A very merry christmas after all

Ill have to admit, I wasn't really looking forward to Christmas this year. Along with having to drive 5ish hours back to Oklahoma was the daunting task of figuring out how to make 5 family Christmas' work with Bennett's schedule. I was worried, to say the least, and kinda mad at myself that I had allowed us to accept so many invitations to different events. We drove back to Oklahoma on Wednesday, had the Troyer family Christmas Thursday, ended up taking Bennett to the doctor on Friday, my grandma's and Kyle's parents Christmas' Saturday, my parents and Kyle's grandparents on Sunday. We were busy. The entire way back to OK I dreaded everything we were supposed to attend. Being sort of a nap nazi/not being held all the time nazi/sticking to a schedule nazi I was not looking forward to the next few days and then the next week following our return to Ft Worth. I didn't want Bennett to have to change his schedule every day and stay three different places. I just wanted to stay home and enjoy the holiday but seeing as this was our last time to spend Christmas with our families, I knew we couldn't not go. As we were driving back to Ft Worth today I was thinking about the weekend and was just surprised at how well it really went. In spite of Bennett's being sick Thursday night and all day Friday, the weekend was relatively smooth. Bennett was a champ, taking naps on the road and being happy when we needed him to be. He really did well the entire weekend. His transitions between places were smooth and his mood was generally happy the entire weekend. Though at first I really dreaded coming back, it turned out to be a very merry Christmas after all.

Gas Drops

Well our little man is sick... poor guy. He woke up around 1 am this morning screaming and inconsolable and didn't stop until we were on our way to immediate care. After a night full of him screaming, my rocking him and daddy rocking him we were ready to find out what was bothering our little one. So we got to the clinic and we waited and waited and waited...and Bennett cried and cried and cried. When the physicians assistant finally got to see him she treated us as if we didn't know what we were talking about...like I don't know when my baby is sick. So in the end we learned that our poor little guy has gas pains and apparently, they really hurt. Please say a prayer for our little man as we hate to see him in pain. It just breaks our hearts.

Table Talk

Bennett has just in the past two days started to babble ten times more than normal. The thing is, he always wants to "talk" during his feedings. Now, he doesn't talk during his bottles, that would be too easy... no. He talks every time we feed him his baby food! I'm not sure what he is trying to tell us but in between trying to grab the bowl, the spoon, and take bites he just jabbers on about who knows what. Its so stinking cute :) the only bad thing about his new love for "talking" is the mess it creates. Tonight for instance, he had baby food all over me, all over him, on the table, on the floor and on the kitchen chairs! I'm sure we will be finding sweet potato splatters for the next few times we clean as there is no telling where all it went or if I got it all cleaned up. Its a good thing its so stinking cute because it sure creates a mess! Its fun too though! I can't wait to see what he discovers next ... even if it is messy!

Hot water ...

Let me start this post by saying I love Ft Worth, and I love SWBTS, but I do not love campus housing. Three words: shared water tank. I think I waited for an hour last night to be able to take a shower, Bennett's bath was only lukewarm, and it seems that every time we want to wash bottles, there is no hot water to be found. Please say a prayer for us that we can learn to deal with this inconvenience, and that it will be a testimony in years to come of the things we went through and survived :)

On another note, I probably wont be blogging again until after Christmas. Have a merry Christmas everyone. Pictures of Bennett's first Christmas will be posted as soon as I can post them!

Turning our house/apartment into a home

Day three after our official move in and we now (finally) have all our boxes unpacked and everything hung up, organized, and put in its right place. The apartment itself really is in decent shape, (minus the cabinets and the 1970's appliances) and once we finally got everything in place it looked 10 times better. It's also starting to feel like home. Its amazing to me how quickly a place I have never lived has become home. Maybe its because of all the moving we did once my (biological) mom and Brian got a divorce, I dunno. Bennett has transitioned well into our new home as well. Once we got the artwork hung on the walls I think he finally relaxed completely, to him (and me) the move was finally complete. He has even gotten back into somewhat of a normal schedule. (Just in time to mess it all back up again when we go home for Christmas) Nonetheless,  I'm really looking forward to going back to Oklahoma for a few days and spend some quality time with our family. This is Bennett's first Christmas after all so it should be fun and interesting as well.

Falling in love <3

I think I'm / we're falling in love with Ft. Worth. I can't even explain the excitement and anticipation thar comes with knowing that there are so many new things to discover and experience during our time here. God is definitely working out some cool things for us here. Truthfully, moving to another state was scary and it makes me feel so silly admitting that knowing that I have so many friends and family that have spent years away from their families and I have never spent more than a few weeks away from mine. Its different though, when you have a little one. I think Bennett is liking our new home and adjusting well too. He spent the entire time we were at olive garden Friday night squealing because he was so happy, he did really well in the church nursery this morning, and has just generally been in a great mood. I'm so happy he's happy. It makes this whole transition much easier on Kyle and me. Ft. Worth I think, is really starting to become home and I'm excited to see what God has in store for us while we're here.

On nights like this, who needs alarm clocks?

