It's been a while....

Between Orrin, the girls and work...I don't have time to blog anymore! However, I did want to post a few quick pictures of my sweet babies. I can't say enough about them.....they are angels among us!

Adilynn loves her easter candy. What can I say- she is her mother's daughter.

My sweet little Avery. She is crawling, pulling up to a stand, eating all the time and growing like a weed. She's been such a precious blessing to our family. Seeing her smile makes me smile.

Trying not to throw up.

I'm trying to avoid the ever growing knot in the pit of my stomach. In approximately 38 hours I will start training for my new job. The actual work part is not what's bugging me- I can do any amount of work, any day of the week! It's leaving my sweet little baby girl for any given amount of time that is getting me down. Don't get me wrong- I'm super thankful to have this job and so glad this training is only temporary before I will work from home. But any amount of time I don't get to see her just means someone else is enjoying that sweet smile and deep belly laugh. UGH. I keep telling myself that this will be good for the both of us -to have some time apart- but I'm doing a very good job of convincing myself.

It's okay though. I know God will watch over her when I can't. And I'm so thankful that I've had several offers from so many people (people I TRUST) to help out while I'm training. I know moms work all the time and leave their babies so I do feel blessed that I will be able to work from home.

And on Wednesday I'm only training from 9a to 3p and my mom is coming in town to watch her Wednesday and Friday. But the thought of leaving her for six hours is hard. Sound pathetic? Probably....

But I don't care. She's my little mini-me and counts on me more than anyone. I know what each cry means, what she's trying to communicate with each grunt, what she's pointing at, when she's ready for her nap, what she wants to eat and when she wants it, and that if she's quiet for longer than a minute then you better go check on her to see what she's doing!!!! Someday I'll tell her I'm doing this so mommy and daddy can get a bigger house so she can have a little brother or sister! (I told her that today but she insisted on feeding me a Cheerio in the middle of my sentence, so I don't think she cared much)

It's okay....everything will be fine....keep it together.....she'll be fine....I'll be fine....moms do it all the time....don't cry.....

That's what I keep repeating to myself!!!

RELIEF.

Oh my goodness....I could do a cartwheel. I just laid Adilynn down for her morning nap and she only cried for FIVE MINUTES before falling asleep on her own!!! This is such a drastic change from Monday when she cried (off and on, and with me checking on her of course!) for two hours!! I guess this whole cry-it-out method really does work!! I am so proud of her....this has been a long week for both of us. I think she is really feeling attachment issues with me weaning her! She wants me to hug her and hold her all day long, which I glady pass out as many hugs and kisses as she needs. And she has been following me everywhere in the house, and has not been playing as independently as she normally does! I didn't think it would be so hard on me emotionally either! It's difficult to give up something you've done with your child for the past 13 months....what a bond it has created between us. I will miss it, but that just means we get to find other ways to bond!

Here's a picture of those sweet little cheeks I can't wait to go in and smother with kisses after naptime!!!!

My sweet baby.

I just had to brag....

Adilynn has made it big! We had her pictures taken at four months of age and one is posted on the Owen's Photography website. If you to the website, http://www.owensportfolio.com/, go to the "Children" tab. She's the third one down on the first column. (just look for the naked baby with the big head!)

A trashy tale.

Adilynn has developed an interest in the trash can. In the beginning, she would just go over and lift the lid while looking in it. Then it went to trying to take things out of it. I figured since she was interested in it, I would teach her that we only put things IN it. So the last few days I've been working with her on throwing stuff away. This seems to be her new favorite thing.

Well, this morning I couldn't find the TV remote. I looked EVERYWHERE. In her room, in her toybox, in the bathroom drawer (where I've found it once before)....everywhere. (I knew we should have stuck with keeping the remote out of her reach). I just went in a few minutes ago to throw something away and guess what was laying there right on top, in a little puddle of ketchup.......

The remote.

Along with a pair of her black gloves, one pink glove and three magnet letters from the fridge.

Christmas is coming.......

On Saturday, Orrin and I decided to go ahead and put up our Christmas tree. We usually wait till after Thanksgiving but we didn't want to wait this year! We will be busy this weekend so we knew we wouldn't have time. So we arranged furniture and vacuumed, trying to find the perfect spot for the tree. We (and by "we" I mean "Orrin") kept moving the tree from corner to corner and finally made a decision. Within the first five minutes of getting out the decorations, Adilynn had already broken one of the glass christmas tree balls and was taking out the hooks and trying to put them in her mouth. Hmmm. Not good. So we decided to forego those this year....I could just imagine me being in the next room, her breaking one and slicing open her tiny little finger. So with that being said, our Christmas tree is a little bare this year, but it'll do. We are big on teaching her to leave things alone that she can't play with, but having those ornaments up this year was just too risky. Oh...and she loves the tree. She'll stand and point at it and babble away like she's having some in depth conversation with the tree.

We snapped a few pictures yesterday morning before church of her by the tree. We were already running late to church (we didn't get to church till 8:45 am! yikes!!) so we thought...hey, what's the harm in taking a few minutes for some cute pictures?

