A few thoughts...

If I were to describe our lives over the last year with one single, solitary word it would be "interesting." Lainee will turn one at the end of this week and it is amazing to think of all the changes the Blome household has gone through in the year since her birth! Our household of two parents, one child, and two felines became a household of two parents, two children, and no felines! (Continued thanks to my cousin Carin!) I went from a full time PTA/mommy/wife to a part time PTA and full time mommy/wife while Christian has gone from a full time Admissions Director/daddy/husband to part time student and full time Admissions Director/daddy/husband-all while suffering through numerous bouts of migraines! We sold our beloved Maxima (which got me through one car accident when preggo with Lainee, through a tornado, and took me back and forth to Huntingburg more times than I would care to count) but we gained a wonderful Ford Taurus that gets Christian back and forth to work every day! We've watched as one child has began to talk in full sentences while the other is just learning to take small steps! We are learning to live life with a more frugal approach, and in turn I have found my love and interest in completing "DIY" projects around our home! Through all of this we have continued to be blessed by our fellowship with our small group at church (we have been together now for over 3 years) and by our wonderful accountability partners who have walked life right beside us! We are extremely blessed! Like I said, life is very interesting, but also very, very good! :-)

Carter and Lainee in their Halloween Costumes...well, they aren't really costumes. To reside in the Blome household you must be a "tried and true" Hoosier fan so technically Carter and Lainee are just living life. Mommy is ready for basketball season and Daddy...well he is just along for the ride!

Christian recently celebrated his 31st birthday! Because my mom had already made him a cake earlier in the week he suggested that I make our favorite brownies and ice cream. So to make it more "birthdayish" I added the "31" with some icing. :-)

The Blome family visited Scottsburg for a few days while Christian was at a conference for work and we went to Montgomery farms...it was getting close to closing time so we were the only ones there! Carter loved playing in the "corn box".

Grandpa and Lainee at Montgomery Farms

Carter and Grandma had a picnic lunch on the front porch

We got to visit with the Scott family recently to celebrate the birth of baby Jude...what a cutie! He has such a sweet personality! It was great to visit with whole family! We just wish we lived closer!

Kids are too funny!

Funny/Cute things Carter has said over the past month or so:

"Mommy! There are bodies outside!"-After spotting our neighbors through the window working on their lawn.

"That is hot...on my body."-After putting Carter in his car seat on a hot summer day.

"Baby doesn't get a new bike...baby is too little"-While riding his new tricycle that Grandpa and Grandpa got for him.

"Uh..grandpa, excuse me?" While riding the tricycle round and around our living room the first night he got it..grandpa was in the way. :-)

"Shhhh baby...too loud!" When baby starts babbling or crying in the car and Carter has had enough..usually doesn't phase baby Lainee too much.

Carter has been getting into everything these days! He loves to explore and investigate. A few days ago I found him downstairs in the basement trying to pour out a box of paperclips on Christian's desk. I've been telling Carter that things that could hurt him are "poison". This day he looked at me and said, "Oh but mommy...I LIKE poison!"

On Carter's last day of daycare they gave him a framed picture of all of his classmates. We put this up in his room. A few days ago he walked over to it and brought it to me and said, "Mommy...these are my friends!" It was so cute-and made me a little sad for him-fortunately a lot of his "friends" go to our church or Christian and I are friends with their parents so we still see them every week or so-and we are making new friends. Yesterday we walked into the Library for story time and Carter announced, "Hello Friends!"

Although his stage is rough at times, because believe me Carter has his share of "terrible two tantrums" it is also a lot of fun! It is so neat to watch Carter and Lainee play together!

The Blomes are Back!

Well-I know it has been awhile...and a lot has happened in the Blome household since my last post! The babies are growing by leaps and bounds...little Lainee will turn one next month. In some ways that seems impossible but in other ways I feel like she has been around forever! She has the sweetest personality. She likes to smile and giggle and is very curious..she is always on the move trying to keep up with her big brother. Carter is so much fun right now too...he definitely is all boy as he loves to run and play sports and play outside with sticks and mud. He also loves to play with his little sister...they are great buddies.

My big news is that after much consideration, I quit my job and have become a stay at home mom (or domestic goddess as my friend Michelle says). I still work PRN every month or so to make a little extra money. I really did love my job but the drive was becoming too much every day..I had done it for over 2 years and felt it was time for a change. It has been an adjustment for all of us-but I'm loving being at home with the kids! We have tried to get into a routine and I'm excited that our church is starting a MOPS group. I know that Carter misses the socialization that he had at day care so I have tried to get him out around other kids as much as I can and I think MOPS will be great for him (and me!) :-)

Christian has gone back to school at Indiana State University to pursue his PhD in Higher Education Leadership. He seems to be enjoying it although it keeps him very busy as he is still working full time at VU. We are very proud of him!

