Holidays

We have had quite the adventurous holiday season around our house. As soon as Bill's dad arrived, our kids decided that they didn't want to sleep at night and thought it would be more fun to keep the grandparents up at night. We weren't sure what was causing it.

Wednesday, December 16th we celebrated Christmas with Bill's Dad's side of the family. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed our time together. The kids were a lot of fun to watch them discover what they could do with wrapping paper.

Thursday, December 17th Bob graduated from his Basic Law Enforcement Training. We were able to celebrate with him and continue our celebrations at Olive Garden after the graduation. We are very proud of him and everything he accomplished. Can't wait to see him in his first department uniform. Praying that God sends him the job opportunity that he has planned for him.

Saturday evening, we planned on going to church with everyone (Brent, Deb, Bob, Erica, Bill, Jackie and Dottie). Unfortunately the migraine and upset stomach that Jackie was dealing with on Friday continued over to Sat. She ended up in ER that night and surgery the next morning. When they were able to leave on Monday (day later than they planned) she left our beautiful state w/o an appendix. We are just thankful that they were here in town with us and not stuck between NC and MI on their journey home.

Tuesday we(My dad and I) took Billy in to the dr because he had been up all night for a few nights in a row and that wasn't like him at all. Double ear infection was his diagnosis. He also had a red throat and they didn't want to test him for strep since they were going to give him meds for the ears that would take care of strep if he had it.

Wednesday, Bill returned to work and Dad and I took Bekah into the Dr. She tested positive for strep but ears were fine. She started her rounds of medicine and felt much better w/in 24 hours.

Santa visited our apartment complex and I'll let you see for yourselves how much the kids LOVED Santa. ;)

We had a family event of making cookies, it was a blast. I made them, dad baked them, Deb kids and I decorated them and Bill helped us eat them. :) At one point Billy tried to pick up his cookie and stuck it to his bib with frosting used as glue.

Christmas Eve we continued our family tradition of opening pjs. I think Billy was a little disappointed when he discovered that it was just clothes and it wasn't a fun toy. Bekah loved that they were soft and was excited about "pretty" clothes.

Christmas Day we celebrated the four of us with Grandma Wade (Deb) and Grandpa Holtz (Brent) (wow that sounds strange). After our family Christmas, Bob and Erica joined in on the fun. We had my dad's yummy french toast and I made Christmas dinner later that evening.

Playing at the Park was a lot of fun. This was the first time the kids were able to play at this park, because last time it was closed for improvements. They had a blast running around and exploring everything around them.

The worst part of everything, is saying "bye". It is hard being able to have Grandparents around for 2 weeks and then all of a sudden everyone is gone. Kaylee is even looking around like "Where did everyone go?" Over the course of the holidays Bekah is talking more and Billy is now saying "geckah" meaning Bekah. We try to get Bekah to say Billy but she says "buba" instead.

Thanks for the chicken parmesan and french toast dads :) For all of the hugs, kisses and great memories. Can't wait to see everyone again soon. Love and miss everyone.

15 Month Pictures

I know it has been way too long. I keep getting behind with the postings of the pictures. It is incredible what the kids are doing to make us laugh and cry all at the same time. They do some of the silliest things and then without notice they accidentally smack you in the face with a sippy cup (thanks for the busted lip bubby) :)

A few posts back the pictures had Bekah with a bruise on her head and Billy's busted lip. Well now it is more often that mommy has a busted lip because someone is always crashing into me with a toy or their thick heads.

As of today we took down our fortress as we call it. It is the "cage" that blocked off the tv and stairs for many months. We have hidden most of the electronics around the TV and are not letting them play around the stairs. They are able to climb the stairs and get down them fairly well, but we don't want them trying it with out us.

Both kids get very excited when they see each other first thing in the morning. You hear "buba" and "sissy" and it just melts your heart. Hearing their little voices say "mommy" and "daddy" is priceless. Their vocabulary is improving significantly.

On Saturday we decorated the tree, or I should say they decorated the tree. While they were napping, Bill and I put up the tree and put the lights on it. We had the kids decorate it and didn't lift them up much so as you will see most of the ornaments are on the bottom of the tree, but it is very cute. Billy wanted to put all of the ornaments on the same branch and Bekah just wanted to collect as many as she could in her arms.

We had so much fun. I can't wait to bake cookies and make fudge with them in the next few weeks. We are so blessed to have our little miracles. I thank God every day for them and all the blessings and life lessons they bring.

We are looking forward to Uncle Bob graduating from his BLET course and are so proud of him. Family will be here soon to celebrate his graduation and the holidays with us. Hope every one has safe travels this holiday season and remembers the meaning of Christmas.

