Update :)

This is officially the worst blogging month I have ever had but in other areas, it's been a great month for us! :)

I started my new job mid-November and so far, so good. There is lots to learn and I am still in training but things are going well and I am really pumped about the oppourtunity.

Here are some pictures of the goofy kids playing in the car while we were waiting for Dylan to get out of school:

The kids are doing pretty well in daycare, too. They, of course, did get sick the first week but I expect that for a little while until they build up some immunities. Thankfully, my amazing family has really rallied around us so I wouldn't have to miss any work. Jeff stayed home with them one day when they weren't feeling well and then last week Happy got sent home with a fever and Jeff's dad took the morning off to watch her (best Jampa EVER!) and then my brother took off the rest of the afternoon to keep her. Long story, short is they both got colds and Braelyn's turned into asthma/bronchitis and Brylee has a double ear infection, which has caused us two trips to doctor (one to switch an antibiotic) and had made her have steady high fevers for the past fours days. So basically, they have been living on antibiotics, motrin/tylenol and breathing treatments. It is all looking up though and I think the worst is over. Praise God!

Happy and Daddy taking a nap.. she had about 103 fever here:

A couple of weekends ago we went to see Chris and Kristie in Gatesville. It was fun and the kids really love staying in hotels (so do I!).

Thanksgiving was good. We spent this year in Abilene with Jeff's family and we had a great time and ate lots of good food. We rotate every year for holidays and last year we went to Fort Worth with my family. Can you tell Happy was not feeling good in all these Thanksgiving pictures?! She did NOT want to take pictures but she did love the neighbors new puppy :)

That's basically all we have had going on.. which is a lot! After staying home with the kids for so long I sometimes feel like I am running around with my head cut off LOL but it is all good and we are having fun! Keep posting on your blogs.. I AM reading even though I don't have much time to blog :)

Holiday Season.. woo hoo!! :)

BIG NEWS!!

Not that you have been anxiously waiting for it.. but I got a job! :) I will be working at Blue Cross Blue Shield here in Abilene starting within the next two weeks. I am so excited! I have been praying for a good open door and this is a really good open door! In case you don't know, BCBS is insurance and I am working in the customer service area as a customer advocate. I am really glad to have the oppurtunity with such a great company, great benefits, great hours, great pay.. it's all great. Of course, the only down side (and it's major) is finding a good place for my babies. I looked at a couple home daycares and decided against it. Looked at having someone watch them in my home and decided against it, I think (still some debate there). And finally I called 10, yes 10, daycares in Abilene until I found two centers that have openings for both Braelyn and Brylee. They are actually both really nice facilities and I am going to look at them on Monday so please be praying that I can make the right decision for my children and that they will be in the best possible hands besides mommy and daddy. :) It is hard to think about my days at home with the girls are coming to an end but in all honestly, I had no intentions of being a stay-at-home mom in the first place. I went to school and got a degree because I wanted to work and make a living. However, God had other plans for our lives and I have really enjoyed the past three years at home with babies but the time has definitely come for us to move past this point. I am excited about the girls getting to be around other kids and learning outside of the home. I think they are both at great ages to make this adjustment and I am confident that God will provide them with all the love, security and fun in the place that they will spend away from mommy and daddy. I really would appreciate your prayers for me, Jeff and the girls as we adjust to this major change and pray that it be a smooth and wonderful transition for us all. My biggest concern is that my girls will pop up in daycare and get sick too much because they have been sheltered from so many germs and viruses at home. I know that it will take some time for them to build up some immunities so pray for us in that area as well. I really don't want them sick and battling asthma all the time. This is an exciting time for us and I am so thankful to have been given this chance!! Thanks, in advance, for all your prayers.

On another note: I feel like I am always asking yall to pray, pray, pray but I want to be praying for you, too. This is the reason I have a blog email.. so please send me some things I can pray about or praise about :) My email is on the side of this post: mommyloftin@yahoo.com

Happy Halloween.. finally... :)

I couldn't bear the thought of my Halloween pictures being one week late on my blog. So, I decided to post them 6 days late. Sigh. We had a blast. The kids were adorbable. They got way too much candy and I let them eat it all. I took too many pictures. The kids stay up too late. And we had too much fun! Sound great? It was! :)

Have you heard the big news at our house yet? If not, I promise to blog about it this weekend!! :)

My car was STOLEN!

