Firsts and Lasts (Bittersweet)

I read a blog a few months back that talked about children's milestones and the author made a great point about how parents, especially with the first child, are so excited about what’s around the corner in terms of milestones and cannot wait for all of the “firsts” to happen.  The writer then goes on to explain how waiting for all the “firsts” to happen results in parents paying little or no attention to the “lasts,” which she emphasized are equally important.  For example, the last time they roll over, crawl, coo, or take a bottle to name a few.  I really enjoyed the article, as I have always been careful not to wish time away, especially when it comes to my kids.  I have always soaked in every second because I knew it would go way faster than I ever wanted it to.  And it has, even more so with Lily than Will.  When Will was little, I felt time went perfectly, not too fast, not too slow.  I got to take it all in with him.  I take it all in with Lily now as well, but it seems to be flying by so much faster as I now have two kids to focus on instead of one.  After reading the article, I immediately knew I wanted to write an ongoing post to capture both the firsts and the lasts of our sweet girl throughout the early years as she hits many of her important milestones.  So, here goes nothing...

First:  May 29, 2013 - 2 Months Old

Last:  October 18, 2013 - Almost 7 Months Old

Mudbugs!

Picture this...

It's the second to last week of the U5 Mudbugs 2013 Soccer Season, and Will is watching the soccer ball come towards him in an attempt for the other team to score a goal.  Will blocks it, then immediately turns around, kicks it twice, and SCORE.  IT'S IN THE GOAL!  The crowd erupts with excitement chanting "Good Job Will!" repeatedly.

Yes, this really happened and I get goosebumps and such a sense of pride every time I think about it.  Our little man, who usually hangs behind the herd of boys fighting for the soccer ball, got in there and made his first soccer goal.  I cried a little bit and Ben (or Coach Ben as he's known on the field) said he wanted to.  In fact, right after the goal, Ben raised his hands up and said, "My coaching career is done," meaning he was so proud of his boy and if that was the last time he ever saw him kick a ball, that would be okay.

Now, I know some people may think we are putting a little too much emphasis on him scoring a goal, but it wasn't so much the goal as it was that he actually rubbed elbows with the other kids on the team and wasn't scared to get in the herd and get the ball as he had been the rest of the season.  In fact, when we were all screaming so loudly for him, the other team's parents were looking at us like we were crazy for cheering so much over one silly little goal, but I said "You don't understand...Will NEVER even touches the ball with his foot."  And then they understood.  I was also elated to hear all of the team parents on our side screaming for our boy, because they too had seen Will's timid behavior throughout the season.  And as an added bonus, Nonna, Uncle Corey, and Eli got to witness our boy's first soccer goal ever!

While I don't think he'll be going pro anytime soon, the goal seemed to be the boost he needed, as instead of saying he didn't want to play soccer the night before our final game the next Saturday, he said "I am going to score another goal!"  So, if anything this did nothing more than build his self esteem and confidence.  What more could a proud Mom and Dad ask for?

We found this is actually quite a difficult pose for a four year old.

Action shot...notice where Ben is in the background?  Yup, that's where the rest of the team is...over there trying to score a goal.  Will tended to run outside and behind the herd along with his buddy Garrett.

Team pic!  These boys love Coach Ben!

Miss Independent

Turns out Sassy McMuffins, Sass for short, is a perfect name for our newly independent 7 1/2 month old.  Once she started pulling up to a standing position, she thinks she can do everything on her own, including feeding herself baby food.  As I was feeding her carrots tonight, she would grab the spoon from me after she took a bite, and when I tried to pull it away to get another spoon full, she started crying loudly.  Once I gave in and gave her the spoon, she was perfectly content as you can see in the pics below.

Response to taking the spoon away.

Response to Mommy giving in.

Halloween 2013

This Halloween was super fun, and extremely busy. I am the room mom this year at Asbury, so I was in charge of their Halloween party.  It was a success and the kids had a wonderful time. A few days before Halloween the weather was predicted to be rainy on Halloween night so many surrounding Youngsville/Milton neighborhoods decided to have Trick or Treating a night early. So, we decided to head down the street to Miramar so the kids could get a little Trick or Treating in. Thank goodness we did, as it literally rained hard all day and through trick or treating time on Halloween night. Since it was raining, we decided to make the best of it and carved pumpkins instead.

One of the games I created for Will's class.  (Thanks Pinterest).

Will eating some Halloween grub.

Sweet Bug.

Nonna enjoying the class party with her babies.

Trick or Treating in Miramar.  By the way, this was one of three costumes Will wore throughout the week, none of which were a Ninja Turtle which he originally wanted to be.  Thank goodness Grammy and Grampup gave him some superhero costumes last year for Christmas.

