11 Month Old Bear!

Sweet little precious baby boy is 11 months old!

Everett you look just like your Dad but are onery like your Mom (some might say.) You push the limits my little darling. I have had to really get onto you twice for ignoring my "no's". You welled up in a cry and took comfort in my arms which immediately made me so sad but within minutes you were right back at it.

You have started this new squinty eyed face, you bunch your little nose up and squint those sweet eyes together. It's hilarious and adorable! It started when I was rocking you to sleep for a nap one day and after rocking you for 30 min and getting nothing but the squinty face I decided to just lay you down in your crib. You immediately drifted off to sleep. So much to the sadness and equal excitement of your  mama we don't rock you to sleep anymore.

You continue to love food! Mac and cheese, and goldfish are new favorites. 

You are learning to make more and more noises with your mouth. Always trying to copy what
 someone is doing to you whether it me growling, roaring or screeching. 

You are getting very brave in the bathtub. Always on the move, playing with the faucet, drinking the water and splashing! 

We have started watching some Baby Einstein shows and you really enjoy it for about 20 minutes! You are showing increased interest in books, mostly to chew on the corners.

Everett you are adding to your already 8 teeth with two more on the bottom coming up. It has made you a little cranky and very needy. Whosever arms you are in and feel comfortable you will not let that person put you down. It has been your Aunt Kelsey mostly if not your mama.

My Darling Boy you continue to bring your Dad and I so much Joy! We love you bear!!

A Birthday worth Celebrating!

Another year and I am increasingly amazed at this woman. Her strength and courage continue to astonish me.

I look back and think, look how far we have come with this disease look how much it has taken from her. And then I think... look how with us she still can be!

Her happiness comes from Everett. undoubtedly! Everytime we speak on the phone she remembers to ask "How is my baby?" The love they share for one another is amazing!

She doesn't remember it is her birthday. I have been reminding her for the past week leading up to it. I want her to know what an accomplishment this is. Living another year is not something to turn your nose up at. She survived another year living with a dreadful disease and she still smiles.

Happiest of Birthday to my hero! Your true beauty still shines and radiates when we are together! I miss you terribly but am grateful to have you still here! I love you more than you know!

My Little Bear is 10 months old

Everett.... you make me SO HAPPY!!

You continue to be the sweetest, most easy-going baby... aside from when you were sick and a little bit more high maintenance. You got a viral infection resulting in fever, mucus, runny nose and a nasty cough. You ONLY wanted to be held my me. We tried to leave you with your Aunt Nene and Uncle Lane for a night so we could go to your Dad's Christmas Party and you whined most of the time. Two days later I took you out shopping, you were on antibiotics for your cold and were doing way better. I had you on one hip while sifting through a rack of clothes finishing my Christmas shopping, you grabbed my hair, pulled by face to yours and planted a big ole kiss right on my lips. It was the most precious moment ever!!

At your last appointment you weighed in at 23.8 lbs! You are now eating everything. You are a big fan of eggs, we started those early cause your Mom didn't know you were supposed to wait till you were older, but you never had a reaction to them and have loved them ever since. You also really like cheese, french fries and mashed potatoes. You will have absolutely nothing to do with the Gerber "puffs" we had loaded up on. They are for infants just learning to eat and dissolve quickly in your mouth. You know now that they are "fake" food and will not accept them as a snack, you want the real deal! We introduced you to cheerios and you seem to be a fan.

At your last appointment we were told to start introducing you to a sippee cup. I already had some and was anxious to get you started on them. For the first couple of weeks you just threw them on the ground and would not attempt to drink from them at all. One night we were eating with your Nana and Grandnana and you picked up that sippee cup and went to town on it and you have not looked back since.

Everett you are making big attempts to walk. I have a feeling it will not be long before you do it on your own. Right now you hold hands with your Dad or I and will walk from one to the other. I am told this is huge even at your age! We are so proud of you!

You are getting to learn the words "No" much more these days. You have a fascination with the Christmas Tree. We are constantly telling you not to eat the ornaments or tree limbs. You have also been trying to sneak into some presents. You definitely have an ornery side my little love!

Everett, you remain your Dad's little twin. Everywhere we go, people comment on how you look just like your Daddy. Your Aunt Nene did say you look like me when you have your sleepy face on. I think this is more due to the fact that we are both a little dazed and grumpy when we just wake up.

You are loving make blowing noises with your mouth these days. At church on Sunday a few of Grandnana's friends were talking to you and you responded by "blowing" in their face.

