Hobbs Happenings

Picture time!

2012-02-01T13:56:00.000-06:00

This has been a pretty ordinary week for us, no big events so far.

Emily showed her skilled finger coordination and locking us all out of the house on Monday. My heart didn't race NEARLY as fast as it did when Caroline did this to me about a year ago...you can read about Caroline's attempt. Sweet E was playing back and forth on the porch going in and out of our door as we visited outside with our sweet friends. Next thing I know she is banging on the door (a clear storm door) wanting to get out. A bit of panic sets in. I try to get her to unlock the lock- not happening. She just gets more frustrated. My sweet friend Jill stands watch over Caroline as I scurry across the street with Hannah in tow to ask my neighbors for their assistance. They call the police chief, Peter, and he comes to our rescue in probably 2 minutes flat. Proceeds to unscrew a few bolts on our door, reach in and flip the lock. PRAISE THE LORD we live in a Mayberry neighborhood where this is the norm...and they love and accept us here regardless of our shanagins. They all laughed about our "typical" Hobbs afternoon. It is kind of funny. Thankfully Caroline had decided to put pants on a few minutes before the lock out. She came outside to visit with friends in a long sleeved t shirt, panties, and her huge pink Dora tennis shoes (on the wrong feet of course!). Hilarious. I encouraged her to find some pants and she obliged us. Always a laugh at our home.

We are getting ready for a trip to Georgia...we leave Friday morning and will be gone 2 weeks. I'm going with the girls for the first week then Brad will join us the 2nd week. Fun times are SURE to be ahead. Aunt Niki is going to fly to Memphis, hop in the van with us girls, and be my co-pilot for the trip. I'm so thankful for that...otherwise this trip wouldn't be happening! We will break the trip up and spend a night in Nashville with my BFF Kristina and her family. Then to the grandparents we go. We can't wait.

So I may not get to the blogging for quite awhile but I can promise lots of pictures will be taken. Here are some pics that I had on the computer that I have not shared...no real importance, just my sweeties.

Yes, she is still swaddled. How long do you swaddle, you ask? Until they are 16.

It doesn't get much more sweet than my gorgeous 3 month old Hannah baby.

Oh beautiful Emily...those locks. I think we have a lot of taming in store in the years ahead. I am in utter love with your curls though. Proof of a good nap is always in the hair.

Such a fabulous big sister. She loves her littles more than you can imagine.

I've been doing a little crafting in my spare time...HA! Not really spare time, but when I get a few moments. I've sold some, given some as gifts, and enjoyed them myself. If you are interested in buying one please message me and I'll get one to you:)

I think I need to keep this banner up all year...it makes me smile and reminds me what true love is...in the midst of our crazy whirlwind.
"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers" 1 John 3:16

Emily loves cows. She eat, sleeps, and dreams in cow. That is why I am in the process of planning her cow birthday party. Be UTTER-ly excited! :)

My mini-miracle of the day...

A picture with all 3 precious girls. All dressed, bows on, and ready for our day. So what if the expressions are not all smiles...I'm more into the natural, photojournalist photography. lol jk excuses excuses.

Big sister has the touch...

Little sister...not so much. But Emily was excited.

And there you go! Happy February...I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad January is over. It was a tough month. And February is such a happy month- lots of birthdays, Valentines Day, and chocolate! Woohoo!

They go together like-

2012-01-26T14:18:00.000-06:00

Cookies and milk

Peanut butter and jelly

Salt and pepper

Peas and Carrots

Bread and butter

I am so blessed...and I cannot wait until #3 joins in the fun. I often get asked if they are twins...despite OBVIOUS differences, of course they are not...but as close as you can get to it :) *Note: As fabulous as it is to have them side by side all day long it also creates a lot of "sharing" battles that must be solved. My official job title may as well change to referee. But I have the joy of teaching them the correct way in playing together and it makes my heart smile when I see them doing it the right way. This is a video..but you cannot see anything. Just recorded the sound of the 2 girls being silly at bedtime. Emily is a ham...she LOVES to make her big sister laugh. And laugh she did! Caroline is tripping out at Em who is apparently "booty dancing" in her crib across the room and is saying "Do it again!!" Right now I let them play as long as they don't get too rowdy. I imagine one day I will have to go in and regulate...but right now their giggles are music to this mamas soul.

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Juuuuust in case I forget...

2012-01-25T09:52:00.000-06:00

Some days are like this in our home...

Last week was rough. Brad was working tons, had a trip to Dallas, and was stressed about grand rounds presentation. I was at home, alone, and so tired. It is amazing how God gets you through these "valleys" where for DAYS you feel like it is NEVER going to look better. But then, slowly, things start looking better. Moods change...but so do hearts. My heart was so "tired" last week. But after some reflection, reorganizing, and refreshing time with God, things are looking better this week! I'm so thankful that the Lord knows JUST how much we can handle...and always helps us get through the hard days/weeks/months/years. And I cannot complain for long- just look at these 3:)

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Meet my old friend...

2012-01-18T19:30:00.000-06:00

We purchased our first bottle of Johnson's No More Tangles today. This was THE only way my mom could ever even touch my hair as a little girl...and I'm picking up the same trend in my curly, long-locked little sweeties. We now have a after-bath routine of laying on Mommy's bed and drying our hair with the hair dryer. Beauty regimens start early!

Hannah visits the nursery!

2012-01-17T13:18:00.001-06:00

This morning was Hannahs first morning in the nursery at church! She did wonderful and was well taken care of. I think I was more stressed out than she was, but it continues to be true that the third time around things are just easier!! She will be three months old on the 25th and I cannot believe how fast she is growing up. Thankful she and I both had some time apart to be rejuvenated!
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Conversation with Caroline

2012-01-12T20:00:00.000-06:00

Today when I picked the big girls up from Mothers Day Out they both were in great moods...which is fabulous because it means they got a good nap. Each time I pick them up I try as hard as I can to get a recap of the day from Caroline. Today's conversation had me laughing out loud. This was hilarious...especially if you know Caroline, how obsessed she is with smelling things, and how obsessed her daddy is with smelling things. I'm changing the names in this story to protect the innocent 3 year olds involved....

Me: Caroline, how was your day?
C: Good.
Me: What did you do today?
C: We just hanged out and stuff like that.
Me: What did you learn about?
C: Ruth. She met a good man.
Me: You're right. She did. What else?
C: Nothing else.
Me: Did you play with your friends? Was Mary there today?
C: Yes. She smells kinda different.
Me: What? Mary smells different?
C: mmhmmm.
Me: Like, good different or bad different? (laughing)
C: Like bad different. She smells different. She kinda smells like Mary.
Me: Ok...well was Dave there? What is he like?
C: Yes. He smells good.
Me: Was Mara there?
C: Yes, she smells good too.
Me: What are the other kids names?
C: Chris and Charlie. Chris had a Happy Meal with Mexican food.
Me: Hmmm...sounds good. So, what is Mary like again? (testing this out to see if she would answer the same)
C: She smells kinda different.
Me: Ok, well I missed you girls today.
C: Good.

May not strike you as funny as it did to me. I asked her again later to tell me once again about her classmates...and she reaffirmed that "Mary" smelled different. I may have to take a sniff next week. LOL.

Better than this?

2012-01-10T17:59:00.001-06:00

Sweetness of little girls...

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Family Time

2011-12-31T13:31:00.000-06:00

We have enjoyed having Brad around a little more than usual this year at Christmas. He had Friday-Monday off to spend some quality time with the family. Here are some pics of what life around our house looks like on a day to day basis :)

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Hobbs Christmas

2011-12-31T13:27:00.000-06:00

The Hobbs sleigh rode in from Georgia on Monday morning and Christmas #2 began! I attempted to clear out enough space between each present extravaganza...but there are only SO many square feet in this house. It looks like Toys R Us exploded in our house...not a bad thing for 3 little girls:)

Hannah was NOT happy during presents...I think she was tired of hearing her biggest sister squeal at the top of her lungs:) Doesn't dad look like a pro?? He has it under control.

But she quieted down for Nana.

A train set

Both girls got new computers- Caroline got a Leapster Explorer.

Playing in the kitchen with all their new food and accessories.

Who says you can't dress boots up?? Beads and Boots...signature of Emily Anne.

Yes... this is red hair beginning to develop on little Hannah's head.

As you can tell in the picture below, the girls were not thrilled about saying goodbye to family after such a fun week of being spoiled. BUT they loved every minute of it- even if the pictures don't show it:)

Thank you for coming Hobbs crew!! We loved having you and can't wait to see you all again soon. Thanks for making Christmas 2011 so special.

Wakefield Christmas

2011-12-31T13:04:00.000-06:00

My mom and dad drove in from Georgia on Thursday before Christmas. We LOVED having them here with us to celebrate all weekend long. These are some pictures from their visit...totally out of order because I loaded some from my phone and others from the computer. Sorry!

Christmas Morning...

Picture before they got on the road to leave on Monday morning.

Hannah trying to look at her prizes Christmas morning...she couldn't keep her sweet eyes open.

Christmas morning we had presents, breakfast, went to church, and then home for naps. But after naps it was PLAY time!! Caroline put on every new item she possibly could as we went to the tennis courts to ride her new trike. She makes me laugh.

Birthday cake for Jesus:)

Singing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Each sister had to take turns blowing the candles out. I got some precious video footage of the girls singing. Emily LOVES to sing this song over and over and over.

Emily wearing ALL of her new jewelry to go outside and play. Look at her wrist...SO many bracelets!

Christmas Eve we went out for lunch and then stayed in the rest of the evening. We somehow got on a whim to create a manger with sticks from our yard. Caroline was SO excited. Her baby, Allie, acted as baby Jesus. Of course this endeavor turned into a competition between Brad and I to see who could create the best manger with sticks and glue. I think I won simply because I did it in 10 minutes...his took a bit longer. But here is Caroline- the proud owner of a new handmade manger.

Allie was relaxing in it.

Lunch at Big Orange

We played games and had pizza Christmas eve night- twister was the game of choice this year. Caroline did a pretty good job- she is starting to learn her left and right but the concept of staying "up" while playing didn't stick. We all had fun though.

Thanks for coming and sharing this Christmas with us! We love you Gram and Grandpa:)

3,22,8

2011-12-21T21:28:00.000-06:00

No. That's not my high school locker combination. Those are the precious ages of my 3 sweet girls. I have been trying to write about them for a few months now, (I wonder what has kept me away from the blog??) so now I will try to do justice to their PERFECT personalities at these ages.

For ONCE in this crazy life, let's let the MIDDLE child get her glory first! :) I'm not biased or anything...but I am a middle child. :)

Sweet Emily is 22 months- 2 months away from turning 2! WOW! She is so much fun to watch and has such a unique personality that is developing. She adores her big sister and follows her at all times. They play together all day long and have really started "conversing" with one another. As you can imagine, this also leads to a little bit of conflict every now and then...and Emily stands her ground very firmly. She is either by Carolines side or off on her own entertaining herself. She is still doesn't say a whole lot as far as communicating goes- she asks for her passy and lovey, juice, says please and thank you, I'm sorry, and a few other things. Emily will call us mama, dada (or gaga), Caroline, Hannah, and Izzy. She will say words like cow, ball, block, monkey, dog, cat, and anything else you ask her to repeat she happily will oblige. She chooses to jibber jabber in her own language for the most part though...or just scream until we figure it out. ANY day now I know she will start the talking game but I am not in any rush. At all. My ears do a lot of listening to big sis and I cannot quite imagine 2 going at it all day...but maybe that means they will talk to one another instead?? We'll see. She has such a fun relationship with Brad- she literally shakes with delight when I say he is coming home and she will wait by the door for him. She giggles at EVERYTHING he does and is so smitten with him. Brad LOVES this! What a special bond between daddy and daughter.
She loves-
her passy
her green teddy bear lovey
"her" white blanket...with Carolines name on it
jewelry...bracelets are her favorite...or anything at all that can be worn on her wrists
my iphone
shoes
balls
The Wiggles dvds
animals- play and real
her daddy
coloring
cows
dancing
A few stats...
Size 24-2t clothes. She and Caroline share a room and a dresser...and the clothes are starting to all get mixed up together. Some days her outfits range from size 18 month to 4t...depending on the item and who dresses her...hahaha.
Size 5 diapers-- no where near ready for potty training.
Size 7-8 shoes
I think she probably weighs about 30lbs?? Not quite sure. We'll find out at her 2 year doctor visit.
She wakes up around 6:30 a.m. and goes to sleep happily at 7:00 p.m.
Naps once from 12-2, sometimes shorter
She has not had a hair cut yet- but she has a head FULL of red curly ringlets...I love to play with her hair! So gorgeous...not sure how easy it is going to be to maintain in the years to come, but for now it's perfect!
Loves to eat and snack all day long...mostly enjoys meats and potatoes at dinner! She is on a veggie strike right now.
She goes to Mother's Day Out 2 mornings a week and FINALLY doesn't put up a fight! No more tears!! Yahoo!! I knew it would happen one day. I'm so glad she enjoys it now. Makes my heart more at ease.
She is a ball of smiles most times through out the day. I cherish how carefree she is- she loves to get messy, and go full speed ahead without a moments hesitation at all times. At home she is very outgoing, but when people are around, or she is out in public, she tends to clam up. Could be the age/stage, maybe her personality.

We love Emily so very much and are so thankful for the true happiness and JOY she brings our family. She is such a beautiful gift from God.

Hannah baby turned 8 weeks old Tuesday. Where have the past weeks gone?? She is already starting to take on more "baby" characteristics and leave her "infant"ways. I will cherish each and every little minute of her little days. I try to find time each day to sit still and soak in her wonderful-ness. She is so very content for the most part- and can be consoled easily. She is a wonderful nurser and eats very fast. This makes life a lot easier than it could be if she were a slow eater. Things move FAST around our house :) She loves to sit upright on your shoulder and soak in the world around her. Her head control is getting better and better each day. She does NOT love tummy time yet. She is my first baby that I have truly kept her sleeping on her back at all times...because she is a FABULOUS sleeper!!
Yes, sit down. Take a moment. Gasp.
Yes. She is a great sleeper. The Lord KNEW that after 2 babies that would not sleep through the night until they were 10 and 12 months old...I NEEDED some sanity or the Hobbs crew may not survive. Little Hannah will usually sleep a long stretch of anywhere from 7-8 hours straight at night. Down side? She starts this stretch of sleep around 6:30...so it's not quite on target for my sleeping pattern yet, but we are getting there. I will take what I get! After her long stretch she usually goes back down for 2-3 more hours and wakes with the girls around 7. Naps are not the best right now, but we will get there. She still is just going with the flow with the rest of us girls that she cat naps all day long and I'm ok with that. Schedule?? Hmmm...not sure if I remember what that word means. She eats, sleeps, and plays when she wants. It makes us all a lot more relaxed...for the time being. We'll see how that plays out in the grand scheme of things.
She loves her swaddle and I love keeping her in it. I'm sure if you have seen us the past 8 weeks she has been all wrapped up snug in her "peapod" swaddler. This time around I figured out that you can even use the swaddle in the car seat...so she has worn it even more!
She hates riding in her car seat period. Swaddle or no swaddle.
We will go for her 2 month dr appointment in a few weeks but I am guessing she weighs about 12 lbs. She was 10.10 at her 1 month and 23 inches long. She is VERY long/tall and has the famous big feet of all her predecessors.
She is wearing size 3 month clothes
Size 2 diapers
Loves her green soother passy...so grateful for this! Neither of my older girls took to their passy until they were 6 months old (yes, I was still a passy pusher even at that age;)
She has a lot of hair- and it's dark brown/auburn. Her eyebrows are showing up red though. I think she will be a darker auburn red head.
Her eyes are dark brown right now...with a hint of hazel in the future I think :)
She loves to smile and coo now. Every time I go in to get her when she wakes she just wants to smile. Melts a mamas heart.
She is kicking those long little legs all the time duirng playtime. She usually just stares at her big sisters and watches the action that is going on around her.
She rotates from bouncy seat, swing, floor, bean bag (that's a new one for us this go round), the sleepy wrap, and my arms.
She is still sleeping in our bedroom in a bassinet but she is about to long to fit in it anymore and is going to make the move to her crib soon. She is sleeping so well it shouldn't be so terrible to have to stumble across our tiny hallway a few times a night. I'm also getting tired of Brads alarm and 10 snoozes waking her up at 4:30-5:00 each morning. So...she needs her own room.
We think that she may have a little bit of reflux so we started her on a little bit of zantac that seems to help her some. Not the spitting up kind (thankfully!!) but the uncomfortable, arch your back, screeching kind of reflux.
The BEST news yet...people say she looks like me!! Finally...a child that resembles their mommy just a little bit. She is simply perfect and we are loving having her as our caboose. So thankful she is healthy and growing and being LOVED on just like she should.

