Dill meets Barber Bill

When Dilly was born, he had somewhat of a mullet... I thought of it more like a Joh Ritter from Three's Company type hairstyle; more of a clean cut mullet.

source

Then of course, Dill lost the top and back like most babies do and ended up with a rattail. We waited until he had some more hair around his head and then it was time for the rattail to go! I mean... we are not in the late 80's or early 90's and that is one fad that should never come back!

Getting ready for the cut!

Off goes the rattail!

Dave waiting so patiently for Dill and dad to be done... see Dave's first haircut here.



Being 3 makes you an expert at most everything... in case you weren't aware. Dave will tell you.



Being 3 also can make you kind of a goober. Just ask Dave. :)





Dilly was so good the whole time.

Well... until the very end.

Mom in Heels...

It's hard to be a mom in heels... both ligistically and figuratively. Carrying a baby around while wearing sky high heels is not easy. And being a working mom - challenging to say the least. Our family is certainly blessed with an awesome babysitter who loves and cares for our boys, grandparents who live close and are happy to pitch in and help whenever needed, and jobs where our employers are flexible with time off or working from home if needed.

So today I'm home from work. With a sick Dave and a somewhat sickly Dilly too. It's hard to find a balance. I'm spending "nap time" doing some work from home. It works well but I feel guilty. Guilty I'm not giving 100% to work today but utimately guilty that I'm worried about work while I'm home with my babies. Whatever I do or don't get done for work today is doable, and the boys will be fine watching some cartoons after a nap as well... but there is just something about not giving 100% of my energy and feeling torn that makes me feel... icky.

I know I'm a good mom. I'm a loving and supportive wife. I'm a honest and hard-working employee.I'm a good friend/daughter. But sometimes it just doesn't feel like enough. The best anyone can do is to try though. So I'm off... to try to make the best of today. I'll work while the boys are asleep and snuggle them when they are up - and when Jeremy gets home tonight from fishing (yes, Tuesday night is fishing/boys night) I'll give him a kiss and tell him I love him. Because I'll give everything I can to that what's important to me... my husband, my children, my family, my job and my friends.

CPR

I've been M.I.A. I'm aware. Life is busy. Summer is going by so fast and I'm lazy. I'd rather play with the boys, read a book, work, get some sun... anything but get on the computer. But here I am, with about two months worth of pictures. I'm trying to revive the blog... Jeremy said CPR might not do it, but I'm going to try!

June is about the craziest and most expensive months for our family. Both boys were born in June so it seems like we are just going and going this month. In chronological order...

 

In late May, we met up with some friends (Joni and Jeffrey) at my favorite outside bar area in Aggieville... Kite's. Also the best place to get a summer beer if you want one! :) We then headed to the new Japanese Steakhouse in Manhattan which was awesome!

   

I grew up the "baby" of most of my cousins on my mom's side of the family... They picked on me incessantly. Had a nickname for me as well... WB which stood for Whiny Butt. Needless to say, I loved it. I absolutely adored my cousins and am so glad I had such great people who loved me growing up. As an adult, I realize how easily it would have been for them to see me as a truly annoying little cousin (which I was), but they didn't. They all drug me around with them on vacations, tolerated me and even spent time actually playing with me. I think about those days with a big grin on my face and count myself very lucky to have these "cool" older cousins to be my friends. :)

My cousin Doug (who I nicknamed Conehead growing up) biked in a race in Kansas called the "Dirty Kanza". It was a 200 mile race on the dirt and gravel roads of Kansas. There was a stop in Council Grove so my family met up and waited for him to arrive. We only were able to touch base with him for a few minutes but I was so glad we made the time to be there.

My nephew, Josh, while we were waiting. He's a monkey and just climbed right into that tree. Dave was so jealous... I think he wished he could be "cool" like cousin Josh.



The boys waiting...

We had Dilly's birthday party at the park this year. It was very windy. There was supposed to be a caterpillar theme but it didn't go off as planned because of the wind. Apparently, I'm not set up to be one of those cool moms with a "Pinterest worthy" party. As you can see below... pretty sure the star of the day didn't care!

Poor kid - his cake was supposed to be red... not pink!

Probably my favorite picture of the entire day.



Pre-Smash



Cake was covering his entire stomach!

Smiling at Lolly

We opened presents...



The boys got a firetruck to share between the two of them from Grandma and Papa (my parents). Dill is currently sharing it with cousin Parker though. : )



He loves pushing his chair around, but unfortunately is just to busy to take a seat!

New crocs from Grandma and Grandpa (Jeremy's parents). For some unknown reason, both of the boys LOVE crocs. Maybe it's because they can get them on and off so easily? Not sure, but they both wear them all the time.

