Simply Breathe

So tomorrow is Cady's birthday.  She will turn 4.  Where does time go? I feel like yesterday was the day we rushed to the hospital.  I always remember thinking it was odd when people spoke of time flying.  Now I know the enormous truth behind it! Cady is truly our spitfire child. She is outspoken and head strong.  She is always consistent too.  She stayed up for 3 hours yelling last night that she would not be sleeping until she watched her movie...it was way too late in the evening for that.  She would take breaks from screaming in order to calmly inform us that she would continue all night if she had too.  She woke up with an extremely hoarse voice this morning :) 

New Year means great possibilities! So it is a new year and there are plans being made! Plans of healthier lifestyles and more family time.   Plans of making memories and keeping them.  I am the worst at remembering things so I plan to write more down and take more pictures.  Here is the first! I asked Kels to make her bed.  Once the mounds of stuffed animals were placed on the bed, I kindly asked if we could giveaway a few to good homes in order to make room for her to sleep.  Her answer? Just to lay upon them! Of course! 

July/ August 2014 So going with the theme of our lives, this summer was a whirlwind.  I changed to a new school as did both of my girls.  It has been a wonderful change.  We truly miss where we left but feel like we are settled into a place that is right.  I am realizing daily how resilient and steadfast our girls are. Neither had a problem changing schools.  I had more anxiety about switching then both of them combined ever could dream of.  They walk into their schools like they own them. We headed on a trip a few weeks back up to the Texas Hill Country.  Both girls were able to climb to the top of Enchanted Rock like it was a mere hill! K even went through a cave with her dad.  Even in the midst of being stuck literally in a tight spot, they slid blindly down a muddy slope in hopes of emerging victors.  No fears...at least from the 6 year old :)

So, we have had a while since we talked.  We have been busy.  In fact, just now, I tried to start this post while watching a pre-recorded movie, listening to a oil class online, waiting for the kids to fall asleep, and having an adult beverage.  Just so you know, that does not work well.  I had to cut out a few things.  Kelsey and Cadie have changed so much since my last post.  Cadie is 3 and Kelsey is 6.  Kels just finished Kinder....wait did I just say that? I like to say that they are the best of friends at times and the worst of enemies at other times.  It is like each knows the buttons of the other.  Kels can not stand to be told multiple times the same thing and yet Cadence just seems to push that button hourly!  Cadie is my favorite morning girl! She has gotten into the routine of coming into our room at 5:30 (in the summer.....) and crawl into bed with us.  She insist on sharing my pillow because her dad's isn't good enough...

Saturday, January 3, 2015 New Year New Year means great possibilities! So it is a new year and there are plans being made! Plans of healthier lifestyles and more family time.   Plans of making memories and keeping them.  I am the worst at remembering things so I plan to write more down and take more pictures.  Here is the first! I asked Kels to make her bed.  Once the mounds of stuffed animals were placed on the bed, I kindly asked if we could giveaway a few to good homes in order to make room for her to sleep.  Her answer? Just to lay upon them! Of course!  Posted by  Robbie and Kristen Merritt   at  11:06 AM     Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest Sunday, October 5, 2014 1000% approved dinner I decided that I was going to experiment in order to get my girls to eat more vegetables. I took s...

Fall Time is here! I love the fall! We visited Church this morning and the pumpkins had arrived.  That means picture taking time.  Too bad my girls are on opposite smiling schedules.  They just can't seem to smile at the same time.  You couldn't imagine how many pictures we took before we could get just these 3!  We took a moment out after church and before the dedication of our new building to try some photos.  We may stop by later during the week for pictures better than what my old iPhone can do. I love the smells of the fall too! I love diffusing Thieves at the house for it's cinnamon and nutmeg smell as well for it's germ-fighting uses! I love the holidays too (well maybe not Halloween as much since it stills can get creepy).  I've recently started using Young Living oils which is where the Thieves comes from.  If you are interested, I've started a blog ( Click here ) to keep an account of our experiences.  I think fall just seems ...

