Fun With Friends

Last weekend, Aunt Kelli and Uncle David came to visit us. On Friday, I told Mikaela that Aunt Kelli was coming to see us--AND Uncle David. She got really excited when I told her about Kelli coming, but as soon as I said David, her countenance changed to sadness immediately! She said, "I don't want see Unc Dafid." We went on about our day, and a little later, she walked into the room with her head down saying, "Mommy, I don't want see Unc Dafid." :) I told her he was coming anyway and that she better be nice to him.

Well, when they got here she clung to me for a few seconds before Kelli pulled her off of me and started playing with her. Before we knew it, she was sitting her baby dolls on David's legs and playing with him. For the rest of the weekend, she was all about playing with Aunt Kelli and Unc Dafid--she even wanted to go home with them! She was being so sad and pitiful about them leaving that we let her get in the car with them and told her bye. They made it to the end of the driveway before David figured our idea was backfiring on us :)

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. On Saturday, we went to visit our friends Vicky and Robert and Vicky's mom. I forgot to take my camera!! Then we went to Katy Mills Mall and had to drive home in some really horrible weather! At the mall, Kelli asked Mikaela if she wanted to ride the carousel. Mikaela wasn't real thrilled with the idea. I was so sad I didn't have my camera with me. Then Eric reminded me that I probably had my point-and-shoot in my purse--oh yeah! The problem with that is it's like watching a movie after reading the book--so disappointing! Oh well :)

My Munchkins

Yes, I know, my kids spend a lot of time in their pj's :) MJ changes clothes so often, I usually don't even bother trying to get her dressed unless we're going somewhere. And Elijah still spits up so much, I figure, why bother?!

I found MJ like this on the couch the other day--this girl is all over the place! Elijah initiated her last week; it was pretty funny :) I was holding him outward so he wouldn't get me if he spit up, and I was helping MJ into her highchair. Right as she put out her arm, Elijah spit up--right onto her hand and arm! She wanted to cry so bad, but I was cracking up, so her whines turned to laughter before she could even get upset :)

Then MJ was looking at a book that had an ice cream cone in it, and she asked me, "Who's that?" (We're working on when to say, "Who's that?" and "What's that?") I told her what it was, so from then on, she wanted some ice cream. I told her we had some popsicles, and she could have one of those after lunch. So after lunch, I set her up with her popsicle in her high chair while I jumped in the shower. Minutes later, I hear her crying. I had a feeling she probably dropped the popsicle. When I finished, I walked into the living room to find her leaning over the tray, holding herself up so her bottom wouldn't touch the seat of the high chair. She said, "Mommy, cold!" :) Yes--she'd dropped it in her seat, so she couldn't sit on it :) She got to stay that way almost my entire shower :)

Elijah did this all by himself! I guess he just backed up enough and pulled on the dress until it ended up like this. It's always classic to see MJ's face when she notices he has something of hers :)

Purring

Below is an example of Elijah's new noise--I say new--he's been doing it for a couple of weeks now, so in baby time, that means it's getting old, and he'll most likely move on to something new very shortly :) Sometimes he'll "purr" for quite a while, but, of course, by the time I try to capture it on video, he's already done with a majority of it! He's also rocking on all fours--he can't do anything with it yet (except get one push forward to where he falls on his face), but he gets around quite well by rolling and scooting himself backwards :) After playing for a while, he eventually backs himself into a corner, and rather than roll to get himself out of it, he cries pitifully until Mommy rescues him :)

Oh Yeah!

So, I forgot to mention that the flowers Eric got me came with a small box of chocolates. Well, I made the mistake of telling Mikaela what they were and even took off the outer packaging. I left the box on the table and went to get our lunch ready. When I came back into the dining room, this is what I walked in to! Of course, she chooses to bite into a piece that has wrapping around it--and no, she didn't bother to take the wrapping off first--my little billy goat :)

Blessed

Now, I know some of you ladies out there may beg to differ with me, and so you should; but I have the BEST husband in the whole wide world!! :)

My Eric is the greatest man a girl could ever have. He was so worth the 25-year wait--yes, there were many years spent worrying and fretting, wondering if a wedding day and kids would ever come to my doorstep. And now, 5.5 years after being married, and 2 kids later, I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband! Just when you

think that maybe the Lord didn't hear your prayers, He answers them in a way more amazing than you ever could have imagined--always a reminder that His timing is perfect. Oh the things we miss out on or sometimes mess us b/c we refuse to do things according to His timetable! My Eric is so patient with me; he knows just how to comfort me if I'm upset; he is always very gentle with me and is always willing to listen to me. After 5.5 years, I can honestly say we've never fought. Now, don't get me wrong--we've had our disagreements and times of being upset with each other--but we just respect each other and are civil in how we go about our "arguments." :) Thankfully, the Lord gave us such complementing temperaments. Eric is the type of man who wants to talk things out immediately and fix them. And I'm so grateful for that--we're able to deal with any problems immediately and then move on! I feel like we're still in our honeymoon stage! And I hope that never changes! As you can see, I could go on and on ...and on, so I'll spare you of all the other ways in which my husband is the most wonderful husband ever :) I love him with all my heart and stand amazed at how God never ceases to do "exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think." Thank you, Eric, for loving me the way you do, and thank you, Lord, for bringing this marvelous man into my life :)

P.S. Did you know that RED is the BEST color the Lord put on this earth for our eyes to see?! Aren't those red roses so beautiful?!!

