So here it goes… my very first blog! This is very scary for me yet very exciting at the same time! I have wanted to start a blog for quite some time now. My memory has failed me more than I like to admit so this is one way I can “look back” or remember things that are important to me. More importantly, I hope that this blog will be of worth to my precious children as they grow. My intentions are good at keeping up with this blog…maybe you will help keep me accountable as I’m one who easily gets off track (such a bummer.) Not really sure how often I will post or how often I should or shouldn’t post as I am new at writing blog posts and new at reading other blogs so bear with me!
Hope you enjoy my words (and pictures too!)… some may be humorous although I’m not very witty, some might make you cry (at least they will me, I’m a cry baby) and some may make you just sit back and retreat away from your own reality while you enjoy the crazy, chaotic life of a mom with babies 14 months apart! Thanks for following me!
2011 has been a year that brought me such much JOY and so much SORROW. So, with that being said I’m not really sure where I should even begin. I don’t have much time left of my evening (being NYE 2012) so I this may be one crazy, messed up, out of order reflection… I will try to start at the beginning but I’m sure I will get lost in all of this somewhere. Actually, I’m going to stick with only a few of the most important life changers that happened to us in 2011.
In April, our sweet little Kenzie Jean turned one! …tear already :( … How time flew by so quickly I simply do not know. We celebrated family style by having all of the Moore side and Gillespie side showering our baby girl with love! Not being partial, but I know she is the cutest little one year old there has ever been! Due to having pictures to prove that I was a HUGE 7 months pregnant the day we celebrated her birthday, I guess I should throw in that we were busy planning for our second baby girl at the same time! Kenzie was spoiled and got all new bedroom furniture and decor as we decided to keep the “nursery” as is for baby girl #2 (who was actually being called Mallory throughout most of that pregnancy.) Such a fun time to see Kenzie grow and change so much from crawling to standing on her own and then start walking all over the place two weeks after her first birthday! (I haven’t even written that in her baby book yet… mom of the year, I know…) She learned very early to give the BEST kisses ever… a big smackeroo with a somewhat loud MUHHH following the lips open wide to the cheek! The whole type of kiss really is noteworthy, I promise you won’t regret reading that part. I hope that I never forget these sweet kisses! Kenzie regularly has shown most affection for a bear that we made at Build a Bear in Branson… her name is Branson Bear. I love watching our sweet little girl grow but it does break my heart that I can’t stop the clock and keep her itty bitty for just a little while longer!
May- Memorial Day weekend Brian, Kenzie and I got to spend the entire weekend on a getaway (really our only little vacation of the year) camping RV style with Brian’s parents Kenny and Patty. We attended an air show, rode bikes on the Katy Trail, played one of our favorite games over and over and had a date night to the movies while grandma and grandpa kept Kenz for the evening! It was a last minute planned trip (I actually begged the guy to let us stay in his “emergency spot” with my story of being prego and the hubby NEEDING a quick getaway before we had a baby!) It was crazy trying to find a spot anywhere near Columbia to camp with full hookups the week before Memorial Day weekend (learn from our mistake!) Although this sounds like such a “little” vacation it was amazing. Perfect, everything about it. We took lots of pictures that weekend, pictures we will likely treasure more than any for the rest of our lives.
June…. oh June. Sundays are for skyping of course. Every sunday we skype with Grandma and Grandpa Gillespie since they live far enough away that we don’t get to see them as often as we’d like. That first Sunday in June, June 5 Grandma and I were chatting it up on the phone earlier than normal and we decided to get off the phone and get on skype since Kenzie was up from her nap. Only a few minutes into our conversation grandma Patty had a sudden onset headache that she quickly retrieved some over the counter meds to help with. She returned to the computer sitting with Grandpa Kenny for another minute when her head started to hurt extremely bad. We told them to hang skype up and call us back when she was feeling better. We waited and waited about 15-20 minutes… too long in my book. I asked Brian to come inside and call his dad to check on her, me being the worry wart that I am. It was then that we found out that she was being transported to Blessing Hospital in Quincy, IL. I packed our little family of 3 (well I guess I was far from little at being pregnant and due 3 weeks from this date) as quickly as possible. We were on the road to IL in about15 min and Brian got us there as quickly as he could. Fastest, yet longest drive ever. Grandma Patty had a aneurysm of the brain stem. Just typing that hurts, pains my heart more than I can put into words. We sat with Patty four nights, someone always at her side before the Lord called her home on June 9. (deep breath, keep typing Kristen) I say “Called her HOME” KNOWING, not just believing because of the woman that she was. My mother in law, my husbands mother, my sweet baby’s grandma was a strong Christian woman who loved her family second, and God first before anything else. She was a prayer warrior. She fulfilled her duty here on this earth and God called her HOME. Knowing this didn’t make losing her easy. I still miss her so much every single day. I think of her more than once every day. In all the little things my babies do, I think of how much she would’ve enjoyed them growing and changing. A lot of my friends complain about the small things in their mother in laws… my mother in law was not one of those. She was awesome, we loved each other and chatted it up sometimes 2 or 3 times a week. I still find my self, 6 months later wanting to pick up the phone and call her real quick to ask about a recipe or something about Brian when he was little (in comparison to what the girls do.) I have experienced death before. I lost a very close friend in high school and several of my own grandparents…. NEVER was a death harder to deal with than this. This was different. I’ve realized that I am not good in dealing with it. I probably need counseling for it but I try to quietly suffer and remember that she had the JOY of the Lord and she IS HOME now. This experience has changed the woman that I am. It’s changed the wife that I am. I assure you watching your husband deal with the loss of his parent whom he has a wonderful relationship with is something that will change you. It’s even changed the mom that I am. Sometimes I catch myself saying or doing something as a parent and because of this loss I change the way I would act or react. June was hard, really hard. You may wonder why I put all this on my blog, well, it was prob the one thing that has impacted my 2011 more than anything else… prob more than most things in my entire life. So yeah, it’s relevant. It belongs here. This blog is for me too. (I’m beginning to realize blogging may be therapeutic…as I sit here with tears streaming down my face.) It’s my hope that you will just be so thankful for every relationship you have, especially with someone like your mother in law. Even if your not on the best terms with them now, I’m completely jealous that you have that so for me, fix things. Make things right and love that person in your life. You just never know what tomorrow brings.