Caroline is 3 years 1 month old! She is a BALL of fun and excitement. She is so intelligent that she usually blows people away by her ability to hold a normal conversation. She loves to sit and recall/remember things from the past and truly remembers more about some things than I do!
She enjoys being told stories and her imagination has really started taking off- such fun! Caroline has already developed such a fun sense of humor and loves to be silly. Sometimes she will blurt out something that I can only understand as her attempts at Spanish (thanks Dora).
She loves to read books and now she loves to "teach" or read her books to anyone who will listen. She carries her special Christmas books around with her- to bed, to the store, to the park. She has spent the majority of this month preaching, teaching, and acting out the nativity story.
Caroline loves to do crafts of all kinds- she gets so excited and usually jumps for joy when I ask if she wants to do a craft. Coloring, painting, stickers, tissue paper play, play dough...the list is endless. She likes to create and I love watching her.
She is a lefty! She writes, eats, and throws with her left hand! A red head and a lefty?? Where are these genes coming from??
She knows almost all her letters and numbers...without any formal teaching or time spent on them. Pretty crazy. She likes to pretend to write and will scribble scrabble tiny little lines with her pen. She can write a "C" for her name and takes a lot of pride in it.
She has a favorite baby doll named "A-wee" or Allie to the rest of us:) Allie goes EVERYWHERE with her. Ever since Hannah arrived, Allie has become such an important part of our family as well. We need to all pray that nothing happens to baby Allie EVER.
She and Emily share their room and enjoy doing everything together. Same sleeping schedule- up at 6:30 or 7:00 and back to bed by 7pm. She naps from 12-2 just like sis- but in a separate room...which happens to be Hannah's crib right now. Silly I know. But I want to make sure that everyone gets all the nap/sleep that they need each day...and in the same room someone was always waking the other up too early. BUT since we are about to transfer Hannah into her room- Caroline's napping locale will be changing...probably down in the guest room/play room. Yay for transitions!! It never ends :)
Caroline has discovered the fun of taking a shower! She usually bathes with Emily first, then daddy lets her shower for a few minutes. She loves bathwash- coconut, mango infusion...all the fun soap that I have on our shelf. She also prefers to use a loofah. So funny. I guess it makes her feel grown up. She always asks how she "smells" after she gets out.
She is potty trained except through the night. I haven't braved that yet. She will nap in panties and is 99% always dry when she wakes. She is fine when we are out of the house together. But she still has a little issue with going at church on her own. Her teachers say she still prefers to wear pullups. We are getting there...no rush! I know she can do it...its just when she CHOOSES to do it at school/church when she goes to her Mothers Day Out twice a week.
Caroline is such a helper. She takes such good care of the 2 littles and is my perfect sidekick. She gets any and everything that she can possibly get to help- diapers, shoes, socks, clothes, cups, blankets, any and everything I ask. I'm so thankful for her. I never imagined my little 3 year old would be such an asset to our survival...but she is! She will clean up her own messes and even takes care of Emily's stuff most of the time. She really loves acting like "mommy" and it warms my heart. I need to take the time to really enjoy and mentor her during this time- because she is following in my footsteps...literally.
She loves to do her "quiet time" with me in the mornings. I read my Bible and she will pull out a basket I made for her called her quiet time basket that holds her little Bible stories and books. She loves to use my Bible and we have had such special times and conversations already. She loves to pray and quote scripture (totally made up of phrases and true verses). It is precious. I am so blessed to be able to see her little mind and heart growing and developing already at the tender age of 3.
Some stats-
weight? Guessing 35ish...she's skinny minny but tall. We'll know at her 3 year dr appointment.
Clothes- 3t to 4t's
shoes- 10's and growing quickly
She got her first haircut awhile back, but her first REAL haircut or style cut last month. She got it all cut the same length (waiting for those bangs to grow out) into a cute little bob. She prefers a "cwip" instead of ponytails...so she usually just wears a clip or bow in the front. Her hair is still red and as gorgeous as always. She has a bright shiny red splotch of hair up front that people always notice.
I am so thankful for my ball of energy and excitement. Her joy is contagious. I find myself learning things from her...and try to find the positives in all circumstances.

So I could totally write a book about each one of my girls any given day. I'm so in love. So thankful. So blessed. So busy. This is most likely all trivial info for everyone except me...but one day down the road I will be thankful to remember what a my girls were like in these early years.

Memory Lane

2011-12-21T13:00:00.000-06:00

I saw an idea once to display a Christmas picture from each year in a cute-sy way. I actually found the time to get prints made from the past 6 years of our marriage, but have not figured out how or where to display them. Maybe next year. :) So here we go...a walk down Hobbs lane...

Christmas 2005- Look how young we look! Our first year of marriage- we were in Warner Robins, GA in our Lenox Park Apartment. Brad's first year of med school. He got me a kitten for Christmas that year to keep me company while he was busy at school- Isabelle was our first "baby".

2006- We were in our first HOUSE! We were in the Forest Pine house and of course included sweet Izzy in the picture this year. Are those bags under my eyes?? NO! Because we were still young and carefree and sleeping at this stage:)

2007- So carefree that the next year we went on a fun trip to Asheville, NC and hiked a mountain with our sweet friends Shaefer and Kristina (oh what fun memories!!).

More 2007...but look how in love we are! :)

2008- BIG Christmas for us...we welcomed precious Caroline into our lives!! She was 4 weeks old on Christmas. She rocked our world in such a fabulous way and we became PARENTS for Christmas that year. Amazing.

2009- Our first Christmas in Little Rock in the Brentwood house. Caroline had just turned 1 and I was 7 months pregnant with sweet Emily. I remember I tried to wear black to "hide" the bump..lol..pretty obvious I'm storing a few more pounds than usual. :) Brad was in the middle of his 1st year of residency. I think the bags under both of our eyes began to really set in...

2010-Our family of 4! Emily joined our crew and the picture taking challenges began. Little did we know what the NEXT year would hold. We were beyond blessed by having 2 little redheads running around that year in our Brentwood house. Nice sweater Brad...I think I've seen that one before...oh wait! It was in our FIRST Christmas picture in 2005. He noticed that the other night and I told him he would probably be wearing it again in 2012's card. It's a good sweater. :)

And now this year, 2011! I will share those pictures with you another day. They make for good laughs. We are so blessed and thankful to be able to look back over our 6 1/2 years of marriage, 12 years of dating, and praise the Lord for all the blessings He has given us.

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We are-

2011-12-20T15:52:00.000-06:00

We are-
enjoying OPENING and looking at all of our Christmas cards from friends and family.

We are-
getting into humidifier mischief :)

We are-
catching snoozes where ever and whenever we can.

We are-
making Christmas cookies!

We are-
running errands.

We are-
enjoying dress up clothes.

We are-
looking cute in our Christmas bows.

We are-
helping mom wrap gifts.

We are-
practicing taking pictures with all 3 girls...not quite successful :)

We are-
having fun platdates! Today we went to our friends house to play with Mary Ellen and Charlotte. They played, colored ornaments, and had yummy snack. We love visiting with them and cherish the girls friendships...and the mommies like to visit too :)

Rachel sent us home with all kinds of goodies...she is NOT a great friend for encouraging this extra baby weight to stay on me this winter! Notice the nibbles taken on these...I HAD to taste each one to pick a favorite. :) And I did...it's called Christmas Crack. I am an addict. I have already made one batch on my own, and she had some mixed in on this yummy sampler. It was devoured the first hour we were home. I'll try to link the recipe..but make it ONLY if you are ok with eating it all in one day and enjoy the guilt of consuming 2 sticks of butter and other healthy ingredients.
http://www.madincrafts.com/2009/12/say-yes-to-christmas-crack.html

How do you spell sweet?

2011-12-08T20:39:00.000-06:00

H-A-N-N-A-H
I have been playing blog catch up this evening (see the 3 or 4 below for more sweetness) and want to share some of the newest pics of our sweet baby girl. Hannah was 6 weeks old on Tuesday and is growing, learning, and developing more and more each and every day. I have been watching and working hard to get her to smile at me...and I think it happened today! I can't wait to play with her more tomorrow and see if she does even more interaction.

My attempt to catch her smiling...

And then she was done. Finished with her posing. But I even adore the pictures of her cute little pout.

Just soak up this sweetness...couldn't you just eat her up?? It doesn't get any better than this. Really. It doesn't. I could sit and take pictures of her all day long- oh wait. I do :)

I'm still trying to capture a GOOD picture of all 3 girls together. Quite a task. I know the perfect one will happen...at some point...some how.

Precious and the first snow

2011-12-08T20:29:00.000-06:00

Look at this bundle of preciousness that lives with us...

Baby Hannah is so precious...and her sisters LOVE her.

A lot of people are saying Caroline and Hannah favor a lot...what do you think?

My little Christmas elves looking for trouble...

It snowed!! The first snow the Emily will really remember. Caroline remembered it from last year. We played in it for about 15 minutes...until we were frozen!

Left out...

2011-12-08T20:14:00.000-06:00

This little cutie was left out of the pictures in the last blog...forgive me.

And some pics of the girls in action:

Christmas Prep and Advent at our house

2011-12-08T20:02:00.001-06:00

I have had several conversations with my friends about what and how we do "Christmas" at our house. While it is still a work in process, here are a few things we are doing with the girls in order to prepare our hearts and minds for the celebration of Jesus' birth. And, a few crafty things I've created for the season. :)

A burlap Christmas tree door hanger I made.

Our Tree...it isn't a gorgeous, expensive, color coordinated beauty. We decided that we want the Christmas tree to have meaning (we want EVERYTHING we do to have meaning) so we are only hanging ornaments that symbolize the story of Jesus. A lot of the ornaments are created by the girls...scribbles and all this year. Things we included on our tree- lights,angels, trumpets, drums, trumpets, bells, nativity scenes, wise men, shepherds, sheep, candy canes (look up the story of candy canes if you wonder why). And we would have a star on the top...but I cannot find it. Or...uhhh..I don't want to find it in the midst of craziness upstairs in the attic. I think this year I may order a bunch of ornaments from orientaltrading.com- the have a bunch of "inspirational" (as they call them) ornaments on their website.

I bought a bunch of crafty ornaments to color, make, hang on our tree. I give the girls one activity each day of advent for them to color. Sometimes I help them a little to make them look a bit more presentable. I think daddy helped color the donkey in one above:)

On the first day of advent or December 1st we made a "Countdown Prayer Chain". We made 24 chains and we pull one off each day. We choose one person to pray for and to remember that day. It has been so neat to see Caroline pray for family members, baby dolls, and cartoon characters. I usually try to make sure she names ONE real person in our life..but Sid the Science Kid and her baby doll Allie received special prayers one day.

Gradual nativity scene- I wanted to introduce her Little People Nativity set gradually- starting with angels, Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, etc. and tell the story of Jesus' birth. But since Caroline had played with this set last year so much- she was ADAMANT about having baby Jesus to play with...there was no way I could hold out until Christmas day. Maybe next year. But we are gradually building a nativity scene on the wall with a little store bought kit from a teacher/Christian bookstore. We add pieces each day based on what our devotional reading or focus is on that day. I also have a book basket with books they can read about the Christmas story.

Advent- We have an advent wreath and a devotional book that we read each day. We light one candle each Sunday leading up to Christmas. This year candle one was the angel, candle two is the shepherds, candle three will be the star, and candle four will be the wise men. And on Christmas day, a center candle will be added to symbolize baby Jesus. There are traditional "labels" for the candles- but we are editing it to fit the needs and learning curve of my audience. So, we are learning the basics of the Christmas story this year...and probably a few years down the road. We light the candles, read our devotion, sing a Christmas song, do a craft, and end by saying "Come, Jesus! Come!" before we blow out the candles (their favorite part of all!) Some days we do it all in one sitting, some days it is a progression through out the day. We always light the candles at dinner and remember what we discussed earlier in the day.

This is the BEST little advent devotion book that I found at a Christian bookstore. It is toddler friendly, super short, and to the point. See below...

A Bible verse, prayer, and craft/activity idea. Caroline is memorizing one verse this month- Luke 2:11. She already has most of it down.

I went to the library and pulled a bunch of Christmas books about Jesus' birth. A lot of these are way over their heads, but they are seeing repetition in the pictures, plot, etc. I keep these up out of reach so they don't disappear or get messed up. We try to read or look through one a day.

Treats! We count down to Christmas with this little pocket advent calendar. I put chocolates in the pockets...and they share it or I go grab another so each can have their own. :) We also have a little house with 25 doors that open (see the picture above of our advent wreath) and I have put tiny little ornaments of the nativity scene characters in each door. We hang them on the tree each day.

Normal stockings...love the new girly girl ones I got for the sweeties this year. I think my plan for these is to let the girls pick a name of a family member and they will shop for little treats to fill each others stockings- candy, dollar store gifts, etc. Then they can give each other their stockings on Christmas morning.

Yummy Christmas cookies of course! The more food coloring and sprinkles the better! :)

A few nights a week I am letting the girls enjoy hot chocolate with marshmallows or hot apple cider before we go to bed. Footie Pajamas and a warm drink..my kind of perfect!!

And of course we are wearing our festive attire every chance we get...red hair or not...red and green are the theme! And I love seeing them get excited about whatever they are wearing- gingerbread men, Christmas trees, etc.
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2011-12-04T12:55:00.001-06:00

This morning was yucky...dark, rainy and cold. Thankfully the girls slept until 7:15 and we didn't begin our morning too early. Brad was already gone to round at the hospital and I accepted the challenge of getting all 4 of us girls presentable, prepared and punctual to church by 9. Everyone cooperated and it was a success! As I was driving, finishing make up, going through mental check list of everything we needed, and eating breakfast on the way to church I realized I needed to devise a plan to get us into/and out of church in the pouring rain- with my two hands. So I ended up parking under the drive thru- grabbed all three babies, their diaper bags and sippys and deposited the 2 big girls in their rooms. A sweet friend from Sunday school saw us in the hallway and asked if she could borrow baby Hannah...they needed a baby Jesus for the live nativity the preschool was having this morning. I happily released Hannah into her arms, ran back to the van blocking traffic flow, and parked it a mile away....well, maybe not a mile. Then I sprinted (and probably splashed) past all the normal people that had umbrellas and made it back inside. I went to SS for a little but (childless!) and then snuck downstairs to check on baby Jesus. She was snoozing away- perfect as can be:) Brad got to church by the 2nd service and was recruited to be a shepherd so the Hobbs family starred in the nativity scene this morning- I was proud:)

After church Caroline ran out of her room and proclaimed - "i saw baby Jesus!!" she was so excited. We asked asked her what the baby looked like and she said "kinda like hannah" still not realizing it was Hannah :) glad she "believed" what they were teaching;) her class viewed the scene 1st service so she didn't get to see her daddy as a shepherd...probably a good thing!
-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My big girl turned 3!

2011-11-21T20:46:00.000-06:00

Saturday, November 19th our sweet Caroline turned 3 years old!! I cannot believe how grown up she is and how quickly she is becoming more and more "grown up". She is such an amazing little girl- I am a bit biased but she truly amazes me each day with her precious personality and mind. I will blog more mushy stuff about her and what she is like at age 3 later...but I wanted to get pictures from her birthday celebrations up before TOO much time passed.

We started her celebration early by having cupcakes with her Mother's Day Out class at church. Thursday I dropped the big girls off, took Hannah grocery shopping, and we made it back in time to have cupcakes during her lunch time. We sang to her and she got to blow a candle out...and she acted super silly. I wish I could be a fly on the wall and see how she always acted with her teachers/friends. This made me feel old...to have a child in "school" and bring cupcakes to the class??

I got Emily out of her class to come celebrate with us...she blended right in with the big kids and sang Happy Birthday to her big sis. She enjoyed the cupcake too:)

The night before her birthday I surprised her with some Dora PJ's that she was thrilled about. Since her party was going to be Dora themed this worked out perfectly. This is her right before bed with her beloved pink blankets.

Saturday morning the girls woke up bright and EARLY! Brad was off work so we greeted her with the birthday song and brought her into the living room that I had decorated with balloons, a banner, and some presents. She was SO excited. She kept saying, "I'm 3! I'm 3~ I LOVE being 3!" A tradition I had growing up was to have a birthday breakfast date with my dad...not sure when we started this, but I remember doing it as long as I can remember. So, we decided that a birthday breakfast with daddy would be our tradition too. Brad and Caroline left around 8 for a super special breakfast at IHOP. She had a special smiley face pancake and came back glowing. I know it was nice for Brad to get some 1 on 1 time with his sweetie.

She had to take her new Dora purse and cell phone- thanks Aunt Cara, Uncle Chris, and Charlie!

After a trip to the park, lunch, and nap time it was time to get ready for the MAIN EVENT...her birthday party!! We had it at The Little Gym- a children's gym full of tumbling mats, balance beams, bars, swings, and bouncy things-exactly what Caroline would love! So, for ease of planning on my part (they set up, clean up, instruct all the children in about 1.5 hours of play, dance, games, dancing, etc.) we chose to do her party away from home this year. I was so glad- it was perfect! About 12 of her friends joined her for the big celebration and the entire gym was hopping the whole time.Here are a few pictures- not the best, but hopefully it will document a little of the BIG fun we had that evening. The video footage does it much more justice and is much more fun to watch. Caroline had a blast and we all enjoyed seeing her play her little heart out.

LOVE how determined Caroline looks in this picture! She has the candle blowing down pat now. She did a great job...and her sweet sisters watched the action from the sidelines.

Just a side-note- I DO actually take the time, several times a day, to get Caroline's hair up and brushed and styled. Her hair just doesn't seem to like to stay put...especially after lots of tumbling and rolling around in a gym. So, don't judge :) The blue cupcake frosting and lemonade on her shirt add a nice twist to her look too...but regardless of what she is sporting- she's the most beautiful 3 year old EVER. That sweet girl has my heart!

Oh yeah...we were early to the party so we hung out at a smoothie place next door for a few minutes. Here are the girlies while we were waiting on our smoothies.

