Ringing in 2010

So, it’s obvious I’m not great at keeping this blog updated.  I have no excuses other than forgetfulness and laziness I suppose.  I do most of my posting on Facebook, so if you have an account, find me there! http://www.facebook.com/#/profile.php?ref=profile&id=1512295559

The year 2009 flew by so fast, it’s crazy.  Miss Kenley made her arrival and I don’t think we’ve had a moment to breathe since! ha ha 

As we ring in 2010, there is so much ahead.  My baby girl will already be a year old in just two months, I turn the big 3-0 and our baby boy will be 4!  All in a weeks time!  I can’t believe it.  I know I shouldn’t be thinking about this yet, but I can’t help myself!  Noah will be starting kindergarten next year already! AAAAAHHHHHH  :-(  Also, Billy and I will be celebrating our 9 year wedding anniversary this year.  WOW!  The life with a KY boy is awesome! ;-)

My new years resolution is meal planning.  That may sound boring, but it is something I hope to accomplish.  I read about so many mothers planning a month’s worth (or more) of meals at a time.  I have found many many new recipes to try and we are loving most of them so far, but I have one big challenge:  I HATE grocery shopping.  I am spending more time in a grocery store now to keep up with the ingredients and everything I need.  I am doing my best with it though and hope by the end of the year to have a ‘method’ in place that works for me to plan a month of meals at a time!  If you have any favorite recipes recommendations to send my way, I’d appreciate them!

Billy has joined “The Biggest Loser” contest at a local fitness center.  It is a 12 week contest.  He will be on a team with weekly weigh in, nutrition planning, and will get to work with a trainer.  Billy definitely puts his all into something when he’s set to accomplish it (like his current project with the homemade wind turbine project).  So, any calls, notes, emails of encouragement will help keep him motivated! (hint hint)  I’m proud to see him take the first step to be involved in this.  And just a warning to you Billy…you better win!

Noah has been doing great.  He is an awesome big brother.  He loves his sister, there’s no doubt.  He is doing awesome in pre-school.  He is getting so sensitive though (just like his daddy).  We can’t watch Disney movies with him anymore because he gets upset at all the sad parts, starts crying, and makes us turn the movie off.  Little stinker!  He plays with his imaginary friend “Googie” all the time.  Googie started as a person Noah was talking to in our basement, but he is now a worm.  Noah plays with him just about every day.  I’m really not sure how I feel about it? 

Aside from a double ear infection that won’t go away, Kenley is also doing great.  She is crawling everywhere now and starting to eat solid foods.  She loves the little baby puffs, no doubt, but is now enjoying peas, mashed potatoes, breads, macaroni and cheese, etc… She does NOT enjoy medicine in any way, shape or form.  Which makes it difficult to treat her ear infection!  Her hair is getting longer and thicker.  It all curls up in the back – cute!  And she just adores her big brother, I can’t get over it.  I guess if my brother Aaron was as cute and sweet as Noah when we were little, I would have adored him too!  ha ha j/k Aaron!  You were cute… :-)

Most of you probably know already, but I recently became an independent consultant for Usborne Books and More.  They publish fun and educational children’s books, activity kits, etc… You can visit my website at www.KidsLuvBooks.com to see the selection.  If you, or someone you know, would be interested in hosting a show (home, catalog and/or online), please let me know! 

I don’t typically do this, but I am going to ask for some prayers.  First, for my uncle Greg.  He has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.  Please pray that he stays strong through his treatment!  Also for my cousin Angie and her husband, Daniel.  He is a Sergeant in the US Army and has been serving in Iraq since October, just a month after their wedding.  And also for my father in law, Charlie.  He has been fighting gall stones since having his gall bladder removed 4 years ago.  Let’s hope that this next procedure will FINALLY take care of everything!!

I hope that 2010 is a great year for you. 

PS… iPhones ROCK and the Twilight Series isn’t as dreadful as some people think (yes, I’ve been sucked into it)!

Catching up…

Okay, so, it’s been just a little while since I’ve updated the blog!  Sorry about that!  We’ve been so busy, I don’t even know where to begin.

