My Husband

I just wanted to spend a little time bragging on Kyle this afternoon. It seems that so many times I find my self ticked off at our situation and forget how grateful I am to have a husband like him. You all know the difficulty we face with Kyle working nights and sleeping during the day. Its hard. Really really hard. Keeping Bennett quiet in order to protect Kyle's sleep is a challenge, and some days its quite stressful for this mommy. Some days, I just know that Kyle has gotten only the amount of sleep necessary to make it through the night and Ill have to be honest, it makes me feel like a failure. Kyle, however, never takes the negative route. When he wakes up, he may be groggy and sleep deprived, but he is always happy to see Bennett and I. He watches Bennett while I cook dinner, and bathes him almost every night. He participates in our bed-time routine and does whatever he can to ensure Bennett feels comfortable enough to sleep. Frequently, he will clean up after dinner or sometimes after breakfast before going to bed. He tucks me in at night before he goes to work and kisses me goodnight.
Kyle is such a great daddy. He loves Bennett with a love that is unconditional. You can watch him play with Bennett and tell that he loves him with all his heart. He wakes up at the same time every day, regardless of how much sleep he has gotten so he can spend time with Bennett before he goes to bed. When Bennett was a newborn, Kyle would feed him at least once a night so I could have some rest, he changes poopies, he cleans up Bennett's messes, he is such a huge help with him.


Holding Bennett for the first time!


I just want to express how truly grateful I am for my husband. He is one in a million, one of a kind, he is truly one of the best men I have ever known. The Lord knew what he was doing when he put Kyle and I together. He knew I needed more than a lover, He knew I needed a best friend, a helper, and someone who loves me regardless of myself. There is so much more I could say about this wonderful husband of mine, but mostly, Im just so thankful to have him in my life. He works so hard to provide for our family, to ensure our happiness and to give us everything we want and need.



Just Around The Corner..

There are so many exciting things happening in the next few months that its hard to think about anything else! Our baby boy turns one in less than three weeks, we get to see our families, and our baby girl only has a little less than 4 months left in mommy's tummy.

Planning a birthday party for our little man has been somewhat stressful, but super fun at the same time! We are having a little monster themed party, complete with monster cupcakes, monster slime (juice), mini fruit pizzas for the adults, and loads of fun! I have been planning/buying things for his birthday party for the past several months and let me tell you...it still seems like there is so much to be done! I want his 1st birthday to be special, filled with fun and lots of love from family and friends. There is just something unique and super special about a first birthday, something magical..

We have done lots of purchasing for baby girl as of late. Kyle and I put back $1000 when we did our taxes so we would have the funds to get the necessities for our new little one and let me tell you, its paid off! I just recently spent the last of her money and we still have things we need for her! Its a darn good thing she doesnt have her own room yet or I dont know how we would be able to make sure she had everything she needed! One thing I am particularly excited about are her Aden and Anias swaddle blankets, which we should be getting any time now. We bought one for Bennett before he was born, and my mom bought him another just a couple days after. He still loves his blanky and still sleeps with one of them every night. They were a tad expensive, but a super great investment. We do still need some girly things for her side of the room though...curtains and decoration mostly and then a few more clothing items and she will be set! I cant believe that she will be here in less than 4 months!

Another nugget of news: Kyle has applied for a job at the QT corporate office with the Finance department. (which is right up his alley with his business accounting degree) Anyhow, just pray that if its the Lords will, he will get an interview and a job offer. It would mean being able to move home quicker, being able to rent a house, being close to family, being able to start paying off Kyle's student loans, not having to take out loans for his or my masters degree, better hours...everything we really want.

Food For the Bay....

First of all, I feel like I need to explain the title of this post...we call Bennett "the bay" as in short for baby, start saying baby but leave out the "b-y." He is our Bay and little miss is our baby :)

I have had some problems recently with finding healthy/easy/freezable things to make for Bennett to eat. I would love to cook every meal for him, but lets be real: doing dishes multiple times a day is just not ideal, nor would I have time for it! I happened upon a fabulous website the other day called "weelicious" that has renewed my passion to make home-made, freezable meals for our little one. With some research, I came upon these Baked Turkey Meatballs:

www.wishfulchef.com

I found this recipe at wishfulchef.com and I cant wait to make them! Not only are they healthy, but they will be a yummy and freezable dish for our little man. I do, however plan on adding some celery or frozen spinach to them in order to add more veggies. Bennett likes his meatballs with bbq sauce, and thats the only way he will eat them so more veggies is a plus in my book. I also came upon a wonderful recipe for baked chicken nuggets that Im excited to try out too:

www.skinnytaste.com

These chicken nuggets are not only really yummy looking, but they are so healthy for you too! They use all white meat chicken breast, panko, italian breadcrumbs and olive oil! Then, you bake them! I feel so good about what Im feeding my little one when its something like this! Ive found some awesome recipes for breakfast food too! Some of these are: whole-wheat zucchini pancakes, whole-wheat pumpkin pancakes, whole-wheat sweet potato muffins, and whole-wheat blueberry waffles! The GREAT thing about these is that every one of them can be frozen and thawed as needed!

If you are interested in doing something like this for your little one, I would definately recommend setting aside a "cooking day" for you to prepare everything for the next one-two weeks. Then, you can pull out a meal staple such as turkey meatballs or whole wheat sweet potato muffins and add fruit or veggies, some string cheese and you have a meal for your little one in 5 minutes flat! 

For My Daddy

What can I even say to sum up my daddy? Just to give you a glimpse into the kind of father I was blessed to have, I can tell you that he was the VP of the spirit club my sophomore year, and President my junior year of High School. He would sit and listen to me when I was having boy problems, he would randomly give me cash "just because." He taught me about how a man is supposed to love his wife, how he is supposed to listen to her, give her hard advice when she needs it, guide her into making the right decision and when necessary, ask "are you on your period? Is that why you are being so emotional?"
Some of you may know that I didnt always get to have Russ as my father. Russ and Lynnette took me into their home when I was 14 years old and adopted me and my brother when I was 16. My biological father never had much to do with us, as he was in prison for most of our lives. I grew up not knowing how God had designed the relationship between a father and daughter to be like. Though I didnt get to have this kind of relationship until I was 14, it changed my life.
My daddy was there for me when everyone else was too tired or too fed up with me to listen to what I had to say, he was there for me when I hit my first deer driving to Claremore (he also had the police dept. and fire dept. there for me as well:)) he was there for me when the boy I thought was "the one" went back to Germany, he was there for me after my best friend was hit by a car, he was there for me when I realized I made a huge mistake in dating a different boy (without "I told you so's), he was there for me when I would call him crying from Stillwater because I didnt understand Kyle, he was there for me when we found out our biological father had passed away, he was there to give me advice, to give me a shoulder to cry on and a hand to pick me up when I fell down.
I dont know how I would have turned out if it wasnt for the unconditional love of my daddy. He helped mold me into the woman I am today and though Im not perfect by any means, I would be a lot farther away from it if it werent for him.

Thursday Morning Ritual

Thursday mornings are our Saturdays. Kyle works Friday night-Tuesday night so our weekends are different from most. We begin most Thursday mornings by the sound of our little one waking from his sleep. Either Kyle or I will get Bennett and give him his morning sippy and then I will start on breakfast. We have kinda made sort of a ritual of making breakfast on Thursdays because its one of the only days of the week we can all sit down and eat together. This morning, I made lemon poppyseed muffins, bacon, and scrambled eggs (Bennett got cheesy scrambled egg yolks). It was delicious and a fabulous start to our day. There is nothing better, in my opinion, than being able to sit down to a home cooked breakfast with my boys (and sweet baby girl).

