Rest in Peace Sweet Rebecca

I want to take a moment to tell you about a sweet, precious angel named Rebecca.

When I started working at Staubach at the end of May 2004. I had no idea just how much my life would change. I got to work with some amazing people who I still talk to today. They became more than just my co-workers. Samantha (Sam) and I clicked right away. We have a lot in common and quickly became friends. When I met her husband, Matt, it was very evident how much they love and adore each other. When Aaron and I started dating we found out that Matt and Aaron have a lot in common too. There is never a dull moment when the four of us are together.

It was never a secret that the one thing Sam wanted in life was to be a mom. We were all waiting for the moment when Sam would announce that she was pregnant. I remember where we were when she told me she thought she might be pregnant. It was so fun to watch our co-workers faces, especially Jeremy, when she announced she was expecting.

We had several friends who had just had or were expecting babies and it was so fun to watch my friends grow and bring beautiful babies into the world. Aaron and I were excited when we found out Sam was in labor and I remember waking up the next morning thinking surely she has had her by now! I remember where I was when Matt finally called to say that Rebecca was here – I was in one of the frozen food isles in the Kroger by our house in Coppell. I couldn’t wait to get up to the hospital to meet and hold Rebecca. Rebecca was born on September 15, 2007.

Now, those of you who really know me know that I was not the little girl who dreamed of my wedding and having kids. I never babysat or changed a diaper and holding babies wasn’t something I was really comfortable with. I was getting better/more comfortable with each baby thanks to Mason and Ellen being born. Mason was 2 to 3 months when I met and held him for the first time. With Ellen, Sam and I went to the hospital to visit Marisol and then I held her when she was a month or 2 old. I was slowly working my way to a smaller baby!

During the first 10 months of Rebecca’s life we got to hang out with her a bunch (we moved to Houston at that point). She showed me so much in that short time. She was the first baby that I felt comfortable holding. She showed me that I did want to be a mom at some point in the future and she made me feel that I could be a mom.

After trouble walking, a seizure, and tests run to figure out what was going on, Sam and Matt were informed that Rebecca had Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD). MLD is a rare and terminal neurological disease affecting about 1 in 40,000 births worldwide. You can read about Rebecca by clicking here.

Rebecca passed away this weekend in Matt’s arms. I can’t begin to imagine what Sam and Matt are going through. I’m so thankful for Rebecca and I pray for Sam, Matt and their family as they mourn the life of their ladybug.

I love you Rebecca and thank you for giving me confidence that I could be a mom.

7 & 8 months combined and Alex turns 2!

Since Molly is now 8 months, I am going to combine months 7 & 8. August and September have been lots of fun!

 

July 31^st to August 30^th
 

August 17^thAlex turned 2! I can’t believe it still. He will always be my baby boy but he is not a baby anymore. He has a mind of his own! He LOVES his hot wheels so we decided to get him some more. Aaron also wanted to find a case to hold them like what he had when he was little. We found a case that holds 100 cars and then Aaron got him a bunch of random cars. He loves them! Mommy, daddy and Molly have had some fun too J

Birthday boy with his hot wheels

His cool case

Daddy having some fun

Daddy having some more fun - Gig 'Em!
 

Molly was extremely close to crawling but she couldn’t quite figure out her arms and her legs. She sure could get around army crawling or doing something like the worm. She would get on all fours, push her arms forward, pull her knees up and push forward again. I love to watch her learn and see the differences between her and Alex. She also started to pull up to her knees and at times almost to her feet.

7 Months Old!!

 

August 31^st – September 30th
 

Molly is crawling! About half way through the month she figured out how to really crawl. It is so cute and boy can she move! She can also pull up to standing if she has something she can really grab on to. She has even started to take a few steps while holding our hands and she is getting more and more stable. I see walking coming soon.

Baby girls first bow

 

I also got to help celebrate the upcoming arrival of two baby boys in September. I even got to help host a shower for our good friends Melissa and Jimmy. When I offered to help, I didn’t know I would get credit for helping with the entire thing. Amanda and Jamie did all the planning and preparing. I just did two small games and brought some cheese and crackers! I love seeing all of the baby stuff. I am so excited for my friends who are having babies!

 

On the 29^th we headed to Winnie to celebrate Aaron’s grandmother’s 93^rd birthday. There were a ton of people! Alex had a blast and Molly got passed around. Thankfully Alex fell asleep on the way because he didn’t get a nap until he fell asleep on the way home. Alex did really well for being so tired in the afternoon and Molly did great being passed between lots of people, some who she had never met before. I don’t think Alex stopped moving once we got there!

