Trick-Or-Treat (Or Shoud I Say, "Grrrrr"?)

This was one fun (and chilly) Halloween!

Although Brady didn't quite understand why we dressed him in a costume, or why we drug him around in the cold collecting candy, he had a great time!

And, I think he's about the most adorable tiger I've ever seen!

After getting him dressed we went outside to get a few pictures. I was worried that he might fuss and try to rip his head piece off, but he never touched it!
We even managed a decent family picture!
We walked over to the Rhinelander where they were having a "trunk or treat". (Think Halloween tailgate party.) People had their cars decorated with lights and had jack-o-lanterns lit and were passing candy out of their trunks.

The jack-o-lanterns were a hit with B! He just kept going up to them, pointing and saying "fires"! His little eyes just lit up!

Although he wouldn't say "trick-or-treat", he did muster some very good tiger growls. And, he made mama proud by saying thank you to every one who gave him candy!

The MP's were passing out chem lights, so B finally got a fire of his own! He held on to that darn thing for dear life! In fact, he didn't let it go until we put him to bed.

By the end of the night, he was tired and hungry, but he went to bed smiling!

Dionysus--My God of Wine

This just cracks me up!

In celebration of Halloween, Buck's battalion had a Halloween "fun run". (As if running is fun!) The battalion commander "strongly encouraged" the guys to dress up, and in the Army, that translates to, "you will dress up".

Buck went as Dionysus, The God of Wine. (It was the cheapest costume we could find at the PX.) The grapevine headpiece makes me chuckle every time I look at this picture!

Families were invited to attend, but it was about 35 degrees, and started at 6:30 in the morning! Needless to say, I did not drag my rounded self, or my sleeping child out of his crib before 6:00 in the morning to stand, for over an hour, in the freezing cold!

Fortunately for Buck, he's used to it. That's what he does every morning Monday-Friday. Just not usually in a flimsy robe!

A Piece Of Cup Cake

This morning B and I made Halloween cupcakes together.

Well...he helped me "stir" and enjoyed sticking his fingers in the frosting. :)

This afternoon, I let him have one for his afternoon snack. This is a departure from the usual fruit, or cheese and crackers...you know something with a little nutritional value.

I got him the cup cake and his juice, set him at the table (he's now decided that he wants to eat at the breakfast table, not in his high chair anymore) and walked out of the kitchen to get my cup to refill. When I came back in the room, this is how I found my child eating his cup cake...

Don't you love the way a child's mind works?!

Clownin' Around

Since Buck doesn't get home until late in the evenings, he only gets to spend about an hour and a half with Brady each night before bedtime.

We eat dinner together as a family, and then Buck has his special time with Brady. He gives him his bath, dresses him for bed and then they come in the living room and clown around for about 30 minutes.

Brady loves his play time with Daddy! He always gets so energized, and as I like to call it, "his second wind". They laugh and Brady squeals as his daddy chases him around the house, gives him "horse" back rides, and tosses him into the air.

It's a joy to watch and always puts a smile on my face.

Here are a few pictures from last week of my boys clownin' around...

This first one's for you, Mom and Dad. Recognize the little bubble butt? :)

On Middle Ground

As I was driving to Landstuhl today for my 22 week appointment, I was listening to Casting Crowns on my iPod. The song "Somewhere In The Middle" came on and it made me do a lot of thinking.

Thinking about how many of us as Christians stand safely on the middle ground.

Why is it that we choose to stay caught in the middle?

Caught in the middle, somewhere between complete surrender and fear of letting God take control.

Afraid that if we surrender our dreams, our wants, our needs to Him that we'll loose control and never see those dreams come to fruition.

Why?

Why don't we realize that it's when we give up control and trade our dreams for the dreams He has for us that we're finally free? That fear, that control that we think we have keeps us from living the full life He has in store for us. His dreams for us are FAR greater than any our wildest imaginations could conjure up. We're selling God and ourselves short by not surrendering to the life He has in store for us. Yet, we continue to choose to live in chains.

We in our human nature are so foolish. Wouldn't it be easier to give up control? Why do we even want to hold on to fear, to struggle, to pain, to hoping that somehow, one day, we might finally figure it out?

We don't have to figure it out! He's already done that for us!

Why can't we see how blessed we are that we have a Father who loves us so much that He's willing to carry our burdens for us? We don't have to fear or struggle; God wants to carry our burdens for us.

He just wants us to surrender to Him so that we can live the life He has promised us.

A life of joy...

A life of love...

A life of laughter...

A life free from fear...

Free from worry...

Free from the struggle to "figure it all out"...

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of the struggle. Yet, for some reason, in my feeble mind, I find it easier to continue to stand on the middle ground.

After all, it's a lot easier to have deep water faith in the shallow end, isn't it?

I think it's time that I stop testing just how close I can get to my surrender without losing total control.

It's time to stop thinking.

It's time to stop waiting for God to be the God I want, instead of the God He is.

It's time to close my eyes and jump.

It's time to let Him show me just how great a life He has planned for me.

And to know that when I do, as great as I think my life is, it's going to get even better!

22 Weeks (Almost)

Here's the 22 week picture! We'll almost, I'll be 22 weeks in 2 days, so I figure it's closer to 22 than to 21.

I think my belly looks deceptively small in this picture. I tried standing a hundred different ways to make it look bigger and this was the biggest I could get. Maybe it's just that I FEEL like a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and I don't actually look like one!

Noah and I are doing well. He better than I! He's moving quite a bit throughout the day now! His favorite time seems to be at night when I'm relaxing on the couch or first lay down in bed...just like big brother, Brady!

I've tried weaning myself off of the Zofran several times, and occasionally I have a day where I can make it with no vomiting and others like yesterday, I vomit all day! I suppose I'll be one of those women who are sick their entire pregnancy.

Oh well...those beautiful babies are worth it all, aren't they?

Halloween Reading Fun

Zia sent Brady a special Halloween package complete with 2 pairs of Halloween p.j.'s, candy and a special Halloween book. B liked the candy, I loved his p.j.'s (Buck laughed and said it looked like he was wearing a scuba suit :)) , but B LOVED his book.

As I've posted before, he's obsessed with "fires" and this book has a lit candle or torch on every page! It's the first book I've found that B will let me actually read every word to him! He wakes up asking for it and cries when we take it away to put him to bed!

Here are a few pictures and video of the first night we opened the box...

Gift Enclosure Cards

I don't know about you, but it seems with every party, shower, or other gift getting occasion, I have trouble remembering who gave what gift! I try to write it down or have someone write it down for me, but one or two gifts are always over looked.

I remember when I was a young girl, I had some little pink & green (my favorite colors at the time) gift enclosure cards. When I went to a birthday party, my mom would wrap one of the little cards up in the gift I gave. The recipient knew who it came from, and they were helpful in making the thank-you card process a breeze!

My sister asked me to design some gift enclosure cards for my ADORABLE nephew, Gaines the other day, and I decided to make some for my boys as well. I don't know about you, but I think they came out pretty darn cute!

I love things that add a touch of personalization and are both functional and fun, and these little cards fit the bill!

Baby X Becomes Baby XY

Beautiful boy!

Just like big brother Brady, our little Noah likes to suck his thumb!

This kid has got some legs! Not that it comes as any surprise considering the sperm source! He measured in the 91st percentile in length!!

Today our little Baby X became Baby XY, or little Noah Allan! Brady will have a little brother to toss his favorite football to!

