the little things

With our lil' boy growing up so fast . . . it's the little things I am trying to remember.  I decided today to list a few small things that Houston has been doing that just melt my heart. 

1.  Today, he looked at the TV and said, "Bill" -- for 'Little Bill' -- one of his TV / Cartoons he watches before nap time. Made me smile . . . knowing that he now knows the name of his lil' shows!

2.  He has learned to hit the golf club quite well. All he needs is a ball . . . and he will line the ball and the club up . . . and w. one swing, the ball goes FLYING!

3.  He has started to say, 'Soan' -- for 'Sloan, our kitty. Sloan and Houston are best friends. I swear, if we didn't shut Houston's door at night, Sloan would probably crawl in Houston's crib w. him! They 'pal' around all afternoon with each other . . . and Houston will just follow him around and gibber gabber to him . . . like they both understand each other!

4. The best part is when Houston turns and looks at me, places both hands on either side of my face, pull me close to him . . . all for a kiss. Sigh. It melts my heart.

5.  I know it doesn't sound like much, but Houston is starting to say 'Tanks' -- aka 'Thanks' -- on his own . . . w.o me having to say to him, 'say Thanks, Houston'. AND 'Bess ou' -- for 'Bless You' -- Makes me smile so big when he says it w.o me asking him too!

6.  Today, while Houston was watching his 'show' before nap time . . . he leaned over on me and fell asleep on my arm while I was typing this blog. Gah, he melts my heart. I wanted to leave him there . . . but I knew that wouldn't be a good nap. So, I moved him to his big boy bed . . . and he looks so stinking cute curled up on it!

7.  Last Friday, we went to the Zoo since it was a nice sunny day . . . and all Houston kept saying was, 'Giaffe, Ma. Giaffe' -- he now has this strange obsession w. giraffes -- and now when he gets in his stroller to go for a walk, he looks at me so sweetly, smiles and says, 'giaffe? Ma! giaffe?' Like we are going to see them! AH. I feel so bad when I say, 'Maybe we will see one!'

8.  Everything to him right now is either BIG or BABY. Meaning, Big or Little. It's either a Big Fish or a Baby ball. haha. And the way he says them . . . PRICELESS.

9.  When you ask Houston if he would like a cookie and you tell him that he can only have ONE, he will say, 'Two'. Everytime! I can't get him to say 'one' for ANYTHING! Everything comes in Two's.

10.  OH, how could I forget! As I might have mentioned before, Houston now loves to sing and dance. Mostly because that is what we do when we get ready . . . sing really loud and dance to the music while blow drying my hair! Laugh. Don't judge me . . . . SO, this weekend, Houston had just gotten out of the bath tub, I was blow drying my hair, listening to music and singing . . . and the next thing I know, Houston is wearing my headband, singing really loud into a makeup brush, swinging his hips back and forth . . . all while . . . he was NAKED! haha. It was the BEST thing I had seen in a long time! I wish we would have recorded it . . . but, I'm not sure how appropriate it would be to put his lil' naked body on the 'web'. I think he would def. hate me later in life for that one! haha.

Oh buddy. I love you.  Thank you for giving me so many good laughs and warm feelings. I love watching you grow.

the big boy bed.

Today, Houston fell asleep in the big boy bed!

*Fingers crossed that this will be an easy process.

Right now, Houston's room is C-R-A-M-P-E-D with all his furniture. He has his big boy bed / full bed, a little dresser, a smaller 3 drawer dresser, a rocking horse and a train table . . . OH, and the crib. Whew. There is NO room to walk . . . and I'm getting so aggravated moving around just to get a diaper / clothes / shoes / book / etc.

We decided for Houston's Birthday -- since he has so many 'things' -- and since we never did a 'theme' for his nursery because we were moving -- that now we will actually 'do' his room once we got settled in our new home. . . And well, we have been here for a year.  So, it's time to convert to a 'big boy room'.