Eating his yummy scrambled egg yolks!

mmmmmmm....

This is the mess that comes with a yummy breakfast!

I will be 19 weeks pregnant on Sunday! We are almost halfway there to meeting our baby girl! I cant even describe how fast time has flown since finding out we were expecting again. I have to say that everyone that told me that your second pregnancy flys by was totally right! I have so many expectations (good and bad) for how life is going to be once Harper finally arrives. Im so excited to see how Bennett reacts, but also nervous as well. I hope he just loves her immediately. Im worried about myself too, about being able to take care of two babies...it can be hard enough with one! :) Im thankful though, because I know that the Lord is molding and refining me already to be a mother of two. His timing is perfect, and I know I will be ready when Harper makes her big debut! 

do not let the sun go down..

I was inspired and convicted (in my husbands words) by our church service this morning. For a long time, I have let satan have a hold of certian friendships in my life (ones that I, myself have hurt) and continued to leave situations unresolved. For a while now, God has been convicting me of my need to place him first and to get things right. As Christians, we are called to be in fellowship with other believers. We cannot be in fellowship, however, when we allow sin left unresolved. There were a few friendships that I had hurt and left behind. In each of those friendships, there was a different situation and a different problem that needed to be solved, different things that needed to be apologized for. I let it go for so long though, because I felt that I was not the only one in the wrong.

I just want to praise God for the ability to let go of my pride and follow Him in trying to resolve these issues with said friends. I know that when we embrace the Lord and His commands, we are set free and not only does He forgive us our wrongdoing, but he places in the hearts of others the ability to forgive as well.

I dont know how these situations are going to turn out, but I do know that I did the right thing. I followed the Lord and His commands (even if it took me a very long time to do so) and that He will be glorified in that. I hope that each of you can say a short prayer for me and the situations surrounding this post and you will just ask God to grant closure and forgiveness to me and the other persons involved.

One Small Step...

Bennett took his first step on Thursday. He was walking around the coffee table, and as he got close to me I held out my arms and said "come here baby," he then let go with both hands and took a step in my direction before falling into my arms. I can't believe how fast our baby boy is growing! It wont be long now before he is walking, talking, and causing all kinds of trouble for mommy and daddy!

Kyle got to feel Harper kick! It was just the coolest thing! I imagine that no matter how many children a woman has, there is nothing quite like being able to feel him/her move for the first time and then getting to share that with your husband. We are experiencing the miracle of life all over again and God has blessed us immensely with another happy and healthy baby. I am so excited about being able to see Harper's growth as I grow along with her! I cant wait to hold this little girl in my arms...

In other news, we are again thinking about moving back to Tulsa. As some of you know, Kyle applied at a church in Arkansas and made the first round of cuts only to find out that they didnt think he had enough experience to qualify for a full-time position. Can I say that getting into the ministry is really, really hard? I never imagined that my sweet, kind, loving and passionate husband would be continually overlooked by churches that believed he didnt have enough experience. Its so frustrating and partially liberating at the same time. We are both starting to believe that we're not ready to be in ministry yet, and that has to be why God keeps closing doors. So, now that we know that Arkansas isnt an option, we are seriously discussing moving back to OK. I know that many people will question our motives for coming here and moving back so quickly, but the truth is: we miss our families. We want Bennett and Harper to have a part in the lives of their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. (I also cant imagine being 5 1/2 hours away trying to raise an infant and toddler all by myself while Kyle is working) Moving back to Tulsa for us is the best of both worlds, Kyle will still be able to take class and work at QT and we will be close to our friends and family. We really miss Josh, Bethany and Ian too.

I turn 17 weeks pregnant tomorrow, and Bennett turns 10 months old! We are already in preperation for his Monster Bash in August. I cant wait to have his cake smash pictures done and throw his party. In two short months, our baby boy will no longer be a baby anymore...he will have transitioned into the world of toddlerhood..