June- June DID bring us JOY as well. Our sweet tiny Karlie Ann was born on June 27 at Western MO Medical Center via C-section. She weighed 7lbs and 5 ounces and was 21 inches long. What a perfect baby… what a cute newborn she was (we all know that newborns are not typically cute… but I promise mine somehow had enough extra chubbies that they were!) Throughout most of the pregnancy this little baby was called Mallory… however we decided the night before she was NOT going to be Mallory afterall… We went to the hospital on her birthday and ad decided she would either be named Karlie or Emilie. Daddy and I agreed on Karlie and named her Karlie ANN after her grandma Patty Ann Gillespie. I never liked the name Ann (even when Brian had suggested it for Mallory earlier in the pregnancy) but now love it as she is such a blessed little girl to be named after such a special person to us. Wow, Karlie is already 6 months old! How crazy is that?! She was a tough little colic like baby for the first 3 months (some say- I’m sure she just really wanted to be in mommy’s arms at ALL times.) What a great baby she is now though! She is so fun! So cute, that little dimple that is so deep in her left cheek just melts my heart! It took some time for Kenzie, Daddy and I all to adjust to being a family of 4 but not it’s the best thing ever!! Kenzie and Karlie are our pride and joy! We couldn’t be more blessed!!! They are perfect!
Well… those are the most noteworthy moments of our 2011… now to post as I only have one minute to get out of this chair and kiss my hot husband!!!
Happy New Year to you and yours!!
Everyday Kenzie says something new… I feel like I need to get these documented before I forget anymore of them!
Tonight, it was especially precious when I looked over and saw Kenzie holding her baby sisters hand,, eyes closed jabbering along, most of which I couldn’t understand and then she said “AMEN.” It melted this mommys heart. I was just the most proud mom. Then when her daddy got home from work she went over and held his hand and prayed with him!
Last night on our way home Kenzie pipped up in the back seat and announced, “Were home” when we pulled on our street. I had no idea she knew that. Too cute.
Some of Kenzie’s other favorite sayings:
- Ima getchoo (as she runs down the hall!)
- Coooool (daddy’s quite proud he taught her that one.)
- Montmee & WeelWee (dogs: Montley & Willie)
- Mummy (yummy)
- Elmo Elmo Elmo!!! Cookie Cookie Cookie
- Hiya! & most recently Seeya (as she proclaimed leaving her Sunday school class last weekend)
- (pointing) Nose (I wish I could type it the way it sounds, guess I better get it on video before it changes!) eyes, cheek, hair, ear… (my smarty girl!)
- BAF!!!! (bath- pretty sure this is the BEST thing in the entire world in her opinion.)
I’m sure there are some that I can’t think of right now so if your reading this and you know of one I need to add to the list, PLEASE tell me!! I may print this later and insert into her babybook!
Gosh we loves this little girl, she is soooo precious!
The past few days have been Oh so busy!!
