Jacob's 2nd Birthday

My boys.

Balloon Time!!!

This was just way too cute!

The donut cake.

The birthday boy!!

Opening presents.

So that's it. My baby is two years old now. I don't have babies anymore. I now have a preschooler and a toddler. It's kind of bittersweet, really.

We celebrated Jacob's 2nd birthday with a party at Donut Stop. It was wonderful. It wasn't very expensive, and I didn't have to do a single thing! And I think all the kiddos had a pretty good time. He had his 2 year check-up this past Friday. He's doing great! He's in the 25th-50th percentile for weight and the 50th percentile for height in his age group, so he's pretty average right now. He's speaking pretty well. He's not necessarily speaking the 100+ words most kids have by age 2, but he's saying more than Jonathan did at that age. And he put together his first 2-word sentence the other day. He held up his foot to Daddy and said, "Do this." (Translation: "Play 'This Little Piggy'.") He's incredibly strong-willed. The "terrible twos" have definitely hit. And look out potty-training, here we come.

I have one more year to be home all day with Jonathan. Around this time next year he starts kindergarten, and then it'll be just Jacob and me--something Jacob has never experienced. I don't know if I'm ready for that or not, but it's coming. It's just around the corner. My kids are growing up so very fast.

A Few Pics From Our Summer

John & me at the Jeff Dunham "Identity Crisis" show

John & the boys at the Ft. Worth

Jacob checking out the creepy crawlies.

Jonathan, Abby & Rory checking out a giant sea turtle.

Look at the size of that!

Jacob waiting to enter the zoo.

Jonathan waiting to enter the zoo.

Goofing off at the hotel.

He's officially a CPA!!!

A much deserved celebration.

Highlights: T-Ball 2010

We signed Jonathan up for pre-K T-Ball this spring. He started out kind of excited about it, but before we were even half-way through the season (which was only about a month long, mind you) he was pretty much done with it.

He made it through 9 of the 10 games, though. (We let him miss one so he could go to VBS.) The team had a party at Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate at the very end. The kids all got trophies and medallions! His coaches were absolutely wonderful--and brave to attempt to teach 10-15 four and five year-olds the basics of the game.

I don't know if Jonathan will do it again next year or not. We've decided we'll ask him if he wants to participate and then make him see it through if he does want to. If he says he doesn't want to do it, though, we're not going to force the issue. I'm glad he tried it once. I think it was a really good experience for him.

Jonathan's 4th Birthday & More

The birthday boy

Jonathan & Daddy

Blowing out the candle. (Rory really wanted to help.)

Jonathan's Optimus Prime cake. I'm so proud of this--I made it myself (with the help of a very dear friend). We stayed up until one o'clock in the morning making this bad boy.

Believe it or not, I have not abandoned my blog! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get a new post on here. The time gets away from me so easily nowadays. My baby boy (well, one of them anyway) turned four this weekend. We had a Transformers themed party, and I made the cake myself. I've never attempted anything like that, but I think I may never buy another cake again. It was time consuming, yes, but it was really a lot of fun and it actually turned out okay! Jake's birthday is coming up in about four months, so I've got to come up with a cake to make for his party now.

John finally passed his CPA exam a couple of weeks ago!!! He is sooo glad to have it behind him at last. We've had a few formalities to go through. He passed his open book exam, and the state board meets tomorrow and will issue John his number. After he sends in another fee, they will send him his license and he will be official! After tax season ends, it's time to party!!! Thank you so much to everyone who has been praying for John over these last three and a half years.

I got Jonathan signed up for T-ball. The season begins May 10, and they will play 10 games over like a month or so. The games will be on Mondays and Thursdays at 6PM. Still don't know who he's going to be playing for yet, or even how he's going to handle playing with other kids his age on a team. I'm curious to see how this is going to go.

Jacob continues to grow by leaps and bounds as well. It's so hard to believe he's going to be two in just a few months. Next month we're going to start getting ready to turn his room into a big boy room. That's right--the crib will be replaced with a big boy bed, the changing table and play pen will come out, and the decor will be a little more big boy like. Not long after that comes round two of (*gulp*) potty training.

My brother, Aaron, had back surgery on April 1. This was actually his third surgery. He had his first one when he was 19, and has had trouble off and on ever since. (He has a slipped disk.) In this surgery the doctors completely replaced the disk, and they are hoping that in a few months he will be like a completely new person.

That's pretty much what's been going on with our family over the last month or so. I'll try not to be so long in writing next time. ;) God bless!

Family Update

It's been a long time since my last post. I haven't had as much time as I would like to write, but I've got a few minutes to catch you up right now.

Jacob had his 18 month well check on February 3, and he seems to be doing great! Though he continues to gain weight, he still weighs in at the 25th-50th percentile mark. The important thing is that he is being consistent. His vocabulary is also growing by leaps and bounds. He says about five to ten words now--or tries to, anyway. That may not seem like very much, but Jonathan was only speaking about 3 words or so when he was this age. Jonathan was about two-and-a-half before he really took off talking; I'm hoping Jacob will catch on a little quicker. Jake is 19 months now. He's walking, attempting to talk, and just plain growing up way too fast. It's going to be time to move him to a big boy bed and start the potty training process here in about six months or so. (I am sooo not looking forward to going through all that again.)

Jonathan is about to turn 4 on me. He's been potty trained for about a year and a half now. I've been making him wear Pull-Ups for naps and bedtime and also anytime we have to go somewhere. A little bit at a time, I've been weaning him off of that routine as well. I started by letting him wear underwear when we run errands or to church. Then just a few weeks ago, I let him wear underwear during naptime. When he went for almost two weeks straight with no accidents, I finally let him start wearing underwear to bed at night. So far so good. In the last couple of weeks he actually started going to the bathroom all by himself! He won't let me come with him, but he'll yell at me if he needs help with something. The little bugar has even started to dress himself a little. John and I are even thinking about enrolling him in preschool this year. That's right--THIS year. He would start this fall.

(Yes, I'm having a VERY hard time with this whole growing up thing. Does it show???)

Jonathan has almost finished his first year in AWANA. Each year, all the kids make little pine cars and the church hosts a Grand Prix. Jonathan made his first car and is super excited to get to race in his first Grand Prix this Sunday. (I'll be sure to post some pics from the big race!) Jacob will get to participate in a couple more years. If you haven't already heard, John got another test grade back. (He's been waiting for this grade almost 60 days now.) He PASSED!!! He got an 82! Now if that last grade would just come on back...
He's been working so hard and I'm so glad he finally almost has this whole thing behind him. He's well on his way to being a CPA, and I am so very proud of him! That's really about all that's going on with us right now. We have a plumber coming out in the morning. It probably isn't an absolute necessity, but I had one of my blond moments--or rather a sensory flashback followed by a blond moment.

(See, when we were living in our apartment, the owners shut the water off to do some maintainance work. They apparently turned it back on before they were supposed to, didn't realize that someone had left a faucet on in the apartment directly above us, and before long I was hearing water dripping. Then I was seeing it stream through our ceiling and light fixtures. So, anytime I hear dripping water, I flash back on that. Fast forward a couple of years to Dec. 31, 2008. I'm taking a shower and fifteen minutes in I run out of hot water. When I get out of the shower, I hear that our hot water heater has not kicked on. Long story short, we had it looked at and determined that we needed to get a new one. The old one was ten years old, after all.)

Well, I was taking a shower this past Thurs. or Fri., and about 15 min. in, I run out of hot water. I get out and find that the hot water heater has not kicked on. It finally did come on about 45 min. after I got out of the shower. It will also come on if you manually turn up the dial. But our one-year-old water heater does not click on when it's supposed to. Anyway, we got a new gas valve for it (the unit is still under warranty) and the plumber is coming in the morning to replace it. Isn't owning a home great?!? Our house turned 52 years old this year, and now it's falling apart! There are days I truly miss apartment living--until, of course, I flash back on the "flood" of 2005.

New Pics

1st Birthday pics by Portrait Innovations (Yes, I know, I finally got them done!)

Showing off their brand new haircuts!

Jake's 1st haircut--the finished product.

Happy New Year!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I know we did. I promise I'll get some pictures posted soon. (I'm a little behind, as usual. :-D) My mom's parents were home this year; the last several years they've taken off in their RV for a 3-month-or-so-long vacation. So it was nice to get to celebrate a little with them. After a candlelight Lord's Supper on Christmas Eve at our church, we all headed over to my parents' house to have finger foods and open gifts. On Christmas morning, the boys opened their gifts from Santa as well as some that were mailed to us from out of town family and very dear friends. Then we went to my dad's mom's house for more gifts and to have Christmas dinner. My brother had a very special gift for all of us and we all had to open it at the same time. He had a special announcement to make: he has been accepted into the Navy. We knew he was wanting to sign on as a chaplin, but he had some medical stuff he had to get straightened out first and we didn't know how all of that would work out. Anyway, it's official now. His gift was a uniform armband. He asked us to set it somewhere we could see it and remember to pray for him. He is going to be in the Ft. Worth area for the next three years while he finishes his training and officer's school. When all of his training is complete he will rank as a lieutenant. He doesn't know where he will be stationed after that. It was kind of a bittersweet moment for all of us. We're all very proud of him, but at the same time we will worry about him. He really feels like this is where God wants him to be right now. Please keep Aaron and his wife, Allison, in your prayers. On Sunday, we got together with John's parents and brother and sister-in-law for a third Christmas celebration. The boys were definitely good and spoiled this year!

