There are days...

There are days, when my alarm goes off at 6:15am, before I dash out of bed and try to shower and get ready before one of the boys wakes up, when I take a second to remember the time "BC" (Before Children). I remember the Saturday mornings when Miles and I would sleep in until whenever we wanted, have breakfast, and then go back to bed to watch countless hours of Lost, Grey's Anatomy, or whatever our TV show of the moment was. I remember the days when we actually used the term "bored"... when I had so much time to clean my house that it couldn't have gotten any cleaner... when we were both working and had 'seemingly' endless amounts of money to spend on whatever we wanted... when I had the time to sit around and read a book without feeling pressured and rushed because the end of naptime was fast approaching.

I remember when I had more than enough time to work out and spend time with my husband. And I wonder why I didn't take more advantage of that time when I had it. Now, Miles and I find ourselves putting both kids to bed early some nights, just so we can have an hour or two of uninterrupted 'adult' time before we fall into bed in exhaustion.

I remember the times when I had hours to sit on the phone talking to my friends and catching up. Now, it seems hard to find a minute to just drop a quick email to tell my friends that I am still alive and missing them!

I remember being able to sitting down to eat a meal without getting up 16 times for more milk, more ranch, more napkins, more crackers, or to clean up vomit. :0)

I remember having all the time in the world to sit and spend time in God's Word, and feeding my soul as often and for as long as I wanted.

Now it seems, the house is dirtier than it has ever been, time to myself is almost non-existent, time to spend with the Lord is still there but has to be 'scheduled in' or it doesn't get done, and my body is not nearly in the shape that I would like it to be.

And yet, every morning when I look into my babies' faces, see their sweet smiles, wipe their tears, hear their "I love you mommy's", read the same books over and over and over, and chase them around the house for hours on end, I realize that EVERYTHING I remember from those 'before' days mean nothing compared to the joy that I get from my two sweet little blessings. I would not trade one second of my life now, as a mom, for any of those things I 'remember'. I have learned that my children will not remember the "things" we could buy them, the cleanliness of our house, or the gourmet meals that I cooked for them. I pray when they look back, they will remember having parents who loved them, who were there for them, and who were more concerned with creating memories with them than all of the other 'stuff'.

Updates!

SORRY it has been so long! I am really trying to keep family updated but we are so busy!!! :0) Here is a short post on what has been going on the last month!

We have a Biopark pass this year, so we spend a lot of time at the Aquarium, Botanical Garden, and the Zoo. Below are a few pictures from recent trips there!!!

My sweet boys! Max is 9 months and Miles is 2 yrs!




Here is a picture of the whole family. Max is once again looking at his brother. Miles V is fascinating to Max and it is soooo adorable to see them play!



We took a family trip to Tucson to visit Auntie Amber, Uncle Charlie, and Cousin James! The boys did PRETTY well in the car, and we really really enjoyed our time with the Elmers! I cannot wait until all three of these guys are running around. They will keep us on our toes for sure!!!!





We planted our garden in early April, and to get Miles V involved we bought a Veggietales kit for him to plant. It is growing AMAZINGLY well in the house. I think we will have that Veggietales salsa in no time!





Max loves being outside and liked helping plant the garden too!!




We no longer have cable at home, but at least someone is still using the satellite dish!! The birdies made a nest and now the babies flew away but not before we got some pictures !!



Easter this year was really fun! We went to church on Saturday night and Sunday spent the day at "Papa Geez's house". We had ham, cheesy potatoes, and a ton of other great food and fun with family. Oh, and of course an easter egg hunt for Miles V!!! I'm pretty sure he is going to try to find eggs up there for a long time!!!

Precious family!!


Sweet, sweet brothers!!




And the egg hunt begins.....



He had a BLAST!!!!



Last, but not least, our crafty Daddy took advantage of one of our recent NASTY windy days and made a kite with Miles. It needs some adjustments, and it was almost toooo windy out, but I just so love watching these guys relate to each other. My kiddos are truly blessed with the best daddy!




I promise I will try to post again soon---but for now it is time for some popcorn and an episode of House with my hubby!!!