I guess I’ll start with Miss Kenley.  She is now almost 7 months old (Oct 15) and at her last well check up, she was 18 lbs 10 oz and 28 1/2” long!  She is a very healthy baby!  Last week, she started sitting up!!!  I couldn’t believe it!  I wasn’t really expecting it, but I had set her up on Noah’s bed, against my leg, while I was getting him dressed and she was doing so well.  So, later that evening, I tried to sit her on the floor to see how she would do!  She did it and was so proud of herself (as you can see from the picture below)!

Noah has been getting to see and do a lot of new things recently.  We made a trip to the mountains of Letcher County to see Billy’s family.  While we were there, we took Noah to the top of a mountain for him to see.  He was in awe!  He loved it.  Papaw Lamont was with us on the trip up the mountain, and Kenley and Mamaw Lamont stayed home.  Noah kept telling us about the tigers, bears, and ghosts(?) everywhere in the mountain.  He definitely enjoyed seeing the mountain and going up the really, really, really, REALLY big hill!

The following weekend, we took Noah to Nashville for a three day trip.  We decided to take Noah on a special trip for being such a great big brother.  Kenley stayed with mimi and pappy, so she had fun getting spoiled!  Our trip started with a Disney on Ice show on day 1.  Day 2 was a trip to the Opry Mills Mall to eat at the Rainforest Cafe and then on to the Opryland Hotel to see everything there.  He enjoyed all of it so much.  He may have even liked the hotel and restaurant more than the Disney show.  He was just so excited about all of it.  And the last day consisted of going to the Nashville Zoo.  You can view pictures from our trip in the album below!

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We also recently celebrated Billy’s 32nd birthday!  Noah helped daddy blow out his candles and also gave him 32 spakens!  Oh…and he has been singing Happy Birthday to daddy for the past few weeks.  I guess he doesn’t want it to be over!

Up next, we have a trip to Louisville for our friends daughter’s birthday party, a Huber Winery trip, and our 8 year wedding anniversary (with another trip to Nashville to see the Keith Urban All for the Hall benefit concert – including Faith Hill, Lady Antebellem, Taylor Swift, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Jason Aldean, and Little Big Town).  So, our schedule is still packed full of things to do!  Our house probably feels neglected!

Our kids are growing way too fast.  I can’t believe they are so ‘grown up’.  Noah is spelling and writing his name, mom and dad, and is learning to spell Lamont.  He is doing great in pre-school, which he started in August.  It is amazing how quickly then learn at his age.  He is like a big, giant sponge!  Here are a few additional pictures I wanted to share. 

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I have recently become an Usborne Books consultant.  They are a leader in educational children’s books.  I highly recommend the books.  I had purchased books from a book fair when we lived in Louisville, and Noah loves the books.  I had purchased more since then and they are his favorite.  If your are interested in purchasing books, you can visit my website at http://www.myubam.com/ecommerce/main.asp?sid=E3974&gid=87805017.  Also, if you would like to host a home show (or e-show) to earn free merchandise, please let me know!  Please feel free to share the information with your friends and coworkers!!

Hope everyone is doing well!  Please keep in touch and hope to see everyone soon!

Teething, drooling, laughing, rolling over…

Yes, our little baby girl is growing up all too fast.  She weighed 15 lbs 12 oz at her 4 month check up and is 27” long!  The same day of her check up, she started cutting her two bottom teeth!  Crazy!  Noah got his first two teeth at four months also, so I shouldn’t be surprised I guess! 

Aside from being able to hear myself, I love this video!  Kenley has the hiccups here too!

Noah has been learning so much at “school” aka daycare.  He is in the preschool room and we have seen such a big difference in so many things with him.  The daycare has math, language, art, science, plays, etc… every day.  Although they have this each day now, they will be a more structured (9-11 am everyday) when the school year starts in a few weeks.  He will be learning to write his letters!  I can’t believe that?!?!  One thing is for sure, my baby boy is now a little man :-)  and :-( at the same time.

We had a cookout a few weeks ago.  Noah had a blast playing with all his friends.  We enjoyed being able to see everyone too.  It had been some time since seeing some of our friends!

Shylee (9 mos), Kenley (4 mos), Jace (7 mos), and Avery (4 mos)

Colton (2), Carter (3), Noah (3), Gavin (4) and Logan (3)

Of course, I can’t have a posting without having a picture of the two together.

