Happy New Year!

Here are My Wishes for You...

H ours of happy times with friends and family
A bundant time for relaxation
P rosperity
P lenty of love when you need it the most
Y outhful excitement at life's simple pleasures

N ights of restful slumber (you know - don't worry be happy)
E verything you need
W ishing you love and light

Y ears and years of good health
E njoyment and mirth
A angels to watch over you
R embrances of a happy years!

Author Unknown

I had hoped to get our Christmas pictures posted before this day, but without much sleep these past few weeks, that didn't happen, so I'll leave you with my favorite of the girls from Christmas morning :)

Love, hugs and prayers for a wonderful 2010!
Amanda & Family

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!!!

We should be glad and celebrate!

Luke 2:11

Hope this glorious season gives you many new reasons to rejoice!

Unbelievable

It's just not registering to me that my tiny baby is 12 weeks old and/or that my time at home as a temporary stay at home mom is up! It just can't be true!!! Or can it? I've had a very blessed time at home these past 3 months. I wish I had the same time with Caitlin in 2004 (I only had 3 weeks off with her) because bonding with Madison these past 12 weeks has been nothing short of amazing. I KNOW her. I feel like I am truly her mom (especially going through the many many sleepless nights/days, cradle cap and the itches that go with it and of course the Colic) and am so glad I got to be a part of her daily life these past 3 months instead of having to work outside the home. I love my job and will be glad to go back and get caught up again and see my coworkers but nothing will ever compare to the time I got to spend with my 2nd born and my family.

These next few weeks will really take us some time to get used to. I would so appreciate and am already coveting your prayers. The lump is in my throat and I am close to tears as I write this. Just thinking about leaving my baby and getting back into the "groove" of real life is scary! I know I have a great support system (thank you Chris, Mom, Ron & Martha!) but it is just going to be a HUGE work in progress - this full time working mom of 2 and wife gig!! YIKES!!

So, to my friends and family: Please forgive me for any late emails, phone calls, gifts, letters or FB messages over the next few weeks. I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas now (just in case I get lost somewhere in the transition!)

To Chris & Caitlin & Madison: Thank you for your patience with me on a daily basis. You know how much I love you all and want our lives to go smoothly. Thank you for your love and support!

To Mom & Ron: Thank you for all of your help, love & support for our family.

Love,
Amanda

My mom's sister, Carol, with Madison for the first time

The cat and Joy are kissing!

Madison's 11th Week in Pics

My pretty girls :)

I'd never been to the Carter's store before - went there last week - they had clothes Caitlin's size too (I thought they only had babies clothes!) - I got her a "sleeper" like Madison's and she LOVES it!! :)

Caitlinism

"Dear God, please tell Santa that I want the Barbie Camper."
Thank you!
-Love, Caitlin

She said this out loud the other night - I laughed out loud when I heard it - couldn't help myself! :)

Snow...here??

Yep, last week it "snowed" here!
If you know where I live in Texas, you'll think it's as amazing as we did :) LOL
The pics of Chris and Joy are all I have to prove it (it only lasted from 11 am to 3 pm last Friday) and it did not stick but it was pretty neat to see snowflakes falling down upon us!!

Behind the Names

I'm not sure I've ever said before (on this blog) why we gave our girls the middle names we did.

Caitlin Love is obviously our miracle of LOVE, but her middle name is actually a family name on Chris's side. His great great grandfather on his mom's side was Judge Overton Love. Judge Love was the judge to the Chickasaw Nation. Judge Love created Love county in Oklahoma. I always found this story intriguing and wanted to name our first baby girl Love in some way.

Madison Grace was miraculously given to us by the GRACE of God. He bestowed her to us - not because we deserve her but because (I believe) He is giving us another chance. Another chance to parent another child on this earth. I also believe that Madison will afford joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness to our lives over the years (as the Bible often defines Grace). Last but certainly not least, Grace was my beloved "Maw's" name. Maw (my mom's mom) died in 2006 after complications with Alzheimer's.

