Look Who's Getting Big!

Well, my little Garret is getting so big! In fact, today he turns five months old! He is already wearing 9-12 month clothes and size 3 diapers! Yes, he is a big baby, but he is just perfect! I couldn't be more in love with my baby boy!

He is the cutest thing in the world! His little smile will just melt your heart. He loves smiling all of the time. He hardly ever cries unless he is hungry or tired. He is a great sleeper. I only have to feed him once during the night around 3:00am. We started him on cereal a few weeks ago. Now he has moved on to veggies. So far he loves peas and carrots! I think eating may be his favorite thing...I know you are shocked to hear that!

Just look at that smile!!

Sleepy Time!!

Garrett really likes going to football games. He does great and he usually males it through the whole game. I think he likes staying until he can go on the field and see daddy just as much as Ryleigh does!

Garrett loves his sister. She is very entertaining and he thinks she is pretty silly. His favorite thing to do is pull her hair, but she doesn't think that is very funny at all. I am sure that won't be the only thing he does to drive her crazy as he gets bigger! She better get ready!

Garrett's latest accomplishment is that he sitting up! He loves being able to sit and play with his toys and see the world from a new angle.

What's New with Ryleigh?

Well, that is a pretty good question! My three year old sure is a special little girl! I can honestly say that she is the best girl in the world. She has her moments of driving me absolutely crazy, but for the most part she is my best bud! I am so thankful the Lord blessed me such a precious daughter.

To start, she is as smart as a whip! In fact, it scares me a little bit. She knows all of her letters and sounds. She is putting together 3 letter words already. She knows her shapes, how to spell her color words, how to count money, how to write several letters, and so much more. I know me being home having "school" everyday is helping, but she was doing most of this before I started staying home. She is so smart, that she can just about get herself out of any situation. We have to stay on our toes all of the time. One of the most amazing things I have found about her is her ability to do puzzles. She already does 100 piece puzzles. The smaller ones are "too easy" in her words. In fact, she likes to do small puzzles upside down. Yes, with only the cardboard showing! I have no idea how she does it, because I can't even do it. Amazing! She asks questions about anything and everything. We can't get her to stop talking most of the time. Her imagination is like nothing I have ever seen before. She has a whole family that lives in Dallas. She has a husband with a wonderful job, three kids, a dog, and a nice house with a pool! Man, she is doing pretty well for herself. If you spend some time with her, maybe you can get her to tell you all about it.

The next few pics are of some of her favorite things!

First, she loves to go to the park and play! She is getting pretty brave and she now will go down the big slides all by herself. We used to say she was a "chicken" and it drove us crazy. However, now that she is getting braver, I wish she still was a "chicken" with her feet on the ground. She makes her mommy nervous!

She loves riding her tricycle! We don't have a great place at home for her to ride, so we take her up to the church often so she can ride as much as she wants! I think she is going to ask Santa for a "big girl" bike this Christmas!

She loves going to play at Chucky Cheese with her friends...

and her daddy, of course!!

She loves going to football games!! She looks forward to Friday everyweek! She also loves going to the ACU games. I think she likes the ACU games because she gets to sit with her daddy instead of seeing him from afar!

Ryleigh absolutely loves babies! She plays with her dolls all of the time. She dresses them and changes their diapers. She takes them with us to most places. She "teaches" them in Bible class and sings to them all of the time. I can honestly say she gets that from her mommy. I did the same thing when I was little. I love watching her be a mommy!!

She loves hanging out with her daddy! It doesn't matter what she is doing with him, she just loves to spend every moment with him when he is home! I just love this picture of her helping him rent a movie! Too cute!

Ryleigh started ballet class this year! She loves it!! She can't wait for Wednesday to get here so she can go to "First Steps" with her friends. She loves putting on her dance clothes and practicing what she has learned. I am so thankful we could put her in dance class. I think it is good for her to have something that is just for her!