Sarah, Cecelia, Rebekah and Molly - Love them all so much!

My silly boy!

On the go!

 

While we were taking Molly’s picture, Alex went by his chair and said he wanted his picture taken too. So here we have Molly at 8 months and Alex at 2 years, 1 month and 13 days.

My loves

 

I love watching them together!

 

Happy 8 Months Molly!!

 

 

 

6 Months Old!

Our little Molly is 6 months! Life has been rather crazy lately. So crazy that I realized I left a couple of things out of last month’s post! I forgot to mention that we had started oatmeal, which went pretty well. We also finally got the disk with the kids’ pictures from school. The pictures were taken back in April but we finally got the disks in June.

Our sweet babies!



July was a busy month for us. We attended our niece’s 4th birthday party, my office moved, we got our house listed and Molly was baptized. Alex had a blast at Cecelia’s party. It was so much fun to watch him play with the girls and in the little pool Rachel had set up. He had so much fun that we are getting him one for his birthday!

Happy Boy!

Alex, Rebekah (pink) and Birthday Girl Cecelia dancing!

Molly is changing so quickly. It is so fun to watch her and to see how different she is from Alex. I am so lucky that they are both very happy. She loves clapping her hands and she is sitting up really well. She gets on her hands and her knees some but she has not done more than move just her arms or just her legs. She also rocks some while on her hands and knees so it might not be long before she is crawling. I’m not sure I’m ready for her to really be on the go!

Towards the end of the month we got our house on the market. We haven’t had a lot of activity yet but we are hopeful. We know the 2 or 3 areas we are interested in, so now we are just waiting for something to happen with our house. I try to not look online at homes that are for sale but it is hard. I know that is available now most likely will not be available when we are ready. Our top areas are Gleannloch and The Woodlands. Gleannloch would allow us to keep the kids at their current daycare and doctors office which is a plus but I think The Woodlands has more of what we are looking for. We want an area where there are parks, ponds for fishing and kayaking, walking trails, splash pads ect. Gleannloch offers those things but The Woodlands offers a lot more. It appears that it wouldn’t change my drive to work much and I would think it would help a lot when construction really gets going on 290.

On July 28^th Molly was baptized. My parents were able to come down for the weekend! I was so happy when I found out that my dad would not be on call. After her baptism, everyone came back to our house for hot dogs, cake and fun. I love it when our house is full of people who love and support us. It means so much to us to have people come and celebrate events in our lives with us. Thank you to those who came to see our precious girl be baptized!

Our beautiful girl

 

My mom brought stickers and cars to help keep Alex quiet. He did really well!

 

Molly with her godparents Sarah and Samuel!

 

Our family! We had a hard time getting both kids to look at the camera!

 

6 months old! She didn't want to look at the camera!

 

She didn't want to smile either!

Happy 6 months Molly!

5 Wonderful Months!

Our little girl is 5 month old and our little man is less than 2 months away from turning 2! Crazy! Our oldest niece turns 4 on July 13^th and I can’t believe how quickly the last 4 years have gone by!

We started off June helping my sister-in-law, Rachel, move into her first home. What an exciting time for her and the girls. I helped my mother-in-law watch the kids and Aaron helped move her stuff into the house.

The 21^st- 24^th the kids and I went to Granbury. I was supposed to go on a fishing trip with Aaron but I decided not to go. His dad went instead and they had a blast. Since I had already requested the Thursday and Friday off, I decided that I would go spend the long weekend with my parents. My dad actually had the weekend off and thankfully was home on the Thursday and Friday as well. I woke up around my normal time on Thursday and we loaded up and headed out a little after 6. Aaron and his dad left at the same time. I’m glad they hung around long enough to help me finish loading the van!

 We made it to Granbury a little after 11 for lunch and nap time. Friday my aunt, cousin and my cousin’s two little girls came to visit. My cousin, Jennifer, hadn’t met Molly yet. When Alex got up from his nap, my mom brought him over to my grandparents’ house for a visit with the girls. Kellis wanted to hold Molly and Nyla wasn’t too sure at first. It was really sweet. Early Friday evening we took the kids to the pool. Alex and Molly both had a blast. I took lots of pictures since it was Molly’s first time in the pool and Daddy wasn’t there. I did offer to keep her out of the pool but he said it was ok!

Kellis holding Molly

Kellis and Nyla with Molly

First time at the pool! Look at those sweet legs :)

Alex having fun with Mar

Molly kicking with Grandad

Saturday morning was the pancake breakfast at the Granbury airport. We went for a few to show Alex the airplanes and he got to see a few land. One of his favorite words is airplane. If his love of the words airplane and car are any indication on what he will like in the future, we are in trouble!

