2020...What a Year!

Where to begin...

So I went back and re-read my last post. It's been a while haha. But at least it was this calendar year. :-)

My last post was right before my 20 week anatomy scan to check on baby and find out the gender.

I am going to do bullet points to do an update on what's been going on since then. 

-We went for our scan on January 20th and found out we were having a healthy baby BOY. 

-We did a gender reveal with our parents and grandparents. Micheal was the only one who knew the gender. He bought blue shred from the Dollar Tree and stuffed it into one black balloon and then blew up enough for each guest to have one. All were empty except the one chosen balloon. We each got a balloon and a pin and took turns popping them. On the second balloon blue shred came out and it was revealed that we were going to have a son. Sarah Jo did all the popping. She was excited to get a brother

-Then came the exciting task of picking a name. We settled on Joshua Micheal. After much deliberation and discussion. I think we finally settled on a name in March or April. 

-In March the Coronavirus Pandemic hit home and we were encouraged to social distance. Fortunately I was not effected too much regarding my prenatal appointments. My appointments had just became bi-weekly and since I was healthy and not high risk my Dr. let me skip one appointment in April. After that I went to each appointment in person. But Micheal was not allowed to come with me. I had one sonogram left and went to it alone. Micheal could have come but we couldn't have brought Sarah with us and at that time we were not even seeing grandparents so we had nobody to watch her during the appointment. Crazy times.

-In April Governor Abbot put Texas on a Stay at Home Order. At that time we stopped seeing even grandparents. It only lasted a week because Sarah Jo missed her KK too much. And so did I. I am so grateful that Micheal worked alone in his office so he was able to continue to go to work and not worry about being exposed to the virus. Being pregnant I was considered high risk, so we took the covid pandemic seriously. I also didn't want to even think about my sweet Sarah catching this virus. Mom and Dad continued to work but they took many safety precautions. Cyndy took a furlough from work and decided to stay home. She and Jimmy are considered high risk due to age and medical conditions. April was also Easter and Sarah's birthday so they were very different this year. People mailed her cards and some drove by and dropped off gifts. We told her we would have a party as soon as it was safe. We are still waiting to do that.

-On May 23rd we welcomed our precious boy. He was born at 11:10am. He was 19 1/2 inches long and weighted 8lb 1 oz. He is amazing. He has been a very chill baby and the perfect addition to our family. We all love him so much. Sarah is a wonderful sister and great at calming him down when he is fussy.

-Now, we are two months in (Joshua is 10.5 weeks as I write this). And he smiles and is getting so close to a laugh. He brings us so much joy. Having a baby during a pandemic is pretty crazy and we have een super careful. Only a handful of people have got to hold Joshua and we have not been to crowded places including church. It makes me so sad that I cannot show him off to family and friends and let them all meet and love on him. I just have to think of his health and safety. Micheal goes to work, does small youth services once a week and goes to church Sunday mornings. Other than that we only see grandparents (Poppy, KK, Nanny, Pappy, Grandma and Papa). Dr. Dalton said that outdoor playdates with few people would be ok and she also said we could start keeping Wyatt again. He has not been to the house since March. We started back last week. Unfortunately Sarah and I were exposed to the virus last weekend so  now we all have to quarantine for 14 days so we had to cancel Wyatt for the next two weeks. Its such a crazy time right now. 

-Our entertainment is grabbing food from a drive thru and going to a park to play and have a picnic. We have been to 5 or 6 parks in Lubbock and 2 in Levelland. While I miss going out and living normal life it has been such a special time for our family. It has helped me focus on what is most important. My relationship with Christ, my relationship with my hubby and raising and loving on my babies. God has given me a special grace during this season and I love him so much for it. I was so nervous about adding a child to our family and if you would have told me I would have to do it without having regular playdates and hang outs with friends I would have told you that I couldn't do it. But God knew exactly when Joshua would be born and what would be going on in the world. He is not surprised and I find peace in knowing that. I am truly learning to TRUST IN HIM AND HIM ALONE. I have had to turn off podcasts and turn off the tv and focus on the day and moment I am in. Otherwise my mind will run rampant and lead to fear. I am so thankful for my heavenly Father. Today he led me to Psalm 118 (I had been hearing "This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it" in my mind all day so I looked it up and it was in Psalm 118. When I read it it felt like God was talking straight to me. 

