Boy or Girl

I cant believe that in about 2 weeks I will be finding out if Cooper #2 is a boy or a girl!! Second pregnancies go by so fast. I feel like with Madison I was counting down the seconds rather than the days =)

Just for fun we have done a few of the gender quizzes and one quiz says boy and the other says girl. The Chinese conception calendar says its a boy and the string over the belly button with with my wedding band says its a girl! Have any of you used either of these? where they accurate for you?

With Madison the chinese conception calendar was correct, so we will see with this baby if we think its accurate =)

Will Madison EVER wean?!

Madison is almost a year old and still hasnt dropped a nursing feed!! YIKES!  This is awesome and I have really enjoyed nursing her but what do I do when the other baby gets here? I am sooo worried I am going to have both on my bottles at the same times! YIKES!!

I offer her solid food during lunch and dinner and some days breakfast but that is only when she wakes up clucking. clucking is that she does when she is hungry for food... she is seriously so smart!

Any suggestions on how to wean or feeding two at the same time... does anyone have experience in that?!

Pillow Talk

The other night while I was getting ready to go to sleep I looked over to the person laying next to me. I started to think how amazing it was that he is the only other person in the world I share "pillow talk" with!! By pillow talk I mean those last minute thoughts and reminders we give each other at our days end.

Anyway, this got me thinking about what an amazing husband I have! He goes to work every morning without even a grunt at the alarm clock and comes home with nothing less than a smile and helping hands!! It amazes me that someone could have such few "bad days"!  I would love to wake up every morning and not grunt at my alarm clock for a few extra minutes (Madison) and by the time my husband gets home STILL have a smile on my face. It seems hard to do but this is one thing I REALLY want to learn from my husband... I hope it rubs off HEHE =)

Not only is my husband a hard worker he is also the best daddy! Im not just saying this either... he truly is! =) He loves to be involved and if that means feeding, bathing, and changing diapers (at this age) well then he wants to do those things!! Also, there are times that I cant even figure out what is wrong with our baby girl and he will be like well maybe it's blank! try this.... and that will be the problem! It is so amazing how in-tune he is to mine and Madison's needs!

In the mix of daily activities and being busy I loose time to recognize my husband for all he does and how much we love him! The truth is, I couldn't do it without him! He is my rock and I am so blessed to have such a wonderful partner as him!

Madison Month-by-Month

I'm sick and tired of my baby being sick and tired!!!

On Tuesday afternoon Madison started to have a low grade fever and then by that night it shot up to 102.6!!! And without Mortin the fever has not gone down. She has absolutely no symptoms... no runny nose, no coughing, no nasty diapers! It is such a mystery to me!!

She also has been sleeping non-stop for the past 24 hours, which I know is good for her but I miss her! She is the happiest sweetest baby ever and when she is sick she just lays there and it is so sad because that is NOT iike her at all!!

Please pray for my sweet Madison to get rid of this mystery fever and back to her normal self!

I didn't sign up for this

Marriage is so much fun at times but other times I just want to scream at the top of my lungs, "I didnt sign up for this." My mother in law laughs at me because I am a hopeless romantic and marriage just isnt like Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast... It is WORK and COMPROMISE and WORK and COMPROMISE. I know it has only been only a year and I do love my husband SO MUCH it is just such a reality shocker for me when life isnt like a princess movie.

Am I the only hopeless romantic out there who thinks well WHY cant marriage be like a movies or a story book? I mean some romantic elements of movies and books are not too far off.... =)

One of my friends and I are both newlyweds so we often talk about these things and also how life has changed from dating. Mostly how our men have changed, even though we both know we have also changed- not to admit that. She led me to a book called the Sacred Marriage. If you haven't read this book you should!!

The main part that sticks out in mind it the idea that marriage was not made to make us happy!... WHAT?!! Yes, marriage was meant to please the Lord. It is so hard to look at a situation and ask yourself, "would starting this argument please HIM" or "would acting this way towards my husband please HIM" or "Does having these negative thoughts about my husband please HIM"

These are the questions I ask myself when I start to focus my marriage on me, selfishly. Sometimes yelling and fighting and ignoring and saying mean things makes me feel better but it shouldn't because it is displeasing to the LORD.

