Fun, fun, fun

This is our most recent family photo from sunday. We got dressed and ready for church and then Wesley started screaming. We didn't think that we were going to make it, but we did. Wesley's world of toys has just expanded. We have pulled out the jumpers and the play gym. He is quickly gaining strength in his tummy and legs. He talks to all of his toys.

Lizzie got all kinds of cool things for her birthday. She loves to sit in her new chair and read all of her books, but is addicted to her Leap Frog books. They now make a new set that is for 2 to 4 year olds and it reads the book to her. It is really neat and very interactive.

She plays dress up at least once a day now. She comes home and takes out of 'pincess' clothes. She has even gone as far as to dress Cody up in all of it. Yes...I have pictures, but being the loving wife that I am, I couldn't bring myself to post them. He would kill me!!! :) Just the image though...

Happy Birthday Lizzie

Elizabeth turned two on Sunday and it was a great day. We started the morning with chocolate chip waffles. Lizzie loves waffles and had never had chocolate chips on them. The chocolate chips disappeared very quickly and then she would push her plate over to me and say 'more.' I have never had such a hard time getting her to finish her waffles. After breakfast we got ready to go celebrate her birthday. We kept telling her that we were going to her birthday party to go bounce. At one point she actually walked to the door and unlocked it and tried to leave because she was ready to go.
Lizzie is able to say that she is two and she can show it with her fingers, however, if she is not paying attention, she puts up three fingers instead.

We arrived at the Ruckus Room for her Abby Cadabby bouncing party. For those of you that do not know, Abby is a Sesame Street character and Lizzie loves her. Her cake was 3 dozen cupcakes in the shape of Abby's face. It was wonderful.

So wonderful that Lizzie had to stick her fingers in the cake right before we sang happy birthday. She got shy during the song, but was still able to blow out her candles. She loves cupcakes, but she was having so much fun bouncing that she really only took 2 bites and then it was off to play again.

Wesley enjoyed Lizzie's birthday as well. He was passed from person to person sharing giggles and smiles. He even shared some smiles with his new girlfriend, Mckinley. Mckinley is his 'older woman' (by six weeks). They were really cute together.

When the party was over it was back to the house to open presents. I will post those pics soon!

Thank you to everyone who shared in Lizzie's birthday. She really loved it and the memories that we will always have of her having so much fun will always be with us.

Football Season

I try to take family pictures every chance we get so before we go to church each Sunday, it is picture time. Lizzie is so impressed that the camera can take a picture without mom holding it. This is our latest family photo. We hope to get Wesley to look at the camera one day. With football season quickly approaching, I thought that it was time to get the kids ready. Here they are in their football attire ready to cheer for their favorite college team.

As you can see, Lizzie is a little scared to watch how the Aggies will do this season. :) It can only get better...right?

3 months and growing

Wesley is officially 3 months old this week. He is 13 pounds and is getting so big. I took him in this morning to have him weighed, but did not get his length. I just know that he is well over 24 inches. He is loads of fun right now which is making it that much harder to go back to work. He is a wiggle worm and is moving around like you wouldn't believe. These pics were taken within seconds of each other. He went from laying the opposite direction of me to facing me in seconds while drooling, of course.

He has very big blue eyes and long eyelashes like his daddy. His favorite things right now include grabbing at everything that he isn't supposed to...mommy's hair, mommy's shirt, mommy's earrings...etc. He loves to sleep on his belly and every now and then he gets mad and flips over. When he does, he screams. I have to go in his room and see him laying on his back squirming like a little roach! It is really the cutest thing.

He is currently nursing 5 times a day and sleeps like a pro. I put him down at 7:30pm and he sleeps till 9:30pm when I wake him for one last feeding. As soon as we are done, he is asleep until 8:15am for the day. He takes a two hour nap before each feeding.

Lizzie is a whole nother story. She is just days away from being 2 and letting us know it. She has started testing the waters and I thought that only 8th graders did that. She just recently began cutting her molars which has just added to the drama of a 2 year old! :)

She likes to do everything like a 'big' girl. She took a bath at my moms the other night and had to be wrapped in a towel when she was done. Thankfully a hand towel fits perfect!