One of Ryleigh's "not so favorite" things is going to the hospital. We had our first real sickness in July. Ryleigh got very dehydrated and ended up in the hospital for the night. It was not fun at all...for any of us! She was so sick, but she handled everything very well. Luckily, I had been in the hospital not long before with Garrett, so she was familiar with nurses, doctors, IV, and hospital food! This picture was taken in her hospital bed. As you can tell, she had all of her essentials right beside her the whole time. She was so brave!

I think one of my favorite things about Ryleigh is her sweet spirit. One of Ryleigh's best friends, Callie Cochran, was diagnosed with brain cancer in June. Ryleigh has prayed for sweet Callie every single day. She always asks me how she is doing, and she insists on wearing her Callie shirt at least once or twice a week. She was so excited when Callie came home from getting her radiation in Houston. She couldn't wait to go see her and hug her. I am so thankful that Callie and Ryleigh are friends, and that they will always be there for each other!

Here we are in our Callie shirts!

Here is Ryleigh and Callie at Callie's birthday party! It was such a special day! We love you, Callie girl!

Now for the greatest thing in Ryleigh's life...her new brother!!! She loves Garrett so much, and she is such a huge help for mommy! It makes my heart leap with joy everytime I watch them play and interact. Even though he is only 5 months old, he is absolutely in love with his sister! I don't think I have ever seen Ryleigh light up as much as she does when she is with her brother. I am so thankful for these two kiddos. They brighten every moment of my day! I am so thankful I can stay home with them to see every moment! I am so blessed!

Just look at that smile! She loves playing with Garrett!

Watching a little Mickey Mouse!

My little angels!!!

So, that is a brief look into the life of my sweet Ryleigh! I thank the Lord everyday for blessing Brian and I with our little girl!

Summer Fun!

I know, I know...I'm WAY behind on my posts! Let's just say I've been a little busy! I think I have finally got things under control enough that I hope to catch everyone up on what has been going on in our lives over the past few months.



I thought I would start by catching you up on our summer vacation. It was a very busy one! When I look back, I think I was a bit crazy taking my baby boy on such long trips! I really don't know how we survived our adventures. Between the constant stops for me to feed Garrett, the explosive diapers, and the potty breaks for Ryleigh, I don't know how we actually arrived at any of our destinations! Here are a few pics from our wild summer!



We made our yearly trip to Springfield for July 4th. We spent almost 2 weeks showing off our kiddos! We stayed with Brian's parents, and we had a great time. Ryleigh got lots of good "cousin" time in this trip. She loved playing with Taylor and spending the night at her Aunt Terri's. Everyone loved sweet Garrett! He got lots of good loving from his Mema and Aunt Terri. He also loved playing with his sister and cousins as well. Here is a picture of Taylor and Ryleigh making sure he was getting enough attention.






We had a wonderful cook out and watched the fireworks on the 4th. Ryleigh was so excited because she wasn't scared this year! She did plug her ears the whole time, but at least she didn't sit in my lap and cry! Garrett did great during the fireworks as well. He didn't seem to mind the noise, and he even caught a little cat nap during the show.

My little Firecrackers!

Here are the kids coloring! They loved doing puzzles and playing outside. Ryleigh even learned to ride a tricycle while we were there. We drove down to Branson one day to see the sights and we had a great time. We were so happy to spend some time with our Missouri family!

Ryleigh was also able to attend her first year of VBS this summer! She absolutely loved it! She still wears her t-shirt weekly and ask me when it will be time to go back. I think she has worn my i-pod out listening to her VBS songs! Here she is with two of her best buddies!

This summer, Brian's conference took us to South Padre! Yes, it was an extremely LONG car ride with a newborn. And the best way I can describe the experience is...INTERESTING! When we first arrived, we quickly realized our hotel was not the greatest. Let's just call it a roach motel. That is a nice description. It was filthy with cigerette burns in the bedding. I didn't want to touch anything, much less let my kids. I was pretty upset and by the end of the day, we decided to find another hotel. We had to "eat" the bill for it, but I just couldn't stay there one night. We ended up at another hotel. It was nicer and closer to the beach. Well, we ended up moving rooms two times in less than 12 hours at that hotel. And to top it off, on our last night there, I was awakened to a ROACH crawling on my FACE! Needless to say, I was ready to get off that island!!! I think the only good thing that happened while we were there was that Brian's conference went great, and we got to visit with some friends one evening.

