Tuesday Ten

1. EK is almost one year old. Who knew that could be so emotional?
2. After a whirlwind of a summer, we are finally HOME. Please, don't ask us to go anywhere!
3. EK was dedicated this past Sunday, which was also the day of her birthday party...BIG day for such a little girl! She is still recovering...actually literally...she has been very clingy today.
4. I LOVE fall. Truly. The cool weather (notice I said cool not COLD), the colors outside, the crunch of leaves, long sleeves, socks, and scarves, cider, pumpkin bread, pumpkin apple spice or anything fall-ish scents, etc. etc. etc.
5. I do not like candles. I used to. Not anymore. This makes me sad because of the upcoming season...I might have to look into scentsy. We shall see.
6. We have an upcoming trip to visit my hometown and family this fall and I CAN'T WAIT!
7. We recently rearranged our living room and we LOVE it! We only did it to make more room for E's party but we liked it so much that we decided to keep it this way. Before it was so cramped...suffocating even...and now it's nice and open and E can stand on the couch and look out the window. She loves it.
8. We finally got rid of a mattress set that has been sitting in our hallway and nursery for two months. I sort of wanted to punch them every time I had to squish by them just to get into my kitchen or E's closet. I finally decided to donate them to the Salvation Army but before I could even get in the door a woman stopped me asking if she could have them. YES. We drove them to her house right then. I will be honest with you when I tell you I walked up and down my hallway afterwards a few times just because I could. Combine this with rearranging the living room and I feel like I have a new house!
9. I realize E is almost 12 months old and I still haven't posted her 11 month stats. I may or may not get around to it.
10. My mom recently gave me a compliment concerning how I parent. Coming from the greatest mom on the planet...it meant more than she will ever know.

Have a great week!
Megan

Ten Months!!

-BabyGirl is on. the. move. She is everywhere...not stopping for a second. She loves to dump out her toy box, taste each toy, throw it, and then move on to the next one.

-She loves peek-a-boo, itsy-bitsy spider, pat-a-cake, this little piggy, etc. etc. etc. She LOVES to interact...she can hardly contain her excitement when mommy or daddy gets on the floor to play with her.

-She wears a size 3 diaper and a size 3 shoe. However, of course, I have to throw in that we use cloth and love it.

-She has 4 teeth! Her top front, two teeth came in within a week of each other.

-Early this month, she started poking her lip out and pouting when told, "no." She will also shake her head back and forth when she hears, "no."

-She will stand on anything and everything to get what she wants. This means she hears, "no," a lot.

-She often pulls herself up on the entertainment center, which makes her eye level with the bottom of the tv screen...she will stand with both hands on the entertainment center and bounce up and down to the music on the tv. She has also figured out how to turn the tv on and off....

-After each nap, she reaches out to turn the light switch on. She smiles the BIGGEST smile when it comes on.

-She wakes two times or more each night. In her defense, we have been traveling A LOT lately. We have definitely learned that E is her mother's child and likes a routine with familiar surroundings. At home, she sleeps wonderfully...anywhere else is a different story. And don't even think about trying to get her to nap on the go...no way! She typically wakes in the morning around 7, takes two naps and is in bed around 7:30.

-Her hair is really growing in this month...and it's curly in the back! So sweet. Everyone asks where "the blonde comes from." Well, it's not exactly blonde...just light brown...and mine was just as light as a baby and then got darker as I grew...so I assume E's will do the same.

-One of her absolute favorite things is to attack the laptop when it's out. She will be playing with her toys and the second the laptop is out she throws the toy and shoots across the floor as fast as her knees and hands can take her. She wants to slam all the keys, chew on the side, and play peek a boo by pulling the top part backwards in order to see whoever is using it. At first it was cute...now she is going to destroy it if we're not careful. We're working on, "no," with this one.to
- She nurses about 5 times including one night time feeding. She has slowed down with enjoying solids this month. She still eats three meals a day but she's not very adventuresome with new foods and is A LOT more interested in playing than eating.

-She says mama, dada, baba, nana, gaga...she babbles all day long at home. When we're out and about she is usually pretty quiet taking everything in. She usually refuses to smile at strangers now. If someone is trying to get a smile out of her, she'll look at D or me like, "why is this crazy trying to get me to smile?"

