Strollin'

Nana (my mom) got Ellie a stroller to play with! We took a video of when she first saw it. (Didn't get the reaction I thought, however she wasn't in a very good mood... the stroller sure made her mood change though!)

Ellie's Somewhat New Room...

Ellie has been in her room for over 2 months now, but we finally have finished painting her furniture! I wanted to post some pictures of the almost finished product (we just need to put some things on the wall).

Not the best of pictures, but here are a few:

Vote for Ellie!

Update: There's no chance that Ellie can win, the baby girl who is in the lead has over 4000 votes! Oh well... maybe the judges will pick her :)


Today I went into babyGap and was reminded that it's the time of year for the Gap Casting Call! I entered last year, but this year they are having a fan favorite. The fan favorite is the child that recieves the most votes. So what that means is that I want YOU to vote for Ellie, that is if you think she is a Gap worthy baby!

Go here to vote: http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/lehanlon224/

You can vote everday!

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Today Ellie's friend Hannah is 3 years old! We celebrated her birthday this past Saturday at Monkey Joe's. Of course we forgot our camera, so I don't have any pictures to prove how much fun we had. If you don't know what Monkey Joe's is, it is an inflatable play center. Ellie was very hesitant at first and she wasn't feeling too great from her flu shot, but she ended up loving it and so did Zach and I.

Well, we hope Hannah had a great day! Here are some recent pictures of the two:

Pigtails

I have waited and waited for Ellie's hair to grow, and it slowly is getting longer and longer. I didn't think her hair was long enough, but I thought I would try to put it up. I got it in a little ponytail and then tried pigtails. She was too cute! Here are pictures to prove it:

Mommy Brain?

I'm almost too embarrassed to write this as a post, but I know many of you would take interest in this. Maybe I can excuse if for mommy brain, but I think it should be under "just stupid" category.

Yesterday, Ellie and I went grocery shopping (triple coupons at HT anyone??). We went to Harris Teeter, spent well over an hour there, then needed to stop by Food Lion to get a few more items on sale. Ellie was not having a good day and was throwing a fit everywhere we went. Even when she isn't whiny, it seems like everything just takes so much longer to do and I am nearly never as focused as I should be. I had already spent way too long in HT trying to make sure I got what was on my list, organizing coupons, and keeping Ellie from screaming... however when I got to the register, I had messed up even though I checked over and over again to make sure I had it right. What happened to the days when I could multi-task extremely well? I guess it just won't be the same ever again when one of the tasks is taking care of one of your kids.

Well we finally get to Food Lion and we were in and out in a jiffy. I let Ellie play with the car keys to keep her entertained and to keep my sanity while I was putting the groceries in the car. I finished loading the groceries up, took the keys, unlocked the doors (since Ellie had locked them), buckled Ellie in her car seat, made sure all the doors were unlocked, then tossed the keys up in the driver seat while I returned the cart. Well go figure, as soon as I closed the door, all the doors LOCKED! The groceries, my keys, my phone, and my CHILD were locked in the car!

Thank goodness a man let me borrow his phone to call Zach, however Zach was 40 minutes away! I definitely could NOT wait that long. So we decided to call the cops instead. A policeman arrived and within 20 minutes had the car unlocked (although it was not an easy task at all). Whew... groceries saved and more importantly CHILD okay! Ellie didn't even mind one bit, she was very entertained by the policeman sticking this long metal rod inside our car.

The funny thing is... our house is literally right behind Food Lion. Our house was also unlocked, with an extra set of keys inside. However, neither Zach or our neighbors were home to help and I definitely wasn't going to leave Ellie. I'm so glad we have policemen to help out in moments like these!

True Beauty

Our culture gives us this idea of what beauty is through advertisement, magazines, movie stars, infomercials, etc. It focuses so much on our physical, and nothing on our emotional. When I hear about the personal lives of some "beautiful" women, a lot of times it lessens my view of them. They no longer appear "beautiful" as they once were. This touches on the fact that beauty is more than just physical appearance, it is a matter of the heart as well.

