Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Alister - Two Years

Two.... Two! I can't believe he's two! (now I can since this is going up so late.) But we had so much fun for his birthday! We took him to his favorite place... the Zoo! Plus, my family was here to celebrate with us!

I'll never forget the night I went into labor with Alister.  Some of you may remember that we were going to name him Conner Joseph.  But, as my due date got closer, that just didn't feel right.  Then one morning Adam thought, "What about Alister Pratt?" I loved it. :) We loved it.  That was the name.  Later that night, I went into labor and Alister came the next day at 1:47pm. After 14 hours of active labor and 3 hours of pushing, the little boy we had been dreaming of had finally joined us.  Like any proud parent, we knew he was special.  Still do.  Now, he's a tender-hearted little boy who shows empathy and exudes sweetness.  We couldn't be prouder to watch him grow, laugh, love, learn and enjoy life.  We love you so much Alister.










Corbin - One Year

I know this is late, But I really want to catch up. Corbin is now a year old. What happened to my baby? Now he's walking, "talking", sleeping through the night and done with formula! I am so proud of his accomplishments and he adds so much joy and laughter to our family. Corbin is small for his age group. He's still under 20 lb. and is 28 and a half inches long. Although his head is in the 98% so he's a little bobble head. :) Corbin says "mama", "dada", "hey" and "done" to get down from the table.  He loves "running" around the house with Alister and gets excited when Papa gets home. He's a momma's boy for sure and is my little buddy.  While we didn't plan on Corbin coming into our lives so soon, we couldn't imagine life any other way.

I couldn't get the type of pictures I would have liked, but these are still cute. :) Some are from the little birthday party we had with the Elders.





UPDATE: OH MY GOSH! I can not believe this was never published! I thought I did! Well... Enjoy!

Christmas 2014

It was our first Christmas as a family of four.  :) It was simple and wonderful.  While, again, I didn't get the Christmas pictures I envisioned, we at least have memories of it. Well, Adam and I do (maybe just me). ;)  We spent the morning of course opening gifts and spent the day relaxing and enjoying one another.





We also, had the Elders over for Christmas dinner which was a lot of fun. :)


Mother of Two

Becoming a mother to Alister was both terrifying and exciting. Becoming a mother to a second son brought new fears. Will I be able to divide my time evenly? Will I feel too drained? I now have two future Elders to teach and nurture. Will I be good enough? Will I teach them enough? Will they learn compassion and become tender hearted? Will they know charity? ... I have two future Elders. Over time, that fear has turned to excitement.  One that I'm not sure I would have come to know this early in the game if it weren't for all the wonderful Elders I've met here in Indiana.  I watched some youtube videos of missionaries returning home a while back.  A couple of them the sons raced to their mothers and embraced them and wouldn't let go.  I totally balled my eyes out.  It made me hope that I could one day know that feeling of joy, love, pride and relief to embrace my son after two years.

Being a mother of two boys has its own kind of pride. One that I'm so happy to know. I got a blessing a couple weeks ago from Adam and it was such a good reminder that The Lord has called me to be a mother.  That He has placed his trust in me.  That when I have doubt, He still has hope.  For that I am so grateful.

We get compliments everywhere we go on Alister and Corbin.  About how cute they are, Alister's hair, their blue eyes, Corbin's red hair, their good behavior.  People can't help but smile when they see those two smile.  When they watch as Corbin clings to me while sometimes flashing a smile their way.  If only these strangers knew just how much I truly do appreciate those compliments.  And while I do, I also wish they could know just how wonderful they really are.  I'll do my best to raise these boys in hopes that one day, they will both serve missions and they will be able to touch so many peoples lives.  Just as so many missionaries have touched ours. I hope that some of those returned missionaries read this.  Because I want them to know, that we love them. We miss them. We hope that they will continue to reach out and touch peoples lives with service, selflessness and charity.