6 months

Since Liam has hit that pivotal half-year old mark otherwise known as 6 months, I thought it would be fun to look back at the girls at the same age and compare the siblings. You can definitely tell that they are related!

Brooklyn at 6 months

 

Tierney at 6 months

Liam at 6 months

They are all such cuties!

Two crazy girls, one camera

One of Tierney's favorite things is to use Mommy's camera and snap photos. I usually don't let her play with my camera and instead hand her the kid's digital camera to snap photos on (the camera is real, but doesn't take spectacular photos and it isn't the same in her mind). The times that I have let her she takes some interesting shots of the floor, the carpet in particular, or shots up her nose. It's pretty funny when you're looking through the camera and see what she takes.

But, recently, I gave in to her almost daily request and handed her the camera. I showed her how to point it at something, other than the floor and up her nose (ha!), and let her get to work. She decided to take pictures of me. So, we went back and forth taking goofy shots of each other. We were cracking up. She's such a fun little girl. And, we even caught Daddy in the midst of our crazy photo shoot.

Here are some photos... Enjoy!

AND... This post wouldn't be complete if I didn't post a couple photos of my oldest and youngest.

Miss Sensitive to the sun

Liam loves to swing - I just need to make the baby 

swing a little more manly and less princessy!

Birthdays, Real Estate & More...

My precious baby Tierney turned ONE last Thursday, October 8. I can totally remember when she was born, and although the calendar says it was one year ago, I remember it like it was yesterday. But, I guess that's a common memory for moms, huh?! In fact, the night before her birthday, we were running errands and we drove by the hospital she was born at and I remembered checking into the hospital at about the same time we drove by to start the induction process. A wave of emotions flooded me as we past the hospital and I felt those same nervous, anxious and excited emotions all over again. I even remember the pain I was in. I had an epidural, but it really didn't take that well, so I felt most everything. That and the doctor's had to increase the strength of my contractions and up my dosage of pitocin. Suffice it to say, I was in more pain than I had ever been in and could ever imagine. And, how I could barely keep my eyes open during those last few hours of hard labor because every contraction I squinted my eyes so hard, giving myself a headache and making it hard to see out of blurry contacts. But, the minute (3:54 p.m.) she was born, all the pain, the blurry eyes and headache completely disappeared. When the doctor laid my second born daughter on my chest, my world got flipped upside down and I immediately fell in love with this precious child God gave me. My little girl, named Tierney. Over the past year, my heart has only expanded that much more with love for this precious girl. She's very loving, very sweet, has a bubbly personality and a fiery way about her and she's as stubborn as it gets. But, I wouldn't change anything about her or one second of my life with her for anything. This time around, I got to witness first-hand every little milestone, every smile, every cry, every cuddle, every look, everything, because I have the wonderful opportunity of staying home with my girls and I LOVE it so much! This year she's walking all around the house and trying really hard to put those words together she's been learning, and I know that this year will fly by and by next year, I'll be wondering where the year went. I wish time could just stand still. But, it can't. So, here's to another amazing year for my Tierney. Happy Birthday sweet baby girl! Mommy loves you more than you can ever imagine!

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My husband turns the big 3-0 this Thursday, October 15. That's right, this is his birthday week. He has only 3 more days of being a 20-something. He's not too big on birthdays, especially his own, and it's not because he is nervous, anxious, etc. about getting older. But, this year, he's getting more in the birthday spirit I think. We're going to spend his birthday night at a hotel thanks to an interview he did on a brand new hotel in the town where he works and the manager offered a free night's stay at the hotel in one of their suites! You don't have to twist our arm that hard. We're there. The girls are excited about staying in a hotel and going swimming in the pool. And, really Kevin loves, loves, loves staying in hotels, so this is a great birthday gift for him! And, even better, he has the next day off too. Wahoo! It's like a birthday present for me too because what's better than spending time with your best friend. I can honestly say that he is quite possibly the one person that very rarely I get frustrated with. As much as I love my girls, there are days when being a parent is very hard and trying, but being a wife, better yet, being Kevin's wife, I never feel that way. He's such an amazing man and I thank the good Lord everyday for bringing us together. I have known Kevin for nearly 20 years, and my life is truly better because he's in it and because I know him, love him and he loves me. I simply can't imagine my life without him, and I'm so excited to be celebrating his 30 years of life with him. Happy Birthday to my dear sweet husband! You're my everything and I will love you always!