As I was reading one of my new favorite blogs, She Worships, Sharon wrote about how much of a lie women are giving in to. Our culture has defined what beauty is, but even the most beautiful women aren't beautiful enough. You must read: When Super Models Aren't Super Enough

One thing that really hit home was how Dove and Sharon both say that we need to talk to our daughters before the beauty industry does. Ellie will see so many lies from just living, and the last thing I want her to do is believe one of them. I love what Sharon says,

“'Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does.' But don’t stop there. Talk to your friends, your family, younger women at your church, and most importantly speak truth to yourself. Our best defense against the lies of Satan is the truth of Christ. And our fellow soldiers in this fight are our sisters. So help them fight, but not by affirming them in areas that the world values, thereby feeding back into this culture of distorted beauty. Instead affirm them in the unfading beauty of their gentle spirit and the adornment of their good deeds. Affirm them in their modesty, their purity, their passion for Christ, their servant heart, and their hospitable kindness. Affirm them in those things which God calls beautiful, not the world."

My parents did a great job by affirming true beauty and teaching me what that looks like, as well as always giving me confidence in myself in a positive way. I hope I can do the same for Ellie, affirming her in what is right... that "a woman who fears the Lord is worthy to be praised."

My Greatest Challenge

Being a stay-at-home mom is the hardest thing I've ever done. Sometimes I just feel like a failure and other times I feel like I'm doing nothing productive (because everything I do seems to be something that just will be undone later, i.e. picking up toys, cooking, cleaning). Not too long ago I was this young, smart, social woman who was just starting her career and marriage. Now I've turned into this forgetful, clumsy, did I get a shower, just make it through today mom. I've also realized how many things I do NOT know and just how SINFUL I really am. Many times I've toyed with the thought of going back to work, but then again I know I can't give my child any greater service than staying home with her.

Alright, alright... I can hear some of you saying how I should be so proud to stay at home and how blessed my children are for having a mom able to dedicate her whole day to them. I agree, many days I loose sight of what exactly my role is. However, I definitely was reminded the other day while I was reading "Don't Make Me Count to Three" by Ginger Plowman, and she definitely made me cry. She says it amazingly:

"Now let's talk about my greatest challenge today... and every day. It is raising these two precious children in the ways of the Lord. God does have an important job for me, and it does require much skill. It is my calling, my priority, my struggle, and my goal. I will rise to the occasion and accept the task at hand. I will love, nurture, and train my children the way that God has called me to do.

Moms, we need to be reminded of the awesome responsibility that God has given us. When we respond to the high calling of motherhood with passion, the rewards are far greater than any we could ever gain outside of that calling. The joys of motherhood are rare and beautiful treasures that can be easily missed if we don't seize the opportunity to grab them.

Being a mom is more than being a cook, chauffeur, maid, counselor, doctor, referee, disciplinarian, etc. (just to name a few). It's about molding character, building confidence, nurturing, training, and guiding. There is nothing like the influence that a mother has on her child. A mother's influence has enormous potential to shape the person a child becomes, for good or ill."

I absolutely LOVE being a mom. Children are a blessing and give you so much joy. There are many days that I feel so blessed to stay at home because I have some amazing moments with Ellie. However there are just some days where it really is a struggle and you feel that you have accomplished nothing at all. I think it's so easy to dwell on those days instead of cherish the beautiful moments with my daughter and realize just how important my job is. My desire is to love, nurture, and teach my children the ways of the Lord. Therefore I need to seize the opportunities and focus on my goal!

Beautiful

I know I am her mom and I hope every mom feels this way about their little girls, but I am continually amazed by Ellie's beauty. I think my amazement comes mostly from the love I feel for her, and then a little from her physical beauty (she just is way too cute). You never think you can have such a strong love for someone... just to think that God's love for us is even greater is hard to comprehend. I definitely can grasp God's love for us more since I've become a mother.

Here's a few more pictures from the photographer at the lake:
She's so beautiful.

Our family that will soon grow :)

Bass Lake

Last night we went to a lake in Holly Springs to enjoy the beautiful weather and have some quality family time. We ran into a professional photographer who wanted to take pictures of us. He was very nice and sent us some of the pictures. Of course I wanted to share! I am too often forgetting our camera.

Here's one of Zach and I. Not the best expressions, but you can see my growing baby bump!

Here's our cautious little girl, very hesitant of the photographer:
This shot is taken when Zach was holding her up in the air. She loves her daddy, you can definitely tell by the joy in her face: