Life at the Lake

Well, our time at Lake Athens is almost over. It's really kind of bittersweet when I think about it. I can't wait to move into our new house, but living here has been fun in a different way. Doing dishes while watching the water go by, watching shooting stars at night, no traffic, people waving when you drive by- life in a small time sure is nice. My favorite part of the time that we have had here is watching Miles and his experiences. There are no fences here. We "go down lake" every day(many days 3 times) and watch the fish swim or feed the ducks. Watching his eyes and his expressions while all of this is going on are memories I will not forget.
The girls have enjoyed the lake as well. Both have started to crawl and Marley is ALL over the place! Maggie will move a little, roll over, grab and toy, and then be content. Marley will be just like her mommy- on the go! Maggie got her first tooth while we were here and both girls have truly found their voices. They are talking back in forth to one another and even though I have no clue what is being communicated, I have a feeling they know what is being said to one another.
I have had a lot of "think time" while being in Athens. There have definitely been days when I wanted to scream and throw my hands up in the air and tell the kids that their screaming won that day. Then, I would walk away, take a deep breath, look back at the three of them, and tell myself I was crazy. Why would I give up ever on being their mom? I have three beautiful, healthy, amazing children that I love with all of my heart. No matter how many tears or how loud the crying gets, I would rather have all of that then no tears or crying at all. I have had a lot of time to reflect on how generous God has been in trusting these three kiddos in Chase and I's hands. We are truly blessed.
Life in Dallas will begin again on Monday, and even though I am really excited to start our life in our new house, I will miss the small town life. It has been good to us city folk.

Pajama Day

Fall has finally arrived in Dallas (at least for a couple of days) and so I thought what a great way to spend a cool cloudy day than by staying in our PJs all day. We had the best time. Miles was wearing his favorite "aminal" PJs which made it even more of a bonus. We watched a movie- Lion King, of course, baked muffins, colored, built a fort out of blankets, and just had an all around perfect day! The girls had a great time too! No car seats, all their toys, and attention from their big brother, which they LOVE! It was a tiring day for me, but so worth it, just to see the smiles on all three of their faces. Enjoy the pics...

Maggie putting any and everything in her mouth.




Miles decided it would be fun to hang out with Marley in the bouncy seats.


Crib time


Baking muffins

The girls assisting in the kitchen.

Marley

Cheese!!

Happy Maggie

Popsicle time

Solid Foods

Starting the girls on solids was a hard decision for me. Not really sure why, because with Miles, I could not wait for him to start eating solids. Maybe because he was the first and I don't want the babies to grow up too quickly, I'm not sure why, but I kept holding off. While we were at the lake for our "staycation" I finally decided to give in and try out rice cereal. It was hilarious! They were not fans of the spoon, but what was even funnier was Miles wanting to be fed like a baby and not knowing what he was getting himself into. He could not spit that rice cereal out fast enough and then dramatically yell, "gross!"

Gross!

Feeding all three.

Marley getting used to a spoon.


The Magsters is loving it!

Marley waiting for her next bite.

Miles the Landscaper

We think Miles has officially found his calling in life. For awhile we thought he would be a chef, but now we are positive he is going to be a gardener. We put our house on the market a couple of weeks ago (reason why I did not write one thing on this blog the whole month of August) and one of the first things we needed to do was plant some flowers and add color to some flower pots. Not sure if it was an excuse for him to play with dirt, but he did a great job!

Notice all the dirt on the ground- that was not there before we started!

He moved dirt from the pot to the ground. It was a big help!

So proud of himself! He really did help a lot!

Not that you can really see the flowers, but here is what you see when you drive up.

Where does the time go?

You always here the saying from other, more mature parents, "Enjoy this time, because it goes by so quickly." Wow, does it ever! I feel like it was just yesterday that I woke up and secretly took a pregnant test (little did I know there were two bundles of joy in there!). I didn't really think that it was going to come back positive, but much to my surprise, I needed to quickly come up with a fun way to tell Chase and Miles there was a baby on the way. It was exactly a year ago that I took the test and looking back, it has been a fun, crazy, and fast year!