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I have begun a new adventure and I'm really excited. Getting more and more excited by the day really! It's official, I'm a real estate broker! Real estate has always been something that I've kept in the back of mind as something that I would love to pursue if the opportunity arose. Well, this July, that opportunity arose. A real estate class was being offered by a Realtor that I knew from my newspaper advertising days and Kevin knew from interviewing him on occasion for different stories for his newspaper. So, at the beginning of July I went back to school for real estate. Six weeks later, the class was complete, I got my certificate saying I passed the class and had to sign up to take the PSI (real estate) exam. The exam has two portions, the national and the state. I registered for the exam, arranged a babysitter and studied my heart out and went and took the test. About three hours later, I clicked submit on the computer submitting my test to be instantly graded. I looked at the computer screen in the testing room and saw the words "failed" twice. Ahh. My heart sank. I cried a bit walking out to my car and called everyone that I had told about my test and received all words of encouragement, but still I felt terrible. I took the weekend "off" from studying and went at it again. I scheduled a retest and after a lot more extensive studying, I took the test on a Saturday while Kevin watched the girls. Again, I clicked submit, and again that terrible word "failed" appeared again, twice. Ahh..not again. How big of a failure am I to fail both portions of the test not once but twice. Come on! This time, my first call was to my instructor to see what words of wisdom, if any, he had for me. We arranged to meet and go over the material on the state portion again which was very helpful. Again, I studied like crazy for both portions of the test. Again, I registered for the retest. This time I drove about an hour as compared to 30 minutes to get to the testing center. And, again I clicked submit on the test and again I saw the word "failed" but this time only once. Hallejuah! I had passed the state test and missed passing the national test by one, ONE, stinkin' point. Oh well! At least the state portion was behind me. I celebrated my success by redoing my girls' bathroom which now has bright pink walls! I was determined not to let the national test get the best of me, and so I registered yet again for another retest. This time, I looked over the materials very briefly. I have sort of a photographic memory and so lots of the questions came back to me and I looked up the answers I wasn't sure of and that's about it for my studying. So, on the day of the test, I dropped my girls off at my mother-in-law's house for her to watch them and traveled the opposite direction of my previous tests and took the national test. After clicking submit on the test, I prayed to God to please let this be the final time, just let me pass. When the results appeared on the screen, I saw the word I so wanted to see "PASS!" Hallejuah! The proctor congratulated me and I flung my arms out and gave her a hug because I was beyond thrilled and needed to hug someone. Finally, I had done it! I called Kevin and his response was "Yes!" So, finally, finally, I am a real estate broker working with Coldwell Banker. I'm working on getting my first client and I am so excited to begin this new adventure. And, still the best perk of all is getting to still stay home with my precious girlies!

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That about wraps this LONG post up. But, there is one person that I haven't mention and who my life wouldn't be complete without and that is Miss Brooklyn Marie. Brooklyn is such a spark, always trying to learn more and more, has the world's best memory, is a great dancer, a wonderful singer, funnier than ever, a wonderful, truly wonderful big sister and just an all around amazing little girl who I'm sad to say will be turning FOUR (ahh .. makes my heart ache) in December. When did this little girl grow up? When we drive by the hospital where she was born, she waves to it and blows it kisses. So sweet! She can't WAIT to start school next year, preschool that is. I've been doing some things with her at home and she's learned her how to recognize all her numbers and letters and has even learned to write a little bit and really wants to learn how to read. She's fascinated at how everything works. I want to just sit on her so she can't grow up anymore! Is that possible? She just amazes me everyday. I am so very thankful that I'm her mommy. I love her to the moon and back and then some.

