My Almost 2 year old!!

I have recently started to study/practice hard with photograpy and this picture of Caleb is from a recent practice shoot I did with him. I have the best subject to practice on! While looking at and editing these pictures I couldn't even believe how incredibly big my little man is getting. He does something new everyday and continues to look more and more like his daddy! I am so thankful for such a precious gift in my life. I always say that everyday I have the best entertainment I could ask for, haha. I don't think I will ever get over what a blessing it is to be the Mommy of Caleb, and soon to Carson. WOW, what an incredible life!

Baby Boy!

Well, here is the big news, we are having a BOY! Yes, another one. We went
yesterday morning at 9:15 to have my ultrasound done. I was really excited because originally my ultrasound wasn't supposed to be until Friday, and my Docotor called me on Monday and asked to reschedule for Tuesday, and of course sooner=better for me! ;) So we went yesterday morning and I think EVERYONE except for Robbie was expecting them to tell me that I was having a girl, but we started the ultrasound and after a little shaking him around so we could see in between his little legs, there was no denying that we were having a BOY! I was a little disappointed at first, and felt a little tear well up in my eye, but then I realized that Caleb was going to have a little brother, VERY COOL!

Well we went out to Concord Mills last night to do a little "celebrating", woman style, and got to do a little shopping. When I suddenly realized in the Carter's store that I was going to be able to dress Caleb and Baby Boy #2 alike I got REALLY excited, haha. Anyway, the point is, it will be really fun and a huge blessing to be the parents of two little boys. I can't wait to meet our new little one, and see what life brings us. We are truly blessed, thank you God!

I'm an AUNT!

I am so excited to say that I am now an Aunt! My brother and his wife just had a beautiful little boy named Gavin Ray Hooks on July 25th! I had the priveledge of going and staying with them for the first week they were home, to help them in any way I could and of course to get some good quality time in with my new little nephew, Gavin! When they came to pick me up from the airport the day I arrived and I looked down at little Gavin for the first time I couldn't believe how incredible TINY he was! I guess after a year and a half of life with Caleb I had forgotten how small he was when he was born. Caleb weighed a pound less than Gavin at birth, CRAZY!!! It was such a blessing to be able to be there with them to help when I could and just see them as new parents! (they are GREAT by the way) I got there on a Tuesday and stayed there without Robbie and Caleb until Sunday when they came down. We then Stayed until Wednesday as a family. It was really cute to see Caleb's curiosity with Gavin, because we will have our own little bundle of joy come January. Caleb likes trying to put Gavin's paci in his mouth, haha, so cute! I love all of these monumentous moments in life that we can look back on a smile about! Life is an amazing thing!

Here we go again...

So a little over a month ago, on my birthday I might add, I found out we are expecting again. This came as quite a shock because we were not "trying" to get pregnant, and with Caleb we had to go through infertility treatments to get pregnant. So when I just had this feeling and decided to take a pregnancy test, I was VERY surprised to see that little window say "PREGNANT"! But, after the shock has started to wear off we are getting excited. I am scared to death to be the mom of two kids, but can't wait for Caleb to have a playmate. This pregnancy has been VERY different from my first one. I have been way sicker that I was with Caleb. Sometimes just getting up and going to the bathroom can seem hard right now. Crazy, I know, but its true. Things have smells that never did before I was pregnant. Now EVERYTHING has a smell, and not only has a smell, but a smell that makes me gag. I am hoping and praying that after I get through the first trimester the nausea will start to diminish, because if it doesn't this is going to be one heck of a pregnancy.... "Lord please show me some mercy..."

The things he does...

Sometimes, well all of the time, being a mommy to a 15 month old son is an adventure! Tonight, while Robbie was cooking dinner, yes Robbie, not me because I hurt my knee pretty bad today. I somehow got tripped up on Robbie's foot or leg or something and my leg twisted, and my knee popped out of place. I experienced the most excruciating pain I have ever felt! I went to urgent care, waited for a couple hours to be seen, got x-rays done, and finally they told me that they thought it was my MCL that was hurt. They gave me a brace to wear, crutches, and some very powerful pain medications. Sometime in the next few days I am supposed to go see an orthopedic doctor. Anyway, all of that to say...Robbie was cooking dinner while I was sitting on the couch hurting and feeling sorry for myself, while Caleb was looking for an adventure. So all of the sudden from the kitchen I hear Robbie yell "Oh my gosh Samantha, you have to come see this!" Now, picture me with my hurt leg, huge brace on, trying to "jump" up off of the couch scramble to grab my crutches, and hobble over as quick as I could to see what he was talking about, and this is what I found...

All I could do was laugh...I wanted to be that protective mother that jerked him off of the chair because he could slip and fall at any moment and get hurt, but I just couldn't do it. This was just too cute and HILARIOUS! Caleb had, all by himself I might add, pulled the rocking chair over from the corner of the room, climbed up in the chair, stood up, and started playing piano. I think we might have a child prodigy on our hands! ;)

These are the moments...

We got to go to the beach this past weekend for a couple of days and it was so much fun! I just love being able to get away from everything with my two men and just spend time together. It was a gorgeous weekend and the place we stayed was AWESOME! (Dunes Village Resort) The rooms were awesome, but the best part was the indoor water park! I love the water and always have, so it was fun to get to enjoy the pool and water slides even though the water in the ocean was too cold to enjoy.
Those moments, the moments where I could just relax with my family and not worry about anything else, are the moments I live for. I can't wait to go on more random spontaneous trips with my family in the near future!

