Just got the call...

That my sewing machine is fixed!!! Yay :D

{insert happy dance and many smiles!!!}

I have been having sewing withdrawals. I know that my machine being down for the count was a much needed break given to me from the Lord.

And now I am so excited to get back to work! I seriously have a stack of projects all cut out and ready to be sewn.  And I just found this site today - Sewing in No Mans Land - Oh my cuteness! Could you seriously not just die of this cuteness?!}

All of these are patterns on this website! And these adorable aprons, 

I can hardly wait to get my hands on my machine and some fabric!!

Sickies, sickies go away!

We had a wonderful Easter weekend, in spite of the dreadful sickies that wanted to hang around our house.

It started last Tuesday when Little lady woke up with a 104 deg fever. Hubby called in to work {my life saver} to stay home and help me since I haven't been getting hardly any sleep at night most nights. Mostly because Little dude rolls over in his sleep and wakes him self up, he hates being on his stomach and it makes him mad, then he's awake. :(

Any way, where was I?

Oh yeah, the fever. We gave Little lady some Tylenol and her fever would come down for about 30 min before it spiked back up to 102-103 deg. We spent most of the day laying around and hubby and I took turns holding her. She wanted to be held the whole time and slept most of the time in our arms.

She still had a fever on Thursday but hubby went to work and we made it through the day which was much like the day before, but with a lot more crying because she still wanted to be held all day but I still had a Little dude who needed my attention. {Here in lies the hardest part about being a parent of two littles,  at least in my opinion. One is sick and wants to be held, one is a baby and needs to be held.}

Some how we made it to Friday and by this time her fever had changed to 99-100 deg and I held off from giving her Tylenol unless she was too miserable. The fever usually broke on it's own but then would be back just several hours later. I was confused and frustrated that it kept coming back. I was ready to have a healthy, happy little girl back.

Friday night I was hopeful that Saturday would be a new day with all fevers gone. Saturday morning proved to have it's own agenda and we quickly realized that Little lady was experiencing a first not one I was looking forward to write in the baby book.

She had her first ear infection. :(

I am so grateful that our pediatrician's office is open Sat. mornings for this very reason. We called once they opened and got her in. They gave us a prescription and we went right to fill it and get our girl on her way back to good.

Saturday night we met hubby's cousin and family at our church. They are looking for a church in the area and we loved showing them ours! We hope they decide to come back too. :)

Sunday we had a laid back morning and enjoyed hanging out the house mostly. Hubby finished making his traditional Easter cheesecake {from scratch! And SO bummed I didn't get a picture :(} and then we headed over to some friends house {Sheryl & Glenn's, aka Lolli & Pops!} for the rest of the day.

The edible birds nest no bake cookies I made! 

We had a blast with so much great food, great company {I think there was 20 or so there!}, and great games and fun! These friends never disappoint for a good celebration and they always go all out. I'm really bummed that I didn't get more pictures. Maybe I can get some from the others who were better at taking pictures.

The tournament board, designed by Jaeson Fricke.

One of the games that is always played and is a really big deal is the Egg Tournament!

Hubby with his egg and his game face!

Everyone gets a hard boiled, colored egg and after the tournament order is decided two people face off. They collide their eggs together across a white table cloth and who ever's egg loses ANY peice of it's shell first is out and the other person advances to the next round! It's so much fun and it gets so crazy competitive {to include a surprise raw egg!} that there is always a LOT of laughs to be had!

Carrying around her candy bag :)

This year Glenn added a new game... Where he pulled out the big Nerf guns and had each dad take a turn to shoot and knock down a stuffed animal from the banister above the living room. Sounds strange, but it was a fun and unique way to keep the guys involved! Even if it was "all for the kids!"

Among these 'grown up' games there were many eggs hidden around the house for the youngins to hunt and plenty of sugar and candy to give all the kids sugar comas for the rest of the evening!

Even though there was an attempt to ruin our weekend with the sickies, fun prevailed!

Easter: and what it has come to mean to me.

"But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

When they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.

Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?

He is not here, but is risen!" Luke 24:2 - 6

I think Easter is my favorite 'holiday.'

It hasn't always been. Not even after giving my life to Jesus and the holiday took on a new meaning.

But this year I have found it to be a truly joyful and enjoyable occasion.

This also hasn't been the case in the past.

