Funny things Cash says...

Cash: Daddy, I need my driver.

Noah: Well, where is your driver?

Cash: I threw it over the fence... but daddy, I'm not proud of it. 

2 month check-up

Stats:

Height: 23.5 inches (70 something percentile)

Weight: 12.1 pounds (60 something percentile)

What you are up to:

Sleeping 7-8 hours a night at a time (thank you)

Eating 4 ounces every 4 hours during the day

Smiling more and more (although I would love to see you smile more)

LOVE bath time. And you actually really LOVE to take showers with mommy

Staying awake more and more

Overall, you are easy going and love to move around. You are such a special person to this family.

Love,

Mom

Trips to Houston...

Cash and Presley don't get to see Noah's family as much as we would like. They live in Houston and it is getting harder and harder to get down there with mine and Noah's work schedules. So when we can go to Texas, we jump at the opportunity. 

It is so terribly important to Noah and me that Cash and Presley know their grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. We want them to build memories with them and ask desperately to go visit them. Here are some of the pics from when we made a trip to Houston right before my maternity leave was up...

Enjoying craft time at Chick-Fil-A...

Spending quality with Owen and Brady. On a side, Brady was completely enamored with Presley. He told him mom, "Mommy, you know why I like Pwesley so much? Because she is so pwetty." Sweet little cousin...

Spending time with O-dog...

Just napping on KayKay...

Introducing Papi to The Sandlot...

Meeting CiCi for the first time...

She loves her Papi. He calls her Sweet P...

Being held by so many family and friends is hard for a little girl. She was wiped out...

Love,

E

A working mom...

This is an interesting post to write. I wanted to write it to my babies. But I also wanted to write if for me. Either way... here it goes...

I love my job. I mean, really love my job. On any given day I get to: meet new people, help people with something and anything, and get to use my brain and education that I worked so hard for. But trying to juggle being a working mommy and spending as much time with my kiddos as I would like is a very hard. I take that back. It is extremely hard. Harder than I could have ever imagined. I feel as if there is some imaginary line about being a working mom and still finding time with my kiddos. And I constantly feel like I am walking a tight rope about where my time is spent. 

I wake up around 5:00 a.m. every day to start getting ready for work. I wake Cash up around 6:15 so that I can see him and eat breakfast with him every morning. I want that special time with him and I selfishly want to see him before I go to work. I wake Presley up around 6:30 to get her changed and love on her quickly before I leave at 6:43 a.m. (I have it down exactly what time I have to leave to get to work on time) to go to work. I see my first patient at 7:00 a.m. and stay pretty busy until my lunch, around noon. On the days my mom watches the kids, I try to have her meet me at my house for a quick lunch and a little lovin over whatever food we happen to eat. On the days Cash is in school, I will work out at work over lunch. I go back to work and typically leave around 6:00, if I have my paperwork done. I come home to a husband who has dinner going and to two babies who are happy to see me no matter what is going on. 

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I get off work at noon. And I pick Cash up from school and go get Little P and we just hang out. Sometimes we do fun things and sometimes we just be. Be together. Be in each others presence. It doesn't matter to me, as long as we are together. 

I don't write this to give someone a timeline of my day. I told you at the beginning... this is for my babies and me. But it is important to me that my children know why I may not have been able to make it to everything like other mom's.  This is so they can see how much I think of them during my day. And how much I try to make it to where I can see them at any point in the day... even if it is for 5 minutes. 

I love them. I love how much they want me around. I want to be with them every day. Morning, noon, and night. But it's just not that way right now. I love what I do. I love how it makes me feel. But I love being a mommy. And I love how that makes me feel. 

I am still trying to be the best mommy, wife, friend, physical therapist, daughter, and sister I can be. It is a work in progress. But I am enjoying the process. I want my kids to know that I worked. I worked for a living. And I worked at being their mommy. And I worked at finding a balance between the two. 

And I am still working on both,

E

Valentines party time...

