The Nance's come to Visit

Can I just say how much we LOVE having visitors? It seriously is the best! We were so lucky to have Stephen's sister and her family drive down this way from Illinois at the end of March. Her husband had some meetings for work down in the area and since her boys had spring break, they decided to make a family vacation out of it. Our house was full and we had a blast! We've missed living close to them and love hanging out together.

Of course we had to show them around to a few of our favorite places in the area.

First up...the Fort Worth Stockyards. This is Cow-Town and a true Texas Cowboy experience. It's a fun afternoon get-a-way, where you can see some long horned cattle, a wild west show, and a bunch of other fun cowboy things.

Brother and sister with their two boys!

Andrew can't get enough walking and will make friends with you fast if you'll walk him around. The aunts were scoring big points helping him walk down the street.

I LOVE this picture of my boys!

Andrew and his favorite pal...Daddy! 

A few of us decided to hop on and ride one of the long horns. Here's me and my little cowboy! It's crazy to think their horns have a 6 ft span. HUGE!!!

It was just so sad that a few days after they arrived I jumped ship...or airplane and left. I wish the timing was better, but so glad that they came all that way! Stephen took a few days off of work to play and watch Andrew while I was gone. They hit up the Dallas World Aquarium, the Perot Museum and of course the park.

Sweet Aunt Meghan and Andrew

 (most likely pointing out the "bites!" aka lights!)

The dads...and all their boys. 

Playing on the swings at our favorite park! 

I think most of all, Andrew loved spending time with his cousins and teaching baby Lincoln some of his tricks!

The Nance clan....We're so glad you came! We Love you guys!

Our Birthday Boy!

Still can't believe my little baby turned TWO! How did this happen? Where has the time gone? No matter what people say...he'll always be my "little" baby. Although, he is turning into such a little boy (aka toddler with such strong-willed opinions)  

We are so grateful for that little personality of his and love so many things about this little guy. 

::his vocabulary is exploding these days. He surprises us with new words he can say and sign everyday. And lately has been putting two words together( bye bye daddy, uh oh mommy, no no doggie)

::he is totally into walking and it's the first thing he asks for when I get him out of bed in the morning. He can walk independently now with his walker and loves to follow mommy around the house.
::he loves to laugh and giggle at the smallest things and is becoming quite the tease.
::he loves anything and everything to do with water! Bath time and washing his hands (ie playing in the water) are all-time favorites.
::Andrew is an awesome sleeper. Sleeps around 11-12 hours at night and takes one 2-3 hour nap.
::At age 2 he is 24 lbs 6 oz  and 32 inches tall. He's tall and skinny for his age, but on the preemie growth chart for his adjusted age he's at the 50th percentile. So we are happy for that, as he's been on a weight gaining diet the last 3-4 months

Andrew's actual birthday was on a Monday. I was flying out early that morning to visit my parents on their mission in Austria, so we had big birthday celebrations with family the weekend before. Stephen's Aunts came over and his sister Meghan and her family had driven down from Illinois for their spring break. We loved celebrating with so much family! 

Here's the cake! Andrew has been totally into dogs right now...especially since we've been dog-sitting for my brother the past few months. He LOVES "doggies" and when he sees or hears something he doesn't know what it's called, he calls it a "doggie". So we had a doggie party for his birthday!  

This kid got spoiled and had a lot of fun opening his gifts! He understood the concept this year and was excited to see what was underneath all that paper.

Andrew's Great-Aunt P.J. who lives next door, is incredibly talented and knitted Andrew this stuffed puppy for his birthday, which honestly I still can't get over how darling it is.

We practiced all week blowing out candles. Andrew caught on quickly and could blow out two candles pretty well. Although, when the big moment came to blow them out at his party, he just looked around at everybody and said "bites!" aka "lights", then tried to grab at the flames.

Mommy even tried to remind Andrew that we blow out the candles....with no luck.

Eventually he did blow, just not very hard or in the direction of the candles...ahhh well...maybe three will be the year.

He didn't waste any time and knew exactly what that yummy chocolate cake was....I think he devoured it in just a few minutes and then signed for more. That's my boy!

Of course we had to Skype with Grandma & Grandpa Holden so they could join in with all the festivities. Having it displayed on our TV was awesome....it was like they were right there in the room. Technology is amazing! What a fun day full of celebrations!

Happy Second Birthday to the sweetest boy I know!  
We love you Andrew!

