Mom's Colonscopy

Thank you so much for your prayers. They were heard and answered. Mom's colonoscopy showed that everything is still perfect inside her colon. No polyps and everything looks to be healing well!

Mom's 3rd Colonoscopy

Please pray for Mom as she is having another colonoscopy on Monday at 8:15am. She had one around this time last year after she had begun healing from the two surgeries and other treatments to remove the colo-rectal cancer. We thank the Lord that it was completely perfect. Her gastrointestinal doctor wanted to do another one now just to be sure everything is still the same inside. We pray believing this one on Monday will be perfect as well, but it's always a little scary having to be put to sleep for a procedure not to mention the prep stuff which goes along with a colonoscopy. If this test is clear, she'll not need another for two years. I'll post again on Monday afternoon with the results.

Our Weekend In Wilson

Recently, we traveled to visit Matthew's brother's family. It was a short trip but very full on memories and great quality time. It served a dual purpose: celebrating with Hannah as she turned 3 a few days before and helping them get a little more settled as they just moved into their new home a few weeks prior. It was especially memorable for Ruth Ann (Matthew's mom) as it was the first time she was with all FOUR of her grandbabies at the same time. I came across this slide show design on www.slide.com and couldn't pass it up. Just hit the mute button on your keyboard if the song is too distracting. Enjoy!!

It's only been a few weeks and we already miss out sweet nieces! I am so grateful to the Lord for blessing our families with these four beautiful children.

They Grow So Fast!

One of my favorite parts of having children is watching them learn new things and reach different milestones. Philip is at a wonderful age. He comes up with the funniest stories and says just the silliest things everyday. His recent phrase is "That's so funny! Ha Ha!" He says it at random times, not always when anything funny actually happened, and he doesn't laugh at the end but actually just says ha ha. I've got to get it on video! While visiting Jonathan and Lori last weekend, Lori and I compared stories and she said Hannah has make believe tea parties. I look forward to hearing who Braewyn invites to her parties, but in the meantime, I hear almost daily about which game Philip is off to play and then if his team won or not. He'll say, "I'm going to play ball with the boys." (He's not aspiring to be just like his Daddy or anything!) The funny part is that half the time, he'll come back and say his team lost. I guess I should be glad he understands how the world really works. But I was concerned when earlier this week he told me, "I was playing soccer ball (he can't just say soccer), and the other guy kicked me in the face." Oh, I hope that's not a sign of inner turmoil or something.

Anyway, a few of the new things Philip is learning these days is how to cook and what school will be like. He is always asking what we're doing when preparing dinner so Matthew and I try to let him help out a little whenever possible. Tonight, he mixed the Italian dressing and spice pack together for our Pasta Salad. Overall, he does quite well.

I just don't feel like God is leading me to home-school my children, but after seeing the workbooks Hannah is working in these days, I was excited to buy one for Philip. As smart as he is, I may as well teach him all I can so he's ahead of the game when it's time to really go to school. We've had "school" twice this week and we've both had such a great time. I bring out his workbook (Preschool Scholar with a farm theme which he picked out himself at Walmart), and he picks a crayon from his crayon cup (it's actually a Moe's kid cup but he loves it because you can put the crayons away through the straw hole!). We sit down together at the coffee table and do as many pages in the workbook as he wants (each time we've done 3 pages). Here he is after "school" today. This page shows a lesson in size comparison. He had to circle the largest object from each line. The extra lesson at the bottom of the page instructed us to find a pair of shoes from each person in our home and put them in largest to smallest order. Philip was really excited when I told him we were going on a "shoe hunt"! It was a lot of fun.

I cannot thank the Lord enough for this wonderful little person He has blessed my life with!

Braewyn is my beautiful, sweet, baby girl. I say that because I get so mad at myself for not being as excited over her accomplishments as I was with Philip as an infant. I know that sleep deprivation has a lot to do with it as well as the frustration that occurs when I'm trying to feed her rice cereal and Philip is running around, singing, throwing things in the air and it is all REALLY interesting to Braewyn who could really not seem to care less about the spoon in front of her. This photo was from the first time she had rice cereal. If only she were always that excited.

Now having a FULLY VERBAL toddler, it's just that much harder to have a baby who can't tell you exactly what's going on and why she's crying. I wouldn't trade my life for anything, but I hope there are other moms reading this and agreeing from the same experiences.

