Pink or Blue, Who are you?

Exactly one week from today we will find out if we will be bringing home a baby boy or a baby girl in March.

I can hardly wait!

A few weeks ago Caleb and I were out on a date and we took our envelope with the baby's gender marked inside to Macy's. We carefully picked out a boy outfit and a girl outfit and handed both outfits to the lady at the counter. When I explained to her that we didn't know the gender and that we wanted to open a gift on Christmas morning, she was beyond excited and willing to help us out. She got SO into it! It made the experience SO much more fun for us!

After handing the outfits to her, we left our credit card and walked away while she picked out the correct outfit, placed it in a box, and taped the box shut so we wouldn't be tempted to peek inside. We were very careful to pick two outfits that cost the exact same. Not only did we successfully leave the store without knowing which outfit had been placed inside the box, but we will always have a great memory from that night. I will never forget how much fun we had, and the expression and smile on the lady's face at the counter. She even wrote us a very sweet little note that read:

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. ________: Thank you for letting me help... :) it's my sincerest pleasure! Best wishes and blessings for a healthy baby- and a wonderful future filled with love! My name is _____ - please feel free to call me after you open the box" and then she left her phone number. Isn't that sweet?!

We took the box home and wrapped it and now it's sitting under our tree-just waiting to be opened!

It's been a while since I have updated everyone on my pregnancy, so here goes.
Yes, I know I look much farther along than I actually am. I guess that's what happens when you're short and you have a short waist.

How far along: 24 Weeks and 3 days.

Size of Baby: Baby is about a foot long (about the size of an ear of corn) and weighs just over 1 pound.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I hate sharing this part- I've gained 16 pounds.

Maternity Clothes: Definitely- and still growing. Even some maternity shirts are beginning to look small on me.

Gender: We'll be finding out in 7 days! We had that ultrasound 6 weeks ago, and it's been hard to wait.

Movement: Constant movement these days. I feel baby move many times throughout the day. This baby is strong!

Sleep: I'm sleeping pretty well these days. It's getting harder to roll over in bed and I have to get up a few times throughout the night to use the restroom.

Symptoms: Strong movement from baby on a regular basis. :) This baby is also active. My sense of smell is still very strong too.

Best Moment This Week: When Caleb put his hand on my belly and said "Whoa, that was definitely the strongest kick I have felt so far".

What I'm Most Looking Forward To: Finding out who this new little person is growing inside me and calling him or her by name.

We will definitely be sharing our news on here after we share with our families. Want to make a guess? Just leave me a comment.

I don't know if I'll be back on here before Christmas, so if not, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Two years ago today, my life was changed forever. Elliana entered the world and I became a mom. Although it was a shock to the system at first, I quickly fell in love with this little gift and I can honestly say that she is one of the best gifts I've ever been given. I feel so blessed and proud to be her mom.



I can't believe that today, Ellie is two. The past two years have brought about the most challenging and the best days of my life. I am a better person today because of Elliana.


They say that the time flies when you have children, but it's one of those things that you don't really fully grasp until you experience it yourself, either through your own child or a close relative. I have enjoyed Ellie so much these past two years and especially lately as I watch her learn and grow by leaps and bounds. She is constantly talking and exploring the world around her and I love the way she makes me see the world through new eyes.




We celebrated Ellie's birthday by going to Chuck E Cheese's on Sunday night. We invited Elliana's aunts, uncles, cousins, grand-parents and great-grandma. She had the time of her life! Her eyes were so wide with excitement and she wore a huge smile on her face.



We started out by exploring the place, Ellie had never been to Chuck E Cheese's before. As much as she loved the slides and rides, I think she enjoyed the singing and dancing from Chuck E and the crew the most.




After eating pizza, we sang Happy Birthday (which happens to be Elliana's favorite song these days), ate cupcakes, and opened gifts. We couldn't believe that Ellie refused to eat her cupcake after how much time we spent working on and talking about the cupcakes.




Ellie got SOOOO many wonderful and perfect gifts! Seriously, she didn't get one single gift that wasn't perfect for her. We left feeling so blessed by our family and truth be told, our daughter was a little spoiled. :)




After playing games, riding rides, and going down the slide with her cousins, Elliana came back to where we were sitting.

Ellie adores her cousins, especially the older ones. She never left Devyn's side, and Devyn is SO good with her.

We happened to be sitting right by the "stage" where Chuck E and the crew were singing, and Elliana danced. and danced. and twirled and danced. It was my favorite moment of the night! Those are the moments when I see how full of life and how care-free Ellie is. She enjoyed dancing even more after she put on her new fairy dress given to her from Uncle Jon and Aunt Jenn.




I simply had to share this video of Elliana and her cousins dancing:


All in all, it was a great night and a great birthday party. Unfortunately, the night ended with Elliana waking up in the middle of the night and vomitting all over herself and her crib. :( We don't know if she was sick, or if all of the food, excitement and dancing was too much. Either way, she was back to her happy, chipper self immediately after emptying her stomach.

Every night when I pray I thank God for giving Elliana to us and for giving her the personality that she has. I so look forward to watching her grow, and to celebrating each milestone and birthday with her. For now, I'm happy that she's still small and we can still hold her and play with her. :)



Happy Birthday my sweet girl!