And we most defintely will NOT be telling Adilynn that there is a Santa Claus. Why any parent would intentionally deceive their child is beyond me. I grew up without ever believing in one and look how great I turned out. Ha. Anyways- no believing in Santa in this house.

Wow..I can't believe I'm posting about Christmas.....where has the time gone?

Just a side note that I love the fact that I have a husband who does everything he can to make me happy. Friday night I grabbed a pen and paper and excitedly told him "let's make a to-do list for the weekend." He was all about it, and giving serious thought into what we should do. I think all he came up with was vacuuming, but that's GREAT. We ALWAYS need the living room rug and bedrooms vacuumed! He also worked his tail off in our utility room / office! He moved the washer and dryer and vacuumed the floors. He moved our big storage cabinet and vacuumed. He repaired a small hole in the wall and cleaned off his desk. Wow. What a dude. OH....AND he scrubbed the tile floors. He knows that a clean home = a happy wife!! :) I don't function well in a mess and he knows that and helps out to get things done. We've definitely had our moments of ive-done-everything-today-what-have-you-done? But when it comes down to it, we both enjoy a clean and organized home. And he did all of this on Saturday with extreme pain in his right shoulder and neck.

Well, the little miss has just awoken from her beauty sleep. I had Parents As Teachers come again this morning and she said Adilynn is doing great. She has very good eye-hand coordination and problem solving skills!! That's my girl! :)

Caught red-handed!!!

(Is "red-handed" hyphenated? I'm not sure....)

Okay, on with the post......

Yesterday I was doing some cleaning and Adilynn was wandering around. She's become quite independent lately and since she's walking now she explores every inch of the house. Anyways, I knew she was in the kitchen and she was quiet for a couple of minutes. I peeked around the corner and this is what I found......

She decided she was going to help herself to some Cheerios! She couldn't actually get to them because the bag was folded down but she sure did try! Awhile back Orrin and I bought some of the cabinet lock things but we decided against using them. We decided we were going to teach her to stay out of the cabinets (most of them anyways) instead of locking them. She actually caught on pretty quickly. She's not allowed to get under the sink and in the one with our big pots and pans, but she can get into the tupperware one and a couple of others. We never really addressed the pantry with her but it looks like now we might need to! *note to self: throw away some of those Wal-Mart bags!

Saturday Orrin and I are going to put up our Christmas tree. We figured we might as well go ahead and do it. Why wait till the day after Thanksgiving? We'd rather go shopping.....

Speaking of Orrin- he's seeing the physical therapist twice a week now. The accident messed him up more than he likes to admit! He is unable to work out his upper body at this time, but can work out his legs. It's hard on him because he loves working out and it's a good stress reliever for him. He's in quite a bit of pain so hopefully after all this PT he'll be back to normal. He's a trooper and doesn't complain at all.

I'll leave you with a few more pictures of Adilynn. This was from last weekend. She loves to sit on the couch now and this time she insisted on gathering all her babies and holding them all at once. She seriously sat like this on the couch for a good 20 minutes. She's a good little mommy to her babies.

Oh yeah....I'm reading the book of Job now. It's such a great book! That man went thru the ringer and still blessed the name of the Lord! WOW!

Daddy's girl.

Here is a picture my sister came across tonight. It's from August of this year at the Missouri State Fair. Adilynn's loves her daddy!

"I can breathe! Praise the Lord!"

First things first.....that title comes from a post in THIS BLOG. Please read the story of Stephanie Vest and say a prayer for her. She is struggling to live and has two young sons and a daughter that was just born in June. Please think of her throughout your day and pray for complete and total healing of her body.

Secondly, I voted today. I am now parked on the couch with a pop tart and a can of coke (healthy, I know) and I keep seeing more and more states turn blue. UGH. I literally vote with ONE main issue in mind, and that's the issue of abortion. Pro-choice, no thank you. Pro-life only please. I can do without talk of taxes, the war in Iraq, the economy, immigration, etc. Not that those things aren't important, because I know they are. They just don't hold a personal belief for me like abortion does.

Speaking of personal convictions, it's with great shame that I say that I have not spent time reading the Bible lately like I should. I know it's not a good excuse, but the days are just so busy that by the time bedtime rolls around, I'm exhausted. I am going to move my Bible reading time around and do it during the day, most likely when Adilynn is snoozing. I so notice a difference in my attitude, my approach towards things and my general outlook on life when I've been skipping out on my Bible reading. Again....shame on me. I don't particularly want to get to heaven and if asked by God why I didn't spend time in His Word like I should.....I don't want to say "well, God, let's see....I was just so busy! There was laundry, and cleaning, and running errands......." I don't think that will hold much weight up there!! So, I will....I must....get back to that.

On a lighter note, we had a Parent / Teacher conference with Christian's teacher tonight. He is advanced in reading and math!! That's so great!! He has done so well this year in 1st grade and he is always reading. Tiffany's is on Thursday and we're confident we'll get a good report from her teacher as well.