-She began opening drawers and cabinets like a wild child. I'm surprised she hasn't pinched a finger in a drawer, or smashed a hand in a cabinet yet.

-I do believe this will be the last post I write while BabyGirl is playing...She will NOT leave the computer alone! I guess it's time to manage my computer time a little better!

Words can't express our love for BabyGirl. She is the joy of our lives. I am so beyond grateful that I'm able to raise her at home. There is NOWHERE I'd rather be.

-Megan

Tuesday Ten...Plus a Few More

So, I realize today is not quite Tuesday but I figured I'd go ahead and post this while I'm sitting here. Otherwise, there is a good chance I will forget tomorrow.

1.       I have been doing lots of birthday planning lately. I've been thinking about BabyGirl’s birthday since she was just a wee one. Birthdays have become a bigger deal around here than they used to be and I can’t wait to celebrate my little one’s life!

2.       Busy Busy Busy. Please can I just stay home without going out of town overnight for one month. That is all I ask. PLEASE. Don't get me wrong...every time I've gone out of town it's been by choice and has been completely worth it, BUT, this home-body is ready for some home time!

3.       I am thinking I’m going to do a blog entry soon concerning the #1 question I have gotten since EK made her entrance into the world… “Is she sleeping through the night yet?” I know you are waiting on pins and needles for this future post.

4.       We are so anxious to start our adoption process again but don’t feel that we’ve gotten the go ahead yet. We have some exciting news on the direction we’re taking…another future blog post!

5.       Daniel and I recently got a new mattress. Why we did not invest in this years ago, I do not know. It has changed my life. And I am not kidding. Not even a little bit.

6.       I am always hungry these days; however, I often get halfway through the day and realize I still haven’t eaten anything. I’m really not quite sure how one forgets to eat. Oh wait…I have a 9 month old who has no ‘off’ switch…that’s probably how.

7.       Daniel and I celebrated our 7^th wedding anniversary on June 17^th. When God is kept in the center of each individual, He truly does make something beautiful out of something NOT.

8.       All the storms lately just need to stop. I can’t handle anymore thunder. Seriously.

9.       I am currently watching America’s Got Talent on DVR. This thirteen year old girl (who looks like she’s at least eighteen) can seriously sing. Where has she been hiding? Oh, in Florida with her brother apparently.

10.   I am really missing my siblings these days. I just need all five of us together again. Soon. I wish we could all live on the same street at the end of a cul-de-sac. In houses built by my dad. 

11. My baby sister just got engaged. I am not sure how I feel about this yet. Not because I don't approve. I do. But she's my baby. 

12. My dad recently moved only 4 hours away from me. Words can not express my happiness over this!

13. EK turned 10 months old today. I held a 2 week old yesterday. I absolutely am overwhelmed with how fast E has grown and changed. I knew it would go by fast but WOW. 

14. My husband is such a servant. I am so blessed by his actions every day. He is always so quick to do things for me. I am spoiled ROTTEN. 

15. I have recently started coming up with activities to do with E...mainly thanks to Pinterest. I am so excited to start "school" with my baby! Many of the ideas are so simple, but things I never would have thought of. My sweet girl will have so much fun! She loves to play...especially with her mama. She wants to be where I am at all times. If I'm on the couch, then she is walking all along the couch, taking breaks while standing beside me. If I'm in the kitchen, then she's exploring in there. She follows me from room to room, crawling as fast as her little body can go...if I go too fast then she cries out telling me to slow down! I spend lots of time these days waiting on her to catch up to me. She gets SO excited when I get down on the floor to play with her. She can hardly contain herself. Her favorite thing is to climb over me a hundred zillion times. This baby girl is my little sunshine. I am beyond grateful that I have a husband who sees the value of me staying at home. I am also beyond grateful that we are able to make the sacrifices so that it's possible for me to stay home. There is nowhere I'd rather be. 

Happy Tuesday! ...or actually Monday if we're being completely accurate

-Megan

Nine Months Old

I'm trying to get caught up over here! BabyGirl turned NINE MONTHS OLD on June 15th. The speed at which this child is growing flabbergasts me. I simply can not believe it. Here is what she has been up to....

-EK has been a very busy girl this month. One morning Daniel went to get her when she woke and she was sitting up in her bed!! She's been sitting on her own since five months old but this was the first time she sat up all by herself!

-She started pulling up, crawling, and walking alongside furniture all within 24 hours. We worked really hard teaching BabyGirl to crawl. She really had to think about it at first and you could just see her little mind working. Now she flies all over the house!

-She does not nap well anywhere but in her crib. This obviously means we have to be home at naptime and bedtime. 

-She takes two naps each day.

-She nurses 4-5 times a day now.

-She is learning SO much! Early this month she slapped her hand on her tray while eating and I copied her. She slapped her hand again so I copied her again. Repeat this about a hundred times and you have the first of many times we've played this game! She loves it. She also began playing peek-a-boo. She clasps her hands together and holds them over her head. After a few seconds she'll pull them down really fast and wait for us to say, "peek-a-boo!" She'll play as long as we're willing! It cracks us up that she thinks she's hiding when she has her hands over her head. We've played peek-a-boo with BabyGirl for quite some time by covering her head or our own head with a blanket or whatever's handy and then pulling it down. She began pulling it off herself and now she plays with just her hands. It is amazing to watch a baby grow and learn!

-When she first wakes up, BabyGirl lays her head on my shoulder and cuddles for a minute. LOVE this. Since she learned to hold her head up, voluntary cuddling ceased unless she was sleeping. 

-She says mama, baba, and has said dada once. Her favorite thing to shout from her crib is, "MA MA MA MA..." How can a mommy resist that??? She can't. Which is why we are now sleep training all over again. Or attempting at least. 

-I mentioned sleep training above. With all of our traveling, cutting teeth, and injuries, BabyGirl's sleep habits at night have gotten a little scary. She is all over the place with waking up. We are lucky if we get a 4 hour stretch of sleep at the moment. When we walk in her room, she will raise her little arms up and clutch onto our clothes as tightly as she can and try her hardest to climb up into our arms. How on earth do you not pick her up then??? Well, we do (or I do at least...Daddy doesn't give in as easily). I have to say that even though I'm barely awake during the day lately, I cherish these late night moments when BabyGirl just wants to cuddle and rock. I am getting semi-weepy just thinking about it. She does NOT cuddle during the day like I've said many times before so these night time cuddles are just more precious to me than just about everything. 

-I mentioned an injury above. BabyGirl had her first injury this month and it was ROUGH. The sad thing is, there were three adults within arms reach of her the instant it happened. As we all know, BabyGirl is on the move constantly. An injury was bound to happen sooner or later. We were at Grandma's house where she was enthralled with her Aunt Rebekah's dogs the entire visit. She would just stare and stare. So, she was sitting watching them one afternoon when one got up and walked away from her. She began to crawl after it and got all caught up in her dress. She did a face plant into Grandma's stone kitchen floor. Now, before this moment, Erin had an "extended upper lip frenulum." For those of you out there who have no idea what this is, you are not alone. We didn't either. Anyway, the frenulum attaches the lip to the gums. E's was attached all the way to the base of her gums and possibly would have needed to be clipped when she was older if it interfered with her speech or teeth. Well...after the face plant, her frenulum was no longer "extended." She cut her gums open and tore her frenulum. On the bright side, she won't have to have that done when she's older. On the down side...well, you can only imagine the down side. The poor baby didn't smile for three days. She woke constantly during the night for several days. She did very little playing and only wanted Mommy at all times. PITIFUL. We went through lots of frozen food to suck on, Motrin, and Orajel.

-She is between shoe sizes. Size 2's are getting too small but size 3's are a little big.

-She wears mostly size 9 month clothes but can still wear most 6 month sized clothes.

-BabyGirl tried the finger foods, cantaloupe, watermelon, baked beans, peas, and white rice. She also loves sucking on lemons and oranges.

-EK is the cutest little thing while riding in her stroller. She likes to sit straight up with both hands holding on to her tray looking around, taking everything in. She has so much fun.

-She loves to wear sunglasses! She will wear them for quite a while before realizing she can take them off.

-She enjoys swinging. She smiles and laughs and just has the best time.

-She tried out swimming for the first time this month. She wasn't a huge fan because the water was a little chilly. She preferred sitting on a float playing with toys.

Our Little One is a busy, busy girl! Gratefully, our schedule will slow down over the next month, which this mommy is so excited about!

-Megan

Eight Months Old

I am obviously behind on posting BabyGirl's monthly updates but better late than never I suppose!

