Default Post

I've been a little absent from my blog lately (oops). I guess that's because I haven't had anything huge to blog about. I was looking over some of my past posts and I discovered that random posts have become my default. So, here's another random one. Sorry.

Exactly 2 weeks from today we leave for our 5th Anniversary cruise! WOO HOO! Again, as much as I'm looking forward to this, I am sad about leaving Elliana for 5 days. At least she'll be with people she loves and knows well. I'm so thankful that Elliana has such amazing grandparents on both sides of the family, and that they live so close. I know Ellie will feel right at home.



Um yeah... I think this looks like fun.



I had forgotten how much I drive myself absolutely crazy when I'm trying to get pregnant. I get to this place where I convince myself that I'm pregnant. I look for all of the signs, and I even begin to experience symptoms (psychosomatic anyone?). I was 95% sure that I was pregnant last month. I wasn't. I'm okay though, because as much as I want to be pregnant, I don't think it would've been very much fun to be in your first trimester on a cruise. I can tell though that every month from here on out is getting emotionally harder for me.

Yes, I watched the Bachelorette this week. I'm not sure what I will think of this season. If this season disappoints me as much as last season, I may just have to be done with the show (probably not). ;) I'm just curious, for any of you that watch the show, do you like Ali? I'm not sure what to think of her. Although I do have to admit that she is beautiful.



I watched the American Idol finale tonight. I was happy to see Lee win, I wanted him to win for the last several weeks. However, we're way past due for a female winner. I actually cried when all of the former Idols sang the farewell song for Simon. Yes, I realize this makes me a huge dork! American Idol just isn't going to be the same without Simon. Between losing Simon, and not being too thrilled with this last season, I really don't know if I'll be interested in watching next year.

In this post, I mentioned that Elliana was beginning to show signs of having a girly side. Ha! Let me just say that her girly side has erupted like a volcano! In the last two weeks Ellie has taken anything that has a strap on it, and carried it around on her shoulder like a purse. She's also spent hours taking her necklaces on and off, and she just LOVES when we put bows in her hair. Just this afternoon Ellie kept handing Caleb bows to put in her hair. Take a look at the proof:







Oh, this girl cracks me up. Even though she's quite girly, she definitely has a tomboy side too. I always thought that when she hung out with her cousins (my sister's kids), that she would spend time with Devyn or Reagan, her girl cousins. Instead, she spends her time with Hudson. They chase each other around and giggle the whole time. I guess she wants to keep me guessing.

We have a very busy Memorial Day weekend coming up. We're celebrating Caleb's 28th birthday, helping with/ going to my brother-in-law's College graduation reception (he lives out of state and he's in town to have a reception for all of his Colorado friends and family), visiting with a friend that I haven't seen in years (she's in town for a wedding), and we're possibly going to the family cabin. Although it's going to be crazy, it should be a lot of fun. I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend too.

Introducing...

Our newest nephew:

Josiah Dean
BORN MAY 16, 2010 AT 4:00 AM
8 POUNDS, 9 OUNCES, AND 20.5 INCHES LONG

Mother and baby are doing very well.

We got to spend the afternoon with Josh, Shamree, and Josiah and we had a great time! I just love this sweet, beautiful baby boy. We are happy that Elliana has another cousin. Unfortunately, she seems to be too young to know what to do with babies still. ;)

Tidbits of Elliana

It's so funny to me how time changes everything. Not long ago I wasn't sure how I was going to deal with the craziness that is my daughter. I even posted about how overwhelmed I felt at the idea of parenting and raising her.

I don't know what it is, but suddenly I find myself seeing Ellie in a whole new way. I don't know if she has changed, if I have, if we're just beginning to understand each other, of if I'm beginning to learn how best to discipline her and teach her.

Elliana is still very strong willed and busy, busy, BUSY! But, she's softened up quite a bit. She's more obedient, she's become pretty good at sharing and being kind to other kids (most of the time), she's more loving, she initiates hugs and kisses, and she actually lets us snuggle her for short periods of time (she is NOT a cuddler). She brings us more joy than we could ever have imagined.

It helps that this is my favorite age for little ones. Actually, I love all babies and kids, but I think the age from 1-2 years old is definitely my favorite.

Ellie and I have shared so many smiles, giggles, and just fun times lately. Here's just a few of them:

-She's been working on using utensils when she eats. When she succeeds at getting a spoon or fork full of food into her mouth, she claps wildly for herself and expects us to clap too. Ha!



-The other day we were praying before breakfast. After I said "Amen" she grabbed my hand and said "more"! So, we prayed again. And again. And again.

-Ellie has been working on her animal sounds. She can say bow-wow, moo, meow, and she can roar. When I was grocery shopping yesterday, I walked up to the milk and she started saying "Moo" over and over. I couldn't figure out how she knew that milk came from cows and then I realized that she saw the pictures of cows on the milk cartons. This girl is too funny.

-We've been practicing pointing out our eyes, nose, mouth, and ears with Ellie. The other day I decided to take a nap with her. I woke up to Ellie pointing at my eyes, nose, and mouth and saying each one.

-I've always wanted Ellie to be close to her cousins. For the most part she adores all of her cousins, but she has a love-hate relationship with her cousin Reagan, born just two weeks after her. Sometimes they hug and kiss and play well, and other times they fight like cats and dogs. A few weeks ago Reagan walked up to Ellie, grabbed her by the shirt, and dragged her into the other room. I wish I could have captured the puzzled look on Ellie's face. It was hilarious!



-I think Elliana is going to be a very organized, clean person. She almost always cleans up after herself, before I even ask her to. She also loves to organize. She lines things up, stacks things, etc. This morning she lined all of her duckies on the edge of the bathtub.

-I used to think Elliana was going to be a tomboy. I guess there's still a chance that she will be, but she's showing signs of being quite girly too. If she finds a bow, she'll hold it up to her head and ask me to put it in her hair. She also loves it when I tell her how pretty she is. Most of the time she'll repeat "pretty" and run off to show her daddy. :) I just had to add this. After finishing this post, Elliana came to me with my body splash in her hands and she was trying to spray it on herself. Ha ha! So yeah, this girl likes girly stuff too.

-Ellie is so expressive! I think she gets that from Caleb. Ha! She has so many faces. Her latest face is her pouty face. When we tell her no, she sticks her bottom lip out as far as it will go. It's so sad, and at the same time, it's hard not to laugh.








I'm sure I have many more stories, I just can't think of them right now. I'm sure I'll have many more posts like this in the future. This girl keeps us laughing all of the time. Good thing I have a blog. ;)

Mother's Day at the Zoo

We had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday!

We celebrated with just our little family of 3. I really wanted to go to the zoo. Elliana has been getting really excited about animals lately so I thought she would just love it, and she did.

Apparently, I'm not the only mom that thought the zoo was a great idea because it was incredibly crowded! We had to drive around for almost 30 minutes just to find a parking space.

In the end, it was totally worth it. I think we'll have to go to the zoo on a regular basis.

My mom is the most amazing woman. She is a great example of the kind of mom and woman I want to be. She raised 4 girls and sometimes I don't know how she did it.
I'm really looking forward to celebrating Mother's Day with my mom later this week. I'm going to treat her to a pedicure.

This is my mom with my sister Allison.


This is my mom with her 3 out of 4 of her grandkids.


I hope you all had a great Mother's Day too.

Feeling Emotional

Maybe it's the hormones that I'm on. Who knows...

Somehow I find myself feeling emotional this week. Especially about the "trying to get pregnant again" issue. It's so funny, I have a million reasons in my head for why it's really okay that I haven't gotten pregnant yet, but my heart isn't listening to my head right now.

Truth be told, I really was okay that I wasn't pregnant yet. After all I have all of the following reasons for why it's okay; I didn't want another December baby, we have a family reunion at the end of December/ early January that I don't want to miss, it's only been a few months of really trying with the fertility meds, I would rather not be pregnant on our cruise, I'd like to lose some weight before getting pregnant again, etc. etc. etc.

So why am I suddenly feeling sad? Maybe it's because my baby fever is only going to get worse with the two new nephews or nieces I'll be meeting and holding this year (my sister-in-law is due this month and my sister is due in November). Or maybe it's because it feels as though Elliana is growing up so quickly these days, and I fear she's going to be too old to be close to her next sibling. Or maybe I'm beginning to believe that it's not going to happen again, that Elliana truly is our one miracle baby, and we won't have any more children.

It's so weird, I can really sense that emotionally I'm beginning to go to the same place that I was before I had Elliana. I always told myself that no matter what happened, I should just be thankful for Ellie. After all, she is a gift that God has given us. I AM SO thankful for her, but my desire to have another child is growing by the day.

Whatever the reason for my heart struggling right now, I can sense that God is drawing me near to him. My walk with him has been a little stagnant lately and I don't like that. My hope and prayer is that I will use these emotions and fears and I will go to him. My head knows that he is always faithful and loving and that he has a plan for me, for Caleb and for Elliana. My heart just needs to catch up.

I realize this picture is completely unrelated to this subject, but I felt this post was incomplete without a picture of Elliana. :) I took this picture this afternoon. I just love the expression on Ellie's face.

Nate's Graduation Weekend

We had an absolute blast in Kansas City for Nate's (Caleb's brother) graduation.

The weather was absolutely perfect and we enjoyed spending time with family.

The only bummer is that Elliana was sick with a bad cold so she was a little cranky. It's also very difficult to watch any ceremony when you have a 16 month old along. Ha! Thankfully, we had lots of help from Caleb's parents and Uncle and Aunt.

Nate and his girlfriend Amanda will be coming home for a Colorado reception later this month. I'm looking forward to that celebration too.

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Ellie seems to be feeling much better today. Praise God!