YOU ARE TWO

Dear Andrew, 

You are two years old. I am still trying to figure out how time has passed so quickly. It seems like just yesterday you were born. Your daddy and I were heading to the hospital, praying you and your brother would be okay when then told us they had to deliver you 14 weeks early. I remember crying with the nurses, so scared.  I can still feel the fear that filled my heart worrying if everything was going to be alright. I heard your little cry first and saw your nose as they whisked you away out of the room to prep you for life flight. 

Its crazy how much I loved you before you were even born. I never knew my love for you could grow like it has the last two years. You are amazing, a fighter, strong, persistent and the happiest little boy I know. 

Today, mommy is getting on an airplane and I won't be able to spend the actual day with you, but I want to share a few things I LOVE about you! 

I love...that you are learning, understanding and discovering the world around you. You are learning and using new words all the time, you use a mixture of sign language and talking. Your vocabulary is growing so fast. You surprise us daily at what you can say and repeat back to us. 

I love...how you are into saying prayers...all. the. time. You fold your arms and say "amen". You'll do this anywhere all day long, in the middle of the grocery store, during therapy or especially while you are eating. We say multiple prayers over our food. It's darling that you picked that up on your own. You are an example to your dad and I of praying always. 

I love...how you cuddle in my arms. Before I lay you down to sleep, we sing together. You snuggle up so close and after every song you sign for more songs. It's always hard to lay you in your crib. I love singing to you and I love how much you enjoy music. It brings joy to my heart! 

I hope you know how special you are. You are everything to your dad and I. You have taught us so much, filled our hearts with so much happiness, and made us laugh harder then we ever thought possible. I never knew my heart could love so much until you came into my life. You are my best bud and I'm grateful I get to spend my days with you.  I love you sweet Andrew!

Passionate

I guess you could say I've become passionate about preemies since our boys were born almost two years ago. Last year we participated in the March for Babies and raised almost $2,000. It was awesome and I was overwhelmed with gratitude for all of our family, friends and friends of family who helped support us this wonderful cause and the March of Dimes. Last week, I received this in the mail. I was really shocked at how we made the top 10 for family teams in the Illinois Division.

This year Stephen and I decided to do it again and raise money, I've invited a few friends I know who've had preemies this last year to join us and help us. Again, it's been overwhelming at the response.

This past week has made me reflect as to why I do this.

I've had a two friends who've lost babies recently, because they were born too soon. My heart goes out to them. I know every experience in the NICU varies so much, but when you have to face loosing a baby....because of being born early. It makes my heart physically ache. Ache for my little Angel Ethan and ache for them as a mother who's had to say goodbye to their little boys. When I hear of their experiences, all those feelings of loosing Ethan and last few hours with him come to the surface and my heart explodes with emotion. I am a mess.

What strength and faith these two mothers have. They both are great examples to me.

One friend gave birth to her little boy at 20 weeks. They were able to spend about 30 minutes hugging and kissing him. She shared a deep and personal testimony which reaffirmed mine.

"We are honored that we have the blessing to be parents to such a perfect little spirit who just needed to come to earth to receive a body, and now has returned to the loving arms of our Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. We have added motivation to live our lives in order to see him again someday. We look forward to that time.....What carries us through is our faith in the plan of our Heavenly Father and in eternal families. We know we will see our son again and look forward to that glorious reunion."

It's hard to express how grateful I am for eternal families.

Another friend I knew in high school. I've been following her blog the last few months about the incredible journey of her precious little boy Marshall.  Born at 27 weeks just before Christmas weighing only 14 oz. He truly was a miracle. What a strong spirit this little guy had.

Sure does make you hold on to your family just a little bit tighter. These two valiant spirits must have been needed more on the other side of the veil.  I know that our Heavenly Father truly does love us and although we have challenges and trials that come into our path of life, he never leaves us alone.

We have just over a month left before our March for Babies walk here in Dallas. This past week has given me much to reflect upon as to why I do this. Please help us in this great cause!

www.marchforbabies.org/holdenboys

Utah State Basketball

I was so excited when I found out that the Utah State basketball team was coming right to our neighborhood. We live about...ohhh 2 minutes walking time from the University of Texas Arlington campus and the Aggies were coming down here to play.
When I lived in Logan I went to TONS of basketball games and loved cheering for our team. So when they came to Texas we had to show some Aggie spirit and cheer them on.
We had a blast and Andrew loved clapping, looking at the lights, dancing to the music and watching the action go up and down the court. Too bad USU had so many injuries on their first string players. They got creamed by UTA.  Aaah well...we still had a fun night.

