We were so proud of Mattie for donating her hair to Locks of Love! She loves her short hair, but at times she wants to grow it long again like Rapunzel!

The Kids!

It has been a very long time since my last post! Elijah is 2yrs old. He had a wonderful "cars" themed birthday at the park. Elijah is talking more and more everyday! He loves for daddy to read him books and to play with his cars. He is currently loving to color all of the time! Mattie is 3 1/2 and has been enjoying her preschool this year! She just participated in a Thanksgiving program and we were so proud of her! She sang very loudly and did all of the movements to the song! She loved being on stage! Mattie is becoming a great big sister to Elijah! She is helping him learn his colors and shapes. She reads him books in the car and plays with him in the play room (well I guess you could say she bosses him around in the play room)
We recently got another pug puppy named Hershey Kisses! Everyone has adjusted well to this lil guy! Mattie especially LOVES him! Puga and Hershey play together too. For now, Puga is able to get away by jumping on the couch when she needs a break!

Long time since last post! We have a had a fun summer and lots of FIRSTS for Elijah!
Since March Elijah has had his First haircut, First baseball game, First Movie(Cars 2), and First big boy bed! Elijah is such a sweet boy and LOVES his big sister! He also LOVES playing with cars and totes them EVERYWHERE! He enjoys reading books and is now sleeping in a big boy twin bed, which is of course a CAR! The kids have enjoyed Gymnastics and swim class this summer. This fall Elijah will take Kindermusik with mama and Mattie will be our little ballerina. These activities are so much fun for the kids and us too! Mattie started preschool last weeks and LOVES it! She is very social and loves meeting new friends and school activities. Now that Elijah is almost 2, I can see the kids enjoying eachother more during playtime. There are plenty of fights, but watching them play TOGETHER is a wonderful blessing. Mattie is taking on the role of big sister better each day. She sees Elijah fall and asks if he is ok and she includes him in playtime. Mattie still loves to read books, and playing princess dress-up is her favorite activity. Matt and I are so blessed for our wonderful children!

Mattie's Turning 3!
I truly can't believe that Mattie will be 3 years old in two days on March 18th! I can still remember the feelings I had surrounding her arrival! At 28 weeks I was surprisingly diagnosed with a rare pregnancy induced medical condition called Choleostasis of Pregnancy. With much fear and anxiety at 36 weeks we arrived to have an amnio. to check for lung maturity, praying for an early delivery. After the amnio results came in as "inconclusive" we were sent home. That day I felt back pain and then around 9:30pm my water broke! We were so nervous about Mattie being ready for delivery, but she knew she was and decided to make her entrance into our family! Her delivery was pretty traumatic as she had shoulder dystocia, but with a great OB she was delivered healthy and safely! Mattie's birth story really does reflect the Mattie I know today. She is a very feisty girl with a sassy personality. Her strong personality can be challenging, but she is worth it all! Mattie loves to learn and read books (like her daddy)! We are so excited to see what her future will be like! We love you Mattie! You are such a wonderful blessing and we are so very thankful to God to have you as our daughter! Happy 3rd Birthday Matalene Euvine Middleton!

Elijah and Mattie are growing too fast! Elijah is saying a few words now. He calls everyone very special to him "MaMa" at the moment, yes even daddy ;). His favorite word is "craaaker" and by the way that is his favorite food! He is our picky little eater! Well, since Elijah's my second child I must admit I tend to let him have what he wants. He loves Kindermusik, dancing, reading books, playing Barbie with Mattie, throwing balls, and doing anything he can to bother his big sis! Elijah is such a sweet boy! Mattie is loving preschool and reading books from the library! She is very excited about Ballet classes in the fall and her upcoming 3rd birthday! Mattie is a very dramatic little girl, but she does have a sweet heart. She will tell Matt and I that she misses us and loves us daily! Mattie LOVES to talk and she has much to say! Thankfully, Mattie is becoming better at being a big sister and likes help me teach Elijah animals, animal sounds, and shapes. I am loving being a stay at home mom!

Halloween Fun! The Frog Prince and the Princess! Elijah is walking everywhere now! He is FAST too! He is a sweet boy and LOVES his big sister! Mattie is loving preschool and is very EXCITED about Christmas! She is learning to sing "Away in the Manger" and loves the Christmas CD in the car.

We recently took a family photo for our church directory. Matt's friend from work, Kimberly, and her husband, Jarrod, met us at Berry for a little photo shoot. Somehow they were able to capture a shot of everyone smiling! They also took some more beautiful pictures of the kids! We loved so many of them it was very hard not to buy them all! I only have this one saved to my computer, but ask me and I would love to show off the other pictures! Check out Kim and Jarrod's webpage! They work very well together and our kids loved working with them!http://www.timeandagainphotographyga.com/

Birthday Fun! We had a wonderful first birthday celebration for Elijah! What a year it has been! We have had some medical issues to overcome for Elijah and Mama this year which made it a challenging first year, but we are doing great now! We are so proud of Elijah! We love him so much and are so thankful for him! What a blessing our children are to us! God is good! I love my family and am so very thankful to God for my wonderful life! Thanks to Aunt Carolene for coming early to help me prepare for the party! Matt, Carolene, and I made a great team and the party was so much fun! Elmo made an appearance and Hannah LOVED him! My kids on the other hand ran in the opposite direction!

Both the kids are sleeping so I thought it was time to update the blog. It has been a busy summer at the Middleton house! This kids are keeping Matt and I very busy! We love having Daddy home for dinner every night now that he is working day shift. Mama LOVES the help!
Elijah is cruising on furniture and beginning to stand for short periods of time on his own. He loves to hold our fingers and walk around the house. He laughs at his big sister all of the time and wants to crawl after her where ever she goes! He says mam, dog, cat, car, and woof. He also does some baby sign language. (more, eat, milk, and all done). He can say dada but would rather call Matt mama. However, Elijah is a daddy's boy from the minute daddy walks through the door! Elijah is a very picky eater! He has some texture issues as well, but we are starting to figure out what he does like!
Mattie is going to preschool and she loves it! Her school time allows Mama and Elijah to go to Kindermusik and have some one on one time together! Mattie tells me she eats and plays at school. She did tell me a story about going to time out last week. The teachers did not tell me she told on herself! Kinda cute. She was throwing the mulch on the playgroud so it could have been worse! We are also doing school at home on the days she does not go to preschool. She knows that when Elijah goes to his first nap time we get the school items out and have some fun! Mattie still LOVES to read so we check out library books weekly! Recently Mattie was a flower girl at her cousin's wedding. She did a great job! She did so good that she even threw more flowers down the isle on her way OUT of the church. She was too cute as you could all imagine!
We recently went to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Hilton Head. The kids loved them both! They enjoyed some time at the beach. They loved the sand but not the ocean! I will post those pictures soon.
We are excited about the fall! Mattie is going to be a "Pink Princess" and Elijah is going to be a frog Prince for Halloween. We hope to avoid all unsafe candy as I will be carrying my own stash when we go show off our costumes! Mattie is so excited! We are also excited about Elijah's first birthday! What a first year it has been! He has had many health issue hurdles, but with a great pediatrician's office and prayers we have made it thru it all! Look for more updates soon!

Please look at the new link I added on the top right hand side of the web page titled Lauren's Hope. Mattie has a medical alert bracelet from this company. They create beautiful items if you know anyone who could benefit from wearing a medical alert bracelet please pass this webpage along! Thanks!