Water gun!

Cousin Josh

Granny Lolly and Mike

Running to Grandma

When I saw this picture of Lolly and Dill, I immediately thought of the picture of Troy and Dave at his first Christmas. It amazes me how different and yet similar the two boys are!

Awkward family photo #1

Awkward family photo #2

The girls.

My niece Abbey and Dillon swinging

Poor Dave gets the short end of the stick. Jeremy is not a fan of big birthday parties. So, until the boys get older and tell us what they want to do for their b-day party, we've decided after the 1st to just have cake and ice cream with family at home. Dave's birthday was on a Monday and Grandma Lori had to work and Papa Sam was having (and still is) back problems, so it was a small get together. Nikki and Josh made the drive from Abilene and Grandma Betty and Grandpa Richard were there.

Dave, like many other 3 year-old boys, can be a goober at times. It's rare that we get a decent picture of him. He's such a cute little guy but screaming "CHEESE" at the camera does not usually make for good pictures!

Dave blew out the candles 3 times... He was just having too much fun!

I made cupcakes in ice cream cones for Dave to take to daycare and I didn't have the energy to make another cake for home, so we had them for our party at home too. They actually were pretty good, although I would suggest making them and eating right away... ours were a bit soggy!





Reading very intently.

Jeremy and I are very likely some of the cheapest people I know... thrifty I guess is a better term. However, we splurged and bought the boys a gator Powerwheels toy for their birthday. We gave it to them at Dave's b-day because we knew Dill wouldn't care, but it was for the two of them to share. Now, when I say cheap... I also mean that my parents and Jeremy's parents both went in on buying the gator too. :)



Proof of a "cheese" picture.

Peek-A-Boo with Grandpa

Jeremy and I went to a Royals game with our friends Jeffrey and Joni. It was a Friday night game, which was awesome, except it went into 14 innings! Yikes... makes for a long game - and then we didn't even win!

The happy couple.

Big Beers. These were like $10 a piece! CRAZY!

From Lolly

I've posted a few times about my parents and my adoption story. It's a great story to tell because it is happy when so many times a story like this could be sad... You can read about it here and a note from my mom here. I asked Leilani to write something if she felt comfortable.

Last weekend, Jeremy, the boys and I went to Kansas City to the zoo, to Laken's dance recital and had dinner with Leilani, Mike and Laken. Hopefully more to come on that soon. They gave Dave a birthday present (he turns three on Monday!) and Leilani had a present for me as well...

From my Leilani...

"Today my 19 year old daughter boarded a plane to be half way across the country for 9 weeks.  It nearly tore my heart out.  I raised her & know her. I know that she is bright, independent, aware of stranger danger and prepared for the world. I know that she loves God and keeps Christ in her heart.  I know that she's absorbed the life lessons I've repeated over and over again.  And yet it still brought more tears to my eyes than I thought possible. 

Almost 28 years ago I gave a baby up for adoption.  I never held her.  I never even saw her.  People look at me funny when they learn that.  Birth mothers are advised to say "goodbye" to their baby. The fact of the matter is – she was never mine.  I believe every baby is a blessing.  When I discovered that I was pregnant, after the initial shock, God spoke to my heart and I knew that this baby wasn't MY blessing. And the fact of the matter is – I knew my own limitations and weakness. How could I hold her, count her fingers and toes, look in her eyes, hear her cries and then hand her over to someone else to raise and love? 

I found that God was asking me to trust in Him.  Obviously, I hadn’t done a good job of that to this point or I would not have been in this situation.  And despite the well intentions of family & friends telling me keep the baby, I stood firm and followed God’s prompting.  Don’t misunderstand me, I’m no saint.  I was not then and am not now.  I am just a recipient of God’s forgiveness, love, grace & mercy. 

I was granted peace in the decision and follow through of giving her up for adoption.  Through the years, there were some difficult times when I thought of her.  Through the years, there were a lot of times that I just smiled and thanked God for taking care of her.  Isn’t that funny?  The same could be said for the two children I’m raising. 

There’s a history story on me.  There’s a story in Amanda’s birth.  There’s a story in the waiting time from when she turned 18 and I knew it was possible for her to contact me and I wondered if that was in God’s plan or not.  And there’s a story of God’s reward for me when I first met her 9 years ago and was accepted by her and her wonderful parents.  But let’s jump to today.  My 19 year old daughter will be gone for the next 9 weeks and the baby, who was not mine, is coming to dinner with her husband and my two grandsons.  I could not be more blessed."

It is I who am truly blessed.