The Continuing Tales of Prince Philip and Princess Braewyn

We're honestly raising Philip and Braewyn to be normal kids who love God and treat others with kindness, but there's just so much going on that it seemed like a good title. Anyway... Things have been going well with a few bumps along the way. About a month ago, we drove up to spend the day with my brother Mike and his "with child" wife Andrea. It is so exciting counting the days down until "Baby Cousin" is born. Andrea is due November 8 and we know it's a boy, but don't know his name and can't wait to see what he looks like. Mom helped Mike paint a mural in the nursery while Matthew, Andrea, Philip and I drove through the campus of Winthrop University. It holds lots of memories as Mike, Andrea, Matthew and I all graduated from Winthrop and where each of us met our spouses. It was neat seeing all the improvements made to the campus and especially fun to watch Philip run around the sidewalks and grass lawns I had once occupied before he was even a thought in my mind!

A few weekends after that, Matthew, Ruth Ann, Philip, Braewyn and I went to Niven's Apple Farm for our second annual visit. We went last year to buy a pumpkin but Philip was just a tad bit small to really enjoy it. This year... he really, really enjoyed it! There is a tube to crawl through, giant inner tubes to jump on, a huge teepee to walk around inside, wood stand-ups to put your face through (see pics), animals to see, a huge tractor to see on and pumpkins to buy. We got there just as it was time for Braewyn to eat so I told Matthew and Ruth Ann to go ahead and take Philip on down to the farm. About 35 minutes later I finally come rolling along with Braewyn's little cheeks just jiggling from all the gravel the stroller was bumping over. She had nursed great but as is happening a lot recently, when she was almost done, she had a blow-out! A blow-out is when the poop erupts from her bottom spilling out over the top of her diaper and all clothes must be removed and a new outfit put on. And yes, I had to handle all in the back seat of the Trailblazer! Yuck!

Here are some pics of my beautiful baby girl. She really is growing up quite fast but there are days I still don't know what to do with her. The hardest thing we're facing is how to get her to sleep through the night. However, I should have posted this a few days ago because the last two nights she has slept from 9:00pm until 5:00am. PRAISE JESUS!! I was talking with Lori about it on Friday when I was still very much exhausted from being up most of Wednesday night and something she said clicked in my head. Lori asked if Braewyn was still taking an evening nap. Simple question enough but it made me realize I have totally been slack in keeping her on a schedule (I was almost militant about it with Philip!). Poor girl, she's just sort of floating through life so it's no wonder she's not sure when to sleep or wake up. Well, as I said she's slept until 5:00am the last two nights and last night she was not even swaddled! I have been better to bathe her by 7:30pm, take her to the office where I lotion, dress and nurse her. She is then put in the bassinet (decided to go back to that to allow Philip better nights' rest while we get her figured out) awake and I leave the room. I'm feeling much better today. The only struggles now are working with her over the next few weeks to move that 5:00am wake up time forward to at least 6:00am (when she wakes at 5:00am, I nurse and change her, put her back in the bassinet and go back to bed myself before we both officially start the day at 7:00am; if I could get myself in bed earlier at night, I could use that time for Bible study or something else productive). Also, we started Braewyn on rice cereal this week (pictures to come) so I'm having difficulting in getting her nursed and fed in a relative amount of time so it's not like nurse at 7:00am, cereal at 7:40am, finish nursing by 7:55am and then she's not really hungry when her next nursing time at 10:00am comes around. Well, if you're still reading I know this will all be behind me in a few months and I'll wonder why it was so stressful. Here are the pictures of my little "princess" Braewyn.

I'm still alive...

Just a quick post to tell blog world that I'm still alive but feeling very run over by parenting and housekeeping responsibilities. Braewyn is again not sleeping very well at night due to teething and that leads to a very tired and slow-going mommy during the day. Gotta go now and sleep as they are both sleeping now and I never know how long that window will last. I do have lots of pictures to post so check back in a few days!

Cathcing up... photos from GA!

I haven't blogged a lot recently because I like to keep things chronological and I haven't had much time to post my photos from our recent trip to Georgia. We visited my grandparents (Mom's parents), her sisters Liz and Cathy and Cathy's husband Bruce. It was a great trip. A little hectic with keeping two little ones under control but a really, really nice time watching four generations interact.

Well, my AWESOME cousin Melissa and her husband Nick stopped by our house for the night Friday after spending the week at Myrtle Beach (they live near Atlanta). She has a great Myspace page and taught me lots of stuff (if you want to see my page, click here). My new favorite website is www.slide.com which allows you to make slideshows from your pictures instead of posting them each individually here on blogger. I LOVE IT! So anyway, here are the photos from our trip which I've wanted to get on here for weeks now. Aunt Cathy, I'll be mailing you pictures soon and please tell Grandma and Grandpa that I'll send them and Aunt Liz some too. Love you all!

My "To-Do" List

After reading my friend Ellen's blog post about what she wanted to accomplish before her third baby is born, I thought that's what I need to do also. Definitely NOT have a third child (I'm barely scraping by these days as it is!) but type up a to-do list. I think I'm so busy because I never write anything down and just keep everything in my head causing myself to feel half crazy all the time. Does anyone out there sympathize with me?! Anyway here goes...

1. Keep up with the kitchen dishes on a DAILY basis. (like Flylady has been telling me for years!)
2. Wake up at 6:00am DAILY no matter what time I went to bed or what happens through the night so I have that time to myself for Bible study.
3. Keep up with my Bible study. (Philip and I just started a new year of BSF and we are studying the book of Matthew. This week's lesson asked us to read the ENTIRE book of Matthew so I'm already behind. Thankfully from here on out, we'll studying only one chapter a week.)
4. Begin work on my October MOPS newsletter.
5. Mail my list of guests to my Premier Designs Jewelry consultant.
6. Finish washing the clothes we bought on consignment, pack away the kids' small clothes, and reorganize their closet and dresser.
7. Exercise 3 times a week (at least! now, it's about once maybe!) by either walking, working out with my Denise Austin video or using the Orbitrek.
8. Creating a meal menu.

That's enough for now. I'm already beginning to feel overwhelmed. Matthew, I'm getting off the computer now, exercising with Philip (i.e. trying not to trip over him while I exercise), taking a shower and getting us all ready for church before you come home! See you soon, sweetie.

Please Remember Kellie and Paul

Matthew's cousin Paul's wife Kellie lost her mom today. Yesterday Paulette collasped and the doctors first thought it was a heart attack. After examining her, it was discovered that she had had a cerebral hemmorage. She remained on life support throughout the night, but sometime early this morning her heart stopped.

Please keep Paul, Kellie, her dad, her sister and the rest of the family in your prayers. I took the below picture last year at Paul and Kellie's wedding shower. This past July, they celebrated their first anniversary.

Prayers for Mom

For those of you who live near us and see Mom from time to time, she looks good and seems good. However, it's the times you don't see that would tell you she still needs our prayers. It's now been 16 months since Mom's ileostomy reversal. Her body has come a very long way, but she is still dealing with side effects of all it has been through. A good day would mean going to the bathroom 3 or 4 times for 15 minutes each and no pain. A bad day would mean going 8 or 9 times sometimes for as long as an hour with a much pain due to having eaten something that she didn't know would affect her in such a bad way.

Aside from the physical aspect, this all takes a large toll on her emotionally and there are days when she wonders how she could live the rest of her life like this. That's obviously hard on us too as none of us know when her body will be as recovered as it will get. I tell her all the time that she has come so far and regained the ability to go and do pretty much everything she wants to these days. I'm not in her shoes so I can only encourage and remind her that I'm not going anywhere. And to think positively. She told me today that sometimes she thinks her address should be 275 A (meaning her bathroom; 275 is my parents' house number). I told her her address could be Spartanburg Regional Hospital.

Please do remember to lift my mom up in prayer whenever you think about her. If this is the way her life will be until she leaves this world for Heaven, I pray God will help her come to a place of contentment with it. Mom has so much to offer others (which can still be done around bathroom visits!) including lots of Nana-time for years to come with Philip, Braewyn and their new cousin (he's due in just two months!). Also remember my Dad in your prayers who gets the brunt of Mom's frustration when having a bad day. I pray as I have before that God would give him extra patience, compassion and the right words to say to Mom.

