Dear Dodge

Dear Dodge,
I drive one of your vehicles, a Stratus to be exact , and ... I don't love it. However after driving 120+ miles a day for five years, catching it on fire, putting it in a ditch during an ice storm, getting rearended and recently rearending someone my Stratus is still running. It will not die and make way for the nice new car just waiting for me out there somewhere. So ... I think this Stratus and I will be friends for a little while longer.

Sincerely,
I swear, it wasn't my fault

Summer Fun - July and August 2011

Okay okay... I know everyone says that it goes so fast but seriously, it goes so fast. Reas and PJ are over 7.5 months old and continue to be so fun. Here are some highlights from the past few months:
Giggling. Their giggles are infectious. In the July photos on Picasa there is a great video of Uncle Bill making Reas laugh.
Crawling. Only backwards and in circles, no forward movement just yet.
Interacting with each other and finding each other to be hilarious

They love bath time and love to splash each other
Rolling over and propping themselves up so they can see outside their crib. It's so cute even when they are supposed to be sleeping
Eating solids - sometimes. They really like bread

The boys are also social butterflies. We are so blessed that when we take the boys out they just hang out and behave. Its so fun to be able to have dinner out and not worry about them making a scene. Let's just hope they stay this way.

Enjoy the photos from July and August.

6 months and rolling (literally)

The boys are officially six months old. 6.5 to be exact and I don't know where the time has gone. They had their six months photos taken and rocked their photo session, if I do say so myself. Photos can be found here. They joined the 2009-2011 NPC executive committee at their July retreat and won the hearts of some wonderful sorority women. I'm sure these are the first of many sorority women who will swoon over my boys. They are rolling all over the place and started eating "solids". I'm not sure how mush of sweet potatoes and bananas is considered solids but they seem to like it alright. And so it goes. MJ and I have hit our stride with our routine and continue to marvel at how blessed we are. I know the next six months will fly by as well but I'm so thankful for every moment I have to sit in awe of my amazing boys.

Happy Father's Day

Where do I begin? I am infinitely blessed with a lot of amazing people in my life but none more amazing than my husband, MJ. I had a friend once tell me that she never thought she could love her husband anymore than she already did, and then they had kids. I completely agree. I have loved MJ Meneley for a long time now and I'm blessed that he loves me back but watching him with his boys is the real blessing. He is so good with them and they love seeing him every day when he picks them up from daycare. MJ is so supportive of me and whenever I say "I need to go to (insert city here) this week" he doesn't even flinch or sweat the fact that he will have to do all the feedings solo. This year for his first Father's Day, I surprised him with a trip to West Palm Beach to see two of his best friends and their families and his parents. Despite being on the scariest flight in my entire life (the boys slept through all of it) we had a wonderful weekend.

Here are the June photos.

Happy Father's Day to the best husband a gal could ask for.

Making sense of loss

MJ and I have friends who recently had twin boys at 24 weeks old and one of them didn't make it. This is such a devastating blow it is hard to make sense of it and somewhere, somehow try to see God's hand in this. I have recently been finding myself feeling guilty and thinking why me/us. How did we get so lucky and does this mean the proverbial shoe will drop for us later in life? Are we all destined to have a certain amount of pain and suffering? And if God only gives us what we can handle, how does He believe anyone could handle the loss of their child. There are so many emotions and I just need to remind myself that sometimes it just doesn't make sense. All we can do is support each other the best way we know how, love each other through the good and the bad and hug our children each day and night and make sure they know we love them. Off to hug mine!

Lake Babies

The whole Meneley family had a great Memorial Day weekend filled with fun festivities with great friends but the icinig on the cake was taking the boys down to the lake for their first dip! They loved it (to be read they didn't scream at all) so we're hopeful this is a sign of good things to come. Here are just a few of the great photos we took.


Here is the link to the May 2011 photos.

Reas, hanging out with Dad.


PJ, resting in his boat

4.5 months update

PJ and Reas,
4.5 months and counting. You are getting so big. At the last weigh in PJ (in blue) was 13.2lbs and Reas (in yellow) was 14.6lbs. You are smiling all the time now (encouragement that you already think Mom and Dad are hilarious). As a gift to me for Mother's Day you started sleeping through the night. We are constantly amazed at all that you are able to do. PJ, you love to lay under the activity mat and reach for all the things dangling above your head. Reas, you are content to watch your brother push those things around. You both are starting to be more vocal which is good and bad.

You spent your first Easter at Grandma and Grandpa Reas' house and had a great time. They got each of you a book that they read and recorded and you love them. You always pay attention when those books are out. You also loved the Peeps grandma got for you... or someone did.

Grandma and Grandpa Meneley came to visit you for a week and you were so good for them - this really helped because they were running out of things to brag about for you :).

You are also very into each other. You will sit in your Bumbos and have a staring contest or hold hands on the activity mat. It is so fun to see your brotherly love begin to take hold.
We love you both so much and look forward to a great summer with you!
Love, Mom & Dad
April Photo Link