Lessons at the Pool

Angela and I have been taking Miles to swim lessons for about a year and we have always taken him to the Parent/Tot class. He officially graduated from that last time and was ready for Preschool class. Parent/Tot was for babies and the kids who were scared of the monster that lived in the drain (like he could fit through those little holes...I mean come on!). We were so over that. It was time for more of a challenge.
As we listened to the rules of the pool and general information reality hit me, hard. I was about to let go of some control. Me? I don't think so. I thought to myself, "He's not ready. We can go back to swim with the babies." Then I thought better of it. "He can do it. He's smart, careful, and ready."
So we proceeded.
"What's your name?" the high school girl with my child's life in her hands said.
"His name is..." I bit my tongue.
"Miles. What's your name?" my confident two year old said with a smile. Its gonna be alright. I took his shirt off and his overly huge swimsuit fell to his ankles. I nervously giggled and pulled them up.
Before class I had explained to him that Dad wasn't going to be in the pool with him and he had to listen to his teacher. "Ok, Daddy."
Now it was time to test it. I gave the elastic of his swimsuit a quick roll so they wouldn't fall down again as a last ditch effort to control the situation. I backed off as he sat on the edge of the pool and listened to the teacher intently. "This is going to be fine" I kept telling myself.
Part of the talk at the beginning was explaining that today was test day. All the teachers would be evaluating each kid to see if they needed to be moved up, down or stay where they were. My competitive nature flared when hearing this. "She better not move MY kid down. Shivers don't get moved down!" Of course, this was all inside.
As the testing commenced I watched a six year old girl jump in and swim around with her head completely under water. Oh crap! Was this where he needed to be?
The kid next to Miles was at least five, maybe six years old. "Can you put your head in the water?" the teacher asked him. He shook his head. "Please?" she pleaded. He turned and looked up at his mom who was showing him how to hold his nose and close his eyes. He then held his nose with one hand and covered his eyes with the other. He dipped his face into the water for what seemed like half a second and then pulled it up real quick. "I can't see! Mom, I can't see!"
"That's because your eyes are closed" I almost yelled. But my son hasn't gone yet and that kind of comment could backfire on a guy.
He's gotta do better than that.
"Miles, can you put your face in the water?" She asked him. He shook his head. Uh Oh.
"Just hold your nose like this." she said with a nasally voice. He put his hand to his nose and stuck his tongue out.
"No Miles we aren't playing that game." I said to myself.
He was standing in waste deep water and bent down only using his waste, keeping his knees straight. He got close to the water with his face and lost his balance a little, caught himself and tried again. He dipped his nose and open mouth into the water with his arms way out to the sides for balance and popped up with a smile. The 150 psi I had been holding in my lungs almost blew over the lady in front of me as I let it out.
The teacher went through a few more tests and moved the older girl up to the next class. Miles could kick, blow bubbles, move his arms, get on and off the wall, and follow basic instructions. He might just pass!
As the time went on fewer and fewer kids were paying attention and one kid fixed himself on bugging Miles. He was an older, overweight kid. My son's first bully. He was pushing Miles around a little, literally, but nothing too serious. At one point the teacher was leading the class out to the middle of the pool and holding Miles's hand. The bully latched onto his other hand without the teaching knowing and tried to pull him back and down under the water. I almost got wet right there. I was on my feet when the teacher turned and corrected the situation. A few minutes later the bully was swimming up to Miles and yelling an inch from his head right into his ear. Well he had enough, turned and said, "Nooooooo!" swinging his arms. "That's right son, right in the kisser." Oops, did I say that out loud? No one was looking at me, maybe I kept it inside. Once again the teacher stepped in and saved me from getting arrested for assaulting a five year old. Later, sitting back on the wall, this kid was next to Miles trying to nudge him off the wall into the water. Once again, taking matters into his own hands, Miles pushed him away.
With about five minutes left in the class they jumped off the wall and were instructed to walk on their hands keeping their heads above the water. Miles tried several times but the water was too deep for his short arms to reach the bottom, each time moving shallower and shallower until he could reach. He went around like he was told and followed back into the deeper water. When he couldn't reach anymore he stood up, took a few steps and slipped. There my son was, head mostly under water, bent over struggling to stand up. The seconds past and it seemed like an hour as my heart stopped. I stood up. Finally the teacher saw him and pulled him up. He was holding his breath like a champ, but was defnitely not intentionally looking for pennies on the bottom. She carried him over to me as he cried in terror.
It was one of those moments that I knew how I acted was very important. It was his first lesson in getting back up after a fall. What would he take from this experience? Give up and run away when things got tough? Falling down means failure? I wouldn't have it.
I gave him a hug and asked him if he was ok.
"Yeah!" he squeezed out through the tears. We took some deep breaths together and calmed down.
"What happened?" I asked.
"I slipped"
"Did you die?"
"No."
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah"
"Now you can put your head under water and you know you're gonna be ok and that you won't die." (Don't judge, I was reacting. If I had a second to think I would have come up with something better.)
"Yeah"
"Ready to go back?"
"Yeah". I put him back in the pool. He turned to me, screaming again.
"Go back out there, Miles" My heart broke even though I knew it was the right thing to do. I swelled with pride as he walked back out to the circle of kids in the middle of the pool.
After the class the teacher told me he had passed and was going to stay in the Preschool class. "He just needs to get used to the water." I agreed.
I'm not sure exactly why this was such a big deal to me. I was so full of anxiety, pride, anger, excitement and more pride. I can't say who learned more from our first swim lesson this year. Most likely it was me, as is true with most parenting experiences I've had so far. I know this is the first of many steps toward letting go of control of my kids. It was hard and awesome. It was scary and emotional. It was what was best for my son.