I've had a feeling that it was a boy, but wasn't sure if it was mother's intuition or me just wanting another boy. Not that I wouldn't have been over the moon for a beautiful baby girl, but I've always said if God took orders, I'd place one for two boys and then a little girl! So, I feel awfully blessed that He's fulfilled 2/3 of that "order"! ;)

It was a very special day for Buck and I. When I found out that Brady was boy, Buck was 10 hours away at Ranger School. It was bitter sweet because I didn't get to share that very special moment with him. In fact it was about two months before we got to truly celebrate.

But today couldn't have been sweeter! He was right there beside me holding my hand and smiling when the tech told us we were having another little boy! And, thanks to my dear friend Monica, who always comes through for me :), we were able to go out to eat afterwards (just the two of us) and pick up a few new tiny baby things.

These are my favorite pictures from today. Our tech was awesome and sent us home with about 10 pictures, but I thought these three were the best!

Now we're just praying for the continued health of this little miracle and anxiously awaiting our beautiful boy's arrival!

Punkin & Boo Designs On Etsy

It's official! Thanks to all of your encouragement I'm up and selling my custom designs on Etsy! Check it out and pass the word!

My business is named Punkin & Boo Designs. Growing up my Dad nicknamed me Punkin and he called my sister, Whitney, Boo. So, that's where the name came from...if you were wondering.

I can design all sorts of pretty little personalized things...photo holiday cards, birthday invites, shower invites, birth announcements, note cards, thank you notes, gift enclosure cards and business cards.

Right now, because I'm all the way over here in Germany, I'm just emailing a finalized JPG file for customers to print at home, at their favorite photo finisher, or one of the many online photo finishers. I will however, print and ship note cards. Doing it via email just cuts out on wait time for customers. Once we get back state side (which will be sometime next year!! :)) I'll begin printing and shipping orders.

Check out the store...
http://punkinandboodesigns.etsy.com/

Custom Christmas Cards

As many of you already know, I've been keeping myself busy with digital scrapbooking.

This year I ordered my Christmas cards (early I know), and of course, only after I'd paid for them, did I begin scrapping.

As I was looking at the cards I'd ordered, I thought, "You know, I could have done that myself!".

So, I gave it a shot.

And, I've come up with four designs so far. All of which I like better than the ones I've paid for.

If you like any of these, I'd be happy to replace our pictures with yours. Or, I could design one just for you!

Send me a message on Facebook or via email. The fee will be nominal (if I even decide to charge this year), since I'm just starting out.

I'll just send you a high-resolution JPG file and you can have them printed at your nearest Office Depot!

(Buck thought Zebra print was an odd choice for Christmas, but I just love it! What do men know any way?)

19 Weeks

Baby X is growing... 12 days until we call it by name...

Baby XX will be Andie Victoria...

And Baby XY will be Noah Allan... Stay tuned...

Fancy Pants

Today, I heard Brady playing in his room. A few minutes later he came back in the living room with his jeans. I had taken them off for his nap and just thrown them on the floor. I guess he figured he'd give putting his own pants on a try.

He did a pretty good job for a first try...

And was awfully proud of his accomplishment...

Even if he didn't get them past his knees...

If Only For Now

Right now I'm sitting on the couch, thanks to partial bedrest for the next few days, (more on that later) and looking at Brady sitting in the rocking chair playing with his see-n-say. He doesn't even know I'm watching.

I'm just trying to form a snap shot of this moment to hold on to forever. His little face just lights up when he hears and repeats all of the animal sounds. He looks triumphant when he recognizes one.

I find more and more lately that I have these moments I want to preserve forever.

Maybe it's because I realize how quickly life changes...

How fast they grow up.

Or maybe it's the pregnancy.

I see him there now and just wonder if I'll still recognize these moments when I have another little one in my arms, pre-occuping much of my time.

I worry that I won't.

I worry that one day, all too soon, he'll be grown and these precious moments will have passed me by.

I worry that somehow, I'll get caught up in other things or other little ones and just forget to stop and look...

And remember.

But, if only for now, I'll turn off the world and watch him smile.

And this moment I'll remember...

And appreciate all of the joy it brings.