Shutterfly Christmas Cards

It's my favorite time of year again! Christmas card season! Well, I guess Christmas comes in a close second ;), but I really love getting and sending Christmas cards. My favorite company to use for Christmas cards is Shutterfly. I love to be able to personalize my Christmas cards with family pictures from throughout the year so that people can see our growing and changing family. After Christmas I have the "Changing of the Cards" on the fridge and I arrange all of my new picture Christmas cards so that we can admire them all year round and remember our friends and family. Shutterfly makes it really simple and easy, just upload your pictures and insert them in a card. The hard part is picking just ONE card to send! Some cards even have the option to stamp and mail them for you! How easy is that! So, be looking for them, they may even arrive on time this year...but the Christmas cards are coming!



Here are some handy links to some of Shutterfly's great Holiday Card deals!

Christmas Cards: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

Holiday Cards: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

Christmas Photo Cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

Will You Marry Me?

This past weekend, our good friends Kristen and Kyle, along with their two kids Chloe and Elijah came down for a visit. It was a great time to catch up with good friends and let the kids play. Even though the girls only see them once a year, they still remember each other and love to play together. Kyle is the one that Josh and I asked to marry us, hence the title of the blog :) Here are some pictures of their visit.

Kristen and me enjoying an evening of games

Caroline enjoying the long awaited hay ride at the pumpkin farm

Our sweet little pumpkins!

Not Meant to Nurse

I noticed that I hadn't posted in a while and was going to wait until I had pictures of the girls from our recent trip to NY. But then I thought, you know what, I know that other people just want to hear about my girls, but it's my blog and I'll write about what I want to!
Mothers who successfully nurse their children have no idea what goes on in the heart of a mom who is unable to nurse for any reason. Whether we make a choice not to from the start or life events make the choice for us, there is much turmoil in a mother's heart. Maybe it's just my heart, so I'll just share for me.
For all three of my children I have not been successful at nursing. Each child has their own experience and reasons for not nursing, but each child ends with the same result, formula fed. You would think I would see by now that even formula fed babies are smart and healthy. My babies rarely are ill and are just as bright, if not brighter in my unbiased opinion, than any other breastfed babies their age. Yet it still hurts when people make comments or when you see an ad for breastfeeding. There is still a longing to have had that connection, to be in that club, to save all of that money! I remember crying flipping through Parents magazine seeing ads for breastfeeding and feeling like such a terrible mother. Though I don't have such extreme emotional responses with the third child, I still question myself at times. I worked harder than ever this go round to nurse. I nursed Sydney when she was just minutes old, I nursed frequently, pumped frequently, used herbal supplements, talked with lactation consultants and still was not able to nurse her. I felt like I worked so hard and should have been rewarded for that with a wonderful nursing baby! One friend asked if I had tried perscription meds....nope... I didn't.
So as I noticed that I am still producing milk after not having nursed for over 2 months I started to wonder...what if I decided to give nursing another shot, maybe I could take a perscription. So I did a little research into Relactation. Besides the constant nursing, re-latching and other efforts I would need to get my already low milk supply up, I have two choices for persription meds. One they do not sell in the US, the FDA does not recommend it. The second one is Reglan, which I am HIGHLY allergic to. So...really there is no choice.
And now here I sit, reflecting on my experiences and realizing that up to this point (who knows what the future holds!) I am just not meant to nurse. Do I love my children with all of my heart?? Absolutely! Am I doing my very best to take care of and nurish my children?? You betcha!
So to all of you nursing moms who have NO IDEA what it's like to not be able to nurse your babies: I bottle feed and I am proud of it!

Two Months

This is a picture that was taken by Terre Conner two years ago when we stayed at her house in Rockford, NC. Terre passed away last night after fighting an 11 year battle with cancer. We love you Terre! The girls can't wait to join you in Heaven!






Yesterday we celebrated Sydney's two month birthday! It is so hard to believe that she is already 9 weeks old! Have we really had her in our life for nine weeks already?? Time is passing so quickly! I am definetely able to enjoy Syd's baby stage so much more this time around. I'm not so stressed about the infant stage and I have two wonderful distractions ;) Sydney had her check up this morning. She is growing and developing well. She's measuring at 50% in all areas. She's 10lbs 5oz and 22 inches long. Although to Dr. did say she was advanced at holding her head up, we're so proud! She really is a wonderful baby. Some of my girlfriends helped me problem solved with her daily schedule (we're a Babywise family) and these past two weeks have been wonderful! She is playing and napping like a pro, we even survived her 8 week growth spurt. And like a good girl, she gave me 8 solid hours of sleep last night!!!!!

Now today we not only got to go to the Dr. for Sydney, but Caroline also needed to be seen. Last night Carbear and Daddy were playing around and he heard a "pop" in her wrist, so this morning we went in and got some x-rays taken. Thank goodness there was no break, but he did say it was sprained. Of course, Caroline has been living it up today. She enjoyed breakfast and lunch in bed with her arm propped up and watching movies all day. Sounds like the good life to me! Here is a picture I snapped of Caroline resting in bed, but still wanting to love on her baby sister!

These next two pictures were just an opportunity we couldn't miss! Sydney looked so cute this Sunday all dressed and ready for church we couldn't resist a good photo op!

Our newest family change has been Mak starting soccer. She LOVES it! After explaining to her that she has to listen to the coach and do what he says at practice, things have been going quite well. She feels so special wearing her soccer clothes and tells Caroline she'll have some when she gets bigger. She is growing up so fast!

Sydney also enjoys joining her sisters at soccer practice ;)

Let the Dieting Begin!

Sorry again for the long break between posts, but I have three good excuses :) Life has been going well these past few weeks, are are starting to settle in to a little rhythm.
The girls are adjusting better, although they have been taking turns who's week it is to misbehave. We have started our "Responsibility" Chart with Makayla, telling her that things like getting dressed and not whining are her "Jobs" for the day. The second week we saw marked improvement in her behavior. Caroline... well, she doesn't quite understand that the chart isn't for her too, so she still gets a little motivation from it. What she doesn't know won't hurt her :) Aside from some potty accidents and some bossy attitudes, she's doing pretty good. Both of them LOVE their sister and love to help take care of her.
We also started a little bit of "school" with Makayla. We aren't sending her to preschool for many reasons, so we are just working on numbers and letters from home. Target has some great stuff in the $1 spot!
I have gone back to work. It was sooner than originally planned, but it going well so far. Josh is helping make the transition smooth and we are working well at co-parenting. It's nice to feel comfortable leaving for work knowing your kids are in good hands! It has been good to get back in the swing of things.
And today marks the big day when I start getting in gear and start working out! My 6 week check-up went well this past Friday, the Dr. finally explained where all these babies are coming from! Hopefully we got that taken care of for the time being! So now it's time to get serious! Although the nurse applauded me for having lost my baby weight, it was only Sydney's. I still have 30 pounds to go to get back to my original starting weight before Makayla. I'm hoping to be able to work it off in such a way to create a new life style, but it's hard cause I want it off now! It will come, just with a lot of work and patience!
Josh has been doing well going back to work. His fellow nurses threw us a baby shower this weekend. It was so nice! It was good to meet the rest of his co-workers. They put on such a nice shower; the girls had a blast because there were so many other kids there and Josh and I were very blessed by everyone's generosity! Sydney will be well provided for!
Well, due to technical difficulties there will be no pictures tonite. I hope to post some soon!