Sew many ideas!!!

I was very fortunate to receive a sewing machine for my Birthday :) Thanks to Mike and his Family. The crafting world can be overwhelming to say the least, I am often either so overwhelmed I don't know where to start, or there is just so much i want to do I don't know which project to choose. I have to admit I love being crafty, or rather I love the process of figuring things out. so i decided to start by making dresses for Merci and my two nieces. So I bought some yellow fabric that was already shirred. I cant believe how naive I was in the fabric store, I honestly thought that I could just cut the dress to length and sew a seam down the back and girls would be off twirling in their beautiful yellow dresses. Well i am happy to say that the dresses turned out adorably, but it certainly was a learning process, by the third dress ill have to say i had so many new techniques i had learned and had PLENTY of ideas on how i could do it better the next time. all in all i enjoyed having a project. Next time i will buy fabric with a little more give though, i had Merci wear hers to the children's festival and by the time she was done running around there was a rip at the bottom of her dress :(

Merci and her friend Jordy at the Children's FestivalSorry i don't have a very good shot of her in it, my goal is to get a picture of all three girls

Time to start Swingin

Mike, his Dad, and his Brother Mark have been working on and off (Due to Rain) on building a play-set in the backyard!.!.!.! I am so excited! its not even finished yet, and it has already changed our life so Much :-) We are so blessed to have Mikes Dad help us on these projects. if it were left to us we would probably end up with a beam and one lonely swing on it. But because I know I have a Father-In-Law who is a craftsman, I get to dream a little bigger. Our play-set is going to have 2 "Big Girl" swings, or so Merci says, and a Baby swing for Bennett. It will also have a slide, a deck up top and my favorite part........a clubhouse below!.!.!.! I know! all I can say is I was never so blessed as a child. Here are some pics of the beginning stages:-)The Kids did so well while I worked. My Job: Getting the Yard Ready.........Let's just say it was hard workOh, and by the way, the only reason it was my Job to get the Yard ready is because I have a very BUSY husband, and I'm not very patient........plus I'm weird and like projects like this :-)I'll post more when it's complete

......and so it begins ;-)

Here Bennett is working on his newest accomplishment. We have also been pulling ourself up on EVERYTHING! His favorite place is in the crib when he is suppose to be napping :-)

Some Pics of our little cuties :-)

Kids being Kids :-)

A rare find.....any mom knows that a picture with both of your kids looking at the camera and actually smiling, is a rare find. That is why I Cherish this photo

Merci and Bennett

Merci Dressing herself (in the month of December......Brrrr)

Merci Painting :-)

Bennett sitting in our freinds Purple Bumbo chair........Priceless

Little man is 6 months old

Our little man is not so little these days:( it is so sad when you look back and it feels as if you have hardly taken a breath and already your children are 3 and 6months. it is so funny to me the different perspective we as parents have taken with our 2nd child. With Merci I was praising every accomplishment and preparing her for the next milestone with eagerness. But with Bennett, although I do prepare him for the next milestone by exposing and giving him ample opportunity to achieve these milestones, my fists are not up in the air pumping with exuberance, my heart is often sad to see that the time is passing just as swiftly as it did when Merci was his age. I am excited to see the man this little boy is going to become and pray everyday that my children will be a light in this dark world, but as a mother I often have to remind myself to just BREATHE! here are a few of their recent accomplishments and favorite activities

Merci:

• Loves being outside

• Loves Dancing, singing and role playing (we are now into the "okay mama you say this.....and then I say this.... and then we will do this.....")

• Loves helping brother with anything and everything

• can trace her name and sing the song we made up for it. (It has been a process to get this girl to sit down and color or work on letters, she is constantly moving around.)

• can hit a ball with her bat 4 times out of 5 on average

• Loves dressing up

• Loves Cinderella, and adores the life size Cinderella doll her uncle Jay got her for Christmas

• We are going to start a more structured Pre-school schedule so please pray as we officially start homeschooling.

Bennett:

• has been sitting up since 5 months old

• loves his baths, he's a total splasher and loves to kick his feet when you lay him down in the bath.

• has his first 2 bottom teeth

• loves to smile at EVERYONE:)

• Loves playing with (or watching rather) other kids at church, and Loves playing with the little boy I watch on Mondays and Fridays, even when Parker's screaming because he doesn't want Bennett to mess with him.

• Just started solid foods and loves his Avocados

• we are still working on him taking a bottle so that mom and dad can get as few dates in.

