Wednesday, July 29, 2009

A Miracle

As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. (Ecclesiastes 11:5)

It's so easy to think that we don't see or experience any miracles, but I know they happen everyday. One miracle we tend to overlook is pregnancy. Being pregnant a second time, I too often am not as amazed and tend to lose sight of what is actually happening inside of me! This pregnancy shouldn't be any different than Ellie's in that it's a miracle and I should be amazed! I pray that God will make me stop and think everyday about the beauty of this miraculous event, the responsibility He has entrusted me with, the blessings another child will bring.



This baby is just as much of a miracle as Ellie was and every other baby is. She will be unique and special and BEAUTIFUL! She is a miracle and her life has already begun... I just can't wait to meet her!

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (Psalm 139:13,14)

What an AMAZING God!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Talking Ellie

So Ellie has been learning a lot of words, but she seems to say them only around mommy and daddy. My sister thinks we must be lying, so I decided to take a video for proof! The video was actually spurred on by Ellie randomly saying papa for the first time! Then I actually got her to say a few other words I rarely hear. However, the words that she normally says like baby, car, and more, she wouldn't say. So here's the proof:


Monday, July 20, 2009

It's a...

Girl!

We are excited to finally be able to refer to her as a girl, pick out a name, plan for another little girl, and dream of all the fun moments we will have with two girls!

Friday, July 17, 2009

It Won't Be Like This for Long

For all you parents out there, you must listen to this song. If I'm having a bad day because of my little one, I just take a break and listen to this song. I'm sure it'll not only make you cry, but it'll also make you squeeze and hold your kids:

It Won't Be Like This For Long


It won't be like this for long... I'm gonna miss the crying, the hugs and kisses, the innocence, the new words, the wobbly legs, and the so many precious moments I share with Ellie every day. Time is flying by way too fast, and it seems so too often I don't cherish it.

15 months


Ellie turned 15 months old on Zach's birthday, so I need to give you an update of all she can do! I'll give you her statistics first: 25% in weight, 30% in height, and 75% in head circumference. Ellie has been very consistent, somewhat light and short but has a BIG head! haha, we think she still looks proportional though :)

All about our sweet Ellie:
-LOVES the pool and being outside. She is constantly going to the door and begging to go outside.
-loves running around. The running plus outdoors results in a constant skinned knee, but our little girl never cries about it! She just gets back up and runs and does it again!
-eating more variety than at 12 months. She likes most vegetables now AND even mac and cheese, finally! She still is very picky about new things.
-eating with a spoon, although half of it ends up on her face.
-still ADORES her stuffed monkey Jack. We are going to introduce her to a baby doll of her own very soon, I think she'll love it because she has been interested in playing with dolls at other places.
-stacks blocks and legos. She's getting very good at putting together the few "lego" blocks we have. (They are actually little people blocks, i.e. a bigger version of legos)
-still usually takes 2 naps a day, but I think we are starting our way to one nap because more and more recently she doesn't want to sleep twice a day.
-still sleeps from 8a-8p, sometimes we might keep her up late though :)
**however whenever she stays at Nana's house (my mom), Ellie will sleep until 10a! I guess we must wear her out there.
-loves to color with anything and on anything, but usually ends up being more interested in the pencil/pen/markers and starts to eat them.
-is a great listener, most of the time. We will ask her to put it back (this is what she does best), don't touch, hold our hand, and come (this is the hardest).
-loves the sand, her favorite thing at the playground (if it has one). She also likes the slide and HATES to swing. (I keep trying everytime we go because I don't understand how you cannot like swinging... it's my favorite!)
-saying more and more words everyday. Words she can say now: woof woof, go, no, moo, car, home, pool, dada, mama, uh oh, more, ball, up, corn, and today she's trying to get 'baby' down (this is kind of a difficult word though).
-signing more, all done, please, bath, milk, and thank you (well, thank you is usually her blowing you a kiss since they look very similar)
-points to many objects, but when you ask her to point to her ear, nose, mouth, eye, and head, she usually gets it right!
-loves phones! She actually has started to put it up to her ear now too!
-loves to dance. I'm sure you could tell in the video, but if you ever have been around when music comes on or you start to sing, she immediately starts to dance.
-obsessed with dogs. Everytime she sees one she can't take her eyes off of it, and don't even try to talk to her about anything else.
-loves to pick flowers, thanks to my mom. Luckily we have a lot of blooms on our flowers, but each day she probably picks at least 20 and picks them apart.
-prefers mommy to hold her and rock her before going to bed, but is fine if I'm not there.
-one of the cutest things she does is she'll get in her little red chair and take a book or magazine and "read" it. It is sooo cute!
-like to look at books, but you can only read about 2 pages before she's off your lap and doing something else. One day...