All in all it her 3rd birthday was so much fun! We didn't get home until 7ish that evening and still had to do dinner, present opening, and baths. We were all exhausted. Despite a few "toddler moments" the day was a success. These years, days, months need to SLOW down. On our way home from the party Brad reminded me, "You only have 3 months to plan Emily's birthday." Oh boy.

Let the good times roll!!

2011-11-14T11:24:00.000-06:00

This week will be my first week flying solo with my 3 precious girls. The grandparents have all gone home. Brad has been back into the swing of work for the past 2 weeks...and now it's me vs them. I'm officially outnumbered. I'm excited to find our routine and get settled into a "normal". We went to church yesterday morning and although getting out of the house will have to be more carefully executed, I think we had a successful morning away from home. Hannah slept the entire service with us in big church. Everyone was anxious to see her and I was proud to show off our little beauty. Today (Monday) I took the big girls to Mother's Day Out and Hannah and I are relaxing at home together...soaking up a little more sleep that we missed last night;) The big girls were reluctant to go to "school" this morning since it has been a month since the last time they went. Hoping for a good days report when I pick them up at 2 pm.

Here are a few pictures from this past week. I love having the girls piled on top of me MOST of the time...it seems they flock together and usually enjoy sitting ON me if possible. I will take the snuggles while I can get them.

Emily is falling in love with her baby sister...I knew it would happen:)

Sweet Hannah baby!

Caroline with her new Build a Bear "Taffy".

The Richey girls came to meet Hannah for the first time last week. We had a great time playing and even got a picture with everyone looking (almost!)

Until next time...

Shout Out to the Grandmothers...and the rest of the fam too:)

2011-11-14T11:23:00.000-06:00

We are SO blessed to have such amazing parents that took the time out of their busy work schedules to come and help care for us during Hannah's birth. My mom was here for the first 2 weeks after Hannah's birth and wrangled the big girls on her own for a week. Then Deb came back (she flew in for H's birth, then went back home until my mom left)and stayed for a week to take over the big girls for another week. Which means that I was truly able to focus and love on sweet Hannah for 3 weeks as I recovered from surgery and got my strength back. Words cannot say how much I appreciate all your time, energy, and effort that I KNOW it takes to keep up with the Hobbs girls. We are HIGH energy ALL the time and I am so thankful for every minute you spent helping us. I will never forget it, and I know the girls are so grateful for you.

Some pictures of Grammie and Nana in action...notice they NEVER had empty hands:)

And then there was the rest of our family that made the trip out to LR to welcome sweet Hannah. Thank you for making this such a special "birth"day for her and us. We love and miss you all already.

My sister Cara...who wrangled her own 2 year old in the midst of our crazy bunch! I know it is hard work, but she did it perfectly! For some reason my batch of pics didn't get a picture of her with Hannah...hoping Chris got some on his camera.

Hannah can't wait to meet her Uncle Andrew, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Ben!! Hopefully soon.

Halloween Happened

2011-11-08T10:38:00.000-06:00

Somewhere in the midst of our first week home Halloween came and went! Actually, the day after Hannah was born, Brad took the big girls to our church Fall Fest with their cousin Charlie, Cara, and my mom. They had a blast and enjoyed playing. The costumes this year- Caroline was a jaguar, Emily was a zebra, and Charlie was their zoo keeper. They were all precious! I didn't get to see them the night of the fall fest because I was in the hospital, but the girls dressed up once again on Halloween night and experienced their first ever trick or treating to a few houses on our street and then enjoyed our annual street/block party our neighbors throw each year. Caroline loved the idea of getting candy and belted out "TRICK OR TREAT!!" as Emily mimicked that phrase. Here are some pics I got of my sweet little zoo animals :) Thanks to the pumpkin that served as our beloved prop.

I will have to get the pics with cousin Charlie off of my phone another time...he was so cute!

Hobbs party of 5!!

2011-11-08T10:08:00.001-06:00

It has now been 2 whole weeks since we welcomed sweet Hannah into our family! It is amazing how fast time has already flown by. So many new, exciting, and sweet moments have been shared in our family these past few weeks. Nothing compares to the sweet love and excitement that my two "big" girls feel for there new baby sister. It simply melts my heart each time Caroline squeals "What's she DO-ing?" and requests to hold her. Emily has decided she is interested at last and likes to play with Hannah's hair and identify her eyes, nose, ears, etc. Caroline is a perfect little mommy- always ready with a diaper, passy, blanket, anything at all I could ask for. I know that in the years to come their love for one another will only deepen and fill my heart to even deeper levels. We are so blessed. 3 beautiful girls, all healthy, happy, and loved deeply.

I want to document Hannah's birthday story and give a recap of the first few days...and then upload pics by the dozens! I am going to try and do this while I have a few quiet minutes this week with grandparents around to help with the big girls...after this...there is no telling when my fingers will find the time to type 2 sentences!

Hannah was a scheduled c-section so we were eagerly anticipating Tuesday morning when we got to the hospital at 8:00 a.m. sharp to begin the journey. Note: We had a false alarm the previous Saturday afternoon- I thought my water was breaking, so Brad and I took a trip to check things out that evening once Cara and Chris had arrived in town. It was in fact a false alarm. I felt silly...but better safe than sorry, right? Anyway...Cara came with Brad and I to the hospital Tuesday morning and we got all checked in, IV started (STILL my least favorite part!) and then we waited until it was my turn in the OR. Our family trickled into the waiting room/play room downstairs- mom, dad, Nana Deb, Cara, Chris, Charlie, and the proud big sisters- Caroline and Emily.

Brad and I went to the OR at 11:00 and sweet Hannah was here by 11:27 a.m.! The surgery went perfectly...the spinal terrified me...but it was SO much better than my last experience and everything went fine. No nausea this time, but LOTS of nerves. BUT it was all worth it when Dr. Wendel announced, "Brad, you better get your camera rolling because your daughter is about to come out!" Brad jumped up and once again got to experience the first breaths our sweet little girl took into our world! She screamed immediately with a loud set of lungs (as all of our girls are known for) and they took her over to examine her. All I could wonder was if she was a red head!! I remember feeling like the first minute they were "inspecting" her took forever, I strained my head so hard trying to catch that first glimpse of her...but there were too many people in the way! FINALLY, like maybe after 2 minutes, they brought her over to me and I fell head over heels as I looked at my sweet BROWN headed beauty. I got to give her a few smooches, hear her "quiet down" as I spoke to her- it still amazes me how babies react to their mommy's voice from the first minute they are born- and then she went back over to be evaluated some more.

Official Stats...I was a bit cloudy the day of and they kept changing them on me!
Weight:7 lb 15 oz (the smallest Hobbs girl...daddy guessed the weight perfectly!)
Length: 21 inches long

About 20 more minutes and I was ready to be rolled into recovery where Brad had escorted sweet Hannah for her first shots, bath, etc. Hannah exercised her vocal chords beautifully as she was poked and prodded...but she was perfect! Mom, dad, and Deb came back quickly and were able to see Hannah in her first few moments of life- Cara and Chris took the troops back home for nap time and would return that afternoon for their first visit. I was feeling fabulous...giddy even. Everything went so well and Hannah was beautiful.The same nurse that took care of Emily last year recognized me and was now taking care of Hannah. That was neat. The only odd thing that I experienced from the anesthesia/drugs was a constant itching...which I remembered happened last time. It really does drive you crazy though! More on that later...just remember...I started itching!

I wanted to nurse her as soon as possible so they gave her too me after she had her footprints done- with ink still left on her little feet. Those precious little feet left footprints on my tummy with the leftover ink that I enjoyed looking at for the next few days. She nursed perfectly and was amazingly calm in my arms. I didn't want to let her go, but I knew she needed her bath so we could get out of recovery and up to our room. We had to wait for about 2 hours I think until we got up to our room-628:)

Everything went well during our hospital stay and we were just captivated by sweet Hannah and her head full of dark brown hair!! Family came back up that afternoon and I was ready to let the girls meet there sister. I was more than a little terrified of letting my 2 and 1 year old run wild in a hospital room where I was hooked up to IV's and cuffs, and knew they couldn't jump on my tummy, etc. so I made sure that we had "all hands on deck" as they came into the room. Brad held baby Hannah on the couch and the girls gathered around him to check her out. Emily didn't really show much interest and quickly started her exploration of the room. Exactly what you would expect a 20 month old to do. Caroline on the other hand, oohed and awwed over sweet Hannah and everyone could see the amazement she was feeling as she made the connections on what had just happened. "Is she new-born this mornings??" "Is she tiny??" "She is precious!!" "What's she doing??" all in her soft, sweet, high, "mommy voice". All of this was captured on video and I know we will hear it over and over in our minds because it was so sweet. The girls realized I was in a hospital bed and didn't know what to think of it. Caroline asked how I was and I explained my tummy was a little hurt from getting Hannah out. She showed such sweet concern. They all stayed a little longer and then made there departure and left Brad and I with some quiet moments with our new daughter.

That evening people made their rounds back to see us and some friends came to visit, as was the pattern the next day. The girls came back to see her once again in their big sister t shirts. All of our nurses and Dr. Wendel got to see our whole crew of girls and swooned over their red hair...and the the fact that Hannah had a head full of dark hair. The dark hair makes much more sense than the red hair of the older two- but it is still so fun to see it- I kept pulling Hannah's little hat off so I could gaze at it. Hannah's face resembled the girls as newborns, but as soon as you saw the hair, it changed her whole appearance. Looking at pictures of myself as a newborn- Hannah looks exactly like me. And I am proud...finally...a baby that may look a little like their mama!

I was able to get up the first night in the hospital at around midnight and walk around and try to maneuver. Day 2 was a killer as far as pain went, but I managed to get myself going as much as possible so that I could get out of the hospital. Brad's a tough coach when it comes to "getting better". He was amazing, but he definitely encouraged me to push through pain whenever it came. So...now to the itching.

I had noticed on my left eyebrow a scratch that I thought was from me scratching uncontrollably from the meds. Well, it continued to itch, and move into my eyebrow, and by Friday started to swell up and my eyelid was starting to swell shut. I knew something was NOT right a day or two before, but no one seemed to be worried about it like I was. So we went home on Thursday, and by Saturday morning Brad realized something was wrong. My eye looked like a monster, hurt unbelievably, and itched at the same time. I described it as "spiders crawling in my eyebrows". REALLY?? As weird as that was, it didn't register to us that it was SHINGLES....which was confirmed after a trip back to the hospital to be checked out.

Shingles. Yes, what older people get. Somehow ended up on my eyebrow. Painful. Ugly. Awful. Those words would describe it accurately. On top of the c section pain, I now had shingles to deal with- and they were stealing the show as far as producing the most pain.
Miserable.
So a new prescription, a trip to the opthomologist (to make sure the shingles weren't going into my eyes and going to cause blindness...comforting thought...yes) and lots of research on the issue put a big rain cloud on my first week of recovery. I felt like a monster...in so many ways. So now I am still on the mend, still wondering what this is going to look like. Nerve damage? Hope not. Scars on my eye? Hope not. Still in pain? Yes...not as terrible, but I may feel pain for months...the whole top left side of my head hurts, itches, and tingles. The medicine stopped the outbreak, but it's still clearing up. Thankfully, no one else was infected and all shingle-germs were kept to myself:) That is my shingle story...that I am sure is not over yet. Hopefully it will not resurface again...I did not enjoy it AT ALL.

So that is the story of Hannah's arrival and just a snapshot of the events that took place those few days. It went by so quickly, but was chalk full of memories- mostly good, a few bad. All in all we are SO thankful to be well and on the mend! I am getting better day by day and praise the Lord for my healthy new baby girl. She continues to be a great eater, pretty good sleeper (started with 3-4 hour stretches!) and a very happy little bug when she is awake...which isn't often! It amazes me how much newborns sleep! I'm not complaining- that has been amazing and has allowed me to slowly jump back into "mommy mode".

Dear precious baby Hannah- you have swept us all off of our feet! You are absolutely beautiful and as sweet as they come! We are so thankful for you and your perfect little self. God has blessed you with 2 sisters and 2 parents that are head over heels in love with you. We can't wait to see how much you change and grow in the weeks to come- you are amazing! We love you more than words can say.
Love,
Mommy
And finally, some pictures:) More to come...

Tomorrow!!!

2011-10-24T20:59:00.001-05:00

We welcome sweet Hannah into our family tomorrow!!! We are so excited and I am sure I won't be sleeping much tonight! The joy, thrill, and anticipation is overwhelming:) And we feel so blessed- to be welcoming another sweet daughter and to have such supportive family here by our side. Welcome baby Hannah....we are ready to meet you:)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Piglets

2011-10-21T17:07:00.001-05:00

Yesterday Caroline and I were discussing what we thought Hannah was going to look like. She said she thought she would have red hair. She then said "Hannah, Emily and I will be twins!" I replied and said "not twins, but triplets!" She didn't really respond.

Today at the drive through window we struck up a convo with a red headed cashier and CGH told her about her new baby sister and proclaimed "We will be piglets!"

Pretty sure she meant triplets...but piglets isn't too far off;)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

3 under 3...for me??

2011-10-17T10:31:00.001-05:00

Yes is the answer. In just one week we will have a household full of 3 precious little girls under the age of 3. Sometimes I feel like I could be recorded in the Guinness book of world records. Some days I am full of panic, worry, feelings of inadequacy, and complete and utter fear. It is so easy to be swept up in the emotions and play the "what if" game and panic about how little time I am going to have to devote to any ONE thing or person. Questions of doubt arise- can I do this? Am I going to fail daily? Am I going to be a walking freak show everywhere I go? Am I going to be able to withstand this physically/mentally/emotionally with a somewhat absent/time consumed husband? Will my emotions stay in tact? Why must I be 600 miles away from any family members that can help share the love? Why, why, why? These thoughts have started to cross my mind daily, if not hourly as my time with what we consider "normal life" is ticking. Usually a few tears, deep breaths, and a change of heart is what it takes to get me back up again. Because this I know...

Although I could have never described my current lifestyle/family the way that it is- God has had His perfect plan from before I was even a glimmer in my parents eyes. As I was growing up dreaming of getting married, having my family and children (spaced out age wise of course) God was writing a different story- growing me, molding me, and preparing me in ways that I still have not discovered yet. God has blessed our marriage and our family more than words can say- why oh why would I think for one second that He would give up on me now? I trust in God. I trust He will hold me together. I trust He will provide all my needs and the needs of each of my sweet girls and husband. I trust that He has us doing this "alone" only so that we will realize we are not alone. Every single step, every single day, hour, month, year we are doing "life" God is holding our hand, asking us to cling to Him. Never once have we been alone- God is faithful.

Being a mommy is my passion. I absolutely and totally am head over heels with my job and role in life as my sweet babies. I would not trade my occupation for anything. I absolutely swoon over each and every milestone met, challenge overcome, and joy explored by my girls. It seems like because these things are true that mommy hood would be a breeze! Oh the contrary. It is hard. Harder than anything I could imagine up in my mind. Being on the beckon call at ALL times to feed, clean, entertain, influence, teach and protect 2 tiny precious children. But now- it will be 3 precious tiny children. What an honor. What a joy. What a task. I can rejoice in the fact that as difficult as it may be- the joy that comes from these trials is WAY more overwhelming than the hard parts. God definitely knew what He was doing when He created the crazy balance of motherhood mayhem.

We are so thankful and so anxious to meet Hannah. There is such a delight and peace that a 3rd baby brings to me as a mama. No worry about "how to" do things. No stress of the little things...just pure enjoyment of their newborn-ness. Brad and I actually have been giddy over the thought of having her in her bassinet, squeaking awake during the nights to nurse, and sleeping on our chest. There is nothing like it. As well as nothing like being so sleep deprived and tired you can barely see straight. But it is worth it. And we are more than thankful to have this opportunity. And we know that we know that we KNOW God has us right in His perfect plan. With that- we will simply do our best. Do our best to find a way to glorify God for the wonderful gifts of GIRLS that He has given us to care for.

This is a song that Brad came home telling me about (since I don't get normal radio listening time each day). It strikes such a chord with me- whatever it is that I am doing- being a mommy, etc.- I should be doing it for the Glory of God. That's my plan, my prayer, and my purpose. Take a listen :)

Steven Curtis Chapman - Do Everything Lyrics

You’re picking up toys on the living room floor

for the 15th time today

Matching up socks and sweeping up lost

Cheerios that got away

You put a baby on your hip and color on your lips

and head out the door

And while I may not know you I bet I know you

Wonder sometimes does it matter at all

Well let me remind you it all matters just as long as you

Do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you

Cause He made you to do

Every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face

And tell the story of grace

With every move that you make

And every little thing you do

A day in the life...

2011-10-13T14:37:00.000-05:00

One of the blogs I like to follow writes a few blogs once in awhile of their simple daily routine...just as a written reminder/memoir of what life was like at that particular moment in time. I thought maybe it would be nice to document what our daily lives were for myself...probably will BORE the rest of you to death...but I will most likely look back and have very special memories from this time in our lives. SO here is what a "normal" day looks like with Caroline 2, Emily 1, and baby Hannah is 38 weeks pregnant...will be joining us in just 1.5 short weeks!

Our day begins anywhere from 6:45-7:15 with me jumping out of bed to the sound of one of the girls on the monitor. They share a room and pretty much wake at the same time and will either call out for "Mama!" or just screech until I come in to get them. Caroline is in her big girl bed and usually has a story to tell me about the night- either a blanket falling out of her bed, a passy hiding, sis screaming, always entertaining. But she wakes up happy. Emily is standing in her crib, holding blankets, ready to go. I think she would rather sleep a bit later, but big sis calls the shots most days. I get them out of bed, turn off all the sound machines, fans and we go to the living room. I usually sit Em on the couch and Caroline finds somewhere to chill while I make their juice cups 1st thing. We open all the windows, turn on the lights and sometimes just start playing, or sometimes turn the tv on and watch Curious George or Cat in the Hat. Right now they are waking up starving, so Caroline immediately asks for a "snack" which I in return call "breakfast" and she throws a little fit saying she doesn't want breakfast, she wants a snack. So I have quit using the B word;) We do a quick diaper change for E and C takes her pull up off and switches to big girl panties. The girls will play in the living room while I cook breakfast- our breakfast repertoire includes eggs, sausage, pancakes, toaster strudels, oatmeal, fruit, and yogurt. Emily always eats everything on her plate PLUS what is leftover on Carolines. C is not a big "snack eater"...even though she is starving most mornings. We either eat at the kitchen table in their booster chairs, or lately Caroline likes to get a tray to eat in the living room with and I bring Emily's booster chair in for her to sit in. They sit quietly while I clean up, eat something quick myself, and get ready to clean them up. They finish and play for a bit while I straighten up, pick out clothes for the day, get myself dressed. This is usually when I inhale my daily Dr. Pepper and get a little pep in my step each morning. It's a bad day when we don't have one waiting for me in the fridge. :)

Getting the girls dressed and groomed properly is kind of like a crazy assembly line right now no matter how I prepare for it. I pick out their clothes, socks, diapers/panties, hair bows and take them to the living room where they are playing. Caroline is amazing- she will most likely happily undress herself, and put her clothes on independently with out a fuss. She loves doing it herself and I am proud of her. After she gets dressed, I do her hair (which is always a lost cause because the poor child can't keep her hair neat/up for more than 15 minutes to save her life...but I always attempt.) Caroline will even gather up all the PJ's and take them to the laundry basket for me without a complaint. So that's the easy part. Then I have to wrestle the wild one...Emily...and get her together. She does not like to come to me when I call her, and usually fusses while I maneuver her clothes off of her and wrangle her into a new diaper/outfit for the day. Getting her hair done is a necessity because it is wild...and always in her eyes. So I usually quickly pin her bangs back with a bow or get a ponytail-bam bam "do" going within the first few attempts of her running away from me. Next stop- the bathroom- which is a TIGHT squeeze for all of us right now...especially with little busy hands that like to explore everything (trashcan, contact solution, soap/shampoo, etc.) I usually sit Caroline on the potty and have Em stand while I hand them their toothbrush while we all brush, and I simultaneously wet their already "done" hair to tame it just a bit more with water. It makes their precious curls "bounce" a bit more. :) I gather the toothbrushes up and we exit the bathroom and go search for shoes. Again, Caroline attempts her own, and I tackle Em to get hers on. They both have favorite shoes right now that don't necessarily match ANYTHING but I am not a fighter when it comes to shoes- they need to a) fit, b)stay on, c) not cause tripping or harm when playing...and that's about all I require. Sandals in October? Sure. The same dirty tennis shoes EVERY day? Why not. Purple socks with pink shoes? All the cuter. After shoes are on- I make a beeline for my room, throw on some clothes in record time so that they both don't follow me in to our bedroom and begin destroying it drawer to drawer. After the 2 minutes it takes me to get dressed, we herd back into the living room while I get our diaper bag together- fresh juice, snack (without them seeing it- or else they will demand it right then), diapers, wipes, panties, change of clothes, passy, my phone, my make up bag, and wallet. And the Dr. Pepper. First trip out to the van- I take the girls and get them buckled and in place, start the van and get a dvd going. I run back inside, grab all of our gear, put it in the van. It usually takes me 2-3 more trips to remember everything we are supposed to be leaving the house with- but thankfully the girls enjoy just being in the van and don't mind. Most mornings I will sit and do a quick 4 minute make up routine in our driveway before we pull out...and that's considered a good day. Some days, make up just doesn't make it to the van at all.

So it's usually about 9-9:30 by this time...sometimes a bit later depending on moods in the morning. If anyone is fussy- the faster we get OUT of the house, the better. If they are content, we can hang around and play a little longer. PRIME time playtime happens from about 9:30-11:00. We will either go meet friends at the park, enjoy a play date at a friends house, go to the library, go to the Wonderplace, go to the indoor playroom at The Church at Rock Creek, our church playroom, Chuck E Cheese, Chick fil a...those are our normal hang outs. There are SO many fun parks in Little Rock that we can drive to a different park everyday and never get bored. There is a special "Marketplace Kroger" that is HUGE way on the other side of town that we drive to sometimes if I need to desperately make a grocery shopping trip. It has everything- kind of like a department store Kroger. Anyway- Caroline LOVES it because they have kiddie sized shopping carts that she loves to push with our food in it. So I usually push a huge cart with a car on it- which Emily rides in- and Caroline pushes her cart next to us (note to everyone- don't let the little one push the cart behind you- she will run you over and injure your heels. Repeatedly.) So we usually play until about 10:45 or 11 when moods start to dwindle. Then we head home for lunch.

We unload the van, get inside, take shoes off (and socks...so no slipping injuries occur), and usually jump right into their chairs at the table for lunch. I wipe them down and wash their hands and we usually retell our mornings, or sing songs, act silly...anything to occupy the time while I make their food (usually can be done in about 3 minutes or less). Turkey, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, some type of veggie, a fruit, and yogurt. Drinks are refilled. Food is either devoured or thrown on the floor. They are never really hungry at lunch. Lunch lasts about 8 minutes until one is done and plates must be diligently removed from them or else messes are created- either thrown on the floor, in the hair, all in their hands, etc. Mostly by Em, but sometimes Caroline likes to get messy too. I then clean them up, usually change their clothes into something comfy to sleep in if they got really dirty, and clean up the lunch mess while the play. We play until about 12- then we do diaper change, pull up on for C, get blankets together and nap set up. Caroline has been napping in Hannah's crib (she thinks its REALLY neat) so that she doesn't wake up Emily early from her nap. Emily sleeps in her crib as usual. They both lay down with out a peep and fall asleep quickly. Naps usually last about 1.5 hours-2 hours on a good day. I immediately do a quick round of clean/straighten up the house, eat lunch in record time and move on to more important things:) I have been laying down and catching a quick cat nap this late in my pregnancy, but days like today I choose to do something "productive" by either preparing dinner without little hands involved, or cleaning something, doing laundry, catching up on bills, mail, etc. This is the most productive or unproductive time of the day, but I cherish it.

Caroline usually wakes first- calling out for me. I grab her out of Hannah's room, we come to the living room, quickly switch over to big girl panties, and she snuggles/wakes up while I get her afternoon snack and juice ready. She will watch tv or play with my iphone for a few minutes while I prepare that, and then by the time she is set up and happy, Emily is usually stirring. Neither wake AS happy from their naps as they do in the morning, but after a few moments of "chilling" they are rearing ready to go again. Emily gets her snack and juice and we usually just play (read books, play babies, do puzzles) until they are fully awake and ready to do something else. We will get dressed (again!) shoes on and usually go outside to our front yard or to our neighborhood park. Usually that would mean them jumping in the wagon and me pulling them, but since I feel like I am about to hatch, we have been jumping in the van and driving the few blocks. Embarrassing, I know. We have a few friends that will usually meet us at the park and we will play/visit for no more than an hour max. By that time it usually is certain that Caroline will need to potty (or have already had an accident) someone will be hurt, or just moody. So we will head back home. If we have time to kill and are in the van- we will tour the neighborhood for a few minutes. Our new task- looking for pumpkins. We can drive slow as snails and check out all the fall decor and be entertained for at least 10 minutes ;)

So by this point it's usually about 4:00 which equals "melt down" time is close at hand. If we stay busy through this time it is best, but usually impossibly hard to do anything without a lot of crankiness. I usually will attempt to get home and start dinner if I haven't already or go home and play- but the girls are HIGH maintenance at this time. Nothing a freezer pop doesn't fix...or free reign of a "off limits" spot in the house (like the downstairs craft stuff....or play on the back porch. Anything is possible at this time of day and I am usually happy to oblige whatever mess may occur during this hour as long as they are happy, not fighting, not on my hip, or screaming. A text to daddy usually happens about now as I anxiously inquire about what his day/evening is looking like as far as quitting time goes. Thankfully this month he is working at the VA hospital which has very reasonable hours....getting him home between 5:30-6:30.

I feed the girls at 5:00 on the dot and they are always ravenous! I usually prepare something that the whole family will eat and feed the girls, and save the rest for Brad and I to eat once we are "off duty". But recently, with as tired and exhausted as Hannah baby has been making me, we sometimes do the same routine as lunch- hot dogs, sandwiches, macaroni, mashed potatoes, something instant. Always attempt a veggie and fruit of course, and sometimes treat the girls with ice cream and fruit for dessert. I snack a bit too myself during this time- and try to get things as "ready" as possible for Brad and I to eat later in the evening. If by chance Brad is home and feels like eating immediately, sometimes we will all sit down and eat together. But that's a rare thing these days. So, I clean the girls, clean the dishes (usually empty and refill the dishwasher at this time each day) and we play until daddy comes home.

When we hear daddy's keys jingle in the door all 3 of us squeal with delight! He is bombarded by the 2 redheads and Brad amazingly usually tumbles to the floor and starts playing with them immediately. I love seeing how thrilled they all are at seeing each other. I try to get Caroline to recount her day and events to daddy but she is usually just to excited and has other things on her agenda- like playing hide and seek with him, or showing him something. Hide and seek has been a favorite for awhile now- Caroline and Brad take turns hiding/counting and E just pitter pats along them as the game goes on. Their special trick- whoever is hiding has to "hoot" like an owl to let the other in on where they are hiding- like a clue. Emily has mastered the hoot and also likes to mimic covering her eyes and counting in gibberish. It is a fun thing to watch. Other times they like to just play chase- literally- Brad will take off running and the girls will chase after him squealing as loudly as you can imagine through the "circle" in our house- through the living room, through the girls room, through the kitchen, and back into the living room. He is such a good daddy. They will play until about 6 or a few minutes after and then we get ready for bath.

The girls strip down to their skivvy's and head towards the bath with daddy. I have a few minutes to once again pick up from the tornado damage inside, finish cleaning the kitchen, lay out PJs , etc. The girls love bath time and lots of giggles are always heard from the bathroom. Caroline likes to play "restaurant" and serve daddy different foods. Emily loves to play with containers with tops/lids and put them together again and again and again. Brad got Caroline a special "loofah" and some big girl Dora shampoo that is the highlight of the bath. He has also started letting her choose what kind of bath wash/soap she wants from my collection- coconut, pomegranate, whatever her whim is that night. Sweet Em doesn't mind what she uses at the moment. Emily gets out first, is dried off and sprints around the house til she finds me...and I scream "Naked #1!!" and she giggles with delight. Caroline, or "Naked #2" is close behind and we gather in their bedroom to get PJ's on. Caroline is always happy to get ready- she picks her own PJ's out of her drawer. Emily fights it a bit, as usual. Depending on our day, what time it is, and mommy's mood, we either head back into the living room to play some more, or we call it a day and start bedtime. 7:00 is the normal bedtime- but on extra long days (which seems like its getting more and more frequent the longer I'm pregnant) 6:45 is totally acceptable. Caroline happily jumps in her bed, we gather up all her blankets, her sleep passy, and put socks on. Emily still sprints around the house trying to escape most days, but sometimes will be so pooped she will lay down on the floor on her blankets begging to be put in the crib. Brad takes little, I start with big. I tell her a story, we say our prayers, and I get a big kiss. Then we switch- I get little and sing her a song, say a prayer, and lay her down while Brad tells Caroline another story and says goodnight. As I walk out their bedroom door- a sigh of relief, a feeling of triumph, and complete exhaustion usually happen immediately! Another day done, another 12 hours spent with my sweeties, another blessing of being a MOMMY. But I'm not gonna lie- I am worn flat out. Done. Spent. Whatever word you would describe a worthless being. I do yet another clean up of the toys/dishes/cups and then - get to spend my "quality" time with my love.

Brad and I usually quickly get dinner prepared together, find our spots in the living room, eat, and watch some tv and just veg out. Pretty romantic I know. We are wild and crazy...usually feeling like we can't keep our eyes open by 8:30. Some nights he has to study, has journal club, or other things. Some nights I have to go to the grocery store. Or prepare for Bible study. Or do laundry. Or take a shower- you know, the essentials. Either way, we wind down, and conk out as quickly as possible.

So that is our day. Nothing fabulous, luxurious, or extra special. Sometimes we get in ruts and wonder if our lives could ever possibly get more routine, boring, redundant. We are ruled by our little loves and totally housebound after 7 most nights. And we feel it sometimes- and other times we are able to be reminded of what a blessing we have. And that it is only for a season. Although this season seems to be running on and on and on the more babies we add to our family. I'm not going to lie and say it is all roses and happy thoughts as we reflect on our days- we are in the THICK of babyhood/toddler hood and it is hard. We try to relish these days and Brad and I thankfully are usually each others strength when the other is falling apart (which seems like every other night these days!) But I am reminded how thankful I am...
-to have 2 gorgeous, healthy, VIBRANT little girls
-to be able to spend my waking hours making a difference in their lives (their beliefs, their demeanor, their knowledge, their concept of life)
-to have a loving husband that comes home with open arms to all of us- even after a LONG day at a draining job
-to have a loving Savior, my Strength, to keep me breathing and functioning
-to have family and friends that support and help as much as possible close to us and far from home
-to be excited about welcoming our 3rd little love in just a week and a half.

Wow. Our world seems to change on a daily basis as it is, yet I know sweet Hannah is going to come and completly make our world a different, but much BRIGHTER place.

More pics from Grandparents visit

2011-10-13T12:58:00.001-05:00

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Round 2 at the pumpkin patch

2011-10-10T14:30:00.001-05:00

We went to Motleys pumpkin patch on Saturday with Brad. It was a hot October morning and it seemed EVERYONE in the area had the same idea we did, but we had fun!
We saw some more animals- goats, chickens, and donkey. Brad got some food to feed the goats and the girls loved it.

We stood by a giant pumpkin (seem a bit redundant from last post?)

Watched pigs race. Yes. You read correctly. Only in Arkansas.

Road a cow-train.

Rode a pony swing.

And enjoyed a hayride...even I was brave enough to try it.

We had fun! We still didn't pick out THE pumpkin for the year, but we may just snag one from Kroger;) I think they are cheaper!

Grandparents trip to BoBrook Farms

2011-10-10T14:19:00.000-05:00

My parents spend last week with us here in Little Rock. We were SO happy to see them after such a LONG time apart. The last day they were here we headed out to the pumpkin patch. The girls had a blast and we enjoyed watching them...despite the heat...but then again, it probably only bothered the 36 week pregnant one:)

We saw animals- donkeys and pigs.

We meausred ourselves against the great giant pumpkin.

We climbed on haystacks.

And of course played in the pumpkin patch!

Emily was feeling quite picture friendly...

Caroline was much more fast paced and action packed.

Grammie took the girls on a the hayride.

Then we finished our morning with a picnic at Pinnacle Park. Picnics are the latest rage for Big sis...she LOVES eating outside from her lunchbox.

While Grammie and Grandpa were here we also made cookies- with the ABC cookie cutters they brought us. They had fun and used LOTS of sprinkles to decorate.

Thanks for such a FUN visit Gram and Grandpa! We can't wait to see you again- only 2 weeks until you are back for little sister Hannah's arrival!!

29!!

2011-10-07T08:17:00.001-05:00

Brad turned 29 on September 13th while he was on his work trip in San Francisco. We celebrated when he got home and wasn't working. We sent him a birthday surprise to his hotel room that morning then celebrated when he returned.

-

Happy Birthday daddy!!! We love you:)
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30!!!

2011-10-07T08:12:00.001-05:00

I secretly turned 30 this past month- September 3 to be exact. Brad surprised me and had his mom and grandmother show up in Little Rock!! I was so shocked and excited. Brad swept me away for a night at the best hotel in town- The Capital Hotel. It wad a perfect getaway that let me sleep and relax all I wanted- perfect!! Then I got to wake up and celebrate all day with my girls and Deb and Mama. Brad worked the majority of the weekend but was the master planner! It was special:)

Brad sweetly got me a super cute pair of Toms...but my swollen, pregnant feet would not fit. Sooooo I'm waiting a few more weeks to go pick out my appropriate size after Hannah gets here:)

Next, aunt Cara flew in to party with us girls while Brad attended a conference in San Francisco. She threw me a perfect fairy birthday party with the girls and we played all week. It was so fun and of course not complete with out a trip to chuck e cheese:)

- someone was spoiled by their aunt....and loved every minute!

Thank you everyone who made my 30th special- despite the distance and circumstances- it was perfect!
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2011-08-21T14:53:00.001-05:00

After Sunday school this morning I asked Caroline about her lesson.
Me: Caroline- who is the very first Bible story about?
Caroline: Eve and.....Paul.

I love it:)

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Hot Springs/Lake Hamilton

2011-08-18T10:22:00.000-05:00

Our family got to take a mini-vacation the first week of August. We visited Hot Springs and stayed on Lake Hamilton. The Hobbs were kind enough to come this direction and "make believe" our annual beach trip much closer to home. The girls had a blast and we all enjoyed getting out of our normal routine and playing for a few days.