A few weeks ago we woke up and decided to take an adventure.We saw that Corpus Christi was have a Marina Days and decided to check it out.  The vendors were not over-the-top but they did have a replica of the Columbus ships available for tours.  After climbing aboard, Robbie was instantly sucked in to all the possible information.  The girls on the other hand.....not so much.  The youngest was however taken to searching the Gulf for "triangles" otherwise known as sailboats.  She had a ball of a time!  The eldest on the other hand was uninterested in anything but food.  Have I mentioned she is going through a growth spurt? Crazy!

I look at my daughter, and I believe Actually that should be "my daughters". While jogging this morning, I was listening to my "running" playlist and the song by Live came on titled "Heaven". It is a little older of song but the meaning in it is so deep. Here is a sample of the lyrics for those of you who don't listen to this type of music:  You don't need no friends get back your faith again you have the power to believe another dissident take back your evidence it has no power to deceive I'll believe it when I see it, for myself I don't need no one to tell me about heaven I look at my daughter, and I believe. I don't need no proof when it comes to God and truth I can see the sunset and I perceive I sit with them all night everything they say is right but in the morning they were wrong I'll be right by your side come hell or water high down any road you choose to roam I'll believe it when I s...

Life with 2 and a husband Kelsey is just 2 weeks from turning 4 years old and I am in disbelief. The changes that kids go through when they are young is amazing. At what age does the changing slow down? With every passing year or even month, kids change and grow considerable. Before having my own kids I never would gave imagined it. This time last year Kelsey was having difficulty speaking and was having incredible fits. We would put her in time out and she would refuse to come out of time out for hours. Now she is speaking so well and even spelling colors and knows all of here letter sounds. Cadie is 7 months old and starting to say what I fully believe to be "mama". Robbie claims Kelsey said dada first so he is willing to let me believe Cadie says mama. She isn't crawling but is sitting up and feeding herself and the high chair cereal. Looking back over the past year makes me wonder at what point does the learning curve start to slow or even go backwards? I somet...

Did you know that Old McDonald had a Cadey on his farm?? And on that farm Cadey goes "WAH WAH". This is what Kelsey says. Caddy comes right after the cow on the farm a d before the pig. ...I am not sure what to think about how Kelsey feels about Cadence. Truth be told, Kelsey is handling it all well. She has started acting out some since Cadey was born. Every other statement from her is "watch me". She has suddenly decided that she wants to be the star!  As far as Cadence, she is growing quickly. We had a few issues in the beginning trying to gain weight but now we are doing awesome. We go back to the doc for our 2 month checkup in less than 2 weeks. Time is flying by! She is constantly trying to stand and move. This is one child that we can't leave alone for long. She LOVES to move and move. I hope that is not a sign of things to come... As far as Robbie and I (I fully understand if you choose to stop reading since I have already written about the girls), life ...

So instead of waiting until the planned day of April 5th to arrive, after my college class Saturday, April 2, Cadence decided to make a surprise arrival! To say the least it was a shock and evening of fast-pace decisions. Everything started at 5:30 and she was here by 8:50 and life has changed since then. Robbie can now say he has had the "rush to the hospital" moment with his pregnant wife. Cadence Jean got her name on a whim because we had each choosen different names but after seeing her went back to this name. Jean is from her great grandmother's name. Kelsey stayed the night with some great friends and had a great time watching her new movie Tangled. She has handled things great so far. Her G-ma and G-pa took her for a few days to spoil her rotten and now she is back and attempting to get into routine. Her first day back to school was today and she was not so happy to stay at school. We'll see if she ends the day on a "green monkey" color day!

Life is ever changing it seems. Just when you think things are going to settle, another curve ball comes flying at you. Robbie finished Police Academy just in time to jet off to Park Law Enforcement Academy. We have another week and a half left until he comes home for good. I am the kind of person who feels it is better to complete all possible tasks now in order to not find myself extremely overwhelmed later. When our home was struck by lightning last year it made me realize no matter how simple of a life you try to lead, things can always change in an instant. So who thought it would be a fabulous idea to start new jobs that required Robbie to be in academies so much and me to start a new career in schools. Throw in the fact that I have graduate classes and state exam as well as all kinds of new aspects in life! Oh and by the way, add in continued potty training sessions and completing taxes! Life is full of surprises and constant change. In the midst of change, I have stumbl...

