Photo Shoot Gone Awry...

I do love to photograph my kiddos, I must admit. I definitely lack any kind of training, though hard I may try. Yesterday, I thought I would take a few pics of Maddie and Ley together, but it did not quite work out as planned. Even though Madden's nose was running and Leighton had leftover lunchtime crumbs on his face, I thought I could get a cute shot. No such luck, but I will go ahead and post the outcome...afterall, I need something to post...

I will leave ya'll with a cute pic of Leighton in his alligator visor he made at school last week that he has literally worn until it is falling apart! He asked me today why it isn't fitting anymore...I told him that paper and yarn aren't meant to be lived in!

Shake Your Moneymaker!

Watch out, JT, Leighton is bringing 'funky' back...my son has mad skills, I tell you...We can't get Ley to tell us much about his daily routine at preschool, but we are wondering if he is nearly as entertaining for his teacher and classmates at the First Baptist Church, as he is at home! I wonder who he gets his dancing abilities from?

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A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words...

And, well, it needs to right now, because I have no time to post about the absolute screaming good time (yes, there was actual screaming involved...) we had at the show on Saturday night. Although I am pretty sure we were the oldest attendees in the audience (except for the parental chaperones of the oodles and oodles of 12 and 13 year old girls!), it didn't matter--we had a blast! Of course there is a story behind this photo, but I have no time to indulge you all...if you get a chance to see The Fray--you should...even Jeremy (who thinks their songs all sound alike) seemed to enjoy himself... a little (he took the above pic, too; what a great hubby!!)! Will try to post more later...took some video clips and such, but not sure they turned out as anything but buzzing....

Soon-to-be Chatterbox...

Maddie uttered her first sounds yesterday (well, besides 'thpppt'!) and it was 'mamamama'! Ley did say 'dada' first so I was kindof expecting the same, but what a pleasant surprise! It is so fun right now and I will enjoy every moment of her saying it before she realizes that mama=me, and then it becomes less cute and precious all the time. Gone are the peaceful days of speechlessness...

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How To Save a Life...

Live music, here I come! The Fray is coming to Savannah this weekend...woo-hoo! I can't remember the last time I saw a great musical act of the rock/pop genre. I really think the last concert of any kind that I was in attendance, was the Mercy Me show (and it was amazing!!) in Monroe many moons ago. I haven't even seen my hubby's band play in *forever*. It's quite sad for a girl who so loves so many kinds of music....

I had no idea that the guys from The Fray used to be part of the Christian genre...guess I am behind. You can read more about it here:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2006/thefray-0706.html

In honor of the occasion of me getting out of the house sans kiddos, I added a playlist (under my 'links' section) of some fun music...now, if it actually works, I am unsure, but I tried. Look at me, trying to get all technological and such on my blog...kind of scary. Maybe I should just stick to the making slide shows and posting video of my munchkins!

Hey Baby, What's Yo Sign?!

Well, I'm a sagittarius, but who really cares? This past weekend I started to try some baby sign language with Maddie. I never really did it with Leighton (by the time I thought about trying it, I thought he was too old, although he *probably* was not), and my friend, Mere, did it with Ella and it was so great that she could communicate things she needed at such a young age. So, now this Mer is going to try it with her sweet girl. We will see how it goes for us. I don't have any of the books, so I am just getting my information from the internet. We are doing the sign for 'more'(that is the sign the cute, random baby above is doing), but I think I should have started with 'milk', so we are going to start trying out the 'milk' sign when it is time to nurse. Will keep ya'll posted on any developments...


Leighton made it through his checkup. I was SO glad to have his daddy there with me! Jeremy was so great with Ley and just stepped right up to the plate as far as voicing the concerns we had with Leighton's health and development. I think I will just send Jeremy to the pediatrician with the kids from now on!

