Titus

Today we are saying good-bye to Titus. In 2007 Adam and I moved to Indiana. After deciding to wait to get a house until 2008, we agreed on getting a cat to hopefully hold off my baby fever. I went online and found Titus on the humane society website. When we arrived I could not find him and I was extremely discouraged because I really wanted an orange short haired tabby. Adam suggested walking through and looking one last time and thankfully I found him. He was resting in the back of his cage which is why we had missed him the first time.

Titus has been a very good cat. He has had a few accidents over the years, but they all revolve around big changes such as moving and babies being born. It was never a huge problem though because we had hardwood floors so he would pee on something that we left on the floor, like a towel.


Titus loves the girls. It never ceases to amaze me the things that he lets Kaylee and Ella do to him, yet he still comes back for more. They run with him. They jump with him. They dance with him. They play chase and hide and seek. I know they will miss him.

He has seen me through some of my most difficult moments. From wanting a baby to finding out I was pregnant. From hating my job to finding out that I got a new one. From finding out my Momma had cancer to finding out that her surgery was a success. From losing the baby last year to finding out I was pregnant with Charlotte. From quiet times in the morning to playing with the girls in the loud moments of the day. These are times when he has climbed up into my lap and just let me cry or laugh. He has been a very good friend over the years.

Good-bye old friend.

Kaylee's Kidbits

Where to start? Kaylee is the life of our house right now. She has so much energy and is excited about everything!

In the last 9 months her vocabulary has jumped leaps and bounds. Thinking back to when Ella was born and Kaylee came to the hospital to meet her, she could barely put a sentence together. Now she is having full conversations about super important things like the trash man driving down the road or how she needs her phone because her "Mamaw is calling".

She jumps everywhere. I never thought she could love something more than dancing. I was wrong. She LOVES to jump!

Singing is also something she loves to do. Her favorite song to sing is skinnamarinkydinkydink. It is the cutest thing ever. If you don't believe me, see for yourself.

She still loves to dance around the room. She always wants to listen to "Move" by MercyMe. Here is the live version if you want to hear it. (The radio version in my opinion is better on itunes, but this was the best one I could find for you to see.)

Potty training is going well. The only time she wears diapers is at bedtime and at naps. I know one of these days I need to just make the jump on this, but I am not quite ready to commit to cleaning up bed messes. She occasionally has accidents, but it is generally when a lot is going on or we have people over and she does not want to stop whatever she is doing. She has really done great overall!

She has been learning to share as Ella is getting more into playing. Sometimes this is difficult for her, but she is really doing much better than she used to. (There are times when she shares things with Ella that she shouldn't.)

Titus is still her favorite "toy" in the house. He loves her as well. After our excursion around the states, she held him from morning until night. Poor cat loved every minute. She would put him down and he would rub right up against her, purring, as if he was saying, "Kaylee, pick me up again." They play chase sometimes now. Kaylee will run after him and he will hide behind the couch and then she will run back down the hall and he will jump out and run after her. They do this off and on all day. (Sometimes it startles me because Titus is pretty stinking spazzy when he is running back and forth.)

She counts to 5 now and can sing most of the alphabet. She is such a big girl.

Kaylee brings me joy and I look forward to seeing the new developments that she will make over the next several months.

If Only I Could Nap

I am desperately wanting a nap. However, I am sitting her listening to my almost 2 year old Kaylee stand by her bedroom door crying in protest to the nap that she so desperately needs.

Ella is quiet in her room. I am guessing she is out. Now if Kaylee would just give in, then I could get that nap.

Things here have been ok. I am just taking it day by day.  One day may be miserable, but the next may be great!  Mostly depending on how much rest I have gotten.

Ella has some extreme gas that causes her all kinds of tummy pain. And the girl spits up a ton. She has doused herself 4 different times now where she needs a bath and new clothes after because of how nasty she is.  Poor baby.

Speaking of Ella, she is now stirring in her bed. Kaylee is singing in hers.