I thought I’d also post pictures of me with the kids too.  I prefer pictures of my kids without me in them though!

And last, but definitely not least, I wanted to mention my Grandma Hurst.  It has now been a year since she passed away.  I miss her so much and regret not seeing her more than I did in the years before her death.  I will never forget the look on her face each time I was able to come visit.  Her eyes lit up like George Straight (her favorite), just walked in the door or something.  I have so many great memories with her and will NEVER EVER forget them.  I love and miss you always Grandma!

How do I slow time?

Time is sure flying!  I guess the fact that we are staying busy makes it go even faster. 

First, Billy and my cousin Craig worked on replacing the ugly red mulch with nice gravel in our landscaping.  You can’t see it in the picture, but they had a nice project either way!

Then my uncle built a Pergula cover on our patio to help provide shade since the sun blares right on us in the evenings.  Over the weekend, Billy installed some rope lighting and ceiling fans to help keep us cool!

 

Noah absolutely LOVES his bicycle.  He rides and rides and rides.  He is doing great with it!  He is still going night-night by himself.  Oh, how bribery works on him.  At least for now.  He has even been able to go on a ride through the neighborhood with daddy and pappy (below)!  He knows not to go on the road (or even near it for that matter) without someone riding with him.

Kenley is still doing great in daycare.  She has been congested since starting daycare, which I probably complain about more than her.  But she seems to be clearing up slowly, but surely.  She laughed for the first time the other night.  It was so exciting!  I have been working on getting her to do it again, but haven’t had much luck yet.  She gets close, but then decides nope!

And one thing is for sure, Kenley absolutely LOVES her brother!  She gets the biggest smile just by him walking up to her.  And she watches everything he does when he’s playing.  And Noah is still a proud big brother.  He wants to hold her (until she slobbers on him – then it’s over)!  It’s cute to see them with each other!  I will take every minute of this, as I know eventually, it will turn into sibling rivalry!

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend!  Keep cool!

Back to Work

I can’t believe it, but Kenley is now over 12 weeks old!  Which means I have returned to work.  Time sure flies.  I had intentions of doing so many things at the house (organizing, photo albums, cleaning closets, etc…) and just never really got the time.  I know people wonder how the heck I could be home for 12 weeks and not get it done, but kids sure keep one busy! 

 

They are so adorable, I can’t take it!  Noah is still so great with Kenley.  He is always so concerned about her and giving her hugs and kisses.  Now that she is in daycare, getting two kids ready in the morning is a bit challenging.  We’re getting it figured out though.  Noah wants to feed her, so we have to get him dressed and ready first!

So, needless to say, Noah is my big helper.  We have been working with him to go “night-night” on his own.  One of us always lays in his bed with him until he falls asleep.  He won’t have it any other way.  Until the past few nights.  I have told him that if goes “night-night” by himself like a big boy, that we would get him a big boy bicycle.  It’s working so far :-)  He has done it two nights in a row now.  I had his monitor on last night as he was laying in bed and he was having a conversation with his teddy bear (or at least I hope it is his teddy bear and nothing else).  But it was so cute.  He was telling him he is going to get a big boy bicycle, and then was feeding him a bottle, and then telling him how he played cars at Gavin’s house and that he is going to go back there to play again.  I could have listened to him all night, but he fell asleep and it eventually turned to snoring!

 

Kenley is doing great at daycare and is still such a great baby.  She is getting on a more regular sleeping schedule.  We typically get her to bed before 10:00 and she’ll sleep through the night until we wake her in the morning to get ready.  She is cooing and smiling so much lately.  Again, something I could listen to for hours!

I am getting back in the routine of work also.  I am happy to be back to work, but I sure do miss my kiddos during the day.  I am definitely ready to go get them by the end of the day!

The previous post was made by Billy (the one showing off tomato and pepper plants).  Him and Noah are taking great care of the plants and they are growing like weeds!  ha ha  Of course, the minute Billy gets home from work, Noah is ready to go outside and do just about anything.  As you can tell, he has been enjoying his jeep.  He was so proud to get to drive Riley and McKenzie around the other night.  We actually had to order him a backup battery because he drives it so much now that he runs the battery down almost every night.  So, now we’ll have to fully charged batteries each day!  He gets soooooooo upset when the battery dies.  So upset!

