A Year in Review...

I know it's been a while, but we're back, complete with pictures. Clink this link to view picture highlights from throughout the year. If you've been frequenting our blog, you've already seen some of them, but there are some newbies, too; I promise.

December is typically a time of thankfulness and reflection for me. Looking back over the year, we have so many things to be thankful for...

...two beautiful, healthy boys
...wonderful friends and family
...an amazing, spiritually challenging church
...gummy baby smiles
...cryptic toddler talk
...sleeping through the night
...sweet memories
...a God who loves us lavishly

Thanks for checking in with us, we'll try to be better at keeping you updated in the future. Despite our busy-ness, we love you and are thankful for having you in our lives. And, we pray you have an amazing, awe-struck Christmas this year.

Picking up where we left off...

We're sorry it's taken us so long to chime in with an update. Shortly after my mom left in early July, we took a road trip to Santa Fe and Albuquerque, NM to spend some time with my cousin, April, who was finishing up some coursework there. The highlights from that trip were: the pool at the hotel, shopping, the zoo, and good Chinese food (finally!).


After that our dear friends, the Woods came to visit for a few days. They're on furlough from their mission work in Turkey and we cherished our time with them. The boys, as always, loved meeting new friends (and the extra loving, too).


Shortly after the Woods departed, Jeff's parents came to visit. We were able to go out and celebrate our anniversary ALONE. :) We had part of our date before bedtime, came home for bedtime, and then went out again afterward, so that we didn't have to be rushed. It was so nice to take our time celebrating. We also did lots of fun things with Jeff's parents while they were here...parks, hiking, the Discover center...fun times!


After Jeff's parents left, we celebrated Jeff's birthday. Go karts, cake, and Chinese food...does it get any better than that?!? Jeff says not...


Since then, we've been relaxing and watching the Olympics. And, now that the Olympics are over, we're gearing up for Bible study to start in the fall. We're so excited to be studying our Pastor Jimmy Evan's book and video series "Marriage on the Rock." It should be fun, if you think of it, pray for us as we facilitate this group.


Well, that's probably plenty for now, hopefully, not as much time will pass before I update you again. :)

He said holy...

...and my heart melted.

I was rocking Will to sleep for the roughest nap of the day (the one that starts at 3-4 p.m. after a long hard day of eating, sleeping, pooping, and lately playing!). Sometimes singing helps to calm him down while I rock, so I was singing the worship song "We Fall Down." If you're familiar with the song, you know the chorus has a line that says "...and we cry holy, holy, holy is the Lamb." In the middle of the song, Elliot (who has been adding a word or more a day to his vocabulary) starting singing "holy, holy, holy" with me, smiling, and twirling around in the middle of the living room with his arms spread wide...and my heart melted. And, I think God's did, too.

Lots of Love...

Grandma Lewis was visiting last week...hence the silence on the blog. We had lots of fun PLAYING, shopping, and resting. And, of course, we had lots of extra loving, so here are just a few shots of all those lovey dovey moments:

Preparing for Grandma...

Today we begin a month full of visiting and visitors. First among these is my mom's visit, which commences today. In preparation for "grammy-wham's" visit, we've been cleaning, tidying, and cooking as much as a baby and a toddler will allow. My mom would probably prefer if I prefaced the next portion of the entry by saying that she does not care what my house (or my children) look like, she just wants to visit, but I like to try my best to create a clean, welcoming environment for our guests, so we've been working toward that end.

Monday (Day -3): Clean cars and bathrooms.
Tuesday (Day -2): Do laundry.
Wednesday (Day -1): Sweep floors, clean kitchen, and pick up toys in yard. Burn candles in rooms with diapers to overshadow diaper smells.
Thursday (Day of mom's arrival): Quickly reclean bathrooms and kitchen. Give up on resweeping floors laden with a day's worth of toddler crumbs. Clean children so they smell good for grandma (the children were particularly not on board with this mission...Will had to have FOUR baths this morning because he pooped in the first THREE!...then Elliot got out of the bathtub and pee'd on the floor...reclean floor...). Rinse out poopy cloth diapers (Elliot's "helps" by flushing between diapers...unfortunately, he became impatient waiting for the toilet to refill so he could flush again, so he began shutting the toilet lid on my head to pass the time...hmmm...reconsidering cloth diapering now...). :)

After all that, we're ready for grandma...the house, children, and myself are clean and tidy...I'll just need a nice long nap after she gets here... :)

The BEST reality TV show...