The girls were riding on a ride at the mall...Emily looks scared to death as Caroline enjoys the wild ride!

Our first boat trip with the girls! Caroline loved driving the boat and even tubed for the first time with Brad. Emily didn't enjoy the life jacket part at all...but chilled out enough to enjoy our 2 hour adventure.

A few summer time pics

2011-07-23T13:50:00.001-05:00

Baby Hannah at 25 weeks

Cara and Charlie

2011-07-23T13:20:00.008-05:00

We had a blast with my sister and her little man! They came to Little Rock Wednesday and stayed until Saturday. We stayed busy!!! In 2 full days we conquered the pool, the wonderplace, chick fil a, rivermarket splash zone, the Trolly, the peabody ducks, chuck e cheese, the tubes at Rock creek, and lots of fun hours at home. We are pooped but had so much fun! We will miss them a lot but are so thankful they made the trip:)

Charlie- 20 months
Emily- almost 17 months
Caroline- 2.5 years

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Named

2011-07-21T13:12:00.000-05:00

It has been such a joy for Brad and I to pick the names of each of our precious little girls. Each one has their own special meaning and is unique to who they are. Caroline Grace, Emily Anne, and now we are happy to announce baby girl #3...

Hannah Elizabeth!

Hannah is Hebrew in origin and it means favored by God. We could not ask for anything more than that for her sweet little life. I have spent a lot of time reading the story of Hannah in the Bible- she was the mother of Samuel (and 5 others) and has an amazing story you can read about in 1 Samuel. It is our prayer that she will grow up to know the Lord and will in fact lead a life that is favored by God.

Elizabeth means the oath or fullness of God, God's promise, or God of plenty. We hope that Hannah Elizabeth will in fact see all the ways that God does fulfill his promises and that she sees her days full of God's blessings.

And of course...what could be cuter than thinking about her kindergarten teacher calling her name: Hannah Hobbs :) We have considered Hannah from the very start with our first pregnancy, so it only seems right that we finally got to use it. So, the Hobbs girls, in alphabetical order will be Caroline, Emily, and Hannah.

Baby Hannah-You are SO loved and cherished already at just 26 weeks! Caroline notices how you are growing and gets very excited about how you will soon join our family...she has big plans for her baby sister! Not a day goes by that we don't think about your addition to our family and how we are blessed beyond belief with such sweet, beautiful, little girls. We can't wait to meet you in October.

Purple Cow

2011-07-10T22:56:00.001-05:00

We had a great weekend FREE of the stomach bug! My parents came to the rescue Friday night to allow me to fully recoup on Saturday. We had a fun afternoon today visiting a pet store, Barnes and Noble, and then a routine treat for ice cream at The Purple Cow. Caroline downed a HUGE ice cream sundae in record time and Emily counted sugar packets until her heart was content ( she isn't as big of an ice cream fan as her sister yet). Here are a few pics from our fun afternoon:)

Yesterday Gram and Grandpa took the girls to Chuck E Cheese and Toys R Us to get a few new toys...since we are in dier need of toys in this house. CGH got her long coveted vacuum cleaner and Emily got a shopping cart. Many, many minutes have been spent already with these new toys. CGH quickly discovered that vacuuming with a baby in arms is tough- so we solved the problem like any good mommy:)

In the Chuck E bus...

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Ugh

2011-07-08T16:04:00.001-05:00

Stomach bug. Has. Hit. Us. Hard. No other explanations needed for lack of blogging or pictures...it would NOT be a pretty sight. However, many "interesting" memories are in the making;) sick babies are pitiful, but a sick mommy may take the cake.
This is pretty much what our days consist of-

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What do you do...

2011-06-30T20:36:00.001-05:00

What do you do when you have two toddlers, a very low heat tolerance, no money, and it's 100 degrees outside?? Go to EVERY indoor play place you can think of in a single day-
The tubes at Rock Creek Church

McDonalds of course...with a sweet tea with lemon to cool me down;)

And the good 'ol living room where we spend 90% of our waking minutes.

Who could ask for more fun on a summer day??? Can you tell we are bored?

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A good day:)

2011-06-29T16:07:00.001-05:00

Barnes and Noble storytime

After pool Popsicles

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Kellys Korner Link

2011-06-25T13:07:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite bloggers Kelly, from Kellys Korner, posted a “Show Us Your Singles” posting this week. I have always thought this was a great idea and immediately thought of my good friend- Niki. It took some convincing, but she finally agreed to allow me to post something about her. Besides, this was a great opportunity to brag on one my favorite people! Niki is 32 years old and lives in Middle Georgia. She loves the Lord and is so much fun to be around. She is athletic, funny, intelligent, beautiful and very generous. She has a degree in dental hygiene. She is looking for someone who loves the Lord and family. We love Niki very much and we miss being around her. She is great with kids and would be an awesome mother one day. Our girls adore "Aunt Nik Nik" and she spoils them rotten!

If you know anyone that might be interested in getting to know Niki please show them our blog and either leave us a comment on this entry, find her on facebook or email her. Her email is nikismail25@yahoo.com and her facebook name is Niki Simmons.

We love you Niki!

Summer fun

2011-06-23T18:41:00.000-05:00

Fathers Day lunch at Zaxbys with our Munson boys. Caroline wants to be a boy in her next life I think...

Here are some pictures from our stop in Nashville back in May to see our sweet friends The Spires.

Camden and Caroline

The whole bunch...Emily was obviously tired. To tired to sit up.

Sister snuggles

Dress up fun...

Bitter Sweet...

2011-06-20T11:24:00.000-05:00

Today Emily and I dropped Caroline off at her first day of camp/school. She will be there from 9-1 each day this week (if we make it to Friday!) I packed her new backpack, her lunchbox, laid out her clothes the night before, and llabeled all of her belongings. When Caroline woke up this morning and I told her about her "big day" she was very excited and asked questions all morning long. We only had about an hour to get fed, dressed, and out the door, so the morning progressed quickly. She decided immediately that I was to carry her backpack, and she would be in charge of her lunchbox. She loves that lunchbox! So we drove to the church, me dealing with odd mommy-ish feelings about leaving her, her growing up, etc. No tears though. We got there, waiting outside until they opened the doors at 9:00 and then went in to find her name tag. She was at the FRONT of the line bypassing all the other families that were there. We grabbed her name tag, found her room, and stopped outside for just a single moment of hesitation on her part (I think...). I told her I was excited about meeting her teachers, opened the door, and she followed me inside. She said hello to her teachers and they asked if she wanted to put her lunchbox up on the counter...her response..."No. I'm ready to eat right now." We all giggled and I explained she would eat later on in the day and she gave it up fairly easily. She then darted off to see what new fun toys were there for her to play with...not a kiss, not a hug, not a smile...just going full speed ahead at the task at hand. I knew she would love it. I knew she'd be in heaven. I met the teachers and was out the door in no time. I tried to look back to see if I could spot her- but she was inside some play gym and was hidden from sight. I'm glad she liked her room and think her teachers were sweet. I think it looked like they were set up to have about 10 kids in her room. It should be perfect. I can't wait to pick her up and hear all about it. As Emily and I drove away I picked up the phone to call my sweet friend to document our 1st morning and choked back a few tears...which she told me she cried for me...and was able to get home without any sadness. Emily wanted to nap, so she has been sleeping for about 1.5 hours now and I haven't known what to do with myself!! I cleaned up our room, straightened the rest of the house and then sat down to document this milestone moment. One I probably will never forget...yes, call me crazy. But I am whole-heartedly attached to my girls and each minute away from them makes me enjoy the new stage of life we are approaching...but makes me miss them like crazy. Probably always will...even when they are 30. :)
PS. I didn't go picture-taking-crazy this morning because no one else around was taking minute by minute documentation of their child at school. So I may snap a few more this afternoon...but didn't want to feel TO silly. :)

Blueberry Picking

2011-06-20T11:08:00.000-05:00

Saturday evening we headed out on a blueberry patch adventure! We drove about 30 minutes out of town to a beautiful farm that had blueberries for us to pick. Both girls enjoyed it...despite the fact that it was 100 degrees outside. Emily decided she would taste the blueberries as we were picking them, but refuses to eat them at home. Caroline loves them anytime! Brad "the gardener" was very interested in learning how we could add blueberries to his own garden...but I think after researching, it takes several years to establish some. So maybe next home, next city, next garden. :)

Caroline at 2 1/2

2011-06-19T20:54:00.000-05:00

Here are some funny and endearing things our precious 2 year old is up to these days...

-She LOVES to play with her baby dolls. She feeds them, snuggles them, rocks them, puts them down for naps, bathes them, strolls them...anything you could think of. It is so neat to see her really adapt to this new idea of getting a "new baby" in our family. She talks about new baby everyday and is really starting to internalize the fact that I have a sweet new sister growing in my tummy. She has started hiking her pants up really high...lol...and then added one of her baby dolls inside of her hiked up pants and said she was having a baby like mommy. She is a bright one. She loves to "nurse" her babies and then proceed to talk through the stages of food babies eat- from mommy's milk, to rice cereal, bananas, baby food, etc. She likes to pick out clothes for the new baby to wear. She likes to fill her littlest sisters crib with special toys she picks out for her.
Funny story- Emily was wearing some of Carolines fairly recent pajama sets...because they are practically the same size. Caroline was upset and wanted them back and so I started into a serious discussion about how she is growing, and she is getting big, and she needs to wear them, and I think I said she is growing a million times...which is what Caroline correlates to the NEW baby. So Caroline goes into a random fit of rage (as we are getting in bed for the night) and I finally get her calmed down to understand her and she says "Get her out! Get her out! Get new baby out of your tummy. She is big! She is growing!" Caroline thought that I had said new baby had grown and was big and she was wanting to see her littlest sis. Precious moment for me. I can already tell this #3 is going to be loved unconditionally by ALL of us around her.
-Caroline is attached to her blankets...2 in particular that make there way around the house through out the day. If she ever gets hurt, upset or even if Emily gets hurt, those blankets are magic and help ease all the worry in the world. She still uses a passy in her bed only at bedtime...so those blankets are her comfort. I don't mind :)
-She loves to dress up in shoes, play clothes, jewelry, etc. She loves talking about the "Princesses" now. You know, Cinderella, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, Snow White, and Jasmine. They are probably about to become a fabulous staple of the Hobbs household with all this estrogen flying around. I think its sweet...
-She is a great swimmer! She loves to play and frolic in the baby pool...but really gets a kick out of the big pool adventures when daddy is around. She will jump off the side a million times. She doesn't mind her head going under...she has always been a great water baby. She has a set of floaties she wears on her arms and she will kick and doggy paddle like a champ. Brad is a great teacher...I am still terrified if he moves more than a foot away from her. But she's learning and loves to swim right now.
-Her favorite drinks- lemonade and....Sprite. Yes. I finally gave in and let the girl get Sprite when we were at a restaurant. She loves it of course.
-She is obsessed with lollipops...Dum Dum suckers to be exact. They remedy ANY situation and for that I am grateful.
-Since our last trip to Georgia she will randomly ask to go back to Georgia. She will say "I haven't seen them in awhile", talking about our family, and ask if she can go to their houses. So sweet. I wish. I wish it were that easy.
-Caroline loves to talk through our day, any event that is coming up, or past experience...in DETAIL. We sit and she will listen to me forever as I tell her about what is going to happen (ie the babysitter that is coming tomorrow night...I walk her through the night and tell her everything that will happen) This is great because she likes the predictability and it eases her into the transition of new situations. The hard part? Making sure my story turns into actual reality..note to self...pick up stickers for Caroline and babysitter to play with tomorrow night! :) And, go ahead and pray for this sweet babysitter tomorrow night bc she will be putting both the girls to bed...lol...are we evil??
-Caroline loves to walk along me and the shopping cart when we are in a store now since Emily is sitting in the cart. She usually does a great job and is perfectly sweet. The other day we had to do a grocery shopping excursion and she was off the chain. Literally. She fell down like 14 times and screamed bloody murder once that the lady in the meat department ran to our aisle to "check" on us and make sure that she didn't see a "baby snatching" happening. REALLY??? I assured her that no, these were my children, she just fell and was upset, and probably looked at her very awkwardly until she left. Sweet...I GUESS....If in fact I was stealing a child...but clearly, not the case. So to ease the whole issue Caroline found a ball on the toy aisle. I let her have it...and even coerced her to try and kick it down the whole grocery aisle (that we were on) chase after it, then come back to me. She loved this game!! And it was only possible because we were in an almost deserted grocery store at a very good time of day. So she played this game the rest of the shopping trip. People probably thought I was crazy as Emily choked down a sucker and Caroline screamed like a giddy school girl chasing her ball down the aisle. Good news...I DON'T CARE!! We made it out alive, happy, and with groceries. Success.
-She loves her little Bible. She sleeps with it...no lie. Nap time, bed time, her little Bible is with her at all times. She will sit and skim the pages and really focus in on the picture of baby Jesus in the manger. She calls it God's word and loves to "quote" it. She says the following "Children obey parents. Be kind to one another. Jesus loves me. Jesus loves you. Jesus died on the cross. God made me." So good to see that God's word is already soaking into her little mind and heart. I have been reading Psalm 139 to her this week during our morning quiet time and she surprise me by saying "Psalm 139" as she was playing with her Bible. AMAZING what all her little mind is soaking up each day. What a challenge for me to be the BEST example I can.
-This morning her Sunday school teacher walked out to the parking lot with us after church and she said that Caroline was hilarious in class and that she adored her. She said she was SO smart and very verbal and such a helper. She loved having her in class. Oh it made my heart happy! I know she is brilliant...but to hear others talk about it, melts me. So on that note, I know she is ready for....
-Camp...Caroline is going to camp! Yes, camp! She is going to attend Little Life Academy (a church Mother's Day Out/Preschool program) for 2 days starting this fall. They have a 1 week summer camp/Bible School that I signed her up for. It is everyday this next week from 9-1pm. It is going to be a big adventure for her little self...but I know she will love it. Every minute of it. So...if mommy can actually LET GO tomorrow morning...Caroline will have a fabulous week at camp. She has a new backpack, a lunch box, and all her things labeled and ready to go. Very sweet and nostalgic...pictures to come tomorrow. Tear. But I am sure we will all enjoy the week- Emily and I have lots of important things to do. Like...I don't know...but we will figure it out.

And that is my sweet little firecracker in a nut shell. I love her to death.

Fathers Day 2011

2011-06-19T18:17:00.001-05:00

We have the best daddy ever!! We enjoyed a morning at church, lunch out with the Munsons at Zaxbys, and an afternoon in the garden and playing in the yard. We grilled burgers tonight and will enjoy some fun tickles and snuggles before bed.
Love,
Caroline and Emily

-

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Emily at 15...well, almost 16 months

2011-06-19T17:46:00.000-05:00

I have been meaning to sit (yeah right!) and record some precious things about sweet Emily at this age since her doctors visit. I used to sit at the computer and blog away until my heart was content...and now it usually consists of me jotting down a few chicken scratch notes on post-its and then finding a few seconds to type it on the computer. BUT..nonetheless, here are a few fun things about Emily at this exciting age.
-She loves loves loves to accessorize! She usually has on anywhere from 1-3 necklaces and a few bracelets. Her favorites are the mardi gras beads our neighbor keeps giving us. She puts them on herself and is very protective of them.
-Words she says- Mama, dada, Izzy, Go!Go! Go! Go! (from Cat in the Hat cartoon),Elmo, woof woof, quack quack, moo, and then she preaches in her own jibber jabber very fiercely. She will "converse" for a few minutes telling us things...who knows what we are agreeing to. :)
-She loves the song If you are happy and you know it- she will clap, stomp, and raise her hands (sometimes says Amen) She also likes the 5 little ducks song and will quack along appropriately.
-She enjoys being tickled and lets out the most precious giggles you have ever heard!
-She follows Caroline from room to room, activity to activity, and gets very excited whenever big sis is around.
-She is still an Elmo fan and most recently has fallen for Barney.
-She really loves sitting in their green chair in the living room. She will crawl all over it, sit and relax in it whenever we are in the living room.
-She still LOVES Isabelle our cat and gets ecstatic each time we see her outside.
-She is teething a little bit now- maybe some bottom teeth?
-She has become attached to her blankets and will walk to her crib and pull them out throughout the day when she needs it.
-She is HATING her diaper changes these days and it resembles wrestling a wild pig when it is in fact time to do the change. Also when she gets cleaned up after meals...you would think we were hurting the poor thing!
-She has the "iphone" obsession...she constantly wants it- but doesn't know what to do with it yet. She usually just watches youtube videos of Barney and we roam from video to video.
-She loves the pool...so much that it scares us to death. She is not afraid to put her face/head/body under and exerts all her energy "diving" the entire time we are in the pool. It's as if her legs go limp in the water and whoever is "guarding" her has to be on guard every single second. She just smiles and laughs- even if she has water up her nose. Needless to say, going to the pool without backup probably won't happen a lot this summer. The 2 of them seem to require much more attention than one person can provide.
All in all she is an amazing little girl...her red curly hair and sweet sweet chubby rolls turn me inside out! She is precious and we all continue to fall more and more in love with her fiery personality.

15 months

2011-06-08T11:14:00.001-05:00

We had Emilys check up this morning. She is doing perfect and was super sweet with the doctor.
Stats:
Weight 24.14 75th %
height 31 65th %
head circumference 18 44%
Perfect!! Will write more about Miss Em later:)

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Meet me in St. Louis!