Our Ever Expanding Family

Over the course of a year, our family will have added 3 new family members-again!

I guess this is how my family does it. Two years ago in December, we added 3 new family members over the course of two weeks. First, Elliana was born, then exactly 7 days later my sister Courtney got married to Jeremy, so Jeremy was added in as a brother-in-law, and then 8 days later my niece Reagan was born. It was a crazy and busy time, but a December that we'll always remember.

Now here we are two years later, and it appears that we are doing the same thing all over again-just a little more spread out this time.

First, 9 days ago my niece Ashlynn was born.

Then, last night, my sister Allison became engaged to a wonderful man named Brian. Brian is a strong christian man, he loves the Lord and it's obvious how much he loves Alli and that he really wants what's best for her in all things.

We are so thrilled for them. They are a great couple and a great match for eachother. We're excited to be adding another (and the last) brother-in-law to the family.



I got to hear the proposal story from Allison this morning and Brian did a fantastic job planning out the proposal. It was very romantic! My sister Courtney described it on her blog.

Here is a view of Alli's absolutely GORGEOUS ring! Didn't Brian do a great job?!



The two of them are planning a September wedding. I'm a little jealous. I always wanted a fall wedding. I've said many times that Fall is my favorite time of year and I know it will be a beautiful time of year to get married. For anyone that knows our family, you know we (the sisters) will all be involved in helping to plan the wedding. It's going to be SO fun!

So anyway, that's 2 new family members, and in about 4 months or so, Caleb and I will be adding a new family member of our own. That makes 3! I only wonder how we'll keep up with this trend considering there won't be any more weddings to plan. Maybe the next sister that gets pregnant will have triplets! Please not me. Ha!

CONGRATS again to Alli and Brian!!

Another Short Story

I don't have a picture for this post, although I really wish I did! I simply had to share this story though. This is a little snapshot into how funny our little Elliana is, and one of the reasons she always keeps us laughing.

I was putting Ellie to bed last night. The routine went as usual. Caleb read to her and brushed her teeth and then handed her over to me. I prayed with her and then sang a few songs to her and then I put her down in her crib.

A few short minutes later she started crying and calling for me, saying things like "Mommy, where are you"? It always tugs at my heart. We always wait for several minutes before going back into her room to give her time to settle herself to sleep.

The crying and calling became louder and then turned into her just talking to herself. Then she became quiet. I decided she was too quiet too quickly so I just peeked into her room.

I saw stuff on the floor. This was not unusual. She usually throws her blankets and/or baby doll out of the crib when she wants us to go back into her room. I looked closer. It was her diaper and pajamas. As soon as I realized this, I looked back at Ellie and she was jumping and running around in her crib. Naked. And having the time of her life!

It was all I could do to not laugh out loud.

It's times like this that I wonder how we're ever going to transition her into a big bed. I like that we can keep her confined in her crib right now. Otherwise, we might have a naked toddler running around in the middle of the night.

Welcome Ashlynn!

I became a proud Aunt again today.

Our newest addition to the family, our niece Ashlynn Rose was born today at 1:10 PM.

She weighs 6 lbs, 8 ozs and is 19 inches long. She is beautiful and healthy and has a full head of dark hair. She looks a LOT like her sisters (mostly Devyn).

I was very thankful to have the opportunity to watch the birth and it was an amazing experience. I spent most of the day with Jenn and with the family.

Jenn and Ashlynn are both healthy and doing very well. Everyone is so happy that she is finally here! Praise the Lord!

Christmas Time Is Here

I don't mean to totally skip Thanksgiving. We actually had a wonderful Thanksgiving and it's one of my favorite holidays. We spent lots of time with both sides of the family and everything went smoothly and we had so much fun. Elliana was very happy to spend so much time with her cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and well, most of all her cousins ;-). Unfortunately though, I forgot my camera once again and I have nothing to show for it.

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year though. The day that we get to break out the Christmas music and put up all of our Christmas decorations! We also enjoyed some eggnog while decorating. I think eggnog is one of Ellie's new favorite drinks. :)

This is the first year that Elliana really got into it. She had so much fun helping us decorate the tree and yesterday morning she plopped herself in front of the tree just to sit and stare at it. There's nothing like seeing Christmas through the eyes of your child. I really can't wait to see how she reacts to everything else that comes with the holiday season this year.

I put most of our Christmas decorations on the blog last year, but here are some pictures that I took yesterday and I just wanted to share them.

This is the Christmas pillow that sits on our couch.


Here is a view of our stockings. Elliana's is my favorite. Probably because it was handmade by my sister Courtney.


Here is our manger scene and angel candle holder. Oh yeah, and that bowl usually has some sort of Christmas candy in it. You've got to love Christmas candy too.


You can't tell from this picture because Elliana is only half-smiling, but she was so excited to take a picture in front of the Christmas tree.