What an afternoon!

So, I had to record this somewhere to remember it because it just cracks me up when I think about it.

#1 - Brooklyn enters our bathroom and says "Oh Mommy it stinks in here like tacos ... did someone poop out tacos?" LOL!

#2 - I had the great idea to run errands this afternoon. I had the idea of running said errands after lunch and before naps. Usually this is pretty doable as I can keep Brooklyn awake by bothering her and Tierney by not giving her a pacifier. Well, this time around Tierney already had her pacifier, so she was going to sleep in the moving car, duh! And, I got a phone call that kept me from bothering Brooklyn, so she feel asleep too. So, errands were ran, children were happy, then we come home and I try to put them down for an afternoon nap after about 30 minutes of playtime. Tierney, who doesn't believe in sleep, takes about an hour nap, and then wakes up not wanting to go back to sleep. Brooklyn, who took a 15 minute nap in the car, refuses to go sleep, but lays in her bed for an hour awaiting my approval to get up. For this hour, I'm trying to get through as much material for a test I'm taking tomorrow morning, hoping to get through quite a bit. But, now they are both awake and requiring my attention, so I can't. I say to both of them "You silly girls aren't going to let Mommy have much study time today, are you?" And, little Tierney looks at me and says "Nope," while flashing me a huge smile.

#3 - Minutes after they woke up, our doorbell was ringing and ringing and ringing and ringing. I'm not a huge fan of going to the door because nine out of ten times, it's a soliticer and I'm totally not interested in what they are selling. We've had kid after kid standing on our porch trying to sell us chocolate or their services in bringing in my trash cans, which again, not interested. So, anyway, I went to the door after the first two rings and saw it was the little girls across the street. I immediately thought ball in the backyard but nope, they live across the street so that couldn't be it. I didn't answer it. I went back to the girls. Then, it kept ringing. I finally gave in and went to the door. The two little girls told me that their school was doing a fundraiser and would I like to buy anything. I looked through the magazine and saw they were selling Christmas wrapping paper and decided to buy a roll. After all, they are our neighbors, and my girls will be doing this one day too, and wouldn't I want our neighbors to buy something from them. The wrapping paper is cute and reversible. So, everyone wins. The funniest part was when I went to pay for it and I asked who I needed to make my check out to and they said, "Well, just leave it blank and we'll take care of it." I told them that if they could find out who I neede to make it out to, I would do buy something. They found out real quick! So, we'll have some cool new wrapping paper this holiday season and we supported neighborhood kids. Yay!

#4 - I was sitting in our recliner in the family room looking through work emails and Tierney would can't leave my side at times required me to put her behind me in the chair. As she is moving around, squirming like a worm, scooting to the edge of the chair, I reminded her that she's high up in the air. She just smiles at me. I put her in my lap to protect her from falling but she once again squirms behind me. So, I just watch her more carefully. Then, she lets out this sigh and leaps off the chair, head first into the carpet. She cries for like a half second, looks up at me and gives me the most disgusted look, like as if to say "Hey Mom, why'd you let that happen?" And, then she crawls away from me to play with her sister.

So, all four things happened in a span less than 30 minutes. All I can do is laugh. Aren't kids just the silliest?!

One month left

Seriously, there's only one month left before my baby girl turns ONE! It doesn't even seem possible. Time has gone by far too quickly. It makes me sad and excited at the same time.

