This morning we went to play with Macy, Paige, Lauryn & Allison and had a blast. Tracy graciously hosted us in her home (again!) and not only made us a wonderful lunch, but also gave Rachel a new wardrobe for the fall with Macy and Paige’s hand-me-downs. I would say that I can’t wait for the fall to get here so she can wear them, but I’m actually excited about summer so Rachel can wear all the 3-6 month clothes she gave us last time!

You would think Ethan would be a little out of his element playing with a bunch of girls, but he actually just fits right in – even with no cars to push around on make believe roads. He “cooked” me some very good green peas and cake at the kitchen, then he pushed the baby stroller around for a while, moved on to blowing everything dry with the hairdryer, and then played with the piggy bank. Who says boys can’t play with girls toys! But the kicker was when we were leaving and I asked him to get some shoes on so we could go. Just a few minutes later he came back looking like this…I mean, I DID say to get some shoes on (sorry, Clay, but it’s just too funny not to post).

And little Rachel is such a precious baby and so sweet. She’s really starting to just go with the flow as far as being out running errands, going to play, going to the park, etc. She prefers to have a long nap in the morning, but she’s still pretty happy when she doesn’t get it. I think her 2 favorite times of the day right now are during Ethan’s nap because I just hold her, and then her bathtime. She is so relaxed in the bath and I really think she would sit in there until she turned into a prune. We’re so blessed and so thankful to God for our children. This is especially true this week when we’ve been praying for the Phillips family who lost their little girl on Wednesday. We don’t know them personally, but they go to church with Mark & Amy. Their twins were born Monday at 25 weeks, and they obviously have a long road ahead of them. Please say a prayer for their son, Kanyon, as he grows stronger.

For those of you who REALLY like to look at pictures, I have finally updated the ‘Tour Pics’ section on the right. Just click on the link and enjoy!

When you can just talk to and answer yourself?!? This is Ethan’s conversation with himself in the car this morning:

“Ethan want to watch Donald Duck.”

“No, Ethan want to watch Pluto.”

“Hmmm…which one?”

“Ethan want to watch Pluto.”

“Good choice.”

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He also read me a book for the first time yesterday. We were reading this somewhat strange hippo book, and then he took it from me and started making up his own words for the pages. This particular page – in Ethan’s world – says, “Hippos REALLY like drink water.” I really love that his imagination has emerged in the past couple of months. Now I can’t wait to see what the next couple of months will have in store for us!

Tonight we had 12 members of Clay’s family over for dinner and we had a blast. Clay’s aunt and uncle and their family were in from Tennessee, and Clay’s mom and one of his brothers were also able to come. We ordered Nizza Pizza (yum!) and then had birthday cake for Susan’s apparent 75th birthday. Ethan had 4 new friends to play with (he wouldn’t call them cousins…just friends) and he was in heaven. We rarely get to see the Reynolds clan because they live so far away, so this was a real treat for us. And I always think it’s nice to have family over…it just makes our house feel like a home. Thanks, everyone, for coming over – hopefully we can do it again soon! (And the reason Rachel and I aren’t in the group shot is because she was eating…again.)

the whole gang (minus Clay, Rachel & me)

Ethan playing with Austin & Gavin

Missy (C’s cousin) & Nathan (C’s brother)

I don’t post very much, but i wanted to take some time this morning to say Happy birthday and I love you.

My grandmother, my mom, and me.

I know it’s not easy being old, but look at it this way, old is just another of saying “I’m not young anymore!”. So, you have that going for you. Turning 75 is not as easy as you make it look. 3/4 of a century is a pretty big milestone and I hope you live another 75.

Mom and Me

Thank you for being such a great mom over the years. Thank you for keeping me alive in my early years (I understand now how hard that is!) Anyway…Happy Birthday Mom.

Love you!

Clay will hate me for this one, but I took a picture of him sleeping with Rachel in her rocking chair today. The other picture was taken exactly 2 years ago when he was sleeping in the same rocking chair with Ethan. I guess Dad just sleeps good!

