Catching up

So I have not blogged in 3 months. We had a busy summer and my dad got sick and things just were not easy to where I could blog. We are all doing great now though. Sydney is 9 months old and Aspen will be 3 in 2 months. 4 weeks ago I discovered that Syd had a bottom tooth coming in and in the past two weeks she has cut three more. She now has two on bottom and the two on top are breaking through. SOOO cute. She weighs a little less that 20 lbs and is in the 50% for weight...25% for height..and her head is in the 50%. So..she is just all over the board. She has started trying to crawl but usually just goes backward scooting around in circles. She laughs and for several weeks now has been saying DADA. She says MAMMA when she is sooo upset she cannot stand it but lately I say, "sydney say momma"...and she looks at her daddy and laughs and says, "dada". She says it nearly every time I ask her to. Her fav. baby food is pears, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, corn, and real green beans. I take tiny pieces off of our green beans and she eats them. We just really enjoy Syd and are thankful for how happy she is. She is really super easy and sleeps through the night and is just a real joy to our family.

Aspen is doing awesome! She is almost 3 and weighs 32 lbs. She is into order lately. She lines everything up in rows according to their kind. She has certain things that she loves everyday and once she decides that is the chosen thing of the day that is all she wants. She also has to have a daddy, mommy and baby of everything. We ate celery the other day and she wanted the baby and momma celery. They had pickles for snacks at VBS and instead of eating them she brought them home and said she wanted to sleep with the "pickle baby". We just recently bought her a pumpkin and I bought a big one, medium one, and baby one for her obsession. She has to have them all in a row watching her sleep...haha! I know sounds a little OCD, but I think she is just really in to order. She just started getting serious about potty training 3 days ago. I made her a chart she puts stickers on and she loves it. She knows when she has to go and has done awesome. She also says really funny things like: When she is talking to Guy and I sometimes she says, "honey can you do this" or "it's ok honey". I fed Sydney a few days ago and she said, "That was a good idea Nanny", and then patted me on the back. A few days ago we had this conversation:

Aspen: NO!!
ME: Aspen you are getting a spanking for saying No

after the spanking....

Me: I want you to start obeying me and not saying no..do you understand me?
Aspen: NO!!!
Me: Aspen Belle what did you just say?
Aspen: NOOOOO Problem Nanny

She is too smart it scares me. She also like to say all the time, "I don't think so Mamma". She has no idea how to use this..she just randomly says it throughout the day. When she is crying she will say, "I don't want to be sad anymore"....haha! After our football game the other night she was crying and said, "I just need my sister!!! Sydney I just need to hold you me"....She really loves Syd and they enjoy taking baths every night and playing together. She is into Veggie tales, The Land Before Time, Toy Story..as always.., Frosty the Snowman, and Arthur. She has Toy Story memorized. Anyway, I could go on and on, but our girls are doing very well and are just loving life as we are too. God has been soo good to us!

our going away party for Chelsea

Going away party and drinking 20 below drinks

7 months old in an old dress of Aspen's

7 1/2 months old swimming in our pool

2 1/2 years old

Sydney 9 months old

crawling backwards

Keeping the daddy monster from coming in her room

I finally have Syd's room finished

Syd 8 months old

At our college students' frisbee tournament

frisbee tourney..they made our family t-shirts

Syd(8 mons) on daddy's computer

Aspen making a huge cupcake cake with me

Amy Shaw bought me this cupcake cake pan I wanted and I tried it tonight..I really don't want to eat all this though. I think i will take it to church tomorrow.

About to go to Memorial's Homecoming. our friend made Syd's bow

Aspen playing at the football game in the stands

Our friend Cassiana at college small group

We carved pumpkins at college small group

Aspen's potty chart

Syd and her baby pumpkin I bought her

It's been 6 weeks since I blogged!

