Monday, June 28, 2010

Day 64: Good Eaters!

I have got 2 eating machines on my hands. There isn't much they will refuse! They like it all...peas, carrots, green beans, squash and corn, farm market veggies, apple and cinnamon oatmeal, pears, and sweet potatoes. We even started the little graduate snacks. It's funny to watch them feed themselves. Sometimes the snack sticks to the back of their hand so they just eat their fingers. It's really cute! They love food and Mommy is so happy about that!

Today I'm grateful I've got 2 good eaters on my hands.

  


Friday, June 25, 2010

Day 63: A Visit with My Sister



I took the babies to a place that well I consider a little like home, a place where I feel comfortable to be lazy, a place where I am known and loved. It's amazing to me how friends can become family. That is exactly what the Lord has done with Kelli and I. I can't explain it, I don't think she could either but somehow over the many years of friendship we have become sisters, this visit truly felt like that. We met up in Kelli's hometown of Marshall (not exactly the most exciting of hang outs but we did pay Dairy Queen a visit) we spent time at her parents, playing with babies, swimming, and just really hanging out. We went to bed early because that's what Mom's of infants do, we talked about the same story most of the day because that's what you have to do when you have infants and conversations get put on pause. Grandma made us her famous fried chicken, and of course we ate Mama's Jell-O, pudding and cool whip concoctions. It was a great visit with family. Both of our families have grown which meant we both had new members to meet. Gram is Kelli son and I am blessed by his joy and laughter. It was so great to finally meet this little guy I had heard so much about...I fell in love instantly! And it was such a blessing for me to introduce my little ones to their "Aunt Kelli". They loved her and she loved them so much. It is such a blessing to see your babies loved by someone you love so much. My really awesome, great, good friend Lindsay came along because I couldn't manage both of the babies on the plane by myself. It was such a blessing to watch Lindsay bless my kids with so much love too! It wasn't exactly the same as Kelli and my younger more carefree days but it was the comfort of home, and the love of family.


Today I'm grateful for a visit with my sister.





























Day 62: Vacation to NC

I have been getting e-mails from concerned people wondering if I'm okay because I haven't posted...so sorry!  At this rate it will probably take me until 2015 to have 365 days of gratefulness. Alas, I press on! My life has been filled with traveling lately. My first trip was to Indiana to visit family, then Grand Rapids, MI for the Amy Wenzel workshop, last week we took our first family vacation with the babies to the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina then the babies and I topped it all off with a trip to the great Metropolis of Marshall, IL to visit my best friend, Kelli. It has been such a joy experiencing new things with Zaya and Chase, but it's been a little crazy too as we're all still in the midst of a major learning curve.
So our family and some close friends of ours loaded up our trailer and packed into the Expedition and ventured off on a Great Smoky Mountain Road Trip. Yes, 7 of us traveled in the same vehicle for 11 hours and two took up a lot of space with their car seats, but we survived with lots of fun stories to tell. We played some pretty intense games, hiked to a waterfall, went white water rafting, read some books, relaxed in a great mountain house, and laughed a lot. A good time was had by all and I think now we all dream of having our own mountain house one day.

The most memorable activity was this crazy hike we went on. This was the craziest of adventures I have ever been on and to top it the babies were strapped on and joining in. We packed lunches and left the house to arrive at a trail in the middle of the mountains that we thought would be an easy hike that would maybe take 2-3 hours tops. We headed into the wild and got out about 7 1/2 hours later. Our first stop was at a small waterfall a little below the trail. There was a huge log in the middle of the river/waterfall that was easy to get to and a good place to take a break. I decided I better nurse the babies while others were exploring. So here I am in the middle of the forest, sitting on a log over a waterfall, nursing my son (I think) and it begins to down pour on us. Rain from out of nowhere and I am nursing my baby in the middle of a waterfall...Can I get a world record for this??? Maybe some ladies do that all the time....first for me! When the rain stopped we were all soaking wet and hiked back up to the trail to find a place to stop for lunch. We found a nice place to stop for lunch and hang our some of our clothes to dry. Here I continued in my goal to get the babies fed on another log in the middle of the forest. On our lunch break we ran into a snake...not my favorite part of lunch. After that we loaded up hoping our destination would just be around the corner...WRONG! I think we had to have hiked another hour or longer. I had Zaya in a carrier and my friend and Chase in a carrier. The babies really did love being outside and held all day. They fell asleep when they wanted and snuggled up close to keep warm. They were happy and of course Mommy was worried...What have I put my babies through today??? On this hike we must have crossed between 10-15 log bridges over streams or rivers. Zaya had fallen asleep in the carrier on the front of me and was enjoying the ride when we were crossing a bridge I grabbed the branch hand rail and all of a sudden the branch broke and I was going down with my sleeping beauty on the front of me. I panicked! All I could think was fall on your back, fall on your back so I turned and went down. I don't even know how I landed or anything, it happened so fast. I turned around in sheer panic screaming "my baby, my baby!!!" They finally yelled at me to get my attention and tell me Zaya was just fine. Then she poked up her head and looked around like, "what's going on guys?" I don’t think I have ever been more terrified in my life. Needless to say Mommy was shaking the rest of the hike, but we made it. And all I was thankful for at the end was I had 2 happy, healthy, intact babies! We made it back to our car, hungry and tired and think we all decided to have a day of relaxing the next day!

Today I'm grateful for a fun 1st family of 4 vacation!















Crazy Bear

Our Mountain Retreat

Rain!!!