Its almost midnight and I better get to bed. :-) 

3 Years Old and Having Fun!

My last post was February of 2018. It is now January 2020. Let's just say time flies when you are having fun. :-)

I wish I was a regular blogger but I just don't think that is going to happen but its still fun to check in every so often and write about what life is like right now for the Simpson family.

2019 was a fun and exciting year for us. And pretty much all of the big stuff happened in like the last 2 months of the year. On September 21st we found out we were expecting baby number 2! And that same week Micheal interviewed and was offered a job with Hudson Crop Insurance. Micheal and I felt incredible peace about the job offer and so he accepted and gave his 2 weeks notice to Newton Insurance the following day. Needless to say it was a big week for us.

Micheal and I had talked in June about growing our family, but we had decided to wait until the beginning of 2020 to start trying. At the end of September I had some symptoms that got me wondering so I decided to take a pregnancy test. I was so shocked when it was positive! Ready or not, baby #2 was on its way. I am sad to say that this pregnancy has been just like my pregnancy with Sarah which means LOTS of nausea and vomiting. I am 20 weeks as I type this and I threw up this morning. So, yeah... pretty much over this BUT its for the best possible reason. I have mostly good days now but I have to take my medicine morning and night or I will regret it... just like with Sarah. My body and HCG just do not get along I guess lol. But I get beautiful babies out of it so again, totally worth it. I have had other weird symptoms with this pregnancy that I don't remember with Sarah. Taste changes, weird lasting taste in my mouth and the constant need to spit. I know that is so nasty BUT it is what it is. I feel like I have been more tired and sore with this pregnancy. Chalk it up to being pregnant in my thirties as opposed to my twenties or doing life with a three year old while pregnant. Who knows!

I am super excited at this moment because we find out the gender on Monday. I am so ready to get a peek at this little baby. Our last sonogram was at 8 weeks so it looked like a little jelly bean. I am ready to see a little profile and hands and feet. So sweet. I am praying first and foremost for a healthy baby and a good report at the anatomy scan but I am also pumped about learning the gender. When people ask me what I am hoping for I can honestly say EITHER! I would love another little girl and the idea of Sarah having a sister definitely melts my heart BUT so does the idea of having a baby boy and being able to watch Micheal with a son. So, I am glad that God gets to decide and not me because I don't think I could. God knows what our family needs and I am so ready to see if his plans involves a baby sister or a baby brother. Our plan for the day is to have my scan that morning. I am not not going to know the gender until that evening at our little gender reveal gathering. We invited our parents and grandparents to be there when we reveal the news. And Micheal is going to be the secret keeper. He wants to know before we announce it to people and I don't this time. I want to be surprised. SO, he is going to decide how to announce it in some fun way. I am so ready. It's Thursday right now and it feels like Monday is taking forever to get here.

As you can tell, I am a bit excited about this baby. :-)

But I have also been so proud of Micheal and all he has accomplished in his career. God has taken such good care of our little family and this job offer that literally came out of nowhere has been such powerful evidence of that. It has allowed Micheal to have a much more flexible schedule and has been a pay increase for our family. For the first year he is considered a contract employee but once his first year is complete he will be hired on full time with Hudson and we will begin receiving benefits, which we haven't had since I quit my job at Edward Jones when Sarah was born. It will be so nice to have insurance and retirement. Praise Jesus! It has been a major adjustment for Micheal and he is having to learn a BRAND NEW field and type of insurance. I know it is stressful and overwhelming at times but he handles it like a champ and just continues to work hard and have a great attitude about it. Typical Micheal Dean. I love him so much.