Father Knows Best

I first want to thank Jessie and Alison for their words of encouragement as I rattled off our current dilemma of Braewyn's difficulty in sleeping soundly at night. I agree with you, Jessie, that it's important to find out why a baby is crying at night, and I am SO excited to announce that we have!!

Friday night, I had a MOPS steering retreat from 6pm until midnight. It was definitely what I needed as that day at noon, Matthew came home for lunch and I said, "I can't talk to you because if I talk, I'll cry." He could tell it was serious as he asked what he could do around the house while I was gone. Anyway, God blessed me so much just by talking with my girlfriends about how things were going and getting us all excited about the upcoming MOPS year (it's going to be good!!).

Meanwhile at home, Matthew bathed and dressed the kids for bed. He put Braewyn down in the bassinet in the office in her pajamas and swaddled in a blanket. He swaddles really well and she was like a little pig in a blanket! That was at 9:15pm.

I got home at 12:20am, Matthew and I talked about our evenings and went to bed a little after 1:00am. I check the kids before going to bed myself and Braewyn was still snuggly swaddled. I woke up after 6:00am and the girl was still asleep!! PRAISE GOD! I actually went back to sleep. Philip woke us up at 7:00am and that's when I found a smiling, still swaddled bundle in the bassinet. Her problem was not liking the freedom of movement provided in the sleep sacks.

Now that Braewyn slept just as good last night (9:10pm until 6:50am), I'm convinced that the swaddle is our answer to prayer! Matthew is a wonderful Daddy always, but this was an especially great move on his part. Since she will (Lord-willing) sleep so good through the night, I hope to be able to put her to bed by 9:00pm and then still pump around 10:30 or 11:00pm to stock up the milk supply since MOPS and BSF are beginning soon.

God is good... all the time!!

And it gets worse...

(Read the below post first so this will make sense.)

Is there such a thing as night colic? Braewyn may have invented it. So tonight (yes, it's 6:08am and I'm blogging), Philip was in bed at 9:30pm and Braewyn in her crib at 10:05pm. Maybe they are overly tired by going to bed too late; one of those nights, we went to dinner with my parents while Matthew had a softball game and then we met him at the grocery store to return home at 8:45pm.

I'm in bed at 11:45pm after blogging the below post (yes, I know I'm not getting enough rest myself). At 1:49am, I wake up to Braewyn talking/crying in her crib. We let her go for 15 minutes and she's up to pretty hard crying. I go in with the pacifier. No luck. Mylicon gas drops and then the pacifier. No luck. I pick her up and walk her around the livingroom. While Philip was an infant, I never really got the whole idea behind some people up all night walking the floors with their babies. The idea is now making sense. As long as I was bouncing her and walking, Braewyn would settle down. I even tried to sit in our rocking chair and she began crying again. After more walking, I then tried to feed her. She ate a little and seemed to calm down. Praise the Lord, I finally laid her back in the crib with pacifier and she seemed to be sleeping! Back to bed for me around 2:30am.

Flash forward to 5:08am. More crying from Braewyn. Again wait 10 minutes but she gets louder. I get up to rescue Philip by removing his crying sister from their room. He doesn't seem to hear her. Back in the livingroom for more walking. I also change her diaper and switch her to a lighter weight sleep sack (maybe she was hot). Try to feed her but she's really not interested this time. Finally into the office in her bassinet she goes. I go back to bed to hear faint screaming for 10 more minutes and I had even left the bassinet on vibrate.

Now I'm in the office myself (obviously) and Braewyn finally seems to be asleep. I turned the bassinet's vibrator back on and gave her the pacifier. She got quiet and will possibly sleep for another hour. I've got to get a nap today as we are having our final MOPS steering team retreat/planning session for the upcoming year this evening from 6pm until midnight.

Hope you have a great day. And I'm still interested in any and all tips, suggestions, words of sympathy you might have.

What's in store for us tonight?