Now that I am staying at home I will try to keep the blog updated more often...hope to post some new pics soon.

The Holidays

Happy New Year from the Blome family! It has been awhile since we have posted, so we have a lot of pictures to share! This holiday season we decided to stay at home in Vincennes and have everyone come to our house to celebrate. We had Christian's family over on the 23rd and had a really good time. Carter loves to play with his cousins and it was nice just to spend time as a family. Christmas Eve we went over to John and Kathy's home for a Christmas tradition of baking and eating yummy treats and then later that evening my parents came over. We were going to try to go the Christmas Eve service at church but Lainee was a little fussy and we were so tired! Christmas Day we celebrated with my parents and Luke and Jenny and then later John and Kathy came over for Christmas Dinner. I was spoiled because I did none of the cooking-and all the food was so wonderful!

We were so blessed that Christian and I had the whole week after Christmas off together as I was still on maternity leave. One day we took Carter and Lainee down to Evansville and Aunt Carri babysat them so that Christian and I could have a date day. We went to eat at the Olive Garden and then saw Avatar at the IMAX in 3-D; it was amazing! I would recommend seeing it. The other great thing we did was we watched a movie together each night after Carter went to bed...we watched The Hangover, UP, 500 Days of Summer, My Sister's Keeper, and the Taking of Pelham 123. Watching movies is one of our favorite things to do...and it was great to stay up as late as we wanted knowing we didn't have to go to work in the morning! :-)

New Year's Eve we spent with our Small Group. We had a euchre tournament which we quickly lost because I had never played it before...but we had fun anyway. Instead of watching the ball drop we watched Travis Pastrana make that crazy jump with his car at midnight to set the World Record. We were home by 1:00....Carter had gone to spend the night at Daycare and have his own New Year's party.

Lainee is doing really well-she is sleeping a little better but not as well as we would like! :-) Some nights she will sleep 4-5 hours at a time and other nights it seems as if she is up every half hour! She started daycare this week and seems to be doing well with it-they said Carter was so proud to have her there with him!

Thanksgiving with Christian's parents-we had such a good meal! This was about a week and 1/2 after Lainee was born so I was still a little sore from surgery-but we had a really good time.

Daddy and Carter

Lainee hanging out with Daddy on the couch

Carter wearing Papaw's bucket hat

Carter getting ready to go get his picture taken with Santa-sorry...we weren't able to take our own pictures-we had to pay for the photographer to take them so I don't have an electronic copy to post.

Lainee's Christmas Eve outfit-I just love her ruby red slippers!

Carter with his new Elmo's Restaurant...I don't think he realizes he is supposed to make the food, not eat it.

Smith Family Christmas

Carter sitting in his new chair playing with his new Magna Doodle from Uncle Luke and Aunt Jenny

I had to go back to work on Jan. 4th. It wasn't something I was looking forward to, but I knew it would be good to see my co-workers and to get into a routine. Christian sent me these flowers at work (oh...sorry, Lainee and Carter did) and it really brightened my day. I really enjoy how the florist spelled Mommy. :-)

The flowers-they were beautiful!

My first attempt at posing Carter and Lainee together..Daddy wasn't home so this was a one woman job..this is the best that it got! :-)

I would say 1, 2, 3 to get Carter to keep looking at the camera but unfortunately he would make this crazy looking face on 3 each time! He did it in every single picture!

Lainee smiling at Mommy

Carter's new favorite job is putting Lainee's pacifier in for her when it falls out...thankfully we have gotten past the point of him grabbing her pacifier, putting it in his own mouth, and running around the house with it laughing. He is actually able to put in it right side-up...and she loves when he gets close to her.

I got a new devotional for Christmas called, "The One Year Inspiration for Girlfriends: Juggling not so perfect, often crazy, but gloriously real lives" One of the devotionals talked about finding joy in every moment of our lives; that God is trying to grant us joy even in the smallest of moments, but so often we are focused on cleaning the house, or making dinner, or thinking of the things we need to do and we miss those joyful moments. I had so been looking forward to this weekend to spend time as a family, maybe go out to dinner and to go to church. Unfortunately that didn't happen as Christian, Carter and I all got sick and we were stuck in the house all weekend. Carter didn't feel well so he was in a bad mood and wasn't on his best behavior. I was feeling disappointed but kept thinking, "I need to find joy in these moments" although I was having trouble doing it. Then, this morning Carter started saying his own name. It was the neatest thing-and I realized that if we all hadn't been feeling badly we might have been off running somewhere and this moment might never had happened; especially where Christian and I were home together. It was a really neat moment...and great learning experience. I have attached the video: