Hallisters Bible Verse

8 Months Old - Liberty

Liberty has two teeth still (bottom middle).  She is crawling EVERYWHERE!  She gets up on her tippy toes and pushes her bottom in the air.  It is so cute.  She still nurses at 7am, 11am, 3pm, and 7pm.  She naps from 8:30-9:30am and then has baby food.  She likes all the fruit baby foods, squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes, but is not a fan of peas or green beans.  We have introduced Mum Mums and she likes those, as well as a piece of apple in a food net that allows her to sink her teeth into it without getting chunks through the net.

Liberty weighs in at 20 pounds.  I ordered a hot sling (pictured to the left).  It is easier than a moby wrap but keeps her snuggled more than a bjorn.  She loves it.  She can suck on her toes or I give her a toy to hold and I can walk around the house and do stuff while carrying her.  I don't know if I'll be able to do it up to 35 pounds but that is what it is able to support. Her other nap is 12:30-2:30pm, and sometimes even lasts until 3pm if we have a busy morning.  She is sleeping well at night, and even when she wakes up between 6am-7am she will talk to herself and play with her toes, sometimes even fall back asleep until we get her at 7am.

I feel like I brag with every post about her because she is just such a good baby, pretty much always happy, and we are so thankful for her.

7 Years of Marriage

Wow, 7 years of marriage!  (Just for fun here are pictures from our 2nd and 4th anniversaries so you can see how much we have (or haven't) changed.)  This last year of marriage has been the most challenging., but the struggles have brought us closer together as a family and increased our faith.  Jonathan was at a job making more than he ever had, yet was very unhappy with how he was being treated.  (It is true, you can't buy happiness.) We then made a leap of faith with him switching to teaching, which he does enjoy, yet taking a pay decrease.  We stuck it out though, always making sure we tithed, and I believe because of that, God provided in miraculous ways.

With all the struggles though we were able to stick to our tight budget and pay off our debt, finishing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace #2 step, paying off all debt besides our mortgage.  We give God all the glory and just mention it to encourage others to persevere.  "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4

Also in this last year of marriage we went from two children to three!  Going from zero to one child was hard, one to two was easy, but two to three was insane.   The first month after having Liberty was the toughest of these last 7 years.  Thankfully we had many friends and family pitching in time and meals during that rough season.  We have all settled in nicely now and we couldn't feel more blessed.  Having a daughter, which we had always hoped for, really seemed to complete our family.  We are undeserving but thankful.

So there is our last year of marriage in a nut shell.  Although we are making less than we ever have, we feel rich.  "And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Romans 5:2-4

7 Year Anniversary

We celebrated our 7 year anniversary a few weekends before the actual day.  We headed to San Antonio on a Friday, and the excitement began from our ride down there, and then gets worse (or better) however you choose to look at it.  We stopped in Marble Falls to eat and I needed to pump.  So I went to plug in the pump to the cigarette lighter and the car went dead.  Hallister had put a screw in the cigarette lighter, and when I plugged in the pump a fuse shorted out, causing the electric system to short circuit.

The car started but would not go in to first gear.  After an hour of diagnosing what could be wrong Jonathan decided the system needed to be restarted.  If that didn't work, then we would probably be heading back home and looking at a major car overhaul.  We ran in to Wal-Mart, got what we needed, prayed, and praise God it worked!  The trip was already off to a rocky start.

So we get to the hotel around 9pm, so ready for bed.  I check in, get our key, we load our stuff on a cart and head to the room.  Our key doesn't work....either of them.  I head back down, tell them it doesn't work, and get a new key.  I go back up to our room (5th floor) and Jonathan informs me someone just came out of the room we were given a key for.  (The suspense is building now.)  We tried to calm our tired selves, walk up to the front counter, and thankfully a manager is now manning the desk.  We explain what has happened.  He apologizes over and over, says we were given the wrong key, and upgrades us to a 2 bedroom suite.  Although it was very frustrating, it worked out for the better.

Saturday we go to Fiesta Texas and have a great time talking and riding rides.  Saturday night we enjoy a lovely boat ride on the Riverwalk as we eat our supper and learn about the history of the Riverwalk.  It was wonderful!

Sunday we slept until 9:00am, and we probably could have kept sleeping if we weren't hungry.  The hotel breakfast closed at 9:30am so we made our way down, enjoyed a nice breakfast and then headed back to the room to pack up and leave.  It was a nice trip, short, but a lot of fun.

Preston turns 2

For Preston's 2nd Birthday we had a Transportation Celebration.  I designed passport's as the invitations with planes, trains, and automobiles.  Since I'm not designing on a regular basis anymore I enjoy going all out with the kids' birthday parties.  It's a nice outlet for me.

The Fueling Station table had all the food....Airplanes with Cloud Dip (graham crackers shaped liked airplanes with marshmallow dip), Stoplight Skewers (red-strawberry, yellow-pineapple, green - grapes), Lumps of Coal (black rice krispies), Steering Wheels (bagels), and Car Tires (mini chocolate donuts).  The drinks were Water and Windshield Wiper Fluid (blue berry drink).   The colors were blue and yellow with a little orange.  A last minute decoration we added was bowls on water balloons on the tables.  The kids enjoyed throwing those.

My dear friend Ann from UMHB has recently gotten into baking and wanted to give fondant a try.  She made amazing cupcakes with cute airplanes, trains, cars, stoplights, and number 2's on top.

 We played Pin-A-Prop, which we actually also played at Hallister's first birthday.  We also had a stamp game where I hid 9 "stamps" from Preston's invitation that indicated important dates in his life....when he walked, crawled, etc.  The kids enjoyed searching for those.

Preston had a great time but was very tired close to the end of the party. 

He is our clown, always doing funny things and making us laugh.  He has now started to notice Liberty and will put her pacifier in her mouth if she gets fussy, or will randomly kiss her on the forehead.  He is a sweetie.

We took the railing off his bed, which really was a twin size crib.  He enjoys his freedom but we have had a few nights of a lot of discipline with him getting up and playing.

Preston is really into books.  This morning I peeked in, just to see if he was awake, and he was in his bed reading a book (the one you gave him Aunt Ginny).  He is starting to say more words and tries to count.  He loves to follow Hallister, even though Hall doesn't like it so much.  We are going to have our hands full when Liberty starts following the boys.