Packing

This morning Drake and I have spent our time packing and playing and making messes. It's interesting, to say the least, to pack with a 2 month old and a 17 month old! I've had to take multiple diaper changing breaks, and nursing Leigha breaks, and snack breaks, oh and of course a break to turn on Mickey Mouse for the Bug. Now I have all of the toys except for the FAVORITES packed, most baby stuff that's not used every day, and other odds and ends. And....I've run out of boxes.

Our plan: Friday Josh is going to go mark the spots to dig and poor footers. He's also going to move our cousin's tralier that is currently there.
Saturday Josh and our Uncle Lynn are going to dig footers and hopefully we will get concrete poored in them as well.
Sunday we are going to recoop and let the footers dry
Monday we're going to hang out and let the footers dry
Tuesday Josh is going to take off so they can deliver the house
Wednesday My dad is going to come down and paint
Thursday I'm going to start moving things in
Friday we're going to hopefully get most everything but our beds and things we use every day moved in
Saturday Josh is going to do all of the hookups and build a bench and table for our kitchen and I'm going to organize stuff
Sunday Josh is going to finish building bench and table and start on a wall unit for our bedroom and a unit for the tv/storage for the living room and I'm going to organize...
Hopefully Sunday or Monday we'll be in and somewhat settled :) I pray!

Right now Leigha's passed out on the couch. Drake is eatin' an apple and watchin' Mickey. I am sitting here brainstorming on where I can get more boxes so I can keep packing haha...I'm about to bust I'm so excited..can you tell?! ha!

Sleep, oh sweet precious sleep

Leigha Bug turned 2 months old yesterday. I guess it wore her out turning 2 months old because she slept from 11pm until 5:30am without waking. It was the best sleep I've had in MONTHS!
For all of you out there that are saying "5:30 holy moly! How can Tiffany be happy about this?!" Well My kids are usually up at 5:30-6 and Josh's alarm goes off at 5:30 so we're used to it.

Anyway, this is a short post but I'm sure these kiddos will give me something to post about later :)

Bug lovin' on Baby Bug

Drake love's his Sissy!!

I love this photo with all of my heart. Poor Leigha Bug and her smooched face from Bug's kisses.

How stinkin' blessed are Josh and I to have such wonderful kids?! We didn't know how Drake would react when we brought Leigha home from the hospital. These two photo's show exactly how he always is towards her. He absolutely LOVES her! He's always kissing, hugging, holding her hands and feet, showing her toys and books, trying to share his snacks and drinks (silly boy), and lookin' at her.

These moments remind me that with all of the things that make me mad and sad nothing is more important than Josh, Drake, and Leigha and the love that we have for each other!

Drake is 17 Mo. old!

Drake is 17 Months Old as of yesterday!

First of all, How in the world did this happen!?

Second of all, man I love this little guy!! He looks so much like his Dad Dad but acts a lot like me! He's starting to talk a LOT more! He's coming up with words like it's nothing. He has gotten so good at saying Leigha "la-uh-uh" Sissy "Sss-e" Sis "Sss" Door "Doo-er" Diaper "errr-er" Down "du-nn"

and so on...

We do sign language with him and he's learning new signs every day and doing amazing at remembering them without prompting. He now says some of the words while he signs them as well.

He's constantly kissing, hugging, and 'playing' with his Sissy.

He has a million teeth now! I've honestly lost count.

He is in CONSTANT motion! Always running, jumping, dancing (he loves to dance!), and playing. He never slows down until his head hits the pillow.

He loves to read. We read off and on all day. When I'm busy he will sit with a book and point to the words and talk to himself. At night we read about 30 minutes before bed and he usually takes a book in bed with him to "read" it to himself. He is big on words and pictures :) Makes me a proud Momma!!

He loves coloring, although he also loves eating the colors haha. He's getting really good at holding the colors in his hands too!

He needs almost zero help with his food. He eats everything we do, as he has since he started food. (He never ate baby food, didn't like it..so we made our own) He uses his fork and spoon like a pro. Although he over-uses his fork. He likes to use it for absolutely everything from cheerios to sandwitches to normal fork food. Amazingly enough, he can actually pick up all of the above with his fork.

He has clamed one of our boxes, that we were going to use for moving stuff to our new house, as his own. It's a huge box and he can stand up in it without hitting his head. He loves it!!

What else is new with this boy?? I guess that's about it. 17 Months have been crazy fast, I wish he would grow a little slower ;)

Anyway, to leave you with is a photo of my Buggy (I know, we're silly, but we call Drake Bug/Buggy and Leigha we call Baby Bug/ Leigha Bug/Lady Bug).

He loves swinging in Leigha's swing when she's not in it. I caught him this morning reading his "Potty Book" in her swing...

WE'RE MOVING

We're moving!!!
We've been saving, penny pinching, resisting non-needed but oh-so-wanted items, and finally we were able to purchase with CASH our first home/double wide!! We did it, no payments what-so-ever. Yes I know, I'm tooting our own horn but gosh dang it, it feels good to own a house without a payment and no interest to pay!
Details on the double wide = 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, sweet little kitchen, living room, and mud/laundry room.
#1 bedroom = master with bathroom attached..what??! our own bathroom with NO kid stuff, WOW
#2 bedroom = kids bedroom in which Drake is getting his first big boy bed and Sis' crib will be in there as well as our rocking chairs and books
#3 bedroom = playroom! No toys scattered around the entire house anymore. They can make as big of a mess as they want and all I have to do when they are done is shut the door and not look at it. A-MAZ-ING!!
#2 bathroom = kids/community bathroom...what?!? 2 bathrooms?!? I will not know how to act having two bathrooms. I am overjoyed by this! One bathroom when I've been pregnant and sick as a dog with the pregnancy's was HECK! But now, when I get pregnant again or when I'm just sick I can have a bathroom that is just mine and send Josh to the kids bathroom if needed. 
Kitchen = the one room that needs work done to it...it is small, very small but I have BIG plans to make this small kitchen beautiful and quaint and perfect for us!
Living room = we're going to build a wall unit for the tv and all of the junk that goes with tv's. Kid proof and kid safe :)
Now...to decide on paint colors...my hardest and most fun part of decorating!! I'm thinking a blue and yellow for kitchen, green for bathrooms, living room in orange, and no idea for the kids bed, our bed, and their playroom I have too many ideas and I just have to decide.
Another wonderful thing...I will get to take my photo's out of storage and put them, yes, wait for it, on the wall!!!

Now where are we moving you may ask?! Still in Anna but in the country surrounded by cows! :) We will have a beautiful view and cows all around our sweet little house. I'm super excited for all of this! It will be wonderful :):)

Could I put a few more smiley faces in this post? I bet not haha

Sunday we went out there and started cleanup on the land...I've never been so happy in my life to get dirt under my nails, have broken nails, to pick up trash, and pull weeds!

So today, or at least for now, I will leave you with my happy, prayers answered, amazing post :)

Wake up, Wake up

"Wake up, wake up, it's time to get up, wake up, wake up, everybody up." -Disney Junior song

Drake wakes up, I go in there to get him, he is all smiles and happy in his crib! He slept with his "Drake Dog" and of course his Pup Pup. His "Drake Dog" is a dog that you program to say your name, your favorite things (ie. apples for a snack, the color green, ducks for favorite animal...) Anyway it also sings songs. He pressed his paw and it started singing and Drake started dancin' and laughing! I watched and laughed with him while he danced in his crib, having a wonderful time.

At breakfast he wouldn't give up his Pup Pup. (We've had his Pup pup forever! He has never slept a night or nap without his Puppy.) He had his Puppy right there on his high chair tray beside his cup and food. He would take a bite of toast then he'd feed his Pup a piece of toast and laugh so hard! It was so stinkin' cute that I had to share it with ya'll!

Oh and by the way, his shirt today is a picture of a bike and it says "this is the way I roll" sooo cute!!

Miss Leigha Bug slept until 3am without a feeding!! It was soooooo wonderful to have slept from 10-3 without waking up. Seriously, 5 whole hours of sleep together!! AMAZING!!

Josh started working 4, 10 hour days this week. Meaning that tomorrow he'll be off!! This is usually a fun day for us but not for a few weeks. We are moving and we're gonna be working on the land and house for the next few weeks then moving in as soon as possible. But after that we'll be able to enjoy 3 day weekends all summer long :)

Breakfast by myself

A happy mess!

