Happy 7 months, Miss Bethany!!

Happy 7 months Sweet Pea! It’s hard to believe it was 7 months ago we were blessed with your presence in this world. It became sweeter that’s for sure! You were busy this month! I guess that’s why it flew by as fast as it did. I sure hope it doesn’t mean the months are passing faster. : /.

I don’t know your exact weight or height, but I’m guessing you’re about 19.5 lbs and about 29ins.

You looking cute as always!

You started eating fruit this month and you LOVE the peaches and pears the best!

Ha- not a very good picture...but had to put it on here because you can
see her teeth! :)

Pretty baby girl!



I started putting you in your crib at night. I was worried you wouldn’t sleep all night and the whole your not beside me anymore was hard at first, BUT you did/are doing great! During bubba’s Christmas break you got off schedule for whatever reason and was waking up at night, but you have since been ok since he went back. Thank Goodness! HA.

One morning when I woke you up...I always put you down the same way
every night, but you are always in a different postion when I go to wake you up. :)

You officially became a sitter December 7^th! Which helps out a ton and you can tell you enjoy you’re independence.

Playing before bedtime. :)

Momma gets the joy of fixing your hair now!! It's finally long enough to put up in pig tails...So far you do awesome while I'm fixing your hair. You're hair is crazy all over the place if its not up in pig tails, but I refuse to cut it! Ha.

So precious!

You had your first Christmas this month and you cleaned out good! Momma had to clean out your closet for the stuff we didn’t need anymore just to make room for toys! You can sure tell we have a baby in the house again. You did good opening up presents even though I would have to take the paper away from you before it ended up in your mouth like everything does. Ha.

You and Kaden with your cousins. :)
Makalya, Chloe, Bethany, and Kaden.

You and Papa (My daddy).

Some new clothes...12months! Yes you're growing like a weed!

Ducky! You love this!

At Nannie and Papa's house playing with your new toys.

Playing with your new toy!

Daddy getting you started early...he the same
thing to your brother about the same age.

You and your daddy...

Memaw, Kaden, Papaw, and you. : )
(My wonderful grandparents)

Daddy, Gramps(Derek's step-dad), and Bethany.

You and your Aunt Amy...(Derek's sister)

My precious babies. : )



Kiddos in their chairs their Great Memaw gave them.

You are getting close to crawling. You will get up on your knees and try to push off but you won’t get completely up on your hands yet. (Maybe you will be like your daddy and do the “army crawl”). I know it will happen in your own time.

We went to bubba's Christmas party at school and the little girls all said,"Aww" as soon as we walked in and Kaden said..that's my little sister. He loves you soo much! It was priceless. :)

The outfit you wore.

Your Christmas outift...I had to order a bow to match it...

Precious picture with the bow. :)

Love this picture...I asked Kaden to watch you for a second
while I was getting both of y'alls clothes ready so we could go to the
heart doctor and this is what he did...he gave you a controller and you
looked like you knew what you were doing...TOO cute!
He's always taking good care of you!

You also started reaching to us on December 27^th. It’s soo cute. You just don’t reach out you pat our hand when we open our hands to you.

You had your first vacation this month! Actually the first one Daddy and Mommy had with you kids period that was out of state that is. We went to Tompkinsville, Kentucky to see mommy’s best friend Lizzie. So in your first 7 months of life you’ve been to Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky (It has taken me 24 years to do that. Ha). We left out December 30^th at 7 pm and arrived December 31^st just before 8 am in Kentucky. You were a great traveler! Maybe it was because we traveled at night, but either way it went better than I had expected. You had a great time. You didn’t get too fussy the whole time were gone. It was your first time to meet Lizzie and you LOVED her just as much as she loved you! : -)

Having fun swinging! :)

Love her! I hope and pray you're able to find a true friend like
her in your lifetime. She's awesome.

She loves him too of course. :)

 We also went by to meet some of her family and you didn’t fuss one time…ok you did, but it was just when I was putting you back in your car seat to leave. Her grandma loved you and you obviously loved her! I’m so glad you are such a happy baby.

You are pretty much content with anything and anyone holding you, unless momma gets out of sight then here we go. Ha. You also loved Coy, Lizzie’s soon to be husband. You were content with him too while he was holding you at the New Year Eve party his family was having. I can’t wait until we go back up there in October for their wedding. : - )

On our way back through we stopped at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee.

Yes you had shoes...we just had to get you out of your stroller to take
a picture and well you were almost asleep - thats the reason for your hand in your mouth too. Ha.

