Happy 30th Birthday, Daddy!

This past weekend we celebrated Mike's 30th Birthday. Mike is NOT a birthday guy and has never been big on gifts or going all out for celebrating "his birthday". I just couldn't let his 30th pass by with out doing something!
He is so selfless and so sacrificing for me and always tries to keep me happy-and when he gets home each day-I have little left in me to be the loving, appreciative, supportive, encouraging wife. I am always tired out and exhausted and never able to show how much I really love and appreciate him. I wanted to do something for his birthday BUT remember he doesn't like gifts).
So,I got a hold of our good SU friends here in Atlanta and (most of them are all softball team friends) and we had a surprise party for him and another friend, Paul who share the same birthday!
Paul's wife and I pulled it off at an Itailian restaurant and Mike and Paul were CLUELESS.

Mike does not get excited about to many things in life. But a few things do make him super excited; spare change to deposit in the bank, another bill that makes us one step closer to being debt free, or SU winning a game....but other then that he is not to expressive!

Aunt LaLa and Sam, posting with me-this is how Kaden spent most of the night!

He was so good for the party!

(Awesome cupcakes from Sweet Pockets Bakery)

I think he was excited somewhere deep down inside-(or maybe outwardly too!??!) What do you think?

He was SPEECHLESS and trying to take in the surprise for at least 1/2 the night!  I was thrilled to have a party for him and I think deep down he felt loved and appreciated by all who came out!
 Thank you to all our friends here in the area who came out to celebrate. It was a blast and we enjoyed the good time out.

Parker was the center of attention most of the night-but I made sure Daddy got his fair share!
 Here are some photos of the weekend. I had our small group from Church Celebrate on Sunday. We ate Mike's favorite cake, German Chocolate!

Mike,I feel so blessed to be your wife ~even though I don't express it enough to you! The boys have the best daddy in the world . Thank you for being SO uplifting, enthusiastic,energetic when I am completely done for the day. Above all thank you for being a godly, loving and hardworking example to us all!

Looking forward to another 30 years + Lord willing with you!

*(Baby Kaden was sound asleep so we will have to post a recent family photo soon)

Happy Birthday-
We all love you!
Jenn, Parker and Kaden

Two Months Old...too fast!

           WOW-Our sweet pea, Kaden is officially 2 months and trying to catch up to big brother!

Kaden had his 2 month check up on Wed, and we got a good report. Despite his reflux(which is getting MUCH better -THANK YOU to the Prilosac medicine), he is a growing weed.

Kaden is 13 lbs!!

Parker wasn't 13 lbs till he was about 4 months old. So, Kaden is growing faster in weight then Parker ever did. Kaden is 75% for weight and 50% in height. The boys are opposites in all ways. Parker is Tall and skinny (with no little butt) and Kaden is Chubs and short (with a little butt). It is SO cute to see all the baby rolls! He is starting to coo at mommy and daddy and once in a while at Parker! Parker is starting to "like Kaden" and have little conversations with him. Parker loves to bond with him at Bath time and share just about every toy and gadget with him.

Kaden is very alert around 2-5 and then he crashes by 6 or 7 and stays asleep till around midnight. I am just trying to get him to stay up till 8 or 9 so I only have 1 night feeding. Parker was sleeping 9 hour stretches by now...so I will be estactic as soon as Kaden gets on board with no more night feedings...but I am loving the bonding we do get at night! Mike has been great about helping me a couple times a week to feed Kaden for one of them. It is hard to function on 3 or 4 hours of sleep and keep up with a 2 and 1/2 year old!

I know it is a calling to be a stay at home mom...but the other day I thought had reached my limit! I had about 2 hours of sleep the whole night prior and was a zombie...I was taking a shower and had Sesame Street on for Parker and Kaden was napping.

 Parker was way to quiet! I came down to a shocker...! Parker was on top of our bookshelf in the playroom playing IN the fish tank! Yes that preposition is IN!!! I am surprised Parker didn't kill the fish! Half the water was gone, and I was about ready to go hide...and didn't know where to hide! So, I just cried in front of Parker and he said "Oh-Oh Mommy-I get the Bug!" He thinks the Algae eater in the fish tank is a BUG.

I took care of the basics and explained as much as I could to this stinking cute, redheaded 2 and 1/2 year old that we do NOT climb up to the fish or the BUG and play with them. It is only for Looks...and that he would be spanked AND in time out if he did it again! I HOPE he gets the message.

 Mike finished later that night. Oh the joy's of maintaining the life of a 2 year old and surving on little sleep with a newborn.

Needless to say -Parker needs to be busy and entertained or he will entertain himself with trouble!

To Keep Parker busy on Saturdays -we have signed him up for Soccer at our YMCA! We are members at the Y and Parker LOVES going there while mommy works out. Now I think he is going to be more in love with Soccer then the nursery and always wanting to play Soccer Ball~Mike played Soccer all through out school and we are so excited Parker gets to start so early. The program is called "Sporties for Shorties" and it just makes me laugh. He will begin playing on Saturday, March 12th and end the first part of May. Following Soccer, he will get to start T-Ball. He LOVES to play with all sports balls so it will be fun to see what sport he ends up favoring over all. I can't wait to post back how his first experience with Soccer goes!

In the meantime little brother will be sleeping and eating a ton to catch up so he can be out there playing the sport too.
*Here are Some more photos of our family photo shoot that we had done recently! I wanted to get some photos in before Kaden was too big. Thankfully the weather was 70 degrees last weekend and Parker was AWESOME for us. My good friend Lorelei too the photos with her new Nikon that she recently got...the key of course was that we followed the 2 year old around and he responded great to the photographer cause he LOVES his Aunt La-La!

The Unexpected Bumps and Blessings of life

Here is what's ticking in my brain....(and been ticking for a while)!
 I am really trying to get a grip on being a mommy of 2! I have had many,many days where I say to myself,
"Why was it SO much easier to be a teacher of 21 kids and yet-SO much harder to be a mommy of just 2?!"
I have come to really accept this HUGE responsibility from God and not beat myself up for the bumps.
What are these bumps I am talking about?
 It's those DIFFICULT/CHALLENGING DAYS of being a stay at home mom. "Those days when: you want to hide or go resign from your duties, or wish you were still in HS and had so few responsibilities and SO much fun, or when the clock said 5PM the day was over and you could stop being mom for the night!"
Bumps in my life (over the past 2 months):

• Valenetines Dinner -failed! Had to search for a restaurant with out a 2 hour wait. (We will not be going out next year on the real day.) Finally found Macaroni Grill to accept our plans with only a 15 minute wait! Little did we know that the biggest bump to come was... I was actually coming down with the Stomach Bug and was attacked at 10:30 PM. BAD...(I never want to repeat that episode again). Hoping to celebrate it next month and enjoying the meal and keeping it down.
• Sick in bed ALL day -not fun when you know you have SO many responsibilities to tend too.
• I had just changed P's 2 year old's sheets and then -he leaks through his diaper at nap time
• crayon ALL over the window sill
• forgetting to put eggs in the muffin batter
• in the shower and our 2 year old FALLS in the toilet
• Kaden awakes from that "thought to be 2 hour nap" just when I was about to nap
•  Kaden being up from 6-8:00 PM and wanting my undivided attention (and mainly nursing) when I really could be cooking and doing 500 other things....
• a cop pulling me over for speed and a  back headlight out....(URRR)
• Projectile vomit for the 5th time (after 2 outfit changes)
• Forgetting a certain coupon....
• wanting just 8 hours of sleep (but can't due to nursing).....
• AND this one that has been on my mind for ALMOST 7 weeks-I go into labor "Naturally" and it is still 3 weeks away from my "sceduled" c-section and I have SO many things still to do?

Instead of focusing on these "bumps" in life, I am trying to focus on the "Blessings" in my life:
1. My husband who loves me unconditionally, accepts my MANY flaws, and appreciates me for what I try to do and completes me! Mike, you have been so patient with me and you are SO good with the boys! THANK YOU!I could not be the mom I am with out you! Thank you for working so hard to let me stay home *(even though you get 10 phone calls a day I do LOVE being a mom)!
I must brag for a moment ...and say that the Stomach bug attacked Parker (Last night) and I had set plans to go out! Mike never once hesitated to have me stay back. He dealt with Parker (who continued to vomit 3 more times). Not to mention he also had the baby and also had to do 2 loads of laundry too!

 It tore me inside to not stay back, but as a Stay at Home Mom, he knew I needed the break! I loved being away, but had my phone on and out the whole time!

2. Our first born Son, Parker,- has the best Personality to brighten my day or anyones~ with that amazing smile, beautiful red hair and his radient blue eyes.

(I LOVE this photo ;Parker and I went to a Birthday Party 2 weeks ago and he was SO excited to ride the pony that came to the Party-it was a Carnival themed Party!)

3  Our newest addition and second Son, Kaden,- he is only 8 weeks old and will not want to be craddled and held forever! I am in love more and more with being his mommy. I may miss my 8 hours of sleep (but I know I will get it back soon-I won't get these moments to hold him forever!)

4. Friends--I am blessed with MANY friends here in our area who all reach out to help me. So many know when to step in and help. It is SO encouraging when our family is all away. A speical thanks of course to my 2 friends, Lorelei and Samantha. You two will never know how much I appreciate you. Thanks for helping me get to this point and giving me the MUCH needed breaks and support in my life!  Thank you for stepping in to be the "family" when it is needed most.

5.Family and my Faith-My family (and especially my mom and mother-in-law) who have been my rock and support! Mom and Dad, Thank you for all the love, and support along the way!

Mom and Dad Riese, thank you for believing in me and accepting me just like parents accept their own daughter! I am so blessed to be a part of your family.

 I am so thankful for being raised in a Christian home and having the faith in a God who gives me strength when I am down, weak or advice in his word as a mom!

The best blessing above all is being loved by an amazing God who is so perfect and chooses someone like me with many bumps in life!

What "bumps" have you encountered lately in life? Can you look beyond them and find the many blessings?

I know that each day and week is a blessing from God even if  it be a day or week of "Bump's!
Before I know it-I will have BIG boys and they won't need my undivided attention!

Trying to enjoy the bumps and blessings in my life!

                                                                 My 3 greatest Blessings!

Winter Wonderland in GA!?

YUP! We have been reminded today of what we left 6 years ago from Upstate NY! The memories were unraveled today as I watched the snow falling! We moved from Syracuse, NY to GA in the winter of '04-That winter Syracuse had accumulated 144 inches of snow by April!
Hence why we now live in the south!
Today it was actually enjoyable for us-ok...for Parker!

He woke up from his nap and stood at the top of the stairs..."Its No-ing!" *(He still doesn't get his "s" out.)
So, I took him out while Baby Kaden was napping.

Mike left work early and was home by 3. We are looking forward to a cozy night with some Hot CoCoa and watching the Winter Olympics!
Maybe tomorrow Daddy and P will be building a Snowman...oh the possibilities till it melts!
 I must add photos of me and our Sweet-Pea. It was too cold for him to go outside, so mommy just showed him the snow out the windows!

Bath Time Bloopers

Wednesday night, Parker decided to help Mommy give Baby Kaden a bath.
During Kaden's Bath-Parker was saying "Parker take Bath in tub too!"
So, I actually took off Parker's clothes and let him have a bath in Kaden's tub. Parker has already had his share of time in the swing and the jumperoo-surprisingly he has had NO interest in Kaden's bottles or the pacifier. This moment was one that caught me off guard but really gave me a good laugh tonight.  Can you believe how big our "Big Baby boy" has gotten?!

It was so fast and efficient to get two baths done in a matter of a few minutes and SO little water used!

Don't worry Kaden was not damaged and was out of the little blue tub before Parker ever entered it!  :)
As you can see we have a chubs of a baby~Kaden is only 6 weeks old and looks like he is already 3 months old!So much fun to see all the baby rolls.

Parker was always long and skinny,,,so we are having fun with this chubby little guy.
We are amazed once again how blessed we are to be their mommy and daddy! :) :)

Kaden's Birth Announcement

A Special thanks to Aunt Miracle, for designing an awesome birth announcement

for our little Sweet Pea-Kaden!