-E got her first cold this month. It lasted a long ten days and we were all glad when she was feeling better!

-She began reaching her arms out when someone reaches for her...only if it's someone she wants holding her though!

-She is a little more reserved with her smiles than she used to be. She has to check things out before she relaxes a little bit.

-BabyGirl moved up to a big girl carseat this month. Mommy cried. She is growing up too fast!

-She slept through the night for the first time this month! She'd been sleeping 6 hour stretches at night, eating once when all of a sudden one morning I woke up at 7am and shot out of bed to check on her and there she was, sound asleep! However, we left for vacation this same day and her sleep habits since then have left something to be desired. 

-She nurses about every 4 hours and usually falls asleep nursing. She takes 2-3 naps each day and eats solids three times a day. 

-She is beginning to enjoy finger foods. This month she tried banana and green beans. She loves her some food!

-She rolls and army crawls all over the place.

-She still wears a size 2 shoe and can wear clothes sized anywhere from 6 to 12 months. 12 months are mostly too big but she's worn some so that we can get as much wear as possible out of them!

-We still have not left BabyGirl in the church nursery or with a babysitter other than Grandma. One day we will get there...and this is actually an area I have really thought and prayed about and for me, as well as BabyGirl's personality, I decided that we're not ready yet. I believe that our culture pushes mommy's to leave their babies sooner than necessary...but don't get me started on that! 

-She finally enjoys eating fruit. I used to have to water it down quite a bit or add lots of oatmeal before she'd eat it without gagging, shivering, or acting like she was eating something sour.

-Her favorite things to play with are pens, cell phones, anything crinkly, paper, her binky clip....and pretty much anything else that is not a toy!

-She is the smiley-est little thing! She is very quick to flash a huge grin at anyone she knows well but others aren't so fortunate! She is very inquisitive when we are out and about, watching and looking, taking everything in. She will often raise her hand up from the stroller or grocery cart wanting to touch my or Daddy's face. Once she's reassured that we are right there, she'll go right back to checking things out.

-We are learning that we have to keep things very neat and tidy because she is into EVERYTHING. There have been a couple instances where if we weren't sitting right there, she could have seriously choked on random things that the average naked eye would never spot!

-She still does NOT allow Mommy to leave the room unless Daddy is in there with her. For this reason, both Mommy and BabyGirl are very happy to see Daddy walk through the door every evening!

-We ordered ribs one night at a restaurant and decided to let BabyGirl gnaw on a bone. She LOVED it! She "mm-mm-ed" the whole time, flipping it from end to end chewing away. When I took it from her, she stared at it and then CRIED! This was the first time she really let us know that she wasn't happy with something. I gave it back to her and she was tickled pink. Yet another instance of our baby's personality shining through...VERY determined and dare I say, strong-willed. 

-She babbles all day long, constantly saying, "huh," waiting until we repeat her. She'll play this all day long. She especially does it in the car, making sure we're still there I think. She can see us through her mirror attached to the seat of the van. She'll repeat "huh" over and over until we look at her and then she'll smile as big as she can and turn her face into the side of her car seat. 

-She is very ticklish and has been ever since I can remember. 

-BabyGirl has always loved bath time. She's beginning to notice the water and likes to splash intentionally now, rather than just randomly...but she is not a fan of water getting in her face.

Words can not express our love for EK. We will forever be in awe that God gave us such an amazing, miraculous gift. This month was BUSY! We have learned to take advantage of every single opportunity with BabyGirl because it just goes by too fast. She changes so much every day! What a blessing she is to us. 

-Megan

Tuesday Ten

I know. I am surprising even myself with this post. You didn’t think I’d ever post another Tuesday Ten again, did you? Now I’ve proved you wrong.

1.       I made BabyGirl butternut squash today. So easy. She is not really a fan of fruit yet. She has loved every vegetable I’ve given her but fruits are a different story.

2.       The hubs is grilling steak tonight. Yay. The steak he grills is most definitely the best steak I have ever eaten. Hands down. I very rarely order steak at a restaurant for this reason. It never compares. Never. Ever.

3.       We went to a frozen yogurt place yesterday and there is a big chance we will go again tonight. Either that or DQ which doesn’t rob our wallet quite as badly as the yogurt place.

4.       My seven month old has become quite the little oinker as of yesterday. Seemingly overnight she decided she was ready for breakfast, lunch AND dinner instead of just the usual dinner I was feeding her. (solids, of course) So, here we are on day two and she is loving her some food.

5.       EK started creeping this past weekend! She is really trying her hardest to get around this entire house. We’re not crawling yet, but she’ll be there soon!

6.       Currently E is in her exersaucer. Rather than play with the gazillion toys overloading her senses, she is content to chew on the tag sticking out of one of the toys. Actually, I take that back…she is getting frustrated that she can’t reach it as well as she wants.

7.       I am always rearranging around here. We either have too much stuff for our house, or a house that is too small. Since E was born, I just CAN’T stand clutter. I can’t stand for something to not have a place. I can’t stand to have too much of something so that it doesn’t fit in its place. I have designated places for everything and if I have so much of it that it won’t fit in the designated place, then quite often it is given away. EK has changed me. For the better. Most definitely.

8.       Erie slept SIX HOURS STRAIGHT last night!!! That is a big achievement in this house. Her mommy and daddy couldn’t be more proud that the sleep training we’ve done this week has been paying off. God has shown us that when we seek Him for wisdom in our parenting He is SO QUICK to show us what to do. It has amazed me. Truly.

9.       E is so rough with her exersaucer that she just yanked one of her toys off of it. I’m not so sure this thing will make it through a second child.  

10.   I get to see two of my siblings and their significant others NEXT WEEK. This girl can hardly contain her excitement. I can’t wait to see them. How on earth did we end up all over the world, I would like to know? Who’s terrible idea was that?

Have a great week!

-Megan

Happy Seven Months!

Our Little Miss Erin is 7 months old! I know I say this in every update, but time goes by so fast! I'm so glad I've kept track of her growth month to month because it is amazing how much changes so quickly.

-She has noticed her hands a little more every month. This month she will catch one out of the corner of her eye and watch it. Then she'll reach for it with the other hand and bring it to her mouth. So cute.

-She really like spoons for some reason. She gets the biggest kick out of banging it on her high chair tray. If she's restless in her car seat a plastic spoon is sure to keep her occupied for quite some time.

-She is a great little traveler as long as she's not hungry. She used to NOT be a fan of riding in the dark but we honestly haven't traveled in the dark with her for quite some time as she goes to bed before the sun goes down now...so I'm not sure if she still feels this way. We have an 8-9 hour drive coming up soon so we will see what she thinks of traveling after that! 

-She is learning SO MUCH. She amazed me two different times with how she's moving on from the young baby stage to an older baby stage. She loves it outside so quite often we'll go play out in the front yard. She is very intrigued by the cars driving by. When she is facing the house with her back to the road, she'll hear a car coming and look in that direction. As it passes behind her she'll turn her head in the other direction to keep following it. Maybe there is a technical term for it but it shows she's learning that when something is moving in one direction it keeps moving even though it passes behind her. Come to think of it, I play a game with her a lot in the house that goes along with this same thing. Our living room has two entry ways. One into the kitchen and one into the hall way. I can appear in the kitchen and then disappear heading towards the hallway and pop out at the other door. Now, instead of just staring at one door when I leave, she'll watch both doors! The other instance I was so shocked when I first saw it, happened while she was rolling around on the floor. She happened to kick a toy that plays music when touched. She got very still when the music started. When it stopped, she kicked it again. When it stopped, she kicked it again and started smiling and laughing. She did this several times and I realized that she was learning cause and effect! My sweet newborn is a big girl now!