It was wonderful. I wish I remembered my camera and we could have taken some better pictures, but we were in a hurry and wanted to leave the house as soon as we could to get on the road. (It was Daddy’s last minute decision to take a road trip. Lol) We got back home around 2 am on January 2.

Don't mind the hair. Ha. She just woke up and I just happen to snap this picture
and her eyes just popped out! ♥ it!! Her eyes always look like a different color.

It's a joy watching you grow and learn! This next month should be interesting to see if you start crawling and getting into everything! I guess I better get ready and start baby proofing the house for one last time. I love you sweet baby girl! You bring so much joy to our family that only you could have brought. Not everyone gets to say we have two kids...one boy and one girl. Our little happy family of four! God is amazing! May you always keep him first and the rest will just fall in place. Happy belated 7 months precious girl! Daddy, Momma, and Bubba loves you soo much!!!

Bethany is 6 months old!!

Well Miss Bethany you’re ½ a year old already! This year has just flown by, but I have a feeling it was because I didn’t want you growing up too fast. I love you baby girl. I wish you could stay little forever and be my little cuddle bug even if its only just when you want me to put you to sleep. You’ve grown so much in this past month it makes me wonder where our baby girl went to. I know I’m late on this update, but you didn’t have your appointment until Monday then momma got carried away with making you a winter dress.
: ) But with out any more waiting…

You are now 18.8 lbs and are 28 ins long and have 18in head circumference! That puts you in the 95 percentile for everything!

You are indeed our big girl. But as in the words of Dr. Shaw, you’re no where near fat you are just a big girl…You are going along your growth curve just like you’re suppose to be, its just you are on top of that curve for your age. Ha. Dr. Shaw informed me on your 4 mon check up, you were the size of an average 6 mon old…well at your 6 mon check up he said you’re the size of an average 9 mon old!! So momma didn’t get to enjoy your “little” stage as much because you decided to just start off growing with no signs of stopping! I’m just hopeing you make all the 6-9 mon old winter clothes last until winter is over! You are sure making this clothes thing hard! Lol. I think you just about skipped the 3-6 month size all together.

You started eating vegetables on Nov.7 and we stayed with each one for about 4-7 days. I give you them around lunch time before I give you your bottle. First was carrots…you didn’t seem to like it, but after a while you were loving every bit of it. Then we proceeded with green beans, squash, peas, and sweet potatoes. Yes, I went ahead and started you on them, you just seem like to me you were ready for them and I wasn’t going to hold out another month just because the doctor recommended it. Ha….Next month we’ll work on fruit. : )

You are still taking about 6 oz of formula every 3-5 hours, I say five because there is always a strectch at least one time during the day (usually after 10 am) you will fall asleep and will wake up about 5 hours (12:30- 1) passed your last eating, wanting the bottle. Other times its 3 hours on the dot pretty much. : )

This is how I have to put you to sleep...
Laying on the left side, sucking your right finger, while we softly pat you on the bottom.
Ha..you just wont' have it any other way.
Stubborn girl! :)

You’re still being a good girl and sleeping through the night. After you get over your congestion I’m going to start putting you in your crib at night since we got the baby monitor. As you can tell momma is wanting to put that off as long as I can (I sleep better knowing you‘re right beside me vs. nearly on the other side of the house.). Ha. You’re just starting to get to big for your bassinet. : (.

Your precious little hand. :)

You have officially won the battle with the paci vs. your finger. Agh. Momma tried, but you insist on going to sleep with that precious little finger…index finger on the right hand to be exact and won’t take any other one, even the index on the other finger…instead of the paci. Hopefully it won’t be hard to get you off of it.

We gave you and early Christmas present this month. Ha. We were going to get you this for Christmas, but since we knew you were growing like a weed we just decided to go ahead and let you use it now so you can get more use out of it…Exer saucer…and man do you LOVE it!!

Having a grand ole time!

And so does your brother...Ha.

You said you’re first word this month…Da-Da…on November 12^th…although you don’t know what you said. Ha. No, daddy loves it and enjoys every mintue of it although you haven’t put the two together yet I’m sure you will soon. You are daddy’s little girl, but just as much as you’re momma’s. : )

We went to the park for a little bit this month and momma put you in a swing for the first time and you loved it! Too bad it’s starting to get cold now! At least we know what to do when it starts to warm up. Your brother has always and still does love the park. His favorite thing used to be the swing too, so it looks like you got the same genes far as that goes. Ha.



Attacking Momma's earphones...
I wish this picture showed your eyes better...you have the prettiest eyes,
but I can never capture them. :(

But this is the only way I could get you to look at me for pictures. lol.