Yesterday the girls and I set off on an adventure all on our own! If you know me well at all this is a very rare occurence for me. I am so blessed to have both of my sisters as well as my folks all living within a half mile of where we do so typically there is an invite for one or all of them to come along on our little journeys! Most of the time I do prefer to have at least one of them come along with me, especially if I am going out of town but there is a rare occassion that I want my girlies all to myself! Yesterday was one of those days…. so Kenzie, Karlie and I took off to the Kansas City Zoo. I had not been to this zoo since I was in kindergarten and I now know why. Don’t get me wrong, Nikita the Polar Bear rocked and Kenzie particularly liked the hippos and the cheetas (I think she just really likes saying those two words!) but overall I was not impressed with that zoo. I think that I have just been spoiled going to the Omaha and St. Louis zoo more… boy do I wish we lived closer to one of them. Oh well, we had a FANTASTIC day, just the three of us. It was exciting for Kenzie to point at the animals and be “wowed” by them moving around after seeing them daily in her books! The JOY that it brought my one year old daughter was such a simple and PURE JOY! It helped me remember to look for all the small things in life that should bring me simple Joys, but I so often overlook because I am too busy or in too much of a rush to realize they are joyous… although (speaking of JOY)….. Sunday as Brian and were pulling out of the church parking lot (we stayed a lot longer than normal this day chatting with some dear friends) and right there not 40 feet above us there was a BALD EAGLE flying around! It was AMAZING! It’s rare that you see a bald eagle flying around in an area such as this but it was just so cool! Brian and I sat amazed and we talked about it all the way to our lunch date with family. When we arrived we were so happy to share what we had seen and my folks saw it too! Anyway, enough about the eagle, it really was just super cool! Just a reminder that there are things all around us that God blesses us with that give us so much joy. This evening I had another super simple reminder watching my girls giggle themselves silly in the bathtub kicking and splashing each other and just listening to them crack up at one another! Ahhh yes, the JOY in having two sweet little babies so close, just makes my heart smile! The bubbles didn’t stop there… post bathtime Kenzie and Karlie enjoyed bubbles for quite awhile before book & bedtime!
Some nights are just made to share with friends, food, playtime for all the little ones and of course Ticket to Ride or whatever game you decide on… Last night was one of those. Even after my crazy fun zoo & a little shopping of course we had some of our best friends over for dinner and game night! We love those nights. We stay up too late, eat too much, and talk and laugh a lot! We are so blessed to have friends go through life together with! Oh and today I got to hang out with and eat lunch with one of my very best childhood, all thru school and college best friends! Ahhhh I am a lucky girl!
Speaking of friends, gosh I really really miss some of my best friends! Those girls that may know me even better than I know myself. Life just gets so busy and we all grow and change and move or work too much…. I just really miss some of my friends so much. Life, please slow down for all of us… just a little, that would be great. I don’t think thats asking too much. It makes me sad my sweet little girls don’t get to see some of my very best friends very often and then when they do they shy away from them (a little too much like their mommy and daddy there… we were both soooo shy when we were little!) I could go on and on about my girlfriends, because I have some of the greatest! I love that I can just sit down and pick up exactly where we left off!!! Some of my girlfriends have gotten married lately which makes my heart smile a really big cheesy smile and a couple of my girlfriends I am praying get a rock on their finger very very soon because I want more than a lot of things for my favorite girls to be happy and In LOVE! IT’s the best… Oh and of course I want them to go ahead and start having little babies too so they grow up with my babies… ok ok, I guess that will just make them even more busy but then at least we HAVE to get together for play dates and such! Anyhow, enough of that, I love you girls!
Well, enough of the rambling on…. just so thankful this evening for how tired I am. (My goal was to be in bed before 9 and, well, now that time has come and gone) If I were not this tired it might mean my life were boring… so, not complaining about how tired I am, but I am rejoicing in all the LOVE and FUN I get to have being me… so thanks ya’ll for being a part of our life. Hope your tired too, because that prob means you have an exciting life too! Goodnight for now!
The past few days I’ve discussed creating a Living Will with a few family members, including my husband. As hard as it is to think about creating such a document, I’m realizing how important it may be. My hope is that this is something that we can create now and have to edit a million times because we’ve aged or because of changing circumstances (the good kind of course, like winning a lot of money (yeah yeah, the sinner in me wouldn’t mind winning some money!)
There is so much information you have to include in writing a will. Thank goodness there are websites that help us do so. Healthcare directives, do I need a lawyer to sign for this to be a “legal” document in Missouri, who should be our power of attorney if something happens to us and Lord forbide, who will care for our precious girls in this case? SO many things to ponder…
Thankfully the Lord has blessed us with AMAZING family members who could each raise our girls wonderfully (of course none as good as we will :-) but I rest easy (I almost said rest in peace, lol) knowing that our girls will be raised in a loving Christian home. This alone makes preparing these documents slightly easier.
It’s crazy to think that we’ve been talking about this for the past few days…. Last night, not long before I feel asleep I logged onto facebook (yes, slight addiction- I’m working on that) and saw one of my dear friends was mourning the sudden loss of her cousin. Her cousin was a young, married and had two small children. As my heart was breaking with her for this family and for her, it confirmed the importance of creating this document. I just can’t imagine something so tragic happening and my husband and I not have taken the time to “simplify” decisions so that others don’t have to make the painful decisions for us.
Anyhow, enough is enough on this subject… hopefully reading this blog entry didn’t get anyone down… maybe, if anything it will encourage you to set a little time aside and consider a Living Will for yourself…
Now I am raising an eyebrow and wondering why I even blogged about this… I guess I’m a little off today, who knows… Oh well, it’s what’s on my mind as my sleeping beauties nap!
AND NOW WE FAST FORWARD...2012-2016