Because of my work schedule, I don't always get a chance to go to Cash's school stuff. I missed the Thanksgiving party and the Christmas party. I wasn't going to miss the Valentines party. So I took off work early and brought cookies. No time to make cookies. But I did buy them with love. Here are some of the pics I took while at the party...

E

There is just something about...

 
                                     

There is just something about a new baby. The new baby smell that is draped in their little clothes. The new baby grin while they are off in a babies dream world with absolutely no clue what they could possibly be dreaming of. It's in that place, that deep deep dreaming place, where I believe the dreams you dream when you are awake, truly live. The dreams that will someday lead you to the person you will dream to be. The things you will dream to do. The life you will dream to have. I believe, for some strange reason, that these dreams begin early. 

And that is why you smile when you dream, baby girl. 

Because you are so happy in the life you will live that it is all you can do. Smile. 

There is just something about a new baby. A feeling of a fresh start. That all the wrongs you did before can somehow by righted. No doubt, you will make new mistakes and probably repeat old ones. But the overwhelming feeling that you can improve and change to raise this little baby that is completely and helplessly counting on you. Now that is a marvelous feeling.

Ahhh... there is just something about that feeling.

E 

My littlest Valentines...

We try to keep Valentines Day rather small around here because Noah doesn't much care for the day. He thinks it is a Hallmark holiday and would rather not celebrate with the rest of the world. Whatever. 

Here are a few pics from the ever-so-loving day.

One of my Valentines slept through half the day, while the other one played on his new putting green with his new bucket of golf balls. 

Rough life these two live,

E

Funny things Cash says...

Me: Cash, you make mommy very happy. 

Cash: Yeah.

Me: Cash, what makes you really happy?

Cash: Uuummmmm... Jesus and golf.

Well then.

Sophia is 1...

One of my very best friends from high school had a beautiful girl about a year ago. She was very much a miracle baby. Prayed for. Thought about long before she was born. And now celebrated and loved by so many people. Sophia's mom, Kassie, asked if I would snap a few pics of the party for her. Well... of course! What a lovely party and a very blessed little girl...

Happy happy birthday baby Sophia. Aunt Erin loves you!

E

Random picture time...

It is that time again... time for a picture post that is so random you just to know what to do. Pictures that won't really fit into another post without someone raising an eyebrow and saying, "What the heck are those pictures doing in there??"

Love my little family.

E

First smile caught on camera...

This is what you get when you ask Presley to smile for her daddy... 

Daddy is in big trouble...

E

Do you ever...

Do you ever just sit and marvel at your children and wonder how in the world you were chosen to be their tangible compass on this Earth?

Do you ever stare at your children while they sleep and pretend they are dreaming about you?

Do you ever lie with your children and put your ear up to their heart and just listen? 

Do you ever smell your babies and pray you never forget that sweet baby smell?

Do you ever look at your spouse with amazement that you two, together, created these amazing creatures?

Do you ever sneak up behind your child while they play alone and listen to them use their imagination and tear up because they are growing up without your permission?

Do you ever promise yourself that no matter what happens in life, your children will know without a shadow of a doubt that you love them more than anyone... except their daddy?

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night in tears because you had a bad dream about one of your kids and all you can do is rush to their room and pray?

Do you ever wonder how your life will be in 20 or 30 years because of your children?

Do you ever think about the fact that one day you will not be here and your children will only have memories, pictures, and stories about you to pass on?

I do.

And that is why I have this blog. So that my children can read this when they are older. And they can read it when I am gone and remember me and my unwavering and relentless love I had for them. 

They can read it like a story to their kids. And their kids kids. And their kids kids. A magical story about a wonderful boy and a marvelous girl. And what they did in life. And how I was a part of that. And they might feel, in some distant way, that they knew me. I mean, really knew me. 

E

(Please share with me some of your "Do you ever's". I would love to hear them)

Merry Christmas from our family to yours...

Oh yeah, and welcome to the world Presley Mae!

The Allens, 2012