growing up.. and all that jazz!

There are so many milestones that kids hit that point to growing up. Scooting turns into walking, babbling turns into conversation, prosthetic eye appointments turn into miraculous in-and-out-of-the-office-in-under-30-minute adventures.  So maybe not everyone has that little milestone but yesterday.... we did! We headed to see Robin (the greatest occularist in the world) yesterday afternoon for his annual 6 month check up.  This is a post from July 2008 about our first appointment with Robin.

So we met the ocularist on Monday afternoon. She's really great. The process of fitting Landon with this scleral shield has been a bit traumatic for us both. Robin, the ocularist, informed me that my son is "abnormally strong." Yea, tell me something I don't know. When she went to fit him for the shield, he squeezed his eyes shut so tightly she had to pry them open with her hands to get it in. This was a three person job! And we had to do it 8 times; 4 times to put it in, 4 times to take it out! By the end of the 3 hour appointment we had had it. We had all hit our limit (my mom included) and were ready to get out of there. Robin was very patient and did a lot of work in one day. 

This is how every appointment has been.... every six months.... until yesterday. Yesterday my baby climbed up in the chair all by himself and sat quietly while Robin took his eye out, polished and cleaned it, and put it back in. Then he picked out his sucker, we paid and left. Seriously! In and out in under 30 minutes. I think I was more upset at the fact he acted like a big boy than I was when he kicked and screamed. Robin said to me "remember when I told you he would do this one day? That he would climb up here with no fighting and let me do what I had to do?" I just smiled and shook my head. That seemed like eons away from where we used to be. Holding him down was THE worst part. He almost always fell asleep on the way home from sheer exhaustion from fighting us so hard. He didn't even sit in my lap this time!! (I'll admit I was slightly offended at this :)

So this is a very cool milestone for him and for us. He truly is becoming a little boy and not a baby. Unfortunately, I think his brother is reaping the repercussions for this. He may be a baby a little longer than Landon out of sheer force from his mom! Yesterday was awesome!

Obeying!

Landon got a very detailed biblical lesson in obeying yesterday. For some reason he woke up in a foul mood and it carried over into the afternoon. Our discussion went something like this:

Mom: "Landon you HAVE to obey me and daddy. Jesus tells us in the Bible that we have to obey Him and our parents.

Landon: "And you have to obey MiMi and Poppy."

Mom: "Yes, because Mimi and Poppy are my PARENTS so I have to obey them and listen and do what they say because that's what Jesus tells us to do."

Landon: "And Keaton has to obey me."

Mom: "No Keaton has to obey mommy and daddy just like you do." 

Landon: "And you have to obey Mimi and Poppy."

Mom: (rubbing her hands down her face quite aggressively) Landon lets worry about you obeying instead of everyone else okay? I need you to start doing things the first time I tell you because I'm not going to tell you to do something 5 times anymore. You HAVE to do it the first time!"

Landon: "No you don't say it 5 times. Say it this many times! (holding up 5 fingers!!)"

Mom: "NO ONE TIME! and if you don't do it after the first time, you're going to time out."

Landon: ......

Mom: "Do you hear me??"

Landon: ......  now playing with his Spiderman puzzle, he no longer realizes I am in the room.

So we'll keep working on it.....  :)

10 minute strawberry pie!

I took the boys to pick strawberries last week at the farmer's market in Manvel. It was awesome and we came home with tons of berries! Jeremy and I ate our fill through the weekend and I still had an entire gallon size bag of strawberries left. What's a girl to do? Bake of course!

I found this strawberry pie recipe in my cancer kids cookbook (you must check out this website. Brooke is a little girl I used to take care of when I worked pedi oncology. Her story and her family are amazing! As is the cookbook, in which all funds go to the organization her parents have set up in her honor.) I haven't actually tried it yet, but my lifegroup will be my guinea pigs tonight :)

10 minute Strawberry Pie:

8 oz. cream cheese 1 grahm cracker crust

3/4 cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract

1 pint strawberries quartered

8 oz cool whip

Cream together softened cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Pour into pie crust. Leave 2 tbsp. in bowl. Toss strawberries with remaining cream cheese mixture and pour into pie crust. Top with cool whip and enjoy! 