• Hes taking two 1hr naps and a few cat naps a day:))))

• I thought he was a poor sleeper, but as it turns out he actually sleeps longer than his sister did, its just that she went to bed later and therefore didn't wake up till morning. I guess I just was wising he was like his sister who slept from 11-7 he sleeps from 8-4 nurses and then goes back to bed till 7.

update.....finally

I keep hearing how much i need to do an update........so sorry:( I cant find my camera cord and so i haven't been able to upload any new pictures. and personally i enjoy reading blogs that put pictures up, i love seeing how much the children have changed since last i saw them, so i guess I've been putting it off because i assume others are the same way. Mr. Bennett has changed so much, he is our little smile guy, which ironically for our Combs family pictures Bennett didn't smile hardly at all......Kids, they are so unpredictable:) we do have a case of the no naps, and still waking up at around 2am, and for as many times as I've read the baby whisperer you'd think I'd be able to figure this little guy out. but we are putting him on a pretty strict schedule which he seems to thrive on, it is so foreign to me, Merci was on a pretty lose schedule just as long as i did E.A.S.Y (eat,activity,sleep,yourself) with her she would take 2 three hr naps and still sleep through the night, Bennett.......not so much. I'm singing hallelujah if i get an hour nap out of him, more typically he's a 45 min nap taker. Which i hear from Mikes mother that she was lucky if mike would even take a 45 min nap, so I'm assuming it must run in the family. Michael and i were so spoiled by Merci, she slept through the night at 6 wks, so you can imagine the frustration we feel with Bennett still waking. but i blame part of it on the fact that he is still in our room :( but Merci and Bennett share a room (or at least Merci shares a room with Bennett's crib) so i just cant figure out how to transition him in there with out completely disturbing her. i know i probably sound desperate, but if anyone has any suggestions or knowledge on the area i would love your advice. hopefully i will be able to figure out my camera situation this weekend and put up some new pics of the kiddos:)

Merci's 3rd Birthday

Can I just say........... I did things right this year:) I gotta say I love parties, but i don't always love all the stress of putting a party together for a 3 year old. so I decided I would have a family members only party at our house this last Saturday, and a Friends get-together at a local indoor-play-area on Merci's actual birthday last Thursday. I loved it and more importantly Merci loved it, I think she loved it mainly because it felt like for the past week we have been doing something special in honor of her birthday. here are a few pictures of Merci's special day(s)

Merci playing with friends Abi and Craig

Playing with best friend Jordy and cousin Aubri

Showing off her new kicks.......Sweet! I love them, thanks aunt HannahCool hat.....Right? Thanks Mimi and Papa Combs

my next project

here is my inspiration: I'm sad because they are both knit :( the top one is actually listed as a beginner knit scarf, so I think I may try it even though I'm not very good at knitting. its just so elegant, i really want to make one.

Here is the crocheted version: from looking at the pattern it seems pretty simple. I hope it turns out

Bennett's Arrival

Well we have been home for almost a week now, I have to admit the recovery from this birth has been a longer process than with Merci, but i cant complain much because i had my Mom, Dad and Husband looking after me for almost an entire week. we were scheduled for an induction last Thursday, we had to be at the hospital by 6:30 am. I kept praying (basically pleading with the Lord) that i would go into natural labor......I did not want to have to be induced, but Bennett was way too comfortable in there. At 8:00am I was administered Pitocin, my Dr. then broke my water at 12:30 and by 1:46 pm Bennett was Born. It was a whirlwind of events, I didn't even get the Epidural I was intending on getting, but all in all it was an amazing Birth, and just like Merci we now have another amazing birth story. I can officially say that both of my children were delivered by nurses (my kids just dont have the patience to wait long enough for the Dr. to get there). We are so happy to all be home safe and Healthy. The Lord has truly blessed us, and we are so thankful for our new little addition. Its amazing to me how much is different this time, I just feel so much more calm, confident and sure of myself this time around, the Lord has taught me so much since Merci was a newborn.

Merci's new room

This has been a much dreaded day.......this officially means that Merci is no longer my baby, but a BIG girl now. she had to move out of the nursery into her big girl room :( I am excited for the new changes we are making to Bennett's room, but i feel as though a piece of me will be getting painted over, when we paint that first wall. its so hard to sit back and just watch her get older......where did my baby go? I am excited to see the little girl the Lord is molding her into, but my heart aches for that little toddler who was so dependent on me. Tonight I came home to her sleeping in her new room, on her new bed that her PaPa Combs made for her. I think its hard for me because i didnt really think that she would be sleeping up there already, i thought we were going to start by only taking naps up there....for her sake and mine, but apparently I'm the only one who is not taking this transition well. She helped Daddy get it all ready by putting the sheets on it and decided that she was sleeping up there at night too.