2011-06-02T13:49:00.000-05:00

I am so excited about my cousins wedding this weekend. It's in St. Louis...and hold on to your hats...I am getting to travel...ALL.BY.MY.SELF. Yes!! It's true. It will sort of be like a mini vacation! I am meeting my family- mom, dad, sister, and brother for a fun weekend of celebrating with our sweet relatives. Who will watch the girls you ask? Their daddy has the whole weekend off and will do the honor of playing mommy and daddy this weekend. I know the girls will love the quality time with him. This is only time I have ever left the girls with dad for a weekend...so prayers are appreciated...on his part...not mine! :) JK I am leaving late Friday night, and will be back on Sunday (with my parents). Mom and Dad are coming to stay the week with us in Little Rock. Enjoy the weekend...I am not sure if I will even know what to do with myself, but I am pretty certain I will enjoy it.

Cross it off the list!

2011-05-31T21:45:00.000-05:00

Two peas in a pod...Caroline is 2 1/2 and Emily is 15 months old.

I have been waiting for the right moment to begin these "tasks" that I have on my to do list before new baby comes into our world. #1 was transitioning Caroline into her big girl bed...which is just a toddler bed really. That went flawlessly! She is doing amazing with it and loves it. She loves to cuddle up with her gazillion blankets and her little pillow and has pretty much learned to "stay still" and not do cartwheels around her bed each night. Every now and then she will wake up-on the floor. Bless her heart...and I wouldn't say she really WAKES up, but she cries, I run in, reposition her, and she's perfect. I have blankets on the floor beside her so that if in deed she does make her way out of the bed, she has a soft place to land. I sort of expect her to wake up one morning and realize she slept the whole night on the floor. We'll see. It has probably only happened 4 times...and when I talk about it the next day she doesn't really seem to remember, so maybe it's all a sleep walking act. :) She stays in her bed and does not get out until I come and get her each morning and after nap time. A success for sure! So- #1 was marked off the list a few months ago.

And here we are in present day at task #2. Moving the girls into the same room...and I am happy to say we are 3 days into a FAIRLY successful journey!! I had no idea when the "right" moment would be to make the transition. Emily loves sleeping, loves her bed, and dives for it each nap and night time. The only time she has ever been in Caroline's old crib was when they would rough-house and wrestle sometimes. Well, something came across me Sunday evening and I felt like it was the "right time". So we talked it over with Caroline (who has known for a long time that this day was coming since we left her crib in her room), made the necessary adjustments- switched mattresses (so Em would have her own), transferred blankets, passys, and lovies, and moved sound machine/fan into Carolines room. Caroline has really started to drrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaawwwww out her night time routine- something that I realized we would have to nip in the bud when sleepyhead Emily moved in. Our plan was to put the girls down at the same time- 7:30 since CGH was used to an 8pm bedtime and EAH was begging for bed by 7. We met in the middle. So...here we went...and it went like this....

Day 1-COMPLETE CHAOS for about-30 minutes...which seemed like eternity. I went back and forth, back and forth between the 2...both screaming and crying- Caroline because her routine was totally thrown into a tail spin, Emily because she was in what she knew as a "play crib" and continually just ran in circles, pulled at the blinds/curtains, and SCREAMED bloody murder. So I went between the 2- calmed one, put one down, went to the other- which lead to the other getting upset again. NUTS. I left them alone a few times...and heard crazy screaming and crying from both, some in unison, some solo. Caroline called out to Emily, "Emily....be quiet!! Emmy! Emmy!" She didn't listen. After a few torturous minutes outside their door Brad and I just laughed...and like a good daddy, he headed out to his garden;) I on the other hand went back into the battlefield. I ran laps between the two one more time, threatened one with all I had in me, and prayed they would just relax!! I left the room one last time- and about 3 minutes later...SILENCE. My head was spinning...but they had given up! I was so nervous about the night ahead (and ended up not sleeping well at all because I was 1/2 listening to the monitor all night)...what if one cried in the night? What if somehow they woke each other up? All sorts of fun ideas came to mind. I actually ran out of the house to Kroger after about 20 minutes of "silence". Brad reported that while I was gone Caroline called out several times for "Mama!!" and said "I'm awake!!" but little Em didn't make a peep thankfully. They slept through the night- no wake ups!! Sweet Emily roused around 6:20 the next morning...WAY to early for either. But, I tried to sneak in and snatch her out of the room without waking Caroline, but that failed. So both were up ready to go early.
Synopsis of day 1...success! Probably about a 70%score with the drama before bed and the early wake up.

Day 2- Emily took her morning nap alone in her new bed perfectly. Not a peep. Afternoon nap...another story. Both screamed for about 5 minutes,then Emily decided that she would act as if she was DYING and needed rescuing. I didn't know what to do...Caroline was exhausted, dying to sleep and Emily was screaming like a banshee. I finally went in, took Emily out of the room (which left CGH screaming) and thought about putting Emily back in her own crib...but they was reminded by my awesome husband that WE make the game plan, not them...they sleep when we want them to sleep...not when they feel like it...so I plopped Emily back in her new bed and after about 1 minute then they fell asleep and slept about 2 hours! Yahoo! Big success!! Bedtime- MUCH smoother transition into bed on OUR part (I got Caroline settled, story told, song sung, and snuggled up before Brad brought Em in to "drop her off" into bed. We both left quietly, and they went to bed...only a few murmurs from each- but no screams or tears. 80% score with the nap time drama. Caroline did wake up in the night, cried out for me, I came, comforted, and left. Emily stirred, but my serious prayers were answered as I begged God to let Emily fall back asleep. Oh to be God and hear a mother's prayers!! He was faithful though!! They slept the rest of the night- woke up at 7:15.

Day 3- IT WORKED!! While Caroline still woke Emily up, it was 7:15 and that was acceptable. Caroline always calls me when she wakes up "Mama! Mama!" Getting louder and louder until I arrive. This morning she added "Wake up Emily! Wake up Emily!" then when I still wasn't there..."Tessa! Tessa!" which must have been the magic word because that woke Emily up and by the time I got to Caroline, Emily was awake and ready to go. Nap time- perfect! Not a word from either, just shorter than normal since Em woke after only 1.5 hours. Bedtime- flawless!!! Laid them both down and had a peaceful exit. SUCCESS!!!

Mark #2 off the list!! My only issues really are them waking one another up...but I think that it will work itself out in time. Major stress being released now...glad its now at only 5 months pregnant rather than 8 months and completely and utterly DONE with everything. My girls are so precious and I am thrilled that they adjust fairly well and quickly to new routines in our house. They are such blessings and I know that they will begin to bless each other as sisters.

I have started making some "decor" plans/changes for what used to be Caroline's room to make it more of a shared room. I can work on that through the summer though. Emily's old nursery is starting to be pulled apart and reorganized for new baby girl. I ordered a new crib bumper for the bed and have some ideas in mind for her nursery decor. I will admit, major "nesting" has set in and I am in a cleaning, organizing, purging mode. Which means lots of messes as I try to clean up...does that even make sense?? These months, weeks, and days are flying by faster than I thought possible. Hold on to your seats Hobbletts...Baby girl #3 will make her debut before we know it!! We can't wait!!

Wondering what #3 is on my list??
Getting Caroline jump on the Potty train. Should be easy, right??

Brides to be

2011-05-31T17:10:00.001-05:00

We had a fun play date at Mary Ellen's house this morning. Caroline LOVED dressing up and declared herself a bride!! I asked who she marrying and she said Uncle Ben...a handsome choice if you ask me;)

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There was an old lady

2011-05-31T16:20:00.001-05:00

Who lived in a shoe....
You know the rest:)

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CHEESE!!

2011-05-28T17:29:00.001-05:00

Emily knows how to smile for the camera now;)

-

Milledgeville fun!

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A few wedding pics

2011-05-28T13:01:00.001-05:00

A few sweet friends of ours have already gotten on the ball and put up some pictures from Anthony and Ashley's wedding while we were back home. I stole these from their blogs...the real pics will come soon!

-CGH didn't like having to sit out "the first dance" but she needed a breather I think:)

The whole crew- Ben, Sarah, our precious friends Justin and Maggie, our hot and sweaty crew of dancers:) Little love #3 was even making her debut in my "tighter than expected" dress that night.

More to come... Thanks friends for these pics!
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1st Haircut

2011-05-28T12:49:00.001-05:00

Well it finally happened...and you cannot even tell much of a difference! Caroline (2 1/2) got her very first hair cut yesterday at Pigtails and Crewcuts. We just trimmed up the back and attempted to eliminate any resemblance to a mullet. CGH added that word to her vocabulary by the way...only in the south!
She did fantastic ( with a lollipop to keep her occupied) I am so in love with my girls curly redheads it's nuts. I think since it is curly it will hopefully mean less maintenance?? Who knows:) we came home with a single red curl in a bag to save in her keepsake box. One day soon Emily will need her first cut- she has a lot more hair than big sis:)

Before the haircut we have been sporting this "do" a lot to keep her hair under control...doesn't she look so tall and grown up?? Beautiful!

Pigtails and Crewcuts
She chose a taxi to sit in:)

Emily sat sweetly next to her in the airplane...sorry a bit blurry.

Very serious...

-the AFTER

Yes, i realize you may not be able to tell...but i can:) she was proud and...it killed time yesterday afternoon!!

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Random

2011-05-24T21:03:00.001-05:00

We are back from a fabulous trip to GA and slowly getting settled back in. Wanted to share a few randoms from the past few days-

Meet the newest addition to our family- Dr. Tippy and Cupcake. I can't help but giggle every single time I look at them because I love the fact that Cgh named them and picked out their clothes...priceless. Dr. Tippy is sporting scrubs just like daddy. Thanks Nana and Papa for their first of many Buildabear experiences!

My little helpers were quietly playing in the kitchen for approximately 30 seconds....they work fast. My mind can only imagine what their little hands will get into when new baby is here and they have more 'spare' time on their hands:)

And just a random adorable picture of my sweetie eating powdered donuts...check out those dimples!!! She is such a silly girl- I am loving every second with her these days!

Little is getting so big!! Pretty soon she will be chatting up a storm with Big...she melts my heart!

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Mac Town

2011-05-20T10:16:00.001-05:00

We have really enjoyed the past few days at Ben and Sarah's...
Nana made lasagna

Aunt Sarah made CGH hot chocolate...

They sat on the 4 wheeler...no riding, but enjoyed pretending

Max and Barney made their week...

Lunch with old friends...

Playtime!!

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Location:Macon, GA

We Love Cousin Time!!

2011-05-16T14:46:00.001-05:00

We have had a blast with our family in Rome so far...a few pictures from our trip so far:)

Cracker Barrel stop

Breakfast at Grams...

Fun at Kangaroo Jakes...

A trip to Barnes and Noble...

And most fun of all- cousin time with Charlie!!!

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Location:Rome, GA

Sugar and Spice

2011-05-13T12:48:00.000-05:00

We are thrilled to find out that our third sweet little addition to our family will be another GIRL!!! We are so excited and filled with joy and anticipation!! We found out at our doctors appointment yesterday and I've been smiling ever since! More to come on this later...
We are off to Georgia when Brad gets home this evening from work! We are going to drive a little tonight, rest, get up, visit our sweet friends the Spires in Nashville, head to Rome to see my family for a few nights, then end in Macon where we will see the Hobbs and Brad will be in a wedding. We can't wait and are eager to see all of our loved ones. Until we return...

1st swim of the season

2011-05-11T18:28:00.000-05:00

Our sweet friends invited us to play with them in their water wonderland this afternoon. Caroline loved watching "her boys" play on the slide and she enjoyed watching from the sidelines. The girls had a blast...and I loved seeing them in their swimsuits;)

LEGS is officially the cutest little swimmer I have ever seen! Check out those sweet thighs....couldn't you eat her up??

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Mothers Day

2011-05-08T14:16:00.001-05:00

This morning we snapped a few pictures before church. I am so blessed to be the mommy of my 2 precious girls...and new baby:) They have taught me so much in the past 2.5 years and I am so thankful for them. Happy Mothers Day to all the amazing mommies out there!!

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Mary Ellen is 3!

2011-05-07T13:46:00.001-05:00

We had fun celebrating our sweet friend Mary Ellen's 3rd birthday today. It was a fun Max and Ruby themed party with our first pin-the-tail on the bunny game, a piñata, and lots of great snacks. I am certain that Caroline was hiding her face with the witness protection program...I didn't capture ONE single picture of her head on.
Happy Birthday to sweet Mary Ellen!! We can't believe she is all grown up- 3!! What a fun party:)

-

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CGH

2011-05-06T13:57:00.001-05:00

Oh my goodness...when did she grow up?? Watch out world (aka BOYS) the most gorgeous 2 year old red head is on the loose:)
Caroline adores her sweet friend David and got to spend some time with him at the park yesterday. Pretty sure some deep convo was shared between the two.

Yes, she put the outfit and shoes together:)

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Livestock Education

2011-05-06T13:52:00.001-05:00

I took the girls to the fairgrounds this morning to see some animals...we saw cows, sheep, and goats. Caroline was in heaven- and Emily seemed fascinated as well.

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CFA

2011-05-06T13:48:00.001-05:00

Our 2nd home...Chick fil a!!

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Emily

2011-04-25T10:00:00.003-05:00

Emily is really growing and changing like crazy these days. She is walking all over the place...the cutest thing in the world to watch. Which also means she is in to everything! She loves to say "mama" now but doesn't quite realize that I am the "mama" she is referring to. She has also started to show an extremely fierce "MINE!!" by growling like a tiger if by chance anything is taken from her at anytime. She is very possessive of her toys, books, or snack. She also has realized that when big sister has a snack, it is ONLY fair for her to enjoy the same thing. She has really enjoyed books for awhile now, but she REALLY loves reading! She will go from the living room, to Caroline's bookshelf, to her book baskets, and spend a lot of time looking at her literature. Of course, I think she is solely looking to find Elmo in each and every book, but either way, she is turning pages and enjoying books just like her sister did. A good sign! She is so smiley and happy natured- will give you a giggle anytime of day. She has started trying to "sing" with music or with us when we are singing. It's precious. A lot earlier than Caroline (which her singing is cause enough for a whole blog entry:). She loves using a spoon and I don't mind letting her enjoy the novelty of it...even if it is a bit messy. :)

Big Girl Bed!!

2011-04-25T09:53:00.002-05:00

Gram helped us get ready for Caroline's transition into her big girl bed! First night- total disaster. She was so excited, she couldn't settle or fall asleep. We wrestled back and forth for 3 hours, then I finally put her back in her crib...which broke her heart. BUT...the next day, she slept in it for her nap perfectly! Then she had a successful night of sleep in it last night. SO...wish us luck. She has not gotten out of the bed yet on her own, she still calls for me. Which is good. But how long will it take for our genius to figure it out...probably not long. However, there is no going back. We are full speed ahead. Transition #1-check!

Gram came to town!

2011-04-25T09:39:00.002-05:00

My mom came to visit us last week and we had a whole week to enjoy having Gram around. The girls were in heaven! We had lots of fun- a trip to the zoo, a few shopping trips, lots of yummy meals, and some quality time spent here at the house. She got to experience our Arkansas spring weather with tornado sirens, bad storms, and a few hours without power. The storms were so bad that we actually woke the girls and took them across the street to our tiny little police department "jail". Always and adventure when hiding from tornadoes! Regardless, we had a blast and look forward to our trip home to GA in May. Thanks for coming Mom!

Please enjoy these pictures...especially of CGH...you can laugh. I do...those sun "goggles" are a must for her wardrobe...and her hair usually compliments it perfectly. :) I love my 2 year old!

Ironic? Maybe...

2011-04-14T19:38:00.002-05:00

But my beloved Iphone I wrote about last post that kept me SO occupied...it took a bath tonight and is on the skitz. Boo! Forgive me if I am out of touch (with reality as well) with you these next few days. :(

Ramble Ramble

2011-04-14T12:39:00.005-05:00

I was so excited the day Brad brought me home an Iphone- I finally joined the ranks of the "tech" savvy phone elite. It is amazing...so amazing that it has stolen all the glory from our good 'ol faithful laptop. Which has lead me to this revelation- I am not blogging or taking as many "real"pictures because I am using the phone. I don't even have to check my email on the computer anymore, so I really never open my old friend. I can send pics, videos and so much more at such ease that our family and friends are getting the videos and pics that way instead of the blog. So I apologize to my blog friends...attempting to make a better plan. Any thoughts on uploading iphone pics to the blog?

The girls have been going full speed ahead and we are loving the spring weather. We have been busy with fun play dates here at our house each Tuesday, Thursday Bible study, and all sorts of fun in between. Its amazing how fast these days/weeks/months are flying! It seems like someone has flipped the "fast forward" button on us without our permission. Some fun news on the girls-

Emily is walking- well, has figured out she can! She finally decided Tuesday night, at 13 months to give it a go. She was chasing around a beach ball in the living room and all of a sudden took 5-6 steps like there was nothing to it! She continued through out the evening and we all celebrated and watched her go at it when daddy got home. We cheer and clap and praise her like she is winning a world medal. She EATS IT UP! She smiles, giggles, and laughs along with us. She still reverts to crawling most the time, but with coaching, she loves to try to walk. SO ready for it...I think. Watch out world. The 3 Hobbs girls are now up and moving!