Just needs the cool whip!

And what day full of baking is complete without a fabulous sioux chef?

Our crazy life!

If cloning was Biblical I'd be all over it! But since it's not... I need a maid, a nanny, and a taxi cab service so that maybe I can have ten whole minutes to myself! Since that isn't going to happen, I'll just keep trucking along in this blessed little world we live in and enjoy the life of a semi-stay at home mommy. My babies were road warriors yesterday. We went to Little Gym, grocery store, home for lunch and a quick nap for Keaton, to get Buggy a haircut, Sam's for diapers and such and then home for dinner, bath, and bedtime! WHew! That wore me out just thinking about it all over again. I am very grateful that God has given me well behaved and somewhat patient children as they were drug all over town yesterday, in and out of shopping carts and car seats. Thank God for mild mannered kiddos!

So if that isn't enough of an update of what's going on around the Hall house, here's some more!

What is it with boys and trees ?

We took the boys on their first camping trip where, as you can see from the pic above, they had a blast! Keaton will take a little more adjusting but soon we'll be on the road all the time!

Moose celebrated his first Easter and we all celebrated Jesus' Resurrection! Love these boys.

Mommy and her Moose! (Landon was quite the uncooperative one at this moment!)

Buggy has started swimming lessons and true to typical Bug, he plowed into the water off of the steps on the first day! Thankfully there was an instructor near by that grabbed him up and sat his bottom back down. You can't swim just yet Bug!

I took the boys to pick strawberries last week and we made a haul! 2 strawberry pies coming up this week. They loved it!

Blogging is a hobby of mine. Finding time to blog is quite difficult. I promise to do better :)

catch up!

Hello Blog world. Things around the Hall house have been great. We are loving the beautiful weather, just wishing Mother Nature would make up her mind! I went to bed Saturday morning and it was 64 degrees. I woke up Saturday afternoon and it was 44! H-E-L-L-O?? It is almost April right??

We are taking the boys on our very first camping excursion this weekend and we are psyched!! We leave Friday morning for Jellystone Park. We are praying that the sleeping arrangements in the RV will sort of work themselves out, but all in all I think we'll be okay. I can't wait to post tons of pictures.

We are thrilled that spring break is over. So many unnecessary crowded places and kids EVERYWHERE! I really wanted to take the boys to multiple places, but soon realized so did every other mom. We attempted the beach last Sunday and soon realized that was a huge mistake. As I sat and watched all of the teenagers with their coolers of beer, dangerous driving, and ridiculously horrible language, I realized quite simply that I am OLD! It was only 10 years ago that I was one of those teenagers. Thank God for grace and wisdom :)

So Bug is back in MDO and Moose is almost officially on the loose! He is just minutes away from crawling and I am soooo sad. I really want him to be a baby (an imobile baby at that) just a little bit longer. He and Landon play together so much and it is hilarious to watch! They truly do LOVE each other and it makes Jeremy and I so happy. We will enjoy these moments before world war three begins in a few years. Keaton's favorite place to go in his walker is Landon's room. If ever I don't hear him or can't find him I know exactly where he is. He just goes in there and sits. I think he's contemplating about what he's going to steal, destroy, or break first :) Why else would it be his favorite room in the house?

Starting to wonder

"All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness!"

~ 2 Timothy 3:16

My Bible in 90 Days challenge is uuhm.... CHALLENGING! I am about 8 days behind at this point.  It hasn't been exactly as I've wanted it to be. Constantly trying to stay caught up has led me to read it more like a book and not like the Bible if that makes sense. I haven't been dwelling on God's word because I've just been ... reading. I knew sleep would be the one thing I would have to give up if I wanted to get this challenge done. Well, the boys have decided that it's nice to wake up at 6 am now. Couple that with the fact that I am the least eager morning person you will ever meet and there you have it.... 8 days behind! 

On a positive note, I have learned so much about the characters in the Bible that I never knew. I knew much less about the old testament than I was willing to acknowledge, but like they say "knowledge is power" so I trudged on through the not so "interesting" parts and have made my way through Jeremiah. Our pastor @ BACC  started a series last week about the Exodus and it's cool to be able to sit there and know exactly the scripture he's referencing. 

As challenging as this is, I think I'll do it again. I don't think I'll be able to finish it in 90 days this go round' but I'm trying. I'd love to be able to complete the readings day by day instead of 3 days in one and so on. I want to know God's word and be able to relay that to my boys. So I'll keep trudging on. Any encouragement you have would be great! 

And since most of you just check this blog to see the boys... Here are a couple of cute new pics :)

Spiderman's fate!

Landon, as many of you know, has a Spiderman obsession! He also has a new bad habit. Quite a while back he smacked the baseball over the fence in our back yard. Ever since then that's pretty  much what he aims to do every time he plays baseball. He's actually gotten very good and he's successful at this goal more times than not. His very fit and agile father simply jumps the fence throws the ball back over and hops back over into our yard. His very unfit mother with the very bad knees is not quite able to do this so easily. Point to remember: our back yard backs up to the main road in our subdivision... the very BUSY on a Saturday main road.

This morning Landon was playing outside and came in to announce that he had thrown several things over the fence. When I climbed up on the chair to see what it was, several turned in to 8 things! 3 balls, 2 bats, a Spiderman maraca, a football, and a piece to his mechanical t-ball set. We have had this discussion before. "Landon, we DO NOT throw things over the fence!" Later, we went to return some library books and I stopped my car and picked them all back up and threw them  into our yard. Then there was a 10 minute lecture on NOT throwing things over the fence. Do you see where this story is going?

We weren't home 10 minutes and he came in and announced that he had proudly thrown Spiderman over the fence. "How many Spidermans?" "Uhmmm... 3 Spidermans!!" He wasn't lying. There were all three of them laying lonely in the grass. Guess what? That's where they're staying too! When I came back in to get onto him he had already put himself in time out. Which was no fun for me :) But it was funny and I had to abruptly turn around so I wouldn't laugh. 

His punishment is that all 3 Spidermans are staying where they are and I believe that only leaves him with one to play with. So if you bought him a Spiderman for his birthday, my apologies to you! He asked me if another little boy was going to get his Spidermans and I told him yes! He wasn't really happy about that so maybe he's learned his lesson.

Poor lonely Spidey!

The other part of his punishment....

This is the only Spiderman he gets to play with for now :)

Birthday Boys and belly aches

It's official.. I have a three-year-old! It makes me a bit sad but with those three years comes amazing memories along with hilarious stories and adorable photos. I also have a six month old. And that just makes me downright upset! There are so many contrasting differences to Landon and Keaton and I just don't have enough hours in the day to log them all. With your first child, I think you spend countless hours just staring at them... while they sleep, eat, play and poop. With the second, I feel like I'm lucky to catch a glimpse of him every now and then and when I finally do... he's six months away from being one! Oh my... (TeArS!!) Change of subject!!

I had three goals for Landon by the time he turned three and they are as follows:

1- Sleep in big boy undies.

2- Sleep in his own bed all night.

3- (I did not imagine this would be the hardest one) POOP IN THE POTTY!!

I have always thought Landon was a little more mature for his age (this could most certainly be my imagination.) But this attachment to his pull ups is making me nuts!! After 4 1/2 hours last Friday of running to the potty every 10 minutes, a washing machine full of yucky undies, and a suppository (yes that officially makes me the worst mom in history!) we gave up and gave in. He's back in pull-ups for poop :( Not really sure how to tackle this problem so I'm gonna check into it and get back to you. We have officially succeeded with numbers 1 and 2 so we're on a good streak :)

Like I was saying... hilarious stories and adorable photos. I love my babies more than I can say and I am totally smitten with being their mom! 

