Alathea's boo-boo

It all started on Monday morning when Joe graciously allowed me & Alathea to go on a little "date" together. We stopped by starbucks first- she ate a cookie and me a chai, we played "connect four" then headed off to the Davis Lake park. After playing on the play ground, then feeding the ducks, we walked back to the car. Alathea was in her silly mood and decided it would be fun to "chase" Mommy...so we kinda played tag. That was until I heard Alathea screaming and laying on the ground. I went back to assess the damage and noticed a skinned knee. Normally a quick kiss would calm her down and we'd move on. Not this time. This may as well have been a broken femur. She was hysterical. I decided it was time to head home. I also thought if the old momma kissing the boo-boo didn't work, than maybe a band--aid would magically heal her.
Needless to say she cried the whole way home. Then after I carried her inside she collapsed into Joe's arms. She buried her head in his shoulder and kept saying "Dada- Yay-Yay boo-boo"! Joe took her to the kitchen to put a band-aid on her and she freaked out!! Maybe the band-aid reminded her of a shot?? We ended up giving Abigail a "sympathy" band-aid per Alatheaa;s request. Anyways, we prayed for God to heal her and she sytopped crying. But for the next hour leading up to nap time she didn't move from Joe's lap.
Naptime came and we laid her down and Joe & I had a good laugh about the whole thing thinking it was over. Well...a few hours later and I heard a very concerned Alathea yelling for me from her room. I went in and she was still laying completely down in her bed. Normally she's standing and jumping up and down when I get her from her crib. I thought this was odd and asked her what was wrong and she pointed to her knee saying "Yay-yay boo-boo". I asked her if she could at least sit up and she cried and cried. Apparently she thinks she is crippled by this skinned knee! So I picked her up and carried her to our room. So once again she hung out with Joe in our bed and read stories with him, not moving at all.
We figured she would be "healed" within the hour since it was date night. She was going to Kat-kat's house where our babysitter was. We knew for certain she'd get up and chase Kathryn around. Especially since she thinks all of Kathryn's toys belong to herself. But when we got home, our sitter said she didn't move at all the entire evening!! Our sitter simply lifted her from the couch to the pack-n-play at bedtime. We couldn't believe it! By morning she'd certainly forget about the whole thing...but NO! She was still quite hysterical about this boo-boo. I actually started wondering if she chipped her knee, because nothing could get her to walk. If we tried to get her to stand up she'd have jell-o legs and start crying. So once again she sat on our bed reading stories and playing with Abigail. After about 3 hours of not moving from the same spot she kept asking for more toys and books or to watch a movie. After I declined a number of times I think she got bored...and at 10:38am on Tuesday morning, exactly 24 hours after her skinned knee occurred, she looked at me, stood up and said very excitedly, "Mama! Yay-yay can walk again!!" This picture was taken 5 minutes later...
Needless to say we got a good laugh out of it all!!

I'm in MD now- a HUGE CONGRATS to my Sis who just graduated from High School today!! I'm soooooo proud of you Julie!!! We're headed to Holden Beach in the morning!!! Pray for safe travel and a sweet time with both the Bowers and Lechner Family's (Joe's whole fam too).

Memorial Day weekend...

Our little sweet heart. I just love when she wears hats!

Not Abigail's most flattering picture, but I thought it was so sweet that she had her arm around Jason :)

We had the joy of having Kat-Kat stay with us for 2 days while Nick & Reba were away on an anniversary trip. She's such a fun little kid. The girls may as well be sisters they love each other so much.

Andrew is such an awesome boy cousin. He pushes his "princess" girl cousin in his swing.

Abigail enjoys a Pop-Pop snuggle...

Me & the girls with "Great-Grama B". She is hysterical. She was cracking jokes while taking this picture!

My Dad is the best Pop-Pop in the entire world!! And Rocky's not a bad uncle either :) Alathea LOVES them both so much!