Two days ago, his comforter cover came in and mommy is so excited! Houston could really care less . . . I mean, we walks in and says, 'sheep, Ma. sheep' . . . but that's about all the excitement I get out of him! Matt still needs to paint and then . . . his room will be FINISHED! I am still debating on a few more 'decorative' things . . . but in Houston's mind . . . 'decorative' doesn't exist.  Once it gets all put together, we will post photos of it :) Right now, there's not a whole heck of a lot to 'see' per say . . . just furniture! laugh.

Anyways, Happy Monday bloggers! We have nasty weather here . . . blah. So, lots of 'work' to be done for me today!

twenty twelve

So far twenty twelve has brought us many new and happy moments / memories . . . This year Matt and I said, 'Let's do something small for New Years.' -- Instead, we ended up having quite the PARTY! I think we had a total of 20+ people over for our 'small' celebration! Although, I can't lie . . . It was LOTS of fun!  Kiddos running around . . . friends dropping by / spending the night / visiting from out of town / etc.

Take a look at all our fun moments / memories we will forever keep bringing in twenty twelve!

my boy.

I have been doing GREAT on 'my blogging' skills here lately. . . . keeping everyone updated on our lives and how we spent our Holiday Season. I still have our New Year photos to post . . . which will come soon. I also have photos from Houston's Birthday Celebration we had on Sunday! YAY! Till the catch up photos, I wanted to talk about my 'H-man'.

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Houston will be TWO tomorrow. Tear. Lots of tears for me. I cannot believe that it has been TWO YEARS already. At times, he still looks like a little baby to me . . . but most of the time, I see a toddler.

Houston now says:
'MA' -- Loud and yankee sounding . . . he's my lil' yankee child.
'Da or Daddy' -- soft and sweet.
'Pweeeease'
'Tanks' -- Thanks.
'Uv ou.' -- Not sure on that spelling . . . But he says, I love you.
'I wan dat' -- I want that.
'MMMMAAAAA!! Juice' -- He usually YELLS the Ma part and says Juice softly. Silly boy.
'I see.'
'Truck.'
'I wan dum.' -- I want Gum.
'uh huh' -- Yes.
'Dutch.' -- Don't.
'Talor' -- Trailer.
'PopPop' -- Tractor.
'Chuch' -- Chocolate.
ChooChoo' -- Train.

We are still working on 'sentences' -- but he's getting there. He can count to three if you direct him. But he wont say 'two'. Its, 'One, Free, Free.' And it's the same way when you ask him how hold he is . . . 'Free'. Sigh. He's getting there.

He can name every 'basic' animal and say the sound. 

He LOVES my uncle Fred. And says his name too! Too precious for words. He will cry for Fred as soon as he walks out the door.

He can pretty much say every one's name in the family (except Grant and Brandy and Dave -- sorry yall, he will get it).  Most recently, he LOVES to call WES.

Finding airplanes in the sky is a hobby for H. He will walk outside and look straight up.

He still likes to grab my comb in the bathroom and hold it like a microphone and sing.

He takes two baths a day . . . boy LOVES water.

Noodles are his FAVORITE. Along w. Oranges (which is weird cause I ate oranges all the time when I was preggo w. him).

Houston double steps it when he walks. He doesn't have a 'slow kids' walk . . . it's a fast pace / run. He is always double stepping it. LOVE watching him walk. Sometimes when he does run, he sticks his hands out behind him like Earl used to do. Sigh. Melts my heart every time.

OH, and we can't forget the Chocolate Milk. Boy will drink a gallon of milk in three days or less. He LOVES it. But, you have to put the 'chuch' in it.

And everything is the color blue. Laugh. My monkey!!

.  .  .  .  .

So, that's my kiddo for you! A wild thing. Until tomorrow or Thursday . . . I will update you on our New Years and Houston's Birthday.

baby day.

I wrote this blog last night and meant to 'reread' and 'post' last night after bath time w. Houston . . . but, I fell asleep before H could even get to bed! Whoopsie! No worries tho. -- Matt was rocking him when I fell asleep. I had done the bath, brushed his teeth, jammies, a short rock and a nightly milk (which we need to cut out) and then . . . Houston was a daddy's boy. While I shut my eyes for a moment . . . that resulted in a 9 o'clock bed time for me and slept till 7 this morning! I got my rest!