Well, my last post said Braewyn and Philip were sleeping soundly in their new shared room. That was at 9:30pm on Tuesday night. Around 12:30am that night, I heard Braewyn begin softly crying over the baby monitor. I had put her to sleep in a gown and swaddled her legs in a blanket. I peeked in to check on her and saw the blanket had come loose. Why didn't I put her to bed in a sleep sack? I tried to give her the pacifier (sometimes she takes it, sometimes she hates it) with no luck. I then picked her up, took her to the living room, put her in a sleep sack (if you don't know, it's like a sleeping bag that zips up the front with arms), and tried to rock her a little to settle her down. A characteristic we've noticed about Braewyn, when tired she reaches an uncontrollable state with loud screeching crying. Horrible! I even tried to nurse her to sleep but she was still screaming with her mouth on me. Next attempt, the bouncy seat on vibrate, but again no success. After 45 minutes of nothing soothing her, I laid her in the bassinet which has now been in the office (our third bedroom) for several weeks and closed the door. She cried for about 20 more minutes before going to sleep. I was so stressed out that after laying back in bed for a few minutes, I returned to the living room and watched an episode of "Hogan Knows Best" (reality show about Hulk Hogan & family) on VH1. I fell asleep just after 2:00am. Woke around 6:15am to Braewyn's crying. That time she ate well and we started our day VERY sluggishly.

That brings us to last night. Home from church around 8:00pm. Matthew dressed Philip for bed while I bathed Braewyn. Prayers with Philip and he was in bed around 8:45pm. I fed Braewyn and she was in the crib around 9:20pm. Quiet at last. At 4:00am, she begins to cry. We enter "cry-it-out" mode. After 20 minutes, I silently walk into their room to make sure she's not stuck in the crib slats or something. Nope, the little girl was laying smack in the middle of her crib. After another length of crying with each minute going by hoping and praying she would go to sleep, I enter the room again and try to give her the paci. By now, she is to her screeching state and poor Philip sits up and says, "Mommy, is it wake up time?" Still dark outside, I say, "No, sweety, not yet. Go back to sleep." He's my angel at the moment and lays down without a word. I scoop Braewyn up and proceed to the livingroom.

I go ahead and try to feed her. She latches right on and eats away steadily. Well, there you go, if the girl's hungry she's gonna let us know. I changed her diaper which was pretty wet, finished feeding her, and now had my happy yet sleepy sweet baby Braewyn back. I laid her back in the crib without even a pacifier and she was content. She slept until 8:00am.

This is where is gets hard having two children... not comparing and doing things with one just because it worked the first time. I need to go to bed now as it's Russian Roulette as it when I'll be awoken. I'd love advice from readers about your bedtime experiences. Are there children who just begin one day sleeping through the night without having to go through this cry-it-out period? Maybe Braewyn is still in need of an extra feeding at night (although she was sleeping from 10pm until 6am for a week a while back!). What can I do about my feelings of guilt for throwing this screaming banshe into Philip's up 'til now peaceful bedroom? I want to create in Braewyn the great sleeping habits we helped foster in Philip. I just want to avoid any unnecessary stress in the meantime. Thanks for "listening."

Back in Blog World!

Yes, we're all still alive and kicking. Much to update about but not much time to do so. Matthew, the kids and I got home today from visiting my Grandma and Grandpa Diemer (Mom's parents), Aunt Cathy (Hey Aunt Cathy! Here's a new post just for you!) and Liz (Mom's sisters), and Bruce (Cathy's husband) over the weekend. We left Thursday after Matthew got off work so it was a nice 5 day visit. We had a really great time together and I really enjoyed watching Philip run through their house and yard where I have so many memories from my own childhood. Of course, everyone loved holding and cuddling Braewyn and miraculously, Grandma, Grandpa and Liz never heard her much during the night! She decided to give Matthew and I a run for our money in the parenting department during the visit but thankfully Philip didn't seem to mind too much (the four of us were sleeping in one room!).

That brings me to our latest news... Braewyn has officially moved into Philip's room. It's now "the kids' room"! Earlier this evening as I was getting them ready for bed both were screaming at the top of their lungs due to exhaustion (Philip never took at nap today and yes, we were in the car for 6 hours!). Currently all is quiet on the home front but we'll see what the remainder of the night holds.

Also, Braewyn was dedicated last Sunday at church. (I will add pics later. Wanted to include one of her and this one I took recently is just too cute.) It was a sweet time for our family and I'll post a separate blog about that. I feel so blessed to have my wonderful husband and two sweet children. I do cherish this stage in Braewyn's life and know it will go so fast. She can't talk back and is not yet blatantly disobeying, but yet I still enjoy the toddler stage moreso and look forward to that time in her life. Yes, Philip knows very well what happens when he doesn't listen to Mommy and Daddy ("Get a pop!") but nothing is better than interacting with him and watching him run and play!