I love you because...

I am one of those girls that absolutely LOVES the simple SWEET things, and my husband doesn't always remember that( of course, he's a man, lol), but he does every now and then, and when he does its usually something REALLY sweet! So, this Valentine's Day I didn't get diamonds, or roses, or anything like that, I got my man's love. Not only did he just say "I love you", he let me know WHY he loves me, which I especially love to hear because then I know he really does, haha. I woke up Valentine's Day morning to a really cool thing on my mirror. Robbie had taken pink sticky notes and spelled out "I love U". At the top it says " I love you because..." and then on each of the other sticky notes below is a reason why he loves me. PRETTY SWEET!

My Life verse...

"Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." -Proverbs 3:5&6

This is such an amazing promise from God. A long time ago I heard a very wise man say that we all should have a life verse, not because God commands it, or because we are not a good Christian if we don't, just because it is an amazing thing to have one verse that we can constantly come back to that keeps us looking in the right direction. So, not long after that I set out on a mission to find my "life verse" and this was it.
I love this promise from God because it encompasses the Christian life. If we can learn to FULLY trust in God with everything that is in us, totally forget our way of thinking, make sure that we look to him in everything that we do, then HE will make our paths straight.
It is so amazing to me after soooooo many times of reading this verse and reciting it in my head, I STILL stray from the beaten path in my walk with God. BUT, the absolutely incredible part is that because of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, no matter how many times I fall, or stumble, or stray, He always forgives me, he always wipes my slate clean, and he always allows me to find my way back to the path.
My point in taking a moment to dwell on my life verse today is three-fold: Firstly, we as imperfect human beings will ALWAYS fail; Secondly, God's grace is MORE THAN ENOUGH to cover our failures; And lastly, find a verse that you too can call your "life verse", it is something that you will value forever.

Family is a gift that lasts forever...

With the holidays always comes time with family, but this year after the holidays were over I have had the priveledge of having much more time with family. My brother, Grant, and his wife Ashley are in town staying with us for 10 days. They just moved to Pensacola, FL from Hawaii where my brother was previously stationed. My eyes have just really been opened lately to how important your family is, and how precious of a gift that it is. When no one else is there and you feel all alone, aside from our creator, we will always have family. It has been so much fun to spend time with my brother and his wife, my parents, my MawMaw, my cousins, and my Aunt and Uncle.
One woman in particular has really shown me and Robbie unconditional love, and has opened my eyes even further to the gift of family, and that amazing woman is my (step) Mom. I put "step" in parenthesis because if I didn't tell you, you would never know that we weren't her biological children because of the love and selflessness that she shows us. She has helped heal wounds, shown me what unconditional love really means, and just shown such a great example of a Christian mother! I love you!
I also have a wonderful biological mother that I love very much, and is a great Nana, but its a DOUBLE BLESSING to have two great Moms!
I just can't say enough about my entire family who are all wonderful people, and to all of you who I didn't speak to specifically in this blog, you have all taken part in making me who I am and
I LOVE YOU VERY VERY much!

ONE!...wait what???

I can't believe my little boy is ONE!  Where did the time go!??!  But man, what an incredible year it has been!  I have watched my little bean turn into a fun-loving little boy.  I am one of the luckiest mom's in the world, I had an incredible baby who at five days old slept through the night (and has ever since I might add), didn't really cry very much just grunted to let us know he needed something, and has always been very mild mannered.  It has been an honor to call myself Caleb Haiden McLaughlin's Mommy for a year now, and I can't wait to continue with that name for the rest of our lives.  To know that God has entrusted me with such an amazing little boy is such an honor and I hope I never get over that.

We had Caleb's first birthday party on his birthday, Sunday, December 28th.  It was so much fun to be able to celebrate Caleb's first year of life.  We had friends and family over to our new home and ate lots of food and cake, and watched Caleb open the sea of toys he recieved! =)  But, definitely the best part was watching the confused look on Caleb's face as we all stood around him singing Happy Birthday with a cake that had fire on top sitting in front of him, lol.  The other GREAT part was getting to watch Caleb dig into his own little Birthday Cake, just waiting for us to tell him to stop because surely he wasn't aloud to be making a mess and eating something this good!  I love my little boy and I can't wait to see what this years brings us!

A season for everything...

I just had to sit down tonight and talk a little bit about my man...now for those of you that hate all of that mushy stuff, I will try and keep most of that out! Robbie has just blown me away lately with how selflessly he has given himself to his work and the position God has him in at Next Level Church right now.  He is not getting to do all of the things that he has always loved and is EXTREMELY talented at, like leading worship, speaking, or shepherding.  But, he is just doing what he feels like God has called him to do right now, because he loves getting the opportunity to learn from and work around some of the most amazing leaders!  AND not only is he doing it, he is doing it whole-heartedly, and passionately!  He is constantly giving himself away without needing or requiring praise for it, but he still does it and doesn't complain. I watched Robbie go to the church this morning at 8:00 am, and is still there now, even long after everyone else is gone, working, without complaint.  Why, because he loves his church, his job, and his God!  WOW, what an incredible man of God that truly loves his creator and longs to see everyone know the savior he knows!