We’ve had a somewhat uneventful and trying week. Ethan has, well, let’s say “kept me on my toes” for lack of a better term. We’ve had some MAJOR adjustment periods this past week and I think we’re both exhausted. However, I am thankful that Rachel has had far fewer screaming times, and many more happy times this past week. Thank God for small favors. But, Ethan has had a better weekend (probably because Clay is home), and I’m praying he’ll have a more obedient week ahead. We did rediscover his wooden blocks this past week and realized they’re good for lots of things: stacking, running over with cars, matching up letters, picking out funny pictures, throwing at each other, hiding under couch cushions, etc. Hours of entertainment!

And here’s a picture of Rachel all dressed up for church this morning. This is random, but her eyelashes have gotten really long this past week. One morning she woke up and had these long, dark eyelashes that are beginning to rival Ethan’s. And not to jinx anything, but she’s still consistently sleeping 8-9 hours every night – PRAISE GOD!

This weekend was a good one for the SFB – and a quite eventful one. I don’t have a ton of time to type, but just wanted to give some highlights and some updated pictures. Friday was a real treat because my aunt from Austin, my cousin’s wife and daughter from Illinois, my grandmother, aunt and cousin from Tyler, and my parents were all at our house for lunch. Unfortunately, we aren’t able to get together very often, so it was so nice to just be together for a few hours and chat. So girls, thank you all for making the trip to Arlington – it was such a blessing to Ethan, Rachel and me.

Then on Saturday, 3 of our friends from our old Dallas group came over to bring some meals and a great box of goodies for Rachel. Girls, thank you SO much for making the trip here to meet our Rachel. I miss you so much and it meant the world to me to have you here. The picture to the right is our dear friend Rachel Evans with our Rachel – Rachel, we hope our little girl grows up to be just like you! Sonal, looking forward to making a trip to Allen soon to meet your newest little one.

And Ethan and Rachel are both doing great. Clay and I are perfecting the tag team approach to caring for a screaming baby at night. I don’t know if she’s colicky, just really gassy, or if she just feels like crying at night, but unfortunately it’s gotten worse. The good news is that the second time around you know how quickly the time goes by and that there really is an end in sight. I’ll be sure and read this to myself around midnight tonight. But I do feel like we’re getting into a little bit of a good routine during the day, and Ethan has been a champ. We had a rough few days there, but I guess he realizes that this is our new life and our new family and it’s not going to change. He actually has been cracking us up lately. He does things like put Rachel’s pacifer in his mouth, climb in her crib and pretend like he’s crying, and walk around in his underwear and gloves (in case you’re wondering, he’s not potty trained – we’re just practicing with the underwear). This morning he got me a blanket and told me to lay down on the couch so he could sing me to sleep. And he’s started walking around the house making up songs. And this weekend he pointed out an ‘S’ in the word trains and said that it looked like a ‘5.’ I wasn’t sure that he knew what an ‘S’ looked like, and I certainly didn’t know that he could recognize a 5. I guess sticker books and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse really does teach him things!

Unfortunately, Ethan doesn’t know the happy birthday song, so we can’t give Aunt Ginny a video to watch, but we were definitely thinking about our wonderful sister-in-law and aunt yesterday on her 30th birthday! Gin, I laugh every time I look at this picture because of Bryan’s ‘addition’ – can you believe this was taken 9 years ago?!? Wish we could celebrate with you in person (especially since I could have gotten in on that massage/facial deal if we lived closer!), but just know we love you and we’re so glad you’re part of our family. Here are 30 things (in no particular order…except the first one is the most important) we love about you:

1. You put up with Bryan
2. You play nerts with us
3. You’re adventurous
4. You’re a great cook
5. You gave us 2 beautiful nieces/cousins
6. You’re a wonderful mom
7. And you’re also a fun mom
8. You can dish it out as much as you can take it with Bryan and we LOVE this
9. You love Ethan
10. You love Rachel
11. You send really cool gifts
12. You never run out of good Lawton school stories
13. You’re our hero for raising Addi on your own while Bryan was serving his country
14. You’re the best (and funniest!) blogger in the world
15. You remind us of Debra on Everybody Loves Raymond (this is a good thing)
16. You’re a great shopping partner
17. You’re a great hostess when the Texans invade NC
18. You’re an Aggie
19. You always know the best places to eat
20. Even though you live in NC, you’ll never lose your Texan pride
21. You give great advice
22. You mail out pictures for our refrigerator so we can see Addi/Libby while we’re eating breakfast every morning
23. You’re a good teacher
24. You can multitask better than anyone – 3 kids at the grocery store? Amazing!
25. You’re honest
26. You don’t mind being a “excuse” phone call (you know, like while I’m getting Ethan’s hair cut!)
27. You’re a great sister-in-law
28. And a great aunt!
29. You can keep Clay on the phone longer than anyone else
30. You love your family above anything else

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GLP!