You like to bite things and you have a really hard bite. You think it's funny to bite my finger, and when I yell "oww" you laugh. It was a fun little game until it really did start to hurt! The other day you had crawled over to Norah who was in her bouncer, and you grabbed her feet and bit her toe... she started crying. You didn't laugh because it was your buddy crying and I sympathized with her. So now we don't play that game and you are learning that biting is not ok.

I cannot believe you are 10 months old my little bear. Life has been made perfect and magical with you in it!

First Christmas

Our Christmas this year was so magical and also very different!

Having a child of our own this year, Drew and I had so much fun shopping for Everett. Everett was a little to young to know exactly what was going on but he enjoyed seeing all the presents around the tree and opening some of his own packages.

I caught myself thinking a lot more about Mary and how she was feeling being pregnant with Jesus this year after having experienced pregnancy and birth myself. I can't imagine knowing that his tiny precious little babe she had given birth to had the "weight of the government on his shoulders." I know I want to shield and protect Everett from everything and knowing that her little baby would be the one to do that for all of humanity must have been overwhelming for her. Not to mention giving birth in a manger.... that makes my experience look like I was in a 5 star resort  in a Caribbean island. Fearing for your new babies life, of being discovered and killed upon birth... Mary is a major superstar! I am thankful that this year I have been able to spend some more time thinking about her this year and appreciating her gift and sacrifice so much more. What a strong and amazing woman of Faith.

This year for Christmas we spent the night at my Mom's house, like usual, but unlike usual Mom's house which is also Nana's house has now become Aunt Tammy and Kelsey's house also. This meant that Drew, Everett, and I along with Patrick who drove in from Dallas, spent the night with Lane, Neeley, Norah and Kelsey all at the house we have lovingly nicknamed "Casa Loco." It is , I believe, the first time ever that the Schmidt's and Lowe's have spent Christmas Eve together and woken up to Santa. It was so much fun to get to share Everett and Norah's first Christmas together in the same home.

 

Christmas Eve we attended a Candlelight service and then came home to a lasagna dinner with everyone included Charlotte and Doss. We opened up presents with them after, and they were so excited to give Everett and Norah the presents they had bought them. I made them some tile coasters with the babies pictures on it for their home since they are so in love with these little ones. Neeley and I baked sugar cookies while the boys watched football and Aunt Tammy finished wrapping. I must say the anticipation of Christmas morning was overwhelming for me as I was so excited for Everett to have his first Santa experience.

I woke up at 5 on Christmas day after going to sleep at 11:30. I laid in bed wondering if I should wake up Kelsey who was on a pallet in the hallway nook. I decided to wait and after laying in bed for 50 minutes finally got my ipad and moved to the hall to watch some Netflix before time to get up. I heard the jangle of Kelsey's charm bracelet and crawled around the corner to find her staring back at me... she was up! We quickly woke up Neeley, I went to make Everett's bottle and get him and Drew up. With Patrick and Lane quickly following and the babies downing their bottles we called for our "Moms" to wake up so we could all see what Santa had left!

Everett, Norah and Kelsey had quite the loot from Santa. For the first time ever, Santa skipped over us "adults". This year us married couples decided it was time to do stockings for one another and take that responsibility off of Santa since he had so many children to focus on. It was fun to see what Drew had picked out for my stocking and the learning curve we both experienced this year.

Everett's big gift from Santa was an Elephant bouncer, pusher. I was so excited about it, of course because it was an elephant. He sat on it for a minute and then decided it wasn't as interesting as the cell phone and keys Santa had stuck in his stocking. Norah got a play mat where she laid contentedly for the remainder of the stocking opening. Kelsey was bouncing off the walls because she discovered Santa had made miracles happen and left her with an Iphone 6!

After we all sifted through our stockings we ate breakfast casserole while Aunt Tammy read the story of the first Christmas and then gave the Fort's and Neal's each a copy to continue our own traditions next year. We continued to open presents for 5 more hours, slowly making our way through the most ridiculous and abundant pile of presents I had ever seen.

 Everett and Norah took naps on and off throughout the morning coming in to open a few of their presents here and there. E got a pile of clothing twice the size of mine. I wanted to get him very special and presents for his first Christmas from his Mom and Dad. For one gift I chose to give him "The Beginner's Bible" I remember having one of these as a child and thought now would be a good time to start reading these stories to him. We also got him a pop-up crawl tube. Our little bear started crawling from one side to the next with no hesitation. He is fearless!