We try to keep busy when Joe is out of town- to stay distracted since we miss him so much! What a full Memorial weekend this was! My Dad & Rocky drove down from MD to visit while Joe is at NA. Alathea was in Heaven! She just adores my Dad & brother. She also loves my sister Julie so much that she cried 5 minutes after Dad & Rocky arrived when she realized that Julie really wasn't with them. It was really cute. The five of us drove to Columbia, SC to visit with my Grandma for the day on Saturday. It was wonderful seeing Grandma, and totally worth it, but the 2 hour drive home that afternoon was long to say the least :).  It was such a treat spending Memorial Day with Dad & Rocky. I'm so grateful they drove all the way to see us. Reba & I also enjoyed passing the time Joe & Nick were gone by scrapbooking until 2:30am!! We got a lot done!

 We made our true leap into summer this week by going to the pool!! I love the pool. It was quite different with two little one. I actually think the baby pool in the back yard may work just fine on most days. Alathea especially had a blast swimming for the first time this summer in her cousin Andrews little backyard swimming pool. We went to his house for his 2nd b-day party. The little guy is growing up!! 

Right now I'm in packing mode as I'm heading to MD on Thursday to for Julie's graduation!! Then from there to the beach for a week! And our beach trip is with both Joe's & My entire families. I'm so excited!

Sweet days

Just a quick post to say I am so enjoying being a Mommy of two girls. I think every morning the Lord reminds me of what gifts they are to me and how precious this season of being a mom of young kids is. It seems that every so often (lets say at least once a week) you'll find me tired, overwhelmed and usually in tears having lost perspective of who my God is, what amazing gifts he has blessed me with and the purpose of motherhood. This season I so easily fall into that temptation unlike any other season of life. I am so grateful for the Lord faithfully refreshing my soul and for the patience and leadership of my dear husband. What a sweet season this has been- and what a humbling and growing time it has been too. I'm sure one day I'll have four kids (if God chooses to bless us with that many) and I'll look back on having two and chuckle at how I struggled at times to manage so few. That is why I am thankful that so far God has only given us one at a time!

Alathea & Abigail bring so much joy to us. Alathea is still "baby crazy". She spends most of every day caring for her three baby dolls (hmmm...possible triplets in her future??) and her bunny. She diapers them, dresses them, feeds them, nurses them (that make me laugh) and puts them to bed. She mimics us almost exactly in the way we care for Abigail. It's really sweet. She's still an all-star big sister too. In the picture above she is reading Abigail stories in her crib. Alathea is so vibrant and full of energy. She's always talking or singing some song really loud. She especially sings in the car, which is a real treat. 

And Abigail is still growing up too fast. Fortunately she is a major snuggle bug, so in some ways I still hold and cuddle her as much as when she was first born. She's almost rolling over and now grabs at toys. We've noticed that she really eye balls food. Jane commented that she must be advanced- so we joke that she is our "advanced eater" :). No baby food yet for her, but its just around the corner. My baby is growing up!! If only I could stop time...

I've got some pictures from Memorial Day I'm hoping to post on soon about my Dad & brothers visit, as well as some exciting news in my sisters life!!

The Bradford Store

This is Alathea's real smile...

...and this is Alathea's I'll smile if you promise no more pictures face!

Reba and I made our seasonal trip to the Bradford Store a week or so ago. It is a fun adventure. The girls love running around outside, smelling flowers, playing with the kids toys inside, petting the dog, and so on. Reba & I enjoy taking pictures of them doing all that. I also love buying the fresh produce and bread they sell. This year the girls were old enough we bought them ice cream and ate it on the front porch.  Abigail was a trooper. She even "posed" for me in odd places, like this vintage coke machine. Alathea, in typical Alathea fashion, didn't want to miss out on fun Abigail was having, so she wanted to lay on top of it too. Fun memories. I'm sure we'll bring the girls back again soon.

Introducing Baby Jason...

Steve & Lizzy Honea just brought their adorable son, Jason Andrew, into the world last night around 8:30pm! He is sooooooo cute! I went to see him this afternoon, and at less than one day old he already seems like he'll have quite the personality. He made so many cute faces and yawns and stretches. It reminds me of Alathea's spunk & energy, even as an infant. Lizzy is doing great, and as you can see, looks amazing for giving birth after 10+ hours of labor and NO epidural. This didn't sound like a quick & easy labor either!! She is amazing. 