14 month pictures

I added a few extra pictures to the 14 month shots since it has been a while. Billy didn't want to take pictures, so I have some other ones up from days after the first ones.

Billy's vocabulary is pretty crazy. He can say "daddy, mommy, kaylee, sissy, baby, ball, car, hi, hey" and a few other ones.

Bekah doesn't like to speak as much as she likes to use her signs. She does love to babble though.

Bekah has all of her molars in and Billy is working on his but none have popped through.

Both kids are very active. They enjoy sitting and looking at books, blowing their little toy horn, and pushing and pulling things. Anything that makes music or noise is a hit around the house. They enjoy the time that they spend with friends once a week at Mommy and Daddy's small group. They are the youngest kids there, but love to play with everyone.

Today we brought home our second art work project from church. They colored a pretty picture. I'm surprised that Billy didn't eat the crayon this time around. :)

We are looking forward to the holiday season and can't wait to see family.

Emotional

Looking at Bekah and Billy this morning, I started to think about how blessed we are. I was thinking back to three years ago. Bill and I were praying for children, and didn't really know what our future held for us. We had no idea that our journey to parenthood would be such a long one(yet very short compared to some of our friends).

Two years ago, we were deciding to go to a fertility specialist in Charlotte. It was a big step for us, and I'm very thankful that we took that step. It was a leap of faith focused on what God wanted for our future. We knew that the path of fertility drs wouldn't guarantee our family, but knew it was Gods plan for us to pursue it.

One year ago I was very overwhelmed with being a new mom. I wanted to make sure that I was making all of the right decisions and caring for my children the best that I could. They were so small and couldn't tell us what was bothering them. I hated seeing them struggle with their reflux.

Back to this morning, Bekah was dressed up in a new dress and tights that had ruffles on the butt. She looked like a princess. I told her how beautiful she looked and she just beamed at me. Bill and I always tell her how beautiful she is inside and out. Once I got Billy dressed, I told him how handsome he looked, he just nodded and walked off. I just sat there on the floor watching them walk around the living room. We don't have babies anymore, we have toddlers. Walking is so easy for them and they want to be more and more independent. They are learning baby signs so that we can communicate better with them and understand more of what they want/need. They sign "more" and "all done" very well. That helps so much at meal time so that we know what they want. It prevents us wasting food to find out if they are all done or want more. Plus, I don't have to wonder if they were still hungry.

I had to post pictures from today because I was just in awe of how beautiful they looked. All the thanks goes to the Lord on our blessings. I was still thinking about all of this when we were at church, and then to top the emotional cake, the kids made their first craft in Sunday School. I know they didn't do much to make it, but it was very special for me. Their teacher even put their names and date on it for me. Right now I have them posted on the fridge, it is one of those moments that really makes me feel like a mom.

So blessed.

Lookin' Cute

This past week it has been quite cold. Today we dressed up the kids in their "warm" clothes for church. They looked so cute that we had to get pictures. They actually sat very well for the pictures. That was a first. :)

Playing at the park.

A few weeks ago, we had a wonderful day plying at the park. Unfortunately the play area was closed, but the kids were very content on playing in the grass. Billy decided that he wanted to walk on the path and got his first skinned knee

13 Months Old

Ever since I returned to work, we have been dealing with something at the drs with the kids. I feel so bad for them. They have had a battery of tests, and just when we thought we were getting some answers, now they have had a upper respiratory virus. They are on about day 9 and doing much better. They have had very stuffy noses, can't sleep, won't eat much of anything and have even had snot come out of their eyes. YUCK!

Our first rounds of visits to the dr were from weeks of diarrhea. We are pretty sure that the kids have a sensitivity to milk. At this point we aren't ruling it an allergy. The dr suggested we put them back on their formula for two weeks and then try milk again. If we have problems, go back on the formula and then we would talk about allergy testing. I guess it isn't very common at this age to do testing. We are currently on the formula and will try milk again next weekend.

I also had to take Bekah to the dr for a very high temperature. Now it is pretty easy to see that it was her respiratory virus that they both have. Bekah got a pretty good sized goose egg on her head on Thursday when she fell against the chair. You can see her bruise in all of the pictures.

Just as I got my camera out to take the 13 month pictures, Billy fell against the gate and busted his lip. So now you get to see what it is really like with two toddlers. Bumps, bruises and all.

Both kids never stop to amaze us. Billy says "hi guy" all the time. He picked that up from daddy saying Hi Guys when he sees the kids, I'm guilty of doing the same. Bekah very clearly says "hi dad" There are quite a few mamas around the house and a few kaylees too. The best is asking them where their bellies are and they lift up their shirt to show you. TOO CUTE!