Some Bug and Moose photos for your enjoyment :)

@ Chuck E. Cheese for a birthday celebration with Mommy and Daddy.

MMMM... ice cream!

Moose with a little incriminating cake evidence :)

Love this baby!!

Mommy's big boy!

updates

Things have been busy. Lots to update you on!

Bug has started little gym and loves it. After the first day he settled right into it and I think the bear crawls on the bar is his favorite activity. He now asks every week to go play at "yittle gym."

His front rolls are quite impressive!

 Moose has started solids! His independence is growing and he looks like a little baby bird when he eats with his mouth ALWAYS open and waiting!

He also LOVES peas!

 Someone grew two new teeth and has become a man eating monster! Any and everything goes into his mouth. Heaven help you if it happens to be your finger :)

His toes appear to be his favorite snack... After I remove the sock fuzz of course

My baby bug turns 3 tomorrow. I cannot believe how time flies. Moose will be 6 months three days later. I can't handle all of these growing milestones in one week! We are very much looking forward to Landon's  jumpin jungle party on Saturday. We will be enjoying an evening out with him tomorrow night for a surprise birthday treat to Chuck E. Cheese while Mimi keeps Moose. We can't forget the surprise Spider Man cupcakes on the way to his school tomorrow morning, along with his new big boy bike on Saturday morning. Maybe a bit much for a 3 year old, but it only happens once right? :)

What a week!

It has been a very busy several days around the Hall house. With both boys falling victim to RSV and ear infections, sleep has been missing around here. Might I had that I NEED some sleep! Not exactly how I wanted to start off the year, but thankfully they are now much better. Just an occasional wheeze and cough. Nothing a little Xopenex won't fix :)

We attempted to enjoy the BCS National title game with the Longhorns, but game time fell smack in the middle of bath and bedtime. Thank goodness for DVR's and the pause button! Although the boys were very geared up and put their best Horns forward, UT got beat by Alabama. Poor Daddy! 

In other news, Keaton got his first tooth in!! And the second should be right behind it in the next couple of days. The teething didn't make him feel much better while he was sick but I suppose it was good that we got it all over with in one shot. I'll try to get a picture of it on here soon. We are getting ready to start solids next month. We'll see how that goes...

Landon's 3rd birthday is creeping up in the next few weeks. He's already picked out his Spiderman plates and napkins and is ready for Jumpin Jungle! Feb. 2nd is the real date. I think I'm going to surprise him and take some cupcakes to school for him. Maybe Spiderman cupcakes. He's been walking around today singing happy birthday to himself! Once he turns 3 we can start swimming lessons at the YMCA! 

My Bible in 90 Days challenge is moving ahead. I always seem to fall a day behind but I'm caught up now. It has been very hard to find reading time with two needy kids this past week, but I'm thinking the enemy knows that and he's trying to use it to his advantage. Not happening! I'm also back on track with my healthy eating. I took a major hiatus during the holidays but now I'm back on track and getting ready for Mexico!!

We are also very ready for it to warm up so we can get out of the house! I would like to go to the zoo or somewhere for some fresh air. Some warmer fresh air. I don't really dig 32 degrees! 

So that's the Halls weekly update! Stay tuned for more!

2010 Challenge

Me and a few other girls from our lifegroup have decided to get together and read the Bible in 90 days! It is, among other wishes for 2010, my biggest desire. I don't do resolutions any more because I never stick to them. I have always wanted to read the bible all the way through. I just never knew how to tackle it. So I am super excited about this challenge and I am WAY happy that I have friends to spur me on. Iron sharpens iron right? :)

Other goals for this year would be becoming healthier (which is always a goal) and spending more time with all three of my boys. I want to be a better mom this year. Not that I'm a bad mom now. I just want to do a better job of motivating myself to get out of the house during the week. There is so much to do in this area. I want to go to Moody Gardens, Children's Museum, the zoo, and the beach. Landon really enjoyed that last year before I got too big and it got too hot. I am ready for spring to get here so we can go to the park and have picnics. I suppose I will have two little road warriors this year. 

