That one time when my baby rolled over....

Picture this: 2 am Wednesday morning. I hear Ben start to whine a little and it's time to feed him, so I go in to his room. Little did I know that he would be laying on his BACK! He rolled over! What in the world? Crazy kid. He hasn't done it again, but he was pretty chill about it that one time...

Christmas 2009

Christmas Eve we celebrated with our church. We had a great worship service and Spence shared the Christmas story with the children. Here are a couple quotes from him to the kids : after telling them about Gabriel telling Mary she was going to have a baby- “If you want to know why Mary was so surprised that she was having a baby, you should ask your parents”, and “we’ll call Caesar ‘The Man’ cause he was always keeping people down”. Jason Gaston preached an awesome sermon that was perfect for Christmas Eve.

Spence and the kids

Zeke had just dumped Baby Jesus out of his bed

Christmas morning Zeke decided he should wake up early as all children on Christmas do. Since we were up before 6, we decided to go ahead and get the day started. Zeke could have just taken two toys from his stocking and called it a day. We were able to get him to open some of his gifts. He really seemed to like the two “big” things we got him: a Little People farm and the Crayola drawing thing that makes music when you draw (he couldn’t quite get the drawing thing down though because he kept trying to dance to the music- too cute!)

4 Stockings!!!!

Our tree

Sweet Ben

Down on the farm

Early morning smile

Zeke took an early nap and then we headed to the Shelton household for lunch and the Little household for supper and staying the night. Zeke’s favorite toy was probably the bag of balls from Aunt Tori and Uncle Matt. Oh, another highlight was when Uncle Scott held Ben!! While at his Yaya and Pawpaw’s house he really enjoyed playing with his cousins- but I forgot to take any pictures of them being cute together. After a pretty rough night of very little sleep we hung out at my parents for the morning, then did Christmas with Pop (Spencer's grandpa) and the Shelton side of the family. (Once again, no pictures)

"Ball, ball, ball, ball, ball..."

Not sure who was more uncomfortable, hehe ;)

I think this Christmas was definitely a tough one between juggling two little ones, but we enjoyed it. It was wonderful to spend Christmas Eve with our church family and Christmas day with lots of family- grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was a whirlwind trip, and we are all exhausted, but we had a blast spending time with family. I am sure next year will be even more jam packed, but hopefully I will do a better job of taking pictures.

(oh and yes I am totally going to dress us back up sometime this week in our Christmas day attire and take a picture in front of our tree before we take it down. I at least have to get a photo of our family and we can just pretend it was Christmas day, right?)

Merry Christmas!

I feel that I would miss a great opportunity if I did not take a moment to share the reason we (Spence & I) celebrate Christmas. We join with fellow Christ followers to celebrate the birth of our Savior. Before you say anything, yes we know that He was probably not born December 25. We also know that if we only acknowledge Him once a year, that we are missing the point.

We believe that God became man and came to earth as a baby. We believe that He lived a perfect, sinless life. We believe that He died on a cross. We believe He rose again 3 days later. We believe He is seated in heaven. We believe all of these things were done because of God's love for us. It isn't merely that He did those things, but that they were done to save us from an eternity seperated from Him in hell.

We spend time reflecting on that daily. We read His Word in the Bible daily. We pray and meditate and seek His will for our lives daily. These are not things that we only do one day a year. We do set aside Christmas to really focus on the fact that God loves us so much that He came, lived, died, and rose again.

If we leave you with one thing on this day, our prayer is that you will come to know Christ personally. If you have questions or would like to know more, please contact us. We would love to talk to you more about this.

Best of...

Alright, I really really tried to stick this thing out. But I just really don't care about the best webtool, stationary or ad of the year. And those were the best ones coming up. So, maybe I'll try something else some other time. Thanks for sticking around for the boringness that this turned out to be. I do apologize for it.

Lil Helper

Zeke decided to help me wrap gifts. This is one of his gifts and I am guessing that this would be the only year that I can wrap his gifts with him there. He was a great helper:

Yup it's sturdy!

Yay!

Like this, Mama.

2 Years

2 years ago today we moved into our house. We as in Spencer and me. Yes, we moved in as a family of two. We had just found out we were pregnant. We had just chosen our puppy. We definitely did not see ourselves with two children and no dog two short years later. These past two years have been INSANE as homeowners. We definitely jumped into being "grownups" at warp speed. Here is a quick recap of the years:

Yay! Our house!

Family of almost three


Shamgar lived with us from January 2008-May 2009.
He now is happily residing at Spence's parents.

The Shelton Three

The current family that now fills the house that felt HUGE in December of 2007.

Best Start Up

My friend Erin's business The Peanut Paintshop takes the prize here. It is so cool to see this talen that Erin has that I had no clue about. If you haven't checked it out yuo really should. What better gift to give yourself or someone than something personal and handmade?