-My sweet, precious baby girl got sick for the very first time in her short little life this month. I remember writing recently that she has never been sick. Well, we've officially crossed this "first." In a way I'm relieved that we've experienced it and we all survived. I think that was one of my biggest fears with her getting sick is just the unknown. Anyway, the weekend before getting sick she was just "off." Not herself. We chalked it up to being on the go all day that Saturday and her not sleeping well because of it. Monday morning she woke up with a slight temp. I knew her second tooth was coming in as it had been the bane of my existence (and hers too probably) for weeks at that point. I really don't see how a fever relates to cutting a tooth but everyone and their mother says it is so (even though doctors say the two are not related). Anyway, I didn't worry too much about it but I did go ahead and call the doctor because BabyGirl also had a diaper rash that appeared seemingly out of nowhere and faded just as quickly but left a little "ouchy" on her sweet little toosh. (tmi?) The pediatrician was out sick herself that day so we set up an appt for the following day as her temp was only around 99. To make a long story short, her fever rose to 101.8 by that evening...of course when all doctor offices are closed. We called the after hours nurse who conferred with our doctor and both advised us to go to the nearest children's hospital to make sure the fever and "ouchy" weren't related. SO...off we went to the nearest children's hospital an HOUR away at midnight. To make a VERY long story short, SEVEN HOURS LATER, we were finally on our way home with a diagnosis. A viral infection and yet another instance of terribly sensitive skin. Ouchy and fever unrelated. I know that was not a sentence. Live with it. While there EK's temp rose to over 104 and she did not sleep but maybe an hour tops. We were actually ecstatic that it was just a viral infection because we got really nervous that it might be a urinary tract infection because of her dilated kidney. I can't remember if I wrote a post about all that but the urologist ruled out pretty much everything and diagnosed E with a mega-ureter, which would most likely not cause any problems and would go away on its own as E grew. Our fear was that her mega-ureter might have caused an infection for some strange reason. Praise God that wasn't true! It took our sweet girl a good week-and-a-half to get completely over it all. Her fever lasted a few days and she just took quite a while to return to our happy, sweet babe. 

-E nurses every two hours and wakes twice during the night to eat. I'm not really sure if she needs to eat at those times, or if she just wants to eat. I honestly don't mind these sweet times with her in the quiet, still hours....but it would most definitely be incredible to get more than 4 hours of sleep consecutively. I've thrown out everything that says "if your baby is not sleeping at least 6 hours consecutively at this point then she most likely just has you trained and is fully capable of sleeping longer"...at this point, I've learned that my baby is not everyone else's baby. She might be capable of it, but she's not doing it and that's ok with me. We'll get there. I've learned that this whole raising a child thing is all a day-to-day process and before I know it she'll be 18 so just RELAX and let her be a baby. Soak up the sweet cuddle times as she sure doesn't offer up cuddles during the day. She's got way too much to see and do for that!

-We left EK for more than just an hour with a babysitter for the first time this month! This was VERY, EXTREMELY, MUY, hard for yours truly. I'll write all about this in another post. I know you are waiting on pins and needles now...

-She is sitting like an ole pro all by herself these days. She is just starting to learn that she can actually get out of that position and lay down which she loves since that means she can roll everywhere her little heart desires.

-She can get pretty much anywhere by rolling. She still gets stuck every once in a while and boy will she let us hear it, but for the most part she goes after whatever she's got her eye on. Usually a shoe, a cord, paper, a tiny speck of garbage that the average naked eye would never spot...NEVER her toys. Heck no. Who wants toys? If I leave the room I usually return to find her rolling just as far as she can in the direction I left. I've learned to tread lightly as she can be under my feet before I know it!

-She moved up to size 3 disposables this month. Wow! (We wore disposables while she was sick because of the spot of diaper rash...diaper rash cream shouldn't get on the cloth diapers...which they make liners for, which works beautifully, but with how much we were having to keep her slathered up I just preferred to use disposables.) I like blogging because I don't have to make sure my sentences are grammatically correct. Aren't you lucky.

-We have TWO teeth! Unlike the time I thought it might be breaking through (when E first got sick), it waited another week and came through the day before she hit 7 months old. She was pretty fussy that day and napped a lot, but they were short naps. I knew that blasted thing was coming in and sure enough it did! Also, no fever either. 

-She started making the letters "b" and "m" sounds. She has decided to do this when she cries, as well. I think because she know it's so cute that we can't resist coming to her aid pronto. Especially when she is yelling "ma, ma, ma, ma" over and over.

-Little Miss still does not approve if I leave the room. We are working on this one...

-EK isn't all too thrilled to let others hold her. She does just great with her mommy and daddy of course, as well as Grandma, actually...but everyone else has to make sure mommy is in her line of vision!

-She wears a size 2 shoe and looks so amazingly cute in her little sandals Grandma bought her.

-She found her hairbows this month. It is not unusual to find them around her neck when we get her out of the car.

-She wears size 6 month clothes along with some 3-6 month, as well as some 6-9 month...just depends on the brand/style.

