Prayer

I know that of the few followers I have, some of you follow this blog, but for those of you that don't, please take a moment to pray for this family. Their one year old son is very sick and it broke my heart to read about it and see the pictures of him in the hospital. I can't even imagine what it must be like to see your child suffering. I thank God everyday that both of my children are healthy.

Just Hello

Hi....I just wanted to say hello, because I really don't have anything else to say. At least nothing super interesting.

Ross had a wonderful time on his hunting trip. They got their limit both days they hunted. The girls and I enjoyed our time at Mom's too. It helped us all to miss Daddy a little less, and the same for my mom. We kept her busy enough that the time passed quickly for her with Dad being gone too. The 4 of us were very ready to be home last night.

Today, we had a very lazy morning and did nothing but lay around together. Ross went to work this afternoon and I continued the laziness for the rest of the day and it felt great! All the housework will be there in the morning and the world did not stop turning just because I didn't get anything accomplished today, except spending time with my beautiful family!

Getting excited about Halloween! We're going to go up to Tim & Sarah's (brother and sister-in-law) for Trick or Treating. Since my nephew Tyler (6) was born that is where I've spent most of my Halloween's. Before the other little ones came along in the family it was quite a sight to see us on Halloween. I think one year we had 7 adults going around with 1 child. Now we've got lots of kiddos and it's lot of fun too. I will have pictures!

An Early Sunday Morning

Isabel woke up at 3:30am for her first feeding of the day. Alexis slept with us last night because Daddy was leaving this morning to go out of town. So, shortly after I started nursing, Alexis joined us and the three of us girls snuggled together while Isabel filled her belly. Ross' alarm went off at 3:50 and he headed out around 4:30. He is going to South Dakota with my Dad, Tim, Matt, his Dad, and Ronnie (friend of Ross' dad). They are going on a pheasant hunt. He'll be home on Wednesday evening. This will be the longest separation he's ever had from Alexis and of course Isabel too. And we're thinking this will be the longest we've been away from each other since we got married. He was homesick before he left, but I know he's going to have a great time!

Instead of going back to bed after Isabel was done, I just stayed up and got us packed and ready to come up to stay at Mom's while Dad and Ross are gone. We left the house at 7:30 in Mommy's pretty new red car! So, we'll be in St. Louis until Wednesday. Probably going to spend some time just resting. Haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately because we've had to get up and go first thing in the morning and I don't usually take a nap, might have to start making that happen though.

I'm going to try to see Lucille one day, but I talked to her yesterday and she's had the flu, so we'll play that by ear to make sure she's over that before we take the girls to her house. On Tuesday we're going to meet up with Monica and look at the bridesmaid dresses that they've picked out for us. Her wedding is April 9th, so I've got until then the get a lot of weight off. We're also going to look at dresses for Alexis, she's going to be the flower girl! Later this afternoon Sarah is coming over with Tyler, Riley & Sadie since Tim is out of town too. Mom is making some spaghetti and we're going to have dinner together. Might try to do a little shopping and whatever else comes up that I've got the energy for.

I love my new car! The trunk is so much bigger than the Grand Prix's was and the backseat too. Last night we stopped by Grandma Lea's house for the Harvest Party they had. I made Ross sit in the passenger seat to see how much room he would have with Alexis in her car seat on that side. Alexis had room and he wasn't totally crammed into the dash, which means it will be great, because he always drives when we are going somewhere together. I got the stroller, our biggest suitcase, our big diaper bag, and Isabel's bassinet basket in the trunk. In the old car, I probably would have only been able to get the stroller and suitcase in there. Now, the only thing I want to do is get my windows tinted and me and the Impala will be good to go for the next 8-10 years or 200,000 miles or when it dies.

I've been up since 3:30 so I'm thinking it's nap time for Mommy and Grandma can keep an eye on the girls for me. Alexis is getting a little better about listening...some days. Her back talk is sometimes out of control though. She is so stubborn and bull headed and she is pushing to get her way all the time. I will be thankful when we get past this stage, it's very tiring and frustrating at times. But, even though she has lots of "moments" when she's not the most pleasant child, she still can be the sweetest and cutest little girl ever. She'll just randomly come up to me and say, "I love you Mommy" and that is what gets me through the rough moments.