As far as little miss Sarah Jo goes, she is growing like crazy and doing great. She started going to a new Parent's Day Out program at First Baptist Church called Kingdom Kidz. She loves it (except for having to take a nap). She is learning so much and it has been so fun to see her bloom in this new environment. She goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am - 2:30pm. It is on those mornings that I work at the church. I started at the church as the secretary in June of 2018, I have really enjoyed it. And once again God has provided a fun and safe environment for Sarah to be in while I am working.

I am sure there are lots more things to update but I am going to call it good for now.

Surely I will be back sometime this year with an update about our new child haha!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Once again, the year has slipped by and not much activity has taken place on the old blog! But rare entries are better than no entries... right!?!?

Luckily, Sarah's baby book has been updated more frequently than the blog so there's that. :-)

I have a few minutes before little miss wakes up from her nap so I wanted to quickly right a few things that this mommy wants to always remember.


Here is what a typical day looks like for Mommy and Sarah right now:

7:30-8:00am - Sarah typically wakes up around this time. But sometimes she is extra sweet and sleeps until 8:30. :-) I remember when she was a few months old and she would sleep until 9 or 9:30. Those were the days.. haha!

8:00-9:00am - We do lots of different things. Micheal is up and running around getting ready for work. Sarah likes to play in her room, watch a show and just run around enjoying the morning before Daddy leaves. I usually try to jump in the shower during this time unless its one of those awesome days that I actually got up before Sarah. :-) They are not the norm... but they do happen. :-) I also try to straighten the house up a bit during this time like make the bed, empty the dishwasher and start some laundry.

9:00 - Micheal leaves for work (actually he leaves for work at 8:55 :-)). Sarah doesn't typically like to eat breakfast right when she wakes up (she takes after her mom and dad). So around 9 I start making breakfast. Her favorites are oatmeal, cheesy scrambled eggs, or waffles. On special Saturday mornings Daddy makes her pancakes. And on Wednesdays Wyatt brings donuts or as Sarah calls them (dodos). She loves dodos. <3 p="">
9:30-10:00 - We finish breakfast and I get the kitchen cleaned up and finish getting ready. Sarah runs around and plays. Sometimes she lets me dry my hair while she does her thing... but most of the time she tells me to sit in the hall and I dry my hair while she sits in my lap. She doesn't like me doing things that do not include her. LOL. It's a step up from a few months ago when she would sit in my lap and just scream and cry while I dried my hair. So things are improving. :-)

10:00-1030 - I am usually finished getting ready around this time and now its Sarah's turn. Lately she has started HATING getting dressed. Like full on screaming crying. And it all started with me dressing her in her super cute Christmas outfits. At the beginning of December we start wearing them. Its a small window so we try to wear them as often as we can. Last year I had an 8 month old who was a lot less opinionated about what she wore. This year is different. LOL. She has a Santa outfit that we have only worn once and will most likely never wear again because she has decided that is the worst shirt ever. When I say, "Sarah, what do you want to wear today?" She says "No Santa!" HAHA. Its hilarious. I try to give her a few choices of outfits and let her pick but a lot of the time she still gets upset. Once I get her dressed I fix her hair and off she goes!
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<3 p="">10:30-12:00 On most days we go to Kamille's house during this time. She has a home day care and we go play with the kids. It's so great for Sarah to have the interaction with other kids. It's neat to watch her build friendships with other kids. Karder and Wyatt are her best buds right now. And she has gotten to see all her cousins lately with the holidays and she has really enjoyed seeing them. I still keep Wyatt on Wednesdays and like I said earlier we get to see Karder and the other kids at the daycare on pretty much a daily basis so we definitely get the best of both worlds (being at home and being with other kids!) If for some reason we don't go to Kamille's during this time its usually because we have errands to run (grocery store, cleaning the church nursery, or visiting Granny Jo or Nana!).
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<3 p="">12:00-1:00 - We come home and meet Daddy for lunch! Sarah loves seeing him for this hour. We eat and then they hang out while I try to get the kitchen cleaned up and the house picked back up from all of our morning fun. 
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<3 p="">1:00-3:00 - Nap Time! A glorious time for this Momma! I love my girl to pieces but its so nice to have some time for myself. I use this time for a lot of different things. Cleaning, budgeting, blogging, working on the announcements for church, quiet time with the Lord and sometimes I just veg out with netflix or a good book. But its always nice to just be alone. Sarah is an excellent napper so i can always count on this time. When she was around 15 months (when Micheal was at church camp) we started transitioning from 1 nap to 2. I was really sad because we had a wonderful schedule going but she was starting to fight her naps so I knew it was time. It took about a month and a half to really get it ironed out with 1 nap. She fell asleep in her high chair a lot haha! But now its perfect. If I have learned anything about motherhood its that everything constantly changes. And I am ok with that. :-) But I will soak up every nap I can get haha!
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<3 p="">3:00 - 5:00 - This time always varies. We have a snack usually when she wakes up from her nap and then it just depends on what we are in the mood for. Sometimes we just hang out at home and play, sometimes we go to the park if the weather is nice. (We went to the park almost every day this summer and fall!) Sometimes we meet back up with Kamille and her kiddos. But no matter what we do we always make sure we are home at 5 to meet Daddy!
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5:00-9:00 This always varies depending on the day and what our evening plans are. And around 9:00 we are putting Miss Sarah in bed.

