Nawlins

While we are living in Louisiana, Shelby & I decided we definitely needed to experience New Orleans, or "Nawlins", as people around here pronounce it! Neither one of us had ever been, and although we knew it wouldn't be the most kid-friendly place, we wanted to see the architecture, and the girls wanted to go swimming at the hotel...a nice little weekend get-a-way! Shelby had two free nights from all of his travels, so all we paid for was gas & food...and zoo tickets! The first night we got there we were excited to see that our room had a sliding glass door that opened straight out to the pool. The girls started squealing! We couldn't get our suits on fast enough! In true Georgia & Ivy Jane fashion...Ivy Jane got right in and Georgia waited...then she got her toes in the water...then she got her feet in the water...then she got her legs in the water...then she wanted to get in! By the time we were getting out, she was holding on to the edge of the pool saying, "No no, Momma, I do it myself! Don't hold my hand!" They were asking to swim at 6 AM the following two mornings! We had a great time, we didn't plan much or stress too much, and that was the key to a successful trip with our two girls! 

Ready to GO! They had books, babies, pillows & blankets! I should have taken a picture of MY bag...snacks, meds, wipes, diapers, sunglasses, bows, sippy cups, activity bags for restaurants, etc. etc!

 Lake Pontchartrain...crazy big! Such different country in Southern Louisiana!

Ivy Jane at the zoo looking at the flamingos! It was H-O-T & we only lasted a couple hours...plenty of time for us! The swimming pool & nap that followed were THE BEST!

 Ivy Jane on the carousel with her Daddy. Georgia didn't want to ride so we waited & waved!

We ate supper Saturday night at Deanie's...YUM!!! GREAT seafood, and right downtown. The girls did SOOOO WELL!!!! We had to wait about 45 minutes for a table and they were little troopers!!!

 I think this is Georgia's "I'm tired of waiting" face! Ha!

Sunday morning we ate beignets at Cafe Du Monde...and it was DEE-LISH! The girls were too overwhelmed with all the people, the balloon-making man, the man singing, etc. so, I MAY have eaten their beignets, too!!! WOW! Talk about yummy! By this time the girls were done, and were ready for normalcy...

 My new favorite place!

We wanted to get a picture of Shelby with the girls in front of the GORGEOUS St. Louis Cathedral, but Georgia refused to stand by him & Ivy Jane was holding onto my leg...does he look exasperated to you?!

 The architecture did not disappoint...SO unique, so French, so pretty!

Good little trip! Looking forward to our next family vacation...probably to a VERY kid-friendly location!

Georgia Claire is THREE

Our Georgia Claire is officially THREE! She's changing DAILY, and I want to remember all of it! Her therapy is going GREAT. The fact that she can do the "three" sign with her fingers like in the above picture is AMAZING! Her little hand muscles are getting stronger!  Her core is obviously getting stronger, too, because she's doing somersaults & standing in her tire swing when we push her...yay for occupational therapy! Unfortunately with turning three, comes some meltdowns, tantrums, telling momma & daddy "no!" and trips to time out. Like Shelby told me the other night, "This too shall pass!" I know this is all part of growing up, and she's definitely testing us daily, but she's learning & is such a sweet little girl...most of the time! Ha! When she tells us things like, "I love you soooo much!" it melts our hearts! 

She's learning about her adoption in her own way. I've had the photo album that I made through Shutterfly that explains it all, and we go through it sometimes & look at the pictures, but it's still a little too much for her to grasp. My friend Kathleen made a picture that says, "For this child we prayed" & we've had it in her room since we first brought her home. I changed the girls' rooms a couple weeks ago & I hung that picture beside her bed. It's like she was seeing it for the first time. Several times at bed time she's asked me what it said. I explained to her how her daddy & I were sad because we wanted a baby, and how we prayed & prayed & God sent us her from Julia. So, the other night we were going to bed & she said, "What does that say, Momma?" as she pointed to the sign. I told her & she said, "You and Daddy were cryning (crying) & cryning and God gave me to you?!" How precious is that? With tears in my eyes I said, "Yep! That pretty much sums it up!" Thank you, Lord, for this precious little being that you have allowed us to nurture & raise as you see fit! Here are some of my favorite pictures of her over the last few days.

Playing dress-up! She insisted on wearing the tutu as a shirt!

On this particular day she was into wearing socks. She kept saying her feet were cold. This is how she played the majority of that day...

She put her baby in time-out. She said she had been a bad girl. She got down on the floor & was talking to her in her stern but loving voice...

Celebration #2

We headed to my parents' house Saturday night after celebrating at our house with Shelby's family. Summer birthday celebrations are hard with my parents with farming and all. They are SOOOO busy right now picking, grading, & selling peaches! So, because of that, and because Georgia Claire doesn't seem to like a big party, we had a small celebration with Shelby's family on Saturday & then a small birthday/Father's Day celebration with my family on Sunday.  I'm not one for big birthday parties anyway, especially for a THREE year old. I grew up having small parties & I'm planning on continuing that with my girls..spending time with family is the most important part in my book!