I hate to jinx myself by saying this, but Isabel is a wonderful baby. Friday night, I got 7 1/2 hours of sleep...in a row, with no interruptions! It was like a little bit of heaven! She is starting to be awake for longer periods and be more alert. She is holding her head up really well and looking around to check things out. She plays with her tongue a lot and is starting to make some little cooing noises. She's giving some little smiles too! :)

I Got A Car :)

Yesterday we went to St. Louis in the truck. Ross drove the truck home and I drove home with the girls in my new (slightly used) 2008 Chevrolet Impala! It's the one you saw the picture of last week that I had looked at and test drove. It was the nicest looking of the 3 that we had narrowed it down to. It's not perfect on the outside, but the inside is immaculate for a used car and that is what is the most important to me, because that is where we are. And really the outside looks good too, from a distance, if you get closer you can see a few small scratches and some paint chips, but other than that it's good. And we are pretty sure the tires are almost brand new. It has 47,000 miles on it and there is no way those tires have that many miles on them, so we are pleased about that. The truck is due for new tires, so it would be bad to have to get tires for both vehicles close together.

So, I have wheels again and I'm very pleased about that. It's been okay to have just 1 car, but since I'm a night shifter and so is Ross, I don't really get around all that fast to go any where and do anything. So, by the time of day I feel like getting out and about, Ross is headed to work, so I'm left with no wheels. Now, I can have the freedom to go when I want to and not when I have to. Ross said I could never handle us being a 1 car family. I told him I could if it meant I got to be a stay at home Mom, but since we know I have to go back to work, I was very ready to have a car again. I'm very thankful that I have a good job, but on the downside, it will be harder for me to quit and stay home. If I didn't make as much money, it would be a lot easier to justify me staying home. But that's a totally different topic for a different day. Today is a good day!! I'm even excited to go to the grocery store later because I get to drive my new car!!!!!!! Have a blessed weekend, it is so nice to see the sun shining!

Exciting Day

I'm so super excited this morning! We are going to St. Louis to buy a car for me!!! We're going for a 08 Chevy Impala. It will either be the one I posted earlier or we have 2 other ones we are going to check out and decide between the 3. 2 are red and 1 is grey. I'll keep you posted...I'm so thrilled, I never know how much I would miss having a car.

6 weeks

My Isabel is 6 weeks old today, can't believe how fast it goes. She is growing like a weed. As you can see, she has quite the chubby cheeks too!

Pumpkin Patch

Pictures from our trip to Eckert's Orchard and Fun Farm in Millstadt, Illinois on Saturday. Unfortunately we were missing some people though. Ross had to stay home and work upstairs or we won't get moved up there when we need to be. And Jaimee couldn't make it with the kids or Scott, Jackson has been a little sickly lately. :(
Alexis on the tractor
Photo op!

Tyler, Riley & Alexis

Riley & Alexis

Alexis singing her ABC's for Kid's Kountry Karaoke, it was so cute! She sang Baa Baa Black Sheep too!

Alexis, Papa & Sadie trying to stay warm, it was a little chilly that day.

Alexis & Riley out in the pumpkin patch

A few more pictures

I'll lay Isabel in Alexis' crib after I change her diaper so that I can change Alexis and then she wants to lay with her. She really loves her little sister a lot! My niece Sadie gets cuter every day! This was at her 1st Birthday party. She started walking last week!

Isabel all swaddled up hanging out in the bouncy seat.

Invasion

HELP...the wasps and ladybugs are everywhere! Love the warm weather, but hate it when it brings all the bugs out in full force. Our old house isn't exactly sealed up really tight, so the wasps are bouncing all around right now. We've probably killed half a dozen already and it looks like I'll be after a few dozen more before the day is over.

Some new pictures

I think this one is cute of Isabel because the paci looks about as big as her face! Alexis jumping on the trampoline at the creek for the Lea Family Reunion

The 4 of us

Alexis has watched us swaddle Isabel a lot and she wanted to be swaddled too!

My little girls

Car

We've decided that our next car is going to be a Chevy Impala. Now we just have to find the right one to buy. I test drove one yesterday at Elco Chevorlet and I really liked it! It's an '08 with 47,000 miles on it and it's red! Never thought I would have a red car, but I would like something different than white. My first car was silver and then I've had 2 white ones in a row. Ross isn't hip on red, but I think it will grow on him. But, that may not be the one we end up with after all, we'll just see what next week brings. We'll come back up on Friday or Saturday to purchase. I'm getting excited! :)

Hello again...

...sorry, I've been a little slack on blogging lately. I just really haven't had much to say.