Here are a few pictures from Halloween. Adilynn was a flower, Tiffany was a cowgirl and Christian was Iron Man. Suprisingly enough, Adilynn didn't try to remove her head covering thing! And by the way, Adilynn is completely walking now. She hardly crawls at all and her little waddle / walk is the cutest thing ever!! I would talk about how she's going to be a year old in 9 days, but I'll blog about that later! (*sniff*) She's such a little lady.

Well, I'm going to get back to my poptart.

Again, please pray for Stephanie Vest and her family.

I hope everyone is having a great week.

I am so blessed...

I am so blessed to have 8+ hours of one-on-one with this little gem each day. I wouldn't give up my time with her for all the money in the world. She is truly a blessing to Orrin and I.

Costume trial run.

Yesterday afternoon I went to the mall with my sister (she said I never include her in my blogs, but now she can't say that anymore.) While she was trying on jeans at The Buckle, I went down to The Children's Place to look for a halloween costume for Adilynn. It was my lucky day. They had just marked the costumes down to 50% earlier that morning! I paid only $12 for her outfit!!!! What a deal! So last night Orrin had her try in on. Please keep in mind she will not be wearing her purple pants outfit under her green and pink flower costume. It's not completely put together, but you get the idea!

Somebody think she's a big girl....

Adilynn's favorite thing to do now is close doors, then try to open them!!! She can almost reach!

Jibba Jabba.

Okay, let me start by saying that I just saw a mouse in the utility room when I went to put in a load of laundry. YUCK!!! Looks like we'll be getting some mouse traps tonight!!!

Well, tonight is the end of my Bible/book study for "Created to Be His Helpmeet." I can't believe it's already over. I have so enjoyed getting to know everyone and am so grateful to Chrissy for inviting me!!!! We are meeting for mexican tonight for a last hoo-rah and will hopefully, maybe possibly(?) start another study after the first of the year. I've learned a lot thru the study but I know I still have a long ways to go. It's easy to sit and talk about a book....the hard part is actually implementing it into your daily lives and daily relationships. God bless Orrin for putting up with me!!! :)

Speaking of Orrin...he starts a round of physical therapy tomorrow. He continues to be in pain in his neck and shoulder area and has bad headaches. He's not able to really work out which bothers him....it's a good stress reliever for him during his lunch hour and I know he's looking forward to the day he can get back to normal.

Tiffany and Christian were here this weekend. I'm kicking myself because I wanted to get some pictures of them sunday before church but the words "before" and "church" don't seem to mix well together here in the Rohrer house. No matter how early Orrin and I get up, we still push it to get out the door for the 8:30 am service. They attended the Life Group with us last night and they were so eager to go. Tiffany asked if she should take her Bible with her!!! I told her that the study was only for the adults, but the dinner was for everyone. How awesome tho that she was eager to learn and was looking forward to it!!! She even asked how old you have to be to be in a Life Group. It sparked an idea in me that maybe she needs to have some sort of Bible study for herself that's age/gender appropriate that she can do either on her own or with Orrin and I. *ding* Christmas gift idea. And Christian....he is all boy. He was working on his homework over the weekend and was counting by 5's. He's very smart and loves to ask questions. We still need to get their halloween costumes. Tiffany decided on a cowgirl, and Christian decided on some Star Wars character. We told them they could be anything they wanted as long as it didn't have anything to do with ghosts, goblins, witches or the devil. And...I'd much rather refer to Halloween as a Fall Festival or something along those lines. We'll be attending the JRA event so that will be fun! And to be completely honest, I'll probably raid their candy bags. There. I said it.

Miss Adilynn is now napping (going on two hours!!!!) and is beginning to take more and more steps. Orrin has successfully taught her to make the number one with her index finger when you ask her how old she is. And this morning she pointed to her nose and she knows where her socks go. I'm amazed at how much she picks up on and learns. *note to self* WATCH WHAT I SAY AND DO!!!!!! Here is a video of her walking. She wouldn't walk until we got out a cracker for her. Imagine that.

So life is good here in our little Rohrer household. Orrin worked hard on Saturday and put up a new glass front door for us, and repainted our railing, mailbox and outside light. I was busy repainting our bathroom which now looks ten times better. As soon as I finish it, I'll post a picture.

Well, that's it for now. OH WAIT....a big welcome to little Coen Ray who entered the world this morning. My cousin Laura delivered him this morning via C-section and we will be making a trip to Overland Park, KS on saturday to see him. I heart newborns.

Later peeps!

New kicks.

Here are Adilynn's new shoes. Aren't they cute?! I couldn't pass them up. I wish they had them in my size! She had no shoes that fit her and I was literally having to stuff her feet into these white little slip on shoes. And of course, as fast as she's growing these won't even fit for very long!

Sweetness.

Here are some precious pictures of Adilynn today after she woke up from her loooong nap. She was hamming it up for the camera as usual. And yes, she IS wearing winter themed jammies.

And here she is eating a cracker after naptime. Eating a cracker always requires an outfit change!!