Ley has been having some issues with frequent urination off an on since Christmas time and we were so relieved to find out there is no real problem (specifically diabetes). Dr. Hobby called it 'benign polyuria' which is just a fancy term for non-pathological needing to pee all the time! Ley will be having a speech evaluation in the next month or so--he is having difficulty with his 'tr', 'ch', and 'sh' type consonant-consonant sounds (the words 'trees' and 'cheese' sound exactly the same). We are not sure if he truly needs an eval, but I feel like it is the right thing to do right now. We don't want to wait too long if he does need some work, you know? The shots were traumatic (and this is an understatement) and there was an excessive amount of high-pitched screaming, kicking, and crying, but thanks to Jeremy's help and as well as 2 nurses, he was inoculated with 4 shots! He was over it very quickly, and we all enjoyed a post-wellcheck-party at the local Chick-fil-a playland. Next year, he will only have one shot to look forward to, thank goodness!

I will leave ya'll with a pic of us from Maddie's first checkup after birth so you can see Dr. Hobby! He is so great with my kiddos! Thank you Jesus for wonderful doctors to take care of us!

Immunizations this AM---should be interesting...

Leighton has his 4 year old well-check this morning. He will also be getting his vaccinations. The big kiddo above makes this look pretty easy--wonder what his mom promised him?? After taking Ley for his flu shot this year (with Maddie in tow of course), I enlisted the help of Jeremy for this appointment. I could barely get him to sit still for one shot--it will most certainly be difficult to approach him with between 3-5 vax (although hopefully at least 2 of the immunizations may be together in one injection)! It has been such a long time since he had 'shots', you know? I hope I don't have to chase Leighton around the room like my mom had to do to my brother (sorry, Jeff; okay, maybe you didn't actually run, I can't remember I was just 2, but I remember you put up a pretty good fight!)! If only I could get those shots for him...

Madden is Mobile!

Wow, now I actually have to vacuum on a regular basis...ugh. We first noticed her crawling at the beginning of the month...she crawled 2 steps. Her biggest deterrent has been crawling out of her clothes. I will find her laying on her tummy on the floor, sucking her thumb, with both legs in the torso portion of her footed outfits! She went from rocking to crawling so quickly, it seems to me. Of course, I am comparing her to the big brother who didn't *truly* crawl until he was 10 months old! He did the 'army crawl' starting at about 7 months and then finally when we were visiting my parents overseas, Ley decided to use his hands and knees instead of his tummy to get around. Maddie seems to be doing everything a little earlier than her brother did at this point (well, everything except eating solids and putting herself to sleep at night--Leighton beat her to the punch on those two!): rolling over, sitting alone, pulling self into sitting position, and crawling; she has even started pulling herself onto her knees to get into her toy basket and play on the learning table and such. I can't believe today is her 7 month birthday...it just blows my mind. It seems like yesterday, I was turning flips and doing handstands in the pool at my pastor's house to try and flip a breech baby, and now she is crawling around on my living room floor!

A Prayer for my Preschooler...

Father--
Please be with Leighton today as he begins a new phase in his life...preschool! He is so excited, Lord. I know You will be with him every step today. Help him to be obedient, listen and learn, play and have fun, make new friends (and remember to ask their names!!), share, be kind, be respectful. I pray that he would remember his memory verse from last week and "Love his neighbors as himself" as he meets new boys and girls. I specifically ask for a special friend that will stand out to him in his class, especially because he is starting halfway through the year. Hold him in the palm of your hand, Father; keep him safe and healthy. Allow him to adjust to the schedule easily and not skip a beat. Be with his teachers, Ms. Melissa and Ms. Kathy, as they teach Ley and guide him in his social, emotional, and spiritual development; I am so thankful for the teachers and aides You have placed at his school and in his classroom--thank you that we live in a place where we are able to send our children to school--especially to a preschool that is not only a school but a ministry as well! Thank you, Jesus, for my precious gift, Leighton, whom I have had at home with me for the vast majority of his 4 years; thank you that he belongs to You first and foremost. I am so glad that you designed him exactly the way he is and already know the plans and future You have for him (and I claim that for him, Lord!)...thank you for the priviledge I have to love and train him up in Your ways. Today, and everyday, I give him back to You...Amen.