Little Man!

Our precious little man is getting so big! He's really starting to spoil this mama :) I think he has FINALLY reached his long-sleep stage!!! Early last week, I broke him from taking a feeding in the middle of the night (I thought we'd already gotten to that point, but we kept teetering back and forth--it's so easy to break down and feed them, even when you know they're not really hungry!)--that was a LONG 3 nights :) But now, for the past 4 or 5 days he's slept from about 8:30p-7:30a! Actually, I think I've heard him wake up and talk and play for a little while before drifting back to peaceful sleep :) I haven't gotten to completely enjoy it yet, with Mikaela being sick, but I'm looking forward to some blissful nights! (Maybe I can cut out my midday nap :) )

Also, he's really spoiling me with the potty! I haven't had to clean out a poopy diaper in at least a week now! He's been doing all his poopies (2-3 per day) in the potty!!!! He'll also pee quite often for me on the potty, but there are just way too many of those to catch them all. I have figured out though that if I just hold him over the sink and turn the water on, he'll pee almost every time if there's anything that needs to come out! Just use cloth diapers--you'll be super motivated and excited to have your baby go in the potty (or in the sink) too! :) Yes--I feel like I spend half my life in the bathroom, but that's ok :) This is where the Lord has me right now--I'm supposed to be trying to figure out these little munchkins! :) I know it's inevitable, but that next diaper of his that I have to clean out is going to be extremely painful :) I think I now use more diapers to clean up his spit up than I do for his bottom!

Here he is sitting up--he's really gaining more and more balance! And he's still trying so hard to get up on his knees and feet to try to crawl!

Sick Baby

Up to this point, we've been very fortunate to have very healthy babies, with Mikaela having only one real illness and Elijah no illnesses so far. Just a few days ago, Mikaela was happy and running around and kicking the ball. Then, early Wednesday morning she woke up with a fever that was almost 105*!! So we gave her some medicine, and within an hour it went down to 101*, so I wasn't too worried about it. She hovered between 101* and 103* throughout the day, and then Wednesday night got back up to 105*! There were no other symptoms, but when you see 105*, it's kind of scary! So I got in the bathtub with her, and we stayed there for 20 minutes or so until her fever started coming down. Fortunately, it came down to 103* and then to 101*. Mikaela and I slept on the couches so I could check her temp throughout the night. She still had no other symptoms, so we debated on whether or not to take her to the doctor. After talking to the nurse, we decided to hold off on going to the doctor. From then on, she did fine--still with a low-grade fever but nothing major. Yesterday and today, the fever appears to be gone, and there's no rash or anything, so hopefully she's ok. She was back to changing clothes and getting into things yesterday, so I think she's bouncing back :) One of the hardest things has been keeping her from touching Elijah! She wants to touch his hands and pet on him so bad :) So far, he hasn't exhibited any fever or "sick" symptoms! We are so thankful for all the prayers and are so grateful to the Lord for keeping His hand on our little princess!

Watch This!!!

Wow!! We didn't think this day would ever come :) But it's kind of interesting--since I've been doing the German and Spanish with Mikaela, I've noticed that sometimes she hears things completely differently from how they sound. She can almost always say the individual syllables with me, but when she tries to put it all together, something weird comes out! Looking back, that's the same thing she has done the past few months with her name. She'll say the individual syllables with me, but when she puts it all together, "Potty" or "Peylah" or "Peydah" is what would come out. So maybe she hasn't been being facetious after all--that's just the way she hears it when it's all together! This week we have worked really hard on saying the syllables and then just putting 2 of the syllables together at a time rather than all three. It really seemed to have helped--she even brings it up by herself sometimes like she's wanting me to help her say it correctly :) Whoo hoo!!

This next video is her saying her first memory verse: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." Ephesians 6:1 I thought that was a fitting first verse to learn :) Anyway, we're trying to go over what that means so she's not just spouting off some words but is understanding there's a reason for learning them. We started with this verse a month or two ago and have gone through phases of her repeating after me. Then I slacked off for a little while and wasn't making her say it. Recently though, she has been quoting lines from "The Sound of Music" and "The Fox and the Hound", and I figured if she could do that, then she could be memorizing Scripture. So I made up a little song for the verse, and we sang it one morning. We went about the rest of our day, and while we were eating dinner, she was playing with her animals and I heard her praying with them. She said, "Dear Jesus, Children, obey parents, in Lord, for this right, Ephesians..." Then she saw I was watching her, and she got embarrassed and stopped :) I was so surprised! I guess I just wasn't really expecting her to remember it! These little ones really ARE like sponges! They really ARE listening even when you think they didn't hear a word you just said--kinda scary! :) I just pray that we are Christ-like role models for her so that she will see our lives--even through all of our imperfections--and will be able to see what it's like to live for Him and to serve Him with all her heart, soul, mind and strength.