Now we start another new year. I'm not very good about keeping New Year's Resolutions, so I don't usually make them. I do have a few goals for myself, though:

• to have a deeper relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
• to be a better wife and mom
• to take better care of myself
• to try and relax a little once in a while

We'll see how well all of that goes over, but that's the plan at least. Another new year, new beginnings. We are praying that 2010 is a prosperous new year for all of you. Happy New Year! :)

Anniversary Weekend

The boys each hit a new milestone over this last week, and I just have to share. It took a little longer than we were hoping, but now...Jacob is finally walking!!! He started taking a few more steps and trying to stay upright more around Thanksgiving, and now he's just going all the time. Sometimes he'll get really excited and try to take off and run, but if he tries to go too fast he just ends up tripping over his own two feet. It's so cute to watch him, though, and it's such a relief that he's finally doing it. It looks like there will be no MRI for that little guy come February. Praise the Lord! It dawned on us this past Sunday that Jonathan will be four years old in about four months. And that means that he is going to be too big to go into the nursery. Now on Sunday mornings he'll have Sunday School and Children's Church, and on Wednesday nights he'll have either AWANA or KidStuff. But on Sunday evening activities like The Lord's Supper or Christmas plays, etc., he'll be too big to go into the nursery and will have to come into "big church" with all the grown-ups. So we decided to let him have a trial run at "big church." The kids' Christmas play (which Jonathan will be old enough to participate in next year) was last night, and we figured it was a perfect time for his first attempt. Paw-Paw Davis was dancing in the play and Jonathan wanted to see it. He did sooo good! He sat quietly on Daddy's lap for most of the play. He sat in his own seat a little bit, and he climbed onto Mommy's lap at the very end. He even tried to do some of the motions to the last song! We're having a special candlelight Lord's Supper on Christmas Eve, and that will be another wonderful learning opportunity for Jonathan. We are planning on letting him come into that service as well. Our boys are growing so unbelievably fast. It's so hard to believe they're going to be 4 and 2 before too long...

John and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary over this past weekend. It's also hard to believe that five years have already gone by. Since it was a "landmark" anniversary for us, we decided to do something special. We decided to get away for a little while, so we spent Friday and Saturday in Lubbock. On Friday night (our anniversary), we went to a movie ("Brothers") and then to dinner at Texas Land and Cattle. Then on Saturday--since we were sans kids--we got our Christmas shopping out of the way before heading home. We are so grateful to my mom and Nana for taking care of the boys while we were gone. It was so wonderful to have a little time to ourselves. Thank you to my wonderful husband for putting up with me these last five years. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us over the years to come!

Blessings to all of our family and friends during this very special time of year. From our family to yours: Merry Christmas!!!

Thanksgiving 2009

The boys w/my cousin Lacy.

Watching the "Cars" movie after the Cowboys' game.

Playing in the Christmas tree's box.

Yeah, I don't think she knew I was taking this picture until she saw the flash...

Tadadada....Super Jonathan!!!

Jacob trying to figure out how to get back in the box.

Jacob & my cousin Lauren.

Jonathan being Jonathan.

This year, for the first time EVER, we had Thanksgiving at my parents' house. They are remodeling their kitchen, and my dad wanted to show off the new look--so he and my mom hosted Thanksgiving dinner. My mom's parents also came, and (another first for us) John's parents came, too. Everyone made part of the meal. My contribution (you guessed it--another first) was the relish tray. My mom usually makes it, but since she made the turkey this year and I had to actually be a grown-up, the relish tray was my job. It was actually something I couldn't ruin. One more big first for us this year: my Granddaddy made a deep-fried turkey. None of us had ever had a deep-fried turkey before, so it was awesome to get to try it this year. It was absolutely delicious. Really, we all had a hard time telling the difference between Granddaddy's turkey and Mom's turkey. Both were soooo good.

