haha

This is random..but I think it's hilarious! I like to watch the voice. Blake Shelton is sooooooooooo funny and Adam Levine is sooooooo yummy! Why not watch?! I also like to watch chelsea handler, although I don't really get the chance to watch her very often. Definitely not kid approved. Blake Shelton was a guest on Chelsea's talk show a couple weeks back and here is a picture of Chuy. Chuy is Chelsea's side kick "little person." He was dressed as C-Lo...LOL. I may be the only person to find this entertaining but oh well :)

Introducing....Mike Question Jake...The Elf!

There is a new tradition at the Bal house for Christmas. December 1st this little guy rang our door bell....

I was more excited than Garrison was. He did think it was pretty cool that the Elf was riding his "motor" as he calls it and he was very quick to snatch it off the four wheeler and grab the book. This was obviously, before we read the book, and I realized they aren't suppose to touch the elf bc he loses his magic. OOPS! In case you aren't familiar with the Elf on the Shelf concept, the Elf shows up sometime after Thanksgiving and is Santa's little "spy." He flys back to Santa every night to report on how well the children are being and tells Santa if they are naughty. Then each morning he is in a different location. I just knew Garrison would think this was SO fun! Boy...I was wrong.

So the next morning...we found this. OH, Garrison gets to name his own elf so he chose..."Mike Question Jake." Seriously?! Oh Em Gee...what kind of name is that! This child is crazy!

 If you look on the Internet, there are literally a million ideas for your Elf on the Shelf. I have to say, I was pretty proud of myself bc I came up with this one all on my own! Gold star for mommy! Garrison thought this was funny, then went on to playing. Not near as much excitement as I expected. So that night, I moved "Mike Question Jake" to the hall way and he was playing cards with a snowman. The next morning Garrison finds him and I hear Garrison talking to him in a very stern voice AND pointing his finger at him. "Now elf, I am three times bigger than you, and my daddy is way bigger than both of us!" He was convinced that the Elf had stolen his ipod!

So this was what Elf was doing this morning. It's suppose to be a bubble bath but there is no fooling Garrison. He knew it was marshmallows :) He told me first thing this morning. "Mom, Elf took all the marshmallows. I'm going to throw him in the garbage." SIGH :( Maybe Mike Question Jake will be better for Adelyn! :)

Small things

Adelyn has always been a very easy baby to put to sleep. Our bedtime routine starts about 8pm. Jammies, milk, books, etc. and we sit in our rocker and snuggle. I've always been a believer in putting my kids to bed awake so that they learn to fall asleep on their own. So at 8:30 every night, almost to the second, adelyn starts to get fussy if she isn't in her bed. I've always thought it was cute how when I lay her down, she bends her knees and kinda rocks her legs back and forth, like she is rocking herself to sleep. Then off to sleep she goes....

So a couple nights ago  Adam and I were laying in bed talking before bed. For some reason, it popped in my head about how cute and sweet I think it is that Adelyn "rocks" herself to sleep. So I decided to tell Adam how cute I think it is and, not even kidding, as I'm telling this to Adam I notice that he is doing the exact same thing with his legs. I don't know why I never put the two together, bc I used to always laugh at Adam for rocking himself to sleep. When I used to make fun of him, he would just laugh it off and say it was relaxing. He's always done this. It's amazing the things that our children do that are just like us. Adelyn doesn't sleep in bed with us, so she couldn't of just started copying Adam, it must just be in their genes! I think it's odd that Adam does it, but it's so cute when Adelyn does it! :)

While we are on the subject of sleep, it brings to mind another story. Adelyn, Garrison and I had gone up to Baylor Hospital to visit my mom one night. As we were leaving, my sister gave Garrison some change to throw into the wish fountain. He was excited to throw his coin in and make a wish. On our way home, Garrison was very worried about whether or not I really thought his wish would come true. After him asking me about it 3 or 4 times, I decided to ask what his wish was. (It's funny how superstitions seep their way into your thinking, bc I really thought "I hope i'm not jinxing his wish by asking him to tell me") crazy, I know. Anyway, so he tells me "I wished that I won't have any more bad dreams." UGH. Seriously it made my heart sink. He has never mentioned having bad dreams to me and it made me sad to think he is having them. He proceeded to tell me he has bad dreams all the time but that he can't remember what the dreams are about. Poor guy! So a couple days later, my sister came over and had a gift for Garrison. She got him a dream catcher! He thinks it's the coolest thing ever. Then about a week later, I was picking Garrison up from Cindy and Clayton's house and we were talking about Garrison's bad dreams. Clayton pretended to grab the dreams out of Garrison's head and Garrison thought he was so silly. He said "they don't come from my head. They come from the dream fairy. She creeps in my room every night on her tip toes, real quiet so no one else hears her." This kid is crazy.....He must get that from his daddy too! :)

Faces

Once you become a mom, your life changes in ways that you never really can understand until you are a mom. I am blessed to be Adelyn and Garrison's mom. They are such sweet babies. I want to remember every bit about these stages. 4 and 1...they keep me on my toes and entertained. I wouldn't trade it for anything.....