The scary zombie.

Waiting for Will's class to come through at Asbury's Halloween Parade.  She's giving me the "You want a piece of me?" look.

She loved carving pumpkins.  She especially liked pulling the
slimy pumpkin guts out and tried to eat the seeds.

Not wanting to share with brother.

Who needs Trick or Treating when you can carve pumpkins with Daddy?

The end result. Will designed the one on the left. 
Daddy's design was on the back of that one, and mine was on the right.

Toledo Bend Weekend

We decided to join my family for a last minute trip to Toledo Bend.  It was the Hoover kids fall break, and everyone wanted to take advantage of it.  Ben has been working super hard, and I have had my hands full with the kids so it was a much needed, albeit short, break.

Our humble weekend abode, "The Y Knott Lodge"  Yes, that's Ben up there waving.

Enjoying a nice family paddle.

The BB Monster got him!

Snuggle time with Nonna.

Enjoying the great outdoors and the fire.

Mommy and Will time!

If you look straight ahead, you can see "skull island," aptly named by Ben, Will, Eli, and Ez.

Enjoying the view and time with the fam.

Snuggling up on a chilly night on the lake.  (Love this pic!)

What's Lily Been Up To?

The question should really be, what hasn't she been up to?  She has been blabbering more and more trying to say Momma and Dada.  Yesterday we were at the shop and I said hey to Poppa and she actually tried to mimic that as well.  It definitely won't be long until she is talking.

She has officially started crawling.  No more army crawl for this girl.

She is now pulling up to stand.

And last but not least, her bottom two middle teeth have decided to pop through her gums.

Where does all the time go?

Just as suspected, it's not near as easy to consistently blog with Lily, as it was with Will.  I feel like we recorded every smile and movement with him, then there's Lily, who didn't even get her official 6 or 7 month pictures taken.  Typical second baby I guess.  I always laugh when I think about my mom and our baby books.  Missy's is filled out front to back, with every little detail.  Corey's is somewhat filled out with a few pics here and there.  Then there's mine with a few things written and the rest of the items sitting in the middle of the book.  Ha!  My mom and I always have a good laugh over it and now that we have a second child, I totally get it.  There are just not enough hours in the day.  Plus, just like me as a child, it's not like Lily is lacking in any way shape or form for love and attention.

With that said, the next few posts will be brief and mainly told with pictures ;)

Round 2 with the Byrd's

As most of you know we had Will while living up in Alexandria, LA and while there we met the Byrd Family who had their son, Ayden just 13 days before Will.  Ever since our boys' births and even after we moved back to Lafayette, we have made it a point to get together often so our boys can continue the bond they developed since birth.  And now, with the addition of our Lily, and their Eli, we continue the tradition.

Back in July, early August of 2012 Ben and I were extremely excited to learn of our second pregnancy (after nearly a year of trying and no luck).  Being very excited, but only being 5 weeks, Ben and I knew it was just too early to tell anybody.  However, it just so happens that night Gaynell and I were texting back and forth about the day to day goings on in our lives and towards the end of the conversation she mentioned she really wanted to talk to us.  Knowing that they were also wanting to have another baby, the thought popped into our heads..."Oh my goodness.  They're pregnant too!"  And sure enough, I asked her if she had something to tell me and she said they were 5 weeks or so pregnant and I was like, "Me too!!!"

And so was the beginning of pregnancy number two for both of us.  Gaynell was definitely the lucky one this go round as she had a seemingly seamless pregnancy with the few typical issues here and there while I had to have an ultrasound practically every other week in the first trimester as well as a couple trips to the er and numerous scares with bleeding.  Anyhoo, as time rolled on, we eventually found out they were having another boy and we were having a girl, which we discussed at length over one of our traditional weekend dinners at Coyote Blues.

Before you know it, our nine months were up and unlike last time, we were the ones to deliver first.  Lily, born on March 26, 2012 and Eli Luke born April 3, 2013, 8 days later.  And it wasn't until May 5th that things finally settled down for both of us enough that our second sweet babies got to meet each other.  As you can see from the pictures they are both beautiful and will definitely be life long friends (we have ruled out them being boyfriend and girlfriend as we don't want it to get complicated ;)  We look forward to them developing a close friendship like their older brothers have with each other.  And I am still holding out hope for convincing Ben to have a third child and hope they follow suit ;)  I guess only time will tell.