Chase and I enjoy looking back at pictures and seeing how much Miles and the girls have grown. It was funny to open up our July 2008 file and find the pregnancy picture, plus a much younger, toothless, chubby little man. Wow, has he grown! I feel like every day we wake up and I look at Miles and think, okay buddy, what new and exciting thing are you going to do today. The kid truly amazes me. I am not going to say he's a genius or super advanced, he just amazes me in how he behaves and treats others. Oh how I wish, I knew what on in that little head of his! Yesterday he decided he wanted to have "tummy time" with the girls. Little did we know that it was going to turn into giggle fest at our house. He could not stop making the girls laugh. It was priceless to watch! Yes, there are times that he is jealous of his little babies, but for the most part, all he wants to do is love on them, giving them kisses from head to toe and make them smile. The neat thing is, I really think they already love him too. They will strain their necks to see what their big brother is doing. They look at him and immediate smiles appear on both of their faces. It is really special to watch! It excites me to think of what the future holds for them three of them. I know there will be disagreements and tears over toys not being shared, but I know they are going to be best buddies and I love that for all three of them. A year ago, I did not know what was in store for us, and I still don't know what the future holds, but I can guarantee there will be lots of laughter and kisses to go around at our house.

My very sleepy, but happy boys

Happy little buddy, July 2008

My little buddy is growing up


Tummy time with Miles

Love those Smiles!

Marley laughing at Daddy at dinner

Happy Mags

Miles enjoying a pop ice after dinner. Such a boy!

Marley still laughing...

Cheese!

Maggie helping Mommy with the dishes.

I love my Fridays!

My kids amaze me every day! Fridays seem to be my favorite days of the week lately. No school, no Bible study, no help, just me and my three favorite little buddies. It would seem that would be opposite, and yes, there are Fridays that I wish I had help, but really, for the most part, they are the best days. Somehow they know we don't have to go anywhere, so they sleep in (til 8 maybe-I'm not talking 9 or anything) and then it's just a slow, laid back morning where, at times we don't even take our PJs off.
Maggie is still not feeling well, so luckily Marley took a champ of a nap this morning. Miles decided to play cars for an hour or so and talk to the "big cars" that drove by the house. He loves to play by himself. There are times I go in to try and play with him and he busts out with his favorite new sentence these days, "No mommy." He loves to do things by himself- at times good, other times, not so good. It was awesome to just have some me and the Magsters time. She smiled, cooed, giggled, and just snuggled with me. I was able to sit quietly and pray over her and thank the Lord for the amazing gift of my two girls. It gave me a great opportunity to just have time with her. After she fell asleep, Miles and I played cars for a little bit longer and then he took on my helper role and helped me fold laundry. Who knew someone could have so much fun with laundry, but he sure does enjoy it. I am sure it's more the fact that it's just time for the two of us to hang out, but he sure is a trooper in helping me. At one point, I just sat back watching him and was in aww. Where did my little buddy go? He is growing up so quickly and I need to take moments like the ones today and realize that soon he will be at school all five days and we won't have opportunities for all day PJ days. Once I got Miles down for a nap, Maggie was still dozing, which gave me some quality time with Marley. She is truly a different child than she was a month ago. She has really mellowed out and just loves to lay on her tummy time mat, laughing at me and looking at herself in the mirror. She is a super happy little baby that loves to be held, but it's not a must anymore, which makes the times we are holding her, even more enjoyable. She has that great smile that looks like she is laughing when she is smiling. It goes from ear to ear with her mouth open and her eyes sparkle that sparkle that makes you know that she could not be any happier. It melts my heart!
I had about a 15 minute window today where all three of them were asleep, and believe it or not, I wanted one of them to wake up so I could have quality time with another one of them. I know, crazy that I would say that out loud because usually I am racing around to get laundry finished or a shower taken or just to take a deep breath, but for some reason today, I was reminded that each moment with my children individually is precious. I look at my life and remember the Lord has blessed me in so many ways, especially with three beautiful children, that at times, require a lot, but gosh, SO WORTH every minute of it. I could not be more blessed!!!! Lord, thank you for a wonderful day of reflection and some quiet time with each of my children today. It was a perfect day!

Happy 4th of July!

4th of July at the lake is kind of a tradition with the Nienhueser family. I grew up every summer going to the lake, looking forward to lots of swimming and fireworks all weekend long. So, when we decided to go this year for the long weekend, I could not wait to introduce Miles to some of my favorite 4th activities.

The fireworks usually start around 9, so Chase and I were a little concerned that Miles might not want to stay up that long, or if he did, he would be really cranky. How could we doubt our little man? He was such a champ! After we put the girls to bed, we walked down to the dock to watch the big show. Miles is only 2, so loud noises like fireworks, could really scare him, but we were not sure. Again, how could we doubt him? What a big boy he was! There were about 6 shows going on at home time. Miles started counting for the fireworks to go off and it went a little something like this- he would say "1, 2, 3, boom!" Then the firework would go off and Miles would reply, "I did it! I did it!" He truly thought he was the one controling the fireworks! We definitely do not have to worry about this child having a low self esteem!

As we were walking back up to the house after the show was over, I turned around to see the most precious picture. Miles was holding Daddy's hand and talking to him all about what he had just seen. They both had the biggest smiles on their faces, having just enjoyed probably the best fireworks show of all times. It was not the actual fireworks that made the show the best, but the company of a two year old that helped us 32 year olds to see things again like a child. It was awesome!

Miles and Chase swimming together in the lake. Miles was not sure at first, but ended up loving it!

He was so proud of himself, waving at all the boats that were driving by.

Marley was not so sure about the bows, but Maggie sure did think they were fun. They had matching outfits that they wore, but did not get any pics of them with them on.

Attempting a picture taken by me, but did not turn out so great. We sure did have fun though!

I love this picture because it captures the excitement that Miles had the whole time watching the fireworks.

Watching the fireworks go off at the beginning. He kept saying, "oooh, ahhh!"

I was a little too excited, I think, but had to include my sweet boy!

Grandparents Rock!

So I'm sure that when I invited my dad over for a nice Sunday dinner, that he had in mind more of a quiet, sit down dinner, and not what my children had in store for him tonight. My mom was gone for a long girls' weekend at the lake, so I thought it would be a fun time for him to come and play with the kiddos. Well, as he walked in, I have a feeling he might have wanted to turn around and walk right back out. Two crying babies and a young toddler running crazily around the house- what more could you want? Well, he was a trooper and stayed. The girls finally quieted down after he and I both fed one and Chase entertained Miles with playing cars. We finally sat down to eat, that is, of course, after Miles played musical chairs trying to decide where he wanted to sit. We were all holding hands to play, when Marley decided she needed to be held immediately and Maggie didn't like that she was not at the table with the rest of the family. Once everyone was situated, prayers said, we finally were able to eat, before it was bathtime. Chase took Miles and Dad and I made a joint effort to bathe and hold, the still screaming babies. How we love the witching hours at our house. My dad rocked, hushed, got spit up on more times than I can count, all with the biggest smile on his face. As he left the house tonight, he leaned down to kiss the top of my head and said, "Thank you for a wonderful evening." The fun thing was, he meant it!

I tell you all of this because after he left, I was reminded of how lucky Chaes and I are to have our parents living here in Dallas. What he and I might see as mass chaos and stressful, the four of them see as a fun opportunity to get to be with their three grandchildren. Chase and I talk oftehn about the memories we have of our grandparents growing up, and it makes us both very happy to know that our kids will have those same great memories with their grandparents. Whether it be fun outings to the zoo, catching their first fish, or just playing at their house, those are the memories that they will never forget. So Grandma, Diddy, Granddaddy, and Papa, thank you for the wonderful memories that have already been made and the exciting ones that are to come. We are so blessed to have the four of you helping raise our children!

Granddaddy (Chase's Dad) with Marley and Maggie on Father's Day

Grandma (Chase's mom) with her little buddy, Miles, on her birthday.



Diddy (my mom) with Maggie and Marley.




Miles with Papa (my Dad) about to go catch his first fish.

Happy Blogging!

Miles enjoying some pool time on the porch.

Precious girls, Maggie and Marley

The Leavell Family

Okay, here goes nothing... A friend of mine, from what I can tell, a master blogger, has inspired me to try this. She says that it's a great way to record everything to then print out and give to my kids to make up for the fact that there will be no baby books.

It's funny how with your first child, you record everything- first smile, first bath, first word. Miles' baby book has everything from the first year recorded perfectly. Not only the things written down, but the pictures. Oh my goodness, the pictures! In May of 2007, I kid you not, when I say that we took over 1000 pictures of our beautiful baby boy. Can you say obsessive?? And then, once a month, I would send out pictures to everyone that did and did not want to see recent pictures of him. Who doesn't like to look at a cute baby?



Now, I am lucky if we get a picture taken just for important holidays. Not only is it different with your second (and third in our case) but try posing two newborns with a crazy toddler running around. Our Christmas card will be interesting this year, to say the least.



The girls have started to smile. Recorded! And they are pretty adorable smiles if I do say myself. You know those smiles when it lights up your whole face- that is what both of their smiles are like. No words or steps yet though and good thing, because they would not be recoreded. But, if I keep this up, then all three of my children will have everything written down for them to look at when they get older. Because, you know, knowing the exact date of when you said "Mommy" is very important when you are older- ha!