After lunch, we all watched the Cowboys/Raiders game. (My brother and his wife alternate holidays they come up here for. They're coming for Christmas this year.) Aaron & Allison were at the game. We looked for them on TV but never did see them--go figure. The next day was "Black Friday." I do not like crowds, and I refused to go out and shop. My mom, Nana, aunt and cousins did shop, but they didn't get out insanely early. I, John, the boys, my dad, and a friend of Lacy's met them all at Kabuki for lunch early that afternoon and that was the extent of our "Black Friday." Later that evening all of us--minus Lacy, who spent the night w/a friend--got together to watch "The Burb's." Saturday we all got together one last time to put up Nana's tree--a tradition all us grandkids who are in town do every year.

It all came to an end too fast, but Christmas is just around the corner. In just a few weeks, my aunt and cousins will be back in town, my brother and his wife will be here too, and we'll all get together for more food and fun as we celebrate the birth of Christ together. Hope all of you had a very happy Thanksgiving, too!

Another Family Update

Well, it's been a hectic last couple of weeks. John was out of town all last week. While he was gone, Jonathan came down with strep. Thankfully, though, we caught it early. All the poor little guy ever really got was a nasty cough and an ugly rash. He still has a little bit of the cough, but the rash is pretty much gone. He has to continue his antibiotic through Thanksgiving morning. So far, Jacob has yet to come down with it. He's had a little bit of a cough the last couple of days, but no fever, no rash, and his throat doesn't seem to be bothering him. His cough was not nearly as bad as Jonathan's, and it seems to be doing much better now. Still praying everybody stays healthy at least through Thanksgiving, though!

While John was out of town last week, his test score on the Audit section of the CPA exam came in. He got an 86!!! The online course he's taking really seems to be paying off. He's halfway through the exam now. He's planning on taking the REG section ( I think it's this one, anyway) in January, and then he'll probably take BEC in March or April. (I'm not sure, but I think March may be an off month for testing; they have testing for 2 months, then 1 month with no testing.) If he passes both, he will finally be done! He has until next November to pass the whole thing. Please continue to keep him in your prayers. I am so very proud of him!

We've been mildly concerned about Jacob's lack of walking lately. He wasn't exactly up to par at his 15 month check-up. His pediatrician recommended therapy for him and mentioned that we may be looking at having an MRI done if he's still not walking at his 18 month check-up. I've been putting off calling about therapy, really trying to buckle down on working with him and seriously beefing up the praise and encouragement. He's really shown a LOT of improvement over the last couple of weeks. He will now bend down to pick things up and straighten back up on his own; he stands up on his own now--without any support; he has started choosing to walk along the wall a lot more instead of crawling (which Jonathan did right before he started walking solo); and he's getting braver--taking more steps between objects that are spaced farther apart. I'm seriously starting to think he could be going solo by Thanksgiving, or shortly thereafter. I'm not nearly as stressed out about the upcoming 18 month check-up any more. We have until February; I'm pretty sure he'll have it down by then.

Thanksgiving is just a couple of days away! I love Thanksgiving, and I'm really looking forward to it this year. We're having it at my parents' house, and my in-laws and my mom's parents are going to be joining us. Family starts arriving tonight! Can't wait to see everybody; wish a few others could make it, but hopefully we'll get to see them soon!

Even though this is a little bit early---Happy Thanksgiving to all our dear family and friends!!!

Jacob's 15 Month Check-Up

It's so hard to believe Jakey's already 15 months old!!! He and Jonathan are growing up so stinkin' fast! Don't worry; I have not forgotten that I still haven't posted any one year pictures for Jacob. I promise to get some on here before the child turns 2, when I'll have turn around and put his two year pics up! Those who know me well know I can be a bit slow at times.