And for a parting picture, this is how I found her at nap time yesterday. She does have a bed, but who needs that when you have a comfy corner with pillows and stuffed animals.

15 days

Only 15 days till my little girl turns 2 and I really do not know where the time has gone. It seems like just yesterday she was so tiny and now she is a big girl. I love every day more when I am with her. Night times have become very interesting due in part to molars coming in and a sudden fear of night time. She has screamed every night for the past 4 nights when we walk out of the room. She finds some excuse for us to come back...and we do mostly so that she doesn't wake up her little brother. We calm her down and then she is fine. It is a little strange since she has been so easy to put down for so long. It is normal though, or so I hear, for this to happen around 2 years of age. Lizzie really loves having Roxy in the house. I don't know that Roxy likes being here though. Lizzie will not stay off of Roxy's bed and Roxy doesn't like that much.

Wesley is moving and holding his head up so good. I keep thinking that he is too little to be holding his head up like he is. He likes to play in the playroom with his sister and she will play for a minute and then she is off to her own toys. Wesley will be 3 months old on Tuesday. Like I said...where has the time gone?

Potty Training and other fun stuff

Lizzie and Wesley are both growing so fast. I cannot believe that the summer is almost over. I feel so blessed to have been able to have so much time home with Wesley (and Lizzie), but don't want it to end. Today we started dog sitting my brothers dog, Roxy. Lizzie runs after her yelling her name. She is a real sport to stay in this household. She let Lizzie put head bands on her today and blankets too. She sits when Lizzie tells her too and follows me around when I have the baby.

Wesley is sitting up in his Bumbo. I just have to put the thing up after every time that he sits in it because Lizzie wants in it. UGH!! She wants everything that he has and wants to play on all of his toys. It is funny sometimes to watch her throw a fit over something that has not interested her in a year or more.

Well, we are on day 7 of no diapers! Lizzie is getting better about telling us when she has to go, but there are still accidents. This is what happens in the Riedel home when there is an accident. She actually loves to push this thing around the house and got mad when I took it away from her. I did have to go back to using a towel because I think that she was having too much fun with the swifter sweeper. I just save that for nap time.

I know that I was away for the weekend, but my daughter has picked up something that I really have no idea where it came from. She duck walks! Where on earth did she learn that at? If you know...please tell me.

Happy Anniversary

It is hard to believe that today makes three years since Cody and I got married. So much has happened in those three years that it is too much to name so I won't even attempt to go there. I will say that our two wonderful children have made our marriage more fun.

While scrapbooking the other day I came across a wedding program with the words written perfectly...I don't know who wrote it, so if you know please tell me. It is very possible that it was either Cheryl or Jason Torres or both since is was at their wedding that I received it. This is what Cody and I strive for each day.

"The purpose of this union is heaven. Each is the instrument through which the other shall obtain their eternal reward. A spouse is not just a companion but a chance to perfect Christian Love. God's Love should flow down through me to my spouse and be returned to him through our earthly union. As such, our marital love is required to mirror the sacrificial love of Christ. Wrongs shall always be forgiven; sacrifices will always be made, not begrudgingly, but with joy. Children will be welcomed as an expression of our purest form of Christian love. We will challenge one another to explore our faith and develop a deeper understanding of our creator. Through this marriage I will give up myself for the other and thus be received into the kingdom of Heaven."

Cody, I am so blessed to be married to you and each day I love you more.

To cut or not to cut????

Lizzie's hair is constantly in her eyes. She will not leave a clip in her hair. Do I cut it so that it will grow? Or do I leave it alone? People tell me both and I don't know what to do... so, we started pigtails today and we will see how long this lasts...

All good things must come to an end

Sunday morning we got up and slowly got packed up to come home. We were both missing our babies and wanted to see them. We made it to Austin and stopped for a bathroom break. It was then that we realized that we had gone in and checked out of our condo and forgot to give them the keys to our room. UGH! Here we are 2 hours away and we were not going to turn back. I called Pat Ball (the owner) and asked if we could mail them back. In Bastop we stopped at the Roadhouse for some very good food. This place was very small and very busy. We ate on the front porch in the hot weather. It really wasn't that bad.