I was feeding Sis while Draker was feeding himself oatmeal. This is how his breakfast went :)

'I can do it by myself' In all honesty he did pretty good for some sloppy, goopy oatmeal! He's getting so big and doing so well with spoons and forks!

Photos and captions

Leigha Bug was sitting on the couch watching Draker dance. She was watching intently! This photo reminds me sooo much of Drake when he was Leigha's age.



My beautiful baby bug! Sunday was beautiful and we took advantage. Leigha and I went outside for a mini photo shoot. She loved laying in the sun!



Those lips!!!
...that's all I have to say about that

Drake playing outside in the warm sunshine. I got very few photo's of this crazy boy! He is too darn fast. He ran the entire time we were out, I got very few photo's because he was just too darn fast. Josh was standing on the porch laughing at me because I was trying to run ahead of Drake to get his photos haha...

I caught the Bug and Josh snapped a few photo's for me :)

My Bug! He (and of course his Daddy and Sissy) bring be so much joy!

Hurtin' Bellys/Car Sleepin'

 Saturday we had a long day away from home. We decided that we'd just stop at Mc. Dee's and grab dinner. Well since then the kids and I have had hurt belly's. That will teach Josh and I to do fast food. We are just not fast food people. Hopefully layin' around and not doing too much but napping and resting will help us all today.

Now on to cuteness!! Draker fell asleep on the way to Grandma and Pop Pop's yesterday...Here is the waking up process...

 

Photography

I am able to stay home with my kiddo's, the biggest blessing that Josh could ever give me. However, life is hard on one income, while saving 25% of our check each week, with four people on this one income. We are doing okay though. No debt, living only within our means. We do without a lot of wants right now but I wouldn't change it for the world! However, my photography allows us to save more for our dream home and allows us to do wants and to get special things for the kids that they don't absolutely need. Every photo job, small or large or anything in between, helps more than I can tell you! Not only does it help us buy things and save for wonderful things to come, it is a passion for me! It's always new, exciting, different, and I love that I learn something new on every shoot!

Please check out my photography blog http://tiffanyhileman.blogspot.com/

Send your friends to my blog, or just tell people about my business. You/your friends can call or text me at 618 697 1585 as well as email me at tiffanyhileman@hotmail.com

Thank you all for spreading the word. I hope to take photo's of you and your friends soon!!!

Dear other Momma's..

To Momma's out there...

I have a new blog...Momma Forum...this blog is for Momma's (and Daddy's) to talk about Momma, Daddy, and Kid things. This is a place for questions, comments, answers, a place to be in communion with each other, to help each other, cry, share joys, concerns, and to just talk with others in confidence and with no barriers or concern of embarrassment. This blog is only open to those who I invite therefore I know it will be a safe place for us to talk and share. I must have your email address to add you to this blog. If you know of other Momma's and Dad's that would like to join please send me their email addresses so I can invite them as well. Thanks for your help and support!
Remember this is a safe place for us to share and talk and ask questions.

Jumpin' around..

"Jumpin' around" because that's what my brain is doing today...so here it goes..

I created this blog for ya'll, family and friends, to stay updated on us, our family, our kids, and photo's of all of the above. I love writing about my sweet family and showing off photo's of my little bugs. However, I also think that it would be nice to start a blog just about my random thoughts, therefore I think I will...but I will reserve this blog for just family stuff...Not sure when I'll start the other blog, maybe today, but that depends on how our crazy day goes..

My sweet, crazy, climbin' Draker...He is eating breakfast, cheerios and dried fruit and water, in his chair while watching Mickey Mouse. Usually he's jumpin' around, dancing, answering Mickey's questions (for those of you who don't watch Mickey...they ask questions such as "Is this a pattern of blue, red, green or red, green, blue.." or "What comes after 2?" Anyway in his little sweet non real word language with a few real words mixed in he answers.) anyway, he was being quiet...for my kids, this is never a good thing. I turn around to look at him..he has gotten on the couch, walked on the end table, and is now on the tv stand, sitting on it watching tv. Oh my do I have my hands full with this little climber!