I think my baby girl is going to be a thumb sucker!  When I went to go wake her up the other morning, this is how she was laying in her crib…sucking on her thumb.  You’ll notice the white sleep positioner behind her back…she was so active throughout the night apparently, that she worked her way out of it.  It was so precious when I walked in and saw her like this though!

Noah and Pappy got their hair cut together the other day.  We had his hair cut pretty short this time!  I really like it, but daddy likes it better longer!  He looks so grown up, and I just love his dimples!

Tomatos & Peppers, Oh My!

Wow, June already...The time has sure been flying by. I decided that I needed to post something on here. That being said, I'm not sure I have a lot to say. We have been busy lately with the kid's. Noah loves playing out side, so our evenings are pretty much spent chasing him around the house while he drives his power-wheels jeep. I have to admit that I love every min of it.

Another thing that Noah has been helping me with is my hanging garden. You know those Topys-Turvy hanging plants you see on TV. Well I got me a set of them and started growing some peppers in them. I liked the idea so much, I decided to ramp it up a bit. So, I built my own topsy-turvy out of hanging buckets. I admit that its all a little over kill, but I can't wait for the veggies to get rip. I love fresh tomatos and peppers.

If everything works out, maybe next year I can try a watermelon...wait, that won't work!

Happy May!

Happy May (almost June) to everyone! We are FINALLY having a beautiful week of weather! Jasper has had lots of rain the past few weeks with a pretty day here and there.

Well, little miss Kenley is now 2 months old! I can't believe it! She had her appointment today and weighs 12 lbs 15 0z and is 24 1/2" long. She is growing well and doing great with development. She had to have 3 shots in her legs today, which just about broke my heart. I can't stand that! But she fell asleep soon after and has been sleeping most of the day since. She will start daycare when I go back to work on Monday, June 8. It's coming up so fast. Time has just flown by...I'm not sure where it went. I look forward to returning to work, but I will miss my babies so much! Speaking of daycare, Noah starts pre-school on June 1! He will still be in daycare, but from 9-11 each day, he will have pre-school. He has started transitioning to his new room this week and has been telling me how much fun he is having. Noah and his friend Hayley are both moving to the new room together, so at least he will know another kid in the class.

May has kept us busy and we've had a few visitors from Louisville also.

Our friends Amy, Scott and Logan stopped by recently. Noah drove Logan around in his jeep (which Noah now LOVES that jeep - he won't stop driving it)!

Our friends Liron, Gene and Shylee also stopped by for a visit. Shylee is 7 months old. She is just 5 months older than Kenley! They will be such great friends! We can't wait to see them start playing together. (Don't we have two beautiful girls)?!?!?

Mamaw and Papaw Lamont came for a visit to attend Kenley's baptism. Avery was also baptized the same day, so Kenley and Avery were baptized together on Mother's Day. It ended up being a beautiful afternoon and we had a Mother's Day/baptism party after at Chad and Katie's house.

Kenley with Mamaw and Papaw Lamont

Mamaw, Papaw, me, Kenley, Billy, Mimi, Pappy and Noah

Great Grandpa, me, Billy, Katie, Avery, Carter, Chad, Great Grandma and Kenley

Me, Chad (Godfather), Beth (Godmother), Kenley and Billy

Great Grandpa S, Great Grandma S, Kenley and Great Grandpa H

Kenley at 8 weeks and Avery at 6 weeks (again, I have to say, two beautiful girls)

Kenley's Godmother Beth attends Purdue. She graciously bought these bibs for both Avery and Kenley. I'm not sure Avery is too thrilled about it! She must know her dad is an IU fan!

With all this excitement we had this month, we also had some heartbreak. My Aunt Jackie passed away suddenly on Mother's Day. We have lost 5 people in our families in just 10 months. It's been hard, but we know everyone is watching over us and is pain free. We are thinking of Grandma, Jay, Nolan, Robert, Jackie, and all others we have lost before then, each and every day! Love you and miss you all!