Here is Garrett in his swimsuit! He wasn't very happy about it!

This picture of Brian and Ryleigh was about the most excitement we had at the beach. Once she got off his shoulder she started crying. She wouldn't get in the water and she didn't like the sand. I think we spend a whopping 5 minutes on the beach after the 10 min. walk through the deep sand with all our beach gear! Love it!

I think both the kids enjoyed the pool...so did daddy!

From Padre, we went to San Antonio and took the kids to Sea World. We had a great time! We split the trip into two segments. We went from 6:00 to close on the first day, and then went from opening to 1:00 the next day. We were able to see all the shows and play in the water, but we missed the miserable heat! It was a great mini vacation. Garrett did awesome! He rode in the stoller like a champ! Here are a few pics from our trip!

Ryleigh was so ready to play in the water!

She loved the kid rides! She even rode a roller coaster with her dad!

Ready for some Sea Lion fun!
So that is our summer in a flash! When we weren't traveling, we were at home taking in every second before football started back in August. We just love our family summers!

2 Week Old Pics

I must say that I have the best family in the whole world. My husband is wonderful, my daughter is precious, and my new baby is just perfect. He is the best baby in the world. He is doing so good adjusting. He is sleeping all night, which is still shocking to me! He is a great eater, and he is already getting a little personality. I have been so blessed to have such a great little baby to make the adjustment to two kids a little easier. I know there will be hard times, but for now all is going great! I was so blessed to have Mema here for two weeks to help out as well. It made all the difference in the world having help. I can't say enough how much we miss her already. Here are a few pictures from the first two weeks of Garrett's life. He will be three weeks old this week, so I will post more pictures later.

My sweet husband with his two kiddos!

I just love this picture!
My family came up for a few hours so little Garrett got to meet his Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Tim. Here they are with Stephanie. I think Ryleigh enjoyed the visit the most since she got some Aunt Stephanie play time. She told me just this morning that she wanted Stephanie and Tim to come and babysit her. She never asks for us to leave!!! Maybe someday they will live close enough so that can happen! I sure do hope so!

My little man!

Here are a few pics from his one week check up! Here is "nurse Ryleigh" helping to get him all ready for his checkup! She was so excited!

Garrett weighed in at 8lbs. 9oz. Since he had gained 5 oz. he does not have to go back until 2 months. Like I said...he is a great eater!

He loves his sister, and she adores him!

I just love when they sleep at the same time. Ryleigh always has to be close to him for nap time!

Welcome Garrett!

Well, I know this is a long time coming for all of my family who have been patiently waiting for me to update my blog with pictures of Garrett, but we have been pretty busy adjusting to life with our new son.

Garrett Steven Stuart came into the world on May 4, 2011 weighing 8lbs. 4oz. He was absolutely perfect!! Big sister was very excited to finally be able to wear her "Big Sister" shirt! She couldn't wait for him to get here. I could tell she was a bit nervous, but very still looking forward to meeting her brother.
Brian took this picture at the house before we got in the car. I just love it! One last picture of my pregnant belly, and one last look at life as a mommy of one!

We arrived at the hospital at 10am, and were quickly taken to a room. I was prepared for surgery, and then the wait was on. A little before two, they took me back. Everything went smoothly with the C-Section, and Garrett arrived very quickly. It was amazing to see the doctor hold up my son, who I had only ever known by the movements inside my body. Now this tiny baby was in my sight. Seeing his little face and hearing him cry took my breath away. Brian was able to go with him to the nursery and show him off to the family and friends who were waiting. He was a very proud daddy!
After a while in recovery, they brought Garrett to me for some mommy time. Then my sweet Ryleigh got to come in and meet him. I have never seen a smile so big!!!! She just kept saying "hi little guy" and kissing him on the forehead. It was the most precious memory I have of the whole day!

I spent about 2 hours in recovery, and then headed to a room. I spent two days in the hospital and then went home on Friday. It was a wonderful experience and am so thankful for our new addition. God is so Good!

What a cutie!