Molly having fun with Mar on the way to her first fly-in

Alex is now just too big for the pack-n-play. Friday night/Saturday morning he woke up early but was clearly still tired. I brought him in to my room with me and he fell back asleep on my bed. This isn’t something I normally do but I knew he was still tired. He didn’t get to sleep much longer because Molly woke up hungry. Saturday night we made a large pallet on the floor for him to sleep on and he did well. Sunday my plan was to feed Alex at 11, feed Molly around the same time and once they were done, load them and head out. Things weren’t going quite as planned and my parents offered to have my mom ride with me either part way or all the way to Cypress and then my dad would pick her up. I knew I was going to have to stop along the way to feed Molly but I said I would be fine. Thankfully right before I was closing the door to leave my dad told my mom to ride with me and to give him 1.5 to 2 hours notice and he would meet us along the way. We decided it was best that she ride with me to Cypress to the airport that is about 10 to 15 minutes from our house. What a blessing! We ended up having to stop several times and Alex was grumpy! He only slept about 30 minutes on the way home. My poor boy was tired. Thank you dad! Now we just need to get Alex and Molly up in the plane J

Getting ready to head back home. Diaper change time!

This month we have also decided that it is time to move. We are preparing our house right now and are planning to meet with a realtor in the next week or two. We want more out of our neighborhood than we are currently getting.

All ready for school last week

July is going to be a busy month with Cecelia’s birthday party, getting our house on the market, Molly’s baptism at the end of the month and deciding what we are going to do for Alex’s birthday.

She didn't really want to look up

Happy 5 Months Molly!

4 Months!?!

Our sweet Molly is 4 months old! I’m not sure it is possible but the calendar says she is.  I can’t begin to tell you how much we adore our little girl. She is getting big so fast!

May had travels, a wedding and illness. Work has been busy for both me and Aaron.  We have both had to work late several nights. Mine just happen to hit when I was sick. Mother’s Day weekend I started out feeling a little blah. Saturday morning we went out shopping and by the afternoon I was feeling bad and had a low grade fever. I woke up Sunday feeling a little better but quickly went downhill. Saturday night and Sunday I only ate because I knew I need to for Molly. If I wasn’t breastfeeding, I would not have anything to eat. I ended up staying home on Monday and finally my fever broke and stayed gone. I finished out the week still feeling bad and I had a bad cough. The cough is still lingering so I guess I should probably go to the doctor!

Alex also got sick this month. He woke up a few times in the night moaning/crying. When he does that it is almost always his ears, unless he has a high fever. Off to the doctor we go and my poor little man had a double ear infection! After about 5 or 6 days on antibiotics he developed a rash so back to the doctor we went. This time he had strep! Of course the antibiotic he was given for his ears is one of the only antibiotics that does not also treat strep so he got a second antibiotic. Poor thing! Thankfully when I took him for a follow up right before we left for Granbury for Memorial Day weekend his ears were all clear.

Trying to keep him entertained while waiting for the doctor!

Aaron and Alex got to spend a day together while Alex was sick with strep. Love my boys!

Our sweet Molly at the beginning of May

I finally got to attend book club this month! I got off work and met one of my very best friends, Meagan, at DSW for some shoe shopping. Abbie met us there and then we all went to dinner before heading to book club. It was nice to get out and spend some time with the girls. It also gave Aaron his first evening alone with both kids.

On May 19^th an incredibly sweet couple we were blessed to meet got married! I have mentioned before that Aaron and I sponsor couples getting married in our church and Amy & Matt were our 3^rd couple. We have been blessed that 2 of the couples we have sponsored have been amazing. The first couple is expecting their first baby and we still keep in touch. I’m confident we will keep in touch with Amy and Matt as well. My in-laws came up to watch the babies for us so we could have a date. It was nice to get out, just the two of us.

For Memorial Day weekend we headed to Granbury. We stuffed ourselves into Aaron’s truck so that we could take the kayaks. We had talked about/looked for a trailer so that we could take the kayaks with us places but still take the van if needed. My mom and dad found a trailer in Granbury that would fit our needs. On Saturday, Aaron and my dad spent the day modifying the trailer to hold our kayaks. It will be so nice the next time we go to Granbury! On Sunday we were going to go out on the lake but it was just too windy so we headed down to the river. My dad even got out in Aaron’s kayak. Aaron took mine out and stood up and then it was my turn. I was nervous but I did it without falling. Aaron videoed me standing because he thought/hoped I would fall! It was fun but I’m not sure I’ll be fishing standing up anytime soon. I need more practice! Sunday night we finally took my parents up on their offer to watch the kids so that Aaron and I could have a date. We went into town for dinner and had a nice time.