Let me preface this entry by saying that Jeff and I don't usually get into reality TV shows. Sometimes we'll watch an episode here and there for comic relief and turn it off it gets too boring or complicated, but we just watched one of the BEST ones we think has hit the screens...it's called "The Baby Borrowers." It's airs on Wednesday's at 9/8c on NBC. Here's a truncated excerpt from NBC's website:

"The Baby Borrowers" is an intriguing social experiment wherein teenage couples fast-track to adulthood by setting up a home, getting a job, and becoming caring parents first to babies, then toddlers, pre-teens and their pets, teenagers, and senior citizens (all on loan from real parents watching on closely nearby) - all over the course of three weeks.

The first two episodes (last week and this week) were on the "pre-baby" and "baby" stages (we couldn't have donated Will because he's too young...and probably too sweet). Next week begins toddlers (can we still donate Elliot for the sake of social reform?!?...just kidding, he's probably too sweet, too). :) In any case, it's somewhat comical to be a happy yet exhausted parent in a good/normal/planned season of life and watch the difficulties of parenthood displayed on TV to the end of reforming teenagers who think they're "ready" or that parenting is "easy." Good comic relief for brain-fried parents of young children if nothing more...

Anyway, here are our a few pictures of our little sweetnesses smelling sweet after their baths (ahh, how I wish you could smell my bathroom after bathtime...baby soap is intoxicating...).

Sometimes too much of a Good Thing...

...is just about right. We've been experiencing this in several areas of life lately. In particular, I have been realizing that we just need to get back to the basics. These are such fun years in life and I don't want to lament how I spent my time during them when I'm older. We need lots of Jesus (Bible studies, church, worship music, prayer, ...), lots of hugs and kisses, lots of family time and play time, ... Lots of other things, too, but those are the ones I've been slacking on lately. The boys have been enjoying lots of good things lately, too.

First off, they've been enjoying lots of time in their new double stroller! It's amazing and works wonderfully for strolling and jogging. Yesterday, it even magically put them both to sleep (much needed sleep, I might add)... Come to think of it, I think that all Will does is sleep in the stroller. :)


On a related note, Elliot has been enjoying swinging in our tree swing lately, too. One afternoon (when he thought he had successfully eluded a nap), he fell asleep from "too much of a good thing." :)
During his waking hours, Elliot has been enjoying lots of "bubbies." He likes them in every form...bubbles in the bathtub, soap suds from the kitchen sink, blowing bubbles in the yard, ... you name it. He even tried to get me to steal the bubble machine from the church nursery when I picked him up the other day...silly boy...here he is popping bubbles in the back yard...

And, from sweet Will, we've been enjoying lots of smiles lately. He loves to be talked to, have his face and head rubbed, and usually rewards you with one of these sweet things in return...

Did I mention the sweet smiles...

...ahh...praying that you're enjoying too much of a good thing in your life today, too!

I love...

...the look on their faces when they sleep...

Summer Days...

After our trip home to visit friends and family and our Bible study cookout (which I highlighted in the last two posts), we've settling into a more relaxing summer schedule. This past week has been pretty warm, so Elliot has been playing in the lawn sprinkler a lot. He likes to fill up his sand buckets with water and dump them on my plants (which are much obliged I'm sure since it's so hot and dry here). Recently he's also discovered how to turn the hose faucet to get more water to come out (and thus raise the pressure in the sprinkler zooming water over the fence into the neighbor's yard...sorry Jim and Ann!).

We also got a new sprayer head for our hose (since I broke the handle off of the last one). Of course, Elliot wanted to test it out right away (I only got a little wet in the process). :)

Here's Elliot in his new surfer shirt walking on the rocks lining my herb garden. We thought the surfer shirt would be a good purchase since it dries quickly and he kept drenching all of his other clothes playing in the sprinkler. I think he likes it too, when it arrived in the mail along with a few other clothes, it's the one he wanted to put on right away.

He's also been enjoying our tree swing lately. My arms are getting a workout because he likes to "wing, Mama, wing" a lot. Will obliges him most of the time by napping or laying quietly by the tree.

Being outside so much has also meant that we've been eating a lot of homemade popsicles lately! I've really enjoyed trying out some healthy recipes...so far we've had strawberry-orange mint, blueberry yogurt, mango-orange, and chocolate pudding...okay, so maybe the chocolate pudding weren't all that healthy, but they certainly were tasty. :) After all that, at the end of the day, I sometimes look like this...

