My Kiddos

EM is all over the place still--not pulling up to standing yet, but he's getting there. See the bruise on the side of his forehead? Part of learning to get around is falling down and getting bumps on your noggin :) The other day he pulled the bucket of toys out of the entertainment center all by himself, then pulled up on his knees and began picking out toys at his leisure--playing w/one for a couple of minutes before moving on to the next toy :) Eric wanted a picture that would show his eyes. I guess you would call them hazel right now--they can look either more green or blue depending on what he's wearing. We'll see what happens with them after he's about a year and a half or 2. MJ's took a while to set in, but I finally have to concede--they are indeed brown now. I guess if we have enough kids it'll up our odds of having a blue-eyed child :)

MJ loves to wrap things around her head :) And she still nurses her babies--not as often so I had to get a picture just to make sure I have one before she stops :) She is also still quoting Anne. The other day I heard, "Hi Carrots!" "Don't call me Carrots!!" :) MJ started helping me load the dishwasher--she gets to put the silverware in the basket--don't worry, I put the sharp knives in :) I'm definitely NOT going to argue w/her wanting to help with that! She's been helping with the unloading for a while now--before long she'll get to do all of that by herself too :)

Easter Family Pics

Here are a couple of family pics a friend of ours took for us on Easter Sunday. It's so hard to catch everyone looking and smiling at the same time!

Tired

The other morning Elijah was playing with toys on the floor while MJ and I were laying on the couch for a few minutes. After a couple of minutes, I didn't hear anything from him anymore, so I thought he was probably just watching us. But when I looked up, this is what I saw :) Guess he thought if we were going to lay down, he could too! Of course, MJ thought it was so cute that she couldn't stand not waking him up!

Navor

The other day I was cleaning out some clothes in MJ and Elijah's closet, and MJ was playing with her babies. I hear:

MJ: My baby name is Navor.

Mommy: Navor?

MJ: (an emphatic "yes you got it" head shake)

Mommy: Navor?

MJ: (another emphatic "yes you got it" head shake)

Mommy: (thinking to self--Navor? Navor? Ooooh--Neighbor!) Neighbor?

MJ: Yes, Navor!

So a couple of days prior to this MJ had been looking out the window watching our neighbor cut grass. She asked me who it was, and I told her the lady was our neighbor. So one of her babies finally has a name :)

Here are a few more current sayings of my little munchkin:

*"buth...buth" (but...but) {usually when I tell her to do something}

*"Why? Why not?" (as she holds her palms upwards) {usually when I tell her no to something}

*then sometimes she'll answer the question herself, "cause Mommy (or Daddy) say so" :)

*to Elijah: "I know, buddy; I know--it's ok."

*"What my wa?" (as she pats her chest) {What can I watch?}

*"I can't" ( or sometimes, "He can't," when I tell her Eric's at work) {usually when I tell her to pick up her toys}

*If Eric leaves before she wakes up: (very angrily and sad and whining) "Where my Daddy go?" (She does NOT like it when he leaves w/o getting to hug on him and bother him while he gets ready :) )

*when I tell her it's time to take a nap or go to the potty before we leave the house: "I awready went to potty," or "I awready took nappy."

*"PEASE...PEASE" (usually very loud and emphatically when I've told her no to something)

*"I haf be carefuw." (when she falls or almost falls)

I'd also bought a brand new pack of Extra gum and had put it on the table--only one or two pieces had been chewed. MJ had apparently been in the dining room playing, so when I walked in I see her with the top of the pack of gum in her mouth chewing it--yes, paper and all--ALL the pieces at one time! Well, Eric thought it was still good enough for him to chew the rest of all the pieces and took the pack with him, so I missed the picture of it :)

Oh yes--and our entertainment center serves as MJ's microwave. We have a glass door on the left-hand-side with 4 shelves. She'll put her "food" (or frogs) on one of the shelves, close the door, and count--1, 2, 3, 4, 5, BEEP! :)

And there's no way we can allow Elijah to get our toys while we're going to the potty :) So the toys go into the bathroom with her. She started out putting them on the stool or floor, but he'd crawl in and start grabbing at them. So today she started putting them on top of the diaper pail lid :)

My Growing Boy

Awww...my sweet little man turned 9 months yesterday! He's growing sooo fast! He's been crawling and exploring all over for a few weeks now. On Tuesday, I had him in the basket in the kitchen, and he actually pulled himself up to standing!! I had to hurry and hold the basket so it wouldn't tip over--so I think it may be the end of putting him in it :) He hasn't pulled up to standing since then, but he has been pulling up to his knees and holds on for dear life to whatever he's holding on to. He's finally figuring out how to also get himself back down, but if he's too tired he just hangs on and cries until he's rescued :)