In the life of a baby 6 weeks is huge. This marks the difference in Sydney finally smiling at us, laughing at us, teething, sitting up, rolling over and so much more. These pictures are a story of our past 6 weeks starting from today working backwards to May 1st! At the beginning of May we went to Guy's mom's house for 5 days to finally have Christmas with the whole family. We also got to meet Guy's sister, Rachel's daughter Tabby for the first time. We enjoyed our time and it was good for the kids to see their grandma because they only see her about once a year. Aspen baked bread and blew bubbles with her, and Sydney just enjoyed smiling at her! After our time there, we headed to Shawnee to see my brother and his family! We had an awesome time with them especially with my niece and nephew and we also celebrated my 30th b-day on May 12! For my b-day they wrote the reasons they love me on 30 pieces of paper located all throughout the house! It was very thoughtful and also kinda funny! Most of my brother's comments were like, "I love Nancy b/c she thinks she can play hockey, or she thinks she is cool..etc...." I loved them all though!! :-) Sydney also marked her 4 month b-day before we left for Oklahoma. She weighed 14 lbs and was 24 inches long. She just started smiling and by 5 months was laughing out loud! She is the happiest sweetest baby in the world and I cannot believe she is growing up so fast! A few weeks after we got home from Oklahoma my cousin Holly and her new husband Josh came to visit us! Sydney was just about in love with Josh and Aspen stuck with Holly. When they left, for two days all I heard about was going to Holly's house. On May 24th Syd turned 5 months and on the 27 Aspen turned 2 1/2. Sydney is laughing, rolling over, sleeping through the night and is just thriving! She is around 15 lbs and is just so chunky! She is a major momma and daddy's girl. When she goes to Guy she instantly grabs his goatee and then is suddenly calm. When she sees me she grabs my hair and just talks and coos at us. She ADORES Aspen and half the time we are telling Aspen to get off Sydney or to play softly with Sydney and then we see that Sydney is cracking up at what Aspen is doing! Aspen is around 29 lbs now and is just getting those mean two year molars. She is soooo much fun and just really loves her "momma nanny" which I love. Everyday I get hugs and kisses and cuddles. She will say, "Momma..need a Kiss? OKAYYYYYY" and then she kisses me. She does not like bugs but is not really scared of them either. She likes to make a show of it, like if she sees a bug she yells out, "WHOAH scary spider..lets kill it Nanny". Then, she gets really close to it and asks me to kill it. She carries our flyswatter everywhere saying, "I got the swatter..lets get it". A few days ago I walked into Syd's room and I saw two legs sticking out of the crib. Aspen found a way to climb in Sydney's crib and though I could not see Sydney in the crib when I walked in, I did hear her laughing at Aspen! Life has been crazy lately, but so good! We just love our girls and feel especially blessed to have healthy children!

This is my new comforter set we bought yesterday!! YAY!

Sydney today at 5 months and 2 weeks old

Aspen found a way into Syd's crib! AHHHH

She was so proud!


I had just given my baby a bath and she was so happy!

Aspen riding her toy horse! She was scooting around the house

2 1/2 years old exactally on this day


5 months old

5 months old and rolled over for the first time on this day

At Kemah feeding sting rays with Jewel and Steve

With cousin Holly..saying goodbye...So sad!

Sydney with her boyfriend Josh

5 months old exactally this Sunday morning!

Almost 5 months

With her cousins and Uncle Chris

All of my b-day signs on the walls

Today I turned 30 at Chris and Jess's house!

Sydney (4 1/2 months)with her big cousin Ally

Aspen with Grandma on May 12th

Leaving Grandma's

Me blowing out candles on my cake at Guy's mom's house!


In their matching Jammies that Grandma gave them


Tabby(Rach's daughter), Syd, and Aspen is matching Jammies

Tabby (1), Syd (4 months), Aspen (2)

Grandma and Syd

Aspen and Grandma baking bread


Grandma taking it out to cool!

Easter, LTC, and Good friends

We have had a full couple of weeks! Last week our friend Jacob Hance called us from Louisiana and told us he was picking our good friend Tyler Ellis up at the Houston Airport in a few hours. We were so excited b/c the airport is about 10 min. from our house. When they arrived we went and had lunch for a couple of hours and caught up on old time! We were so happy to see these guys again!! A few days later we headed to downtown Houston for Leadership Training for Christ. We spent two days down there watching our teens compete in different activities that teach them to be leaders in the church! They did great and Aspen had a ball being with all the kids!! Sunday morning we woke up and headed to church straight from our hotel. The Easter Bunny came to our house instead of the hotel! Aspen loved her Easter basket complete with a mini chocolate bunny. Sydney got one too that I thoroughly enjoyed eating!! Later that day we had a church easter egg hunt in our annex because of the rain. That was our week in a brief synopsis! I would love to write more but I am lucky to even do this with two kids! Lets see...Aspen is now 29 months old and 28 lbs. She is learning to use the potty but we have not perfected it yet! She is really enjoying sitting on it though and putting toilet paper in it. She always says funny things and yesterday She was telling me she wanted some milk and she said, "GIVE ME THAT MILKERS". I told her that was not the right way to ask. Guy said, "aspen you need to say, May I have some milk". So, she then said with a whimper in her voice, "MAYME MILKERS PLEASE!". It was really cute! She likes to "share with Sydney". This means she says, "here sydney..here is a toy" and then quickly yangs it away saying, "Thats A MY TOY!". haha! We are working on this!! She still loves to hug and kiss her mama and everyday asks if she can hold me and "kiss you me". Sydney is around 13 lbs and will be 4 months old on the 24th. She is now compltely sleeping through the night meaning from around 10:00 till 7:00!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!! She smiles everytime I talk to her and sometimes can't fall asleep or keep her pacy in because she is smiling so much at me! She also outright laughed this week when I sang a song to her! She never crys and is such a joy!!! I love my girls!!!! They are more fun everyday!!!!!