Emily started saying "uh oh" with her sweet sweet little voice. She does it appropriately when something falls or drops. She babbles all the time and will give us mama, dada but that's about all as far as the words go. She has designated sounds that mean- I want something, pick me up, I'm tired, etc. But any day. She signs "all done" and "more please" sometimes, but usually baa's like a little goat. Sweetness.

She adores her sister- not new news- but their playing has become so much more interactive. Laughing, giggling, dancing, playing with a ball, tickling, has all become a "team" event. I love it. Caroline LOVES to play with her and screams "I TEACH SISSY THAT!!" and is so proud when Emily does something new. She is such a cheerleader...I love it.

Which leads me to our sweet almost 2 1/2 year old....
Miss Caroline is such a blessing. She is so busy and inquisitive that our days are NEVER dull. She has officially hit the "chatty" stage and my ears are usually about to fall off at the end of each day. (What will I do when Emily starts??) Caroline is SO smart that it blows my mind the conversations we have...but also a bit draining. She asks these questions about 245,678 times a day-
"What's your name?"
"What kind?"
"What color?"
"Where is it?"
And please know for future reference that generalized answers do not cut it. She wants specifics. Everyone who walks by, dogs, cats...they all must have a name. She needs name brands, real colors (like aquamarine, topaz, you know, the fun names), specific locations. She won't settle until she has a concrete understanding of the thoughts at hand. She develops such an amazing schema and connects ideas that I would never expect her to. Lots of fun to watch and see...a bit tiring like I said. She also has no fear of strangers which leads us to meet a lot of new people. I know that my "embarrassing moments" as a mother are only beginning, but at Kroger the other day she approached our cashier in her extremely "up close and personal" way (literally as CLOSE as she can get to your face/eyes) and asked her "What kind of hair?" This particular cashier was the sweetest, most congenial, wonderful African American mommy of 5....so thankfully she had a great answer for her....something like corkscrew rows....anyway, Caroline soaked it in and I could tell was dying to explore it even more. Thankfully, we dropped it at that. Oh what fun we will have with her intriguing mind at work.

Caroline asks where Emily is each morning when she wakes, and usually after each nap if I do not already have Emily with me. She told me the other morning that "Emily is my best friend" out of the clear blue. It melted me. I hope and pray the girls will truly be best friends for life. And again, she loves to say that she "taught" sis how to do everything. So sweet.

As a parent, my biggest fear, challenge, and hope for my life is to be a walking, talking, Godly example for my children. I have attempted to start ingraining the Truth into their lives in every way possible. I want Jesus to be part of our everyday conversation. I want them to know how much God loves them and is their friend. I had such a proud mommy moment the other evening when this conversation occurred:
Me:Let's talk about something!What should we talk about?
Cgh-Jesus!!
Me-Great idea!! Let's talk about Jesus. What do you know about Jesus?
Cgh- Jesus loves ME! Jesus loves YOU!
Me- Ahh!! That's right! What else do you know about Jesus?
Cgh- He live in my heart!
Me- Ahh!! Yes, that's right! He wants to live in your heart one day! What else??
Cgh-He die on cross (this is a new one...with Easter coming up, so I didn't think she had processed it yet.)
Me- Yes! That's right! ....and I proceeded to tell her about how He is Alive now and so on and so on. Thank you LORD for these moments...where my effort and prayers at least give me a glimpse of the fact that my sweet little one's are learning who He is. I know this is so very elementary, but she is only 2 and already starting to gather her knowledge of her Savior- I love it!

Which leads me to 2 more sweet stories...there have been several times where Caroline will out of her care and concern look at me and say, "I pray for you" . I asked her, "Who says that?" And she answered, "Daddy say I pray for you". Which made me happy that she associated her daddy with praying for people.

A more comical use of "I pray for you mama" came at bath time the other night when the girls were splashing and dumping water everywhere...I lost my temper a bit and raised my voice. After a second, I apologized to her for raising my voice, and asked her to forgive me. Which she said, yes of course. Then a few seconds later she says, "I pray for you mama. Dear Jesus, mama, dada, amen." Basically- she thought I needed prayed for after my outburst...which was probably right on target. It made me giggle. But once again, such proof of her BIG heart and sincerity.

Today she told me new baby was a boy, and that it had on a blue shirt, blue pants, and blue shoes. And we would put a blue passy in his mouth. New baby is always on the forefront of her mind and at random moments she needs to check and make sure my tummy is still there. Not much fun when you feel like the Pillsbury dough girl, but I don't mind. OH the stories go on and on. I wish you could all walk a day or two in our lives and share the pure JOY and excitement they bring to my life!

On a totally different note- Brad is celebrating being done with a big presentation that he presented to all his faculty, coworkers, and bigwigs this past Tuesday. He stressed majorly over it but did an amazing job. He received several kind emails from his faculty that complemented his hard work- THANKFULLY! We have all been stressed and craving some daddy-time. This is his first weekend off in what seems like eternity. Hopefully he can rest some and find some rejuvenation.

I am trucking along doing the same old thing. I am super thrilled that tomorrow night I get to go see Beth Moore LIVE here at Verizon arena. She and Travis Cottrell are here for 2 nights and my sweet friend rounded me up 2 tickets at no cost. I am OVERLY confident that God has some amazing things to show me this weekend and I am so excited! I am a HUGE fan of Beth's. I have done several of her Bible studies and look forward to leading our own Bible study in one of her studies this next fall.

My mom is coming to town on Saturday to spend the week with us! She is on spring break, or some other kind of break, and I have been counting the days until her arrival. We can't wait to see her. Wish dad could come, but his schedule and hers didn't match up this time. Hopefully while she is here we will get Caroline's "big girl" bed and set it up. Big challenge, but we must face it! I think Grammy will be on nighttime duty to make sure she stays in it...lol...JK. I am praying she will do well with it. Laugh if you must, but she has crossed every other milestone effortlessly and I am hoping she does the same with this.

And my novel ends now. Sorry for rambling, but at least I documented a few fun things. More to come...next time I put my silly phone down.

BIG news!!

2011-04-05T12:40:00.004-05:00

We are so excited to announce to the world that we are expecting baby #3!! God has definatley gotten our attention as He has revealed His plan for our family in His own perfect timing. Little Love #3 was a surprise but a beautiful one that we can't stop smiling about. While our world will be rocked, yet again with 3 babies under the age of 3 for a short period of time...we are up for the challenge and thankful for the blessing of children.

"New Baby" is what we call it around the house and it seems that daily Caroline finds ways to incorporate it into our conversations. So that is what I will refer to it as. New baby is due October 26th. I am 11 weeks tomorrow. I have been terribly sick...3 days after our positive pregnancy test I had to call the doctor for a neausua prescription and have used Zofran when needed. I am happy to report that for the most part the neausea has tapered off and hopefully will not return! Being sick with 2 other little ones around is quite an event. On top of the pregnancy sick I have had an AWFUL cold/sinus headache issue going on that lead me to 2 different trips to the ER to make sure that everything was ok. March was truly a blur with me being so sick and out of comission. Thankfully, family and friends helped us through that tough spot and we are ready to get our feet back under us and running!

New baby will be 20 months apart from Emily, who is 15 months apart from Caroline. We are so excited about the closeness in their age...but also extrememly nervous about how the first few months/years will be with 3 babies in tow. BUT I love envisioning them as 3,4,5 year olds playing beautifully together outside while I paint my toenails in the sun and sip sweet tea while watching. LOL. Yes...I've already started dreaming. But I also look forward to seeing the bonds of siblinghood develop in these early years....if my memory will hold up to remember down the road. New baby is huge...well, new baby's mommy is huge. I popped out IMMEDIATELY, like 7 weeks!! 2 options here to believe: #1 it is a 3rd baby, that's just how it goes. #2 my tummy is just used to this baby thing and enjoys the open invitation to bulge. Either way, we had lots of people thinking twins were headed our way with our signs and symptoms being so strong. Either way, we would have survived (I think) but we are happy to report that just 1 baby was spotted at this doctors appointment.

The plan is to move the 2 girls into the same room and give Emily's room to new baby. We have an extra room...but we would like to keep it open for guests and still use it for the playroom/office/anything room. I love the idea of the girls being together- but a lot must happen before then. We have 6 1/2 months to accomplish quite a bit before new baby makes his/her debut: -Caroline needs to move to a "big girl" bed and learn how to sleep and STAY put -Emily will then transition into Caroline's crib -The art of sleeping will be introduced again to both girls- I guess they will share the same bedtime and just "talk it out" until someone falls asleep first?? Any tips are welcomed! -The biggy...Caroline must get pottytrained. I can't stomach or manage 3 in diapers. Nope. Can't do it. And probably can't afford it!!

So those are just he BIG milestones I see heading our way at a lightening speed pace. Prayers and notes of encouragement are always welcomed...lol.

Boy? Girl? We don't have a preference. We just want a healthy little one to add to the crew. A girl would be easy...we have all the clothes, experiences, know-how with little baby girls. A boy? Truly scares me a little bit. BUT I know Brad would love having a son...and of course I would too...but we have this "girl thing" down pretty well I think. Either way, we find out at our next appointment on May 23rd! Can't wait. Red hair??? How fun would that be...could it really happen a 3rd time? We'll see!

New baby is already loved and adored by its sisters. Caroline loves to talk about it- she always says it is a girl baby, and has named it "Allie". Whatever floats her boat for now. She actually recognized the baby in the ultrasound video and noted it was naked. She asked if it was taking a bath. Then she asked if it was born. Which makes sense...mommy went to the doctor and came back with pictures and video of the new baby...it must be hiding out at the doctors office. But at the same time, she knows it is in my tummy growing to be a big baby. Either way, I love seeing her excitement. Emily has waved to the new baby on the dvd. That's about the extent of their relationship now. ;)

We are so in love with new baby already, and the ultrasound and pictures just cemented that love even more. Although the Lord is growing our family at a rapid pace, unlike a lot of traditional families, and a little different that what we had roadmapped for our family on the map of life, we are so excited and wouldn't change a thing. We know that the Lord equipped us and will continue eqquipping us with ALL we need at each moment of each day. We are so thankful that we are not in the control of this master plan...but that we can REST in the hands of the One who is.

Emily's 1st Birthday!!

2011-04-05T12:20:00.006-05:00

Better late than never!

Here are some pictures from our favorite 2nd little loves birthday party. Couldn't you just EAT her up?? It doesn't get any cuter than this! Granted she was not feeling well that day, it was still a wonderful celebration with family and friends.

Precious faces

2011-03-09T13:04:00.001-06:00

Here are some videos of the sweet peas this past 2 weeks. Nothing totally thrilling, but anything with them in it is blog worthy. :)

Still waiting on birthday pics. I will post them when I get them. :)

Next time, just leave the dirty diapers inside

2011-03-05T14:06:00.003-06:00

Yesterday morning went down in the books and I had to write about it to remember the sheer JOY of our days during this season of our lives. :)

The day started WAY to early...both girls woke up around 6:30. What?? What happened to my sweet little angels that sleep in until 8:00? Those days are gone. :( So we started early and were all a bit tired by, oh, 8:00 a.m. By 8:30 we had already gone through several rounds of diaper changes and I had bagged the "bad" ones up and decided to take a trip out the front door to dispose of them in the big garbage can. I have done this a million times and have never even thought about the possibility of....
getting locked outside of my house. With my girls inside the house.
But, it happened. :) We have a new storm door that has a new "fun" knob on it that is in perfect reach for Caroline to twist. And twist she did. She thought it was great. I stood on the front door, looking through the glass, encouraging her to keep twisting the knob to get it unlocked. Unfortunately her skills only worked turning it one direction, and she couldn't get it to unlock. So panic set in about the same time that sweet Emily realized mommy was on the OTHER side of the door, just starring at the them. She began to cry and Caroline just starred and looked at me. What to do??? Thankfully the Lord had His eye on this situation and within 3 minutes our amazing police drove by and I flagged him down without hesitation. He pulled into our driveway, I introduced myself- this was a new policeman, we know the other 2 very well- and explained the situation. He grabbed a screwdriver from his car and hastily unscrewed the door frame while Emily hurried him on with her wails. He pryed it open enough and was able to stick his hand in to twist the knob unlocked. Oh me. It could have been so much worse...but I won't let my mind wander in that direction. I know most parents get locked out at some point in their career...this was just our first, and I am almost positive that it will happen again. I suppose I need to quickly find ways to hide keys somewhere for me to use in these situations.
So about 15 minutes later or friends, Rachel, Mary Ellen, and Charlotte arrive for a morning playdate. We had fun catching up and playing. While Caroline and Mary Ellen were playing in Caroline's room, I heard a wild, extremely giddy laugh come from my sweet firstborn. Mary Ellen stepped into the living room with the look of "ummmm...you may want to come check this out" on her face. I jumped up and discovered that Caroline was having a fabulous time emptying her entire 5 drawer dresser...by flinging the clothes all over her bedroom floor. It was a mess...and I quickly refilled the drawers and just decided that it was time to reorganize/switch seasons of clothes anyway.
I made a bad call and thought it was warm enough to take the kids outside to play in the new sand and water table that we have set up in the front yard...and it was too cold. I should have stopped them before we even made it to the table, but again, my bad. So we let them play for about 5 minutes until we knew the wind was to cold to be pouring water all over themselves. So we said, "Time to go inside!" knowing that yesterday Caroline spent probably over and hour playing happily at her table. So the tantrum started...on the wet, muddy, front yard. Mary Ellen sweetly walked inside with her mommy and little sister, while Caroline threw down, laid out, bumped her head on the ground and donkey kicked me in the gut as I wrangled her inside. Yes, she is a spirited little one. And I love it....most days.:) Quickly she calmed down once inside and moved on to the next item of business.
A few minutes later Caroline was demanding a snack...big surprise. I filled her "snack bowl" with many different options so she would be happy and hopefully continue playing with Mary Ellen. I really am not sure what initiated this, but she looked me in the eyes, and dumped her entire bowl of chex mix, cookies, and animal crackers onto the kitchen floor. REALLY?? What possessed you??
So it was only 11:00 and our playdate was winding down due to tired girls. We said our goodbyes and I put the girls in their highchairs, shoveled out a quick lunch, and put them in their beds for naps in a record time. What a long morning...and we still had the entire afternoon to go. Never a dull moment in motherhood. And I have a feeling that there are going to be MANY more fun mornings like this as toddlerhood continues...with yet another sweet toddler developing right behind Caroline's footsteps.

p.s. The night before this fun day I had given the girls dinner and they were playing in the living room as usual while I straightened up the kitchen before bath time. I got a little carried away and thought I had enough time to empty the dishwasher and reload it...really? I should know better than that! Caroline ran in and grabbed a Tupperware water pitcher and ran back into the living room- no big deal, they always play with those dishes. I realized it was too quiet for them to be in the living room, threw my towel down, and quickly discovered some fun toilet turmoil happening. Emily had crawled into Caroline's little training potty (it was FAIRLY clean...), Caroline was dipping toilet water out of the big toilet and pouring it onto the toilet seat, that had already been sprayed with our contact solution (her favorite bathroom toy). The whole roll of toilet paper had been unravelled on the floor and Emily had a few sheets stuck to her in random spots. Luckily, it was bath time, so into the bath they went, after a FIRM (one-sided) discussion about how we do not play in the potty. Wow. Fun times for all. Come visit at your own risk....

I love my crazy, hectic, surprising days with my girls. We don't have it all together all the time, but that's the beauty fashion of motherhood.

p.s.s. Emily has been sick the past week, Brad was sick with a stomach bug one day, and things have just been in "recovery mode" at our house this past week. Sorry for the lack of pictures, blogging and interesting stories. Soon...I promise.

Happy Birthday Emily!

2011-02-25T12:51:00.005-06:00

(I wrote this blog several days ago...so it's kind of past tense...more on the big birthday weekend soon!)

It is not a joke how fast time starts to fly when you a) are having fun b) raising kids c) are getting older! Our sweet little Emily Anne turns one this weekend. Our world was brightened the day she became part of our family. Words cannot express the love a parent has for a child...she truly brings us so much joy. The sound of her sweet high pitched voice, the sweet snuggle of her hugs, her contentment, her awe of Caroline, these are all things that make our heart so fond of her. We have enjoyed the past year, but know how much fun and excitement the year ahead holds for her...and for us.

We have had a whole week of celebrating her birthday since we've been in Georgia. Most of the Hobbs side of the family came to visit and wish her a Happy Birthday while we have been here in Milledgeville. We are looking forward to her "real" birthday party in Atlanta tomorrow with some more family and friends, and then we will celebrate once again when we get back to Little Rock with our playgroup friends. She is DEFINITELY worth the celebrating! Emily is clueless about the celebration, but Caroline is very aware that it is her sissy's birthday. Her only request...is that we have party hats. That, I can handle. :)

Here is a snapshot of what adorable little Emily is like at one:

-She is very calm and content playing on her own, or with others.

-She is a very fast crawler...speedy quick!

-She loves to walk along furniture, but is hesitant to let go. She will stand for a few seconds, but quickly goes down to the floor to crawl. We think in the next month she'll start her walking career...I can't wait!

-She loves to snuggle. She will snuggle when she's tired, snuggle when she first wakes up, snuggle when she wants to giggle, oh, it's so good. She actually stays still long enough to soak up hugs and kisses...unlike another little toddler of ours!

-She sleeps from 7-7- sometimes a little later.

-She officially stopped nursing 1 week before her birthday. We were down to one morning feed, and it was more mommy that was hanging on to it than baby, so we ended that when we started our journey to Georgia.

-She drinks milk and apple juice from sippy cups like a pro.

-She LOVES to eat and enjoys all types of food- favorites include banana, oranges, Cinnamon waffles, chicken, green beans, and really....anything. She doesn't turn her nose up at much.

-She will babble/sing with the sweetest high voice that will melt you. Baabaadaaaadaaagaaaa with lots of inflections. No "words" yet, but soon. We thought she had started saying "mama" and "elmo" but she doesn't really do it anymore.

-She takes 2 naps- one in the morning, one in the afternoon at the same time as Caroline. Anywhere from 1-1 1/2 hours each.

-She loves wheels and anything that spins. She will turn toys upside down and find the wheels and play with those instead of the actual toy.

-She has 9 teeth....and is probably working on more. Teething is no fun, but hopefully we are past the worst part?? Yeah right. 8 front bottom and top, and 1 back molar!

-She has developed a bond with her "lovey"- a pink and brown little blanket with tags all around it. She snuggles to it each time we lay her down to sleep. She also sleeps with a tiny Corduroy teddy bear and a few passy's in her crib. I am starting to put a blanket in too in case she wants to cover up. :)

-She literally "dives" for her bed when she is tired- no rocking, holding, etc. once the lights go out. She wants put down into her crib. Easy as pie!

-She loves to climb up stairs, swing, and ride in her little car.

-She likes watching Baby Einstein and anything else big sister has on.

-She loves to dance...music on equals a dancing baby.

-People comment on her red hair and the curls in the back. People always mention her chubby little legs (that have actually really thinned out) and her precious little nose.

-She is wearing size 12-18 months

-Size 4 diapers...probably could go to a 5. But that would put both girls in the same size :)

-She uses a passy but usually is fine without one until she gets fussy or tired.

-75% in height, weight, and head (30 inches long, 22.8 lbs, 18 head)

Emily, you are amazing. We love you more and more each day. We were so blessed when you came into our world and we cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for you and our family in the years to come!

We made it!

2011-02-21T14:25:00.002-06:00

The girls and I left Little Rock Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. and arrived in Rome that evening betwee 8 and 8:30 p.m. The 8 hour trip multiplied to about 11.5 hours, but I cannot say I was suprised. The girls were amazing. No big fiasco's to tell of...excpet I am pretty sure that to be considered a "fiasco" in my books has to be something pretty BIG. Thankfully, with all of your prayers and thoughts....we made it! Caroline asked the ENTIRE day long when we were getting to Grammy's. It was really tough trying to explain to a 2 year old how you just have to keep driving and driving and driving. I felt bad as I would say, "We're almost there!" every hour that passed by...eventually thinking, she will never believe me! But we got here and they have been in heaven since! We are loving on cousin Charlie and Aunt Cara, Andrew and his girlfriend arrive tonight, and of course, Grandpa and Grammy. It has been too long since we've been here. Hopefully these days will last a long long time until the next journey to Georgia. We head to Milledgeville on Wednesday...we'll so how long we can make a 2.5 hour trip last :)

In case you missed us...

2011-02-16T14:25:00.002-06:00

We are gearing up and packing up to get ready for our journey to Georgia! This past week has not really had any major happenings...just taking it easy and enjoying the nice weather outside. The girls and I leave on Sunday to spend a week with grandparents- in Rome, in Milledgeville, then at my sisters house in Atlanta to celebrate Emily's 1st birthday!! I have taken several deep breaths this week realizing my baby is not my baby anymore. Crazy to think she is already one. My how time flies! I have not been very motivated to blog lately...but hopefully these pictures will suffice.

Last Saturday Brad came home from being on call and declared that it was "Zoo Time!" So we ventured to the zoo and let our little monkeis run wild. They both loved it. Most the animals were hiding because of the deep freeze from the previous week, but we saw a few. Caroline's FAVORITE was a macaw bird. It said "hello" and "hi" and was the favorite. She is still talking about it. I think I called it a Toucan...lol...and Caroline said, " No mommy, macaw bird." Thanks baby Einstein. Way to make me look smart. ;)

Snow Cream!

2011-02-10T12:23:00.003-06:00

We were excited to have Brad home early yesterday (NOBODY was showing up at clinic, so they all got to leave work around 2!) Of course the first thing he wanted to do was take the girls out in the snow...and I didn't object! We were bored out of our minds. It took approximately 30 minutes to get them all "suited up" and our play outside lasted about 10 minutes...but they had fun. And we tried to make snow cream. It was fun, a little to sweet, and hyped the girls up for the rest of our snowed-in evening. PERFECT.
Recipe we used:
8 cups snow
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar (may try a little less...3/4 cup)
2 teaspoons vanilla.
Mix it all together and enjoy!

Here are some pics from our snowy day.

Tough Cookie

2011-02-08T13:57:00.004-06:00

Emily is an allstar. She gets major props for putting up with A LOT from her big sister. She is usually such a good sport and usually enjoys all of Caroline's shananagins. But, last night was a bit much.

Scene 1: Emily was sitting sweetly playing in their play kitchen and came upon the realization that when she bangs her metal pot on the floor, it makes a wonderful loud noise. She and I giggle and play with it for awhile.

Big sister enters the scene. I get up to empty dishwasher while they are occupied, "playing with each other".

After a few too many bangs on the floor something new is discovered. Caroline proceeds to BANG BANG BANG (about 4 times) the metal pot on Emily's HEAD. Tears. Poor sweet thing...Emily you are such a champ. Crying only lasted a few seconds and you she was happy again.

Scene 2...about 1 hour later: After I bathed the girls they were running naked through the house and finally made it to Emily's room where I get them both diapered and pj'd for the night. Caroline starts to play wrestle with Em, all smiles and giggles. Caroline learns to blow "rasberries" or "zerberts" on Emily's naked little self. Still giggles. I leave the room to grab a pair of pj's for Caroline, and I hear SMACK SMACK SMACK (about 5 smacks this time) and return to find out that Caroline was spanking Emily's bottom!! She recovered quickly, but BLESS her little heart.

Dilema:

Do you comfort the hurting child 1st or discipline the unruly toddler 1st?? I need two bodies at these precise moments.

Caroline was not being ugly or mean in either situations, she is just REALLY exploring this hitting thing. Let's pray this stage passes sooner than later!

A few random pictures from our week. The girls are waking up at different times in the morning- Emily around 7 and Caroline around 8. This works well so that I get some "alone" time with Emily and we can snuggle without any interruptions....not that we have ANY interruptions usually. LOL. Since I don't want to wake the other (while Caroline is still sleeping, or when Emily goes back down for 1st nap) I have been giving the girls their breakfast in the living room. So that is why these pics are of the girls eating in the living room. Truly, the only pics I have taken this week. Sorry. Will try to do better. :)

Emily exploring the "Breakfast of Champions" she sees her mommy drink each morning. No, she didn't have the cap off. Promise.

Helping with the trash maintenence.

We made a snowman puppet on Monday when we had a light snow. She tore off all of it's accesories by noon, but we still had fun with Frosty.

We are bracing ourselves for a BIG snow tomorrow...may get up to 9 inches!!! I am totally over the snow. Being cooped up inside is not so much fun. But we will survive. It is supposed to get nice and warm over the weekend, so hopefully it will melt our blizzard snow away in no time.

I am starting to get REALLY excited about our trip to Georgia! Only a week and a half until I take the girls back home for a week visit with grandparents and then a big celebration in Atlanta for Emily's first birthday. I am SO excited. No, really. I am SO excited. Should I say it again? Nah. :) Brad will fly in the day of Emily's bday party and then drive back to Little Rock with us on Sunday.

And finally, a video of one of the girls' wrestling matches. They L-O-V-E to get in each others cribs after naps and will play forever! No one has gotten hurt yet, but as you can see in this video, it gets a little rough! Caroline body slams Em at the end...hilarious.

Funny and more Christmas

2011-02-03T14:05:00.007-06:00

As I was working on uploading these videos Emily woke up from her nap and decided she would steal her sisters poptart. She devoured the whole thing much faster than you or I probably could. Is that bad?? She is so precious...who could take the poptart away from this face?

Here are a bunch of random pictures from our past week.

Christmas is still in full swing at our house...and I kinda like it. Caroline has named one of her baby's "Baby Jesus". Baby Jesus and Caroline are tight. They do EVERYTHING together. One night before bed Caroline set up her own nativity scene. She had Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and the wise men. She loves to sing Away in a Manger and will scream the lyrics at any point during out day. It's simply precious. And really funny. But I love hearing her walk around the house saying, "Caroline love Jesus." What more could I ask for??
This past weekend was BEAUTIFUL! High 60's meant lots of time spent outside. We greeted daddy outside on Saturday morning as he got off work.

Good pose Caroline.

They weren't feeling the picture taking, so I gave up.

We went to the Wonderplace one day and had a first...we took our lunch. Caroline was SO excited about her lunchbox. She wanted to eat right when we got there. We managed to stick it out until about 11. She was in heaven...which made me in heaven. This picture doesn't really portray her excitement, but I was trying to keep Emily from throwing her oranges all over the floor, so picture taking wasn't first priority.

A little puzzle action.

Emily reading books.

Another attempt at a photo shoot...but we both gave up. I just don't have the stamina to get a good picture. A few cute candid one's of Caroline though... Emily was napping.

And here is where some more fun began. Caroline dug out this old Santa outfit (size 9-12 months) and was dead set on wearing it. Oh, I laughed hard. Maybe you will too. We had to let little sis in on the fun. She wasn't as crazy about it. I promise...I did not initiate the dress up in the "tiny santa suit". See video for full outfit commentary by Caroline.

Emily showing some of her walking skills....she is getting closer! She still is really wobbly and doesn't like to stand on her own, but uses the walking toys. She can crawl up steps now. She is one fast little goose.

Interview with Santa....sorry it is sideways.

Nativity explanation...

Emily singing on the microphone...sorry so dark- the lights were off as we were getting "settled" down before bed. She loves talking or giggling into the mircrophone. So precious and so silly...because she is rather quiet most the time unless that toy is around. :)

Emily dancing...a little dancing with The Wiggles before bedtime always calms me down. Again- sorry if you get a stiff neck watching.

Do they know??

2011-02-03T13:43:00.002-06:00

This is for all the other moms out there reading. I have found myself pondering a thought over and over again as I go out in public these days. Yesterday as I ran a few errands by myself (Lou was watching the girls) I naturally felt "empty handed." Then the thought crossed my mind again...
"Do random people that I come into contact with know that I am a mom?"

For some reason this thought is so interesting to me and double sided with many different feelings.
Before I go into those feelings...I gut response is this:
I have MOM stamped all over my forehead.
-could be the big minivan I drive.
-could be the tired rings around my eyes.
-could be my unwashed, greasy hair that accompanies the rings around my eyes.
-could be my ancient wardrobe...or the old jeans and sweatshirt that are just "more comfortable" than real clothes.
-could be my muffin top in all my pants. (Look it up if you don't know what that is.)
-could be the diaper, goldfish, and passy that fall out of my purse as I check out anywhere.
-could be the constant glance at my phone to see what time it is and watch my minutes of "away-dom" commence.
-could be that I am usually found in the toy or baby section of every store I enter.
-could be that I want to engage EVERYONE I meet in conversation about my 2 girls if at all possible. I WILL find a way to bring up my little loves.
-could be that I completely ignore other screaming, fit pitching children out in public...like I don't even hear it.
It could be many many many more things. But those were the first obvious ones that hit me.

Brad and I used to talk about how "old" or "young" we looked. We thought it would be neat to ask complete strangers how old they thought we were. We may have done this several times while we were dating. There is something fun about finding out what the public thinks or assumes about you. Well, this is the thought process that I am having about if people know I have children.

Now here is where the different feelings set in. I am so HAPPY that I am a mommy. I love it. I love my sweet girls, I love my mission in life- to be their mommy right now. But there is a tad bit of reminiscing that makes me look back at a time in my life when I was "put together" a bit more. You know, make-up done, hair brushed...maybe even CURLED, new outfits, maybe even a new pair of shoes. A bit on the "slimmer" side, not so tired, accessorized, and able to enjoy shopping for myself, or even for Brad.

I think that a lot of this thought process also has to do with my age. I am starting to feel a little....OLD. Yes, I said it. And all those older will say, you are not old. But bear with me...it's as old as I've ever been.:) I think the wonder about if people "know" I'm a mom may also go along side with my wonder if I can or could pass as a younger woman...such a weird thought. Why do I care if I can look or appear young? Anyway, just an interesting thought process of this tired mommy's life.

Truth is...I'm SO happy that I am a mom. I would wear a T-shirt with their pictures on it each and every time I went out without them (especially since that would mean I didn't have to come up with any other outfit). They are ME. And I am so blessed. Who cares if I don't have gorgeous make up or new shoes. I have 2 little red heads that keep me young.

Have you ever wondered if they know?? Probably not. But now you will. :)

Scripture

2011-01-31T17:47:00.003-06:00

Quick post for the grandparents...and anyone else that hopes for new happenings! :)

Each night during dinner Caroline and I work on a new Bible Verse. My sweet friend, Laura, gave us a little set of Children's Scripture Memory cards. We have been pulling them out and attempting to memorize them. Caroline shocked me tonight when I said, not expecting her to remember, "What is our Bible verse?" and she said "Children obey your parents!"

Such a great time with her...and her little spirit shows itself in the videos below. I promise that I don't ADAMANTLY make her stress the words of the verse like she does in the 2nd video...but hopefully she is getting the gist of the verse! :)

800 Days

2011-01-29T09:51:00.002-06:00

Last night I heard the words that I have waited to hear reciprocated for the past 800 days (exactly...I counted!). Last night we were cuddled up with blankets on the living room floor and I was reading a stack of books to her before bedtime. Then out of the clear blue...I melted when I heard my sweet Caroline say....

"Caroline love Mommy"

She said it twice. Then gave me a big kiss on my lips. Precious moments I don't ever want to forget. For the 800 million times I have whispered that to her...just that one time made my heart leap!

Thank you Lord for blessing me with my daughters.

11 months!

2011-01-27T21:28:00.001-06:00

Happy 11 months Emily!! I simply CANNOT believe

that next month you will be O-N-E.

Firsts

2011-01-27T20:27:00.007-06:00

Last weekend our family had a few new firsts.
#1
Brad, Niki, and I climbed Pinnacle Mountain. It was beautiful...and a bit more of a hike than either Niki or I envisioned. It was a lot of fun and I am glad that we can check that off of our "to do in Little Rock" list. Hopefully we will get to do it again. Deb kept the girls at the park down below while we had our fun.

Caroline has really enjoyed playing with her new teapot set that she got for Christmas. When she woke up from her nap I decided we would have a REAL tea party. I really didn't have enough time to set it up like I normally would, but we improvised, threw a pink boa on Caroline and had warm tea, yummy tea cakes, and fun times around the table. There are MANY more of these parties to be had with me and my 2 girls...I love tea parties!

We got to see a totally different "side" of Caroline this weekend at Chick fil a. Ummm...she basically assaulted her first baby. Yes. I said assaulted. So here is the way the story went:

Deb, Nik, Emily, Caroline and I were playing in the play area and were getting ready to leave. Caroline started adamantly demanding to get out of the room, screaming "BABY! BABY!" As I was trying to get Em's shoes and coat on, I held on to Caroline like a wild horse as she continued to fight to get herself out the door. I assumed that she was calling for the "baby" we had met earlier while we were eating...not so much. I was not prepared for what was about to happen, and I know my story is not doing the situation justice. But, I opened the door, Emily in my arms, Caroline running out in front of me. Well there was a nice family of 4 sitting immediately outside of the playroom- with a baby boy, a big brother, and a mom and dad. They were sitting, quietly enjoying their chicken sandwiches until my wild stallion BOLTED out of the playroom, ran up to the little baby, and straight SMACKED him right on the head. Yes. Smacked the fire out of his little bald, round head.

I.was.so.embarassed!!!!

I think all of our eyes about popped out of our heads (mine, Deb's, the parents sitting across from their little baby, and SURELY the poor little boy!) Time stood still for about 2 seconds, I collected myself, gave Emily to Deb, and confronted Caroline.

1st response- "CAROLINE!!! No! We don't hit!! No, no, no, no, no!! I am SOOOO sorry!!! She has never done that before." I popped her little hand and sternly told her that we didn't hit people, which then lead her to lay a big fat KISS on the little one's cheek and say "I sorry." Precious...but what in the world??? 2 totally different affections for this little boy. We apologized profusely and as we walked away I stopped again, and one-on-one reiterated to Caroline the importance of not hitting other children. She understood and said she was sorry. She was not trying to be mean or ugly to the boy, and I still don't know what her motive was, but she floored us! I wanted to be the "good mom" and discipline appropriately so that the other parents didn't think I was someone who just lets my child bully others....but after the fact all I could do was giggle and laugh out loud the entire way home replaying the scenario in my mind. I think it was the big, round, bald head that was calling out to be popped. She may have been just "touching" it...with the heavy hands of a 2 year old??? Who knows, but it was hilarious, embarrassing and totally a lesson learned for both mommy and Caroline. The child's parents were so sweet, after their shock wore off, they said that he had an older brother so that it probably didn't phase him, and they told her "Thanks for the kiss!" Wow. Glad they weren't confrontational or it could have been a bit more awkward. Oh my.

NEVER a dull moment with my sweetie. And no, I didn't ask the family if I could reenact the slap for a blog worthy picture. Sorry.