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.

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.

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!

Random pictures.

With this girl now walking and being on the move, I steal my kisses whenever I get the chance!

Cheerios before bedtime.

Her birthday cake. This was as messy as it got!! (she's very much a girly-girl)

Big smile.

"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.

Weekend Update.

It's fun to go out of town, but it's always nice to come home again!! Orrin, Adilynn, my sister and I all went on a road trip this weekend. It started Friday at 1:00 pm when we went to visit my brother Zachary in Columbia. It was a fun evening had by all (it was us with Noah, David, Aaron, Pat, Kat and Hope) with spaghetti, chicken alfredo, garlic bread and salad. Oh, and yummy desserts provided by Kat and Hope.

After my brother's house we headed to my parents house in Sedalia (about an hour away) because we were headed to Overland Park, KS on Saturday morning. My cousin had a baby on Monday and we went to see him. We had a fun time over lunch and good conversation. And little Coen is such a sweetheart and totally makes me want to have another little one!

After my aunt's house, we headed on back to Springfield with a Sonic break in Clinton. We got back into town at 6 pm this evening and we are beat!!! Adilynn is already in bed asleep and Orrin was just telling me that we should go to bed early tonight.

I have posted a few pictures from the weekend. Somehow my dad got lost in the shuffle and I don't have any pictures of him! (sorry dad!) (And these pictures are very much out of order according to the weekend)

Adilynn and her Uncle Z

Orrin and I (I have a hot husband)

My sister and I



Me, Adilynn, my mom and my sister

Orrin, Me, Adilynn, Zachary and Heather

Venice and Adilynn (cousins and 6 weeks apart)

Adilynn made it all the way to the top of the stairs on her first try! (I'm secretly hoping she's a rock climber!)

Adilynn Grace