The Mom List: Four Mysteries of Motherhood

I couldn't resist posting this little blip from my monthly Parenting magazine...although I should be writing about all the stuff going on in our lives right now...hopefully there will be a second post today.



4 mysteries of motherhood:

1. Why your children need you urgently--the instant you step in the shower.

2. How two kids are easier to take care of than one.

3. Why fruit snacks are neither fruit nor snacks, but candy.

4. The way the days can drag on forever, but the years go by so fast.
--Charlotte Latvala

The fruit snack mystery really made me smile because they are such a hot commodity in our house...Ley loves them and would eat goodness knows how many of these "corn syrup-filled chews in a bag" a day if I would let him! I have to remind him over and over that they are not a snack, they are a treat!

Tiny hands, tiny feet, there's someone new I can't wait to meet!

My bestest and dearest friend, Meredith, gave birth to her second, precious baby girl. On January 12, 2007 at 10:19 AM, Madeline Meredith Price was welcomed into the world. She was 7 pounds, 5 ounces and 19 3/4 inches long. She is just beautiful, like we all knew she would be and in fact looks very similar to her big sister, Ella, when she was born. I can't wait to hold her, and I am definitely loving her from 800 miles away! March cannot come soon enough! I was so excited to see the photos that I just had to post some...Congratulations Meredith, Jeff, and Ella--welcome to life as a family of four!

Children are a gift from God; they are His reward..." ~Psalm 127:3

Rise and Shine and Give God the Glory, Glory!

Some precious shots of Madden this AM...how blessed am I to wake to this? She is such a happy girl when she comes out of her slumber...now drifting off TO sleep is not always such a lovely sight!

And a little video clip too...not sure why the quality is so awfully terrible...could it be because our camera is from the dark ages??


Okay, after all these sweet girl shots, I am feeling like Leighton is being left out! He is pretty happy in the AM, too. The only time he is ever still is when he is sleeping. This pic was taken several weeks back after he received a spiderman mini-sofa bed from his Grammy and Paw. He slept on it as a pallet on the floor a few nights when we had guests and then he had trouble going back to sleeping in his own bed...I discovered this before I went to bed...



Leighton is the most no-pants-wearing-est kid I know (except for maybe his friend Ella, who goes commando all the time!) We asked him to get ready to go out to dinner, and this is how he prepared himself to leave the house! My goodness, how I love him; he never fails to make me laugh....I guess he figured he eats his dinner at home in his underwear, why not at the Mexican restaurant downtown?!

Where does the time go?...

Madden had her 6 month shots & checkup yesterday! I can hardly fathom that she is already six months into her sure-to-be amazing life! She is a petite little girl--she weighed in at a whopping 13 lbs, 13 oz (15%)! If you saw her little thunder thighs and tush, you would have never guessed she was just under 14 pounds! She measured 25 3/4 (55%) inches long. She is still nursing 4 times a day and eating oatmeal in the morn and evenings. She just started green beans two nights ago--soon she will be moving onto squash, peas, sweet potatoes and all other plants from the vegetable and fruit kingdoms! She was a bit unsure of the green beans the first night; a bit stringy for her liking. So, last night I was sure to puree those little beans until they were super smooth (I am not Gerber, but as close as I can get with my Magic Bullet!) and it seemed to appeal to her little palate much more. Before I know it she will be eating table food!