But still felt very tired.  I just haven't caught up on my sleep from this past week while H was sick. He had a fever early in the week and he hasn't slept well. So, we've been up about 2 hours or so during the night. Gosh, I hate these weeks . . . but I am so thankful that I don't have to wake up early and work all day in corporate America any more . . . If so, I am pretty sure I would kill someone. J. But bless those working mom's and dad's that do it! Kudos to you!

So, my last night's blog . . .

.  .  .  .  .

Today was a day full of babies and great new beginnings. This morning started by watching my child hold a comb like a microphone and sing (babble) as loud as he could and 'dance' like he was a Rockstar. I should have filmed it but we were rocking out to my Pandora. It was the funniest thing I have seen him do in a long time. I'm kicking myself in the butt now for not recording it . . . but, I have to remember I can't document every moment. Although, I sure like to try!

We then went up to Jojo's for our Sunday dinner (aka. lunch.) When we arrived our cousins were next door w. the Twins! Our cousin Kim had a set of twins (girls, Karsyn and Karter) born about two months ago.

Her brother is having his set of twins delivered next Monday.  And yes, you heard me correctly. Two sets of twins in the same family! Making this next set our 6th living set on my side of the family . . . not to mention, Matt's side of the family. Odds are high for us! But, we will see. I wouldn't mind having twins . . . However, we always joke that Jess would be the one to be blessed w. two since she 'says' she only wants one. Laugh. Who knows what God will have in store for us all!

BUT, back to the 'new' twins. . .  They were next door today and pretty much everyone walked over in shifts to hold them :) We like our quality baby time! Matt was smitten over Karter. He just sat there, holding her, googly eyed over her. Even Houston loved them. He kept pointing and saying, 'baby' and loving them. It was precious. I tried to hold Karter for a moment, but the diva wanted more of her bottle and couldn't quite get settled during our 'shift'.

After visiting the twins and spending our Sunday time w. the family during 'dinner', I had a baby shower to attend for one of our friends, Jill. I think there are 3 of Matt's girl friends from High School that are preggo right now and one just had hers. The other two are due wthin a month from each other. At Jill's showers, there were several pregnant and about 3 or so babies there. Whew. Lots of babies everywhere! When I had my baby shower, it was odd . . . no babies present at any! Now several of our friends are 'popping' them out! Makes me think about when our next one will be.

I keep teeter tottering back and forth on when the 'right time' is to have another . . . but, I keep telling myself that it's up to the good Lord to decide. I am happy with where we are right now . . . and spending quality time w. our Bubby. For instance, right now I am typing this blog while resting / laying in bed talking and tickling our 'baby' . . . spending quality time before he turns TWO in ten days!

Christmas Day

Whew. After all these Christmas posts . . . you'd think we would have been done w. Christmas / Christmas Presents . . . but we werent. No . . . we had THREE more Christmas' to attend [ ours, the billingsleys and the kings ].  I know, didn't you think we had already done them! No . . . that was Christmas Eve . . . not to be confused w. the next day . . . Christmas day! j.

We started out Christmas morning off at 7 -- oh, wait -- there was no 'we' there . . . It was just me. I woke up at 7. Started the coffee, sat and watched a little of the 'Today Show' . . . enjoying the last bit of 'quiet' I would hear all day. Houston woke up about 8 / 8:30 and then we woke daddy up at 9 with a big 'SANTA CAME!' Laugh. Houston doesn't have a CLUE about Santa or what the meaning is . . . but he sure did know he wanted to open presents . . . However, he opened his first present and threw it down. Laugh. It was a shirt . . . his face was like, 'What the hell is this, mom?' Haha. Sorry Bubby. Then, he chose his second present . . . and I felt so bad, it wasn't 'his' present . . . so he couldn't open it. After me saying not that one, he pretty much could care less about the whole present opening thing. Ha. But, he had a good morning and opened plenty :)

growing up

Knowing that Houston will be 2 -- TWO -- in 2 weeks, makes me think about the last two years . . . and how much he has grown. I was looking thru my past posts and looking thru past photos of my munchkin . . . and came across this post. Mama's Boy. This photo made me laugh so hard. Gah, I can't believe he used to give us that face! Now, he just looks at us and says, 'Dutch' -- translation: Don't -- his speech / verbal skills are improving, but sometimes I would much rather him give me a look like that 'Eat Shish and Die' look than verbally telling me to 'stop / dont'. Sigh. I have waited for so long to hear him say 'something' and now it's nothing but . . . 'Truck / Boat / What's that? / Stop it / Dutch / Ma / I want that / Juice'.