A New Name

So we thought we were set on a name for our little boy, but as it turns out Caden is more popular than we would prefer. So we just kept on searching, and though i feel that we have come to a name I am not going to promise anything in case we meet our little guy and feel that it is not the appropriate name for him. Mike and I have certain expectations for the name:
1. we wanted it to be either biblical or have some sort of biblical reference
2. we wanted it to be as unique or as uncommon as Merci (which has been the biggest challenge)
3. and we wanted to be able to use Michael as the middle name.

So we have decided that his name is going to be

Bennett Michael Combs

according to one of our baby books it is the formal version of Benjamin, which means son of my right hand.
But, on the internet it said it was a variation of Benedict, which means Blessed.
So....either way i figure our little guys name has a pretty cool meaning30 weeks: sorry facial expression is a little funny, but these were taken with Mike's phone so they aren't the best. We are hoping to get a few maternity shots done this weekend so hopefully i will be posting those soon!

Our little Man FINALLY has a Name!!!

So Mike and I, after much deliberation, have finally come up with a boys name!!!! We are going to call him Caden Michael Combs!!! It was quite a process to find a name that both of us loved. I wanted to love it the same way I did with Merci, her name was so easy it was picked out before we even know she was a girl, and was loved by most. It has really been stressing me out. I am also really excited about Caden's room, even though I will cry when I have to paint over the paint job my best friend Kacy and I did for Merci, it is just so beautiful in there it breaks my heart that we have to paint over it. But I am learning that the Lord wants me to work on the struggles I have with change, so I am taking the attitude that this Change is for the best and we will have the perfect little room for Caden when he comes. So what I am thinking is...... on the wall the crib rests against, will be big Argyle Diamonds, in shades of blue or maybe green depending on what bedding we find, it is so hard to find plain bedding (Surprising, I know!) I think that the bedding should be plain since the wall is going to be the focal point. Mike is totally on board with this as long as Kacy and do all the tapping for the diamonds, which I have already got directions on how to do, so hopefully it all works out according to the vision I have in my head!

Girls Trip!

My best friend Kacy and I flew down to Arizona Friday Night for one of our friends birthday. It was so much fun, we had an absolute blast. We hung out by the pool, went shopping, ate out, danced around, sang songs as loud as possible and were just plain silly. it was a trip I will never forget. here are some pictures from our fun weekend.

A new Heart in the Family

This adorable little heart shaped baby is the newest addition to our family. Mike and I went to the Dr. this morning for an early ultrasound I am only about 8.5 weeks along but my Dr. wanted to get a more accurate due date, which is now Sept. 25. Aside from being nauseous and Tired I would say it has been a pretty average pregnancy, I was blessed with an easy pregnancy with Merci aside from some nausea so we are praying this one turns out the same. There is so much to think about with the 2nd one on the way like:

• is Merci really ready to move upstairs all by herself

• We now need to transition her into a big girl bed (which has been on my mind but i thought we would tackle potty training first)

• How is Merci going to react to a new little one

• How am i going to function with 2 kiddos for the first 6 weeks with no sleep (and that's saying that the 2nd one sleeps through the night at 6 weeks like Merci.......Yeah right!

If anyone has any baby name ideas I would love to hear them we are willing to consider anything.

Potty Time!!!!

Merci is starting to potty train, we have had four consecutive days in a row with no accidents.......and that includes #2 Yay!!!!! I cant believe how big she is. at first we started with her just hangin around the house with no pants or panties on, because she was peeing right through them........but oddly enough as soon as she was naked she was running to the potty yelling "PEE-PEE" so we just left her naked. She has now got it down enough to where she is wearing underwear, but no pants, maybe next week we will have it down enough to where she can wear pants too. I really cant tell you how awesome she has done I guess my expectations weren't high enough because she certainly superseded them.

Happy New Year!

This New Years we went out to Applegate for Jon Coursons prophecy update, which I so look forward to. Then we headed outside to the amphithetheater where there were these huge bonfires, and we all sang worship songs, and they also left up all of Christmas lights from the Christmas eve service......it was breathtaking! We then got to spend time with friends celebrating the new year. God Bless this new Year, may we find comfort in him.