I suppose I should just go start some laundry or some other productive activity since it does not seem that a nap is on the horizon.

Joyful Moment of the Day: Ella smiled at me today. Her first official smile. Kaylee gave her first smile to Titus. Ha! Take that, cat, you are losing it!

What is going on with you?

I have been itching to post for a few weeks now, but just haven't had the time. We have been super busy and  when we aren't busy I am too exhausted and typically go to bed.

Adam and I are still discussing baby names. He is pretty set on Elanor and I am pretty set on Lydia.

Our new baby girl is measuring right on where I am currently, which is 27 weeks. It's funny though because I feel so huge, but not in the "fat"pregnant sort of way. Just VERY pregnant.

Kaylee is surprising us every day with new words and comments. She is a joy to us even on her cranky days.  She is getting so big! We are hoping to move her to her big girl bed after Christmas. Her room is still a work in progress, but I am hoping to have it done enough to move her in. 

Titus knows another baby is on the way. The cat has a gift. He wants to sleep on my lap right next to my belly. You would think he would tremble in fear now that he sees what the baby becomes and does to him, but apparently it doesn't phase him that Kaylee throws him around and pulls him off the ground by his hair.

Adam is taking a few days off around Christmas and we are spending the holidays with his family.  I am off until January so I am hoping to get some projects done around here.

I am currently feeling the bite of third trimester even though I technically have a few days before it starts.  I am exhausted, hungry, sleeping terribly, and just having a rough go at things. I am finding that I need to do less and not try to get so much done throughout the day.  This is not good though because I have lots to do.  Please pray for me if you think of me. I need some strength and energy from the Lord.

Adam has been wonderful. He has taken such good care of Kaylee and I. He has even offered to take off on the days when I am not physically feeling very well. He is such a great husband!

We are down to 4 Christmas parties left. If we counted right, we had 10 to start with. 2 of them we could not make because of conflicting schedules. So, we are halfway done with our 8 parties.

Anyways, how are you? I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas if I don't write again before then!

Joyful Moment of the Day: Kaylee is walking around talking on her phone saying bed. I just told her it is time for her to go to bed. :)

The cat cried ALL night!

These last few days have been a reflection of how much I long to be with those I love.  After visiting with lots of different family and friends over our 10 day journey in the midwest I am realizing that I need those people in my life.  Coming home is so... well... lonely.

Add that to the laundry and the sleep that I need to catch up on.

That is where you find me.

I honestly think of myself much like our cat Titus.

We have someone watch Titus while we are gone - checking in on him every few days.  This trip, though, seemed to do a number on him.  The dumb cat literally cried all night long the first night we were home.  Adam finally put him downstairs, but I could still hear him crying his little heart out.  He was so lonely.  Needless to say Adam and I got 0 sleep that night.

I think that I am like Titus in that I need people.  Genuine people that know me as good if not better than I know myself.

So, as I try to pick myself up from my travels, take naps when I can, and start a load of laundry I want all of you to know how grateful I am to have you all in my life.

You are so important to me.

I appreciate the role each of you play in my life.

Thank you.

Joyful Moment of the Day: Hearing Kaylee sing along with me this morning as I sang Jesus Love Me.  She is getting so big!

Bout to go for a walk

Waiting on Adam to get home from work so that I can go on a walk with my friends.  Worked out for the first time today in pretty much a month.  I have tried a couple times to get back into it without much success.  It is quite frustrating because I saw a noticeable difference in the way that I looked after working out consistently for about a month.  Then, I just stopped.  Now I lack motivation.  I don't know why.  Either way, I started again today. Hopefully, tomorrow will have in itself a workout as well.  Please be praying for me in this area.  I really want to take care of myself and get/stay in good shape.  I also desire to be pleasing to look at for my husband as well.  The only way for any of that to happen is I start working out consistently again.  Well, Adam is home now. Off to walk with friends.