The holiday acknowledging the death of my Savior and the events surrounding His death have brought about feelings of guilt, shame and even doubt and disbelief. Not given to me by the Lord, of course, as not one of these are a part of God's character and would not put them on me.

But I struggled with processing the act of love that was the death of Jesus on the cross {for whosoever,


and you are a whosoever, by the way} because I just couldn't even make sense of it. How could the event


 of this man being beaten so badly that he was no longer recognizable {his arms were tied up and he was 


whipped with a 'cat of nine tails' 39 times and flesh was actually ripped off of his body with every whip}, He was 


mocked {not a single person spoke up for him or pleaded his case, the loneliness and hopelessness that any one of 


would feel in that situation is unbearable alone}, spat in his face {the out right disgrace is hard to even imagine}, 


forced to physically carry his death sentence {the cross itself, that is, and this is after his body was nearly ripped to


 shreds, bone and flesh}, and then actually nailed to the cross {have you ever missed a nail head with your hammer 


and accidentally hit your finger? Or how about a paper cut, anyone else cried from a paper cut? and he had a NAIL driven through his skin, muscle tissue and then hung there by those piercings alone.}?

And He never once resisted or protested.

And I think to myself, All that he went through, and he didn't deserve it. But I do. How am I not supposed to feel guilty and shameful? 

I finally realize why,

I have always stopped the story at His death.

Yes, Jesus died. He died a horrible, unthinkable, unfathomable death. There are two things that have changed the way I think about Easter this year, and I hope every year to come...

1. Jesus isn't dead anymore, HE IS ALIVE! He rose from the dead and He is alive today!!! {This is the celebration!}

2. No, He didn't deserve it. I deserve it. BUT He did it anyway, not to make me feel guilty, not to shame me. He died on the cross and rose from the dead to give me eternal life. Nothing else in the whole world could give me that opportunity. Not being a good person, not going to church, not memorizing the bible, not donating to charity, not helping the homeless, not doing my best to be a good person, not doing the 'right thing', not even believing in God. NONE of these things will get me to heaven. Jesus' death on the cross is the ONLY way that I could live eternally in heaven when I leave this earth.

So because of this I have decided that for me Jesus is not only the reason for the Christmas season. 
He isn't even the reason just for the Easter season. Jesus is the reason. {emphasis on the period}

And He died on the cross and He rose again so that YOU could be forgiven of all your sins and live eternally. Will you accept this gift and make this holiday a celebration as well?

I pray you and your family are richly blessed in God's grace, Jesus Christ, on this Easter holiday. And everyday there after.

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Little Lady {21 months}

*Alternately titled 'Catch up and Check ups!'

Happy 21 months, sweet Little Lady!

Hard to believe that you are only 3 months from turning 2! Here is the latest...

Sizes
Clothes: You are still wearing size 2t. I'm glad that your growing has seemed to plateau for the time being, it's much easier on the budget!
Shoes: You are right between and size 5 and 6. And from what I've heard, toddler feet keep growing fast, even if their bodies slow down.
Diapers: Your little buns still fit into a size 4. Will you be potty trained before you go up a size? We'll see!

Favorites

Books: You love your books, all of them! Right now you are more in to 'reading' them yourself than having us read to you. It's very cute to see you make up your own words and then say the words you know based on what the pictures are. But I do look forward to having you let me read stories to you again. I know this is a phase.

Words/ phrases: You are so vocal these days and I'm always amazed at the phrases you use or understand! You are the cutest smarty pants I know! Some of your frequent says:

• When you hear your brother crying in a different room you say "Uh oh, bubba wake!" even if he wasn't sleeping.
• "ke-fo" {Careful} as you pretend to fall down or is doing something that mama is usually telling you to "to be careful."
• You're putting ownership to everything, and I mean everything! For example at dinner you will point out "dada's cup, mama's cup, Evie's cup, dada's plate, mama's plate, Evie's plate..." and on and on. I love watching you figure things out.

Food: I don't really know how to get you to try a more variety of foods. I offer you every variety of things that I can think of but you just don't eat very many different things. Seems like it's just the same few things. I've heard that part of it is the stage of life you are in, that food is one of the very few things that you feel like you can control in your life and you are testing that out. I've gotten to the point to not make a big deal out of it. If you don't eat what I offer you then I will offer you a banana or some applesauce and if you don't want that then you are done and no other snacks or food until the next meal. So far I haven't found that it encourages you much but you aren't starving yet and you must be getting some nutrition because you are still growing!!

