Thanksgiving on the Rogers side...

We had a very yummy Thanksgiving Dinner with my Dad's side of the family Thursday night. My Aunt Delane and her husband hosted this year. She has two boys and along with boys come their reptiles and such. They have a hamster, a few turtles and one big freaky lizard. Needless to say Anderson was in heaven! His MiMi and DeLane even took him down to the pond on their golfcart to feed the ducks! Meanwhile we all managed to stuff ourselves silly! Of course everyone loved on Lydia. This was her first major holiday, and between all the attention from her Pop and Mimi (My dad and step mom) and her great- great grandparents I think she really enjoyed it!!

So enjoy the pics...and check out this first one. That my friends is baked brie with cherries, pecans and honey...AND I DID IT MYSELF!! DOesn't it just look divine??

4 months old

Baby Sister is now 4 months old. I will try not to be all cheesy here and talk about how I can't believe it and I feel like she was born last week...even though that is exactly the way I feel!

Fun Facts:

Weight: 12 lbs 5 oz.

Length: 23 3/4 inches

She is cooing up a storm and loves to sing/talk to you. She imitates the sounds you make and it is so darn cute!! Two days ago she laughed for the first time. It was so funny. She did it and then her eyes got really big like "Whoa, what was that?" She did it several more times each time realizing that it was actually her making the sound. She has now rolled over from tummy to back, so she is able to roll both ways and does so pretty often during the day. I am having to really strap her in to the bouncy seat these days and may have to stop using them all together soon. She keeps contracting her abs and semi sitting up. She can't do it when flat on the floor, but the bucket seat shape of bouncy seats make it a little easier for her. She has been grasping at objects for a couple of weeks now. She loves her play mat with balls and links dangling from it. She can sit and reach for them and tug on them for up to a half hour sometimes.

Her disposition is still just super laid back and easy going. She is very much like her brother was at this age. She does tend to fight naps a bit, but that is generally the only time she fusses. Usually I have to put her in the swing for naps. She cries and then I just sit in front of her and talk to her or try to make her smile. Eventually she gets so mesmerized by what I am doing that she gets quiet and eventually is rocked to sleep by the swing. I worry about her using the swing as a sleeping "crutch" but we are just doing what works for now. When she is about 6 months then I will start putting her down for naps in her bed. She will be old enough for a little bit of crying it out by then.

She is still pretty much exclusively nursing except for the occasional bottle once or twice a week. I am really shocked that I have been able to do it this long. It is so much easier though than my experience with Anderson. She is a little on the petite side though...well actually she is quite tiny. Her weight and height are both in the 20th to 25th percentile. My pediatrician isn't too concerned, but is keeping an eye on it. She suggested adding an extra feeding. Up until now, Lydia typically ate 4 times a day with a possible bonus feeding on some days. She said just to make that bonus feeding more of a staple than a bonus and we should see improvement in the next weigh-in 2 months from now. I am also a little concerned about my milk supply, so I'll probably be calling the lactation specialist at the hospital soon.

Her schedule is always evolving. To be quite honest I am really struggling to make it all work. Anderson has to be taken to and from school and be supervised and feed lunch and dinner all the while Lydia needs five feedings and two naps. Trying to schedule it all to be timed just right literally required me putting pen to paper to map it all out. I had to make sure Lydia's naps are timed in such a way that I can go get Anderson from school. So our schedule is getting to be somewhat like this...

7:00 am- Jeff is up with Anderson and I am up with Lydia. We both feed them breakfast respectively. Jeff jumps in shower and gets ready for work while I get Anderson dressed and groomed.

8:00 am- Jeff is leaving for work and taking Anderson to preschool. I am entertaining Lydia while I get dressed and ready for the day.

9:00 am- Lydia goes down for morning nap and sleeps for two hours..we hope!

11:30 am- Nurse Lydia

12:00 pm- Leave to go get Anderson from preschool

12:40 pm- Arrive home and put Anderson down for nap.

1:15 pm- Nurse Lydia and she goes down for her afternoon nap.

3:00- Anderson up from nap; snack time; some sort of activity.