Garrison...this face....

I see this exact face almost daily. He is a little flirt. He's heard almost all his life, from complete strangers, how beautiful he is and I think he's learned to use it to his benefit. He makes this face and says "mom...then asks for whatever it is he wants at that moment..." How could you resist this face?! He's so silly! He's very expressive. He has a great vocabulary. When i'm getting on to him for something, I try and explain it using big words and he will say "Mom, I understand." When I want him to do something and he doesn't, he doesn't just say No, instead he says "Mom, I do not like that plan." He's very stubborn and strong willed. (No clue where he got that from!) He hates learning and I dread kinder. He's very social. He started playing soccer and when he first gets to practice or his games, he has to hug all his friends. He usually even hugs the other team in the middle of the game. One of his teammates was crying during a game, and Garrison stood there with his friend, with his hand on his shoulder. He didn't care that the other team was going to score, he just wanted to make sure his friend was ok. He's kindhearted. He tells his friends he loves them. He tells me he loves me to the moon and back. His favorite shows are beyblade and power rangers, even if he is grounded from them indefinitely bc he doesn't know to be easy in play fighting. He knocked me in the eye one time and seriously drew tears to my eyes. He's tough. If you don't believe me just ask him because he told Jen that he can stop a car with his hands. He loves his sister, he calls her Addy-boo. Most mornings Garrison is the first to wake up and as soon as he hears Adelyn start waking up, he goes and crawls in her crib with her. Most mornings I find them holding hands in her crib or just "talking" back and forth. Her little protector...

Then I have this face......

 I see this face almost daily too. This is the face she makes when she is smiling so big that she closes her eyes and her dimples show. She gets so tickled at herself. She loves life. She loves her dada. If Adam isn't home, she will say dada all around the house. She's started saying Ma for me. It's like she's too lazy to say mama. Or maybe she just knows she only has to say one small sound and I check on her. She loves her big brother. She calls him bubba. She follows him all around the house and just laughs and laughs at him. It is going to be fun watching their interactions as they grow. She points at everything She watches your mouth constantly, listening intently to what you are saying and trying to figure out her mouth. She says mama, dada, and bubba the most but she can say pops, ball, amy, bye, dog. I just want to love on her all day, everyday. She's the most laid back, easy going, happy baby ever. This girl loves to eat. From breakfast she will eat two eggs and two turkey sausages and then want to finish off Garrison's. We call her a scavenger because if you can't find her, chances are she is in the kitchen trying to see if anything fell onto the floor that she can eat. Which causes  me to have to vacuum about 10 times a day. She loves her bath time and likes to stick her entire head under the running water. She was a natural in the pool, kicking her leg and dipping her head under. Maybe we have an Olympic swimmer in our futures.

These are the faces I cherish. These are the faces that make up my world. :)

Garrison's 4th Birthday

Garrison's 4th Birthday was June 28th. As cliche as it sounds, I really can't believe that it has been 4 years. I don't remember what I did with all my free time before having kids and I can't imagine my life without them. Garrison has a very social, outgoing personality. I can only imagine how much trouble he is going to get into next year at school for wanting to talk. Every time we go to the store, he talks to almost every adult he sees.  He sounds very grown up too and it always surprises me to see adults just flat out ignore him. We were at hobby lobby one day and he said "Good afternoon, how are you today?" to some random lady shopping. She had a conversation with Garrison and remarked on how well mannered and polite he was and how he sounded like an adult. (He is not always well mannered). Then he proceeded to introduce us all, "I'm Garrison Adam Bal, this is Addy, and this is Weswie (Leslie). My dad is Adam, but he is at work." That is usually exactly what he tells every stranger we meet. Another day, he was with a friend of ours that helps watch him, Cindy and Jill, and he was talking to another stranger about church and told her "We go to a catholic church that has a Father." Funny but not true, we go to a Baptist Church. He even talks to all the people in the cars that pass us on the road.

He loves his baby sister and mostly calls her "Ad" or "Addy Girl." A couple of times, I've heard him say "Hey girlfriend" to her, which cracks me up. He has told me he plans to marry Addy and every night before she goes to bed he has to kiss and hug her and tell her "good night, sweet dreams, don't let the bed bugs bit." A couple of morning,s I've found Garrison in Addy's crib and them playing and talking together. I guess if he hears her, before I do, he takes it upon himself to entertain her. It's fun to see them interact with one another and build a bond.

