Ethan at 1 Month

Okay, so this is a few days late, but I really want to document each month of Ethan's first year of life.

Ethan, you are 1 month old! You are the sweetest and easiest newborn and we LOVE you more than words can say.

~Your nicknames are "Buddy" and "Little man".

~Right now you are wearing newborn size diapers and you are about to grow into size 1 diapers.

~You're still wearing newborn clothes.

~You weigh about 7 pounds. 7 pounds doesn't sound like much growth from your 6lb, 10oz birth weight, but you lost a LOT of weight in the first week and a half of life. Right now we are taking you in for weekly weight checks and you are consistently going up! Yay!!

~You are nursing every 2-3 hours.

~You sleep about 18 hours a day but in the last week you have been staying awake for longer periods of time. You're usually awake all morning and all evening. In the afternoons you sleep a lot.

~In the last week you have discovered your voice. You aren't quite "coo-ing" yet, but you're trying.

~You are our cuddly baby. Sometimes you fuss just a little simply because you want to snuggle.

~Your sister adores you and is constantly wanting to help me take care of you. She'll bring you your pacifier or tell me that you're crying and you're hungry. ;-) I can't wait to watch your relationship develop with your sister.

~You haven't smiled yet, but Mommy can't wait to see that first purposeful grin on your face.

We love you Ethan and we can't wait to see your personality come out more. We also can't wait to see the plans that God has for you!

I know I say this all of the time, but this is my favorite picture of Ethan now. :)

Easter 2011

I know I'm a day late in posting these but we had such a full day yesterday that we were all pretty exhausted and we just came home and crashed.

Yesterday was my first day back at church since having Ethan and it was SO great to be worshipping with our congregation again. It was a beautiful service and every year I always get chills as I watch everyone around me celebrate Easter and the resurrection of our Lord!

After church and a quick nap for Ellie, we went to my Aunt's house to celebrate Easter with my extended family (sisters, parents, aunts and uncles, my cousins, Ellie and Ethan's cousins, my grandma, etc.) As you can see, it was a very large gathering.

First we prayed and had a delicious meal, then we did Easter baskets and an Easter egg hunt. We had a wonderful time!

Here are some of the best pictures of the day:

This is Ellie all dressed up for church and wearing her Easter hat. :)





Here's Ellie checking out her Easter basket and showing it off to me.



Elliana's cousin Reagan (my niece) fell in love with the piano and everyone took turns playing alongside her.



I LOVE this picture of Elliana, Reagan, and my cousin Sara(sitting next to Ellie). Ellie absolutely adores Sara and follows her everywhere.



I guess all of the piano playing wore Reagan out. Isn't this picture sweet?!



All of the little ones enjoyed the Easter egg hunt. Aunt "Ney" (my sister Courtney) helped Elliana gather her eggs. Thanks Ney!



Here's Ellie with her cousins Devyn and Reagan hunting for eggs. :)



And of course this post would not be complete without pictures of my 2 favorite men, Caleb and Ethan. I love this father/son picture.



And, last but not least, my new favorite picture of Ethan.



I hope you all had a great Easter weekend too.

A Little Honesty

Please understand before you read this that I KNOW in my heart and in my head how blessed I am to have my two beautiful babies. It's something I've always wanted and I love them more than words can say.

That being said... this last week or so has been tough. I mean very tough. I knew that the transition to two kids would be hard, and truth be told it's been slightly easier than I had feared, but I'm struggling with this phase right now.

I'm struggling with the fact that it's a miracle if I get a shower in and it's an even greater miracle if I'm able to get out of the house with all 3 of us dressed, fed, and happy.

I know this phase will pass all too quickly and I'll be wishing my son was a newborn again, but right now I feel guilty that Elliana isn't getting the attention she needs and deserves because I'm spending SO much time nursing.

Again, I am SO thankful for my babies but I'm longing for some "me" time. Just a little time would help.

I know this is just a phase, a short lived one, and in a few weeks I won't be nursing Ethan for half of my day and just trying to survive every moment. I'm so looking forward to his smiles, his coos, and to watching his relationship with Elliana grow. I'm also looking forward to taking the two of them to fun activities and to the park and to all of the fun memories that are ahead.

Until then, my days are filled with being at home, squeezing in showers when I can, nursing most of the day, and trying meet Elliana's and Ethan's needs as best as I can.

She Cracks Us Up!

I've decided that I don't share stories about Ellie even close to often enough on here. While she may be challenging at times, I don't share enough about how much life and entertainment she brings into our home. She is such a character and she keeps Caleb and I laughing all of the time! She brings us so much joy, I can't remember what life was like before her!

I thought I'd share some of her latest funny stories.

Ellie's really into hair bows right now. The other day she asked me to put as many as I could in her hair. You can't really tell from this picture, but she had several bows in her hair.


