Momma's Love & Laughter: Time to catch up!

Hi friends!

I have been missing my little blog here. SO many things that I have been itching to write about, pictures I want to record, and everything in between, but somehow...life gets in the way of writing. So I am just going to pick up with today, and catch you up as best as I can. My last post was the most difficult one to write to date. I am still missing my grandma. I don't think there will come a day that I do not miss her. I still have my moments of breaking down in tears, and lots of moments that it still does not feel real to me. But we are managing. The Lord is surely giving me the strength to carry on.

So... our life in the past couple of weeks. The day before my grandma passed away, we got a puppy. Meet Coco.

The day after she came home she stopped eating. She was with us for 5 days before she passed away. We found out that she had Parvo. {right about now, I was thinking, can I please write a country song???}

We contacted the breeder and she had another litter of puppies that would be ready Christmas Eve. EEE! I was freaked out by the possibility of another sick puppy. The weeks leading up to getting our new puppy were nerve wracking. I bleached my house up and down, to make sure everything was clean for the new little one. My exact words to John were "I don't want to bring ANOTHER puppy here, JUST to die!" Being the sweet man he is, he put bleach in his little outdoor sprayer, and sprayed the entire perimeter of the house and yard. I just love him.

December 23 our puppy was ready to come to our home. Right before we were going to let the kids see, we put her in a box, with a little Christmas bow on her neck, and let the kids "open" their present. Sheer joy crossed Taylor's face as she shouted "Coco! Your back! Oh I missed you Coco! Your back!"

So........Meet Coco [2]!

John and I debated on how to tell Taylor about the puppy, and she kind of solved our dilemma. Coco is back. And we are happy.

She came to us at 7.5 weeks, smaller than our chihuahua Fifi, at just under 5 pounds.

Today she is 11 weeks old, and is 13 pounds!

We had a wonderfully blessed Christmas with our family, spent New Years Eve at home, letting Taylor and Wyatt set off fireworks. Taylor was a lot braver this year than she was last year. (She cried inside the house last year.) This year she had a blast! Wyatt loved them too.

I started my second year of Project 365 on my Facebook page, and I am debating on doing a weekly update of the photos on the blog here!

My babies are growing up SO fast. Taylor is getting so smart, she recognizes numbers and letters, she carries on full on conversations on the phone, she remembers places and events. She has the most tender heart. She loves to play with her princess barbies. She gets in her own little world, talking to them, and mothering them. She takes care of her little brother like he is her own. She loves onion chips (sour cream and onion) and dip (french onion). I love that she still has a little bit of baby language left in her vocabulary. Like...

sirsty for thirsty

broler for brother

using only the pronouns him, her, and us.

For example. "Wyatt is bothering me! Him won't leave me a lone!"

"Thank you for us food, and for us family."

"Coco is sleeping, her not want to play."

I love it. And I am proud but I get sad when she learns the correct way to pronounce something.

Like the day that she stopped saying "Mc-Don-Youlds" like it was some french cuisine, haha! And finally said Mc-DON-alds. Momma was a little sad.

And my baby boy. My momma's boy. He knows how to melt your heart, make you furious, and fall in love with him, all at the same time. He is the type that will grin at you as he is stuffing your toilet full of toilet paper. He will take off giggling as he gets into the bathroom cabinet, running off with the toothpaste for the umpteenth time. He will flash that cheesy smile with you as he runs away naked when you are in the middle of changing his diaper.

He is also starting to talk more. The other night, John got after him because he drug his step stool into the kitchen and was standing up on it, trying to get onto the kitchen counter. Wyatt came bawling to me, and I asked him what was wrong. And in the clearest voice he told me, "wanna snack!" It was precious.

He is a smart cookie too. I struggle as a mom knowing that my baby should not go to bed with his sippy cup, but I have been trying so hard to get him to drink water before bed but he will only have milk.

If I give him water, he will look at it through the cup, stare and study it for some time, and if he seems to think that its not white milk, he hands it back to me. The other night he was crying after I gave him his water and I was trying to see if he would settle down. After a couple of minutes I went in there and gave him a cup of milk. As soon as I handed it to him, he told me "thank you!" in the sweetest, most grateful tone. That's the night I decided that he will win this battle for now. He overpowered me with his smile and those sweet manners!

Tonight he was drinking his milk and playing with his car before bed, and then I heard him start fussing a little so I went in there and said what's wrong? What do you need? And he handed up to me his cup and said "milk". The boy knows what he wants, when he wants it. So another cup of milk, and another thank you later, he is peacefully sleeping away.

Today was a wonderfully sunny day. It was nice break from the colder temps we have been having recently. We spent most of our day playing outside and enjoying the fresh air.

Well it feels good to catch up. Hopefully I can remain a little more diligent about writing! That is what I love about my Project 365, it makes me slow down a little, to find something-anything, to appreciate about the day. And I have already looked back at my 2011 album and found so many priceless memories that would probably have gone unnoticed.

Like a 6th tooth coming in.