Getting Big

Kids are getting big! We have included some of the beautiful Carolina blue sky, Billy's first hair cut, a family picture and some other around the house pics. Enjoy!!!

Bek enjoys naming everyone she knows (in the car, sitting around the house, even at 3am). She even demands to talk on the phone.

Billy has discovered "no", "ssssTOP" and a few others. Getting pretty feisty.

Can't wait to see everyone soon.

19 months & Easter

Some funny things that happened this month. Bekah tried on all 3 of her new outfits at the same time. She had on 4 shirts, 2 pairs of shorts and a skirt. Billy tried on Daddy's sweatshirt and it swallowed him up. They tried Spaghetti for the first time. I think they played with it more than they ate it.

We were able to celebrate Easter with Brent, Deb and Grandma Heldt. Dad and I took the kids to Monkey Joe's (a play place for kids) and had a great time. All of us took the kids to the park to play with their new easter gifts (balls and bubbles). We all had a blast and learned new things. Rolling a big ball, kicking the ball and making bubbles were some of their favorite things to do.

We have been working on potty training the kids and Bekah is catching on very quickly. Billy thinks its fun, but not sure what the potty is for.

Both kids are cutting many teeth at the same time. I feel bad for them. We also discovered that they have seasonal allergies. We found out the hard way when the pollen "snowed" on NC. We have been able to treat it with over the counter medicine and they are doing very well.

18 months old

At the end of February the kids turned 18 months old and Bill had his shoulder surgery.

Bill's surgery went as well as could be expected. They didn't have any surprises once they started and it went like clockwork.

His surgery was on Thursday and on Saturday Dottie arrived. We were so thankful to share that time with her. She didn't have to share her great-grandchildren with anyone like she normally has to do when she visits (share the kids with Grandma and Grandpa Brand).... Well that was until we had a wonderful surprise visit from Bill and Jackie. They drove through the night just to be able to surprise us. We had a great long weekend and were able to celebrate Bill's birthday (March 9th) with everyone.

I learned not to leave Jackie, the kids and candy alone (just kidding). Jackie showed the kids how you can use egg candy and turn it into lipstick. It was really cute and the kids were all for it. Thank you Jackie for putting "lipstick" on my son. ;)

Long overdue 17 month pictures, I thought I should get them up before they are 18 months :)

Mommy went to a breakfast with the ladies at church and kids stayed home with daddy. They had a bunch of fun and also cleaned up the house. It was a nice surprise for mommy.

Just playing around!

Friday the 12 of February snow fell all over North Carolina. This was the first time the kids have really been able to play in the snow. We were able to have some time in it on Friday and Saturday. They had a blast.

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