Hi, My name is Miles Shiver and I'm a control freak.
The first step is admitting it.

Time Flies...

When you are having fun... or when you are busy watching your team win the Superbowl... or when your city gets 3 inches of snow and below zero temps, and shuts down for four days...or when your sister and nephew come to visit... or when your whole family gets taken down for a week with a nasty virus... or when your 6 month old learns to sit up on his own, ditch his newborn bathtub for just plain old sitting in the bubbles, or when he learns to say "dada"....or when you ask your toddler who he loves and he says "God," and you realize he is really listening when you talk to him!!!

Yes, this is just a little recap of the past month in the Shiver house. I'm sorry I've been away so long. I'm really trying to keep up with this for all you family far away.. I can't tell you how often I THINK of blogging, or sit down to blog only to have a baby wake up from a nap, a dog puke, or a 'fire' needing to be put out. So I'm sorry, and I'll try to do better, really.

So, to expand on the above, in a few short sentences. Yes, the Packers are on top again, the Lombardi trophy has come home! Oh man I am still on a high from it and probably will be for several years. Yes, I said years. I need to publicly apologize to Aaron Rodgers for being angry with him when Brett (who?!?!) was still around. Aaron, you have totally redeemed yourself. You are incredible, and I can't wait to see you play next year!!

At the beginning of the month we had a huge cold front and snow storm move through here. It started snowing on a Monday night, and we woke up with about 3 inches. The boys played outside in it, and daddy had off work for two days. Bad for business, but we really enjoyed the time together. The schools were shut down Tuesday-Friday due to the cold, and gas shortages throughout New Mexico. Coming from a state that has about a zillion snow storms a year, it is hilarious to me to see how this state reacts to snow!!!

Amber and James came last weekend to visit us. Amber and I were able to sneak away Friday afternoon for some sushi and shopping, while the kiddos stayed with the grandmas. I think it was fun for everyone! I know I had a BLAST and wish that the Elmer family lived here so we could enjoy more of those precious moments!

We've been battling a cold/stomach upset/fever bug for the past week. Miles V has been hit the worst, and is right now at the doctor with his daddy. In a way we are hoping he has strep throat, or something they can give him medicine for. He is just feeling terrible, and I want to be able to do something for him to feel better! Mommy and Daddy haven't been feeling the best lately either, but little Max is so far, so good! Thankful for the antibodies that I pass on to him from nursing!

Speaking of Max, he now sits up and plays with his toys!! He is such a big boy!!! Tonight, daddy even put him in the bathtub with his brother WITHOUT his tub!! It was such a joy to watch them sharing toys and 'playing' together. I thank God everyday for giving us babies so close together in age, and for giving us boys to grow up together. I would not have it any other way!!! Max is also quite the talker. He is always babbling on about something ('hi da' or 'dadadadada'). I think he learned the "constant talking" trick from his older brother :).

And yes, tonight Miles and I were watching Veggietales with Miles V and they were talking about love. I asked Miles who he loves, and he said "God." Ahh, to hear all the things we are working on teaching him come back out of his mouth... I love my boys!!

I'll post some pictures soon. I need to take some recent ones. Until then, so long, and I will try to keep this better updated!!

Love,

World Champions!!

I love my Green Bay Packers! 'Nuff said!!

Happy Birthday, Miles V!!!

How did this happen?

Is it possible that tomorrow I will be the mother of a 2 year old, and a (almost) 6 month old!?! SERIOUSLY, where had the time gone?! I feel like just yesterday Miles and I were sitting at Grandma Ann's house, eating spare ribs and sauerkraut, convinced that Miles V was never going to come out!!! :) Little did we know 8 hours later, he would be here and would change our lives forever!

I was telling a friend recently that being a stay-at-home mom has been the best, hardest, most exciting, and exhausting job of my life. But also that it is the most important. I would not trade ONE second of the last two years for anything in the world. Even despite the tears and whining (not to mention those days when the kids are in a bad mood), :0) it is all worth it to have these precious blessings under our constant care.

Before I go any further, I want to thank all of you out there that have helped us over the past two years. And to our boys grandparents especially. We are so blessed to have you in our lives!

As I said, tomorrow, Miles V will be 2. And I want to share a few things about him. First, he is a lover. He loves to give hugs. Earlier today, I told him I was a little sad. He hugged me, cupped my face in his hands, kissed my cheek, and said "Momma, no sad anymore." And he was right. I wasn't. :0) He is HILARIOUS. Here's an example of one of the billion ways he has made us laugh. He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We are very strict in limiting his TV time to two mickeys (about 40 minutes total) per day. So lets just say when he gets to watch, he pays attention. Well, in the beginning of the show, Mickey says "To make the clubhouse appear, we get to say the magic words..Meeska, Mouska, Mickey Mouse!" The other day, he asked for some "coccorn" (popcorn). Daddy said, "Miles, you have to say the magic word." And you can probably guess what he said: "Meeska, Mouska, Mickey Mouse!!" Haha, that wasn't exactly what we were going for, but it got a laugh, that's for sure.