Sigh. My lil' baby.

Then, I came across this naked tush. Gasp. I used to pinch it all the time! Laugh. Now, my lil' tush just runs from me when I wanna pinch! And more than likely, H follows up with a 'Stop it' . . . then screams and runs from me. Laugh. Such a monkey.

And then, I think about his Debut . . . and all the emotions that we felt when we were awaiting his arrival and the emotions when we actually saw him for the first time. That pale blue little body that wasn't breathing . . . the tears . . . then the first cry. How that cry will forever stay in my head. It's so strange . . . it isn't until you have a little one that you fully understand the meaning of why your parents 'love' you so much. -- at least for me -- I always knew my parents 'loved me' and would do 'anything for me' -- but now, I fully understand it.

My parents had their 32nd Anniversary on New Years. Yep, they got married on New Years. And I am so proud of them for staying together for 32 years . . . and raising us three girls. God blessed them with the courage and the strength to raise us / to have a wonderful marriage / to get the joy of spending time w. their grand kids / etc.  And now, God had blessed us (Matt and I) with so many wonderful moments w. our lil' H. and so far, a marriage that will hopefully last as long as our parents.

One thing is for sure, it's hard work . . . and kids def. test the waters of your strength. But, kids bring so much joy. Wow. All of this sappy stuff over thinking about my munchkin turning TWO! Whew. I can only image the thoughts I will have when H gets older!! Or when we have another 'munchkin' to chase around!

Gah, I think I need to stop before I get too sappy here . . .

Anyways . . . the point of this post was to say . . . I CAN'T BELIEVE HOUSTON WILL BE TWO!

Our Family

Christmas Eve

Our next Christmas Celebration was Christmas Eve. A fun fun day . . . and a sick sick day for me. Whew. I believe I was high on cough meds . . . whoopsie. But, everyone else seemed to really enjoy the day :)

We spent the first half of the day w.  Duke and Deeda . . . Houston mostly napped the entire time there . . . so we just curled up on the couch and watched some TV and set up Deeda's new iPad w. games / books for Houston to play. And ever since . . . he hasn't gotten away from it! H loves to play games / read books on iPad / iPhone. He is such a little technology baby. I need to break him of some of it!

Then we headed to Jojo's for our Christmas Eve dinner and present opening w. the 'Cumalander' side of the family. It was a little weird this year cause Jess wasn't around . . . she was spending some time in NYC w. our friend Teresa and her family. But, we had some 'fill ins'. The Richardson and Lindler families decided to eat with us this year. So, we had plenty of entertainment and company :)

Take a look at some of the happenings:

Then we went back to Duke and Deeda's house for our 'Christmas Eve'. Papaw (Matt's granddad on his dad's side) and Uncle Bill were there. The Adams: Janie, Doug, Maggie, Katie and little Jaden walked over for a bit and we opened presents between the kids. We watched them play w. Houston's trucks together. It was funny to see them play together . . . to see what they like and don't like. Matt's Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dewayne had also brought over a HUGE stuffed animal horse before they went to TX . . . and Jaden and H climbed all over it. Laugh. A bunch of clowns.

Friends Christmas Dinner

The Wednesday before Christmas, we had our Friends Christmas Dinner. Us girls decided to have our weekly girls night moved from Thursday to Wednesday since Jess was going to NYC and had to leave Thursday night. We had each person bring something . . . we drank and had a GREAT time :)

We had drawn names two weeks prior so us girls could exchange gifts . . . I mean, lets face it . . . men hardly EVER buy gifts . . . so, we thought it was best to do just girls. Plus, it feels good to pamper ourselves vs men sometimes. j.