Before bed Saturday night my mom asked Georgia..."What do you want me to make you for breakfast in the morning?" And without skipping a beat she said excitedly, "BACON!" Grandma also made biscuits & Georgia Claire got to help, and what a great helper she was! Starting to roll out the dough...

 Working so hard!

 Cutting them out...

 And putting them on the pan!

Mom made her famous strawberry cake because Georgia Claire loves it and because we ALL love it! Seriously, it is the best strawberry cake, ever! A picture of our little family...

 I had to include this one...can you say CRAZY MOM?! I was trying to get the girls to smile, like they could see me or something?! If they HAD seen me they would have probably been freaked out! Ha! I love that Georgia can't take her eyes off the cake!

 Sweet birthday girl with her Daddy. This child LOVES her Daddy!

 And Ivy Jane eating her piece...the whole time saying, "I eat it! I eat cake!"

Saying that I have a THREE year old sounds so strange to me! In my mind 3=big girl! Our life will never be the same because of Julia & her decision to choose LIFE for Georgia...life with us! We have so much love for her & her family! Happy birthday, Georgia Claire...our first miracle baby!

Birthday Celebration #1

These girls are growing up too fast! I will blog more later but here are a few pictures from the last few days at our house. {DISCLAIMER...I started this post last week and I'm just now getting it finished!}

Ivy Jane is such a big girl...

She loves to swing in the "big girl swing"!

Georgia does, too, but the red swing is still a favorite, too!

Speaking of Georgia, she's going to be THREE tomorrow! I can't believe it...

This weekend Mimi & Granby came to visit, and so did Aunt Heather, future Uncle Jules, & Puppy Han! We celebrated Georgia's birthday a day early. She helped me make her cupcakes this morning. She was so good at putting the liners in the pan!

Momma's big helper!

She was so proud! She put the sprinkles on and even tried to put icing on a few...she liked eating the leftover sprinkles!

Mimi and Granby bought her a water table to play with in the backyard. She enjoyed helping her Daddy put it together. She loved wearing her goggles, too!

Trying it out the next morning...

And the following morning Ivy Jane decided to get IN the table while wearing her gown!

Georgia didn't know what to do! She kept walking around saying, "Ivy, get out!"

Birthday girl in her cupcake dress!

Blue eyes...

BIG three!

LOVE this little girl...

Thirteen Years

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary & I'm in love more than ever...with these three...

 Shelby came home for lunch one day & was on the phone. The girls had to hold his hand...

 for about 5 minutes!

13 years of marriage...two little girls & a husband who love me dearly! I AM BLESSED!

Juicing

A few weeks ago I started reading and researching about the benefits of juicing fresh fruits and vegetables. Shelby came home telling me about some friends who have both lost a lot of weight by juicing. The wife had cancer & her oncologist is the one who suggested that she start. So many fresh fruits & veggies have the antioxidants needed to fight cancer. But not only that, juicing helps us quickly absorb all the nutrients from fruits & veggies that we might lose otherwise through difficult digestion because it absorbs into our bloodstream! 

THEN, I suddenly thought about Georgia! Would she drink these juices? As I've written before Georgia Claire has some issues with textures of food, especially and fruits & vegetables. We're going to therapy where her OT is working with her on strengthening the muscles in her mouth & tongue, as well as other things. Certain textures literally make her gag. Poor baby. So, I started looking at juicers & wondering if it would be worth the money. My sister Angie sent me a text the next day, out of the blue, and told me that she was on a juice fast & had already lost 5 pounds (by the end of the 7 day fast she lost 9 pounds)! I immediately called her to tell her that I had been researching it and was wondering about GC. She told me that she makes popsicles out of the juice for her boys & they LOVE it! BINGO! SOLD!  

So fast forward a couple of weeks & I'm LOVING our juicer & the taste of the juice is INCREDIBLE! So fresh, so flavorful, so yummy! AND, I'm not the only one who thinks so! Check it out...

That's right folks, Ivy Jane & Georgia Claire both LOVE the juice! The first one we made was apple, celery, carrot & it was SO good! IJ kept saying, "Mmmmm" and GC kept giggling! 

I froze the apple, strawberry, blueberry, spinach & carrot juice and we had popsicles tonight!

 Happy girls getting their fruits & veggies and they are clueless! YESSSSS!!!!

Georgia Claire

I took a series of pictures with my iPhone the other night when Georgia Claire was having one of her laughing fits. She gets tickled and it is cuter than anything she does! She was laughing about something we had said...

 And then I tickled her chin...

 LOVE this little girl!!! Our favorite thing she says right now is "tomarder" for tomorrow. She always wants to know what we are doing "tomarder" when we say good night. She's the perfect big sister for Ivy Jane, although lately their almost two-year-old & almost three-year-old selves do make each other cry at times. Usually the tears are over a toy they don't want to share. Georgia usually tells on herself. Ivy Jane will start crying & Georgia will come in the room & say, "I hit her in the head!" or "I took the baby doll from her!" At least she's honest, right?! Ha! She's precious and I cannot believe she will be THREE in one month!!!