Madden is sitting well on her own these days and has been for several weeks. She is already starting to try to to crawl which makes me very nervous. She definitely uses the 'inch worm' technique to get the toys she needs and loves to rock back and forth on her hands and knees. We haven't heard much out of her as far as vowel-consonant sounds and such, but she is definitely vocal (we are practicing 'ma ma ma ma ma' but everyone knows she will say 'da da da da da' first!!). She loves her Praise Baby (and Mom does too!!) and Baby Einstein DVDs; she continues to love the doorway bouncer, most of the time. She is a very cuddly baby and loves to be held and still loves to be swaddled! No teeth yet, but she continues to drool like crazy, so we know she is working on it. Maddie sleeps like a champ; 12 hours a night on average (I thought Leighton was a good sleeper as a baby, but she has exceeded even his sleep achievements thus far!).

Here are a few photos of Madden sitting up (and falling over!) and eating solid foods--her two newest feats!

“Train up a child in the way she should go, And when she is old she will not depart from it” ~Proverbs 22:6

Holidazed...

Sorry I have been MIA for another month...I feel like the world's worst blogger. But, you know what, I am so okay with that...I have nothing funny or witty to share right now...I am too dang tired... Here 's a slideshow of Christmas 2006 here in Savannah; it is the best I can do for now! Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas filled with Jesus, family and friends (oh, and food, of course!) and is looking forward to the new year as much as I am...

One More November Post...

I haven't posted because I am sick...ugh. I am hoping I am on the mend, but nervous that the crud may have developed into a sinus infection. May have to go to the doctor tomorrow--but I do feel a bit better today.

I had a very special Birthday/Thanksgiving in Richmond with my mom and dad. Jeremy was sick while we were there (thanks for passing it to me, Jer!), but he seemed to heal up nicely after about 36 hours. We celebrtated my 30th birthday very low-key (except for the raging fire on top of my cake...that was pretty exciting!) and had a woderful non-turkey dinner of roasted pork loin on Thanksgiving(MmMmmm...it was delicious, Dad!). My mom and I even shopped a little on Black Friday--we spent an hour at Kohl's. I found a coat within 15 minutes of arriving. Then, stood in line for over half an hour waiting to pay for it. We decided to go home after that! We went to colonial Williamsburg on Saturday and spent the afternoon there walking the streets of old. We were hoping they would have the town decorated for Christmas, but no such luck!

It was definitely worth the 17+ hour drive there and back with the other 38 million Americans traveling, to be with my precious family--thanks for inviting us up and taking such good care of us, Mom and Dad!


Wishing that I had put makeup on and fixed my hair that morning--but, c'mon, I was about to travel 8 hours in the car with two little ones!


Our Thanksgiving meal and Ley checking out the homemade cranberry sauce (boy, was it good with that pork loin!!)


Granddad and his kiddos!


Colonial Williamsburg, VA

Bike Helmets and Parking Spaces...

Just a little humor on this special day. Jeremy and I were married seven years ago today... Does it seem like it has been that many years?!? Most days, yes... The title of this post refers to my faves in the following joke. Happy Anniversary, J...



Men are Like......

.....placemats
they only show up when there's food on the table.

.....mascara
they usually run at the first sign of emotion.

.....bike helmets
they're good in emergencies but usually just look silly.

.....government bonds
they take so long to mature.

.....copiers
you need them in reproduction but that's about it.

.....lava lamps
fun to look at it but not all that bright.

.....bank accounts
without a lot of money they don't generate a lot of interest.

.....high heels
they're easy to walk on once you get the hang of it.

.....mini skirts
if your not careful they'll creep up your legs.

.....handguns
keep one around long enough and your gonna want to shoot it!

.....laxatives
they irritate the crap out of you.

.....bananas
the older they get, the less firm they are.

......weather
nothing can be done to change them.

.....blenders
you need one, but you're not quite sure why.

.....commercials
you can't believe a word they say.

.....department stores
their clothes are always 1/2 off.

.....horoscopes
they always tell you what to do and are usually wrong.

.....parking spaces
all the good ones are taken, the rest are handicapped.

WARNING: This will make you dizzy...