So the list was in random order, just listed as I thought of things. Ellie is such a happy little girl and such a joy to have in our life. Things sometimes feel very difficult, especially because we have a child, but I stop and think of what a HUGE blessing she is. There are so many things we learn because of her and from her. Sometimes she does frustrate us because of her toddler ways but I sure am going to miss this age.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Happy Happy Birthday Zach!


Zach turned 24 today! We had a great weekend, exactly the way he wanted to spend it (well most of it). Zach doesn't like to make a big deal of his birthday and likes to keep it real low key, so we did things that he loves to do. Went to his favorite places: Biscuitville, Starbucks, Barnes&Noble. It was great.

I am so lucky to be married to this man! Even though he might not like to celebrate his birthday, I LOVE to because I am so glad he is alive! He's been a source of strength, comfort, protection, love, and sometimes irritation (hah... of course, he's my husband and he's Zach). I look forward to growing old together and sharing many special memories. I pray that God will continue to bless this godly man with health and stamina and the grace to continue to guide our family for many years to come.

I love you, babe. Thanks for being you. Thanks for being mine. And thanks for being such a wonderful dad.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Marbles Museum

Last Wednesday, Ellie, Ashlei and I went to the Marbles Museum in downtown Raleigh. It's a museum for kids of all ages, even one year olds! Here is a lot of what Ellie did:

Drove a car
Dressed up as a firefighter
Played with trains
Gathered vegetables in the garden
Went grocery shopping
Splashed in the water
Pretended to be a pirate
Built a fort
Threw peas

Went down the slide
Played with fruit
Climbed through a tunnel
Jumped on a trampoline
Twirled a hula hoop
Danced in a tutu
There's a lot more you can do, Ellie wasn't quite old enough for the other stuff. Tons of fun, we loved it!

Cute and Not So Cute Ellie

Last week, Ellie wasn't been her normal happy self. We ended up having to go out to keep her occupied, she never seems to be her happiest when she's home. One morning we went on a walk and she looked too cute, so I decided to try to get a picture of her. I was able to get one shot of her with Kayla:
Then the rest turned out like this:
We went on our walk and surprisingly she wasn't very happy. I had to sing most of the walk until the very end I reclined her and she finally was quiet. Of course I found her like this when I got home:
Isn't she just adorable!

Go Muddies!

Zach, Ellie, and I went to a Mudcats baseball game this past Sunday. Now the title says Go Muddies, but actually Zach was pulling for the opponent, the Tennessee Smokies, who were a Cubs minor league affiliate.

This was the first baseball game Ellie had been to this year (of course Zach and I saw the Cubbies in Chicago). We weren't quite sure if Ellie would sit still and have a good time, or need to be up and walking around, but she ended up doing great! We went with our friends and their kids and had a blast. Ellie would clap and dance and yell. She sat for a while and watched the game, but mostly liked to be up and playing with the other girls. After the game Ellie got to experience her first fireworks show (we missed them on the forth because we were traveling). She was scared at first, but I think she was pretty fasicnated by the colorful lights (just not the loud noise).

We forgot our nice camera, but got a video. Enjoy :)



Here are a few I stole from one of our friends:
Ellie and Fiana watching the game

Fiana, Ellie, and Grace
Ellie, Hannah, and Fiana dancing

Monday, July 6, 2009

16 weeks

I went to the doctor today and the baby's heartbeat sounded perfect! I also found out when we will find out the sex of baby b! I didn't think he would want me back in two weeks, but he did! So we will find out July 20. We are super excited and will definitely post the conclusion.

So how is baby b growing? Here's a tid bit of info that I got this week:
Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length . Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too.

What your baby looks like:
Make sure you take our poll, you only have 2 weeks left!