Quotable quotes

Welcome to the first installment of Will's Words 2012! Of course, I try to use a different title each time I post something, so I had to come up with another title. I know I won't be able to keep up with the funny, adorable and/or sweet things he says forever, but I'll go for as long as possible. So here we go!

1/8
M: Will, don't spit the ice out, I have it in there to keep it cool.
W: But mommy. The ice is coming for me! I open my mouth and it goes in my mouth.

1/15
W: Maggie's awake, you know that?
M: Yes, I heard her. Did you hear her?
W: Yes. I have big ears when babies are sleeping, when they are crying.

W: That was not a very good place for me to eat
M: You didn't like your corndog?
W: No. I need something with protein- that was just a little. I need oatmeal with protein

1/20
That's hard racin' Maggie. That's why Jesus made us, so we can walk and race!

Today
W: Why can't we go to the pancake place?
M: 'Cause I don't feel like going to a sitdown restaurant with 2 kids by myself.
W: But you're not by yourself. Jesus is with you. He's right here.
M: That's right, honey. Jesus is in our hearts.
W: No, he's right here. In the car mommy.

My little man

Will's 4th birthday party

A part of me feels so bad that Will has a birthday around Christmas because planning a party around holiday festivities is very difficult. Something Daniel & I never had to deal with as children- we're summer babies- so we had a special day unto itself, not one shared with other things. I know you may be thinking, what's the big deal? He's only 4, how does he even know the difference? Well, he may not now, but he will as he gets older. And he may feel like his birthday is on the back burner, like so many with Christmas birthdays have or do. Until he tells me he doesn't care one way or the other, I'm going to keep it as special as possible. Since scheduling got more and more difficult with each birthday, we decided waiting until January for his party was the way to go this year.
I didn't want to go too big this year, but after throwing Maggie's big 1st birthday, I wanted to go a little bigger than I did last year. I made cake, cupcakes and cookies. I really leaned toward making only cupcakes, but I do enjoy cake decorating and I promised Will awhile back I'd make him a CARS race track cake. I wanted more practice with the cookies but wasn't as pleased with how these turned out as I was Maggie's. I had more issues with bubbles in the icing and need some practice writing with icing. Still, Will was pleased and they were eaten.

You know I had to decorate with balloons and streamers and made him a banner as well. Like I've said, I think they make a colorful statement and are not expensive, those coupled with some paper to make his other decorations and I threw a very budget friendly party. 

 When designing Will's invitation, door sign and cupcake toppers, I decided to make centerpieces as well, here's what I came up with:

 Favor bags filled with a  puzzle that you can color on one side (complete with a few crayons) and a cute container filled with little toys and rolling stamps  from Michael's. Then I bought some fruit snacks and a tree freshener for the car. The last one is not really for the kids, but I thought of the idea and it felt so clever I couldn't help myself. But I'm not the first to do that, I'm sure. Everything was CARS-themed except the car freshener. And at the end of the party, I added a cookie to each child's bag as well.

I did a simple menu- pizza, chips & dip, veggie tray and fruit, plus the dessert. I should've mentioned on the invitation lunch would be served like I did with Maggie's cause several people came without their appetite! That's alright though, we sent some pizza home with family and my nephews finished most the cookies before leaving Sunday.

 I also made water bottle labels but didn't take a specific picture of them. I had plenty of time before the party, but forgot to take pics of the food/drinks because I set most of it out at the last minute to retain freshness and cool temperature.

 Will is pretty uncomfortable having a room of people singing to him, he wouldn't even blow out his candle! His friend, Riley ended up doing it. Silly boy.

He had a lot of fun and was sad to see everyone go. And we are well stocked on toys!!