Jacob had his 15 mo. check-up yesterday. For the most part, things went pretty well. He gained just over another pound (he's now up to 22lbs, 5oz). He's still sitting between the 10th-25th percentile for his weight. The poor little guy did come down with a tummy bug this past Monday evening. He threw up a couple of times, and since the bug attacked his appetite hasn't been just real great. Dr. Hoving said that would definitely account for him slipping from 25-50th percentile back down to the 10-25th range. She also said his appetite could take up to a week to come back, though I think it may be on the way back now judging from the breakfast he ate this morning. Dr. Hoving was a bit concerned however, that Jake is 15 months old and still not walking independently. He's been taking a step or two on his own, and he will walk as long as he has something to hold on to. He will also stand alone. But that's about as far as he's come in the last three months. She's not worried about a developmental problem yet, but if he hits 18 months and is still not walking independently we may be looking at having an MRI done. She gave us some tips to help give him a little more encouragement, and she also recommended that I call a group called Early Childhood Intervention. They will come out to our home about once a month and basically teach us to teach him how to walk. She also said that if I make the appointment and he suddenly takes off walking, I could call and cancel. So we really don't have anything to lose. I'm planning to call today to set up an appointment for him. Since we got home from the doctor's office yesterday, he has made a few strides. He actually stood up in the middle of the floor (with nothing to hold on to) all by himself, and he took two big steps from Mommy to Daddy. So we're making progress, just slowly. Poor Jake also got poked a lot yesterday. He had three shots, plus a TB test, plus they drew blood to test for lead (a routine thing they do). Needless to say, yesterday was quite a traumatic day for him!



It's been quite a week around here. As I said earlier, Jake had a tummy bug on Monday night. Jonathan caught it on Tuesday night. That poor kid threw up from 7:30 at night to 4:00 the next morning. His appetite, which never has been real big, has decreased as well. I'm more worried about him not eating than I was about Jake not eating. The bug also hit John on Wednesday night--while he was in Canadian. Not a fun audit trip for him. Fortunately, I've managed to avoid the bug so far. I'm praying it stays that way.



Jonathan got to play Guitar Hero for the first time in a really long time! Believe it or not, Daddy let him play while Mommy was at Jazzercise last night. He was a big boy! When John told him it was time to put the guitars up, he handed his to Daddy without so much as a wimper. Looks like he might get to play again real soon!



Also, congratulations to our niece, Brooklynn! Christian Kyle Martinez was born at 5:15 Wednesday evening. He weighed 7lbs, 9oz and was 21 inches long. Brooklynn was in labor for about 24 hours. We are super excited about this new addition to our family!

Halloween Weekend 2009

"I want some cake!" ~Jonathan

The cake. (No, we weren't very nice.)


The big moment. Think she's spotted us yet?

Opening presents. Some were gag gifts, some were good gifts.

"Lightning McQueen" ~aka Jonathan Merriss

"Baby Dino" ~aka Jacob Merriss

"Rawr! Bring on the candy!!"

Trick-Or-Treat!

Jonathan's candy stash.

Jacob's candy stash.

Halloween at our house was awesome this year! I actually put up a few decorations. I've never done that before--but I thought, Why not make it fun for the kiddos? We didn't do a whole lot. I got a Happy Halloween door mat to go outside the front door; we put a glow-in-the dark door sticker for the front door; and I hung a few ghosts from our trees. We got together with my sister-in-law, Kristin, earlier in the month to make a bunch of Halloween goodies. I'm not sure what the boys loved more--the goodies or playing with Aunt Kristin and Uncle Marshall's pooch, Chilton.

On October 29, my mom turned 50. I could not let that birthday go by without doing something special for her. So we threw her a surprise party! She'd already had an over-the-hill party for her 40th, but I didn't really remember too much from that one (not sure why--just can't seem to remember it) so I decided to give her another one. My dad took her out for dinner that night. While he was gone, I let myself and the rest of our party guests (just a handful of family members) into their house and we set up their kitchen with a few decorations. When they came home about 30-45 minutes later, we "hid" back toward their entry way. The first thing she saw was her cake with the decorations and her presents, then as she came further in toward the light switch she finally saw all of us. She was surprised, and that was my goal.

Jonathan dressed as Lightning McQueen (from the Cars movie) this year, and Jacob was a dinosaur. They were both so cute, and were actually pretty well behaved for most of the evening. The festivities started early. Our church does a Fall Festival every year for all the kiddos, and I'm not real wild about getting the boys out when it's really dark. So we left about 5:00 Halloween night and took the boys trick-or-treating. We usually stick to our relatives' homes--we don't take the kids to anyone's home that we don't know well. After that we headed to the church for the Fall Festival fun. Jacob is still too young to really get into all the action; he pretty much hung around Mommy, who was working the popcorn machine all night. Jonathan, however, had a blast. Daddy took him around to all the games, which he got candy for playing. His favorite was a balloon popping game. By the end of the night, both boys had cleaned up pretty well. Despite his sugar high, even Jonathan crashed pretty quickly after we got home. Definitely looking forward to next year, when both the boys will be into it!

Now, bring on Thanksgiving!