We made it to my parents and picked up the kids. We immediately went into mommy mode and daddy mode. We ate dinner quickly and loaded up the kids to come home. One the way home my ac broke on the Yukon (must be fixed before school starts). I guess that it was its way of telling me that it was mad that I didn't drive it all weekend and had left it at my parents house.

When we got home we unpacked and soon Lizzie was telling me that she needed to go potty. Mom worked with her all weekend and put big girl panties on her to begin the training process. So...here she is at home in a diaper telling me that she has to go. What do I do? Drop EVERYTHING and take her to the potty. We were so proud of her as she went poo poo in the potty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Funny how excited you are when this happens. Cody and I clapped and praised her with candy (poo poo candy) and stickers. We started a potty chart for her to watch her progress.

Our weekend Day 2

On Saturday we took the boat out twice. It was nice to be able to come and go from the lake as we wanted. The boat was already in the water and we were so close to it that there was nothing to worry about. The first time that we went out we dreamed about owning every single house on that lake. There were some awesome places and some way bigger than any family would ever need. There were also a lot of homes for sell on the lake. I guess with this economy the lake house is the first to go in hard times. After our morning voyage we ate lunch and went to look at the lake from the scenic overlook. For some reason my camera was acting up and it looks ugly out. It wasn't as bad as it looks.

We headed to church with a very memorable opening to the homily. One that Cody and I will forever remember. Then it was back to the lake. We went out for a while and on our way back my young at heart husband had the urge to jump off of the train tracks like all of the 'kids' were doing. I had to remind him of his age just in case he forgot. It only took one jump and then it was out of his system and we were back in the boat.

...but...it wouldn't start. Luckily we were very close to our condo and Cody began to paddle us in. We knew that we had some bad gas in it and it would be an easy fix.

Cody got tired of paddling and decided to swim behind it so that he could look at the fuel filter at the same time...all with a smile.

Our weekend

This wednesday is our 3 year anniversary and Cody decided to take me away from mommy hood for a couple of days since we have yet to get away for our anniversary. Our first anniversary I was fat as a cow awaiting the birth of Lizzie. On our second anniversary I was very busy planning Lizzie's first birthday party. So this was the year...
We left early Friday morning and left the kids with my mom for the weekend. Our first stop was Marble Falls where we ate and enjoyed the scenery at the River City Grille. We arrived at our condo on lake LBJ about 3:00pm. Cody launched the boat and I took pictures off of our balcony.

There is our boat. It is funny how many people wanted to race us once we were out in the water. Everyone...and I mean everyone, seems to stop and stare when this boat goes by. The best was the little six year old boy that told his daddy "I want that boat dad." That just made Cody's day.

After going out on the river we decided to drive around. Since I did not have Wesley with me and would not be nursing for the weekend we decided to find some good Mexican food with some margaritas...ok, it only took one for me. I haven't had a margarita in about 2 years. We stumbled on this place called the Tamale King in Buchanan Dam, Tx. Seemed a little cheesy at first, but ended up with the best fajitas that I have ever had and a well worth it margarita.

The water was very low in both Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis. Here you can see the dark line at the top of the Buchanan Dam where the water normally hits. All of this is normally covered in water. It was sad to see the many floating boat docks on the lake that were useless because there was no water.

The old and the new

I realized late last week that I never posted finished pics of Wesley's room. I had emailed some pics but have done a couple of things in there since the last update. I put his name on the wall. My mother painted them for me the weekend that Wesley was born so that our house didn't smell like paint. Thanks mom! We also decided to only put up one bed for now and put up the other bunk later. The bedding is really cute though.

Lizzie has become the chef at our house. She wants to see anything that is being done in the kitchen and wants to "stir" and "pour" everything. I let her help as much as I can. She even stops to pose for pics for me while she is making dinner in her diaper. :)