He can go from happy to pitiful in a matter of seconds :) and can give the saddest, most dejected cry when he's told no or popped on his bottom or when he's frustrated b/c he can't do something :(

MJ and Elijah both LOVE to crawl on their Daddy! MJ was all over Eric, so Elijah decided to join them and crawl on his head :)
And I've put off writing about this part b/c last time he pooped the next day, BUT he's gone at least 7 weeks now (I'm starting to lose count) with only having 2 poopy diapers!! I really think he waits for me to put him on the potty. The second time I even think it really was an accident b/c MJ had been sick and had some diarrhea, and I think he may possibly have gotten a very slight case of it to where he just couldn't hold it in--it makes me feel better to go with that theory anyway :)

Many times, Elijah will be in this push-up position. Sometimes he even pushes his hands closer to his feet like he's trying to push his way up to standing! I guess he's starting his workouts early :)
MJ loves her brother, but she's still more like Elmira on Tiny Toons--I'll hug you and squeeze you and love you, ... (as the animals try to scramble away in fear of her) :)

My Daughter...

My daughter is growing so fast! I think she's going through a growth spurt or something too b/c the past few days she's been eating ALL her food and has actually been telling me she wants to eat! These days, MJ LOVES her babies--so much that she even disciplines them! She'll grab a spanking stick, go to my room with baby in hand and close the door (that's how it's usually done for her). She'll say something like, "I haf give my baby spakin right now!" When I ask her why she usually responds with, " Uh, I don't know." So I have to fill her in that she needs to have a reason for spanking her baby, like they're disobeying or being mean or disrespectful. She ususally chooses the disobeying option :) I can then hear her swating her baby multiple times, and she'll finish by telling her baby, "You haf obey me!" (in a not-so-nice tone--do I sound like that to her?) She'll come back out and sometimes repeat this process consecutively 3-4 times, either with the same baby or the next baby or stuffed animal that's in line! Can you tell what she normally gets spanked for? :)

I took the picture above this morning. As you can see, each baby has a "blanket." She just HAS to line them all up right in my walking path! She also refers to the red, white, and blue dish rags as her "flags." I guess they do have the same colors :)

She has also started referring to her babies as her daughters. About two weeks ago, she had her baby wrapped in a place mat from the table, and she said, "Mommy, my daughter cryin," as she cradled the baby in her arms. Ever since then she tells me what her daughter is currently doing :)

We recently got some new shelves (new to us anyway) from some friends who moved to a new house. Before Eric secured and I could put books on them, MJ had plans of her own as to what they should be used for!


As much as she loves her babies, she still doesn't have any names for them. We usually refer to them by the color of clothing they're wearing (pink baby, brown baby, blue baby, white baby, etc.). Most of the time they don't wear any clothes--guess she just likes them better w/o any. She has a couple of babies that don't have the cloth body. I guess she didn't know what to call it b/c she was telling me the babies she had like this, "my blue baby, white baby, doll baby." :)
You don't realize how much you do or say things until you see your kids copying you :) After I fix MJ's hair, I tell her to look at me, and I normally say, "Awww, what a cutie," or something like that. Well, lately, she's just been saying that for me, and the pic to the left shows the face she gives while she's saying it :)

MJ also loves to climb and balance on you if you're on the floor--especially Daddy--there's much more room to balance!

She has become quite independent and even wants to feed herself most of the time. She says, "I do it by myself!" So, I've had to give in and let her at it with a spoon on her own :) At this point, she actually has much better dexterity with it. She still makes a mess, but it's not as bad as it used to be :)

She is constantly into something or doing something that makes me laugh. Last week, while I was trying to catch a little catnap, she told me she had to go to the potty. I told her to go and had this fleeting vision that just b/c I was nice and cozy she was going to have some mishap like fall in the potty or something like that. Well, not a minute later, she's crying b/c SHE FELL IN THE POTTY! It never fails :) She really just tipped her bottom in the water but couldn't pull herself the rest of the way up.

And lately, she's been staying dry over night! She did have a wet diaper this morning, but before that she'd actually gone at least a week of staying dry--to the point that after re-using the same diaper night after night, Eric finally had to give in when one of the tabs tore off. He did try to make it work anyway but to no avail :)

She's also gotten pretty good at pronouncing out words on her Word Whammer. Now keep in mind these are 3-letter words with short vowel sounds. We still have a long way to go, but she's making some progress!

Some other things she's currently saying:

• What's wrong?
• What's the matter?
• What's going on there?
• What's the problem?
• When Elijah starts crying and being really fussy, she'll tell me, "He's so tired."
• On pretty days, she'll look out the window and say, "It's so pretty!"
• After I brought out a bag that had a ton of baby gift bags, she saw what they were and said, "Oh how wonderful!" :)

And currently, her two favorite songs are "Jesus Loves Me" and "Amazing Grace."

Boy does she copy me! I have to start having a constant prayer asking for wisdom and guidance to act and speak in a way that's worthy of being copied. It's amazing the things she picks up that I don't even realize she would know until I hear her say or do them! Well, that's enough on my little sweetiecakes for now. Next I'll have to update you on my little man!

Videos

This is for my niece--she was asking my sister if I'd put any more of "those cute videos" on my blog :) I know--I've been a bad blogger in recent weeks! But it's kind of hard to blog during the day when my little ones or my house seem to warrant my constant attention. (I guess I'm not really "called" to be a blogger anyway, but I AM called to be a loving wife and mother and manager of my home--there just isn't always time for hobbies right now :) ) And then at night, I'm so tired I just want to go to bed! It would be much easier though if I blogged more often--things I want to record are starting to pile up on me!

Here's my little man sweeping the floor for me--MJ was beside herself when she saw he had "her" broom :)

This is right before we were about to leave for church yesterday--Elijah saw himself in the mirror, crawled to it and pulled himself up! Then he was having fun playing and talking to himself :)

MJ thinks it's fun to push Elijah in his Johnny jump-up; he seems to like it too :) And Daddy was having fun cracking himself and Elijah up by dancing (he was trying to do the Hammer :) ) and jumping on the floor! Poor Eric misses so many firsts b/c he has to be at work :( He gets so excited to tell me the "new" things he sees MJ or Elijah doing on the weekend. But I guess I just forget to mention these things to him that they've been doing all week long!

And here's my little actress--I really have no idea what she's saying, but she kept doing it over and over and was cracking me up--she's totally playing the part! I was trying so hard to figure it out, so I kept having her repeat it to me. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty confident she's quoting something from "Anne of Green Gables." And after prying and prying, I think "I haf wan see Mymert" means "I want to see Gilbert." You see, Gilbert was sick, and Anne was sad and finally realizes she should go see him. I'm not sure she actually says that in the movie, but MJ thought it would be a good line to add :)

Mobility = Exploration = Training!

<-- See him going for the phone?! He already knows what that is!

Well, little man is on the move! Today he even ventured out of the living room into the dining room! He has also started exploring shelves and trash cans and wires and whatever else he can get his hands onto :) He really seems to like it when MJ dumps all the toys on the floor so he can go from toy to toy at his leisure! So, this also means Mommy has gotten to start training him. It's so sad to see his hurt heart when he gets popped with the "stick" on his very padded cloth-diapered bottom :) But it must be done--better for his heart or bottom to hurt now rather than his soul to be lost in eternity. It's amazing at what he understands! Those people who say they are too young to understand "no" either don't have kids or didn't attempt to train or discipline them! When I tell him no, you can see him calculating whether or not he should touch something. And then, sometimes it even looks like he's waiting until I stop watching him--he just hasn't learned yet that I have eyes in the back of my head :)

This is our new way for Elijah to play in the kitchen while Mommy cooks. He seems to like it for the most part right now, but I'm sure it won't last for long :) Of course, MJ always thinks she needs to try to climb in with him!

Drama Queen With a Bug

Well, my little sweetie cakes caught a bug this week :( She woke Monday morning at 5:30 throwing up. She didn't eat anything, so on Tuesday morning I tried to get her to eat some oatmeal--she told me she didn't want any, but I forced the issue anyway--shoulda listened to her :) And she just HAD to have some milk. Well, then it started coming out the other end :( But don't feel too bad for her--she still felt just fine to take toys away from "Lyshush," and get spankings for not obeying, and carry on with her various playing and changing clothes and so on... I thought that maybe she'd be over it by today. She's been holding down some food and even had a cup of milk this morning. But this afternoon, after downing 2 more cups of milk (yes, I know--but you don't understand how much she loves her milk), there it came again :( Oh well--I just hope this is the one "gift" she DOESN'T share with her brother!