Andrew was making friends with UTA fans giving everyone high fives. 

Found a Fellow Aggie Fan...my old roommate Veda. She and her cute family live about 6 hours away in Arkansas and made the drive for the game. Now that's what I call a dedicated Aggie fan. It was so fun to chat and catch up. It's been years since I've seen her.

Enjoying the game as a family! And yep...I even convinced 

Stephen to wear some Aggie attire. 

Such a big kid sitting in his own chair!

Family in Houston

Last week, we headed down to Houston again. It's been seriously the BEST to have my little brother and his family so close. Since we've moved here we've seen them probably every 6-8 weeks. Either they come to Dallas or we head down to Houston.
I have loved it!
In January I was a bit adventurous and drove the 5 hours down there with just Andrew and I. Andrew did awesome on the drive and loved spending the week with cousins.

My new favorite stop! The Beaver.....It's about half way from Dallas
to Houston and it has the most incredibly clean bathrooms
and awesome drinks. Serious. I never knew I'd could
get excited over a gas station/convenience store. 

Enjoying a sunny walk in January!

Joined this darling girl for lunch at school one day! Aaahhh the memories
of an elementary cafeteria. Sure don't miss that as a teacher! 

These two together mean trouble. It was so funny how they'd work
together to get around that baby gate. We are in serious trouble when they get older.

My brother and his wife went on a date one night and I had a litttle
 pajama party with these two. Nothing like dancing and singing in the kitchen. They crack me up!

Then in February we headed down again to help out. Matt had a few projects around the house he needed some help with.  So Stephen and I drove down again.  It was just the day after my birthday and they surprised me and made the yummiest birthday cake EVER! And of course put all 33 candles on my cake. WOW was that a fire hazard or what!?!

This became an expensive trip to get some Texas BBQ. On the way,
Matt unknowingly ran over a huge bolt and got a flat tire. Nothing
like to-go BBQ smelling up the car, while you're
trying to change a tire.

A few markers and a box make for hours of entertainment. These two are
seriously best buddies and play so great together. 

Roasting marshmallows to make family night s'mores! YUM!

Cousin Bath Time

Funny story about this picture....I learned how dangerous it can be to bath two boys at the same time. They were having a great time splashing, when about 30 seconds after I snapped the picture, the little boy on the left peed right in Andrew's face. Surprised by this, Andrew gasped with of course his mouth wide open. Yep. WIDE open....and boy did he get a mouthful! I wasn't sure if I should laugh or be totally grossed out. It was hilarious and we'll have stories to tell when they get older. 

I'm not sure how this idea started...we didn't plan on this until right as Stephen was leaving to go home on Sunday. We decided to help my brother out a bit and take their dog "Lucy" for a little while. So we've had this little fuzzball running around our house. The past week. Andrew has loved it and tries to give her kisses. Because of the dog, he's now learned the word "down" and also frequently says "no, no doggie". It's hilarious to hear him say it. It's been a fun change, but dogs are a lot of work.

Around this House

Trying to do some catch-up blogging...time is flying by way too fast around this house.

In January we took a Saturday and enjoyed the Forth Worth Stockyard Rodeo. We started off the morning with some awesome seats at a rodeo.

Andrew and daddy just outside the rodeo arena....
and Stephen sporting his cowboy hat.

Then after the rodeo we walked through and saw tons of horses, sheep, cows...you name it. People bring them in from all over to be auctioned off. We also tested out a few of the tractors.

We also tried to get Andrew dressed up in Cowboy gear to take a quick picture. I think the lady was a bit too forward and it scared Andrew quite a bit. This pic was taken right before the big upper lip came out and crocodile tears streamed down his face. Oh well, we had a fun time anyway.

One Sunday afternoon, Stephen's Aunt and Uncle took us with their dog on our first time ever armadillo hunting. They go every week to this same area at a nearby park. And without fail, their dog can sniff out armadillos. Some weeks they've seen 10+ armadillos  We were only luck enough to get one. It was definitely more fun just having the adventure and Andrew enjoyed riding on Uncle Chuck's shoulders!

This boy is sooo determined to walk it's crazy and sometimes I don't always have the patience to walk with him ALL the time. The last month or so we've had some nice spring weather here and there. We've started to spend a lot more time outside. Andrew has loved going on walks outside.

He'll crawl over to the front door and climb up and start knocking....just another little way to let us know he wants to "go"!