What it looked like when we got it

All done!

Headed to the river. Sam got to ride along

And then he got to swim! That is my dad in Aaron's kayak

 

Standing!

Sam loves Alex & Molly! She is in her little camo dress :)

My dad with Alex & Molly

My mom with Alex & Molly

My sweet sweet babies!!

Molly is a pro at rolling over from her back to her belly and she is trying to get back over to her back. She is still getting up once a night but we are hoping that will stop with the introduction of oatmeal. She did better than Alex did his first time but the next day she acted like her tummy hurt. We are hoping that it was a one-time thing. She is “talking” a ton and it is adorable. Alex is talking a ton and it is so fun. My favorite has to be I love mommy/ I love you mommy. It melts my heart! He can be so sweet and then so frustrating sometimes! He still loves his sister and is affectionate with her even when no one asks.

I feel so blessed to have these two adorable babies. They have made me so incredibly happy and while I originally wished Molly had come a little bit later, I wouldn’t change it now for anything. I love watching them together and I know it is partly because of their closeness in age. I pray that they will look out for each other as they grow up and be good friends.

Happy 4 Months Molly! We love you!

Look at those chubby legs!

Sorry, I couldn't pick just one!

3 Months, 20 Months & 6 Years

I can’t believe our sweet Molly is already 3 months, Alex is 20 months and Aaron & I have been married for 6 years! This has been a rather busy month for us. Aaron got a different kayak, we traded mine and we have been to Galveston a couple of times. Our babies are growing up so fast!

The weekend after we got my kayak, we headed down to Galveston. We both had Good Friday off and my mother-in-law said she would watch the kids so that Aaron and I could go on a little kayak date. I hadn’t been on the water since June of last year and it felt great. I love my new kayak! Aaron and his dad went fishing on Saturday and then we headed home. We spent Easter just the 4 of us at home. It was a really nice weekend.

It was a beautiful day!

Silly Boy!

Alex with his Easter basket

On April 15^th, Aaron and I celebrated 6 years of marriage! Rachel came up on the 14^th so that Aaron and I could go out to eat and then to a movie. We had sushi and then we went to see American Reunion. There were some really funny parts. It was nice to get out just the two of us. I am so thankful to have such a wonderful husband. Aaron is an amazing husband and father. This past weekend I was told that we make a great team and I completely agree. It makes me happy to know that others can see our love and commitment to each other and our family. I am truly lucky to have him as my husband. On the 15^th the 4 of us went to Chuy’s for lunch. Alex had his first push-up ice cream to help us celebrate and Molly slept the entire time!

Yummy!

The next weekend we were back in Galveston. We both took off the 20^th and headed down on the 19^th. Aaron’s cousin and uncle were in town from the Seattle area. Aaron and his cousin went fishing on Friday and then Saturday Aaron had a fishing tournament. The weather was horrible so he ended up heading to join everyone else in Winnie at his grandmothers for a crawfish boil. It was a lot of fun and we got to see 2 of our favorite people – Rita and Clint! We headed back to Galveston for the night and then headed back to Winnie on Sunday for a bbq. It was great to see everyone and to introduce Molly to those who had not met her yet.

Meeting cousin Shawn

Molly's 1st ferry ride on the way to Winnie. I had to feed her :)

Alex got donut holes on the way to Winnie

Rita & crawfish!

This past weekend we had another crawfish boil to celebrate our friend Melissa’s birthday. We had a great time hanging out with everyone. Aaron went over early to help Jimmy with the crawfish and to get set up. After Alex woke up from his nap and Molly had been fed, I headed over with the kids. We took turns taking care of the kids so that we could both enjoy the yummy food. Melissa and Jimmy are expecting their first child in early November and we are so excited for them! They are going to be great parents.

Molly's 2nd crawfish boil!

Alex in Aaron's new hat

Molly is smiling and “talking” a ton and she is working on a full on laugh. She is also rolling over from her back to her belly. It is so fun to watch her and Alex grow. Alex still loves to love on her and it is probably the sweetest thing I have ever seen. We also got a BOB jogging stroller this month. I am determined to get in shape. I am planning on us training for a 5k!

Giving sister loves without being prompted. So sweet!

Going for a walk!

Molly still isn't crazy about getting her picture taken in her chair but she is getting better. Having big brother around helps too. I LOVE watching them together. I know I need to enjoy them being sweet to each other while I can!

My sweet babies. I like Molly's face in this picture. Please excuse Alex's messy shirt!

Such a good big brother!

Happy 3 Months Molly! We love you so much!