Thankful list 12-22!

As always, I am behind the times! Here is the rest of my list!

12. I am thankful for my in-laws who have helped us so much over the past few years. Just last week they gave up one of their cars so we could take ours to the shop. When we got it back, it was still being stupid, so they went through the whole thing again. We are lucky to have them!!

13. My small group from Sunday school. They are awesome. And funny. And they give me another reason to look forward to Thursday nights other than The Office (which is quickly going downhill since Andy took control of the office....)

14. Any baked goods with the word pumpkin in the recipe.

15. The magical 8:00 hour of each evening. Jonathan is asleep, I am on the couch eating dessert, DVR is playing, Zack is home....it's just nice.

16. The fact that I only had to go to work 2 days this week. That being said, these 2 days have felt like an entire week. 8th graders have the odd assumption that since it is a holiday week, they shouldn't have to do ANY work. And any teacher who makes them do work "is the worst teacher in the history of the world!!" <--A phrase I hear quite often since I won't let them listen to their IPODS while I am teaching.

17. That Zack has off the entire week! Nobody deserves some time off more than he does.

18. The sweet lady that watches Jonathan everyday. I have always been thankful for her, but now that I am being faced with the reality that she will not have room for the new baby, makes me realize how lucky I have been to have her this entire time.

19. Thanksgiving food. Oh man, I have been drooling for weeks just thinking about it. Not only am I thankful for having a good excuse to eat like a mad woman this year, I am more importantly thankful that we even have the means to make and enjoy a feast like that. We are truly blessed.

20. My Dad's carpentry skills. He is currently making Jonathan an awesome piece of furniture for his big boy room! He builds things and then my Mom picks out colors and paints it. Everything has always turned out beautiful and I can't wait to see the newest special piece!!

21. Friday nights. These tend to be reserved for family time. Zack typically gets home early and the three of us go out to eat. This week it was Freebirds (which is something I am thankful for in and of itself...) It is so nice to have a chance to sit and reconnect at the end of a long week.

22. Can I repeat? I am extra thankful for Zack this week. My contractions have been worse lately and on top of that I woke up Sunday feeling pretty crummy. Zack stayed home from church and let me lay around ALL day while he played with Jonathan, entertained him, took him to the park etc...I know this is what Dad's are supposed to do, but he also had work that needed to be done, but he put it aside and put on his Daddy hat so that I could rest. Not to mention I had been a total brat all day Saturday, so I really didn't deserve that type of treatment. He is a good man.

So there you have it. As always I am amazed by all the things I have been blessed with over the past year. God is so good!! Hope you and yours have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!

My belated "thankful" list!

As always, I am a little behind the times. Every day I log onto Facebook and see all the great things my friends are thankful for and I think to myself, "what a fun idea! I should do that too!" And then I forget. So I am playing catch up. Here are the first 11 things I am thankful for this month (in no particular order!)

1. First and foremost, I am thankful for the people that love me, support me, care about me, deal with me, put up with my drama, listen to my ranting and raving, answer the phone even when they know it could turn into a long "all about Katy" phone call....you know, all those people.

2. This little boy. This picture is actually about a year old, but seriously, it is a tough one to beat :)


3. While it pains me to actually say this at this time of the year, I am thankful for my job. Obviously I am not thankful for the super crazy chaos that I have to deal with on a daily basis, but I am thankful that I even have a job in this economy. I am also thankful that the people I work with are cool and make coming to work everyday fun!

4. I am thankful for cooler weather and the fact that I actually turned my heater on in the car this morning, so that when I got back in after dropping Jonathan off, my car was super warm and toasty!

5. I am thankful for days when Jonathan is happy to entertain himself....like this :)


6. I am thankful for my crockpot. I am thankful for the website http://www.crockpotgirls.com/.

7. This week I am thankful for a good check up with Dr. Storey for Baby Brother and also for a good check up with Dr. Torn for Jonathan! I am thankful that we have doctors in our lives who we can trust and we know want the very best for us!

8. I am SO thankful that Little Man LOVES to sleep! He took a while to sleep through the night when he was an infant, but once he started, he never looked back. He also took two long naps each day until he was around 20 months old. I know this is a huge gift!


9. I am thankful for my sister-in-law, Katie. She LOVES her nephew to the ends of the earth and when she is able to be here with us, she is a huge help with him! In fact, she is coming to see us today! Yay!

10. I am super thankful for my own Mama (and Dad!) I am blessed to have a Mom that I am pretty much best friends with. We talk on the phone multiple times a day, e-mail multiple times a day, Skype when we can (although this is mostly for Jonathan's benefit) and I would be lost without her! She also loves Jonathan with all her heart and is willing to drop anything to help me with him. Many times this has meant waking up at the crack of dawn to drive to Houston to watch him when I am sick or he is sick and I can't take the day off.

