Phone Pix/Update

 Where is she in all that material? lol She is my Itty Bitty! :)

 Josiah lovin' on his Tadpole

 Joanna's Great Grandmother

 This was park/library day. Sweet little Hannah joined us for some fun. 

And, really. What are the odds of taking a picture with your phone of two kids swinging and having it turn out so good? Both kids looking at me and smiling? I'm good! ;)

 "They get to swing and I'm stuck in this car seat. So not fair."

Cuddling with my little ones

 Josiah and Daddy on the carousel

 Jman giving his sister a helicopter ride

 More cuddles with my babies

 Kindergarten graduation service

 Regyn

 Madelyn

 Mady & Rey

Mady showing off her missing tooth

A quick update on us...

:)

Told you it would be quick!

Okay, so for real. Things are good. Michael and I just celebrated our 6th anniversary together. He took me for a day of pampering which I totally enjoyed! My sister has made a couple of quick visits recently and then I went to watch the girls graduate. Spontaneous supper with friends, thunderstorms, a good book. Poopy diapers, and a smelly bathroom (Whoever thought it was a good idea to put fake wood floors in a bathroom are Re-Re's... that's my bff's word for retards.) Lots of laundry, shopping by myself, the adventures of shopping with two kids (which really isn't all that bad it just takes a bit of strategy). Family walks, bubbles, and outdoor playtime. Smiles, tears, laughter. Washing bottles, spit up, snuggles. Thankfully I haven't set anything on fire recently so we're good!

I know my husband is going to tease me for randomly putting words up in that last paragraph but that is how my brain is working right now. I don't really have "complete thoughts" right now but hey, that's just life right now and I'm okay with it. And I think I just used the word 'now' too many times as well so I am going to go now.

Bye for now!  :)

Darth Vader Meets Fireman Sam

Josiah loves all things fireman and a month ago a sweet family gave him a fireman hat. He plays with it every day. No lie.

This love of firemen began with a little cartoon called Fireman Sam. He loves that show and pretends to be Fireman Sam all the time.

At odd and various times at our house you can hear sirens blaring from his room or the backyard that sound VERY realistic. Then you will hear him telling someone that he is on his way to save them.

When he is outside playing he uses the clothes line poll to slide down like firemen do at their station. When he knows he wants to play fireman outside, like today, he brings out a backpack that he pretends is his oxygen and the strings hanging down from the bag become his water hose. Every fireman wears a mask when going to a fire so he uses his Darth Vader mask. He has quite the get-up going on.

I just love to watch him play!

 

It's Already Been A Month???

Our sweet little Joanna McKinley is one month old today. 

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions-

1. How does she sleep at night?

Joanna's last feeding is around 10pm, after she eats we put her to bed. She has been doing really well at waking up only one time during the night, most often during the 4 o'clock hour. Yay! She normally starts her day around 7:30am. Now if we can only get her to not fight her nap times during the day we will really be doing good! :)

2. Is she a 'good' baby?

For the most part- yes. When she decides she doesn't want to take a nap and she is straight up cranky- no.

3. How are you feeling?

I am doing really well physically. I have most of my strength back and feel energetic when I've had enough sleep. The recovery from the c-section has been SO MUCH BETTER than my recovery after having Josiah. I am still sore at the surgery sight but it gets better every day. 

My brain on the other hand has seemed to have taken a holiday with out notice of departure or return. I can give you instance after instance where I just couldn't think straight. For example: I was at CVS on Saturday. I was at the checkout trying to count out my money. Y'all it just wasn't happening. I could NOT count my change out. It was so embarrassing and funny at the same time.

4. Why did you choose to name her 'Joanna'?

We are really big about having a name that has a special meaning. Over the last year Michael and I really feel as though God has been incredibly gracious to us. I won't go into detail because my brain can't handle that right now. BUT we have seen God work in our lives to provide for us and it has been incredible to just sit and think about it all. 

So we chose the name Joanna which means "God is Gracious". 

5. How is Josiah doing with all the change? Is he jealous?

Does this look like a boy who is jealous???

He loves his Tadpole! :) Whenever someone asks him her name he answers "Joanna McKinley Princess". I love it! By the way, he can not pronounce the "L" sound so it comes out as McKinwey. 

