We can't stop her

No matter how hard Dan and I try, we can't stop Mya from growing up. She officially turned two this weekend! She had an amazing weekend full of family, presents, cake, and just being adored! Here are some photos of our special girl and her "hatday" as she calls it. The first pic is of Reggie. I love his little outfit that his grandma got him. He was such a good boy all weekend and didn't even mind sharing attention with his big sis.

This is the first picture of Mya getting up on her birthday. There were yellow balloons, at her request, in the living room when she first got up. I love that her hair looks like alfalfa!

After we slicked her hair down and put on her party outfit, she carried her balloons around looking like a clown. It was adorable!

Here she is blowing out her number 2 candle on her Elmo cake! She blew it out like a pro! I didn't get a great picture of her while we were singing to her, but believe me, she thoroughly enjoyed it. She just loves the spotlight!

And after everyone went home, here's how she sat for quite a while, playing with her new Elmo Live doll. It was telling her a story and she just sat there so nicely listening to him. I'll admit, even Dan and I were entertained by Elmo. It's amazing how advanced toys are these days! She was spoiled by all the great gifts she got!
Happy birthday my little baby girl. Daddy and I love you and are blessed by you everyday! You bring a love to our lives that we never even knew existed!

Quick update

I would have posted sooner, but my camera has had some problems and I had to buy a new charger. Anyway, here are just a couple of pictures of the last few weeks and I'll have more to come soon. Below is a picture of little Reggie. This is how he looks most of the day right now. He's such a good boy; he eats well, sleeps well, and is usually just a pretty calm baby.
The next two pics are of Mya on Halloween. She was a butterfly and had a great time. She loved seeing all the kids come to the door all dressed up.
We only went to a couple of houses because Mya really didn't like it as much as we thought she would plus it was cold. Oh well, there's always next year!
Overall, things are going well at our house. The sleep deprivation is just now getting to me and I find myself desperately waiting for Mya's nap time so I can take a quick snooze on the couch too. Dan just started basketball practice today, so he'll be gone until 6:00 every night. So Mya and I will be finding lots of fun things to do in the late afternoon/early evening for the next few months to keep us busy and avoid boredom. Anyway, that's what we've been up to. I'll update again as soon as I can find the energy/motivation. :)

Loving the blue!

Welcome to the world, Reggie Russell Barnes!

Baby boy arrived Thursday, October 21, at 7:45 am after an exciting drive to Topeka at 1:30 in the morning! He weighs in at 7 lbs 8.5 oz and 20.75 inches long.

As you can see, he is absolutely perfect! He is such a sweet boy already! He's been pretty easy on his mommy and daddy his first week, which has been nice.

Big Sister loves her brother! Mya has been really good with Reggie. She loves to love on him a little bit each day calling him her "brudder" and giving him kisses.

Here's Reggie about to leave the hospital and go for his first car ride. I forget how small newborns are!

One last picture of little miss Mya. Here she is decorating her pumpkin that she picked all by herself at the pumpkin patch. She decorated him with glitter paint, silly eyes, a pink cotton nose, and sharpies. I forgot to get a pic of the end product, but it looks adorable!

Overall things are going well here, with a big thanks to my mom who stayed for a few days and practically cleaned my whole house! Thanks Mom! I'm not sure when I'll get the time or energy to update again, but I'll try to post some new pics of our family of four soon!

Oh my little girl

Our little girl is such a nut! Here are just a few new pics to highlight what we've been up to lately.

Here is little Mya after she put her shoes on all by herself today! She was soooo excited that she couldn't even stand still! If you look closely, you'll see that she put them on the wrong feet, but who's gonna tell that to this sweet little face? By the way, the sweet hairstyle my girl is rocking is the "fresh out of the tub" look. Isn't it gorgeous? :)Down below is Daddy and Mya playing. This is how they usually look when Dan gets home from work. He jumps right in and starts playing and they usually end up "tackling." Mya loves to tackle.
The next pic is of Mya after she got her toes painted. She loves to have pretty pink toes and this day she was sitting in the chair admiring her toes. When I tried to secretly snap a picture of her she looked up and smiled so big.
And here is my baby enjoying the outdoors. She is such an outdoor girl, which we love about her.
In other news, we have less than two weeks until my due date. We are still holding on to hope that our little boy might come early, but as the days go by, I find myself thinking he's never going to come out! Silly baby.

We've been busy

We've had so much going on lately, from selling/buying vehicles, family activities, doctor appointments, etc. Here is just a few pics of what we've been up to.

First of all, we're getting ready for our little boy to come into the world. Here I am in all my glory at 36 weeks!
Mya got a new slide and she loves it! Here she is pushing daddy down the slide and giggling like crazy. I tried to get Dan in the shot, but he was moving too fast for me, so that's why his head is cut off. Of course, Mya's face is really the cutest part anyway, right?
Mya has been obsessed with the computer lately. We have a laptop and a desktop and she loves both equally. Mya figured out that Daddy can get dancing "nanas"(bananas) on the computer, so this is her waiting patiently for Daddy to get them on the screen. She had her little head on his shoulder, which was so cute!
This is just a cute pic of Mya on the first day we had the slide at home. She loves it and has so much fun with it everyday.
My favorite pic from the month is just my adorable girl looking cute as always. She is such a silly, sweet, fun girl who keeps us entertained and on our toes. She has been learning so much lately, it amazes me. She is just the love of our lives!

Things I love

I have tons of photos from the last couple of weeks and each one of them is things I just absolutely love, which is why the title of this post is things I love...
I LOVE ...sweet girls in sweet pigtails
...a little girl loving her "GG"
...swinging on the front porch after it rains
...when kids try to wink (Thanks Mima for teaching Mya how to "wink")

...little boy birthdays and cheesy grins

...watching little kids playing in the sprinkler
...watching my silly daughter play in the water in goggles in just a diaper because her parents forgot her swimsuit :)
...hearing my little girl clap when she's having so much fun swinging
...watching my baby try to be big like daddy walking around the house in his shoes
...making pizza with my girl and watching her pick the cheese off the top (she's just like her dad)
...getting little hugs from behind
...and from the front
...and not having to do anything special or amazing to deserve extra tight squeezes

Summer lovin'

Well, we've officially moved to Troy, KS. We are sort of settled, thanks to my mom, who stayed and helped us unpack. We're still trying to get adjusted to the new place. I'll post some pictures of our new house as soon as it's all put together! For now, enjoy some pics of our adorable girl playing at the pool a couple weeks ago. She loves the water!


Oh and for those who want to know, our new address is PO Box 501, 232 E Elm St, Troy, KS 66087. That's right, we have a PO box because our town is so small we don't get mail delivered. Crazy, huh? :)