Proud Mommas

Proud big brothers

Chunky Monkey

Sweet girl loves to eat.  By 3 or 4 weeks she was already drinking 4 oz bottles at a feeding and once she started solids it was on.  From rice cereal to oatmeal to all of the veggies, she loves it all and opens her mouth like a little bird as soon as she sees the spoon.  During the first week of solid foods she was only supposed to eat 1/2 a jar and gradually work up to a full jar by day 5.  Instead, she ate an entire jar on day 1 and by day 2 ate 2 jars at a sitting plus a 5 oz bottle.  One would think she would last longer between feedings after that much food, but after her regular 3 hours, she was hungry again.  Even though I'm not supposed to give her fruits until 6 months old, I have already let her taste cantelope and she eats grapes and bananas thru food strainers.  She is definitely our good eater.  I think it's because she uses so much energy trying to keep up with her crazy big brother.

Carrots are yummy!

She loves her oatmeal.

Special Moments

Ever since Lily has been born, there have been many moments between she and Will that have melted our hearts and tonight was one of them.  Lily and I were sitting on the couch attempting to get her to sleep for the night.  Soon after, Will came out wrapped in an after shower towel and came to lay with us, thumb in mouth and all.  As soon as he sat down, Lily's attention went to him and her hands immediately reached for his hair.  His response was to laugh, which made her giggle as well.  He then proceeded to kiss her repeatedly, making her giggle and smile from ear to ear.  This was one of those little moments that reminds me what life is all about.

Won't Be Long Now!

Lily is just itching to scoot across the floor these days.  Whenever I leave the room for a few seconds I come back to find her in a completely different spot then where I left her.  She moves in two different adorable ways.

One way she likes to get from point a to b is by rolling.  This is particularly cute as I don't remember Will ever doing this.  If she spots something out of her reach, Lily will roll her way across the floor, front to back until she reaches her final destination.

Lily's second method of mobility is rotating her body around in a circle as if her belly button is on top of a pole and she simply spins around to reach the various objects around her.  For example, I put her toy just out of her reach in an attempt to get her to scoot, but instead she looked around, noticed Will's toys on the other side of her, and quickly rotated until his action figures were in her grasp.

We know Lily crawling is just around the corner, and of course want her to develop as she should, but can someone please slow time down?  She's growing up way too fast!

Happy Father's Day!

Today we celebrated Ben's first Father's Day as a daddy of two amazing children.  Even though Father's Day fell smack dab in the middle of Ben's pilot year of his EACBSA Atchafalaya Swampbase and he was super busy, we managed to get in some quality time with the best daddy on the planet.  Ben's Father's Day gifts were super fun to make this year with two little ones and judging from his reaction, Ben thoroughly enjoyed them.

One gift we made Ben didn't turn out exactly how I had envisioned, but it still got the point across.  We found a sweet Daddy poem, printed it out, and the kids stamped their hands and feet around the words, then mod podged it all to canvas.  I will post a pic of it below, but would like to share the poem we used for the project, written by Helen Bush.

"Walk with me daddy"

Walk alongside me, daddy

and hold my little hand.
I have so many things to learn

that I don't yet understand.

Teach me things to keep me safe

from dangers every day.

Show me how to do my best

at home, at school, at play.

Every child needs a gentle hand

to guide them as they grow.

So walk alongside me, daddy

We have a long way to go.

The next gift we gave Ben was equally fun and challenging to make with a four, nearly 3 month old, and spoiled rotten mutt.  I bought the letters D, A, D from Hobby Lobby and took pics with Will holding the D, Will, Lily, and Lulu holding the A, and Lily holding the other D.  As anticipated Will's pics were quick and painless to take, while Lily's and Lulu's were not quite as easy.  Lily had been smiling the whole morning of the photo shoot, but as soon as I put the dress on that she was wearing for the picture, the smile turned upside down and she was not having it.  So, after a much needed break and little nap, I got her smiling again.  Then, as I started getting pics of her smiling the camera battery died, so I had to recharge it a few minutes, take a pic, recharge, take a pic, etc.  This process continued for about 30 minutes.  After finally getting a good photo of Lily, I had to take the pic of all three of the kiddos, which was equally as challenging.  I had to get Lily to smile, Lulu to actually look at the camera, and Will to stop asking, "When are we going to be done?"  It was priceless.  The process was definitely challenging, yet memorable at the same time, and the final product turned out great!

Finally, last but not least, Ben's final present was a big hit...more so for myself and Will then for Ben.  Over the past year, Will has really been into superheros and loves to play superhero with Ben.  We thought it extremely unfair that only Will had the actual costumes.  And, seeing that Will's favorite superhero up to this point has been Batman, it only seemed logical that Batman's sidekick, Robin or his arch nemesis The Joker, would be an appropriate costume choice for Ben.  So, after much deliberation, Will decided to get his daddy a Robin costume.  Need I say more?  Please enjoy the pics!