I had a hard time watching my Mom on Christmas. Her experience of it the past few years has gone down hill as her disease has taken over. Her stocking this year was filled with things far less extravagant than in the past. I stuck in things she would recognize and appreciate such as oreo's and her favorite white chocolate kitkats. As a last minute addition I added in a coloring book and crayons hoping it would give her something to do during the days. I spotted mom continually folding and piling gifts up only to go back through them and find she had unknowingly grabbed some of the people's around her and stacked them with her own. I did the majority of Mom's shopping for her this year, with her help. She was unable to recognize when someone was opening up from her sometimes commenting on how lovely the gift was and wanting to keep it for herself. When each of us would hug her for our gits instead of saying "your welcome" she would say "just love me" or "stay near me" or "just be with me." It was a quiet stab in the heart when she was unable to communicate what we expected to hear but felt so raw and real of the place she is right now.

Sharing Christmas morning with our closest family was so special this year. The magic was really there as we celebrated together.  We were surrounded by so much love and utterly spoiled with gifts.

She's turning 85 and is just as stunning as ever!

Today is my Nana's 85th Birthday!

 (This is one of my all time favorites of Nana and Grandy, they look like movie stars!)

I can only imagine the incredible and also devastating things she has witnessed in her 85 years on this planet. What an incredible accomplishment to live through it all and still be smiling at the end of the road... and she is!

My Nana is one of the most incredible women I know. She is strong and courageous. She is wise. She is nurturing. She takes time to make every person feel incredibly special and loved. My Nana is one in a million and I am so blessed she is mine!

When we would come visit Nana and Grandy in Amarillo during the summers or on holidays I would love to go out with them but especially to church because they were greeted by mounds of adoring people who respected and loved them. I remember thinking they were "superstars." I was so proud to be apart of the Blanton family to to be one of Everett and Peggy's honored grandchildren. That hasn't changed. Nana can still go anywhere and someone will come up to her telling her how much she has impacted this person's life, marriage, career, etc. Sometimes I here whispers behind us in line somewhere of people wondering "is that Peggy Blanton?"  I instantly stand a little taller, hold my shoulders firmly back and smile. Yes it is and guess what... she is my Nana!

 (Nana was a rodeo queen for barrel racing)

85 is a big birthday and we decided to celebrate right with Nana this year! We sent out 250 invitations, and made announcements at 3 congregations in town to ask anyone and everyone to come celebrate with us. The venue was none other than the Blanton Place for Encouragement, at the High Plains Children Home. It is the center that was built in honor of Nana and Grandy. It was such a fitting venue because  Nana is so proud of the building, its beauty and its purpose. All of her children were in attendance, which is an incredible fete in itself, along with numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

 

(Haha my mom's face... no words! Everett and Norah were distracted by the jumbo TV on the far wall)

The day was amazing and we were all proud to be an extension of Nana as we watched hundreds of admirers walk through the doors wanting to offer their birthday wishes. The day was filled with hugs and kisses from old friends, and lots of people wanting to see the babies. All in all it was a day full of celebration for an incredible woman and all the love she has showered on so many in her 85 years.

Happy Birthday Nana!! I couldn't be prouder to be one of your grandchildren!!

 

Nana made everyone wait for the group picture so she could feed Everett some cake, which he was obviously loving! I am so thankful these two have moments like this to share and remember forever!

 And we can't have an event without snapping these two loves together! We tried to hard to finding matching outfits, illnesses kept that from happening and then we both unknowingly switched their outfits the day of and they ended up somewhat coordinating! Both took a little snooze during the party to keep their spirits up!

It's Christmas Time!

It's truly the most wonderful time of the year! I love the holidays. Spending time with family and friends thinking about what life is truly about and what makes it most special! Having a son of my own now makes the enchantment of the season so much more exciting. I am loving taking in Everett's first experiences with Christmas trees, Christmas lights and wrapping paper galore! We have played dress-up a few times for some special photo ops to commemorate the season! Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!

 

Morning Sunshine

This sweet boy has been "pulling up" for a while now. In the mornings when I hear him waking up it's not with cries but with babbles. He plays with his blanket in his crib until I come and get him. As soon as I walk in he immediately pulls up on his crib and stands waiting for me. There is something so joyous about a not crying baby in the mornings! Just a smiley boy waiting for his Mom to get him. It melts my heart and starts my day off just right!

 

(This was post nap, and he wasn't happy I left him to go get my camera! It's still pretty precious though!)