just as sweet as ever. Asher winks now at people (although it's with both eyes!) They are both saying some words and getting funny little personalities. It is great being back home with family and they love coming to see their cousins! I'm so glad they live close to them and can grow up around family. Well here are a few pictures of our outside adventures!

Asher finally got a crib!

Well as some of you know, the poor little guy has been sleeping in a pack n' play since about 9.5 months old. They slept in one crib together up until then and the little princess go the crib and Asher got stuck in a pack n' play! We really meant to get him his own a lot sooner, but then we found out about the move and decided we need to wait until after we moved to get him a crib so we didn't have to move two. So thanks to Gramma Chris and Papa Hoz, Asher is a happy guy in his new little bed. We put him in it after daddy put it together and he jumped and jumped with a huge grin! Last night was his second night to sleep in it and both nights he did great! I thought he might wake up in the night and realize that it was different, but he didn't! Speaking of waking up...I hear a little voice coming from the monitor right now....wow not a very long nap. Here are a few pictures of the big boy and then a few of them together.

My Lilly is walking!!

Well...not all the time, but she does when she wants to! She started last week taking a few steps here and there and now she will pull herself up to something and I'll look over and she is walking towards me laughing, like "what is this I am doing??" Asher on the other hand thinks it's all a big game. We will stand him up and try and get him to walk to one of us and he takes one step , maybe two and falls into our arms laughing. Lilly is so tiny, she really looks funny walking, almost like she just shouldn't be doing that yet! Another new thing we are trying is getting rid of the bottle, which I have just put off because I knew it wasn't gonna be easy. Lilly doesn't seem to mind when I hand her the sippy cup with milk in it, but Asher on the other hand is not happy about it at all! He takes the cup as soon as I give it to him, and throws it. I'll lay him back to try and make him at least taste what is in it, thinking if he knows it's the same as what is in his bottle, things will all be fine...but nope! he is refusing to drink it unless we put it in a bottle! So now what??? any suggestions? Just keep trying?? Should I put it in a bottle if he won't drink it or just stick with it and not switch back and forth? I'm thinking I should just keep offering the sippy and not switch back to the bottle, but I feel bad because he won't drink it. Anyway....let me know if ya'll have some good ideas!

Getting settled in Indiana...

Well, we are here! Still unpacking and getting things in order...but we live in Indiana now. Crazy. I think the babies are finally starting to realize this is home and we aren't just at some one else's house visiting. The first few nights trying to get them settled was rough...speaking of rough, let me just tell you how the move went! ...My sister and her husband came down to Smryna the Friday before we left to help us load up the truck, do last minute touch-ups/painting/repairs and cleaning. Well, even after all the work we had been doing, there was still soooo much to do. I have no idea why we thought we could get it all done before we headed out on Sat. but that was the plan. So we had Shelly, Tom, our friends Rob, Kyle, Joel and Anita all there, helping us load up the truck, clean, do repairs, etc. (I don't think I left anyone out, I'm sorry if I did....those two days were a bit hazy and overwhelming for me!) Thank the Lord for Joel...Mr. construction himself! He did tons to help us with repairs while his awesome wife Anita helped my sister and I clean, she even went back and vaccumed the house after we left! What awesome friends. Anyway....I was doing all of this while being sick of course, because that has been my year, I have stayed sick it seems like. So Friday night the house was empty, we slept on matresses on the floor, got up the next morning to finish cleaning, the guys were working on stuff outside and we didn't get out of there until 2:00pm! We were really rushing because we had people from the church here waiting on us to unload the truck when we arrived in Indiana which wasn't until 9pm. So Brad drove the big truck with the two dogs and Shelly and I hopped in the car, looking just like we had been cleaning for two days and drove my car with the two babies. Lilly pretty much cried off and on the whole 6 hour drive! We thought we were gonna go nuts! The girl wouldn't fall asleep, just cried and cried and cried unless I was feeding her cheerios. So the closer we got to Indiana the worse I started feeling. Waiting at the house for us were Brad's parents and about 20 people from the church! They had the truck unloaded and our beds set up and the crib set up in like 20 min. it was crazy. So in we walk, looking quite scary, I might say and having to meet all these people with no make up on, my hair a mess, sick and I might have even been in my pj's. I can't remember. All I could think about was going to bed because I knew I was getting worse. Thank you sooo much to everyone at Hope church for helping that night...it was such a huge blessing. So we finally got the babies to sleep after a rough couple of hours and we all crashed. Brad's parents spent the night with us and we were all gonna wake up and go to church the next morning. Well, I woke up a little earlier then planned, oh about 3am with a huge ear ache. It was all muffled sounding and just throbbing, so I woke Brad up and he got me a hot wash cloth to put over it and it just kept getting worse. All I could do was rock back and forth or pace the floor. I couldn't sit still, it just hurt too bad. So he wakes his mom up and tells her we may have to go to the emergency room (yes that is how bad it hurt!) We remembered that our insurance hasn't kicked in yet though....oops....so he went to a 24 hour CVS pharmacy and told the guy what the problem was and he gave Brad some sweet oil to put in my ear. Well that was a very strange feeling...anyway, soon after that I felt so much pressure in my ear and it hurt soooo bad I pretty much was whaling, so we got my jacket and shoes and I was trying to get myself up off the couch in between screams and then it happend....the absolute worse pain I have ever felt in my life....a big pop and lots of hurtin'! I knew my eardrum had just burst. It was strange though after it happend, it started feeling a little better, I couldn't hear out of it at all, which was scary, but It wasn't aching as bad. So we waited until the next day to go to a clinic because the pain had gotten much better. So Brad and his parents and the babies went to church while I stayed home in bed with a bleeding ear. I know that's gross, but that is what happened when I woke up that morning. After they got home Brad and I went to the clinic and sure enough , a hole in my eardrum, which happened because of the pressure of the sinus infection I had (and never got treated for :( ) So she put me on antibiotics and get this....oh it's not over yet....I was allergic to them! I am actually allergic to many, so it's hit or miss when I get put on one. So I just happened to be really allergic to this one! I woke up about 4 days into it and had broken out in this really red rash all over my chest, back, neck and FACE! Can you believe that! So there was my big fat welcome to Indiana! Sorry I know this is really long...but you had to get the whole story , right?! I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out that I had wanted to write, but I'll save it for another blog. Oh, about the rash, it's just now going away after what....2 weeks? So the babies are doing good, not crying anymore when we put them to bed like when we first got here, we love the house! It's nice and roomy, I'll post pics of it later, but for now here are some pics of our house in TN, didn't we all do a good job!!