So the past few weeks have been constant change for sure. Will we get the house or not...when will we move...Will Robbie survive police academy or not....What is the skin problem of Kelsey's...what will life throw at us next to handle? Well it looks like we will close on the house this week. Robbie is almost done with academy (went through being pepper sprayed this past week)...graduates on Dec. 17th. Kelsey has eczema really bad but we are working through it. If anyone has genius ideas to make it go away let us know! She also a month ago transferred to being potty trained but has accidents from time to time. Her new thing is to give kisses. She has always blown kisses and pushed her mouth to people for kisses but sometime this past week someone taught her that in order to kiss, you have to make a "pop" noise. Now at any point in time (including the middle of the night) she will find anyone and "POP" you've been kissed. She also now "ohhhs" and ...

So I have come to realize that everyday I learn a new piece of Kelsey's personality. Today, I realized that she has been around her Aunt Ann way too much. While in her crib for nap/quiet time, I walk by her door and see her wiping and cleaning every bar of her crib. Ok, I can understand if it happened just once for a few minutes but oh no...this was the second time I have seen her do it and she spends at least 15 minutes cleaning! She had to make sure every bar of her bed was cleaned with her blanket. Kelsey loves to dance. She also loves cartoon intro songs...we really like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse intro and the Carebear intro. When she hears the beginning of the songs, she jumps up and starts bouncing like a rabbit and shaking her head. Of course, that is after she determines what TV or cd player has the song on. She can listen and dance to intro songs over and over....and over and over....get the picture?? So what do these two pieces of her personality have with each other? This m...

So we were Texas Zoo bound today. About halfway to Victoria, I realize that in my frantic state of trying to leave the house I did not pack correctly for a day at the zoo. I only had 1 drink for Kelsey and 1 for myself. I only had 1 snack trap for us to share...now having gone to the San Antonio zoo on many occasions I realized I was in for spending a fortune on refreshments inside the zoo since I did not pack well enough. Oh well. Kelsey and I were doing good to be going to the zoo. I threatened many times earlier today that the zoo trip would be cancelled unless she behaved....unfortunately it took the third threat for me to figure out that she is too young to understand and just laughed. So on to the zoo...unprepared...I pay my entry fee (Kelsey gets in free still! ) and proceed to the map to figure out which course to go! After looking at the map for 5 seconds I realize the zoo was maybe 1-2 acres SMALL! Now how did that happen here in Texas??? I mean, the TEXAS zoo is that SMALLE...

Every morning I wake up and wonder what new thing Kelsey will learn today. ..somedays she learns a new sign like the sign for bath-time or pacifier...others she learns a "trick" like how to climb up on the coffee table and jump. It got me thinking about how wonderful it would be to wake up everyday expecting to learn some amazing! She gets this huge, joyful smile when she does something new and laughs like crazy. Wouldn't it be nice to become overjoyed when you learn something new? Even the small things? I am currently in 2 courses for education and learn new things everyday but don't find myself wanting to jump up and shout. I guess it is one of the great things about being a child.

Ok, so now that Kelsey is over 18 months we have decided to really try to start potty training. All you moms out there please send helpful words and ideas! We have been slowly getting her used to the idea for the past few months. I realized when I woke up to her handing me her diaper that we may be ready....By the way...not a good way to wake up in the morning! At least is was just wet not anything worse. And no there have been no paintings of poop on the walls of her crib...yes I have heard horror stories from friends and family. I'll keep you posted on how things go with this. We are trying a few methods including the M&Ms method from Kelsey's Nannie. Say some extra prayers for us! It just amazes me how Kelsey has no fear of most things. A dog could be barking in her face and she wants to hug him. She always is so assured that someone will catch her if she falls or be there to comfort if she gets hurt. Doesn't that make you want to have that kind of assurance all the ...