Tierney is such a wonderful addition to our family. She has an amazing personality, so bubbly and bright, so inquistive and so sweet, so gentle and so loving. While she's a true Mama's girl, there's nothing more that excites her than when her Daddy comes in the door after a long day at work. He's greeted with loud squeals, smiles and a "Hi Dada!" The only thing that comes close is the excitement she has when she sees her sister for the first time in the morning or after naps. I can attest that being greeted by this precious little one by a squeal, a smile and a giggle just makes you melt into a puddle right there. She's not much of a sleeper at all and because she hates her crib and being confined, she sleeps on a little kid sized pull-out sofa on the floor of her room. It works, and she's gotten a few full nights of sleep, so we're sticking with it. She crawls everywhere and tackles the stairs like they're nothing. She loves to play and when her big sister pays all the attention to her she just lights up. But, I can say, that as much as her face lights up at the sight of us, our faces and our hearts light up so much because she's a part of our lives and a part of our family. I'm so thankful God choose me to be Tierney's mama (Brooklyn's too!). Nothing in life is sweeter, more challenging or more rewarding.

Here's to one more month of my baby being a baby before she is officially a one year old...

Through her sister's eyes

Tierney as seen through Brooklyn's eyes, or rather her camera's lens. Good pictures though taken by a 3 year old of her 6 month old sister.

Such sweet photos!

My sweet baby

My baby is growing up, a little too fast for me though. She's now six months old - half a year old. At her doctor's appointment last week, she weighed in at 15 pounds, 10 ounces (25th percentile) and is 26 inces tall (95th percentile). She's quite a good size baby. She's already wearing a few 12 month outifts, which to me is crazy because as I pull those outfits out, I remember Brooklyn getting them at her first birthday party. And, she's already wearing a size two shoe, which once again Brooklyn wore at age one, but Brooklyn does have small feet.Kevin and I have decided that Tierney will be even more mischevious than her sister is or was simply because she watches everything her sister does and we can tell she's taking notes. The other night as Brooklyn was running back and forth from our living room into the kitchen, Tierney who was playing in the living room started screaming and crying as Brooklyn ran past her. When Brooklyn would stop, so would Tierney. She has an amazing grip and go-go-gadget arms that fly in every direction to grab the thing she wants, and she most always gets it. She sits up pretty well, but loves being on her tummy so much, she'd rather do that. And, even though, babies don't typically crawl until they're nine months, she has got the army crawl, scoot across the floor thing down pretty good. On her tummy, she can turn in a complete circle just for fun, or she'll roll across the floor to get what she wants. She isn't quite strong enough to hold up her body and actually crawl, but I have decided that it's okay, because once she's mobile, oh how things will change! She's been eating solid foods for about two months, and I really haven't found anything she doesn't like. She'll eat it all. So very, very different from Brooklyn, my non-sweet eater. The only challenge we have with Tierney is she really isn't interested in sleep, day or night. I think there's too much going on and too much she feels she might miss out on if she sleeps. But, give the girl a nice warm bubble bath and a massage with lotion, and she will sleep a little longer than normal. We have a few other techniques we've been using to help her fall asleep and stay asleep longer. And, while the nighttime awakenings can be very tiresome, she always puts on a pretty smile and cuddles, so it's all okay.

And, since I get to stay home with my girlies, I get to watch how they play, love on and irritate each other on a regular basis and I can say nothing is sweeter. Brooklyn really loves being a big sister, I think now more than when Tierney was first born, simply because Tierney is a bit more mobile and actually able to play a bit instead of just lay there. And, Tierney is the sweet little sister whose eyes light up when she sees her sister walk into the room or when she pays attention to her. They're going to be the best of friends, I can already tell.

I was always worried before Tierney was born that I wouldn't be able to love another child with the intensity and passion that I love Brooklyn with, but I was wrong, I can. Your heart just grows as my mom told me and it's so true. My life wasn't complete without my sweet baby Tierney, just as it wasn't without Brooklyn or Kevin in my life. I feel so very, very blessed for my family and love the chance to get to be a part of my girl's everyday, every moment life.