Reflux,Magic Eraser and more...

We made it through the first month of the year and now it's Feb! I am in the middle of trying to get out Kaden's Announcements and working on Thank You notes. However, I got slowed down big time last week with Kaden. We discovered last Friday, that Kaden has Reflux!

Poor little guy was vomiting uncontrollably after I would feed him and then of course want to eat more, finalizing in overeating and vomiting again! Not to mention that he would scream in his car seat after a feeding, (mainly due to lots of gas and needing to get out a good burp) and I got a shower in spit up daily! I knew something wasn't right last week when he puked 4 times in a row on me. He has gained a TON of weight and all the symptoms he has been having are a match of reflux! Last Friday-he weighed 10.7 lbs and was 21 inches long. He has overeaten to comfort the suffering he has been in! Poor little guy- :( So, we got a prescription for Prilosac for babies...and he is a completely different baby! The vomiting has stopped to a minimal amount.-He no longer screams when we change him (laying on his back), and the fussiness that he would have after a feeding is about gone! He still requires more love and attention during the night then Parker did, but I am so happy to have a temporary solution for him. I am not a BIG advocate of medicating a young baby-but this is so much better then the pain and discomfort he was in.

Speaking of solutions-I have discovered a NEW solution for Parker's "Modern Art" that he displayed on the hallway yesterday! It's called Magic Eraser and a little bit of Fantastic Oxy Power!  

Parker LOVES to color his Elmo coloring book-but yesterday was a first! He discovered that his "color-"Boo" (blue) works on the wall too!
YIKES!!!!!!!! (I knew the day was eventually coming-don't all kids explore on the walls with colors or worse...sharpies? So glad those are out of his sight and reach!)
I knew the excitement of him scribbling in the hallway was not on his book but on the wall!
 Well, P and I had a good chat (and some time spent in time-out) about the appropriate place for his colors! Parker learned that the wall is NOT one of them! I got the color off the walls by 11PM yesterday, and I sure LOVED how fast Magic Eraser removed the crayon! It is my new favorite toy ...LOL! Don't tell P that though. :)
Parker and I had a play day last Friday with Kayleigh and Caroline and of course Parker and Kayleigh just pick up from their last time together. They are 2 peas in a pod and SO stinking cute together! We miss her and Caroline a ton-but we are SO happy that they are still in preschool together! Mike and I are forever grateful for a sweet date this past Monday, courtesy of Kayleigh and Caroline's grandparents. They treated us to dinner out and free babysitting. We SO appreciated every minute of it! THANKS a ton!

Kayleigh Loved holding Kaden-he was not interrested -he wanted to eat!

Kaden had some special visitors this past Sunday. Two of daddy's old co-workers from PWC made a special trip up to visit Kaden-Julie and Audrey. It was a special treat to have them visit.

Here are the photos as promised of the boys rooms!

We still have a few more decorations to go in each~but I am posting them for now.

 Kaden's Room

(freshly painted sage green all by Grandma)

A Parlee Pocket for Kaden (made by Samantha).

We are still making them and now offer monogramming!

Contact me if you want one-they are the best for organizing, storage space and much-much more).

Parker's Big Boy Room

(Parker was sitting there with his "friends" and I thought it was kodak moment)

                                 (The book shelf was my frugal find-or Grandpa's find)

When my parents were visiting my dad ran into Goodwill and found it for $13.00 !

He got us the Senior Citizen Discount too- So we got it for $11.00!

I was elated to take it-since we are on a budget and still on the Dave Ramsey Plan.

Some day we will get the boy (s) a new bedroom set-but we are making due with our old furniture and being practical with what we have. Thanks Grandpa, for painting it and putting it together!

I better take advantage of this nap time and get my shower in. It sure is harder to get in with the 2 now! But I love being their mommy even though the days may be long and sleep deprived lately! Thanks Mike, for letting me stay home Mike, and helping out a ton with P!

This post would not be complete without some recent photos of our sweet pea!

Here is Kaden at 5 weeks

I got a little carried away but amazed at how much he has changed already! :)