I've been staying very busy with my two beautiful little girls. Isabel is a wonderful baby, but as most of you know, newborns demand a lot of time. And Alexis is good too. She is a bit of a challenge some days though. She is testing all of her limits and pushing to see how far she can go before she gets in trouble. Some days I want to pull my hair out and other days it's not so bad. We attempted to start potty training and she just doesn't seem ready. She went potty twice and poo once in big girl panties and it didn't seem to phase her. She didn't like the potty, but it didn't seem to trigger anything to help her know when to go. She has not yet gone on the big potty once, so no more big girl panties until we achieve that milestone.

Ross is staying busy with work and our project upstairs. We are getting closer to being finished. Within the next few weeks it will be insulated, drywalled and mud and taped, so hopefully it will go pretty fast after that is done. On top of the upstairs work, we've had to get a new roof put on the house. We had someone out looking at it to help us find a small leak and he informed us we had hail damage and needed to contact our home owners insurance. So, we're waiting for the rain to stop and we'll have a new roof.

The car shopping is going okay. We had found a car that we both really loved....a 2004 Volvo S80 with only 33,000 miles on it, but last night we finally decided it's not the right time to buy a car like that. It would be the type of car that we would drive for a very long time and I'm just afraid I wouldn't be satisfied with if after a few years when we add to our family again. Space is a huge issue when you go anywhere with kids, so we've got to have lots of it. So, I'm back to searching for either a Chevy Impala or a minivan of some kind, or some other larger sedan that will hold us and our stuff. We've been asked if I can't just take over the truck and Ross gets an old clunker to drive to save us a payment, but it is almost impossible to travel comfortably in the truck. There is no room in that backseat and the passenger has to sit with knees in the dash so Alexis has room in the back for her feet. And her seat doesn't sit the best back there either because the seat it too small compared to the size of her car seat.

So that's the latest on what's up with us. I'll try and come up with something more interesting to blog about, but lately I think my brain has been in sleep mode. (Must be because I'm not getting a lot of sleep these days. Although I do have to set the alarm to get Isabel up to feed her since she is not supposed to go more than 5 hours without eating, so really I shouldn't complain huh??)

Car Shopping

I'm so excited! We have decided it is time to become a 2 car family again. We've made due with just the truck since the car got totalled on August 1st. Ross' Mom and Dad graciously let us borrow their truck for a bit and then when I went on maternity leave, we've just had our truck. But now that Isabel is getting a little bit older, I'm ready to have my own wheels again! Last week, I was going stir crazy and had to get out. Ross borrowed his parents truck again and I went to Mom's for the day, it was awesome to get out!

So, I began searching for deals on the Internet this week. We have found several possibilities and we are going to St. Louis on Saturday to go look at several cars and some mini vans too. We would love to have a mini van for the space, but it's hard to find one with low mileage in the price range we are happy with. We are not shopping for a new vehicle, but a used one a few years old that doesn't have a crazy amount of miles on it. We don't want to be strapped with a big car payment again, so we decided that we don't want our payment to be anymore than $400 a month, and I would be happier if it was closer to $300. We are finally making some head way with our debt, so we don't want to get any deeper again.

Hopefully we'll get lucky and find a great deal on Saturday and I'll be driving home in a "new" slightly used car! We'll keep you posted on our search.

Isabel Update

We had an appointment with Dr. Rao today for Isabel. She is doing great! She now weighs 8 lbs. 10 oz. and is 22 1/4 inches long! Dr. Rao already said she's going to be tall! She's in the 90th percent tile for height and right around the middle for weight and head size. Dr. Rao said she is very proportionate.

We have a busy October ahead of us. Tomorrow is the Lea Family Reunion. Next weekend - Sadie's 1st birthday, weekend after that - Pumpkin Patch (YAY!), and after that one - Costume Party and Ross leaves for his Pheasant Hunting Trip, and then it will be Halloween.......Boo! So glad that I have a long maternity leave to enjoy all this stuff.

Isabel is now 3 weeks and 1 day old, so I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable taking her places. She still won't really go out in public (Walmart, grocery store) until she is 6 weeks or older. But, all the events I listed above are all with family, except the Pumpkin Patch and that's outdoors anyway. So, I'm okay with taking her to these places as long as no one is sick or has been recently. I still don't want her passed around to a lot of different people either. For some reason I'm being super protective of her. They just look so fragile when they are this small even though I know they are very resilient at this age too.

We've settled into a nice routine and I'm looking forward to spending some nice quiet time at home with my girls. With the exception of our weekend plans, I'm not really wanting to do anything else other than just be home alone with my kiddos and soak up as much as I can before I have to go back to work.

So, look for lots of pictures to come this month. Fall is my favorite time of year, so I'm sure I'll be snapping loads of pictures.