Best Project

I can't really think of any projects that I did myself. I guess you could say my projects were growing babies, and I feel like that is going succesfully so far...

Sweet Baby

Ben has a bit of a cold this weekend. You can kinda see his eyes are a bit runny :( He has a blocked tearduct already so this cold isn't making things any better. He has been sleeping great during the day, but not so well at night because of the congestion. We don't care that he is snotty and gross, he is still pretty stinking cute!

Best New Person

BENJAMIN GRAHAM SHELTON is the obvious winner here!!!

Best Car Ride

It would have to be coming home from the hospital with Ben. We were both so excited to get home. We were ready to be in our home as a family of four. We were ready for Zeke to meet Ben. I was just ready to see Zeke. So, this car ride was full of anticipation with us ready to get back into our familiar world that was going to be completely different.

Best Shop

I don't buy things often, but I have become a HUGE fan of online shopping. I have a couple of deals sites that I visit daily:
www.babysteals.com
www.kidsteals.com
www.scrapbooksteals.com
www.mamabargains.com

Best Word/Phrase

"I love you" because we get to say it to more people (Zeke & Ben). I probably say it a zillion times a day, so it could be our most used phrase...
It means so much more between Spence and I now. We are more in love today than when we were silly 15 & 16 year olds. We are more in love than the day I became Mrs. Shelton. We are more in love even than the day we became parents. Saying these words means so much more now than it used to. Behind it isn't just a romantic love, but an admiration and respect for one another. He and I have a shared affection for one another in the midst of our life, as crazy as it is at times. We are able to point one another towards Christ with our love for Him and each other. We choose daily to love Christ, each other and our children. And yes, it is a choice.

Best Tea

Not trying to brag or anything, but I make a mean sweet tea. Just the right amount of tea bags to sugar ratio. Not too sweet, but definitely sweet enough.
What a random, weird topic, by the way...

The Santa Decision

Spence and I have been trying to make the big Santa decision. Are we going to "do" Santa or not? Is it a lie to tell our children Santa brings toys? Are we squashing their imagination by not? To help us solve the dilemma, we conducted a test...

This Santa was a gift from some friends a few years ago. Zeke was seriously afraid of this guy. He wouldn't go on that side of our dining room while we had him out. We have now put Santa back in his box and stowed him in the garage.

I love a good sale...

Best Packaging

Really? I have not noticed that at all. I can tell you the worst packaging is anything for small children. All those stupid twisty tie things... UGH!

Biggest Rush

My biggest rush has to be this story.

Best Change to where I live

I would have to say changing the purple room into Zeke's big boy room. I need to finish it still so pictures are yet to come...

Zeke lately

Zeke is 16 months now. It is hard to believe I know! This isn't a doctor's visit month, so I have no new stats, but I wanted to share some of the fun things he is doing:
*loves to smile with his eyes closed
*eats amazing some days, and not so well on others
*still loves Ben and likes to point to his nose
*is working on moving to a quiet crib time and 1 nap instead of 2 naps... (not sure how I feel about this one)
*stacks blocks
*continues to LOVE airplanes and balls
*likes to drive trucks and cars and make a vroom sound
*looks for dogs everywhere
*reads books all the time
*signs help when he needs it but also when he just doesn't want to do something for himself (like when a ball is sitting a little ways away from him but he doesn't want to get up and get it...)
*points to pictures and names people in them
*gives kisses and hugs
*loves to be outside and runs to the door
*greets Spence after work by sitting in his chair by the window and watching him come home
*leans in to bump heads for "noggin"
*walked into his class at church on Saturday with no prompting or tears :-)
*could care less about watching tv (I love this about him!!)
*loves visiting daddy's office- especially when the cornhole is set up
*repeats words after us
*knows where his eyes, nose, belly, belly button, hair, head, fingers, and toes are
*definitely showing signs of being a strong willed child
*will give "knuckles"- fist pound
*throws everything out of his crib after he wakes up in the morning or from his nap, and then begins to cry because he wants it all back
*goes to the pantry when he is hungry
*tries to pull the juice out of the fridge- he seriously only gets a splash of juice from me, someone else must be sneaking him more or something because he is seriously addicted!
*says: mama, dada, Ben, Ze (Zeke), yaya, nana, bampa (grandpa), pawpaw, bubba, belle, Maaa (Matt), Towey (Tori), fan, light, IA (Isaac), tree, Jesus (and tries to sing Jesus Loves Me at bedtime with us), baby, ball, airplane, apple, boon (balloon), shoes, knee, nose, sahh (sock), bath, basketball, down, boo, all done, UhBer (Amber), sophie, car, truck, berry, chicken, frenfry (french fry), tantoo (thank you), ketup (ketchup), jui (juice), wawa (water), go, mil (milk), moo, quack, baa, meow, no, yeah, roar (anytime he sees a lion), bir (bird), boom, cacker (cracker), cookie, blo (block), tick (stick), cheese, nack (snack), pees (please), mo (more), yuv you (I love you), ho ho ho, mey chismas (Merry Christmas), hot, pho (phone), gobagobagoba (gobble, gobble, gobble,) bee (blanket), buh (book), beh (for anything he doesn't know)- and I am sure more, but I can't think of anymore right now...
Here are some fun pictures

Check out this block tower! He was so proud he built it all by himself

Daddy stick and Zeke stick

Not sure what was in this cup that made him lay back and lose a shoe...

Cheese!

Hmmm... Ben didn't like it but maybe I will

Testing out everthing that belongs to Ben

Best New Food

This year was my first attempt at making babyfood. I really enjoyed making Zeke's food when he first started eating it and I look forward to making Benjamin's as well. Love the Super Baby Food book and plan to use it again :-)

What makes my day...

Best Place

OK, time for a cheesy moment. Seriously, anywhere my hunky hubby is is the best place for me. I don't care if we are hanging out in pjs watching tv, going to see a show at DPAC, or exploring a new place (Richmond, this year), wherever he is is my best place every year.

Best Album

Best album of the year? Really? The only thing I listen to now is kiddie music. Even when I am in the car by myself, I generally am pulling into the parking lot of wherever I am going before I realize I could have been listening to real music. But seriously, if you are a parent and kid music drives you bonkers, you must check out Go Fish. They are a Christian group, but not cheesy at all. One of the things they like to say is they make children's music that won't drive parents crazy. So far, so good. We have two cds "Snazzy" and "Party Like a Preschooler". They are in my cd player almost anytime we are in the car.

2 months has flown by

My sweet little guy is 2 months old! I wanted to wait until we went to the doctor before I did his 2 month post. I love that he is starting to be more alert. He smiles easily and coos all the time. He laughed for the first time last week. It is so sweet to hear him. He laughs and smiles and Zeke anytime he comes near (well unless Zeke is hitting him...). He eats every 3 hours during the day and I can push him to 4 hours through the night. He sleeps on his belly, but don't tell the doctors. At the doctor today he got 2 shots and 1 oral vaccine. He weighed 11 lbs 7 oz- 45%, measured 22 in- 15%, and his head is 29 cm- 25%. I am so excited that he has almost doubled his weight in 2 months! Here are some pictures from this week:

During tummy time he dozed off

Sweet cheeks

First time in the bumbo...

"What is this horrible contraption!"

Best Challenge

has been learning how to parent two babies. We definitely haven't figured it all out and there are good and bad days. But I am thoroughly loving learning how to do this whole two kiddos thing.

Best Moment of Peace

Anytime these two things happen at the same time is a best moment of peace for me:

Zeke vs Ben

The first three pictures are Zeke at 9 weeks. The second three pictures are Ben at 8 weeks. I don't think there will be any problem with telling their pictures apart. Spence thinks they look exactly the same, I think differently.

Best Blog Find of the Year

My newest favorite blog is The Intentional Home. I stumbled onto Su's blog and boy am I glad that I did. I took Su's coupon class this fall. I absolutely love her and her blog. She is just so cute! And totally not in the way you think someone who teaches a coupon class would be. She doesn't have a hair style from 1982 and she doesn't wear Winnie the Pooh embroidered overalls. ;-) She has found ways to use coupons to spread Jesus' love and I think that rocks. I hope you visit and enjoy her as well.

Check out this tooshie!

Best Workshop/Conference

HA! Big fat HA! I haven't been to any workshops or conferences, unless you count my children training me up. Spence went to Texas for Leadership Network though and seemed to really enjoy that...

Best Night Out

I couldn't narrow this one down to just one. Spence and I have been super blessed this year to go to some great shows at the DPAC. We saw Rent, The Color Purple, Fiddler on the Roof, and Brian Regan. We got to go out to eat before hand with groups of friends. Each of these nights was wonderful. Good friends + good shows=fun times!

Picture Time

I found my gift certificate that my mama got me for Mother's day (hey don't judge me, I was pregnant and chasing a baby, it's a wonder I didn't lose Zeke for a period of time). We decided to go and see our favorite gal Carrie. (Ben is about a week younger than Zeke was the first time we went, so I was excited to see the comparison of pictures. I will do a comparison post later.)
I mean I know Portrait Innovations are the same pictures each time and I know that there isn't a lot of moments caught like when you do photos like we did with LifeSong. But I like going because the pictures are cute, but also I love this chick! She is so cute and does such a great job with Zeke and now Ben. So, here are my favorites.

"Nice Ben"

Precious fingers

Goofy cheeseball

Sweet toes

(we had done this one with Zeke at the same age)

"What's in this box?"

Ready for Christmas!

Big & Little Tarheels

Our family of four

Lil elf

Hurray!

All we need is Santa

Elvis lip

1st Christmas

So sweet!

(we have one of these with Zeke also...)