Miles loves his little brother. Max has just started saying "Mamamamama." Miles loves that he can now interact a little better. And Max just lights up when he makes eye contact with his big brother. I have a feeling these two are going to be best buds (and make some mischief along the way I'm sure)!

Miles is SMART. Our friend, Dana, and I were on the phone the other day. I asked Dana if she wanted to say hi to Miles. Miles proceeded to have a full conversation with her. She was amazed. As am I everyday when he learns new words, new ways to express himself. I very often find myself underestimating him. And for that, shame on me. He also consistently goes poop on the potty (its been about 2 months with no poopy diapers), and about 4 since he started pooping the majority of time on there. MOnday, we are starting to train him to go "tee tee".

Miles loves going to church, playing on the Wii, going to the library for story hour, and going to the pool on Friday nights to swim and play in the pool. He loves to go out to eat and order "Chicken nuggets and mashed totatoes", and he loves to "tackle" dada.

Oh, what an amazing two years it has been.

Miles V, I love you with all my heart. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for you and your life.

Enjoy a few of my favorite pictures from Miles's first two years!!

Christmas 2010

If you know us well, you know that Miles and I adore Christmas, and everything about it. We cannot WAIT for Thanksgiving to get here to put up our lights and decorate. Naturally we are anxious to pass our love of the holiday on to our kids. We tried very hard this year to help Miles V know what is going on. We had fun teaching him about Santa as well as teaching him the REAL reason we celebrate; Jesus's birth. Well, my husband who is an incredible Clark Griswold at decorating the house last year purchased an inflatable manger to go in our front yard. When we put it up this year we talked to Miles V about baby Jesus, and everyday when he saw the lights in the back come on he wanted us to take him outside to see "Baby Jesus" up up up! He is so adorable, and we had a TOTAL blast with him this year! Next year will be doubly as fun when Max is old enough to know what was going on!

During the holidays, I introduced Miles V to what USED to be my favorite Christmas song. "I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas." I say used to because after hearing the same song 14 times a day, it kind of grates on you. :) But it gives him such joy that it is hard to say no.

We hosted our annual Christmas Eve dinner, and it was perfect! Prime rib, twice baked potatoes, sweet potato casserole, broc & cheese casserole... mmmmm. This year, we dearly missed our sister Amber, Charlie, and our nephew James. But, hopefully they will be here next year, and we did get to Skype with them on Christmas day!

Here are a few pictures to enjoy from Christmas Eve!

Santa called Miles V on Skype. It was the coooolest thing! You know Santa, always up on the latest technology!


The whole gang!






Our precious family!)


Miles's annual Christmas Eve gift (new jammies!!)




Christmas day, we got up and opened our presents as a family. As always, Santa was too good to all of us! When we were done opening, we got ready, (left a gigantic mess that took 5 days to clean up) and headed to Gma and Papa's house for Christmas #2!!! Santa was toooooo good to us there, as usual! Papa made an amazing breakfast, and we got to "see" Auntie Amber, Uncle Charlie, and cousin James!






Miles Skyping with James :)









Next, we headed to Great Grandpa Chrone and Great Grandma Jill's house for more amazing food, and fun times with the Shivers--Nancy and Jim, and Jake and Clarissa! We attempted to put the boys down to nap there, and we were 1 for 2, getting Max to sleep for awhile. After they got up, we headed over to G-Gma Jean's house for Christmas #3. We enjoyed yet MORE delicious food, gifts, and then headed outside to play a gigantic game of touch football. I have to say it, of course, my team won!!!!

After the boys actually got some sleep at G-Gma's house, we packed up our BRIMMING car and headed over to Mimi's house, where yet again Santa was too good to us. After my very strategic and organized husband packed the last remaining gifts into our car, we headed home to crash into a present/food induced coma. We layed around and did nothing for the next week. Ok wait, that was a beautiful dream I had... we actually cleaned up a bit, and did manage to get some sleep.


Christmas this year, despite really missing some of our family, was amazing. We are blessed beyond words, and I don't only mean with the material stuff. We are blessed with a God who loved us so much that he sent his son to die for us so that we would not have to be separated from Him eternally. And that is truly the reason for the season!!!

Now Christmas is gone, and we look forward to a wonderful 2011. And like my cousin Susie said, Christmas may be gone, but it looks like the hippopotamus song is here to stay!!!

God Bless!