Sunshine!

The past few days have felt like summer and we've been enjoying our time outside. Natalie loved sitting out on the deck in her bouncy seat. I had to keep checking to make sure she was breathing since it was so windy...but she was smiling and kicking away.

She was sweaty after sitting out on the deck, so I took her clothes off of her to give her a bath...but before I could she fell asleep sitting up in Daddy's arms. Oh.. and the hands in the mouth have just started the last couple weeks. I feel like she might be teething already because the drool has really picked up too! :)

I'm loving her cute spring/summer clothes. She looks so adorable in her little capris. She is such a good girl. I have no idea how I got so lucky. I could just EAT her up! :)

We headed up to Cleveland on Saturday afternoon to visit Papaw in the hospital. He has cancer and it's so hard to see him sick. He and Mamaw (Mike's dad's parents) have been watching Benny, once a week, since he was three months old...so Benny is close to him and has been praying for him each night. Please pray for him as he goes through this. We just don't want to see him suffer. Papa and Nana were at the hospital too and we went out to dinner with them afterwards (picture below). I think seeing Ben and Natalie lifted their spirits.

Finally, just a few pictures of my favorite little man the last couple of days. The bottom right picture is Ben throwing the Tigger ball at me...I snapped the picture right before it hit me in the head. :)

Back to life...

...back to reality. I go back to work tomorrow (today by the time most of you read this). It's been a really fun 12 weeks at home with my two favorite munchkins in the whole wide world. I feel anxious about leaving Natalie for the first time (other than for an evening out here and there), but I feel very blessed with our sitter situation. Granny is coming to watch them tomorrow and she will do a fabulous job, as always. It just doesn't matter who they are with...I hate to leave them. It will be good to see my coworker pals and to get back into the swing of things at work...but my heart still hurts to not be with them all day everyday. I just hope they both know how much their mama loves them and that there is no job in the world that I enjoy more than being their mom!

Brother and Sister

I've been enjoying my last week as a full-time stay-at-home mama. I go back to work next Wednesday and will keep my part-time schedule (three 10 hour days a week). I like my job a lot, but it's hard to leave my babies...especially after having 12 weeks of nothing but the two of them! I leave them in good hands, so that is comforting at least! Here are a few pictures from this week...I took the one's below this afternoon. I love Nattie's new shirt and I thought she looked adorable in it! (By the way, it's 6-9 mths...see how she fills it out already?!)

We had fun playing in the basement all afternoon yesterday. All of the toys are down there and I had been avoiding it since Natalie was born because it was a TOTAL disaster (I think that's how Ben would show his jealousy...when I couldn't give him my full attention, he'd terrorize and then act like everything was totally normal?!). Anyway, we did a major clean up/sort/organize effort yesterday afternoon and I feel much better! I didn't take any pictures of the results of our hardwork, but I did take a few of my cutie pies!

Oh..and I had to throw in these two pictures. We were playing in the tent and Ben was telling Natalie stories with all the stuffed animals. I look over and see that he has placed Grave Digger (the giant monster truck pillow) on top of Natalie. Apparently she didn't mind...it was all part of the story...made me laugh! I can't wait to see how their relationship develops. He already has a nickname for her....Natster! :)

Happy Easter!

I attempted to take some pictures of Ben and Natalie together this morning before church....this is the best I could do! :) I wish I could have gotten some smiles out of my little girl...but she turns into Miss Serious when the camera comes out. (By the way...Keets, if you read the blog...thanks for the cute outfit for Natalie!)

I posted a blog back in September about a song that was sung at church at the time called True Love. It was sung again this morning and really sums up what Jesus did for us when he died on the cross. We hope each of you and your families had a blessed Easter.

Trip to Smoky Mtns (4) - Just hanging out...

When we weren't out exploring, we spent our time relaxing and playing in the cabin. We've been to Gatlinburg many times and we always stay at the same resort. It's really affordable and it's nice to have somewhere to hang out at night other than a small hotel room. We were able to save money by making several meals in the cabin and there was a game room in the basement that Ben and Daddy loved (pool, pinball, golden tee, etc).

Here are the rest of the pictures that didn't fit anywhere else! :) I loved spending several days with my little family. We had so much fun!

My best buddy and me being goofy on our last night...

Trip to Smoky Mtns (3) - Aquarium

We spent one afternoon at the Aquarium of the Smokies. We knew Ben would have fun and we had heard it was really nice. Ben loved exploring and checking out all the fish. He got to touch a weird looking crab and a sting ray. By the way, Natalie and I were actually here with Mike and Ben, even though it doesn't look like it from the pictures! :)

Just some of the creatures we saw. The sharks were pretty neat...check out those teeth! Ben was completely afraid of the Sawfish in the bottom right picture. It's "face" was really creepy looking!

Trip to Smoky Mtns (2) - Hiking

We didn't let the weather slow us down. We had so much fun hiking! Natalie was awesome and a great little hiker...slept the whole time. Ben traveled to Gatlinburg at her same age, so it was fun to look back and compare pictures. I don't think he was quite as heavy in the carrier though! :) He is getting pretty heavy for his carrier now too...luckily Daddy is in shape and could carry him when he wasn't able to walk himself.

Laurel Falls - We chose this hike the first day because it was paved. We pushed Natalie in the stroller. I thought maybe the wheels might fall off by the time we got to the top though. I'm not sure I consider this trail totally paved...it felt a little like off roading most of the time. :)

This was just a short hike we took the second day. There are several old houses to explore on the trail, so Ben loved it. Of course we had to make up stories about who lived in them, etc. Ben is still talking about the "rickety old houses." :) When we started this hike is was in the mid-40's...about a third of the way in it started to snow and was literally a blizzard. It wasn't all that cold, but there was TONS of snow. It was actually really fun!

Grotto Falls - I apologize now if the bottom left picture grosses anyone out...it just made me laugh. This is the first year we've taken Benny hiking that he's been potty trained, so when he had to go, he had to go! I have several shots of Daddy helping him "go" in the wilderness! His little butt makes me laugh.

Trip to Smoky Mtns (1) - Weird weather!

Mike, Ben, Natalie, and I spent the last four days in Tennessee having fun in the Smoky Mountains. We decided last minute (less than a week before) to go during Mike's spring break. We booked our cabin and a few days later made the eight hour trek to Gatlinburg. It was the first vacation we've taken alone as a family ever!! We had a blast together. Get ready for some pictures...

The weather was weird...to say the least. When we arrived it was 80 degrees...the next day is was in the high 40's...the following day is got even colder and snowed (even closing down parts of the park due to ice and bad road conditions)...the day we left it was 60 and sunny! Oh well, the good thing about a vacation like this is that the scenery is pretty no matter what the weather.

Just another day...

I put on a Baby Einstein video today...just to see what Natalie would do. I think she liked it. She smiled, kicked, swung her arms, and made cute little baby noises the whole time. I don't get it...classical music and images of toys???

Trying to get Ben to pose with his sister...not the easiest task in the world. :)

Just a few shots of Angy, Pappy, Granny, and the Adam's crew with Natalie. She sure is loved!