What do you do to keep focused on the LORD and not let the devil or fairytales ideals take over your marriage?

Hunting

My husband went to Tallulah to go duck hunting with his sister and her boyfriend for his birthday. Happy 24th Hubby! ( on Sunday) He had a great birthday and I am so glad he finally got to go hunting. Maybe I shouldnt be too happy because before he even left Tallulah and was already making plans to go back... Boys!


While he was gone my mother in law and I did some hunting of our own... house hunting! This is such a stressful thing! I get so overwhelmed at the choices! But, I am so thankful to have my mother in law who actually LIKES this sort of this! it really works out great! =) At this moment we are in between two houses. I am going to list some of our pros and cons and see if you guys will be able to help us make our decision on which things are most important in a house.. okay here we go...

location- front of Kingwood or back of kingwood
Sq ft- 1800 vs 2253 ( i know most people think more is better but necessary?)
new vs old
  or 

what are your thoughts on these? For those of you who have owned new and/or old houses please include your input, especially on repairs!


I am so excited that our house hunting experience might finally be coming to a close.... well, maybe...! I have learned with this it isnt done until its done! =) Wish us luck! Oh and I hope Bubba likes atleast one of them hehe

Education Vs Real Life

I graduated from Texas Tech... Wreck Em!!.... with Human Development and Family studies and also Early Childhood education. Yes all of this to be a stay at home mom. Well, atleast for now. 

The other day I was going through some of my school papers after watching a CNN report on speech and how it is directly related to brain development. After looking trhough my old school papers it was confirmed that this indeed was true. It says that by 12-15 months a child should know 3 or more single words. I was like score! Madison can say mamamama and dadadadadada and bababababa! As I read further these do not count as words this is called babbling in which a child should do from 9-11 months. So Madison has just a few months to learn 3 words! How do I teach her this?! 

It seems like in the world of school the answers are true or false, A,b,or c. But, in real life with your child it doesn't seem this way at all. I don't feel like Madison's brain development is lacking... in fact I think she is very smart! 

Is this why going to school is so important? So the parents (who have the knowledge to teach) aren't easier on their own children? 

What are your thoughts on this?! 

I just came across this picture and I absolutely love it... It's so sweet! This was the day we came home from the hospital and we could finally relax and enjoy our new addition without sounds going off and nurses/doctors coming in. It was such a relief to finally have her home!

Just when we thought our life couldn't get any crazier!

Bubba and I have been very busy over the past year or so... We both graduated college (YAY!), got married, moved to Houston, and had our beautiful daughter, Madison! We got married in Colorado on a mountain, it was SO beautiful. I could not have asked for a better wedding!! Moving from Lubbock to Houston was a relief at first but, to my surprise I really miss Lubbock! I want to go back!! But it is also nice because I am blessed with the BEST parents in law and they live in Houston.

Madison is wonderful we love her so very much. She is so stinking funny. I have never met anyone that made me laugh and smile as much as she does. Yesterday she turned 11 months old! This year has gone by so fast. It seems like yesterday we were just bringing her home from the hospital. Awe sweet moments I will cherish and remember always.

And Just when we thought our life couldn't get any crazier..... It did! We found out we were expecting Cooper#2! We are so excited we will be blessed with raising another child but it sure will be difficult at times. But, hey, when is life not difficult?!

We went to the doctor on January 8th and had our first appointment/ultrasound. It was such a great appointment because Bubba got to come!! He was able to get off of work because they couldn't work because it was too cold. ( yes, we live in Houston....) Bubba was never able to see an ultrasound of Madison so he was really excited to be able to see one of this baby.

I am seeing the same doctor that delivered Madison, she is WONDERFUL!

During the appointment we got an official due date, July 11th 2010 so that means I am 14 weeks when I went to the appointment. I am 15 weeks tomorrow. (The second time goes WAY faster)

Then the best part of the appointment we get to see our little baby bean.... Which was jumping around so much the doctor could not get a correct measurement. I mean seriously, this baby was jumping around inside like it was on a trampoline. So opposite of Madison, she would just lay there and we would have to probe her to move haha.

I am excited to go to the next doctors appointment and find out if this baby is a boy or girl!