Welcome to life with Leighton...he never stops. Okay, it just feels like he never stops because during the time when he does sleep (stopping=sleeping), I am sleeping also. He took a 20 minute nap today (he normally sleeps 1 1/2 to 2 hours) and the following resulted. You may want to wait 30 minutes to an hour to watch this if you just ate or drank...

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I Heart Monochrome...

Just a black-and-white montage of mostly Madden...

Slow start this morning...

Here are a few pics of Ley and Maddie. Leighton has become all about Spiderman the last few weeks (since seeing his cousins in LA--he watched the movie with them). He runs around in his muscle suit singing, "Spiderman, nobody knows who you are!" and shooting webs out of his pointer finger. We even borrowed the movie and with the aid of TVGuardian (that technology is pretty great), he has loved watching the action flick.



Madden is doing great...sleeping throught the night again. She loves to be held all the time. She will play by herself on the floor or in the doorway jumper for short amounts of time. She is rolling around all over the place. Oh, and she is very entertained by Ley. She still loves to be swaddled, and my pastor, Larry, asked me on Sunday if I was going to wrap her up like that until she was 14!?! I told him I was going to do whatever worked as long as it continued to work (I definitely have a few more weeks of 'baby burrito-ing'--I wrapped Ley until he was 5 1/2 months old and he was much bigger than her)! I started trying Baby Einstein DVDs for her, but she is not too interested yet. Maybe she would watch them if I was holding her!! Due to teething, she always has something in her mouth. It is so hard to get a good picture these days! I can't believe she is almost 5 months old...

Sleep, I miss you...Come home soon...

Daylight Savings Time is bittersweet. You understand this if you have kids! It is really tough on the little ones' schedules. And for that matter, it affects me too. I was so blessed to have a baby who sleeps to between 8-9 AM in the morning. Now that has changed to 7-8 AM. Okay, that is still not bad at all, except Ley is getting up at 6 or 6:30 AM now! I am so not a morning person; I have never been a morning person. I know that there are moms who get up at 5 AM due to their sweet litle children's body clocks (so I should NOT complain), but I just needed to vent. My body and my brain miss the extra sleep in the AM. I am off the decaf and on something with a little kick (I love that Folgers makes a Lite coffee with half the caffeine of regular coffee...).

I can't believe it is already November and that I have not posted in two weeks! We made a whirlwind trip back to North LA to visit our immediate family so they could meet Miss Madden (and Jeremy had a wedding gig to play, of course). We lived through the ordeal of traveling twelve hours with a 4 month old who truly dislikes her carseat. I can almost tune out her 'carseat' cry after listening to it for so long...



Madden had her 4 month check-up last week. She was 13 lbs and 24 1/4 in, which is 40 and 50 percentile consecutively! I kind of freaked a bit until Dr. Hobby assured me it was no big deal. She was in the 8o and 95 percentile at her two month appt. He said as long as she is doing everything she is supposed to as far as milestones and developmentally (which she is), that she is just a little baby. This is foreign to me considering Leighton never fell out of the 90 percentile! At 4 months, he was 2 1/2 lbs heavier and almost 3 in longer than Maddie! Anyway, Madden made it through another set of shots; and Jeremy, Leighton and I have all received our flu shots this year per the Dr. to try and protect sweet baby girl (as well as ourselves, but not sure I could have talked Jeremy into getting one if I didn't play the "Dr. said you had to because of Maddie" card).



We had fun trick or treating this year. Leighton was in his usual form this year. He thinks when someone opens their door to him with a bowl of candy that this means he is welcome to come on in! We had to keep reminding him not to enter the homes...He loved his costume and we will continue to get lots of wear out of it since he loves to play dress up. Madden was a chili pepper courtesy of her friend Jackson. I wasn't going to dress her up but decided to at the last minute since Ashley had the costume, and Jeremy really wanted her to be something. It was a bit big, but we didn't mind and neither did she.