My darling, beautiful Leigha is in the swing beside me snoozin' away. This is odd, she's usually awake right now and watching her brother with amazement and wonderment. This little girl takes after her Dad Dad and Brother when she's snoozin'...they are all snorers! It amazes me how such a little girl can snore so dadgum loud!

Speaking of Leigha in her swing...sometimes Drake likes her in her swing because he can push it and that's "helpin' Momma" and other times, like now, when she's asleep and I don't let him push it he doesn't like it. He likes to be close to Sissy and "help momma" and doesn't like it when he can't touch her. He's a very sweet and protective big brother. I love this most times but sometimes it's difficult because he doesn't quite understand when I tell him she can't play.

So...I believe my sweet little baby bug has a milk allergy. I am going to stop all dairy products for two weeks (that's how long it takes for the milk proteins to get out of my milk) to see if that helps her little belly and bum. She has horrible gas all the time which hurts her enough to make her cry and sometimes wale! Also her little bum has a rash that just won't go away. Draker didn't do well with dairy until he was older so this is my guess with her as well. I pray that it will work and that each day will make her feel better and take that dadgum, not nice, hurting away from her belly and bum!

St. Paddy's day...Bug woke up, I put him on his changing table, and gave him a choice of green shirts...my handsome man chose a green collared striped shirt with some dashing jeans to go with. I must say, although I am quite partial, he looked so grown up and handsome it made me want to cry, good crying! Baby bug I dressed in a green, white, and yellow outfit of daises, my FAVORITE flower, she also sported a pink bow with a daisy. She looked beautiful and sweet, as usual. I had a 6 week check up so Drake stayed with Grandma and Mamaw and Leigha and I went to C'dale. Leigha is not much for car rides but she did extremely well, looked out the window most of the ride. My doc apt went well! I have lost most of my baby weight, I have 10lbs to go before I am back to where I was before I got preg with Leigha. However I'd like to lose 15-20 of fat and gain some muscle weight before I get preg again. We had a long day even after that, but a lot of it was good...

Agenda for today? Roll with it, which is what we usually do. I thought about cleaning and organizing...but yesterday wore me out and I think I'll relax (as much as one can with two kids under two years old) and hang out in my pj's!

Possibly a photo shoot or two with the kido's... :) Stay tuned

TROUBLE, no paci's, and such...

TROUBLE - Oh that little Bug and his climbing and getting into things. He wears me out! Here's what he did Sunday evening before Church....play by play through photos.

'I can't see anyone watching me so surly they aren't. Hmm it looks like fun to get up on the tv stand!'

'I'm goin' for it'

'It'd be easier if Momma didn't put this dadburn gate in my way. I'll hold onto the tv to steady myself.'

'..and success! I am almost over the gate and no one has gotten me down, told me to get down, or spanked me yet! WooHoo!!'

'Now that I'm up here, what is over there that I can get into? Photo's, movies, remotes, tv buttons...'

'Dang it, she caught me! and on camera too...this isn't gonna be good..'

NO PACI'S - We waited until after Sis was here and they got used to each other before we were going to take away his paci. We were planning on doing it in the next few weeks. Well...last night he threw  his paci out of his crib and we never picked it up and gave it back to him and he fell asleep without it. It is now forever gone as far as he's concerned. He slept all night without it! I am so happy and proud of him. He soothed himself when he woke up and went back to sleep.

Josh, Leigha, and I went out Saturday and had a lovely day walking outside and hanging out for Josh's birthday. It was wonderful. Drake had tons of fun with the sitter and was so good for her, made me a proud Momma!

 He's learning new signs and can now sign more, cup, book, help, down, i love you. He is also talking more and can say new words. I'd tell you them all but I know I'd forget half of them, therefore I won't try. He's growing and learning so fast! It's so much fun to teach him something new and for him to do it later without prompting. He's a busy boy, constantly on the move. He slows down for one to two naps or at least rests a day in his bed. He also slows down to play with Sissy quite a bit. He loves her so very much! He can now say Sissy "Sis ss" He's currently pressing the buttons on her swing and trying to make it stop so he can kiss her.