So precious!

　
Speaking of you and your brother…He’s getting where he LOVES talking to you and playing with you! And you just laugh at everything he does. I think that’s why he loves it so much. He seems to get you laugh so easy compared to your daddy and me, but then again I’m glad you two are getting and building that close bond already! He can just bark at you and you start laughing so big. He can just start talking and you start looking around trying to find him and then just smile the biggest smile at him. He loves pushing you around the living and kitchen while you’re in your walker although I have to remind him to go slow and be easy. Lol. When you’re asleep in your crib for an evening nap we have the monitor in the living room with us watching tv, every move he hears you do he thinks you are awake and wants to go see you…by see you I mean wants to get in your crib with you to play. Lol. But I have to remind him just wait until you start crying because you could just be moving while you’re sleeping. He's pretty good with you though, just as long as you don't put his toys or blankets or anything really of his in your mouth or drool on them...he' ok with you. I just love seeing/hearing y’all together. Just brings a smile to my face thinking about it. :)

Bubba barking at you...and you just cracking up laughing...
*ahm...don't mind the stuff bear under her exer saucer we were waiting
for the company to send us the stablizer feet for it* lol



Bubba talking to you...



Trying to get bubba to take a decent picture...

At least you are being good and smiling lol...

Oh well I gave up...bubba started making funny nosies and
you had to look to see what was going on lol..

My precious babies...



Finally a picture with you both smiling! lol..

 You had your first big holiday this month…Thanksgiving. It was nice celebrating it as a family of FOUR this year, you complete our family. : ).


Not the greatest picture, but didn't have my camera with me,
just my iPhone...



I was trying to take a picture of your brother and me,
but like always he won't stay still. lol.

You and your Great Grandma.

 You’re the only girl on your daddy’s side far as little kiddos. (Kaden:5, Garrett: 5 (8 wks younger than Kaden), Travis: 16 mons) but you and Travis are going to be a tag team to get your brother and Garrett. : ). You were so interested in him and his paci. But you seem to love all kids no matter what size. : )

You and your Great Grandpa and Travis.

Bubba being goofy as always...

Aww Sweet Hugs. :)

Ok Travis...hand over the paci! :-)

You and MeeMee

 As far as my side, Kaden is the only boy so you fitted in just fine (Kaden:5, Makalya:5 (81/2 months younger than Kaden), Chloe:14 mons) now you and Chole will be a team against your brother and Mak.
We had a great time together on Thanksgiving and of course I loved showing you off. You are just the cutest baby ever…even though you are my kid. Ha.



Such a happy girl!!



Before the teeth popped through. :)

You sprouted your first tooth this month on November 29, 4 days before you turned 6 months. (bottom right center) Followed by the left center a day later. And you already know how to use them! Hopefully you won’t be a biter. They sure are sharp. I see some on top that look like it will come any day now, but then again you’re not drooling near as much so maybe not too soon.

 You are getting VERY close to setting and staying that way by yourself. You will set for a while until you see something you want and start to reach for it, then there you go toppling down. Ha. But I know you will accomplish it this month. : )

It's blurry, but you reached for a toy, and lost your balance. Ha.

It's a work in process!!

Your such a happy baby and I LOVE that about you. You are pretty good while at the grandparents and church, but I have seen signs of you starting the separation axitey when you leave your momma. :/ I can't walk by you while you are in your exer saucer or bouncer without you wanting me to pick you up and if someone wants to hold you at church you make sure they don't get too far from momma. lol. Dr. Shaw says that is usually in full swing by 9 months but hopefully you won't be too bad, but then again you're at home with me all day long so we will see how it goes.  I love you baby girl and enjoy having a girl oh so much! After all I have started making you clothes already! :) I can't wait to see what this next month holds for you, and see you at Christmas. Hopefully you will be setting up by then at least. :) Happy belated 6 months old sweet pea! Momma, Daddy and Bubba love you oh so much!

Bethany and her Sunday school buddy and future best friend
who is 4 days younger than her, Miss Brenna Ollila. :)
(Bethany is in the 95% and Brenna isin the 15%. Ha)

My babies with Santa! :-)

Day 4: My little sweet pea, Bethany Kate.

Day 4: My little sweet pea, Bethany Kate.