I love my pretty girls and their names! :)

Caitlin & Santa 2009

In my last post I referenced a funny Caitlin/Santa story.
Here goes:

Last weekend, Caitlin and Grammy went to the mall. While there, they waited in line 3 (count them - THREE) times to get a picture with Santa (wow, that Grammy is patient!!). Caitlin has always been scared of Santa and Grammy finally convinced her on the third try to stay in line and when it was her time to sit on his lap, she should just smile for the camera and not look at Santa. That way, she would not be so scared.

Ok - side note - I think I mentioned this in the last post too, but Cait is a BIG HUGE believer in Santa so I'm not sure why she's so scared of him but anyway...

So, Caitlin gets up there and I guess Santa convinced her to look at him and he told her that he recognized her. She looked at him and told him that she recognized him too - from Big Mamma's church party last year!!! LOL :)

Anyway, here's the picture of Miss Cait and Old Saint Nick!!

Our Thanksgiving 2009

I'm apologizing ahead of time. This post is a little rambly! I only have a few minutes before Caitlin gets home from school! :)

We cooked here at the house this year and Grammy and Uncle Mike joined us. MeMe and Grandpa would have come over too except we changed our plans at the last minute (to not go to our annual Thanksgiving location) and they could not change theirs. We just could not envision ourselves being able to get down to where the restaurant is at the time our reservation was for (7:15pm), get a parking spot, make our way through the crowds, watch the fireworks and get both kids successfully into the restaurant and eat - especially when 8 pm is when colicy Madison starts her crying each night (and it has been lasting until midnight these days!) I picked up some of the food and a ham from Luby's and cooked that up, Grammy brought over several casseroles and other sides and Uncle Mike cooked the turkey. We had enough for an army! It was a good day over all and it went pretty smoothly :)

I had plans to get a family picture taken (by Uncle Mike or Grammy) so that I could start working on our Christmas cards before I go back to work (I return on 12/14 - eeek!!) and had both girls in cute dresses, but sometime halfway through our meal, Madison had one of those notorious explosive diapers and I spent the next 30 minutes cleaning her up and changing her clothes. Also, Caitlin changed her clothes and didn't wear what I wanted her to wear because she performed a little play for us - she had Daddy play Christmas songs on the computer as she danced on the coffee table for us - just like a little Shirley Temple! Chris has had a bad neck ache for a week or so and was in the worst pain on Thanksgiving day so he was not about to take a picture that day. I thought we'd never get the picture, but in the end, I got a family picture and have been able to order the Christmas cards :)

I was also finally able to get a picture of just me and the girls. Since Madison was born I have not gotten a picture of all 3 of us!

Last week, we also started a new family tradition. An elf (she named Cute) was "delivered" to us from the North Pole. We are now under constant surveillance (and Daddy and I are on duty each night to REMEMBER to move that silly elf!!) One night we forgot and had to make up some story about how she liked how the shelf felt and wanted to stay there one extra day!! LOL Caitlin is such a believer in Santa it is hilarious! I have another post for another day about something cute she said about Santa. :)

So, without further adieu, here are some pics from our Thanksgiving Day.

I hope you and your families enjoyed wonderful times together last week.

Many hugs and prayers,
Amanda

Cait took this one of us and Uncle Mike

Me and My Pretty Girls :)

I am so thankful for my family :)

Daddy resting his neck pain

Joy Joy

The cute dress before the explosion!

Here is Cute (our Elf) and our Madison and Caitlin ornaments for our tree (from Hallmark)

The story behind this picture: Daddy and his girls have some sort of weird habit of taking off one sock and leaving the other one on. Even at young ages both girls (if I searched I could find one or two of baby Cait doing something similar) do this!!! Daddy leaves his one sock(s) around the house - this can drive me crazy :) LOL