11 Months

Olivia,

11 months already. Man this month has flown by! We’ve been so busy lately and since Summer is upon us we wont be slowing down any time soon. You finally cut another tooth today (or during the night). Top right chomper. This time it really bothered you. You have been way more fussy, ran a fever for about 72 hours and did not sleep well at night. And it took almost a week for it to finally push through. But, I still love you.

Your little personality has really started to shine this past month. You have always and I believe will always be very loving, very affectionate. You don’t mind letting us love on you and kiss you and snuggle you. Me and daddy that is. You are about over James and Audrey and all their shenannigans and quite frankly I don’t blame you. I was over it about 6 months ago! You will give us kisses (sometimes) when we ask you to. And you have a wonderful sense of humor. Which will bode very well for you in this crazy family! You crack us up all the time laughing at James and trust me, he loves every single second of making you laugh!

You are not only loving and sweet and have a great sense of humor but you also have a little temper. And I’m not sure where in the world you could have gotten it from. You do not like it if we take something away from you. No ma’am. And you have this little screech. It’s like a monkey. And it’s loud. But, we wouldn’t trade you for anything in the world. And we are all very sad that you are growing up so fast and are no longer our tiny baby.

Today while I was playing with you, I was stacking these little books to make a tower for you. You sat and watched and when I was done you patiently took each one off till they were all down. You didn’t knock it over like most babies your age. And you did this every time I built the tower.
I love you, Olivia Ray Mizell, to the moon and back.
Mama

Reflections

Sunday evening I was sitting out on my front porch enjoying the light breeze and taking in my surroundings. You see, I’m a porcher. It's one of my favorite things to do, just sit out there and swing gently. It reminds me of my child hood and sitting out on the front porch with my daddy. He’s a porcher too; I reckon that’s where I get my love for it.

Any way, I was just sitting out there reflecting on the wonderful Mother’s Day I had just enjoyed with my family and it struck me that the coming week is the last week of school before Summer and that means that the week was going to be the last one with James and Audrey at home with just me all day, all week. And that, dear readers, was a little hard to take.

Where oh where did the time go? It just evaporated, so it is true that time is but a vapor. In so many ways it seems like it was just yesterday when Jon and I were starting out on this magical journey of parenthood. Starting out in the most high stress way that two parents can. It seems like just yesterday that I was going stir crazy during the day and that going to the library for story time twice a week was a must for holding on to what little sanity I possess. (We went to their last weekly story time yesterday.) And now, all of a sudden, they are ready to start school. I am ready for them to start school. I feel a peace about it that I did not feel at this time last year when we were thinking of sending them to a 3 day a week program.

It’s amazing how much of a difference you can feel and see in your life when you listen to the Lord’s direction. At the time I kinda felt like maybe it was just my raging pregnancy hormones that made me freak out and with draw their name from the list. Especially after I gave the woman such a fit up at the school about making sure they had a spot. And since keeping them home when I had a new born proved to be one of the most challenging times of my life, for a while I thought that I had made a huge mistake because it was so hard. But one day it struck me that just because it was hard didn’t mean it was the wrong decision. That gave me great strength to press on and even though we have not followed a strict schedule, it has proved to be the best decision that I have made in regards to their well being.

My Mother’s Day

For quite a few years now I have been wanting a better camera. Something that would take better pictures over all, have so many more capabilities than a point and shoot so that I can capture a shot how I envision it in my mind and also something that would not cost an arm and a leg. My dear sweet, darling husband finally made my dreams come true last week for my 5th Mother’s Day present. By far the best MD gift I’ve received to date. Ok, pretty much the best gift I’ve eveR received! However, he is currently missing an arm and a leg.

I have so much to learn and even though some of the info can be a little mind numbing at times, I’m excited to finally be learning more about photography. For the innate love I have for photography, I’m far less educated than I should be about it. But that’s going to change and I am looking forward to it. My Nikon D3200 is a far cry from that first 110 mm camera I bought when I was 10!!

Minnie Mouse

Funny how one little stuffed animal can cause so many emotions. I mean it’s just a stuffed animal! But after all the kids were in the bed the other night and I was cleaning up play land, aka the living room, this little stuffed animal almost caused me to have an emotional break down. Seriously. I can barely stand to even look at it now. It represents so many things to me. The most cutting one being that my baby is quickly growing into, well, not a baby. And that just means my other two are growing just as fast. You never know what the Lord has in store for you but more than likely Olivia Ray will be the last baby to join our family. There are so many different stages in life and when you are young and just starting out, I think that fact gets lost on you. I know it did for me. For so long it felt like things would always be the same at our house. That we would always have crazy wild babies that caused you to have monumental stressed out moments at the end of each and every day. Bath/bed time with the twins used to be the most horrible time of the day. That lasted for a little less than 3 years and then all of a sudden, the kids can bath themselves, dress themselves for bed, and brush their own teeth. Basically stress free! Bath/bed time with Olivia isn’t so stressful but she does require a lot more attention at that time of the day, she is super fussy so I usually end up playing with her until it’s bed time. I am glad that I do that too because before I know it her days of crawling around on the floor playing with Minnie Mouse and her piano and me digging random little objects out of her mouth will be a thing of the past. Before too long, it will be time for Olivia to give up the bottle. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? This past year has flown by to incredibly fast. It feels like I was just big and pregnant and having a hard time breathing outside because it was so stinkin hot. And now my baby is fastly approaching her 1st birthday. I don’t like getting older for the simple fact that time seems to slip away faster and faster. And soon my children wont want to be right up under my arm while I am sitting on the couch writing about them, making it very hard to move. And they wont end up in the bed with us in the middle of the night only to wake me up and say “mama you keep taking my spot. move over.” I must admit though that I might not miss that part so bad. James and Audrey will be attending preschool this coming August and even though we (me and the twins. their daddy aint so happy bout it, makes him sad) are beyond excited for this new chapter in their lives, it’s the beginning of the end. Once they start school, there’s no going back. Before I know it they will be graduating. *sniff sniff* See, Minnie represents so much! 