Did I say that summer has been relaxing? Okay, so maybe not so relaxing, but certainly a lot of fun! Jeff wins the "Best Husband Ever Award" because he went into work late this morning for the sole purpose of letting me sleep in after a rough day yesterday. It's a good thing too because before 10 a.m. we found a cockroach in the bathroom, both kids were screaming simultaneously as they were getting out of their baths, Elliot pee'd on the floor, and they were both ready for naps. The extra sleep (and God's grace) propelled me through the drama until I got them to sleep then I played "Slow Ride" on Guitar Hero a few times to recover. :) Then Elliot woke up and asked to poop on the potty (which he did), God is good, isn't He?!?

Elliot Self Bathing

We had a Bible Study cookout Thursday at our house (despite gale force winds...no exaggeration...we ate inside for the sake of our hair...welcome to Texas). :) Anyway, in preparation for the cookout, I had some extensive cleaning to do in my kitchen (as a result of some extensive cooking...strawberry pie, chocolate cream pie, homemade mint chip ice cream, and homemade vanilla frozen yogurt...yummy). Back on track, when I have extensive cleaning to do, I give Elliot a little more freedom to explore than I usually do so that I can accomplish the tasks I need to in a reasonable amount of time. Well, Wednesday was no exception, while I was cleaning the kitchen, he decided to bathe himself in the kitchen sink. Here's his mischievous grin celebrating my acceptance of his exploration or just the pride of it all together (zoom in on the leg...those are genuine blue dish soap "bubbies"...aka "bubbles" or "lather").

Here he is having his foot soak and deciding which kitchen brush will best exfoliate the dead skin cells off of his feet (his daddy would not be overly impressed with the male foot primping but would be proud that he decided to get the toddler stink off of his feet). :)

Rinsing, blessed, rinsing. Elliot loves to rinse and rinse and rinse and rinse. Water is fun.

Elliot's independence is bitter-sweet. It saves time sometimes and takes more time others. The self bathing episode fell into the latter category. I just couldn't handle the smell of a dish soap laden toddler (especially on his head...which smells like J&J baby soap for about an hour after a real bath and then quickly returns to the "wet puppy" toddler boy smell thereafter...I've heard this is not so with baby girls...sigh), so, anyway, we had to give him a "real" bath after his self bath to return things to a predictable scent at least.

Anyway, the post wouldn't be complete without a picture of sweet baby Will doing what he does best...

Oh, and one day left to vote...don't be afraid to vote for Jeff...he would like to make the point that his birdhouse is more "artistic" because he painted birds on it...your call...let us know what you think...

We need your vote!

If you read the last post, you know that Elliot and his Grandpa Lewis created a few pieces of art (a birdhouse and a butterfly house to be specific) in the workshop while we were in Ohio. After Elliot built the birdhouse, Jeff mentioned that he made a birdhouse for 4-H when he was in school. Though I had never seen his birdhouse, I assured him that the one I made when I was a kid AND Elliot's were better; he disagreed quite decidedly. So, we need your vote. We want to know which birdhouse you like better (and since I think Elliot's is better than mine...you'll just be voting on Elliot's and Jeff's...let us know what you think!).

Elliot's birdhouse:

Jeff's birdhouse:

Fun Times with Friends and Family

We've spent the past few weeks visiting friends and family in Ohio...AND celebrating Elliot's second birthday. We had SO much fun...here are a few pictures highlighting our trip.

Elliot had a few new experiences while we were in Ohio. He took a bath in Grandma and Grandpa Lewis' whirlpool tub, which makes HUGE "bubbies" (bubbles) when you turn the jets on!

He also got to ride an ATV for the first time (I'm not sure who's having more fun here, Elliot or his daddy). VROOM, VROOM, boys!

Elliot also visited a farm for the first time. In this picture, he's pointing to a HUGE cow for Uncle Super Heath.

Last, but certainly not least, Elliot got to use REAL power tools in Grandpa's workshop. They even made a few REAL projects for Grandma's flower garden...a birdhouse and a butterfly house.

We took Will, too; in this picture, he's enamoring Great Grandma Raymond.

Meanwhile, Elliot got tickles from Papaw Raymond.

And, of course, there were TWO birthday parties for our little TWO year old (one with my family and one with Jeff's). Here are the classics...Elliot eating his cake whole and tearing into his presents very meticulously.