-We will be crawling VERY SOON! At the very end of this month BabyGirl started pulling herself forward...only half an inch or so at a time but we're getting there! 

-Erie is a roly poly when it comes to getting her diaper changed. Seriously. Will. Not. Sit. Still.

-She loves loves LOVES being outside. 

-E enjoys story time before naps and bedtime. Put the bink in her mouth and she will sit quietly and listen. It is amazing as she doesn't sit still for much of anything else.

Our little miracle is growing before our very eyes. To me, she still looks exactly as she did the day she was born, yet so different. She brings more joy and less sleep to our lives than we ever thought possible. We can't wait to see more of her personality come out as she grows. My prayer for her lately has been that she will not be conformed to this age but will come to a point in her life where she is transformed by the renewing of her mind so that she will be able to discern what is the good, pleasing and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)

-Megan

Tuesday Ten

I stole this idea from a blog I like to read, Paro Post. She's pretty entertaining and has a cards/invitations/etc. business. On Tuesdays she posts ten random things. I'm not sure if she got the idea from somewhere else but since that's where I got the idea I figured I should give her the credit.

So yeah, I thought it'd be fun to post 10 random things going through my mind on Tuesdays. I doubt I'll stay consistent with every single Tuesday...in fact, let's just go ahead and get it settled that I WON'T write every Tuesday...but when the fancy strikes, I will!

1.       Having a sick baby is NO FUN. But the snuggles are amazing.

D and I got very good at using a thermometer this week. I'm still not convinced that I love this particular thermometer but it worked ok.

2.       BabyGirl cut her second tooth this week!

3.       We really do have the best dog in the world. We really do. However, there are things about owning a dog that I just do NOT handle well. One of them being the fact that most days I feel as if I’m actually a pioneer with a dirt floor for a kitchen. I sweep 748 times a day…in my mind. If I’m being completely honest with myself it’s only once. Twice on a good day…but it SHOULD be at least twice. Bauer tracks in dirt and leaves from outside constantly. For this reason the poor dog is no longer allowed on carpet surfaces as BabyGirl is all over the floor these days. 

Bauer as a pup. Cutest dog in the world.

4.       I am finally completely healed from EK’s delivery. If you added that up, that’s 7 months of healing. I am told I fall into the less than .0001 percent (number might be exaggerated a smidge) of people who have issues like I did. Go me. HOWEVER, that being said, I would, and will if the time comes, do it all over again. Giving birth naturally was the most amazing thing I've ever done and I wish all pregnant women could experience it.

5.       I am studying Romans right now and LOVE. IT. 

 While looking for a pic of the book of Romans to steal off the internet, why did a picture of Joel Osteen come up?

6.       I knew if I ever had a girl my bank account was in trouble. Let’s get real people, boy stuff is just not cute. Girl stuff is a completely different story. Gratefully, I am naturally a saver. Otherwise, whoa…I would buy something for EK every day I am SURE of it. 

7.       We plan to homeschool, which I could not be more excited about. I CAN’T WAIT to get started with EK. This weekend my mom and I found a few pieces of furniture for my future classroom. I could NOT pass up 4 and 5 drawer file cabinets for 3 DOLLARS, a 7 foot tall bookshelf for 5 DOLLARS, tables for 10 DOLLARS and a few other things. I don’t care how mad my husband was when we didn’t know how we would bring it all home after my mom and I had already bought it. It is now sitting in my carport and I dream about the day we get to do school work using it all! I know…I’m weird.

8.       I found a math book the other day I bought several weeks ago at a consignment sale to use for duh, homeschooling. I have been working on the lessons inside it for fun in the evenings. I am my father’s child.

9.       I can’t figure out why I have such strong feelings towards cloth diapering, but I love me some cloth diapers. 

Here is a pic of one I am currently coveting.

10.   My mom spoils me rotten. She buys Erin the cutest stuff, which is really buying me stuff since at this point EK is just figuring out that she owns hands…much less clothes. Also, my mom bought me a gazillion beautiful flowers and helped me plant them in pots on my porch. Now my house is pretty! 

And my hubby just walked in with ice cream for me. That means it's time for me to go. Until next time! ...also, he just realized he turned the air conditioner off the other day...no wonder I am sitting here in a pool of sweat. Well, not really...maybe.

-Megan