Maggie 16 months

Baby girl is just growing up before our eyes and we couldn't be prouder to call Maggie our daughter. She is such a sweet soul and a bright light in our little family. She is also a very hard worker! Because of all her hard work, Maggie is on the brink of being an independent sitter. I still wouldn't set her down on a counter and walk away but I timed her at 9 minutes the other day. She was playing with her little people home and was sitting very well. I realize at 16 months most children are walking-- Will was certainly all over the place, but we're still proud of the milestones Maggie reaches, regardless of how old she is when reaching them. We still put her splints on when needed, but I really don't think she'll need those forever or maybe too terribly much longer because she opens her hands alot. Maggie takes good steps in the walker at therapy; in fact, I wish we could get one for the house- I think Marliese is trying to track something down. She's transitioning in an out of sitting more and better now-- she has gone from sitting to kneeling a few times and sitting to lying down without just throwing herself down.  Maggie can also stand with less support. She needs help getting into that position but once up, she needs minimal support at her hips, especially when wearing her AFO's. So, all things in due time. We generally have therapy 8-9 times a month and her therapists are always happy with her success and her progess. That's all we can hope for. God is working a miracle in our baby girl's life and we're blessed enough to be witness to that. To all our prayer warriors, please continue to do so, she's come a long way but still has a long way to go. She's getting older and becoming more aware of her limitations. We're praying the healing continues and she can be independent one day- hopefully before she's really aware of any limitations.

I love you so much Maggie, you've brought so much joy to our family these past 16 months!!

2011 Year in Review

I've been wanting to do a recap of 2011 like last year, but have not yet had the chance. So better late than never! 2011 brought about many blessings, happiness, challenges and sadness. It was a tough year, but we have been so blessed. Funny thing is, I find that through the trials we can truly focus on and appreciate our blessings. I don't know about you, but it seems to me our blessings are more difficult to see in times of prosperity. Well, without further ado, our year in review...

January
After a big Christmas, we settled into the new year with lots of new toys and a little more sleep (Maggie finally slept through the night consistently with cereal feedings.) The fort building intensified when G gave Will an indoor tent with tunnel and the whole room became a fort! We also enjoyed snow and ice a couple times...Maggie's first, I believe...but still played on the new swing set a couple times. My parents visited and I started teaching Will the letters in his name.

February
was unusually warm, we spent many days playing outside- much more enjoyable swing set time than January. I made my first attempt at decorating sugar cookies, but with store-bought dough and cookie icing, nothing like September (but I'm getting ahead of myself). My sister, along with her kids, visited, we went to TN for a wedding, Maggie was pushing up and Daniel gave his first public devotional.

March
brought Maggie starting sitting up-- though at that time we didn't know how long that road would be-- I got a new camera (lots of practice shots this month) and Maggie went to the Birmingham Zoo and to St. Louis for the first time. My mom and I drove together (with my kids in tow) to celebrate a baby shower for my cousin, Rachel, helped decorate her nursery and visited my cousin, Kevin, who was injured on the job and lost vision in his left eye. We also had visitors of our own- my brother and SIL first then my MIL, SIL and her kids- Will loves his cousins!

April
We did some work helping repair houses and spreading the Word in Sayre, AL. This was a great way to start the month. I took Maggie to the state's rehabilitation services and learned that she qualified for Early Intervention. We went to the zoo's grand opening for Trails of Africa and traveled to TN twice-- once for our nephew, Samuel's birthday and again for Easter. The Wednesday after Easter we woke up to violent straight-line winds that did some damage to our town and took a few lives. We only lost some yard furniture and had no idea what that evening would bring: hours of F5 tornados racing through the state in one of the deadliest tornados since 1925. This was a big month!

May
brought weeks of helping tornado victims in any way possible, Mother's Day (got my Cricut), our 6th anniversary, swimming, lots of trips to the park, water balloons, still more forts, Maggie's first EI therapy session and Daniel's 30th birthday! Whew, we were bu-say!! Crazy to look back on, I can't believe we fit all that into one month. I'm also seeing a pattern here- I blog alot. Where do I find the time? I believe blogging must be where my late nights began. What can I say, I love to write. And what better to write about that faith, family and fun?!