This is such a precious moment in time and we are trying to soak up every minute! <3 p=""><3 p="">
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(Almost) ONE

I find it so hard to believe in a little over two weeks we will have a one year old! Such a joyful time!

So far, I am handling all of this really well. I really haven't been sad. I think that is because a.) She is just SO much fun right now b.) I get to plan a party and c.) I know she is not my last baby

But I still catch myself daydreaming about when she was born and how tiny she was and how quickly time has flown by. She changes so fast! I can remember when she was just a couple months old laying her down at night thinking how can I soak in this moment!? Because tomorrow she will be one day older. Then again at 5 months and 8 months... and so on and so forth. Now she is 11 1/2 months old!!!

She officially started walking the day she turned 11 months old. She had been taking a few steps here and there for  several weeks but on that day she just got it and there was no turning back. I absolutely love it. As exhausting as it can be at times, I just love watching her confidence and independence grow. Lately, I have been shutting all the doors in the hallway except the play room (the only child proof room) and I will sit in the living room and watch her walk down the hall and into the play room. She will stay in there a few seconds and come running back to me with whatever toy she deemed her favorite at that moment. It is so sweet! Tonight before I rocked her to sleep I followed her down the hall into her bedroom. She went straight over to her toy bin in the corner and started digging in it. It was the sweetest thing. I just stood back and watched her from the door way. She finally found what she was looking for and slowly stood up and steadied herself and then off she went. I just feel like she is so grown up!

Here are a few of my favorite things lately:

-I love the way she uses the back of her hand to push food in her mouth while she is eating.

-On 2/24 I went to check on her during her nap. I thought I heard her moving around in her room but she hadn't started fussing for me to come get her. I peeked in the room and she was sitting in her cri with a book in her lap. She was holding it so perfectly! It looked like she was just reading to herself. So sweet!!

-I love when we play chase! She gets so excited when we say "I'm gonna get you"! She will take off so fast in anticipation of us tickling her. A lot of the time she falls down because she is trying to move faster than her legs will go!

-Daddy loves watching you learn new things! He loves playing with you all day. He loves the way you love mornings and bath time.

- Lately, when she finds a bucket or a cup she will put it up to her face and talk into it so she can hear the echo. Its so cute. And tonight she held the cup out for Micheal and I to make noise in it and then she would take it back and do it again. This was the first time we noticed her intentionally sharing something with us!

-If you ask her where the ball is or where her books are she will stop and look directly at them. She won't go get them but she will look! Ha Ha!

More later!

Blessings!!!

Ladies and Gentleman...We Have a Crawler

Sarah Jo started crawling late Thursday night!