He is constantly giving her kisses and hugs. He brings her toys, blankets, pacifiers and he has even wiped up her spit-up. He is going to be such a wonderful big brother.

So, it has been a month. It has flown by yet it seems like she has always been with us. Another child was our hearts desire and now our cup is full and overflowing...

...And so is my laundry basket so off to work I go! Have a wonderful day!

A little bit of life

 I know I am constantly saying how busy some weeks are but y'all the last couple weeks have been SLAM FULL with things to do, places to go, and diapers to change.

 

The Lord allowed me to celebrate another birthday a couple weeks ago. A sweet couple gave me a picture which encouraged me to want the rest of what pictures we have to get hung up. I thought it was so sweet how Michael always tries to find ways to allow Josiah to 'help' him do things around the house. Daddy makes even pulling weeds seem fun to our little guy.

 This was story time after Josiah's nap. I think that story was about Prince Josiah rescuing Princess Joanna from a dragon. 

Our sweet and cute kiddos one Sunday before church.

 This past Friday was some sort of national free park day. Bok Tower was participating so Michael took a long lunch break so we could go enjoy a family picnic.

 Josiah has been talking about picnics for the last couple months so I was excited for him to finally get his picnic.

 Sweet tea in a mason jar. Is there anything better? Well, I had homemade lemonade with enough sugar in it to be considered sinful... but it was oh, so delicious!

 We also enjoyed chicken salad sandwiches, watermelon slices, and banana pudding. Josiah helped me make the pudding the day before but he would not eat any of it since it tasted like bananas. I still can't believe my child doesn't like bananas.

 Lookin' at the fishies!

This weekend we watched my cousin get married on Friday night, had a mother/daughter luncheon on Saturday and Church and College Graduation on Sunday. Tis the season for end of the year activities. :)

 Joanna had her first Skype session with Grandma and Grandpa Case, too. :)

 My Mother's Day Gifts! I love them so much!

 Our kiddos with their God-Mother. Josiah told us this past week that he wants to marry Miss Jennifer. We told him he has very good taste but that she was already married. :)

 Josiah LOVES Joanna! Here he is humming to her as he pats her back. It just melts my heart!

As I close this long post of pictures I thought I'd share a snapshot that just makes me cringe and laugh. Some of my fb friends are participating in the photo of the day for May and one of the days was to be of the kitchen. All the pictures made me jealous of how clean they were... this was what my kitchen looked like on that particular day. Scary, huh? Especially since you can't even see all the loads of laundry, the dishes, or how dirty the floor was in this one picture. Oh, how do you like the two garbage cans? lol

It doesn't look like that anymore thanks to my hubby! Have I mentioned how blessed I am to be married to that man?

Finding Our New Normal

 This week has been pretty low key for us... at least so far. My goal for the next few weeks is to just find our new normal, figure out our schedule of daily activities/cleaning/meals, and to just take things slow.

 We have been going on early evening walks as a family and we have all enjoyed that time together. Don't worry, they have been nice short walks but I look forward to being able to handle going around the lake as my healing allows. Michael looks forward to it too because our road is slanted as well as down hill and he is tired of fighting with keeping the stroller moving straight ahead. :)

 Josiah and I started back with pre-school this week. The little nut cracks me up at how excited he is to do school. :) He wasn't on his best behavior today so he didn't get to do his art project, which involved markers, scissors, and glue. That my friends brought on some crocodile tears. I expect excellent behavior tomorrow. lol

 Joanna is such a blessing to our family. We waited a long time for her and it was well worth it. She has such a beautiful smile that just melts my heart. I love it when she turns her head toward our voices. I can tell she is going to be a snuggle bunny.

 Josiah loves to give her kisses and hugs. We've caught him reading her books and bringing her a blanket or toy. He even uses her as an excuse to get what he wants. His most often used one is "Mommy, Joanna really wants to watch a movie with me!"

 Michael is such a wonderful husband and father. He has kept this household running while I have been recovering and although he will tell you that he isn't doing a good job, he has. I wouldn't be recovering as well as I have if it wasn't for him. I thank God for the wonderful man He gave me!

I tried to take some pictures of Joanna today. I need like six more hands if I try that again. This is the only one that turned out decent. By the time I get her situated and I grab my camera I have no time to center it before she starts wiggling around.

Oh, and she decided to poop during her photo session.

 Nice, huh?

:)