She likes to run around our house screaming when she's really in a crazy mood. I mean literally screaming. What can I say? She's just plain crazy.

Lately when Ellie is really excited about something she'll bring it to me and say "Mommy, I have a surprise for you!" Even though the "surprise" is really for her. :)

Ellie is quite enthralled with her new baby brother. She likes to talk like an adult and she says over and over "Look at him! He's so small, he's so tiny!"

There are many more stories that I could share, but it's late and I'm tired and honestly they aren't coming to me at the moment.

But I have to share this story. I couldn't make it up if I tried and I am NOT embellishing any of it. Last night we were all in the living room and my phone rang. I missed the call but Ellie picked up my phone and pretended to have a conversation with someone on the other line. It was a very grown up conversation and SO funny!

This is how the conversation went: "Hello? (pause) Yeah, I'm playing a game with Daddy. (pause) Yeah, (pause) Mmhmm (pause). Okay, well have a good trip. See you later. Bye bye."

Seriously! Where does she get these things? I love her more than words can say.

Random Post

Hi all! Yes, I am alive and well, I've just had a hard time finding time to get on the computer in the last week or so. I seriously don't know how mom's of two or more children find the time to blog every day. I'm sure it helps to have a smart phone. I'm also sure that I will settle into a new "normal" and I will learn to balance everything and find time for me again. :)

The past week or so was not easy. I was recovering from my c-section which took some time, then we had some minor health issues with Ethan (he is fine now), then Elliana was sick with a nasty stomach bug and had been vomiting and had terrible diarrhea, then I got the stomach bug... let's just say it was not a fun week and a half. I was so sick of Dr's appointments and I just wanted us all to be well again. I'm so happy to report that I think we are finally there!

I am SO thankful that I had lots of help from my mom and mother-in-law for the past week and a half. I seriously don't know how I would have survived otherwise. Don't you just love moms?!

Tomorrow is my first day of being a mom of two all by myself. Aaah! I keep hearing this song go through my head: "All by myself, don't want to be all by myself". Ha ha! I'm actually feeling physically strong now and I'm sure I'll be fine but I'm still a little nervous.

Speaking of the words all by myself, Elliana has started saying this phrase a lot but she sometimes messes up the words. It's so funny! She'll say "I do it all by me-self" or "I do it all me be-self". I love her. :)


Isn't she beautiful?!

I got on the scale just out of curiosity the other day to see how much weight I had lost since the day Ethan was born. I lost 22 pounds in 2 weeks! Don't you wish it was always that easy to lose weight? Ha!

Caleb's brother is getting married in just 6 weeks and my sister is getting married in 5 1/2 months. I'm using both weddings as inspiration to lose my baby weight. I don't know that I'll be able to lose a lot before Nate's wedding, but I'm hoping to lose a considerable amount before Alli's wedding. We'll see...

April is flying by. Suddenly summer is right around the corner. I can't wait!

I feel like a bad mom because I haven't taken a ton of pictures of Ethan and Ellie lately. This may be a sorry excuse, but I feel like I was just surviving the past 10 days. I'm hoping to work on taking more pictures now that we're all better.



Life is crazy right now but I can honestly say that I feel so full of joy and my life just feels so full. I love my babies more than words can say. God is so good!

1 Week Old Already?!

I simply can not believe that it has only and already been one week since Ethan was born. On one hand I feel like he's been part of our family and our lives forever, and on the other hand this has been the fastest week of our lives. I'm sure in a month I will say it was the fastest month of my life. :)

Overall things have gone much smoother and much easier than I thought they would. Ethan is the sweetest, easiest, most laid back baby. He sleeps a TON and wakes mostly for feedings only. We are in love. All of us. I can't get enough of him and Ellie and Caleb love to spend time holding and loving on him too.



Please excuse Ellie's crazy hair, she's too active to keep her hair in place. ;-)


Part of what has made this transition go so well is that Caleb took the week off to care for me and to spend time with Ellie and Ethan. Most of Caleb's time has been spent with Ellie while I spend time caring for and nursing Ethan. I really haven't had to balance both kids yet but Caleb will be returning to work tomorrow so I'm sure things are about to get much more challenging. I'm still recovering from the C-section and having some pain but I can tell recovery is going well and I'm feeling a little better every day. I'm very thankful for the help I'll be getting from my Mom and Mother-in-law too.

Our little Elliana has been doing mostly well, but she has started acting out over the last day or so. We knew this would happen sooner or later and that her world would be rocked, but it's still hard. I'm sure things will get easier, but for now we're trying to give Ellie the love and attention that she needs while caring for Ethan at the same time.

Again, overall, I am just filled with joy and I am so thankful for our new son and for God's faithfulness to us. Thank you all for your prayers.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from this past week:















"I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself." Psalm 89 1-2
Written by ETHAN the Ezrahite