June
was busy as well with Daniel's LAN party, my birthday, a trip to the beach with my mom, brother and nephew, plus swimming, park visits, therapy and daily life in between. I also took one of my favorite photos of Maggie this month-- on the collage below it's 4th down, 1st from the left. I just think she looks so sweet here, plus I know something most people don't when looking at this photo: she's actually working. She'll have to work many years or possibly her whole life to do even the simplest things we take for granted. Yet, she still looks so precious doing it. My sweet baby girl.

  

July

meant Independence Day and a trip to TN. My cousin, Rachel was on maternity leave and wanted to bring her family down and introduce to her new bundle of joy. She asked if I could make a trip up and I am now particularly grateful we took time to travel and meet that sweet baby boy. The 4th also brings fireworks and barbecues-- fun and yum! We had visitors of our own again and both kids had their first dentist visit. This was also a big month for Maggie in therapy-- started feeding herself (large finger foods, not puffs or using utensils), able to sit and play for short periods, arms getting stronger-- the list was abundant. July was good and will forever be the month our little girl started making strides toward independence. A perfect month for that, I think.

August

Hot as always, but filled with fun, playdates, progress in therapy, Will's first haircut and pre-school orientation. Can you believe how quickly this year is going by? Daniel also went to Houston this month plus my parents and nephew, Kyle, visited for a few days. Maggie finally visited the neurologist who diagnosed her with watershed injury. We would not have been surprised with a CP diagnosis so this helped seal the peace God had been trying to give me over the previous 11 months that I struggled to accept.

September

This was a big month- Maggie turned one and Will started pre-school all in the same week. Talk about emotional overload. I made it through, though. Maggie's party was super fun (here, here & here) and I spent months leading up the event crafting all sorts of things. My SIL (brother's wife) and fellow crafter extraordinaire turned 30 this same week! I wanted to be part of planning a 30th for her but for many reasons, mostly involving bad timing, we weren't able to pull it off. This same thing happened for my SIL (Daniel's sister) for her 30th! I digress. My brother and nephew visited, Daniel flew back to Houston again and I made a trip to TN to visit my neice, Olivia, in the hospital.

October

Ah, the month of beautiful weather. We settled into the little school routine and new therapists and some additional therapy with Maggie. We now generally have 8 therapy sessions a month. We had more visitors, my MIL, SIL + kids over fall break and my mom for Halloween. Will had orientation at pre-school and we met our newest neice, Isla, in TN (Maggie's closest girl cousin in age). We went to Trunk or Treat at church, Boo at the Zoo and went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. So candy overload. I think I finally threw the remaining away a few weeks ago. Plus we had plenty of fun times in between.

November

started dim, to be honest. We traveled to St. Louis to attend a family member's funeral. One good thing about funerals is seeing family you rarely have the opportunity to see otherwise. In this case, there is the hope of seeing him again, when this world fades away and the perfect one is formed. I was also able to take my family to the STL Zoo on this trip, something I've wanted to do for awhile. Then more therapy, decorating for Christmas and celebrating Thanksgiving. Daniel and I swap years and as much as I love his family and spending the holidays with them, I am grateful this was my family's year. Because it was my last visit with my cousin's little baby boy. Something I'll always remember. The highpoint was that Daniel and I were able to get a couple nights away, as a couple, and was very refreshing.

December

How quickly a year goes by, especially when you're hitting the highlights! Maggie and Will enjoyed the new kitchen my cousin brought down at Thanksgiving, we jumped in some leaves, attended several Christmas events, made many, many, many crafts, celebrated Jesus' birthday, Will's birthday and then ended the year on a tragic note. A few hours after returning home from our last holiday celebration, we received a call that my cousin's baby passed away. We drove to St. Louis on the last day of 2011 to attend the funeral. Here's the good news: we have hope in Jesus Christ and I pray this family who has lost so much, is abundantly blessed in this new year. Well, that's our 2011 wrapped up, thanks for coming on the journey!