2010 is going to be the year of the FAMILY! Jeremy and I will also get to celebrate the marriage of my cousin and his new wife in May... did I mention this celebration takes place in Mazatlan, Mexico? AND the whole FAMILY is going. I can't wait!! It will be a great little vacation for us as well minus our beautiful babies. Thankfully we have FAMILY to watch them for us. See, I told you it was the year of the FAMILY :) I am so thankful for ours! 

What's your challenge for 2010? I would love to encourage anyone who reads this blog to jump on the Bible bandwagon. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a life changing experience. 

Almost New Years

Christmas has come and gone and so the hustle and bustle as well. Thank goodness. I do not enjoy trying to pick out the perfect gift, long lines, returning things, or picking up the mountain of new toys at the end of the day. But we did have a ton of fun and the boys made a haul as usual. We are looking forward to a very good 2010. 2009 did not disappoint! With the addition of a new baby moose to the family, it couldn't have gotten much better. Here are some Christmas pics. Enjoy!

The Real Christmas Story

Justa Bloggin': The Christmas Story

This is a friend of ours from high school. His post says it all. This is why I love Christmas.

Nothing too interesting going on around here. Just trying to ready ourselves for Christmas. We've been trying to teach Landon that Christmas is really about Jesus' birthday so we've incorporated making Him a birthday cake this year along with cookies for Santa.  We are also using Santa to our advantage when bad behavior seems to rear it's ugly head. And boy has it been. We have seen Santa about 17 times in various locations out and about and Landon seems to think that Santa is his new BFF. I have threatened to call the North Pole more times than I can count! :) Enjoy some updated pics~

Note to self: Do not try to wrap presents while in the company of children. You will NOT get anything accomplished :)

But you might find a really sweet present!

This is as good as it gets for our snow pictures this year. Not much of it stuck to the ground, but Landon insisted on playing soccer in it anyway :) You can tell we don't get much cold weather by the terribly unmatched winter attire!

He loves his Bumbo.

Cheesy man decorating the tree! It looks much better than last year when only the top half got decorated. I imagine it will look like that next year too :)

Daddy helping Bug put on the ornaments!

SHHHH!

Love that smile.

You talkin' to me?

Daddy told him you wear stockings on your feet. Goofball :)

Their shirt says "What Santa doesn't bring Grandma will!" Isn't that the truth.

The only way we can get him to eat well is to threaten to eat his food before he does. Hmmm.. teaching him to be greedy wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but he's eating his veggies :)

My house is quiet. VERY seldom does that happen around here any more. Very seldom does Landon nap and even more seldom than that do they both nap at the same time. There are a million things I would love to do right now, but my blog has been neglected so it takes the top prize.

Things are well in the Hall house. Thanksgiving was great. We had a delicious feast and spent time with our amazing family. We can't wait to do it again for Christmas. Landon has a very keen awareness of what Christmas is about. Mostly presents, but we keep reminding him that it is also Jesus' birthday. We took the boys to see Santa yesterday afternoon and if you have seen last year's picture of Landon with Santa you know we were hoping for a better outcome this year. He watched him very closely as we got closer to the front of the line and then made a beeline for him with open arms when it was his turn. He hopped right up in his lap and told him exactly what he wanted. " A scooter, a geetar (not sure where he got that pronunciation), and a Barney DVD!" I hope Santa reminded him to be a good boy. Christmas Eve should be lots of fun for Jeremy and I this year.