at LTC with some of the girls

Our good friends, Tyler and Jake

Best BUDS!

My baby is 3 months and Aspen is 28 months

Well 5 days ago my little Sydney turned 3 months old and just 2 days ago Aspen turned 28 months old. Syd is around 13 lbs and is sooooo happy! She smiles constantly especially when she has a face up close to her. She wakes up happy and is just generally happy all the time! I LOVEEEEEEEEEEE IT! She sleeps through the night most nights and even when I feed her at 6:00 she goes back to sleep till 9:00. The best thing about her though is her sweet personality. She is just so sweet and actually giggles from time to time! Aspen is doing great and is such a great big sister. This week Syd was having a tummy ache and went to Syd and said, "it's ok baby sydney". A few days ago we were eating ice cream and Guy told Aspen she had to sit on the fireplace to eat it so she wouldn't get it everywhere and out of her mouth came, "That's idiculous". We were floored! Guy says ridiculous a lot and I guess she caught on. She got in some trouble for saying that because what daddy says should never be ridiculous! :-) I could not ask for better kids. Being with them is so rewarding and I never want to forget the little things like at night when Aspen says, "nanny, I hold you!" or when Sydney sees me and smiles and coos! What a great life we have!!

syd looks up to Aspen and always stares at her! Thanks for the matching pajamas Grandma Haney!!

3 months old!

Aspen sharing her toys with Sydney

She was exactally 3 months on this day



This morning Syd and Aspen wore matching Disney dresses to church that Mimi bought them

We are back

We have not blogged in a while. We spent a week in Lubbock seeing our friends from AIM and taking our teens to a camp there. It was a great time of relaxation and spiritual renewal for us. Thanks to all of our friends who made it a great week! This week marks Sydney's 12 week birthday! :-) She weighed 12 lbs 7 ou. at her appt. last week. She just discovered her hand two days ago and would just hold her little fist in front of her eyes for several minutes! She smiles everyday now and actually started this a couple of weeks ago but now consistently smiles when she looks at her mobile and at her mommy! AHHHH! She also has been sleeping through the night the past few weeks. She usually eats at 10:30 and then sleeps until 6:00 or 7:00! How cool is that?? I feel like a new woman with all of this rest! Things are going great though and Aspen just loves Sydney! She loves to say, "it's ok Sydney" when Syd cries. Aspen's new thing is her toy cell phone. She says, "Nanny! PHONE". When she says this I grab my phone and we have fun little conversations about this and that. She is hilarious and is still sooooo cuddly with me. I hope she never outgrows snuggling with me. The pics are of my girls on Sunday morning. A friend of mine owns a children's clothing store in Lubbock and Syd is decked out in her new clothes!

Planting Flowers

Yesterday when Guy got home from work I was a little bit down and had had a difficult day. Guy being the sweet husband he is thought we should go buy me a coffee at Starbucks and then some flowers to plant. We had a lot of fun buying mulch and picking out flowers. When we got home we brought the girls in the front yard with us and planted the flowers. Aspen was really cute as she picked up our pots and organized them all on the mulch. Then she began pulling all the petals off, but I quickly got to her and explained that we could not pick these flowers. She is obsessed with them. Sydney sat in her swing for two hours as we planted everything. She was awake the whole time and just smiled and looked up at our tree! What a fun afternoon!