Weekend Review

Friday night, Matthew had a softball game at 9:30pm and left the house a little after 8:00pm to go by his Mom's house first as her garage door was having a problem. I say this to let you know I had the house to myself! Yes the kids were here but Braewyn doesn't care what's going on yet and I worked hard on getting Philip to bed early (all summer it's been around 9:30pm by the time he got to bed, but I was closing his door at 8:09pm this night). I had an objective -- watch "High School Musical 2"!


If you're saying, "What's that?" just ask any girl age 7-17 who has The Disney Channel on her tv. Obviously, it's the sequel to "High School Musical" which I attempted to watch (very cheesy) at a girls' lock-in we had at the church last fall. My opinion of both movies is they are kind of cute with songs which unfortunately get stuck in your head for much longer than you want them there. You can experience that part for yourself by clicking here! Bottom line, the movie is the new generation's Grease but cleaner. I wanted to watch it because I teach the 11th grade girls' Sunday School class and I knew they'd all be watching it.

Saturday was full yet fun. Matthew had another softball game at 9:00am so I planned on taking the kids as the mornings are not too hot these days. We drove separately as it was a tournament so I didn't know if there would be more games to come. Unfortunately, his team lost the Friday night and that first game Saturday morning so it was over for them. We went over to Ruth Ann's house so Matthew could look at her computer and she bought Subway sandwiches for us for lunch. Home after that to get some rest as we were going out later that evening.

Our evening began with dinner at the new Pizza Inn here in town. We ran into Alison who teaches kindergarten at one of the elementary schools and who we know because Matthew's mom has been her assistant for the last few years. They began a new school year together today and if you want to hear how that went, check Alison's blog! Alison and "Mrs. Brooks", we prayed for you today!

Anyway, back to Saturday night... after dinner we drove over to our local community park for a Blue Grass concert. I think I posted about taking the kids to one a few months ago with Mollie, Michael and our friends Kelly and Don. Well, hearing about this one I really wanted to take Philip as he enjoyed the last one. I thought Matthew could stay home with Braewyn, but was really happy when he said we could all go for a family outting!! At dinner we were all together, but the concert ended up a little different.

When we got there, we sat our folding chairs near the back of the crowd. Matthew spotted Kelly and Don so I took Braewyn to Kelly as I knew she'd love holding her. She said to bring our chairs up near them so I did. Matthew began talking with Tyler, one of the youth guys from our church, and his dad Rocky so they stayed standing in the back of the crowd the whole time. Matthew didn't really come to hear bluegrass so I was glad he got to talk sports with the guys. Lastly, Philip saw that some other kids were dancing/playing on a little dance floor (i.e. plywood laying on the grass in front of the stage) and he wanted to go. Another friend from church, Mr. McDonald, took Philip up there. They came back after a few minutes and Philip wanted me to go with him instead. (Philip looked a little puzzled when I told him who had taken him before; I think he was trying to figure out if that was the man who owned McDonald's!). The rest of the concert, I sat on the edge of the dance floor while Philip ran around in circles, jumped up and down clapping, or tried to get Matthew's attention. The music was great and as I told some friends, it was a free something to do!



Philip relaxing in his chair. Mr. Don is behind him in the yellow shirt.


Braewyn is just taking it all in on Ms. Kelly's lap.


Mr. McDonald tries to get Philip to dance. This was just after we got there but before long Philip was running wild!






Finally, Sunday was Aloha Day at church. Everyone was invited to wear Hawaiian or casual clothes as it was promotion day in our Sunday school departments and just a fun way to welcome everyone back from summer with school beginning the next day. After church, my mom asked us to follow her to the daycare where she used to work. She will no longer be working there but is painting murals on their cafeteria walls. If you like her work and live in the area, she is taking orders!



Us in our Aloha-wear. Thanks, Mom, for taking our family portrait. It's a rarity!



One scene from Mom's mural.


And another.

My kids are growing up!!