It was fun bringing Abigail to meet yet another baby who will Lord willing be her friend as she grows up. She's already had her cousin Caleb and two little girls, Audrey and Eva born these past two months. What a blessed little 3 month old girl! This was no surprise to me, but Abigail looked 3x Jason's size. 

I am so excited for Steve & Lizzy!! I feel like another nephew was just born :)

The Girls and the Bumbo seat

We got this awesome seat for Abigail last week called the Bumbo seat. It is like a 3 month old's lay-z-boy. It was quite funny at first seeing our little baby sit up like a mini grown up!  But it has proven to be quite helpful, especially when the girls "play" together. Alathea likes Abigail sitting up right rather than laying down.

Joe's Garden

I call Joe my "Renaissance Man". He can do it all- cook, clean, garden, decorate- all while being an athletic man's man too! He LOVES to garden. As you can see in the pictures I am the one who benefits most from this hobby! We spend a good chunk of every day out back on our patio having devotions, playing with kiddo's, having picnics and my favorite, sitting out back together watching the sunset after dinner. We've even got some tiki torches for after dark sitting :)

Thoughts on Mom's Day

It's hard to believe that this will be my 2nd Mothers Day without my Mom. I've missed her more intensely recently as I've been learning life with two kiddo's. I sure miss her advice!! I've been thinking lots lately about the kind of Mom she was, and all the things I want to emulate about her. Really I could say everything. She was that kind of Mom- truly the best. But I've been thinking of the little things she did for us when we were little. Here are a few things I've come up with: 

1. Make the most of every moment. Mom made everything fun. We'd "help" her cook and she'd give us our own giant apron and let us really think we were helping her. She'd use driving in the car as times to teach us a new song or teach us about God's creation. She always made us feel like her priority (as she would say, next to God and Daddy). She'd drop anything to spend time with us. She also loved to laugh and have fun with us!

2. Keep an eternal perspective. This meant Mom prayed and prayed for our souls & taught us about God since we were little. But it also meant she didn't get upset in the little things. A spilled glass of milk and she'd laugh and joyfully clean it up. No problem. She never got upset at us for just being kids. I loved that so much!

3. Make lots of memories. Mom was SO good at this. We did all sorts of big fun stuff...like going to the zoo, ice skating, vacations. We had tons of traditions and birthdays and holidays were huge! But most of all it was the every day stuff like playing soccer as a family in the back yard or sledding down our hill in the snow (she'd do both with us!). Mom was such a big kid!

4. "Mommy Dates". I love this one. Mom would make special time for each of us kids every week. Sometimes we'd go out on a special date and sometimes it was a simple "date" at home. No matter what it was, it sure made us feel special to have ALL of Mom's attention! This carried on even when I got married and moved away. We'd have "phone dates" every Friday morning for an hour! I love taking my girls on dates already.

5. Journal for your kids. At my baby shower for Alathea Mom gave me the most precious gifts. One was a handwritten journal she kept for me from the time I was born until Alathea was born. It was all about my life, development and her thoughts and prayers for me as a Mom. Little did she know she'd die at such a young age and leave a priceless treasure behind for her daughter! The second gift was a blank journal for me to keep for Alathea. I'm already on journal #2 for her and have one started for Abigail already.

Well, these are just the tip of the iceberg. Mom was amazing. The most godly woman I know. I wrote a tribute to her on Mothers Day 2 years ago on the girl talk blog speaking of her character. You can read it by going to www.girltalk.blogs.com and searching for Kathy Bowers.

I'll leave you with this quote from Mom that she wrote in her journal before she died. I think this shaped her entire life! Happy Mothers Day!!

"When you focus on the cross the cares of life don't seem so overwhelming. An eternal perspective puts everything in the right perspective".  

3 Months

Abigail turned 3 months old today! Can you believe it?? Not a little newborn anymore. Thankfully she's still my snuggly baby girl. And she laughed for the 1st time today! Any tips on how to make time stand still?? :)