I love my kids

I had such a good week with my girls! It is funny how some days I just think how will I ever get through this day because I am so tired, and other days I cannot imagine life without my two little girls and all the joy they bring. I have said it so many times, but I have so much more energy now that Sydney has been born. I am really loving life and enjoying waking up each day to spend with my kids! This week was not different than any other except I just enjoyed reflecting on how much God has blessed me. Ironically Aspen got into everything this week but for some reason I didn't get too overwhelmed. Here are some examples....On Monday Aspen came running into the living room with my lipstick all over her face and she said, "i'm pretty Nanny". I was a bit upset but then just started laughing to myself b/c you should have seen this child covered in lipstick. Then I walked through the house and found lipstick on my dresser, walls, recliners, and floor! Aspen did get in trouble, but truthfully why did I leave my lipstick where she could play with it?? The next day I was putting Syd's bow on her head with Kairo Syrup and right in front of me Aspen grabbed the syrup and poured it all over the carpet! Now let me tell you...she got a pretty big spanking for this and now refers to the syrup as, "no no". Then, last night she came walking into my room with lemonade all over her. All she said to me was, "Oh no Nanny Oh no". She is absolutely into everything and so I have learned the hard lesson of putting things up high and also balancing that with making sure she knows there are just things she does not need to touch. It is so funny because up until about two weeks ago she just left everything alone. All this said, I am so grateful to have a child that is healthy enough to play and get into trouble. I am so thankful to God for giving me the job and the pleasure of raising to girls to be like him! I love being a parent!!

Sydney is 9 weeks old and is really starting to smile and try to talk to us. She makes the sweetest cooing noises. At her two month appointment she was 11 pounds and 14 ounces. Her height was 21 inches. She is in the 50th percentile pretty much across the board! She is also holding her head up really well when we place her on her tummy! She eats at around 10:00 everynight and then sleeps until around 4:00 a.m. I feed her at 4:00 and then she sleeps till around 8:00. I cannot get over that I am only feeding her once in the middle of the night! It is just awesome!!! Enjoy the pictures!

In their matching outfits Mimi bought them

My 9 week old girl

holding her up well

Aspen put my lipstick all over the door

She crashed on me after playing outside with daddy

Family pics and pics of the Girls

We decided to go get some professional pics of our family on Sydney's 8 week birthday because she is just growing too fast and I feared I would never do it. I was happy with how they turned out. It is so difficult to get good pics with two little girls but after a ton of shots we have a few that are pretty good! Enjoy!

Valentines Day and Sisterly Love

Valentine's Day is always a fun time for our family but was especially fun this year. Guy bought me red roses and took his three girls out on a date. We went to eat and then went to the mall for a little shopping. I had so much fun dressing my girls up and enjoying being with Guy! Sydney wore a pink dress I bought her and Aspen wore a new skirt and shirt that said, "Daddy's sweetheart". That night Guy and I had what we like to call date night at home. We put the kids to bed and then order food from a good restaraunt and rent a movie. Since having kids, we don't always want to find babysitters every time we want to go on a date so we started doing an at home date night a couple of years ago! So much FUN!

Sydney is 8 weeks old tomorrow and is just such a sweetheart. I was sick today and had a dr. appt. and I took her with me. She didn't cry at all but just patiently sat with me for 2 hours in the waiting room. LONG WAIT right? I was worried that she would get fussy but she was sweet as can be. Aspen spent the day with daddy at work and didn't want to leave the church because she was having so much fun! When we got home tonight I took a few pics of the girls together. Aspen enjoys loving on Sydney and helping her find her pacy! Such a great big sister!!

Sydney and I dressed up for Valentine's Day

My two girls in their outfits

Aspen in her cute V-Day outfit

My beautiful roses

Pretty blue eyed baby

Sydney is just so calm with Aspen

Loving on sissy

Here's your pacy Sydney


My sweet 8 week old girl

Sydney is 7 weeks and Aspen is 27 months

Well things are moving right along in the Stover family! Aspen had a birthday party to go to this week. It was princess themed so she was quite happy. It was also Sydney's first birthday party and she wore a little dress and even got a party favor bag. How cool is that?? I weighed her today and she is 12 lbs which is much more than I thought but I am not at all surprised either. She feels pretty heavy! After the party we bought a kite. Guy looked at pretty princess ones for her, but she wanted a Buzz Lightyear one of course. He is her hero and favor character ever! So today we finally took the kite out for a spin. Aspen liked it for about 5 minutes but I was in heaven so I flew it a while and then in an effort to chase Aspen because she was getting away, the kite got stuck on a powerline. I quickly let go so I wouldn't get electricuted and the kite wrapped around it. So...we lost the kite but as far as I know it is still flying over in Crenshaw Park! Sad story. Anyway, things are going well with our two little ladies. We are meeting our small group friends at Chic Fila tonight for dinner so the girls will get some playtime in with their friends! Enjoy the pictures!

I am trying to get a non crying pic with her face toward the camera!

Not yet.....

YAY - good pic Sydney

Her princess dress for the b-day party

Our pretty princess who likes quite sad. She was a bit shy and it took her a while to hang with the other kids!

Sydney is 6 weeks old and Aspen is adorable!

Well, Syd is 6 weeks old this week. She seems to really look at us and notices when we walk in the room. If I am talking she arches her head to see me. I love this. Sometimes I find myself just wanting to hold her and never let go. She is such a cuddly little thing and I really want to soak up all the time with her at this age. She is growing too fast! Everyone has asked me how this transition too two children has been and I have to say it has been phenomenal. Aspen was sick with acid reflux and cried so much the first few months that I think we were thrown into difficulties right away. Sydney does seem to have a few tummy problems but she does not cry non stop like Aspen did. I think since Aspen was such a challenge at first that we feel like Sydney is a breeze. We just love having 2 kids. I also feel sooooo much better than I did while pregnant and so I have a ton more energy to deal with 2 kids! God is good!!! Aspen is doing wonderful. One of our college students that Aspen adores came home this week and so Aspen has had a good few days. We took her to the park to play with Lauren on Thursday and then Thursday night our college students came over for small group and Aspen had tons of fun with them. In the bottom pictures Aspen is eating spaghetti with Nathan and sitting with Kayla at our bar. She loves the college students!!!

Our family and one month old Sydney

These are just a few pics from this week. Sydney is a month old and in all of these pics she is between 4 weeks old. Aspen is wearing a princess dress in most of these pics and it is not because I never change her clothes. She LOVES to dress up and if I could describe her in any word it would be PRINCESS!!!!! Every morning no matter what we have dressed her in she wants to wear her pink princess dress that she calls, "wings" because it has wings that attach but that she never wants on...Go figure!! So...we let her wear this around the house everyday and occasionally to Starbucks or to the church to see Guy at work. On Sunday mornings we put our foot down about this and she is always a little sad that she cannot wear her wings there!! She is such a fun little girl these days. She loves to watch a movie or cartoon on Guy's laptop an hour before bedtime to relax. She always asks Guy to lay down with her and she says this.."Daddy, lay room and puncuter me". This means, "lay down and let me watch the computer but she calls a computer a "puncuter". She also all day long chases me around saying, "Nanny...hold you me" I love the way she is trying to form sentences and how they come out. She is a huge cuddler still and wants Guy or I to hold her and cuddle everyday. I LOVE THIS!!! She also loves Sydney and always says, "SINNY come here!!" Sydney is a great baby and we have really loved having our little family. Things are getting more normal and this transition has gone remarkably well! I think we can thank God for that!!! We prayed a lot!!! Also the last pic is of our whole family at church. On Sunday the elders had all the families with babies and children to come on the stage and they prayed for us and for our babies to love God and to marry Godly spouses one day. It was so awesome and we really appreciated it!

Long Awaited Pics of Miss Sydney Claire

So, Sydney is now 3 weeks old and we are loving every minute of our lives with her. Aspen has finally adjusted and loves to kiss her sister and grab at all of her extremities. It gets a bit scary at times but Aspen is learning to be gentle and she constantly asks Sydney to come play with her. I am doing great and have recovered pretty well from my surgery. We are not sleeping too much at night but hey we expected that so this new baby has not been too big a shock to our systems. Yes my Christmas Tree is still up and will remain that way until we have a free second to take it down. Actually some of the teens we work with have suggested that they come over and take our Christmas stuff down. That would be nice. The pics on here are from the most recent to when she was one day old. These first few pics are of her at 3 weeks old and the last few are the first week! She is now 3 1/2 weeks old. I think she weighs around 8 lbs now and is 20 inches long! A far cry from 6lbs 8 ounces and 18 inches long.

Sydney Claire is here! She weighed 6lb 8oz and was 18.5in long. If you would like to see more photos you can check out http://picasaweb.google.com/guystover78/Sydney#.

Christmas Eve for Aspen and 2 days till Sydney is born

We did things different this year since I will be in the hospital on Christmas Eve and morning. We had Christmas Eve tonight for our sweet Aspen! We made Christmas cookies for Santa and then watched Shrek and some of Willie Wonka. She wasn't too fond of that. It's not much of a toddler movie. I've really enjoyed spending time with Aspen this Christmas season and making some fun Christmas traditions with her. We are so excited to have Sydney and to add to our family. I have been praying for my girls to love each other and to be best friends. I look forward to next Christmas when I have a sweet one year old and three year old. God is so good to us. Have a Merry Christmas and we will see you on Wednesday morning when we deliver Sydney!!