I cannot believe that the teeny tiny baby we brought home from the hospital (what seems like yesterday) is now a crawler! I told Micheal over the weekend that we are now in a whole new world! It is so funny to be in the bathroom drying my hair and peek around the corner and see her coming down the hall! And she melts both mine and her daddy's hearts when she crawls to us. It is just so sweet to see her stop playing and decide to come love on us... pure bliss!

She has already started trying to pull up on anything and everything which sadly has led to a few more bumps and bruises. I hate when she hurts herself. It makes me want to put a helmet on her and bubble wrap everything. (Don't worry... I won't. I just want to).

She has also been very attached to Micheal and I. Which is just so sweet but so sad at the same time. I love knowing she finds comfort in our presence but I hate for her little heart to be scared when she can't find us. I am trying to be more intentional about leaving her with people more often to help her with this but its hard on both of us. This Sunday after Praise and Worship and Communion I took her back to the nursery. I usually stay in there and help the nursery volunteer because a) It's always nice to have an extra set of hands back there and b) I don't want to leave her yet. But this week when I went back there was already 2 youth kids and an extra adult back there so they obviously did not need any more help. So I decided to take a deep breath and leave. It was only for about 20-30 minutes and I shockingly did pretty well. I enjoyed the sermon and only checked the time like 4 times haha! At the very end of service one of the youth kids came and got me and told me Sarah wouldn't stop crying. Poor Baby. But all in all I think our first nursery experience went pretty well. :-)

Last night Micheal and I had the men's and women's Christmas Parties. It was a fun time and great to get to know more of the women in our church. We had a Holy Spirit Led gift exchange. The idea was for each person to bring a $10 gift and let the Holy Spirit lead you while shopping. Then attach a scripture to the gift and bring it to the party. Then we all drew numbers and exchanged gifts. My gift was a Venus Razor Shaving Kit with body wash, a bar of soap, tooth brush, toothpaste and an ornament.  I was so excited because everything except for the ornament were things I needed to go get. And with the holidays its always nice to have a little extra to spend on Christmas. It was a kiss on the cheek from the Holy Spirit for sure. Also, it was funny because Micheal and I had been talking about razors for a week now! He used mine AND his all up and we kept forgetting to buy some more. God is so good and he cares about the little things. :-) I think he enjoyed watching Micheal and I give each other a hard time about razors and enjoys watching us have fun in our marriage. And when I opened up the bag and saw the razors I know He was smiling and saying "I love You Amanda!" :-)

Christmas is Coming! YAY!

7 Months and Thanksgiving

We have been pretty busy around here! Since the last time I posted we had Sarah Jo's 6 month well check, celebrated her first Halloween and now we are preparing for her first Thanksgiving! :-)

At her 6 month well check she did great! Still healthy and meeting milestones like a champ! I am so very grateful and thankful that we have a healthy baby girl. We moved forward with Baby Led Weaning after getting the ok from the doctor. She said there are no rules so just have fun with solids. Pretty much the only thing she can't have is honey and cow's milk until she is a year old. So we have been having a lot of fun with food! So far she has had cucumber, celery with peanut butter, pasta, scrambled eggs, toast with peanut butter, sweet potato, shredded chicken, apple sauce, green beans, and black beans. She has pretty much loved all of it! :-) In the beginning she would pretty much cough and spit out pretty much everything. But now she chews and swallows quite a bit and doesn't cough nearly as much. She has a lot of fun at meal times. We also do some purees but for the most part she eats food that we eat. For Thanksgiving I am excited for her to eat with us. I decided she is going to have some shredded turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes and maybe some mashed potatoes. :-) It is going to be so fun.