Activity: You know and can identify all your capital letters. You know most of the numbers 1-10 and will count things up to three, for example "One, two socks" and "One, two three blocks" as you point to the object and say the number. You still love tea parties and even more now that Nana brought you a table and chair that's just your size. You are doing a lot of imitating of mama and dada lately too. Especially in the area of mothering your stuffed animals. You 'change their diapers', put them to bed, and I've even seen you 'nurse them. So cute to see you exploring your mothering instincts.

Song: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star is a recent favorite and you would sing Rock-a-bye Baby all day long! You like to do your own version by singing 'Evie Rocky' or 'Bubba Rocky' or even 'Froggy Rocky' while you sway back and forth. It's very sweet, especially when your brother is crying and you want try and help soothe him.

Sleep:

You still take an afternoon nap everyday. It's shifted to being later in the day and you sleep a little longer too, about 2-2.5 hours! When you wake up I'm usually about to start fixing dinner and that makes for a happy girl.


Character Traits:
Just last week, you started showing a new side of your personality. It's almost like an embarrassed, shamed puppy look. A mix of that and hurt feelings look. And I'll be honest, it just about breaks my heart to tiny pieces, especially if tears follow. Depending on the context determines how I try to respond outwardly. If you are reacting to getting in trouble then I try to hold my ground and not show a response if possible. I don't want you to get the idea that you can use it get what you want. But if I unintentionally say or do something that hurts your feelings, I do my best to stop what I'm doing and make it right with you, if that means I apologize then I do it immediately. 


Challenges:
Discipline continues to be a challenging thing in parenting, especially being that you are our first child. I think that may be the case for our parenting lives, at least in generalities, with you. Of course there will be variations based on personalities with you and your brother and other possible siblings. But for the most part you are the one we are figuring out things with. And it can be hard. Really hard. I wish is was more black and white. I mean I know that the Bible is clear on discipline and I'm so grateful to have that guidence. It's just that we are sinners dealing with a sinner. And I mess up and that is hard because I want to do right by my kids, setting them up for a healthy relationship with Jesus. But God is good and His grace is teaching me just as much, if not more, than what you are learning! 


Every day you are more of a little girl and less of our baby, but you are such a joy to have in our lives and we love you more than we could ever comprehend!! Happy 21 months, sweet baby little girl!


And for the 'Check up' part of this post:


Little Dude had his 6 month check up on Tuesday and I wanted to post his stats.


Weight: 15 lbs 2 oz {15% - 1 lb 12 oz gained in 2 months}
Height:  25.5 in  {20% - .5in gained in 2 months}
Head: 16 7/8 in {25% - 7/8in gained in 2 months}


Little dude is a, well, little dude! He's healthy and he is growing though!! All I have is to compare him to Little lady and he just seems so small. I think she weighed 15 lbs at 4 months!! But his pediatritian isn't concerned. 


He did give us the lecture about starting solids because we haven't done that yet but I'm not too worried about it. Little dude hasn't been that interested in it really and he doesn't sit up very well yet. I'll probably start cereal in the next day or two and go from there.


The only other thing that is note worthy is that Little dude is a little bit behind in pushing up on his arms when he's on his tummy. He will just balance on his tummy and hold his feet in the air and use his arms to reach for things, he just isn't interested in putting weight on his arms yet. I really do think that it has more to do with his laid back personality then it does anything else. He just isn't in any hurry for anything! He's just like his daddy ;) I'm perfectly content with him staying put for as long as possible. Plus he just seems like he is still my baby boy!!

And now I think I've said all I can say!

Boy or Girl?!

No, we aren't pregnant!


But Angie & Nate, some great friends of ours, are having a baby sometime in August! And they had a fun party on Saturday evening to reveal and share the gender of the baby with us!!

All the guests were instructed to wear either blue or pink, depending on what you think the baby's gender is. The couple had their ultrasound last week and had the ultrasound tech write down the gender and put it in an envelope. Then they had a cake made with the cake part made with either pink or blue cake {depending on the gender}.

Hubby wore purple because he is so competitive he hates to be wrong {blue + pink = purple} he couldn't decide on one gender!

He is a silly guy and I LOVE him for it!

More party guests:

Little Lady was so excited to wear her tutu!