11. And last, but certainly not least, I am thankful for my amazing husband. He works himself to death to provide for us and while I really wish he could find a job that allowed for more time at home, I am thankful that he is dedicated and loyal to the job he currently has. He has sacrificed so much over the years as he studied for his CPA exam, passed it (thank you Lord!) and advanced through the ranks of his company. Not only that, but he is an excellent Daddy. It makes my heart proud to see him with Jonathan. He might not have a lot of time with him, but Zack makes sure that the time they do spend together is valuable and cherished. I am lucky to have him. And lucky that he puts up with me :)

So there you have it.....my list up until today. It might be another week or so before I catch up again, but the thoughts are always there. I lead an incredibly rich and blessed life. I should be announcing the things I am thankful for daily....but you know, that little thing called "daily life," tends to get in the way!

It's been a while!

I suppose an apology is in order for my lack of posting.....but seeing as not that many people read this and even fewer read a post that has no pictures of Little Man, I won't worry too much about it.

Things have been pretty calm and uneventful around our house lately. Last week my parents (Honey and Papa!) took Jonathan with them to Austin for an extended stay. While I missed him terribly, it was pretty nice to be able to get some things done around the house, sit and be lazy. Zack and I were able to go on a fun dinner date with our good friends, the Scibas, plus do one of our other favorite activities....run errands. No, I am not lying. That really is one of our favorite things to do on a Saturday :) All the while, Jonathan had a BLAST with Honey and Papa. I would upload some of the pictures and videos they sent, but my computer is prehistoric and doesn't want to let me. He was able to go on lots of golf cart rides, see lots of deer, feed the donkeys, play at the park......lets just say he wasn't thrilled to come home to boring Mom and Dad!

Little Brother is also doing well. We actually do have a name picked out (and Zack has even officially approved it!) but I am not quite ready to announce it to the world. If you really want to know, you can ask though :) As far as the pregnancy.....all is well and he is still cooking just fine, but I am feeling every bit of almost 30 weeks pregnant. My contractions are pretty bad if I don't take my medicine (Procardia really does do wonders to help ease them!) or drink A LOT of water. On top of that my legs have decided that they don't really need much circulation throughout the day, so periodically they will turn bright red and get all tingly. When that happens in conjunction with the swelling at the end of the day.....whoa! I look like one hot Mama! I never had any swelling with Jonathan and very little of the circulation issues, so this is a new treat that Little Brother has cooked up all on his own! That being said, I am trying my best to stay off my feet and keep them elevated when at all possible. Unfortunately, working full time and taking care of a toddler makes that a little difficult. The GREAT news is that I am super close to Thanksgiving break and then only a few weeks away from Christmas break!! I can already smell the sweet potatoes and green bean casserole....mmmm......

So that is about it. Jonathan is doing awesome, Zack is working a billion hours a day like normal and I am a huge, contracting, puffy ball. Life is good!

Halloween is not really his thing...

Let's just say that Halloween and all that comes along with it, is not really Jonathan's thing yet. Well, let me rephrase that....everything but the candy and food that comes along with it is not really his thing. My boy can put away pumpkin bread like it's nobody's buisness...but as far as costumes, pumpkins, seeing other people dressed up....he is NOT into it. Case in point, his own costume.....





Thursday night we met Sue and David up at the hospital where she works for a fall festival. Jonathan basically stood around and stared at people who were dressed up. He wasn't really scared, but he didn't really like what he saw. What he did like was the chicken strips and fruit box he got for dinner that night :)




Saturday night, we had our first family attempt at carving a pumpkin. He seemed interested in it at first, but as soon as we tried to make him put his hand in the pumpkin and pull out the gooshy stuff.....he was like "peace out!" and he ran off to watch Chuggington. Zack on the other hand had a great time and even though our family pumpkin looks all kinds of ridiculous and we almost burned the house down at one point, I would say it was a success. Maybe next year the little boys will enjoy it as much as Dad!






I was cleaning out the closet in Jonathan's new bedroom and pulled out his infant car seat. He knew immedietly what needed to be done.....he had to lay claim to his stuff before his little brother had the chance to. He sat here for a long, long time. I'm not sure if it was because it was comfortable or if it was because he was scared he would lose it again if he ever got out of it. I LOVE the serious look on his face. I mean, this is a real deal seat check.




And finally, what weekend would be complete without a little late night drive....sans clothing.

A random update :)

While most of you are well aware of the happenings in the Ley home, I thought I would share just a little update as to what has been going on lately for those I don't get to talk to often!

For the past few weeks, Jonathan has had a cough that I attributed to his asthma and a cold. By Thursday I decided to take him in to see the doctor just to make sure everything was okay. Poor baby.....he had a double ear infection and inflammation in his lungs from all the coughing and asthma. It is times like these that I am so thankful for our pediatrican! She hooked Jonathan up with some good medicine (my boy LOVES himself some Amoxicillian!!) and by the next day, the cough was better and the pain he seemed to be in Thursday night was easing up. I seriously love her. If you need a good recommendation for a Pedi, please call me!

I haven't mentioned much about Baby Ley #2. I guess this is just the curse of the second baby. Jonathan takes up so much of my time and energy, that I often just forget to update about his little brother! Things are going pretty well and I am now 27 weeks pregnant. I go on Wednesday to have my gestational diabetes test and I am praying all goes smoothly! I am still having lots of contractions, but since I recognize them this time around, I am not as concerned. I just drink a butt-load of water and try to rest when possible. Unfortunately, that is super hard with a toddler and a husband still on crutches (part of the time!) But I am doing my best. Baby Ley moves a lot (mostly at night) and seems to enjoy kicking Jonathan when he is cuddling with me before bed. I sure hope this isn't a sign of things to come! I will admit that being pregnant the second time around is super different. I love that I am not nearly as nervous as I was with Jonathan. I can enjoy all those little kicks and punches without counting them all the time to make sure I have 10 within the given 2 hour period. I do not however, love the extra weight I have gained or the fact that I am so exhausted all the time I can barely stay awake past 8:30 each night. I just want to sleep for a LONG time and I know, believe me I know, it will be a long time before I get to sleep again.

Zack is doing really well with his recovery from knee surgery. He went to the doctor last week and was given the green light to drop the crutches when he is home and only use them for extended walking trips. This weekend we were able to go to Central Market and walk around, which is one of our favorite family errands! It took him a little while to make it through the store, but he did it :)

So that is about it. Other than being super busy and extremely tired, we are doing great! Oh and as an added bonus, I discovered last week that Freebirds is opening literally 5 minutes from my house in just a few weeks. Now I know there are plenty of Freebirds haters out there and a few crazies who say Chipotle is better (that is pure insanity to me) but I for one, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Freebirds and I can hardly contain my excitement. Let's all pray that my gestational diabities test comes back clean because if they try to tell me I can't eat it.....oh man.

More weekend fun!

Like I mentioned in the last post, we spent the weekend at Honey and Papa's house in Austin. We had a great time! Saturday morning we woke up and drove into Marble Falls to eat breakfast at the Bluebonnet Cafe. After a huge breakfast, we headed out to a really fun pumpkin patch to let Jonathan play. He loved it!

That afternoon, (after the nap incident) Papa and Jonathan went out to play some golf. My parents are lucky enough to live right on the tee box of their neighborhood country club and Jonathan LOVES to run out and pretend he is playing! If you look closely, you can see his little tongue sticking out.....he must be concentrating pretty hard on his swing :)

By the time we left Sunday, he was so sleepy he couldn't even stay awake long enough for us to get gas and get on the road. Literally, he was out in about 3 minutes and stayed asleep for the majority of the ride!

We have a climber!

It has been a long few weeks with Zack still on crutches, me working and being 6 months pregnant and Jonathan...well, being an almost two year old, so this weekend we packed up the car and headed to Austin to relax and have some fun! Probably the biggest surprise of the weekend happened Saturday afternoon....

We put Jonathan down for his nap in the little portable crib my parents keep at their house. It's a little smaller than a pack and play and he has always loved it! Well, when we put him down, the Aggies were playing and we were all hanging out in the living room eating good food and having a great time. Needless to say, Little Man did NOT want to miss the party. So after about 10 minutes of him fussing/yelling in his room, it gets pretty quiet. We all figured he had fallen asleep. It was right about then that Little Man strolls into the living room, walks right over to the veggies and dip and starts going to town.....as if nothing was out of the ordinary. He didn't even look at us as if he had done something wrong/new/exciting. He just sauntered in and helped himself to some food and football. He has learned to climb out of the crib.....and push open the door....

The whole thing made me a little sad to be honest. My baby isn't a baby anymore. I just sat there after he had fallen asleep (for real this time) and thought back on the past two years. First he refused to sleep in his bed. Then he had to sleep in his car seat, placed in his bed because of his terrible reflux, then he refused to sleep unswaddled, then he needed a little bag to sleep in since he refused to stay covered up with blankets, now he is bag/swaddle/blanket free but he can climb out. My sweet little baby is all grown up. It won't be long before we make the transition to his actual big boy bed.....what in the world will I do then?! I am going to be a hormonal, crying, blubbering mess.



This is Jonathan sleeping in the portable crib at Honey and Papa's when he was about 5 months old. He was still being half swaddled but he sure looks tiny and peaceful. Now imagine the same crib, but with him hiking his leg over and sliding down the side.....a little bit of a different picture huh?? :)