That's all for now...stay tuned for the next post describing on our family's most recent great debate...

Our Morning...

05:45 a.m.
We were all sleeping peacefully like this...


...when Elliot awoke (1 hour earlier than usual) and visited us in our bed.

06:00 a.m.
Elliot threw up in our bed.

06:00-07:30 a.m.
We ate breakfast, bathed, and dressed.

07:30 a.m.
We canceled the babysitter (who also has a toddler boy since we didn't want Elliot to infect him, too) and started driving to our dentist appointments.

08:00 a.m.
Heather went to the dentist while Jeff drove around with the children in the car, praying that they would not scream the entire time.

08:40 a.m.
We swapped; Jeff went to the dentist while Heather sat in car nursing Will and letting Elliot pretend to drive like this...


09:20 a.m.
We swapped again. Heather went into dentist to have two chipped teeth repaired while Jeff sat in car holding will and letting Elliot pretend to drive some more (after all he is 2 going on 16).

10:00 a.m.
The dentist adventure is over (breathe a sigh of relief for us...no children were emotionally battered in the process and our teeth are clean and we didn't have to reschedule for 6 months from now because of a sick child). BUT, before we leave the parking lot Will has his first "mudslide" (if you're not familiar with that terminology...that's when your newborn shoots a yellow, seedy poop rocket from his bottom up to his neck, drenching his clothes and anything touching them...like Jeff's pants...with baby poop).

10:02 a.m.
Heather cleaned up the poop rocket mess and Will got back in his car seat (naked, of course, because since this is his first mudslide, we're not accustomed to carrying an extra set of clothes yet...sigh is it over yet...I hope so, too).

10:15 a.m.
At home and tired...I think we may all be taking naps this afternoon...

Good Times with Granny...

Grandma was in town visiting the kiddos this past week. Here are a few highlights from the visit...

We broke out Elliot's birthday present from last year...Harry the Pedal Car. Elliot is tall enough now for his feet to reach the pedals; however, we're still working on the "pedaling" motion. So, for now, it's great for lounging in the sun. :)

Will also enjoyed spending time with Granny outdoors; but he mostly stuck to lounging in her arms.

Grandma and Elliot spent a lot of time getting dirty in the sandbox (and even more time getting dirty in my flower beds). Funny story...during the course of play, Grandma said that Elliot's "favorite" shovel broke (I didn't even know he had a favorite), so the next day we went shopping and bought 4 shovels and 20 other sand toys to replace it...aren't grandmas great! :)

After each hard day in the sandbox, Elliot needed a bath, although I'm not sure who was giving who a bath...

Granny and Elliot were running circles around Will most of the time, he did a good job of trying to keep track of them though...Will thinks they went left...

Praise God for Swaddling...

I don't know the name of the person who came up with the idea of swaddling. And, franky, I haven't though much about it until now because Elliot hating being swaddled. We tried it for a few nights after he was born only to hear him grunting and kicking in his cradle until he was free from the confinement of the swaddling blanket. Obviously, 41.5 weeks of confinement in the womb was enough for him.

Will, on the other hand, loves being wrapped tighter than a burrito. We didn't bother swaddling him the first day because he was so tired from the birthing process that he didn't need any help sleeping. The second day he became increasingly fussy, wouldn't sleep well, and we had no idea why. It wasn't until our midwife came over and got him to lay peacefully by swaddling him that I remembered that many babies are comforted by the familiarity of the confinement of swaddling. Needless to say, Will's been wrapped in a blanketed cocoon ever since and is sleeping like an angel. I'm so thankful for more sleep than I deserve these first few nights! Accordingly, I've come to believe that swaddling must have divinely inspired and one of many things in parenting for which God is due immense praise!

First days of fun...

As you probably assumed, we've been busy here in the Hartman home welcoming sweet Will into our family! Be sure to check out Jeff's first blog in the previous post, complete, not surprisingly, with a video of Elliot and Will. For the classic among you, I went through some pictures of our first days together today, so I thought I would share them.

We've been sharing the good news...


Visiting with friends...


Tuning up the gear (for its second time around)...


Primping for the guests (in the tuned up gear)...


Looking for attention in the most precarious places (that's Vaseline, folks...everywhere)...


And, resting...lots (Elliot and Will actually took simultaneous naps today...it was heavenly)...