We had a great time relaxing and enjoying ourselves. Friends always make you feel warm, esp. this group of ladies -- OH, and their spouses. j. Laugh.

Houston Family Christmas

Sunday, December 18th, we had our annual Houston family Christmas dinner / lunch. We drove up to Greenville / Simpsonville, SC to Nana and Papa's house (Matt's grandparents on his mama's side). We have such a LARGE family on that side . . . so, lunch is always eventful and full of love. There are about, 20 of us, when we are all present and I think about 18 where there . . . We had . . .

Nana and Papa
Leanne and the three girls (Emerson, Logan and Kenny Brooke)
Donna and Bob
Aunt Gaga and Jimmy
Aunt Barbara, John and Allston
Kendall and Peter w. their cute new little puppy
and Matt, Houston and I

Whew, that is how many? 18! We were missing Grant and Sarah and Uncle Billy. We missed seeing them . . . But, we still had a GREAT time. Houston mostly played w. Matt's trucks he had at Nana and Papa's when he was little . . . along with running around with the girls, Kennedy and Logan and Emerson. . . while us adults laughed at the kiddos, caught up on what everyone was doing and playing w. Kendall's new pup!!

We opened presents at the end . . . and it really is like Christmas when we all open presents up there!! Paper every where! Presents being passed left and right. The kids opening their new toys. Everyone talking. Smiles. So much fun :) 

I didn't take any family photos cause, stupid me, some how my camera got 'turned' on and the battery was dead . . . and I had a photo session that afternoon and so, my batteries were charging. Boo. I know. Plus, so much was going on . . . I'm not sure I could have captured it all!! 

Raleigh Christmas

A couple weeks ago, we spent the weekend with our dad's side of the family in NC. Matt, Houston, Jess and I drove up Friday night to spend the night with our Aunt Carol and Uncle Eddie in Liberty -- about an hour or so shy of Raleigh (where the rest of the King family was staying). I was nervous to make the Christmas adventure . . . for most of you who read our blog, Houston doesn't travel real well . . . and our last adventure to Raleigh ended a day early due to the lack of sleep. So, this mama was VERY nervous for our two night, two day 'King' family Christmas.


The drive up is about a 3 hr 15 min drive . . . that took us 4+ hrs to our destination. Which, wasn't bad considering we made several 'pitt' stops for dinner and diapers changes, etc. AND the best part . . . the drive 'lulled' Houston to sleep! Horray. All we had to do was get settled in and lay him down and cross our fingers he would sleep ALL night!

Oh, I forgot to mention, Carol and Eddie have a camper down by a pond behind their house . . . and Matt and I decided that we wanted to sleep down there next time we visited . . . so we did. BUT, we didn't think about where everything would fit. Laugh. Between, Matt, Jess, Houston and I . . .  we were packed in there!! It was a tight squeeze, but a warm squeeze! Thankfully, the camper has heat, it has electricity, it has a TV (Matt was THRILLED!), it has everything you 'need' to survive and more. So, we 'moved' in, got Houston's pack-n-play set up and made the transfer . . . and baby slept ALL NIGHT! I couldn't believe it. I was beyond words.

NIGHT ONE:  Success

That morning we drove over to our Uncle and Aunts home in Raleigh and spent the entire day with them. It was a blast. We went to a local flee market in Raleigh and walked around . . . went to a park and let the kiddo's play for a bit.  Came back and had a wonderful dinner prepared by our Aunt SueSue. Then, it was present time!!

DAY ONE:  Success

Houston then again, fell asleep in the car on the way back to Liberty . . . transfer two into the camper . . . Success! And he then again, slept ALL night.

NIGHT TWO:  Success

That morning, we woke up and spent family time w. our Aunt Carol and Uncle Eddie. Just around the house, relaxing, talking . . . them, getting to see Houston. We walked their barn, saw their cows, ate breakfast. By lunch time, we decided to hit the road back to home.