So we’re in church this morning and Ethan is coloring on his aquadoodle pages that are about Elmo.  He is seeming to take a lot of care coloring the mid-section of this particular picture of Elmo.  Then, in the middle of church, and not in his whispering church voice Ethan says, “Mommy look!  Ethan colored Elmo’s penis!”  And yes, he was very proud of himself.

Speaking of church, this morning was quite an adventure.  Most of you probably don’t know, but Clay runs the PowerPoint at church for the songs, and then gets the sermon slides started for our preacher.  Because of this, he sits on the front row, and Ethan and Rachel and I sit behind him.  This is good because my parents will sit with us because my dad leads singing and has to sit at the front anyway.  Well, this morning my mom was sick and Rachel needed to be fed at 10:00 (when church starts), so Clay had to do the slides for the songs and keep Ethan with him.  Usually this isn’t a problem, but Ethan hasn’t exactly been himself for the past 4 weeks either.  So, as one of the prayers is being started, Clay said that Ethan started talking really loud and when he tried to get him to be quiet, he just erupted.  Luckily, there’s a door right beside where we sit that leads to the baptistry.  So, Clay whisks Ethan out the door to get him to calm down while keeping in mind that he has to be back out there for the next song.  He does make it back in the nick of time, but just into the first verse Ethan escapes down the aisle.  Obviously Clay can’t leave to catch him and this is about the time Rachel and I walk in the back of the auditorium.  I am embarrassed and a little panicked to see my son walking down the aisle, and then thankfully a good friend grabs him and takes him back up to Clay’s seat just as I get there.  I managed to keep Ethan entertained and Rachel quiet through the rest of the song service thinking that once the sermon was started Clay would come back and sit with us as he always does.  Well, this was the ONE morning that our preacher forgot his clicker so Clay had to click through all of his slides for him.  Thank goodness my dad was there to help keep Ethan occupied.  So, the moral of this story is… Mom, you need to get well and FAST! 

And I won’t go into all of the details, but tonight at church our preacher did a lesson on Jesus telling all of the weak and heavy burdened to come to Him.  This was exactly what I needed after our week last week.  There were lots of prayers said for specific reasons, and my dad led a prayer specifically for Clay and me that God would bless our family and our children and that he would help us to be the parents that God would have us to be so that Ethan and Rachel can say they want to be just like us.  I cried through the whole thing, and then immediately felt this peace that this week would be much better.  So, bring on the new week because I now have a new sense of peace, patience and purpose.  What in the world do people do without prayer.

I can’t believe I just typed that…one month old! Where in the world did the time go?!? Well, I do know, but it still went by fast. Our little Rachel is getting so big (11 pounds!) and she just gets sweeter and sweeter every day. Although I love a million things about her already, here are some of the highlights:

• Her beautiful face
• The way she holds my hand when she’s eating
• She’s still sleeping through the night
• Her big, blue eyes
• Her head full of hair
• The way she’ll try to focus on Ethan when he’s playing near her
• How she loves her bathtime and just relaxes in the water
• Her sweet spirit
• Her newest trick of smiling!

She’s having a lot more happy and awake times during the day, but she’s been a little fussier lately in the evening. But we’ll take sleeping from 10 pm – 5 am, and then back to sleep from 6 – 8 am. People have told us that bigger babies sleep more, and we would agree with that theory. I was looking at Ethan’s calendar yesterday and noticed that we started him on Prevacid for reflux at 3 weeks old. I’m debating on making an appointment for Rachel to see if she has reflux, too, but I think we’re going to hold out a little longer and see if she gets better before putting her on medicine. Anyway, she’s healthy and happy and it’s amazing how she just fit right into our family.

For those of you who didn’t follow our blog when Ethan was a baby, we took his picture each month with this A&M bear to see how big he was getting. Here is Rachel’s “1 month and a bear.”