Moose continues to wear his imaginary halo each day along with his smiles and coos and little giggles and squeals. He has become slightly more fussy but I am convinced he is teething. Whether or not those teeth will actually come through any time soon is yet to be known. He is starting to see and reach for his feet, and will roll from his tummy to his side, but that's about as far as he's interested in going. He is most definitely my laid back little man. I just busted out the 12 month clothes today since those are all of Landon's winter clothes. Amazing! He just looks like he's 8-9 months to us. We love every chubby little inch of him :)

I promise to keep up with my posting a little better... as long as my children will cooperate!

Updates :)

I have severely neglected the blog. So much going on, so little time to myself and my hobbies :) Halloween has come and gone and I must say...I had THE cutest superhero boys ever. Bug ran around as a super cute Spiderman and his baby brother made an adorable Superman. We had a great time with his cousins and family at my Nana's house. 

We went to the zoo this past Friday with Izzy and Abby. Somehow (with Nicci's help of course), I survived my first big outing with both boys. And boy was it an adventurous one. After moving both car seats into Nicci's van and loading up strollers, diaper bags, carrier and sack lunches we headed out. Not five steps from the van and lo and behold... Keaton, resting snuggly in his Jeep carrier, puked ALL over me and him. FUN... so we headed to the zoo entrance :) As we were winding through the monkeys Landon states calmly that he has to potty. I think he had to go pretty badly but he didn't want to leave the monkeys. By the time we found the restrooms and I took him out of the stroller he was full blown bawling his eyes out! He had a death grip on his private parts and was near to crawling to the restroom. So we start to trot and  notice that it's field trip Friday... aka a VERY long line of kids and strollers outside the bathroom. We made a U-turn and headed back to the table, I stripped him down and threw a pull-up on him and told him to teetee in that. He did, so forcefully that it leaked out all over his pants and down his leg into his socks! Now he's really upset!! So I stripped him down (again) and changed his clothes while the other kids stared at him and I can only imagine what their mother's were thinking of me stripping my child down in the middle of the zoo. Thank God for little boys :)

After that the rest of the trip was very uneventful and we had a blast. Great weather, great friends and big smiles!

Keaton is growing like a weed. He is also a fabulous baby. He has gifted us with 12 hour nights of solid sleep on his part. For that we are VERY thankful. He wakes every morning with a big toothless grin and I cannot get enough of it. I love being their mommy!

almost forgot!

Needless to say with the addition of Keaton, things have been a little busy. We have finally settled into a routine and Landon has adjusted greatly to his new little brother. Keaton has been a huge blessing to our family. 

So here's what I almost forgot about. It's been a year since Landon had his eye removed. October 16th was the big day. That whole situation is what prompted this entire blog thing. Those days haunt me sometimes. The surgeries, the holding him down, the endless doctor's visits with probing eye exams. Yea, sometimes they all come flooding back for no reason at all and I have to remind myself to breathe. Then I stop and look at where we are NOW. I am reminded that God has brought us through that storm and I have a perfect little boy. Maybe I didn't really forget about it. Maybe it was just somewhat repressed. Either way I am greatful for the lessons learned and the strength we've obtained. 

After the initial injury and surgery. April 08'

Have you ever seen a cuter kid in glasses?? :)

We made endless trips to his office and most of the time he had bad news for us, but he was always honest and he loved my baby! Thank you Dr. Holz!

Immediately after surgery.  Soon to follow.... the horrible post-op experience!

My one-eyed baby pirate! 2 weeks post op.

Who has a fake eye???

There is nothing my Bug can't do. That part has amazed me. Part of my saving grace has been that he was so little when this whole mess happened. He will never remember what it was like to have 2 eyes. As far as he's concerned he does :) One day I'll sit down and tell him the whole story and show him all of these pictures and more. And I'll be able to give him my testimony about the whole ordeal. Maybe one day he'll get to share his testimony to other people about the awesome things God does. Until then, I assume he'll keep trucking along as fast as his little legs will carry him. 

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord. "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with ALL your heart."

Jeremiah 29:11-13