Anyway, I am going to get off of here and go play with the kido's. I hope your day is as blessed as I know mine will be. Don't forget to thank God for all of those little blessings...such as no paci, kisses from brother to sister, the ability to learn new things and apply them...and so on!
God Bless, The Hilemans

Babies, Babies, and Toddlers

Today, I'm babysitting for a friend. Her son is 3 and daughter is 8 months. So I've got a 1 month old, 8 month old, 16 month old, and a 3 year old today. Most people think I'm crazy for just having my two so close in age but for all four of these sweet crazy kido's, I can't imagine what people must think. However, I absolutely love it! We're having so much fun. The boys are currently running, throwing/rolling balls to each other, and laughing so hard that they are literally falling on the ground. The girls are watching with amazement and amusement. As for me, I'm sitting here feeling so blessed to here such sweet sounds from laughter, cooing, balls bouncing and toys going off.

A photo from lunch.

The sweet girls sitting side by side

The boys almost done eating...well Drake is done and distracting Logan from eating haha

So this is what it's like to have four kids?!....I'll take it!

Josh's 27th Birthday/ needing Mommy advice

Josh had his 27th Birthday yesterday. It didn't quite go as planned...first of all I got one of his gifts a few months ago and hid it so he wouldn't find it. Well the past few months have been a blur of crazy wonderful things in our lives and guess what I LOST IT. I realized this just a few days ago and didn't have time to go get another gift. :( So the poor guy had nothing to open on his birthday. However, his other gift that cannot be wrapped he is going to get on Saturday (if there's an opening.) He's getting a ring tattoo. We've been wanting them since before we were married and just never splurged to get it. He's super excited, I just wish I could have given it to him on his birthday. Second of all the kids had a rough night, which made for a parental rough night. But Saturday Drake is staying home with the sitter and Josh, Leigha (because she's breastfed), and I are going out for his birthday. I pray that it goes a million times better than yesterday went for him.

Now on to needing Mommy thoughts and advice...
Drake has always gone to bed between 6-7 but this week it's been 9-10. Nothing has changed as far as routine, we've tried to put him to bed at the normal time but he screams and refuses. When we try rocking he plays with us (doing new signs, the face game..which is touching face parts so we will name them..., dancing...he always has music on he's always slept with it on...ect.) So should we start letting him just go to bed that late or keep trying for his normal time?
Also, his naps have been all messed up lately too. Again, nothing there has changed, we are doing the same things we've always done. He will tell me he's ready for a nap, I put him to bed and he hangs out with his pup pup (who he sleeps with) and I usually put a book in there and he'll read the book and look out the window and about 40 minutes later says "mom mom" and has never slept. Other times he'll fall right asleep and only take one nap though when I know he truly needs two or at least one long one.
He's waking up at his normal time despite how late he goes to bed. This is hard on me!! Anyway, any advice, thoughts, comments are welcome and wanted please!

As for sweet Leigha Bug, we're having a rough time breastfeeding sometimes still. She's so dadgum gassy and fussy and I just don't know what I'm eating to cause it. She also has a horrible rash on her bottom that looks like burns. I thought it could be a milk allergy but the nurse at our doc office (who I honestly don't like and we're thinking about changing doc's because of her nursing staff) said it's just a diaper rash. They called us in a prescription cream to put on her and we have been but it's still there. Again, ideas, comments, advice, thoughts are wanted!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and to comment. Love to you from all of us!

Photo shoot with our Bug (the big one not the baby one ;)

My sweet little Bugs!

Oh my Draker...he has the most awesome hats! I tried to get him to wear them long enough to get some cute shots however he was not up for wearing hats inside. Maybe today or tomorrow I can try again but we'll try outside :)

Look at this stylin' little man! I'm lovin' how red his hair looks in this photo :) I do believe that his Sis is going to take after him with the hair.

Hope these photos briten your day!

Family Photo's by Leigh Bedokis Photography

Once again we were blessed to have my good friend Leigh from Leigh Bedokis Photography do our family photos. We had our family photo's done when Drake was born, my pregnancy photos when I was pregnant with Leigha, and now our family photos with Leigha. It's just too difficult to do family photos of your own family, even if you are a photographer. So we go to Leigh who also did our wedding. She's an amazing photography and I hope to be interning with her very soon! Anyway, hope you like the photos. If you would like a copy let me know and I'll order one through her. Please do not take these photo's and crop out the "Leigh Bedokis Photography" they are copywrited and I put them on here just to show off my family. Thanks!

My sweet baby bug and I

My beautiful family!

Daddy with his baby bug

Caught Sharing

I got Drake down from his high chair after lunch and gave him his cup and sent him to play while I cleaned up the mess. Leigha was on the floor in her bouncy seat. Drake loves to play with her (kissing, hugging, pointing to her nose, mouth, ears, hair, belly, hands..., talk to her, hold her hand, bounce her, press the button so her chair vibrates...) when she is in her bouncy. I turn around to see that he is being nice to her and he had the straw of his cup up to her mouth. I asked him if she was thirsty and needed a drink and he said "yeah" and went right back to sharing his drink. She was just looking up at him. It was a very sweet moment for this Momma to watch. When he was done sharing his drink he went and got toys and has been sharing them with her. One he tried to put on her head like a hat, sweet idea but dangerous. Now my sweet boy is running around dancing and Leigha is sound asleep in her bouncy. I am so very blessed to have these two sweethearts.
That's one of the many blessings of my day today, I hope that you have many today and everyday as well!
God Bless - Tiffany

March 9 is Josh's Birthday :)

So on the 9th Josh is turning 27...Normally I have a full on elaborate plan that i have ironed out months and months before his birthday. However this year I've been busy and distracted (in the best ways possible!) So it's down to the wire and I don't know what to do for his birthday. Any ideas would be appreciated..comment below please!!
His gift is letter photo's spelling out "Hileman" that I took last year.
For his actual birthday, I am at a loss of what to do this year :( Should we pack up the kids and go somewhere nice to eat? He is working all day and wont get home till after 4. Should I save the celebration for the weekend and have his parents watch Drake and us and Leigha go out. (can't leave her at home, she's nursing..) I just don't know what to do. Help if you have any ideas, let me know

Drake's 16 Months Old! and I have red hair?!

Drake is 16 Months old...wow!

It's hard for Josh and I to remember before two kids, let alone just one and it's all been in 16 months. What an amazing, wonderful, sleep deprived, blessed...16 months it has truly been.
Drake has brought so much joy, love, and fun into our lives. He is truly an amazing little bug! He is so fun, full of life, LOUD, crazy, lovable, a dancin' machine, ...Here are a few photo's of Drake and I from today after lunch. My little man!

...and I have red hair?! Josh and I decided to dye my hair Monday night. Here are the results...it's a LOT darker than I thought it would be though and can hardly be noticed :( Maybe in a week or two we'll try again with some help picking it out from a pro? We will see...The reason I dyed it and want to dye it more red...The first thing people say when they see me with the kids "where did they get that beautiful red hair?" or "are these your kids with the red hair?" I don't want to have to verbally tell people that these two beautiful babies are mine, I want them to not question it, I want people to just know therefore my change. We will see if it works and if I like it enough on me to keep it. Comments are wanted on this please :)

Imagine that, Mom and Drake bein' silly sayin' "oooo!"

Kisses for Mom and Draker :)

Leigha - 1 Month Old!

Leigha Noelle Hileman is one month old!

How in the world is this possible? On one hand it's hard to imagine our lives without our Baby Bug. On the other hand it seems like I was just in the hospital having her and that there is no way she has been with us for a whole month.
Goodness gracious we are so very blessed with this little sweetheart! She has added tons of joy to our lives (as well as less sleep ;) She looks a lot like her big brother but has more of me in her than anything, or so I believe. She doesn't cry too much at all, MUCH less than her (colicy) brother did at this age. She likes sleeping with Mom and Dad and not alone, not the best situation but do-able. She loves to be awake and brite eyed in the morning when Drake is and then takes a morning nap when Drake does. (This is a huge blessing for Momma, gives me my sweeties to play with at the same time and gives me a break at the same time! God is good!) She is so very very strong. She lifts up her head, turns in all around, while being extremely steady for her age. She can put all of her weight on her legs for a few seconds at a time. She does pushups when we do tummy time. She is feeding and growing so good.
Anyway, just wanted to tell you all of the beautiful and amazing things Leigha has accomplished in her first month of life. I'll post later (hopefully) with a family update but I wanted this to just be about sweet Leigha.