Joyful Moment of the Day: Kaylee was pulling Titus's tail today and he just kept loving on her and purring.  Crazy cat!

Hide-n-seek

Yesterday I realized that Kaylee will pretty much follow me anywhere in the house so I decided to hide and call her and see if she could find me.  Sure enough here comes Titus.  (He is our cat.)  I used to play this with Titus before Kaylee was born.  I would hide and start calling Kaylee and Titus would come running up with Kaylee crawling behind.  It was super cute!  It made for a fun filled beautiful morning!

Joyful Moment of the Day: Getting the couch fixed today and it is not going to cost me anything because it is covered by the protection plan that we bought with the furniture. YEAH!

Top 5 Things A First Time Mom Needs

I was thinking yesterday about all the baby stuff they have out now. Must haves that every new Mom must sit and debate over whether it is worth it to have it. I remember how overwhelmed I felt walking into Babies R Us for the first time, walls and walls of baby stuff all around me. Seriously, do you need a little bag to put pacifiers in or warmers for wipes? How do you keep from buying stuff that don't really need?! Well, after much debate, I registered for things I thought I would need most and now that Kaylee is here I realize I did not do half bad. So without further ado, here is my

Top 5 Things A First Time Mom Needs

1. Travel Systems. You can't leave the hospital without the carseat. I personally loved ours that you could carry into places while baby is sleeping and am glad that I picked it. Our travel system included a stroller that is the Cadillac of all strollers. It is huge, but is smooth to push. It was nice to have when Kaylee was smaller because the carseat snaps right into it for easy transfer. Now that she is bigger I only see myself using it during long outings such as zoo visits or park visits.

2. Pack-N-Play. Wow! One of the best things ever made! Ours came with bassinet and diaper changing table features. Both were so great to have when Kaylee was smaller. The best thing about the pack-n-play though is that it is a portable bed wherever you go. We like to hang out with friends in the evenings so we just load the pack-n-play into the car and go. She goes to sleep in it and then when we are ready to go home we can just pack it all up and go. Love this item!


3. Breathable Bumpers. These things rock! They, of course, are breathable. Kaylee would move around and have her face pressed up against her normal bumpers and I was so scared that one morning she would not be breathing when I went in there so I took her bumpers out. The next morning when I went in there to get her because she was screaming. She had her arm stuck between the slats! That is when I found breathable bumpers. They keep arms and legs in, but let her breathe which makes me as a Mom feel more comfortable. They also collapse so if she tries to use them to step out of the crib, she will not be able to do so. They are AMAZING!

4. Boppy. I know some Mom's may disagree with me on this one, but let me give my explanation before you write it off. I used the Boppy when I was nursing to hold Kaylee up. I would prop myself up on my body pillow and nurse Kaylee while sitting up. Sometimes I would fall asleep while nursing unintentionally, but I was never worried about rolling over her or her falling off the bed because she was nestled into the Boppy on my lap and like I said I was sitting up. Also, as Kaylee got a little older and started sitting up on her own, it was nice to have to sit behind her in case she fell back. We have hardwood floors and if we would not have had the Boppy behind her she would have hit the floor. Now we use it to let her feed herself her bottle. She lays back on the Boppy either while on our laps or on the floor and feeds herself while propped up rather than being flat. It makes it easier for her. It has been used a lot for a lot of different things, which is why it has made the cut!

5. Diaper Changing Table. Ironically, this is the one item I do not have, but definitely want for the next kid. We had the changing table feature on the pack-n-play, but Kaylee weighs too much for it now. We just use a pad and change her on the couch, but I get tired of it being in my living room and on my couch. I would prefer to have a table or a pad on top of her dresser in her room like we did when she was smaller. It is convenient and it is not a strain on your back. This is a must have to me!

Let me know what you think!

Joyful Moment of the Day: Kaylee had her first big girl bath today! She loved it! (And Titus, our cat, came in to see what was going on which made it even more amusing!)