Well, Bekah is sitting on the desk as I type this and getting into everything, so I must go and get her some "real" toys to play with.

Love and miss you all!

~The Brands

Big Kids

I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to get everything updated. It isn't easy to find an hour or so to work on posts with two growing kids. Make sure that you see all of the new posts. There are quite a few of them.

I'm proud to say that we no longer are using bottles. We started Labor Day weekend. That Friday night was the last time our "babies" had bottles. I would have gotten rid of them sooner, but they had a bad reaction to Milk, so I wanted to give them some time and get their tummy's stable before I tried switching them over. We had been doing mostly sippy cups, but not all the time.

The week before labor day was difficult for the kids. They were sick, running mild temps and just not happy. It was also the time that I introduced new foods and milk with out lactose. After a week and a half of nasty diapers, I put them back on formula and only gave them foods that I knew didn't bother them. We still used the cups while using formula (big kids, so proud).

Tomorrow I'm going to introduce the lactose free milk back in. I hope that it doesn't bother them and that they weren't having a reaction to the milk.

Billy is starting to put two word sentences together. This is a very early development. He says "hi daddy", "hi Kaylee" "hey daddy" "hey Kaylee" I guess you can tell who his favorites are. He does say mama sometimes, but not as often. He is also saying uh-oh and knows how to use it correctly too. Billy is "talking" all the time.

Bekah is working on her talking too. She says daddy, mama, and tons of babble. One of her favorite things right now is to place a ball or small toy in your hand, get all excited about it and then take it back out of your hand. She is doing great, because she doesn't drop it into your hand, she places it there. She repeats this over and over and gets very excited.

Both kids have mastered climbing onto the couch, and getting down by laying on their bellies and sliding backwards until their feet hit the floor. Billy mastered it on his own, I showed Bekah a few times and now she has it down.

One thing that is difficult for Bill and I is their bed time. We used to put them down at 8 or 8:30, then it went to 8, 7:30 and then stayed at 7 for a while. Now they are to the point that they are pretty much ready at 6:30 or 7. I already hate how little time we get with them, now they are wanting to go to bed even earlier. Even though they are going to bed earlier, they are still getting up at the same time or even later.

Bekah loves it when you put new or "pretty" clothes on her. Her "pretty" clothes are just things that mommy tells her that are pretty, she lights up and is very excited. She also loves shoes. We bought them their first pairs of shoes at payless. Today when we were at the mall, I was looking for some new black dress shoes (didn't find any), when Bill was playing with the kids, Bekah looked down at her shoes pointed at them and then pointed to the ones on the shelves. The little stinker knew what kind of store we were in.

I wish the kids would leave things on their heads. They look so cute wearing hats, sunglasses and Bekah looks cute in head bands. Oh well, maybe when they get a little older.

Well, for now, I need to go to bed. God Bless and love you all.

1st Birthday Party ~ NC

We celebrated their first birthday at our house on their birthday. We started out the day by going to church and then came home and napped. After lunch we had a small party with Bob, Erica, Meloney, Ben, Matthew and Mandy. Even my dad joined the party by webcam. The kids were so excited to see him, but didn't understand that they couldn't touch him.

As usuall, the kids were spoiled and had a blast. Their cake eating was much more fun to watch since they had their "practice" run in Michigan. Billy ended up turning the bath water a blue shade.

We had a wonderful time. Happy first birthday Bekah and Billy!

August 23rd 2009

Happy Birthday Bekah and Billy! Mommy and Daddy can't believe that you are one now. You are doing so many fun things that just crack us up. I don't know where the past year has gone.

Bekah is walking like a champ now. As soon as she got back home she stared walking more and more. She likes to wrinkle up her nose and try to make pig sounds. Her laugh/giggle, makes the entire room light up. She eats like a champ and eats everything you put in front of her.

Billy has mastered walking. He doesn't even hesitate anymore, he is just off. He likes to sit with daddy and watch tv, but most of all likes to steal the remote or phones. He shakes his head "no" when anyone around says "no". He is eating more and more these days, he isn't as picky as he first was.

Both kids now have 6 teeth and are eating solids. Baby food is a thing of the past. Now they can't walk under the desk anymore, and it was quite the learning experience when they found that out.

At their 1yr check up Bekah weighed 20lb 1oz and was 29 1/2in long. Billy weighed in at 21lb and 1oz and was 30 in long. Bekah is closing the gap in on the weight. It is funny looking at them because it looks like there is more than 1 pound separating them, but there isn't.