The daddy-to-be with Little Dude.

Loved the hat!

Beautiful mama-to-be, guessing boy!

Glenn went with the Elmo look, which Little Lady LOVED, but he was team boy, too.

Scott and Jessica. :)

Barry and Kari. :)

Even the parents-to-be's sweet puppy Murray had a say!

So much delicious food.

             

             

Jessica grilled the BEST chicken. YUM!

The cake!

And the results were.....

. . .

. . . . .

Mama-to-be was right!!!!

Sweet Baby Flynn is going to be a BOY!

Congrats to Nate and Angie, 

we can't wait to meet your little sweetheart!

Little Dude {6 Months}

Happy half birthday, Little Dude!

Sizes

Clothes:
You are wearing 6-12 month and 9 month size clothes

Diapers:
Still wearing size 2 in disposable.

Just hours old.

Sleep:
You still wake through the night, at least twice but often it's more like 3-4 times. Sometimes you eat before you go back to sleep. Other times you just need your pacifier and kiss from your mommy. :)

You are up for the day around 6:30 am.

You are starting to nap a little more regularly. Usually you take a short nap around 8:30 am, a longer nap around 12:00 pm, and then another short nap around 4:30 or 5p. But I am so grateful that you are pretty adaptable and you'll sleep on the go or in your baby carrier so if we have something going on you just nap on the go!

Food:
You are still nursing full time and you eat about every 3 hours. 

We'll need to start solids here soon! Maybe we'll give you your first taste of cereal today, in honor of your half birthday!

One and a half months old.

Activity:

You rolled over for the first time yesterday! From your back to your tummy!! I set you down on the floor on your back {you still strongly dislike tummy time} so that I could finish mixing and pour the brownies I was making. You started fussing so I looked over to check on you and you were on your tummy! I was so excited and you were just happy to be off your tummy, you gave me a huge grin. :)

You aren't really ready to sit up yet. If I sit you up and hang on to you, you arch your back and want to stand instead. I know you'll get there when you are ready.

Toys are becoming much more appealing to you lately. You will reach for anything in sight and you've even started getting frustrated if you can't get what you are trying to grab. You are loving sitting in your activity seat and big sis loves playing with you!

Four months old.

Character traits:

You are still so laid back that it's hard to see all the things that make you tick yet. You are such a content baby and will just hang out for the most part. You enjoy just hanging out where ever we are and just watch all that is going on around you. Especially your big sis, you will watch her play for hours. 

Five months.

Challenges:

Sleeping at night time is a challenge for me. I could use some more sleep at night. And with you waking up around 6:30 and then your sister is up just before 7a, I'm exhausted and would love to take a nap with you at 8:30 but your sister is up needs my attention. Oh well. I know that some day you will get the sleeping thing down and I know that there will also be day that you seem so grown up and I'll miss these days!

Verse:

This month my focus for you, my son, is that you will take Jesus as Lord for yourself when the opportunity first comes to you!

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

Happy 6 months, my baby boy!

We love you :)

Sweet tea.

Happy Dedication Day!

Today we dedicated Caleb at our church. We dedicated Evalyn the day before her first birthday last July so I think we are getting better by doing Caleb's just before his six month mark. {Read why we dedicate or babies to the Lord.} I told hubby that maybe with the next one we'll go straight from the hospital to the church and have the baby dedicated first thing! :D



Not that it really matters, we have dedicated our children to the Lord before they were even born. But the public statement and accountability from our church family is what is important to us with this act of obedience.

We planned to do it this day because my mom, Nana, is here visiting and she likes to be there for this dedication, to stand with us and commit to helping support us in raising our babies unto the Lord.

Yesterday us girls went to a local shopping center and got cupcakes to have today and celebrate our joyous occasion! Of course we will never turn down a reason for delicious cupcakes!!

We have been having fun with Nana while she visits. We always hate to see her go.

Me and my girl.

The wind was so strong, they were trying not blow away! Can you tell?!

Enjoying a mini cupcake with Nana. Yum!

Doing puzzles. Puzzles are very popular at our house!

She can identify all the letters of the alphabet and match them up on her puzzle board!

 And some dancing, of course!

 Little Lady, just absolutely adores her Nana and has asked for her by name the whole time she's been here! They are best buddies. :)

Nana is pretty fun, if I do say so myself!