For Halloween we had several activities! :-) We kicked things off with our Halloween party with our friends. We went over to Heath and Courtney's house and hung out and played games with the Talks, Adam and Ches, Butch, Paula, Heather, Mom and Adam Enloe. We decided we would all dress up so we went as a farm family. Micheal wore overalls and boots with a cowboy hat and I dressed up as the farmer's wife. And our sweet Sarah Jo was a duck! :-)

The weekend before Halloween was our annual Pumpkin Trail. It was a long day and a lot of work but a blast! :-) It was like 80 degrees and we were out there at 4:00 for the parade so we didn't dress Sarah Jo up until that evening when it cooled off. She was a cow this night. And a very adorable cow if I do say so myself! :-) The next evening we put Sarah back in her duck costume and went to the trunk or treat at the Baptist Church. It was so neat to show off our sweet girl.

Finally, on Halloween night we dressed her up again (as a duck) and took her to see her grandparents. We went to Nana and Poppa's, Cyndy and Jimmy's, and to see Granny Jo at the Nursing Home. By the end of the night Sarah was exhausted and DONE with Halloween. LOL. I told her that we wouldn't put that duck costume on her anymore. :-) We spent the rest of the evening passing out candy to trick or treaters and just hanging out. This was our first official holiday with our girl and we had a lot of fun!

To wrap up this post I am going to list some sweet things about Sarah Jo at 7 months that I don't want to forget.

-She started sitting up on her own earlier this month. I have always thought babies sitting up is just the cutest thing so needless to say I am loving this new sitting up thing. :-)

-My mom has this stuffed puppy that lights up and sings and whenever Sarah sees it she smiles THE SWEETEST smile. I love it!

-She has been having some issues sleeping lately so if we just cannot soothe her in her crib we bring her to bed with us. It is so sweet cuddling with her... even though I don't get much rest LOL.

-When she wakes up in the morning she will just talk and talk for a long time! She is just so content to just hang out in her bed and talk. When I get up and go in there she smiles the BIGGEST smile and does her little crunch which means "Hey Mom! Pick me up!" :-)

-Yesterday, I was sitting on the couch and she was sitting down at my feet and she started to pull up on my legs. She is soooo close to being able to pull up! I don't know if I am ready for that.

-When you are sitting in front of her playing with her she will find both of your index fingers and start standing up. She lights up when she stands up!

-She wants to chew on EVERYTHING. Anything you hand her, she aggressively grabs it and shoves it into her mouth. It is hilarious how intense she is.

-She has 2 teeth now. The center bottom ones. I didn't think her smile could get any sweeter... I was wrong!

-Right now her favorite toys are her dolls, her rattle, the remote control and a rubber spatula. :-)

-She loves watching sing along shows. :-)

-She still adores being outside and just out and about in general. She is the best companion. She just looks around and takes it all in when we are in stores or at church or wherever. And she still crashes out in her car seat. :-)

Well, that is all I can think of right now.

We are just living and loving this life with our girl. :-)

Fun with Friends

In order to bring in a little extra income and help out my Mommy friends I have been babysitting a few times a week. I watch Karder pretty regularly when Kamille has marketing events for work and I keep Wyatt as a backup for Kimberly if his regular daycare worker is unavailable. It has been neat to watch babies at three different stages. Karder just turned two months and Wyatt just turned one in September. Karder reminds me where we have been and how quickly time flies and Wyatt shows me how much we have to look forward to! And my girl is right in the middle! :-)

Today Wyatt is here. (I have not been brave enough to watch all three of them at the same time yet. LOL.) He is so sweet. He crawls and cruises like a champ. He is so close to walking it isn't even funny.  I love watching him and Sarah interact and just watch each other. It is so fun. Right now he is munching on his snack in his high chair next to me while Sarah naps. :-) I just love meal time and snack time with Wyatt. It is so sweet to watch him eat and take drinks out of his cup like such a big boy. I can't wait to do that with Sarah Jo.

Tonight Micheal has Wednesday night youth so Sarah and I will just hang out and make some meatloaf for dinner. She enjoys watching me cook. She sits in her bumbo chair and I talk her through all the steps. It will be fun when she is big enough to pour and stir! :-) Right now her main job is usually chewing on a rubber spatula... which is pretty essential to the cooking process if you ask me! :-)

Well Mr. Wyatt is about done and now its time to play!

Until next time!