I suppose I could've tried to condense all this into one paragraph like I did last year, but I've gotten in the habit of being wordier this last year, so I just went with it. I hope it wasn't too much! Here's to another year; may you all be abundantly blessed through the love of Jesus Christ!! He brings the only true hope to our lives and when we have his love and grace, we are truly blessed, despite our circumstances. I hope to focus on that this year!

One of the first and last pictures of the kids together in 2011

Happy New Year

I realize we're a week into 2012, but things have been a little hectic, so what can I say? Happy New Year! To be perfectly honest, our year began less than ideal. We spent most of New Year's Eve driving to St. Louis to attend another funeral. Logistically, we usually stop off in TN to pick up or drive with family (my siblings and/or parents) but this time we drove straight through, arriving a few hours before 2011 ended and the new year began.
I am very heartbroken to say this funeral was for a 7 1/2 month old baby boy. Sweetest little boy, Logan, and I was only able to hold him a few times. The mother of this sweetheart little boy is my cousin but also one of my best friends and my heart ached, aches and will ache for her, her husband and their two daughters. Visiting the house and seeing his room was difficult-- brings back so many memories of celebrating his arrival, decorating the nursery-- but not as hard as holding her while she cried or hearing of his last day. I touched on this in my last TT post about my children because at times like this it's impossible not to take stock of your life, your blessings. And I have mentioned over and over in my blog posts since Maggie's birth how blessed we are to celebrate month after month of her life and despite her difficulties, she is here. And that is a gift certainly worth celebrating.
How does it make sense that a parent should have to bury their child? Particularly one who hasn't reached his first birthday. Many non-believers think God could not possibly exist when babies are dying or what kind of cruel God would take a young child from his parents or allow them to suffer? Well, it's because God does not create evil -- sin came into the world and evil is its by-product. He did not want pain or death for us; God is love. In fact, He loves us so much, He sent his only son to bear our punishment so that we may have life again. Until He comes again, we feel pain and sorrow as a result of the mess we made- it was a choice- and we chose unwisely. Did Logan commit a sin himself? No, and now he does not have to suffer in this life like we do. He left a big hole in our lives for sure-- particularly for his immediate family-- those of us who still live suffer his passing. But it's time like these we must cling to God so fervently and rely on his love and strength and comfort to hold us up when we cannot do so ourselves. I just have to say, I am so proud of my cousin. She spoke to me several times about having faith and trusting that God has a plan and reason for all this and has a certain peace about her that can only come from resting in Jesus Christ. In fact she said to us at one point, "am I crazy?!!?" which is exactly how Daniel and I felt after Maggie was born. It's not possible to have that much peace through all the pain of our own accord. He gives it to us. You've read the footprints poem...it's the most difficult times in our lives when he carries us. She's reading her bible, digging into the Word and she and her husband are seeking church membership. God is already working in their lives and it's wonderful to see. The circumstances, of course, are not wonderful but God is the living water and all who are thirsty shall come to Him. He is quenching their thirst and I have complete faith and trust that if they continue this road by His side and in His arms, they will grow and reach a peace they have never before known. His Word does not promise we'll live without difficulties-- in fact it says all over scripture that believers will suffer for His sake-- but he does promise to be with us, to stay by our side, if we'll have Him, if we lean on Him and give all our problems to Him, big and small.
Aside from witnessing spiritual growth and a believer's peace, the good thing about being in St. Louis was bringing in the new year with my STL family. This hasn't happened since before Daniel and I were engaged. Sadly, traveling that far during the holidays has become increasingly difficult. Some shots of the party:

my aunt Rose with the jar I made her - well personalized-

I don't know how to make glass

 hangin' out in the play room

Our wonderful hostess, my aunt Cheri, on the right

 

 boys against girls!

 almost time!

So Happy New Year to you all, may 2012 bring you joy and great blessings. Dear Logan, we begin our year without your sweet, smily face and you'll be dearly missed.