All joking aside, Ben in case I haven't told you lately, you are the best daddy in the world and everything good that has happened or will happen to our kids in their lifetime will inevitably be in part because of you.  So,  Happy Father's Day Darlin!  We love you more than you will ever know!

Trike a Thon

Along with many firsts Will has encountered at school this year, he participated in his first trike a thon in an effort to raise money for St. Jude.  The fun started a few days before the race when he had to make a decision about which of his many riding toys he was going to bring.  He for some reason wanted to bring his little tricycle, but thankfully took Ben's and my advice and took his big boy bike.  The day of the race came and true to form, Will was a little hesitant to ride with all of the parents watching.  However, as the trike a thon rolled along, he got the hang of it and started riding more quickly even making a few strategic passes which made his daddy proud :)  Once the ride was over he enjoyed a delicious snack of cheez its and water.  All in all it was a successful event.  Thanks to both sets of grandparents for sponsoring Will in the race!

Obviously a little apprehensive at the beginning of the ride.

Action Shot

Motivating cousins

Mock...(Yeah)...Ing...(Yeah)...Bird...(Yeah)...

I have no idea why, but one day I was singing the song "Mockingbird" the way Jim Carrey and Jeff Bridges do in "Dumb and Dumber" and Lily seemed to LOVE it. She laughs every time I sing it and more recently has begun to coo along with the song.  Ben's exact words as she watched her mom sing were, "Oh no, she [Krissy] has a fan."  Like I really need the motivation of a fan to make me want to sing.  I am so looking forward to turning her into a singing and dancing machine just like her mommy.  I sure hope she loves it as much as I do!

Thumb Sucker #2

As most people know, Will has been a thumb sucker since the womb (in all of his ultrasound pics) and still sucks his thumb mostly at night or when he is getting tired during the day.  Lily never sucked her hands in the first few weeks of life so we assumed she would be a paci baby...until today.  While I was cleaning bottles, I heard a squeaking sucking noise behind me.  Low and behold, I turned around to see our sweet girl sucking away on that cute little thumb of hers.  She is still trying to learn where to put the rest of her fingers while sucking.  As of now she uses the open hand approach where her thumb is in her mouth and the rest of her hand is spread across her face, sometimes almost gouging her eyes out.  I figure if she scratches herself enough, she will eventually get the hang of it ;)  I have a feeling it won't be long until she figures it out.  I'm sure her big brother will show her the most effective and efficient way to suck her thumb in the near future.

And just as a side note, I understand most people frown upon the whole thumb sucking thing and it reminded me of a time when Will was a few months old and I was shopping in Alexandria and some stranger saw him sucking his thumb and decided she needed to tell me "He shouldn't be doing that.  You better get that thumb out of his mouth."  I remember thinking what I wanted to really tell her, but instead gave her a polite (and fake) laugh and went about my day.  As a mom, I think you need to pick your battles with your kids and there can be so much to worry and stress over.  To me, thumb sucking is not one of them.  If both my children are still sucking their thumbs as they drive away to college, I may start to worry, but other than that I think they'll survive ;)

Look Who's Cooing Now!

The day before Father's Day our little Lily Belle decided to start cooing loudly.  Her cooing is more than just making a few little noises.  Our little Sassy McMuffin is cooing to get attention and she does it with a little smirk on her face.  It's as though she is having an actual conversation with you.  The best is when she tries to coo, but can't seem to make any noise and once she remembers how to do it, she won't stop.

Grammy and Grampup Meet Lily

Grammy and Grampup came back down South from their rest and relaxation in Michigan to meet Lily, grandchild #3, first granddaughter, for them.  I'm not sure who enjoyed their visit more, Will because he had someone to play with 24/7 or Ben and me, who enjoyed both their company and the much needed distraction from the newly exhausting (but fun) world of having two children.  While we really enjoyed watching Grammy and Grampup enjoy meeting Lily, we especially appreciated the fact they went out of their way to make Will feel important, which is hard for new parents to do in those first few weeks of having a newborn who stays up ALL NIGHT LONG.  We really treasured our time with Grammy and Grampup as we knew we wouldn't be able to get up to Michigan this summer.  Their next visit will be around Thanksgiving when they come back down South to thaw out a bit.  I think the pics below paint a good picture of what a fabulous time was had by all!

Mother and Son

Playing with canoes in the sink.  (sorry for bathroom shot, but too cute to pass up.)

Sleepy time with Grampup

Painting dinosaurs

Snuggle time with Grammy

She didn't have to tell this one to "stuff it."  Ha!

More snuggle time!

Water fun

Smiles with Grampup

Aww

Proud Grandparents