Milestones are great in the lives of your kids. Each proves that the child is growing just the way God intended, but they can still be hard on a mom. Philip is doing excellent with potty training. Like most things he does, I'm amazed at the seeming maturity level involved. It's very easy for me to forget that he is only 2. In the last month, he has only wet his "sleeping pants" once! That's naps and overnight. Last night was surprising. Philip was in bed around 9:30pm (I'll have to work on backing that up with MOPS and BSF starting next month) and we went to bed at 11:30pm (I need to back myself up just so I can clearly function all day). Just after 12:00am, I woke up to Matthew getting out of bed. I didn't comprehend what I had heard over the monitor, but it was, "Daddy, I need to go potty!" Wow. Philip pee'd, crawled back in bed and slept soundly until 7:30am.

The other milestone is his ever-growing group of friends. These are not imaginary or stuffed, but real-live kids he knows! Philip's list of friends includes Emily, Anna Grace, Hayden, Jordan, Jayce, Jaina, Emma, Meredith, Zac, Nic, Elizabeth, Josiah, Nicholas, Caleb, Sara Beth, Brittany, cousins Hannah and Madeline, I suppose Braewyn should be on the list, and I've probably forgotten others. His 3rd birthday party will most likely not be at our house!



Philip with his friend Josiah.



Philip and Hayden acting crazy in the poo-wah!



Jordan gets a pat-a-cake lesson from Philip.



Braewyn's milestones seem to be coming even faster which makes me sad as she is already growing way too fast for me. With Philip, I didn't know what to expect next, but this time I'm really trying to cherish each stage in Braewyn's life. She turned 3 months old last week and is now 12 pounds. Most nights she is sleeping from 11:00pm until almost 6:00am. This means we might soon be moving her from the bassinet in our room into the crib in Philip's room (making it "their" room). She's doing great with breastfeeding and I plan to solely nurse her until 6 months. It works out perfectly that she turns 6 months on November 2, just in time to start food and enjoy some Thanksgiving B.B.F.F. cubes (our homemade baby food if you're new to the blog)! Anyway, she's a tough little girl. I'm always telling Philip, "Why are you laying on your sister? You had it so good. No one bothering you. But now I have to protect Braewyn because you are stronger and bigger. She's your little sister. Please be sweet to her." I love having a little girl and it's only fair for me to have a little fun with her myself, right?



I've owned this Build-A-Bear for five years.



Now someone else in the house can wear her outfit too!



She's just too cute!



You did a great job again, Jesus!

He's in the army now!

Please pray for Keith, his wife Darlene and their son Mike. Keith is our Minister of Senior Adults. Tuesday, Mike entered the US Army. They are a really great family and are all proud of Mike's decision, but it's very hard on them at the same time. This is the first time Mike has not lived with them and now they won't see him for weeks or months at a time. He's at Fort Benning in GA right now. Mike plans to become a Green Beret and then a sniper. He wins cool points in my mind. Matthew has played sniper-like games on XBox before, but it's still hard for me to visualize people actually doing that kind of thing out in the world somewhere. God bless you, Mike!

Special Delivery for Jesus

A few weeks ago, Philip found a dead moth in the house. He asked me what it was and I told him. I picked it up and let it fall to the ground to show him how it used to "fly". Philip wanted to play with it but I said the moth was dead and that it might have germs on it. I then told him we could flush the moth in the toilet and send it to Jesus. That seemed to suit Philip so down the toilet went the moth.

Flash forward to a few days ago. Philip calls me and tells me to come look. He had gone in the bathroom by himself and went poopie. After I told him how proud I was, he flushed the toilet and said, "I'm sending my poopie to Jesus!"

Jesus said to let the little children come to Him. I'm just not sure He would want their poopies too.

Silly Kids

Philip loves to laugh and act silly. Here he is after getting out of the bathtub one night. We were talking about swimming in our pool which became, "I want to go in the poo-wah!" I began laughing at how his hair was flipping back and forth which just made him continue longer laughing at himself. Had to get it on video!

Braewyn, not to be outdone, made us laugh hard one night too as she discovered how to propel herself off of Daddy's lap. The girl is going to be buff! She's only 2 months old (3 months old tomorrow!) and already doing ab crunches.

(Videos are below. Click on the arrow in center of video twice to start.)

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