Christmas Ponderings...

Today I am pondering Christmas....hence the title of today's post. Christmas for some is stressful full of impending debt. Not for me. I love buying things for others expecially for my children. I love to watch my children open up the gifts with so much enthusiasm. Then my heart melts when they remember to say thank you with out any reminder from me.

So far I have been very traditional in our Christmas celebration. Gifts under a decorated tree, visiting with families, making cookies...the whole Santa bit. But you see my little girl is three this year. She is understanding so much and is also remembering everything. What do I want to instill in this little girl, who do I want her to be when she is grown. I need to change things...I can feel it in my heart when I'm reading Natalie and Elijah the story of Saint Nickolas....even the Veggie tales version. Something is missing...something isn't right.

I will do some research and find out all I can about "Christamas". I will have to have Steven on my side....I will have to change.

Elijah is 16.5 months old!

Elijah is such a BIG boy! He is so cute and smart too.

He is bigger than a lot of other boy babies his age. He is so cute because his hair spikes all by itself...he has one dimple on his left cheek...and he winkles his nose when he smiles!

He is smart! He really understands most things that I say. He likes to pretend to use the potty. He tells me when he is wet or dirty....he pulls at his diaper and pulls me to his room to get changed. I can ask him if he is wet or dirty and he will shake his head yes or no.

Elijah is very interested in cars. He doesn't like the little ones that are made for babies his age, he wants the model lamborgini cars made for ten year olds. He loves to sit in the camry and pretend to drive...he will pitch a big fit when he is taken out though so I don't let him do it too often.

The latest adventure with Elijah has earned him the nicknames "Slick" and "Crisco Kid".

One evening I was cooking supper. I allow my children to play in the cabinets while I cook. I actually give them a pot with a spoon and some cheerios. They "cook" the cheerios while I cook supper. This allows them to be busy in the same room that I am in and lets them have a snack to tide them over while supper is cooking. Well, this one night, Elijah decides to go looking in the pantry. I let him because there isn't anything in there that can hurt him. Well, I turn to my cooking and then I hear those words....."Uh-oh", I turn to see that my son has taken a big bottle of vegetable oil, opened it, and poured it on the floor. So - I grab him up and get him in the bath tub....I bathe him with some dawn, I start thinking about the mess in the kitchen (it was running under my fridge) and then I think that Natalie is still loose in the house....So I get Elijah out and let him go...(yes he in naked) I go in the kitchen to clean up the mess and Elijah is right behind me.....running....then sliding....then falling back into the oil. It was hilarious.

We will never forget that night.

Hello blogg world!

It has been SIX months! Oh my word! That is a very long time and I have a lot to catch you up on! But...GUESS WHAT!!! I have a laptop! YEAH! I'm so excited because now it is so much easier to watch my kids and work on my pictures or catching up on facebook or you guessed it - updating on my blog! The reason I started blogging wasn't really for everyone else to know what was going on in our lives, but to help me remember my children growing up.
You see I'm absolutely horrible, yes horrible. My children do not have a baby book...and I didn't write down a lot of things that I should have and I didn't take the pictures that I should have.
I like to scrapbook...I have lots of scrapbooking things...thanks to my wonderful friend Tracey and my mother....but I don't have any scrapbooks completed. I have one started...and it is from back when Steven and I was dating. I had another friend, Melissa, that introduced me to digital scrapbooking....yeah I wanted to do it, but still, it didn't happen.

SO now I have a laptop....no one else can get on it - I can work on it while the kids are playing or while I'm watching yet another action movie with my husband.

Here I go on another try...I hope that I can keep up this semi new adventure!

Melissa as of July 15, 2009

Me and the kids playing on the floor - 1/2/09

I'm going to get better at this!
I have decided - I hope! - That I will start using this blog as sort of a journal - I'm going to keep it open ALWAYS - so I can just type down a story really quick and then be done!

Well - Me - I think the wierdest thing is that I have read the Twilight saga THREE times! I swear I'm not hooked - I just haven't found something better to read! I have finally started the Harry Potter stories - don't laugh! I figured that I like series - so since everyone else likes it - I might as well give it a try! Any suggestions on what I can read next?

I have found myself in a new place in my life. I'm more confident about myself than what I ever have been. I know more of who I am and I'm not afraid to embrace it.

I'm still liking my photography - sometimes! I had a bad experience with a ballet recital and I really just wanted to quit all together after that - hmm - I'm still not done with it either!
But anyways - I learned a lot from the experience!

I have been haveing some trouble with my heart racing and heart palpatations - Not to mention losing weight like crazy! (I'm not trying to do this either) So I have went to a cardiologist that had me wear a monitor for 24 hours. Haven't heard back from them yet. I also went to a endocrinologist - hel thinks I have a bit of post partem hyperthyroidism. I have to see both of them again in a month. The cardiologist will do an echo to rule out some possibilties.

That's about it for me! I will update on Steven next!

Remember - I don't check my grammer! So bear with me!

Pictures that should have been uploaded a LONG time ago!

This is our Home! It's a picture showing off Steven's carpentry work on the window He Rocks!

Home Girl Natalie - Jan 15 2009

This is Huggie! He is with another family now.

This is Natalie's first black eye!

Yes Yes - another three months has flown by!

Hello - I hope that all of you are doing amazing and enjoying some really nice weather.
I have LOTS to update - but I have chosen to take my little girl outside to do some worm catching

Here we go again!

Well it looks like you can check back for an update once every THREE months! Can't believe it's been this long.
Sigh - but that's motherhood for ya!
I will write an update now -and then I will hopefully post pics tonight!

Guess what? Natalie got her first black eye! Actually it turned a really pretty pink and lavender instead of black. But she had a nasty scrape beside her eye to go with it!
Here is what happened -
We were at my Aunts house having a small little family gathering. Lots of kids. They have a swing - like those that you see at Wal-Mart made for about 4 grown ups - metal covered in a canvas type material. Kaden, my cousins little boy, was standing on top of the swing holding on to the bar above it and pushing it out with his feet. Well, Natalie walked in front of it and WHAM! It hit her. At first I was just going to pick her up console her a little and then help her brush off - but when I looked at her eye - it looked as if she was bleeding from her eye! So I got pretty upset. - But after looking more closely her eyeball was not bleeding - it was just her eyelid and the skin right beside her eye that was bleeding. DRAMA!
Natalie is doing really good though - she has to count to 12 to get most treats. Next week it will be 13! She loves to dig up earthworms! And she loves to look for bugs with her magnifying glass. I'm downloading all the pics from my camera as I type so I can actually get pictures of her doing this. Potty training - is just that - Training. Its all hit or miss. LOL! I'm as consistant as I can be without pulling out my or her hair. I decided that I will take her as often as I think about it and then let her decide when she wants to stop having pee run down her legs - it just takes time and she is still quite young. So I'm just training.

Elijah is SOOO active! He army crawls all over! He can't stand to be still unless you are up walking! He has to have everything that he can see that is just out of his and his mommies reach! Yesterday I walked in his room in the morning to find him standing up in his crib - hanging on for dear life! He didn't realize that he could sit back down! Nope - didn't get that pic either...I just really need to get more organized and I'm trying my best - starting with my closet.
Back to Elijah. He likes to chase his sister through the house - he will do it army crawling but loves for you to help him run by holding his hands. Natalie zooms by and screams with Elijah following screaming just as loud. He is liking his sippy cup. He doesn't want me to feed him - he wants to do it all himself. At dinner I just rinse all - if any - salt off of our food and give it to him. He loves it. We have a really big backyard - it has a small drainage ditch that runs through it - yesterday Natlaie went out in her rainboots and was splashing around - when I put Elijah on the ground - where I thought he would sit and play with the flowers - he immediately pushed down to his belly and started dragging himself toward the water - he moved so fast - and was screaming with delight! So - I let him go. He loved splashing in the water with his sister! I just need to get him some boots too! Actually I think a rain suit. Nope no picture! - I can't carry my big camera outside by myself with two kids - So i'm working on my little camera - it just doesn't take as good as pics as I want it to. - But I have to stop passing all the memeories!
Elijah's last echo was good I guess - They still can't see where they want to see - but his bloodpressure in his legs is still good so - they don't want to see him for six months.
Praise God!

Steven is working hard and harder. He has decided to take on some extra kids to make some extra money. He is working in Rayville LA today on his dissertation research. He is planning on graduating in December. Then he will be a DR.! Woop Woop! Anyways - he is also getting back into shape - doing tons of pushups and other things. He did have me conned into doing a competition with him on pushups - but I'm having trouble with my right shoulder - I think it's from picking Elijah up in his carseat - it just hurts - has for at least two months now. So we are doing a sit up contest - I can do more!!! But he can do a ton of pushups and I can't get off the floor!

Why my Husband Rocks!

Thanks Kirsten for posting this for your husband. I figured I could do it to!

My Husband Rocks because he comes home from a long day at work and dances with our daughter. He helps her put on her little ballerina outfit and then they turn on some music (usually Phil Collins) and they dance! Steven will even get really silly with her!

Elijah Creed

Actually I call him - 'Lijah Creed or Creed. It's funny because I actually do forget that his name is Elijah....when people ask me his name I say....(pause) in my head I'm saying (Lo - no- nat - no- huh?) And then I say "'Lijah" and people say "What?" Then I have to say Elijah.
Elijah is doing very well. He is rolling, rolling, rolling! I laid him on the floor in his room the other day and watched him roll across the room and out the door! He loves to roll. OH and that rule about babies sleeping on the belly - oh- uh-uh! You lay him down on his back and he roles right over!
He loves to SCREACH and SCREAM and HOLLER! He gets this from Natalie!
He said "mama" first - He said it for me on my birthday! (it was really cute) We were at Chilie's and I looked at him and said, "Lijah, it's my birthday say mamma." And he replied - (see if you can keep up) He smiled, said mmmm....then he made a big frown and said maaaa -(tears were in his eyes) and then he smiled and laughed and said "mmmm" and then frowned with the tears and said "mmmaaammaaa"! Then he smiled and laughed again! and you know what - he hasn't said it since!
Now he likes to say "yayayaydadadaddaaayayayddaaaadadadada" aka "dada"
He loves his daddy! He can be so fussy and then Steven comes home and he starts kicking and laughing and is just exstatic to see his dad. He won't let Steven pass him up either!

Elijah used to sleep ten hours every night - then we went to Nana and Pawpaw's house and WAM!!! - He is only sleeping 5-6 hours at night! Which is still good for a 6 month old but come one what happened to my 10 hours!

Elijah's last Echo came back inconclusive. They said that there is a part of the aorta that they couldn't get a good picture of and that there seems that there might be a little more scar tissue forming that is causing a little bit of a narrowing....sigh. We go back to the Dr. in February.
He is a really healthy baby though and you can't tell that he was ever sick, except for the scar along his ribs that only I see when I change his clothes or give him a bath.
Speaking of baths! He loves to splash and doesn't mind at all if Natalie splashes back! Yes we bathe them together - It's so much faster and funner. Grant it, it will have to come to an end when Natalie starts asking more questions.

Elijah wants to crawl SUPER bad! He lays on his belly and just swims, swims, swims. (he does it really fast too!) He knows how to pick up his upper half way off the floor, but then he drops down and puts one knee under him....he just has to put them together.