Our Family Story

Our Children

I realized that winter used to be my favorite time of year because my birthday is in January and of course Christmas is in December. After these crazy winter days in Kansas I believe my opinion has changed after 25 years! Looking outside I can see the trees starting to bloom their first flowers and I am reminded that my son's birthday is right around the corner. I think that's why I initially started to love summer days.

May of 2007 we were driving from Springfield, MO back to Branson with our newborn son. Everything was new and I was so anxious to see if I would be able to become this phenomenal mother that I wanted my son to have. Matthew Elias was an "easy" baby. He only cried when he was hungry or dirty and then went right back to sleep. My maternity leave with him was a breeze. I sat on the couch all day and cuddled with my new baby. He has now grown into a perfect miniature version of his father. Which for me, at times, can either be entertaining or completely nerve wrecking. There are times when I look up and find both Matts in front of the mirror dancing the newest dance craz, while intensely staring at themselves to assess how their moves are working. Now he is turning three and I am starting all over again with Maliya.
She definitely has my personality. Everything has to be her way and just the way that she wants it or she screams. I'm not a screamer, but that's surely how I feel at times. She is very particular about how she wants to be held and when. She has the most beautiful caramel skin. Everyday she is getting darker, which I am excited for because it's so stunning with her hair.I am so proud of her jet black hair. Although I know that it will change in a few months and probably transform into the red-brown curls that Little Matt has. My maternity leave with her has been a little less relaxing than with Matt, to say the least. This time around I am chasing after a two (soon to be three) year old, trying to catch up on classwork, and making an attempt to domesticate myself. When we got married I had tricked Big Matt into thinking that I was this cleaning, cooking, potential-house-wife-machine. Turns out I'm just as lazy as him. So now while on my "vacation" I've been trying to get myself back into the swing of being a working, mom/student/wife. Let me tell you, it's not relaxing at all, and I haven't even gone back to work yet!
It's going to be a whole new ball game when I return to work and I'm not sure how we are going to survive financially or emotionally, but we are ready to take on the challenge. Anytime I start to feel a little doubt or fear (which are my biggest obstacles), I reassure myself and God that He is in charge of my life. I know He wouldn't have blessed me with two amazing children and not given me the means to provide for them. So here's to the next few months and attempting to survive!

Famliy Pictures

We went and had our first family pictures taken Thursday. They were taken by Nicole Gravatt. She owns her own couture photography business. These are just our first samples and we should see the finished products in a couple weeks.

Maliya was a handful trying to get her to stop fussing long enough to get the photos taken. There was a lot of rocking, feeding, singing, and multi-tasking. Big Matt had no idea what was going on so he played on his iPhone during the individual baby pictures. We got some shots though, it was all about the timing.

The boys were both cranky because we went and had them taken right in the middle of nap and lunch time. Big Matt and Little Matt are the same when it comes to sleep and food. If they haven't had the right amount of sleep and you haven't fed them, they won't do anything you want them to do. So needless to say, it was a bit of a hassle and right when I was doing some major bribing with a Popeye's lunch....we were finished.

If these are just a few that she put together in a matter of twenty minutes I can't wait to see the finished product after two weeks!

Ahhh.....Listen to Me!

After seeing a blog from a fellow mommy I was inspired to create on of my own for my family and friends to browse around on. I have family and friends that don't live close and I am not one for talking/calling on the phone so I figured this would be a great place to put some of our family events, photos, and get my writing fix. It will take a while to get the whole thing up and going so be patient...remember I still have 800 other plates to keep spinning! Enjoy!