10 months

Olivia,
My dear where has the time gone? I can hardly believe your 1 year birthday is just around the corner. Here is a short run down of what you are doing these days and your likes and dislikes.
~You can clap your hands together and wave bye bye.
~You can say nah nah and da da
~You can give us kisses when we ask for them. Wide open mouth kisses with a lot of tongue. The best kind! You don’t always do it on command but you can. Your daddy taught you that. I will have to give him credit for it I guess!
~You get down on your belly to look for things that have gone up under couches and chairs
~You have got the cruising thing down and can stand for a few seconds at a time with out holding onto anything. You don’t do it to often but you can do it.

~You grab at everything within arms (or fingers) length and you have a strong grip
~Everything under the sun goes in your mouth. Here’s a short list of some things I have dug out:
      *Paper. Lots and lots and lots of paper
      *Lint
      *Squeenkies (And I have held true to my promise to your sister and thrown them away if I dig them                 out of your mouth. The first time it happened, oh boy. I didn’t think she’d ever recover! But she learned her lesson fairly well and it’s only happened once more.)
      *A FLY. That was so gross
      * Popcorn kernels ( twins are no longer allowed to eat pop corn on the floor)

     
     

~You love to watch Mickey Mouse, Baby Einstein and pretty much any thing else the twins like to
~You love your Minnie Mouse doll and have started crawling around with it in your hand. So cute! It’s also the first thing that I told you to go get and you went and got it.
~You talk to books and love to be read to
~You HATE the play yard. So much so you scream cry every time I put you in it. I’m not sure why though because it has plenty of toys and plenty of room for you to crawl around in. And you used to like it up till about 2 months ago. The play house was even in there but that still didn’t help. So I put the house in the living room and have pretty much given up on the play yard and will be taking it down soon. Since I put the house in the living room you adore it and will play with it for ever.

~You are an attention hog. And I do mean it!! But then who can blame you when every one in this house pretty much attends to your every need at the moment you need it.
~ You screech worse than a screech owl when you want attention or when somethings not going your way.
~ You are an attention hog. Oops, did I already say that? Well, you are. If we are at the supper table and no one is paying you any attention you start screeching until someone looks at you or talks to you.
~You love to stand at the window in the living room and look out.

The only time thighs and bootay cellulite like this are adorable!!

Oh Olivia I don’t want you to grow up. I am enjoying our life with you SO MUCH!! And this stage in particular because you are such a little mama’s girl right now! Oh you love you some daddy and you get excited when you see him and you tease him by turning away from him when he tries to kiss you while you have a HUGE grin on your face. But, you love me! I am definitely your #1 choice and I wouldn’t trade that for any thing in the whole wide world!! I love you to the moon and back, sweet darling baby girl.

Smurf Mom

James started Smurf t-ball up at the rec department here in Cairo this week and he loves it so far. He got a little fidgety the first night, when he wasn’t getting any action, and told his daddy “Why isn’t any body giving me a turn? That’s not fair" and then "I am so done with t-ball.”  I wonder where in the world he could of possibly learned the phrase “I am so done with so and so” and how he knows the correct content to us it in.

Even though it’s been real hot, he has had a blast. He’s a hustler and doesn’t mind running in to home plate all the way from the out field just to try and get the ball. But then again, none of those little Smurf’s mind doing that. You want to talk about quality entertainment, just throw a bunch of preschoolers out on a baseball field and tell them to get the ball. It’s hilarious to watch them all go after it at the same time. We have games on Monday’s and Thursday’s at 6:00 starting next week and going through the end of May. Needless to say, they aren’t taking swim lessons any more!

To top it all off Cason, James’ very bestest friend in the whole world, is on his team! A few people have asked me why Audrey isn’t playing and my first response is because she is doing dance and doesn’t need another activity, swimming was enough. But the more I think about it, I just can’t see Audrey out on a baseball field runnin after a ball, hitting a ball and actually having fun standing out in the heat. We’ve only been out to the field 2x and she “gets so bored” and drives me a little batty by constantly saying “when is it going to be over? I’m so bored. Mama, I’m so thirsty. Mama, I don’t want to sit on the ground. Mama, mama, mama.” I have to keep reminding her that her brother comes to her dance class every week and sits patiently and watches her dance. To which she just lets out a big old sigh and if she were a little bit older would probably roll her eyes at me. She may change her mind (and her ways) in later years but right now Audge podge is too girly to play ball!!

Shower time

Monday night I was helping Audrey take a shower (she’s not the best at getting all the soap out of her hair just yet) and Olivia was crawling around on the bathroom floor. The next thing I knew she was half way into the shower, clothes and all, so I just let her keep on going. She’s a mess!!