On one of my previous posts,  "our life in boxes" I asked for prayer concerning our little ones transition to our new home: thank you to those of you who prayed that for us. I won't pretend his transition was picture-perfect, but it was close enough. I think all together, he woke up three times throughout the night and only once was he inconsolable. I had definitely imagined worse, even considered the possibility that he might have to sleep with us all night. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. All things considered, his full day without much mommy time, all day in the car and watching people come and go as we loaded and then unloaded our truck, he was a champion sleeper. I can't be thankful enough either that I have a husband and Bennett a daddy that is willing to get up and out of bed with him. Kyle has been such a blessing to me throughout our entire marriage, but especially after the birth of our little man. As for the sleepless night, the train nearby is more to blame than our little one and by the time Bennett was ready to get up, I was wide-eyed and not so ready for the day thanks to our new neighbor: the train tracks.

Its never easy to say goodbye...

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and today were some of the hardest days I've had to face thus far. Saying goodbye to two of my sweet mommy friends, Heather and Tara on Tuesday, saying goodbye to our youth kids and Eagle Heights Church family Wednesday, to my parents yesterday and Kyle's parents and sister today. In all my excitement to move, I never thought leaving so many people I love would be so hard. I am very thankful however for the sweet people God placed in our family's life while we were in Stillwater. I am thankful for my friends Alissa B,Jen K, Kaylyn, Kaci, Carissa, for our church family at Eagle Heights, our youth kids, for my mommy friends, and everyone else I'm forgetting. You all impacted mine and my family's life and we will never forget you all.

Terrible Teething

Our little man has started to teethe...it started as an obsession with chewing on his hand which lead to large amounts of slobber and in a few weeks it will all end with a little tooth. The time in between the hand-chewing and the actual tooth is whats the killer. The poor little guy has just the sweetest disposition through most of the pain, but there are times when that sweet disposition is nowhere to be found. This morning, for example, he was in pain and unusually fussy. He has this bee-teether thing that his Nana Sherrie got for him that he absolutely LOVES and was having trouble keeping it in his mouth. The thing is, he wanted to be on his tummy, teether-in-mouth and thats not really possible considering his small stature and the size of this teether. Anyways, our little man was SO upset because he was in pain and wanted to chew on that stinkin thing, but couldnt keep it in his mouth. So, after lots of help from mommy and lots of failed attempts to keep it in his mouth and in his grasp, he was ready for a nap!

our life in boxes

As many of you know, our little family is gearing up to move to Ft. Worth in about 3 days. For the past few weeks, I have spent all my free time packing whatever we can in order to ready ourselves for the move. Its such a bittersweet moment to take a look around our apartment and see almost everything we own packed up and ready to move. This move begins a new phase of our lives, of our marriage, of our journey as parents and Im excited but nervous as well. Neither Kyle or I have ever lived in another state, and we have definately never lived so far (not that Texas is really that far) away from our families. It will definately be a sweet but hard time of our lives. I hope that anyone that has a chance to read this post will take a minute to pray for our family as we prepare to take on this new phase of our lives.
Some things you can pray specifically for:
1. That our travel to Ft. Worth would be smooth and without trouble.
2. That Bennett's transition to a new place would be smooth and that he will be able to ease back into his normal routine in a (hopefully) short amount of time.
3. That Kyle and I will make sure that we protect what time we have together as he begins a new job, classes, and I (possibly) begin classes as well.
4. That Kyle and I will be sensitive to the Lord's leading while we are in Ft. Worth and we will listen as he molds us and shapes us to be able to take part in youth ministry.
5. That Bennett and I will find some mommies with babies around the same age to spend time with.
6. That the Lord will mold me and shape me as a wife and mommy so that I can glorify Him in my speech and actions towards Kyle and Bennett.
7. That we will find some sweet friends to share "mommy-daddy date nights" with.
8. That the Lord will lead us to a church family to worship with.
9. That the Lord will help Kyle and I both to be slow to anger and quick in forgiveness as we learn to deal with all the new challenges that this move and Kyle and I both working on our masters degrees will present.
10. That Kyle and my transition will be smooth as well.
11. That Kyle gets an interview and a job offer within the first week of being in Texas.

This is a little more than half of all our boxes!

My Little Alarm Clock

I just love waking up to the sound of our little man "talking" away in his crib. Recently, after his 6am-ish feeding, he goes back to sleep and sleeps until time to eat again (which is around 9 am). When we are home, every morning I get to wake up to the sound of our little happy guy just talking away to the mobile in his crib. I dont think I have ever had a better alarm clock or have ever woken up in a better mood. Just hearing his little babbles seem to make my mornings every day.

Peas and Carrots...without the peas..

Tonight was Bennett's first introduction to carrots. We've tried peas, we've tried squash, we've tried sweet potatoes. He LOVES sweet potatoes and hates the rest. Needless to say, we were interested to find out how he would do with carrots. After daddy fed him his bottle, we set him in his bumbo and commensed the carrot feeding....the first bite is always the same, he opens his mouth, wary of what is about to get shoved into it, tastes and...either wrinkles his nose in disgust or smacks his lips in approval. Tonight was a lip-smacking night. Our little man LOVES carrots as well. Looks like we will have an all orange veggie eating baby!