5:00- Lydia up from her nap and nursed.

5:30- Daddy is home. Eat dinner.

7:30- Begin bedtime routine for Anderson (bath, storytimes, etc..)

8:15- Anderson goes to bed. Lydia is nursed and put to bed.

*****and during all of that there is laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, etc...

I do not see how people with more than two kids do it!!!

Gobble Gobble!

Guess what I did with my little Turkey today...

I took some of these

and a few of these

a little of this

and together with my very eager assistant...

...assembled several of these for our monkey's preschool Thanksgiving Feast tomorrow.

What a challenge...

As a parent one of the things I struggle with most is stopping to take time to pray over my children. I know I should and I often do, but sometimes it is more of a rushed check it off my to-do list attitude than a Godly seeking guidance for my life and theirs. I am sure anyone with small children can relate that in the changing diapers, cleaning dishes, disciplining, playing and feeding of children it can get so easy to lose sight of their eternal fate and just try to survive the day. One thing that Lydia is teaching me is that time is fleeting. I know she is our last baby, and I think that just makes me want to soak it up even more so than I did with Anderson. She is a very physical reminder that we only get one chance to raise these perfect little blessings, only one chance to mold them.


One of the things I love about blogs is that I can learn so much from other moms out there. One I have been reading for quite sometime is Bring the Rain. This blog is both heartbreaking and refreshing at the same time. This couple have twins and a third child and then discovered they were pregnant again. When they went in for their ultrasound they discovered several fatal complications and prepared to grieve for their fourth child, Audrey Caroline. Angie decided to carry her until God took her, refusing to terminate the pregnancy. To give you an idea about how incredibly strong in her faith she is...her first and only words after receiving the news in the ultrasound room were "I think that my Jesus is the same as he was before I walked into this room". Wow! I don't know that my attitude would be the same. She has pored out her heart and soul on the blog since then and allowed thousands to walk through her grief with her.


Jeff thinks I am crazy for reading these blogs...I have also followed a few blogs of trisomy 18 parents who lost their newborns. I don't know what the attraction is, but I can't stop reading them. Even when I was pregnant with Lydia, I couldn't stop and often sat in front of the screen squalling like a blubbering baby. All I could say to him and anyone else wondering why I would read such heartbreaking stories that certainly hit a little to close to home during this season of my life is this...why wouldn't I read them? This is real life for a great many people. We are so blessed to have two happy and healthy children. I find it a wonderful thing to read about these families as a pertinent reminder that Anderson's refusal to mind that particular day or Lydia's nap strike are little slices of life that these families would kill for. How lucky am I to shuffle through the mundane everyday? What a blessing that I have never had to face such tragic circumstances. To sum it up I would say that it gives me a little perspective on the hard days.

And occasionally I get to see prayers answered. To see a wonderful example of this check out MckMamma's Blog. She was told similar news at her 20 week ultrasound with her son Stellan. They said he would never make it to term, and if he did he would die immediately. He had a severely enlarged heart, kidney problems and a host of other abnormalities. Instead of believing the Doctors she hit her knees and prayed. Thousands joined her. See her blog sidebar where she shares images that readers who prayed for him sent in with Stellan's name arranged in creative ways...everything from a garden hose spelling his name in a backyard to a group of African women holding up his name in their village. Towards the end of her pregnancy the Doctors started seeing these insurmountable abnormalities reverse themselves. We all celebrated as Stellan was born two and a half weeks ago... COMPLETELY HEALED AND NORMAL!! He is perfect in every way! Can you imagine??

SO... anyway... the original thought behind this post that has now taken on a life of it's own was to point you to the blog Bring the Rain where Angie has organized a very neat way to pray for your children throughout their day. It is a challenge hat I am certain I will fail to do everyday, but the beauty is in the trying isn't it?? Click the link above for details on the 7 times 7 challenge. So neat!! I Love it!!

A Rockin' Friday Night

These are about the cutest two boys I've ever seen!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas!!

Last weekend was the Tuscaloosa Junior League's Merry Market. Instead of doing what would have been the easy and smart thing to do (take a maternity leave of absence) I instead not only remained active, but even got hoodwinked into being on the Special Events Committee for the Market this year. I basically was responsible for the Santa's Workshop part of the Special Events. It involved lots of kiddos, some refreshments, making two ornaments, writing letters to Santa, musical entertainment by The Capstone Music Therapy Assoc. and a visit from that bearded guy all the way from the North Pole!!

The Jordan family...with Mary Price due any day now!

Haley lovin' on Anderson

Lydia has had enough!!

On Friday I had to work for Special events by welcoming incoming performers (hand bell choirs, children's singers, etc...) and announcing them on the speakers throughout the Market...uggg not fun to hear your own voice that loud. We couldn't get childcare worked out, so I strapped Lydia to me and she worked her first Merry Market at the ripe old age of 3 months. A provisional took the above photo of us, and I love it. Lydia was so good all day. She was there with me from 10:00 until 4:30. What a good sport!!

Divide and Conquer...

If you have been reading this blog long then you know Anderson is obsessed with "amals"...specifically zoo animals. Bless his heart, almost every morning he says "Today we go see the amals, Mommy...right?" Lately he has been saying it with his eyes cut to the side with the follow up comment..."That's a good idea, right mommy?" It is truly hilarious to watch his persuasive skills at work!

So Thursday morning I woke up and decided very last minute...you know what kiddo- yes- today is the day we ARE going to see the "anmals". Jeff happened to have an appointment free day and asked...yes, this is where I try not to sound like I'm bragging about my husband...to take Lydia with him to work so they could have a little time together. So he loaded up all of her stuff in the "daddy" diaper bag he had ordered and personalized for her before she was born and whisked her off to work. I thought it was so cute that Jeff wanted his own diaper bag for her. It showed me that he was planning on lots of daughter- daddy time or else he could count on me being there with my bag. He also has this dream that Lydia will not be a "bow- head" as he calls them, but will be athletic and possible play soccer...hence the pink Nike bag.Anderson and I grabbed our stuff and headed to "bur-min-ham". We spent about three hours touring the different exhibits, riding the choo choo train and grabbing a chick-fil-a lunch before heading home. It was so fun to have my total attention on him. I think we all needed exactly what we got that day...a daddy/daughter date and some alone time with Mommy for Anderson. I made my Facebook "status" for the day to read "Lindsey is...taking Anderson to the Zoo because it's Thursday and I can...I Love My Job!". I mean every bit of it. I am so thankful for being able to stay home. I love that I am here and emotionally focused and present at this fleeting time in their lives. What a blessing to have this option!

And on a side note...while Anderson was in heaven visiting his beloved animals his mommy was soaking up what had to have been one of the most beautiful fall days in recent memory. The colors were so beautiful that I just had to snap some pics...Fall is my FAVORITE season! I love it!!

Homecoming at the Capstone

Let me start this post by telling you that our beloved team is now ranked #1 in the nation!! Wow!! I am starting to research possible travel arrangements to Miami! Woo Hoo!!

This was possibly my favorite moment this weekend! We ran into the Crimson Cabaret Dance team before the game. Since Auntie M (my sister) used to be on that dance team we asked if they would make a picture with Anderson. He LIT up...I kid you not the boy was totally in love. He even kissed the blonde on the cheek (without asking or being told to...he just thought it was a good idea!). What was even funnier was that he sort of lingered there on her cheek...see the second pic. It was hysterical. He has talked about the "sparkly girls with bellys" several times today! HA!!


We have apparently made an annual tradition of taking Anderson (and now Lydia as well) to campus for Homecoming. We skip the game and spend our day on the quad hopping from tailgate spot to tailgate spot. This year we were a little concerned seeing that we now have two little ones to keep up with, but luckily Lydia stays put...for now at least! :-)

We took out the land yacht (double stroller) parked downtown and walked in to campus stopping to see friends along the way. Both kids were well behaved and other than just being tired from all of the walking we returned home all in one piece!! We even enjoyed the Elephant Stomp where we got to see Coach Saban and the players. Lydia even took a long nap in the Baby Bijorn.