Home sweet future home...

Well we've embarked on the new adventure of building our next house.  Early this year, we decided to see what was out there on the market that had more space for our family and mounds of toys! As we looked, we couldn't find what we were looking for in our price range and looked into building. After running some numbers and talking with a couple builders, we decided it would be affordable for us to go ahead and build. We spent quite a bit of time trying to find a lot, which was quite the task.  But we ended up finding a great family neighborhood with a basement lot.  Construction began late September and have been enjoying the process so far.  It has been fun but also a little, well no I take that back, A LOT, scary.  We are hoping that our vision comes together for where we will call home for a very LONG time. We've been going out to see the progress on a weekly basis and wanted to take pictures to document it all step by step.  Here it is so far.....

Before 

Week 1 - digging out foundation, note all the dirt they dug out!  And that's not all!!!

Week 1 - the basement foundation

Week 2 - Digging/pouring footers (sorry, it won't let me rotate the picture)

Week 3 - adding foundation block - video courtesy of Victor

Give thanks!

It's always easy when things seem to be going great to be thankful for the good, and when something bad happens, it's easy to ask, "why is this happening?".  Recently in our Bible study and at our church, we've been reminded that we need to thank God for not just the good, but also the bad.  He is in control of our lives and is watching over us and we need to trust in that.  There are times where things just don't seem to be going the right way, but we have to learn to just trust in what His plans are for us and know that He will help us through it.  We've definitely learned that the past couple years.  It might not be understandable at the time, but in the end we will see His plan.  That's definitely true!  And we also need to rejoice and give thanks for the wonderful things He has given us, of course.  I know he has entrusted Victor and I with so many wonderful things and we are so very grateful for that.  Without His plans for our lives we wouldn't have our two precious girls that just bring so much joy to us!    We all go through highs and lows and should be thankful for each little hiccup and peak in our lives!  I've found myself caught up in day to day life and over come with being busy and on the go, sometimes I forget to stop and think about how wonderful my life is, even the small things and that I need to be thankful for EVERYTHING. It's been on my mind to really give thanks for all we have been blessed with so thought I'd share.

The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.I will advise you and watch over you. "

~Psalms 32:8

Grocery shopping with the girls!  Ava loves to sit next to Leighton!

Is this really possible!? Time is flying by!

She's on the move!

Well Leighton is now 8 months and has mastered the "army crawl".  She is pretty fast and now goes where ever she wants which has been a little challenging for me when I need to get something done at home.  But she is just as cute as ever and still always happy!

We've had a busy two months.  Victor and I got to go to the Bahamas at the end of May for his company's rewards trip.  It was just a long weekend but it was good to get away and meet the people he works with. A couple weeks after that we celebrated my birthday followed by Father's Day/our 6 year anniversary.  As a gift for all of the above, we got a new toy, a DSLR camera.  We thought it would be good to have a nice camera to take quality pictures of our kids.  We've enjoyed playing with it to figure out how to use it and we've gotten some great pictures so far (see below)!  Anyway, at the beginning of July Victor and I went to Cancun for a long weekend trip with a group of our friends.  We had a great time and enjoyed a little rest and relaxation!  Other than that, we've just been doing the usual.  Both the kids are getting so big and we are enjoying watching them grow everyday!  They definitely keep smiles on our faces :-)

Here are some more summer pictures to share.....

Can you guess who is who?  

Ava learned how to drive, Liam loves to ride. We are in trouble!

Ava went roller skating.  She had fun despite the look on her face.

Leighton loves the pool

Action shot!

Ava did great at her first dentist trip!  

Such a big girl!  Check out her new nike's :-)

Grandpa Darvin came to visit in Nashville!

Where does the time go?!

Our little Leighton turned 6 months this month, I just can't believe it!  She has such a sweet little personality and it comes out every day as she flashes her sweet smile and happy screams.  Yes, I think this one is going to be one of those screaming babies you give evil eyes to at restaurants, that will be us I have a feeling!  She is happy when shes squeals at home, but I don't think everyone will think it's cute.  Anyway, I was buying some clothes for both our growing girls and just got so sad about how fast they are growing up.  I almost got tears in my eyes as I was looking at the 9 month jammies for Leighton and how big they were as I realized how fast she is growing. Ava is such a big girl now but still asks for our help to do things she can do by herself, which is frustrating when we are busy, but deep down it feels good to be needed. Ava is such a kind-hearted little girl (most of the time) and loves her little sister so much. It will be fun to see them continue to grow and become play buddies and best friends.  I'm so thankful for God bringing Victor and I together (many years ago) and these two wonderful blessings He has entrusted us with!  Nothing melts my heart more than to hear their laughter as their Daddy plays with them, I love it!!!  Well two blog posts in less than a month, how about that!?

Hope everyone has a safe, fun and happy Memorial Day weekend!

Our sweet 6 month old

Twins.  Yes, I dressed them alike, just like my Mom did to me and my sister and I thought I never would, ha!

Spring is finally here, and almost gone!

I know my posts always start out as "It's been awhile", so here it goes...

Well, it's been awhile.... Things have been busy at the Upshaw house.  I started back to work mid-February and Leighton started going to daycare with Ava.  Of course I cried the first day and after that I was fine.  Being back at work has been good to have some time to feel like I get a lot done and a little sans kid time :0)

Victor is still working hard and traveling a few days a week usually.  

Ava and Leighton are doing great!  Ava turned 3 on April 11th and enjoyed a Princess themed party, of course.  We had all her friends over and they enjoyed lunch, a little activity of making their own crowns, played and opened gifts.  It was fun, but Mommy was stressed as usual!  Ava has been such a great big sister to Leighton who will be 6 months next week!  She loves to play with her, dance and sing for her, and give her hugs.  Leighton watches her every move and flashes her cute smile at her big sis.  She is such a good baby and still very rarely cries unless she doesn't feel good (which is a lot lately since she has a cold).  She is the happiest little baby and smiles all the time.  We are very thankful to have such an easy going second baby, it makes things a lot easier!  

We enjoyed dying Easter eggs with Ava this year.  She enjoyed finding all of the around the house since it was a usual rainy weekend in Knoxville and loved all her Easter basket goodies!  We've been enjoying the warmer weather lately despite a lot of rainy weekends.  I've been able to run some and Victor enjoys getting lots of tennis in throughout the week.  We've been to the park a few times this spring and all Ava wants to do is swing.  She loves Daddy to push her really high.  We're excited about this summer and pool time so Ava can work on learning how to swim.

I'll try to not let so much time go by before my next update, I'm not good at this blogging business and short on time ;0)

Here are some pictures of the kiddos....

A little late but Leighton is here!

Well it has been a long time since I've updated this, sorry! Well here it goes....

At my 39 week appointment I asked if I could schedule to be induced since Thanksgiving was so close to my due date. The 15th was his only available date so that was it. It was nice to be prepared and have Ava taken care of but it was a long day! We got there at 6:15 and everything started. At about 7:45 they started pitocin. Around 10:00 the doctor broke my water to move things along. I got my epidural right after that. We thought it would be a couple hours later that it would be pushing time but no. I was 10 cm around 4:30 but there was still a little part of my cervix needing to thin so it wasn't until 6:30 when the fun started. I pushed for about an hour then they turned my epidural off so I could push better. Leighton was coming out at an angle and things were getting difficult and close to having a c-section so they used the vacuum suction on her head and I got a pretty big episiotomy and she was finally out at 8:37pm! I was in a lot of pain since my epidural was wearing off and I could still feel my contractions. It was not fun but Leighton was here and healthy weighing in at 8 lbs8 oz and 23 inches long. She had a pretty big bruise on her head from the vacuum but healed quickly. Ava came and met her sister which was so sweet. We left the hospital after two nights and went home with our new addition. Leighton is such a good baby and very rarely cried for the first few weeks. Ava has been a good helper and over all done well despite a little mommy jealousy. We enjoyed celebrating the holidays as a family of four and especially having Victor home so much!

Leighton is now 10 weeks and is still a good baby. She's been sleeping 5-7 hour stretches at night recently which has been nice. I'm off work until February 19th and Ava goes to daycare during the week so Leighton and I have our time. It's been hard in my opinion having a winter baby with all the sickness going around, I've been paranoid! Everyone except Leighton came down with the stomach bug the week before Christmas which was not fun at all! Leighton has had a touch of a cold the past week but has been doing fine. Once that clears up she's going to make the transition to her crib.

Last Friday we had some snow and this Friday it's ice. So we've been stuck at home just lounging around. Ava was excited to stay home with us!

Here are some pictures from Leighton's arrival and after.....