I promise that my kids had a great Halloween and I promise that I took too many pictures, as always, and I also promise that I will post those pictures before they are 20 and 21 years old but for now please indulge me while I whine and cry.
Halloween morning, Happy and I got up early and were wondering around the house doing our normal morning routine. She was fussy and saying she wanted to see our "punkins" on the front porch so I opened the front door to show her and noticed that my car was gone. Hmm.. I thought maybe Jeff let his parents borrow it or something so I came in and woke him up and said "where is my car?". He, still half asleep, moaned something about parked closer to the neighbors house so I probably couldn't see it for the bushes. So, I went back to the living room, put on my tennis shoes and walked out to the curb in my pajamas and looked down the street. Ya, my car was not in front of the neighbors house. I quickly ran back inside yelled at Jeff, "My car is gone, Jeff!" He jumped out of bed. I woke up Chris and Kristie, called Jeff's dad and hung up with him to call the Abilene Police. I knew all the info on my car including license plate (if you don't know yours, go write it down right now) and told it all to the operator. She asked me lots of questions and by the time I hung up Jeff's dad pulled up and Jeff, his dad and Chris went driving around just to make sure they didn't see it nearby. I called my grandpa in Fort Worth, just to give him the heads up, and by the time we hung up, an officer for APD called me back and said they found my car on the Northside of town and it looked like it was in great condition, except that it was out of gas. We loaded up and headed to the other side of town. What the officer did not know was what had been in my car when it was taken. I immediately noticed that my $250 double stroller was gone, Happy's $200 car seat was gone and the kids portable DVD player was gone. Also, stolen was my debit card (don't worry, not used.. I called and cancelled it). The officer said he got some "not so promising fingerprints" and that I probably would not see my stolen items again because they were probably "sold or traded for drugs". Gee, thanks, break my heart.. someone stole from my babies to get high! UGH! Anyways, as thankful as I am to have my whole car back (and in good shape) it was really sad to think about the things taken from my kids and now the struggle to replace them. Is it weird that mom's get attached to their kids "things"?  I mean, I understand how blessed we are to have all the nice things and lucky that we got my car back in great shape but I still get sad thinking about the things we lost. So all week I have been searching, searching, searching online and in stores to find replacements. Mostly, for my babys car seat and the double stroller. The tv's are not a necessity and they can get those as Christmas presents.
So I did lots of research and picked this car seat for Happy. I love convertible car seats and the fact that she can use it as long as she will ever need a car seat. Her stolen one was convertible car seat, as well, in precious pink and brown and I loved it so much. I know that this one will do the job just as well :) It is a Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 Car Seat in Rachel For some reason, they are not carrying it in the Abilene Target anymore so I found the last one that they had at a Target by my grandparents house in Fort Worth and my grandpa went by and picked it up for me. I love him :) He is going to meet me one day next week and I cannot wait to see it!!

The second debate, still going, is over the double stroller that was stolen. First of all, you should know when I found out I was pregnant with baby #2, precious Brylee, the first thing I did was start looking at double strollers. I couldn't wait to push my two babies around and after months of research I found this not-so-little jewel and I have loved her ever since :)

The thought of replacing her with a different double stroller is a little heartbreaking, haha, but the truth is I really don't need that big one anymore. Braelyn is 3 years old and rarely, if ever, wants to sit in the stroller with her "baby" sister! So I debated buying another one just like it and changed my mind. Then I debated buying this side-by-side but Jeff thought it would be too wide to get through doors or a pain when shopping in small aisles, which is a valid point, so I changed my mind on that one too. So my final decision might be in this one.. a sit-n-stand. It has a seat for the baby/toddler in front and a little bench in the back where big sister can sit or stand. Sound good? I think so. I have not made a firm choice but I am going to run by Target tonight to look at one. I think Braelyn might even think its fun to jump on and off the back, don't you? This will at least get us through a couple more years till we won't need a stroller anymore.. sigh.

If you read all this and have any advice or tips then you can be my new best friend. I know it shouldn't be so hard.. just go out and buy new things.. but I want them to be the right things and yes, I am this organized, structured, researched on all important purchases. And yes, Jeff is annoyed with talking about it :) Please leave me a comment with advice :)