Breaths of Heaven: Playing Catch Up

First I'd like to apologize for taking so long to do another blog...however, I do have 3 excuses, Kairyn, Jaxyn, and Michael ;) This is a really long one so get comfortable and grab a snack to hold you over ;)

Reid Michael Stewart

Our nephew, Reid was born on May 2, 2012 at 8:28 a.m. weighing 7.6 lbs and 21 inches long. He was precious for the moment he arrived and I fell in love with that baby boy the first time I laid eyes on him. I can't wait to watch him grow and witness this special little boy's life. Here is a video of Reid from when he was born until now:

After Reid was born a group of us hosted a "Sip and See" to show him off. It was so much fun to have all of the people that were eager to see him come to my mom's house to celebrate him! Thank you to all the hostesses that helped put together a great party!

beautiful family

Ryan and Charlotte working hard on the sip and see quiz

10 Months old!!

Since my last blog the girls have turn 10 months, 11 months and 1 year old.....geez I'm a slacker :/

11 months old!!!

Kai on the left and Jax on the right...such fun babies

What are the girls doing?

Well since it has been 3 months since my last blog the girls have done A LOT!! they started crawling well right after my last blog so probably around 9 months. Needless to say they are efficient at this now and are almost ready to walk. They aren't confident enough to let go of the furniture too much but it will just be a matter of time before we have 2 walking babies in the house ....eeeek!! They are sooooo much fun!! Their personalities are really showing and they love to laugh and play peek a boo. Michael caught this on his video camera....
click to see: peekaboo

Jax first time crawling:

Jaxyn is always taking stuff away from Kairyn and poor Kai just lets her (for now).

"Sharing":

This summer has been soooo hot so of course we got the girls into the water. We have a little pool in our yard and my mom got an activity pool for her house. They have also been in in-ground pools in their little floats (best things ever).

Kairyn Mae

Jaxyn Nicole

We have definitely had to cover outlets and keep all doors closed at all times. Baby proofing the house hasn't been too bad, but keeping them away from my house plants that sit on the floor is another story. They hear "NO" often and Kairyn has even started to say "Na" after we tell her "no". They both say "hi" and wave and Kai says "bye" and waves. Michael and I of course think they are baby geniuses :) They amaze us on a daily basis and are growing sooo sooo fast. At their one year check up Doc said they are doing wonderfully and even bragged on us parents a little bit :)

They can eat foods that aren't blended, but Jaxyn still prefers to have her's blended a little bit so she doesn't have to do that much work ;) We are trying new foods with them all the time so we see some interesting faces. I am still pre-making their food because it is easier for us for now, especially for lunch. Soon they will be eating pretty much what we eat for breakfast and dinner.
They still get two naps a day and will for as long as I can help it hahaha. Not only do they love their naps, but Ashley and I do too. We eat dinner at 7 and they go down around 8 leaving Mommy and Daddy some much needed time to relax. Breakfast is at 7:30, lunch at 12, and snack at 4:30. We are done with formula!!!! woohoooo!! The girls only drink cow's milk, water, and water mix with juice now!

Watching them learn about the world around them is a special treat and we are so blessed to get to watch two of them and get to see how they are becoming best friends.

1st Birthday Party!!!

We had their first birthday party at my mom's house in Cat Spring and it was a great success! Family and friends joined us for some hot dogs, a puppet show put on by my dad, and water fun! Thank you to all of the people who made this day so special (you know who you are!)

1 year:

Kai on the left and Jax on the right

silly girls

my big 1 year olds :)

The same weekend we celebrated the girl's birthday we baptized Reid Michael into the Catholic church...annnnnd...Russell and Jamie asked us to be Godparents!! We are super excited to be Reid's spiritual guides (aside from mom and dad of course).

What Have We Been Up to?

Wow this summer has been very busy (like every summer, I am starting to figure out). We have had graduations, weddings, surprise birthday parties, vacation for a wedding, and a new family member.

Mother's Day

We spent Mother's Day with Cindy and fam..(Michael's mom). It was so good to have everyone at our house celebrating moms...Where would the world be without our mothers? I am blessed to have a mom who is my best friend and a step mom that has meant the world to me. I am also graced with two wonderful, loving mother-in-laws that I can stand to learn a thing or two from.

Mother's Day at our house:

Matt Graduated!!