I love how he says "can I have a big squeezee (squeeze-EE) hug" and hugs you really really tight. He loves to "snuggle bug" Every night before bed we read a book and then he has me sing either the ABC's or Jesus loves me to him, usually it's Jesus loves me. His favorite past time is riding his "motor" that he got for his birthday. He wears his cowboy boots or mud boots everyday outside, usually with shorts. He is very particular on his food. He loves to have a "peanut butter sandwich, with no jewwy (jelly), and no lid, cut up into dinosaurs." Which is basically peanut butter on one  piece of bread. lol

Where has the time gone?! I just love this sweet boy more than words can describe

Adelyn's 6 month pictures

My two loves

The entire time I was pregnant, I was worried about how well Garrison would adjust to a new baby and the shared attention. After having Adelyn, it proved to be a useless worry because he was a natural in his new role of "big brother." With Addy's surgery and subsequent NICU stay, the way I had envisioned the two of them meeting didn't happen. I wasn't able to put them in the matching big bro/lil sis shirts I had bought and take pictures at the hospital. All that didn't matter anymore anyway. Garrison didn't get to meet his sister until she was 8 days old and we brought her home from Children's. He immediately fell in love with his sister and has been a sort of protector for her ever since. I sat in the middle of the two of them on the way home from the hospital and Garrison remarked that she "was a wittle punkin!" and when she fussed he would say the baby needs milk. He has impressed me from day one and it melts my heart to see the two of them together. He loves to lay by her and hold her hand. The way he is with her is a reflection of his gigantic heart. My sweet boy makes me one proud mama.

 Here is a picture of my babies napping together.

 I find the two of them like this often. You can see Garrison holding her hand and they are as content as can be.

 My babies ready for Adelyn's first visit to The Heights Baptist.

 This is my favorite picture. This is the day we brought Addy home from the hospital. Garrison's face shows it all. You can just tell that he is in awe of his little sister. I hope they always stay best buds.

 Garrison's first time holding his sister. My babies are so precious!!

Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011. Garrison is 3 1/2 and Adelyn is 4 months old.

Addy turned 4 months on Christmas day. I seriously don't know where the last 4 months went, it seems like just yesterday she was born. This year Garrison was really excited about santa. Every toy commercial he saw on tv he would run and come get me and say he wanted whatever it was. The biggest thing that he wanted were racetracks so Santa listened and he got two really big racetracks. I guess Santa thought he was good bc in my mind, this was definitely up for debate! Terrible two's don't exist, he was perfect but once he turned 3 he was like a whole new child. Parenting a three year old has definitely been entertaining but I wouldn't trade my two babies for the world.

My mom is still in the skilled rehab trying to gain her strength and mobility back and Garrison and I attended their Christmas party and dinner. We had a nice time and I'm sure my mom was excited to have us all there. This is a picture of Garrison posing in their sleigh, by the tree.

 Amy always comes over around Christmas time and we make and decorate home made cookies. We did this on Christmas Eve so that Santa could have his cookies. Garrison really enjoyed it this year and loved putting flour all over himself. Here he is helping me make the cookie dough.

 He was so proud to take this picture. haha

 Another tradition that I've started (that I had growing up) was opening one gift on Christmas Eve. It's always pajamas so that you can wear them to bed and have Christmas PJ's on when santa arrives. I didn't really contemplate that a 3 year old may  not enjoy this tradition....Here are my babies posing with their Christmas eve gifts....(at this point still cute)....

 You can sort of see the disappointment on Garrison's face as he has opened his gift. This was our exact conversation:

 Garrison: "This is addy's gift (it wasn't). I don't want jamas, I didn't order this. (throws the gift aside and stands up.) Come on let's find my racetrack (walking to the tree and gifts) It will be the really big one."

sigh. He was not thrilled about pajamas and really disappointed! I'll be happy to let you know, I did take a brief moment and explain to him that Christmas is not just about gifts and that he needs to be grateful for everything that he receives. I think it sunk in (haha ya right!)

 I finally convinced him to put on his Christmas PJ's. Here are my sweet babies. Adelyn just wanted her bed

 Garrison posing with Santa at my mom's christmas party.

 Doesn't she look like a doll?!?!

I hope your Christmas was as blessed as ours was. 2011 was definitely a trying year, especially as a mom, but I am blessed. I love my family more than words and pray every single day that they grow old both happy and healthy. God Bless