A mom's heart

Being a mom is the hardest but most rewarding job I will ever have. It's a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, awake in the middle of the night, then up for the day at the crack of dawn and exhausted before the 10 o'clock news kind of job. It's a job where you're on-call all the time and have to be prepared for anything that is thrown your way. It's a job where you are paid in hugs and kisses. And, it's a job that you will have for the rest of your life. Sure the day-to-day duties will change, but a job that involves your heart, sweat and tears is one that will stick around forever. And, I'm so glad God choose me to be mom to my amazing little girls! I work every day to be the best version of myself for them, not because they demand it but because they deserve it. I want to be a good role model for each of them, and I truly desire for them to both grow up with a sense of who they are, feeling secure in that, and ready to take on the world.

Recently, I have had the chance to just sit back and watch Brooklyn interact with others, and it makes my heart feel so warm. She does listen to everything Kevin and I tell her. She does hear us and she does pay attention. It's a very rewarding feeling. At home, she definitely tests her boundaries (what kid doesn't though!?), and we've both come to the realization that we can be pretty strict with her. I don't know if it's because she's the first child and being a first child myself I know that parents can tend to hold that child to a higher standard than their siblings, or if it's because we know what she is capable of and always want that from her. But, she is a kid after all, and a darn good one, if I do say so myself! She's got an amazing sense of humor, loves to play mommy to all her babies and stuffed animals (she even nurses them!), is quite fiery, but loves a good snuggle.

Tierney's personality is just starting to blossom and I love the chance to get to know my baby girl that much more. I can already tell, she's going to be a risk taker. There isn't much we try with her that she objects to. She'll try anything at least once before she decides if she doesn't like it. She's a pretty calm baby, simply loving to people (especially kid and other baby) watch, but she does love to be held. She's very grabby, gets her hands on anything and everything she can, and boy is she quick! I can't wait to see the person she's growing into. She may be and probably will be my last baby and I am just soaking up everything all the time.

My girls are so very important to me and how they turn out is a reflection of how they were raised. I want them to be responsible, loving, caring, independent, inspiring, strong, courageous, honest, Godly women. And, when they look back on their childhoods, I want them to have the fondest memories. And, when they grow older, I want to be their best friend and the person they can turn to for anything and everything in life because I will always be here for them no matter what. I love them both unconditionally and completely now and forever.

Here's what we've been up to lately...

Checking out that baby in the mirror...

Building a Lego house...
Making dinner out of Play-doh...
Checking Tierney's toe jam...

Swimming...(Tierney loved the water!)

Decorating the house on laundry day...

Cheering for the Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII...

And, having lots of fun being silly!

I realize I haven't blogged recently,

but I have a really good excuse,

okay two really good excuses... So, who can blame me?

Huh!?

Mommy, what is THAT!?

35 months & 6 weeks

Brooklyn is exactly 35 months old today and it's also Tierney's six week birthday. These milestones, if you will, are leaving me with the distinct feeling that my girls are growing up way too fast. I look at Brooklyn and I no longer see a toddler, she's totally a little girl, having lost all of her baby look. She can carry a conversation like she's an adult. And, Tierney is growing like a weed. At her one month appointment last week, she weighed 9 pounds, 5 ounces and was 22.5 inches tall (that's almost 2 more pounds and 2 inches taller that when she was born). She's smiling and cooing. It's so incredible. Both of my girls will always be my babies, no matter how big or old they are, and I feel so blessed to be their Mommy. I love them more than they will ever know.

Here's a few fun current photos of them...

Brooklyn in Daddy's wig

demonstrating how old she's about to be

An attempt at catching Tierney's beautiful smile

Sisters before their baths, just talking away

Tierney's Baptism

This day marks a very special day for our family, and a very special day in particular for Tierney as she was baptized. As our pastor told us before the baptism, there are three times a child is born. The first upon conception, the second upon birth and the third on the day of their baptism. The pastor encouraged us and Tierney's godparents to remember this day for Tierney each year and celebrate it as her spiritual birthday. We've done this with Brooklyn's baptismal birthday and we plan to do the same with Tierney. We praise the Lord for our baby girl and promise to raise her in His word and by the example we set.

"Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." -Matthew 28:19

A photo to commemorate the day with our family
and Tierney's godparents (Todd & Jessica) and their kids.