And of course I can't go without mentioning my new Christmas design. My sister Jenn did another amazing job! I LOVE it! I have to hand it to her, in the midst of waiting for her 4th child to arrive, she's still finding time to let her creative juices flow and crank out some amazing new designs. Thank you SO much Jenn!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and that you get to enjoy some time decorating for Christmas too.

Princess Mischief

This is a story about our little mischief maker, Elliana Faith.


Doesn't she just look like trouble? Ha!

Yesterday, my morning started out as usual. I put on one of Elliana's favorite DVD's on the computer in our office so I could take a shower. Our office is very close to our bedroom where I shower. I got her settled and told her I was going to take a quick shower. She barely pulled her eyes away from the computer and said "Okay Mommy".

So, I stepped into the shower. A few seconds later, Elliana walked into our bathroom and shut the door behind her. No biggie I thought, she's done this before. She usually finds a way to keep herself occupied (without making too much of a mess or getting into trouble) until I finish showering. We have a glass door on our shower so I can see what she's doing.

I watched as she grabbed a washcloth and played with it for a while. Still, all of this was very typical of Ellie. Then, I heard the toilet flush. She's had fun flushing the toilet over and over again before so I thought nothing of it.

By this time, I was finished with my shower and as I stepped out, I heard Elliana's little voice say "Help Mommy, towel!" I looked around the bathroom floor. I didn't see the washcloth Elliana was playing with moments earlier. I looked at Ellie and she was pointing at the toilet and again she said "Mommy, towel. Help towel!" I looked at her and asked "Ellie, did you just flush the towel down the toilet?" She looked up at me with sheepish eyes and said "Yeah".

And because I know my Ellie, and I know how she is such a good communicator, I knew she was telling the truth.

I panicked at first, then I reached into the toilet to see if I could feel the washcloth (which totally grossed me out by the way). I couldn't feel it. I tried flushing the toilet. It flushed just fine. I thought this was interesting. I flushed a few more times and every time the toilet flushed just fine. I thought "Wow, I guess the washcloth will just pass through okay". We went on with the rest of our day and I didn't think about the washcloth again.

Then came last night. We were finished with dinner so Caleb took Elliana downstairs while I made some brownies. He instantly called for me to come downstairs. Our basement was flooded. We knew right away what was causing the plumbing to be backed up and the water to fill up our basement.

Today we had a plumber come out. Guess what they told me the problem was? That's right, a washcloth was clogging everything up!

As Caleb and I went to bed last night, we said to each other "Some day, we'll laugh at all of these Ellie stories". Here it is just one day later, and I'm already smiling to myself. Our Elliana is such a character, and she is constantly keeping us on our toes.

19 Weeks and still a mystery

We had our 19 week ultrasound yesterday evening.

Baby was not very cooperative. It's legs were closed so the technician felt that she didn't get a very good look to know what the gender is. Also, baby's face was facing the placenta so we didn't really get to see it's face. I was a little disappointed that baby didn't cooperate because I felt like we didn't get to see any of the fun stuff (for example, the face, the feet, the hands, the gender, etc).

The technician did write down her guess, but she stressed that the guess was not 100% accurate. We're still going to go with our plan to reveal the guess on Christmas day, but we're not going to completely count on it and we'll wait to buy anything gender specific until there's another ultrasound. Due to the fact that we already know I'll be having another C-section, we also know that I'll have another ultrasound or two. I guess maybe this baby is meant to be a surprise after all.

However, I should stress that we saw all of the really important stuff. We saw all of the vital body parts and organs, and the baby was happy to show us it's healthy heart over and over again. We got a really good look at the strong, beating, 4 chamber heart! :) The heartrate was in the 140s. Baby was measuring at 19 weeks and 1 day. Right on track! As much as I complain about not getting to see the "fun stuff", I am SOOO much more thankful that we got good news and that we got to see that baby is healthy! That's all we really hoped and prayed for.

Here are the 3 pictures they sent home with us:




So, until Christmas or another ultrasound, we don't know who this baby is. But we do know that he or she is healthy, and we love him or her so much already and can't wait to name him or her.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures and a Give Away!

First of all, I wanted to start off with the give away. Many of you are familiar with the cooking/ baking blog that my sisters and I started about a year ago. Well, we were contacteb by CSN stores to give away a $35.00 gift certificate for any of their products. Make sure you head on over to our cooking blog if you're interested in winning some great home accessories!

Yesterday our friend (and photographer) Becky gave me a CD of the rest of the pictures from my maternity/ family photo shoot. I know I've said this 100 times, but she is so unbelievably talented! It's like my sister Jenn said, there are so many fantastic pictures that I don't know how I'm going to choose which ones to print.

Here are some of the pictures that I arranged in a few different collages. Unfortunately, the collages seemed to cut off some of the picture and they really don't do the pictures justice. I was just looking for the best way to get most of the pictures on here. These are not all of the pictures that we received, just some of my favorites.

I can't believe the way Becky was able to capture Elliana's smile at it's best. I LOVE these!



These are some of my favorites of us as a family.



I love to watch Ellie and Caleb's relationship. They adore eachother!



Some favorites of just me and Caleb.



And here's some pictures that I couldn't fit into the collages:





Becky, I don't even know how to thank you for the amazing gift you've given us in these photos!