Bethany,
My adorable little sweet pea. : ). I thank God for sending you to me after waiting 2 years to hold you. You are indeed worth all the wait and tears I shed as I watched other people, family, and friends becoming pregnant without trying and here we were trying with no success. I guessed the Good Lord listend to me when I had your brother because I made the comment, I didn’t want another baby until he was 5 and wanted a summer baby. Well guess what…when you were born your brother was 5 and you were born in the summer. Its all in God’s timing. : )…You bring so much joy to our family and the perfect last piece to our family. How many couples actually have one boy and one girl?!?!?

I loved you from day one. When we found out that Kaden was going to have surgery (or so we thought) in March of this year, I was so heartbroken, but you never let me get a good cry out. Ha. Every time I start in real good you would make me gag almost to the point of going to far. To me, it was like you were trying to say “Calm down, Momma, everything is going to be ok” and strangely enough I felt comfort in that. Thank you for that sweet pea. We soon found out a few months later that he wouldn’t need surgery and it was time to just focus on you baby girl. I had so much fun picking out everything for your room, your stroller/car seat, things for the baby registry, just happy to finally being able to hold a baby in my arms again after so long of trying.

silly girl...blowing rasberries..:)

I was so afraid when I was in the OR getting prepped to have you. After they finally got my spinal in (which they had trouble with that)…my blood pressure there for a while wouldn’t stablize and I was so afraid they would have to put me out and I wouldn’t be able to hear your first cry, but once everything did FINALLY stabilized and I seen your daddy walk in I was soo happy. Then when I heard that first cry it was such a relief. My baby girl was finally here.

　
I thank God so much for you in oh so many ways that are indescribable. For your sweet smile I get every single morning when I get you up to put you in your car seat so we can head out to take bubba to school. As I buckle you in I just start saying “Good morning sweet pea” and you just start grining from ear to ear…For all the goo, gahs, screams, and laughs I get from you…for all the cuddles…for all the wanting/needing JUST momma to put you to sleep (even though I don‘t get time to me, lol)…for all the conversations you think you’re have with bubba when momma is driving…for all the having to reach for our faces when we talk to you…and yes all the fusses you give us at times when you just don’t want to do anything! Lol…Then I just simply thank God for blessing me with such a wonderful little girl.
Like bubba, I pray for your future spouse. I hope you find that Godly man who will take care of you, cherish you, treat you the way you need to be treated, and most importantly loves you to the ends of this earth. I pray that you keep God number one in your life. I pray that we’re able to teach you and your brother the bascis of this life and revolve this life around Christ. I pray that you will stay the happiest little girl. I pray that God will lead me to teach you through my doings on how important God is. Thank you God , for such a wonderful little bundle of PINK joy! I love you Miss Bethany Kate!!

Now that I’m caught up hopefully I don’t fall behind this weekend. Ha.

Day 3: My Little Man, Kaden.

Ok so obviously I didn’t get to post Day 3 yesterday. We had a change of plans and we didn’t get home last night until 10:30. Derek’s work was having a dinner/meeting so we went to that while my Memaw watched the kiddos for us. : )

Day 3: My Little Man, Kaden.

Kaden,

You’re momma’s precious baby boy. Even though I know you aren’t a baby anymore, you are quick to tell me you‘re not, but you will always be my baby. You’ve have been through some things during your almost 6 years of life, that no kid should ever have to do or go through. I know right now you don’t know you’re any different and I pray you never have to find out through surgery. I wish you didn’t have to go through the things you might have to face in the future, but your special heart has made me appreciate life so much more. I think God sent you to us to have a way, to have people in aw when they hear all the little miracles he has blessed you with. I’m thankful for God giving us you.

Thankful for Him:

… blessing us with your presence…sending you when he did….because of you we have met so AWESOME heart families…trusting us to bring you up learning about Him…giving us the pleasure of watching you grow and learn…for every conversation we have with you…for every “I love you” out of the blue you give us…for every step you have taken…for every kiss when I drop you off at school…for every wave you give me as you’re walking into school…for every laugh we get to cherish…for every “will you play with me” even if we just got done playing lol…for every “can you fix me some noodles” (your favorite food lol.)…for every “Momma, I’m hungry again” even if you just got done eating it makes me thankful for a growing boy…for every heart check up we get to hear “he’s stable”…for all 3 of scares with heart surgery having the fear of handing you over to a surgeon and maybe not getting you back, because we got to witness just some of the miracles God has performed in your life. All 3 times He has pushed the surgery off, and we were/are going back to every 4-6 months just for a check up!…for all the times you get excited when you hear “We are going to Memaws”. It brings back memories the way I use to act when I heard that and thankful you get to know what and awesome Memaw she is…for all the conversations we have when I pick you up from school telling me about your day…for all the “can you read me this book?”…for being such a great big brother...

for all the times “Jesus wouldn’t like that” when you think we are being mean… and for all times I simply get to hear “Mommy”.