YAY!! Matt (Michael's cousin/brother he never had) graduated from UT in May, majoring in Advertising.
We loaded up and went to Austin to watch him walk across the stage as we all hooped and hollered for him. After the graduation we were all treated to a wonderful meal at Buca Di Bepos (Congrats to you as well LJ and Ronda!!) He is currently interning at Ryan Sanders Entertainment.
Way to work hard and succeed Matt!! I support and love you even if you are a TU grad... I mean UT ;)

Grandma and Grandpa Motl

Matt with is oh so proud parents, LJ and Ronda

Michael took this photo with instagram...I will say its a pretty good pic

Cindy Sronce turns 60!!

My mom is such a good sport when it comes to other people's parties (showers, birthdays, weddings etc.) and she does her part and more to make sure it is special, so we (Jamie, Bobby, Aunt Marilyn and myself) decided that she deserved a little attention herself for her 60th birthday. We got to work on a surprise bday party for her in Columbus at Aunt Marilyn's house. Man was this hard...keeping a secret from my mom/best friend was not easy for any of us. We also planned to get mom a puppy for her birthday so that was another doozey to keep secret (Bobby!!) We all managed to make it to Saturday without spoiling anything
(well mostly ;) and she was very surprised!! Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated Mom and to Jamie, Bobby, and the Yearwoods for going above and beyond to make her day special!!
Unfortunately I did not get as many pics as I would have liked that night but here they are:

Bentley

Mom giving a speech :) sorry mom, best pic I had

The girls partying in Grace's Barbie Jeep before bed time

Michael, Jamie and Myself took this gem Friday before the party so we could have it blown up at the party (Jamie had shirts made that said "My Cece is Stylin at 60!"

Vermont!!

Our good friend Travis and Kristen decided to get married in Vermont about a year ago. She grew up in the cutest little town (you Columbus people think Columbus is small?...you should have seen this :) in Vermont so of course she wanted to go back to get married where all her friends and family could attend (they are currently living in Austin). Michael was asked to be a groomsmen so we booked our trip months out and were thrilled to be able to experience the East Coast (somewhat). Alan, Louann, and the girls came down to watch the girls from Tuesday- Saturday and then my mom came up to watch them Saturday- Sunday. Thank you all so much for helping us and loving on our angels while we were gone. We arrived in time to help Kristen with wedding stuff and to explore a little. Michael flew into Boston with the boys and I flew up with Travis' mom, sister, and soon to be sister-in-law. We were both blessed to have met such amazing people to spend this vacation with....definitely made some new best friends...miss you guys!! Before we knew it it was wedding time!! Everything was so breathtakingly beautiful from the bride to the scenery. Thank you Travis and Kristen for including us in your special day!!

Obviously some of these pics were professionally taken not by me...Rodeo & Co. Photography took the amazing professional pictures.

Shorty after we returned home from Vermont we found out that we were going to be able to adopt a dog from one of De's (our neighbor) clients. He is a tiny yorkie that was being left in a kennel for long periods of time because of the family's schedule so they loved him enough to want a better life for him. We gladly excepted and he has been a great brother to the girls and Colt. Thank you De for everything you did and for being such a kind person!!

Meet Max!

He is great with the girls

4th Of July!!

Every year (except last year, bc I was the size of a house and about to give birth) we go to my best friend, Kendl's parent's, Kevin and Tina Dorotik's home in Richmond to celebrate July 4th. It is always a great time to spend with friends, eating, karaokeing, and swimming. Thank you again to Kevin and Tina who put us up every year and show us a great time!

Erin and Kai (?)

The girls in their outfit Cece made them :)

Cece and Grandpa Bobby came too!!

boys and their volleyball

Jax

Kai

Jax on left and Kai on right

love that ya'll came!

Amber and Jax

Identical twins is were its at ;) Kendl and Brian have two sets of identical twin nieces/God daughters <3

such a great photo, however ants had to ruin it ...poor Jax

Me and Kai

another great find by Cece

Brain made an appearance!!!

Summer weddings!!

Summer time is the perfect time for weddings :) I lost count of the number of weddings we attended this summer but they were all so wonderful and fun!! We love celebrating two people in love!!

Congrats to all of you newly married couples!! May God continue to watch over your marriage and may you grow closer through Him!!! Love you all!!!

Here is a video of all the pictures in between the the ones you have already seen (we don't like to take pictures of the girls ;)

Breaths of Heaven