She does have a couple of funnies I haven't told yet. The first one is one that I wasn't sure I wanted to tell or not--thought Eric was going to be a little upset with me :) But he thought it was funny and told me I should have recorded it--if I hadn't been so scared he was going to be upset with me, I would have! Anyway, the other day when I finished running, MJ wanted to walk/run (she likes to do that many times after I finish). I told her she was going to have to wait a minute (a response she gets pretty often, I admit) b/c I had to go to the potty first. As I'm getting off the treadmill, the thought crosses my mind to take out the key just in case she starts reaching up and pressing buttons--nah, she can't reach yet--plus, I told her to wait a minute, so she should obey me--right? Well, not long after being in the bathroom, I start hearing aha, aha, aha. Then it starts turning into a more consistent and prolonged whine. I wonder which baby got stuck in her stroller this time. As I get to the dining room (yes, the treadmill is in the dining room :) ), I see that she did indeed manage to get on the treadmill and press the start button. Fortunately it defaults by starting at 1.0, and fortunately, she's walked with me enough times to know how to hold on--she just couldn't get off :) I was kind of panicked b/c almost a year ago part of her shoulder, face and arm got stuck under the treadmill while I was going--it wasn't pretty--so this kind of made my heart stop for a second even though it was pretty funny at the same time. When I told Eric (yes, I'm terribly honest and tell him pretty much everything I'm allowed that I don't forget--is there such a thing as being "terribly" honest?), he thought it was funny--now I wish I would have recorded it. Oh well--I'm sure with this child there will be many more moments to capture :)
Then, a friend is letting us borrow the "Anne of Green Gables" series. So the other night, after watching some of it, it was time for bed. So I made MJ turn off the t.v. I thought she was being pouty b/c of that but then she flopped herself down on the floor and started fake crying. I asked her what was wrong. She said, "I sad." I asked her why she was sad, and she said, "I cwyin." I asked her why she was crying, and she said, "My heart is bwoken." That being the part she had just finished watching :) So she kept repeating that scene to me as I was putting her in bed. Who knows what kind of dreams this girl has--she seems like she's constantly acting out some part of something she's seen on t.v. or heard someone else say!

More Pictures :)

Well, I just can't help myself! The other day it was gorgeous outside, and MJ wanted to go play. I told her we'd go outside, but she would have to let me take some pictures of her :) Like my bribery?! She grudgingly agreed--I think just to give me the answer she knew I wanted rather than really agreeing--they learn that WAY TOO FAST!! I'm trying to play around with some angles--so, yes, I know some of the pictures are crooked :) MJ loves "her" sticks. She's always afraid the squirrels and birds are going to get them :)

Crawling!

Well, it's bittersweet, but my sweet little man starting crawling today--on all 4's! It's so exciting to me b/c MJ just army crawled until she learned how to walk. Below is a video of his first attempts. We were at a friend's house when he first started. After having a nap when we got home, he was a pro and was all over the place! It's so cute--it just makes you want to pick him up and eat him up :) MJ doesn't know what she's up against now! I told her there's no more pottying in her little potty--she has to go in the big potty from now on :)

Revive Our Hearts Conference

This past weekend, a group of ladies from our church (and Elijah :) ) attended a Revive Our Hearts Conference led by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Another friend from church was nice enough to watch Mikaela for the afternoon until Eric picked her up (it gave her some insight as to what life with 2 kids is like :) )--thanks Melissa! Then, Eric took off Saturday so he could have some "Daddy time" with MJ. Elijah did really well, except for the sleeping at night part. It was our fault though, b/c we woke him up with all the turning lights on and off and opening and closing doors and talking, etc.--he was just paying us back a little :) Oh well--it was worth it!

On Friday, NLD talked about Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, focusing in on the woman. This woman went to many different "wells (or idols)," looking for happiness and purpose in life, but they were all the wrong ones. What wells do you go to in search of healing or freedom or love or whatever you are seeking? Jesus is the only "well" that has water that will actually quench your thirst.

Another big topic was on forgiveness. Many people have at least one person in their lives that they've held a grudge against and never forgiven. This "grudge" eventually turns to bitterness, and it can negatively run the course of our lives by overtaking us. Generally, we're bitter b/c we feel someone wronged us in one way or another--sometimes these things can be very trivial, but other times these wrongs can be extremely hurtful (physically, spiritually and/or emotionally) and damaging in one's life. The person may seem justified, at least in their eyes and many times in the eyes of others, to have a bitterness toward their offender. But it all boils down to our response to the wrong that's been committed against us. Are we going to err also by our response, or do we trust Jesus enough to give the offense up to Him and forgive our offender? Do we trust Jesus enough to know and believe that when He says, "Vengeance is mine," He means it, and His punishment will be just? Are we grateful enough for the mercy and forgiveness that our heavenly Father gives us for our offenses against Him that we too are willing to forgive others?

Now, NLD also went into the difference between forgetting and forgiving. Just b/c we forgive someone doesn't mean we'll forget it. You may even still feel the pain of the offense years down the road, but if you've forgiven the person, you won't be held under bondage by the offense. You can have a clear conscience, knowing that you're not holding the offender in the prison of your mind--that you've given the offense to Christ to deal with--even though the offender may never apologize to you.

Is there someone in your life that you've never forgiven? If appropriate, go to that person, and let them know that you've forgiven them. If it's not appropriate to tell the person, then just make sure to forgive him/her in your heart and give the offense to Christ, who died on the cross for us, taking all our offenses against God upon Himself so that we might be redeemed. What freedom lies ahead! (P.S. This was also the topic of John Piper's radio broadcast yesterday. He adds to/reinforces what NLD talked about at the conference.)

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.