I could go on baby boy. You bring so much joy into my life. I look forward to you growing with each and every day. I look forward to basketball season, then baseball, then maybe you can do soccer next it all whatever you wish to do Kaden. The world is at your fingers tips and I pray you keep God first in your life and everything else will just fall in place. I pray God gives you a godly woman when you decide to get married and you both grow more in the Lord as your daddy and I have. I know that’s a way down the road, but that is what most of your life will be with. Your future spouse and children. I pray you stay happy and loving God as you do. Thank you for you little man. Mommy loves you oh soo much!!

I’m currently working on Day 4...Ha. So I’m hopeing to for sure get it posted today…

“30 day of giving thanks”...Day 1 &2.

I decided to take the “30 day of giving thanks” on facebook a step further. I think God deserves to hear more than just a couple of sentences for a status of thanks for each day...Although it would be interesting to do it for the whole year. It makes me think of that song we sing at church from time to time…
Count your blessings name them one by one. Count your blessings to see what God has done…
I’m sure it will leave you feeling blessed for sure if you don’t already.
Once again I know I’m late, but just thought of this on the way back from dropping Kaden off from school. It’s amazing how your mind and just start thinking of different things while driving. But to start things off…


Day 1: My Loving God.

Dear God,
These next 30 days are you for. Counting my blessings for 30 days. First and foremost I have to start with you. I’m thankful for you. There is so much I can try say that words just can’t even start to describe how I feel for you. I was blessed enough to come to know you at an early age of 10. Thank you for that salvation. Thank you for your son Jesus. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for “knocking on my hearts door”. Thank you for all you have brought me through in my life when at times its been SOO hard!! But I know without you there’s no way in this world I could’ve gotten passed it. Thank you for bestowing all my blessings upon me. Thank you for caring for me. Thank you for being there when I felt alone. Thank you for listening to me when I was pouring my eyes out to you. Thank you for listening to me when I was praising you whole heartily. Thank you for never straying even when at times I have. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your miracles. Thank you for your forgiveness. Most importantly thank you for LIFE!…I hope these next 30 days will bring you happiness. Thank you for my life, God. Thank you for you! Here’s to you…and many more thanks through this life


Day 2: My Husband.

Babe,
Today I’m going to publicly write a thank you letter just to show everyone how thankful to God I am for you. I thank God for you everyday since he has brought you into my life. Who knew that just logging on the Christian Chat room that night around 10-10:30pm on May 11, 2004 that I would end up talking to my future husband?!? I know God leads every couple together, but when we were both not looking for mate just to chat with someone, you know God had his hand on leading us together. : ) Babe, thank you for your time that night and every day since then. Thank you for all the small things you did while we were dating. Thank you for Pinky (btw she‘s the pink bear in Bethany‘s month pictures for those who didn‘t already know). : ) Thank you for the numerous trips from Denton to Callisburg (45min drive one way, yes we lived just mins from each other and ended up meeting online in a world chat room) every day there for awhile after school just to see me. Thank you for riding your BIKE when your truck was in the shop to Sanger (which was between 8-10 miles, Ha now you know why I asked you.) when I was there for my cousins pee wee football game and then again when I went with Lainey to her tennis game. Thank you for all the movies we went to see. Thank you for the countless nights when we went to Subway to get our sandwiches and then headed out to the lake to set on of the piers just talking. Thank you for the nights you stayed late just because you didn’t want to leave…and I didn’t want you to. Thank you for the doll you gave me that you and your dad had picked out for your mom. Thank you for telling me all about your dad before he passed the good and the bad. I still wish I was able to meet him to see what he thought about me, but I think that one dream, I had when we were dating, him telling me loved me helped filled that void. Thank you for marrying me. Thank you for picking me to be the one you wanted for the rest of your life. Thank you for being the husband you are today. Thank you for being the daddy you are to our two wonderful children. Thank you for being there for me during our son’s rollercoaster heart journey. Like that song…God gave me you for the ups and downs…Thank you for all them. Thank you for being patient with me during our time trying to get pregnant with our daughter. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for all the stuff you went through just to make us happy. Thank you for working your butt off even when you feel like giving up. Thank you for being the man you are. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for caring for me. Thank you for all our arguments they are what makes us stronger. Thank you for the laughter. Thank you for all the tears. I could go on and on…most importantly…Thank you for being YOU. I love you babe.
　
Day 3 coming later today…I hope. Motherly duties calls…Ha.