Sometimes, when Andrew doesn't have his braces on and he pulls himself up onto his feet, he's not as stable as he thinks he is. He's gotten a few bumps and bruises on the head. The worst one was a few weeks ago on his ear. We are actually working on 'falling' in therapy. It's kind of funny, but he doesn't have the normal reflexes most kiddos have naturally to stick their hands out and such. It's a hard skill to learn. In the meantime, I'm sure we'll see more of these little goose aches on the head.

We celebrated my birthday last week too. I felt very loved and had a wonderful day! Went to dinner with family, then to a little birthday party and after a little GNO with some friends to the movies. It was a wonderful day!

Life is sure treating us good and keeping us busy! We love it though and wouldn't have it any other way!

Mommy's Little Helper

Andrew seems to always be right at my feet these days....if not then he's probably getting into something. We have a hard time getting anything done around the house lately. Goodness this little kid keeps me on my toes!

Whenever Andrew hears me unloading the dishwasher in the mornings, he comes racing into the kitchen to help. I usually leave the silverware minus the knives for him....he's a great helper as you can see.

One afternoon, Andrew decided to help me un-fold his clothes and clean out his dresser drawers. Too bad I had just done the laundry and the drawers were full. He's one smart kid to figure out how to open both drawers so he can stand up on his own two feet.

I'm not sure how this kiddo figured out how to get in the bathroom with the door shut, but he did. I guess he just wanted to help clean the floor a bit...with...toilet paper??? I mean really look how innocent that quick get-a-way is.

This is usually how dinner time goes....I'm sure it's the same for most mom's out there. He's always at my feet wanting to "go" (i.e. walk) or just be held.

Andrew is seriously obsessed with lights. It's kind of cute. He say's 'bites' for lights and everywhere we go he seems to notice them and then say his word for lights about 50 bazillion times. Trips to the grocery store are amazingly fun. He seems to notice every single light. One of his new favorite "lights" is right inside my dryer. He's even found the little button that turns it on and off. You'd better believe he's right by my side when he hears that dryer door open.

I just love this little monster and all of his messes too!

Six Years

This post is a little late in coming, but let me explain. On January 13th, Stephen and I celebrated our sixth anniversary. It's crazy to think SIX years!

Well, I don't know if I'd say celebrated or remembered.
It was a busy Sunday. I'd been down at my brothers the week before and got back late Saturday night. We had the typical, Sunday morning rush to church and then before you know it, we were sitting right there in sacrament mtg and I looked at the date on the front of the program. I leaned over to Stephen and pointed it out. He looked at me with a confused look on his face like, "okay it's the 13th, so what?" After a minute or two I leaned over and said "happy anniversary" We both smiled and laughed and couldn't believe it took us that long to realize what day it was.

We must be getting old.

We actually had planned to go out the following weekend, had a babysitter already lined up and so we knew the actual day was coming...just didn't put two and two together.
Anyways fast forward to the date night. It was my turn this year to plan our outing and it totally flopped. I mean really flopped...ended up coming home at seven-thirty-kind-of flop. I had planned to take Stephen to dinner at the Melting Pot. When we walked in, I didn't realize we should have made reservations because it was a two and a half hour wait.
Strike one.
We didn't want to do that...so we went next door to P.F. Chang's and thought we'd give that a try. Well, they had an hour and a half wait...better, but we didn't want to wait that long with a babysitter.
Strike two.
There was a dinner theater close by where you watch a flick on the big screen and order dinner all at the same time. Great! Looked like fun. We always love a good movie. Let's try that! There were a few shows we'd been wanting to see. Well, we'd just missed one by 15 minutes and the other one we saw didn't start until 9:05 and the rest were rated R. hummmm....things were looking pretty grim.
Strike three.
It was now 40 minutes later and we were starting to get really hungry. We walked around the outdoor mall and wondered what to do. We realized that anywhere we go on a Friday night is going to have and hour-plus wait...so with that we saw one of our favorite little sandwich shops "Which-Which". We hadn't eaten there since our days in Chicago . So we decided that we'd grab our dinner here and post-pone the anniversary date for another night.
{sigh}....that was it. We walked in the door and hour and half later...7:30. and we were tired.

So a few weeks later we tried once again...this time we got a reservation and had a babysitter come over. It was all worth it. we enjoyed a wonderful evening together at the Melting Pot.

Cooking our own dinner

Enjoying the fondue

Dessert was a favorite! I mean...how can you
go wrong with chocolate?

I'm sure lucky to have such a wonderful guy for eternity!