Just Trying to Keep Up

The days and weeks and months have escaped me, busy with life and little ones. I am blessed beyond measure to have so much to fill my plate, but I don't want to forget it. I have been inspired by those who keep such great record of life while living it fully, and hope to try to keep up and remember to write it down or blog about it to do the same.

So, first thing's first: We found out in May that we will be having a little boy! We could not be more excited to be adding to our family and to be having a boy this time around. He has two sisters waiting to dote on him, a daddy ready to share his love of sports, and a mommy who is still trying to figure out just what to do with a boy! Don't get me wrong, I am completely excited about our boy. But I only have sisters and mostly girl cousins, so boys are a whole new world to me. But I can't wait to learn and grow as I become a mom to this little boy that God is giving us. I do know that I'm going to have to get over being a germophobe and learn to deal with dirt. The girls are breaking me in with that, but I have been told that boys take it to a whole new level. I can't wait, though!

Here is our boy at almost 21 weeks (I'm now almost 28 weeks; pictures below):


We have named him, but are waiting just a bit before sharing it with everyone to be absolutely sure. He is already so precious and we cannot wait to meet our boy!!

And now, for those of you who love the belly pictures, here is a picture of me today at almost 28 weeks:


I feel like I'm carrying him differently (higher) than the girls and also feel a little bigger, so for kicks I thought I'd do a little comparison:


Definitely looking a little bigger, I think! Hopefully he's not any bigger than Abigail was at a little over 8lbs. Elisabeth was just over 7lbs, so that would be even better. We will see in just several short weeks. We are looking forward to those weeks filled with summer and lots of sunshine, fun, and family visits that will bring a little bit of home to us here in the cool Northwest.

As I type this my shoulders are sunburned from many days spent outside, the windows are all open with a cool breeze blowing, Louis Armstrong is serenading us in the background, Elisabeth is talking and singing as she plays dress up, and Abigail is just waking from her nap. We have a full afternoon planned of running under the fruit trees in the backyard, picking ripe cherries to snack on, reading new library books from this morning's trip, and welcoming daddy home for a weekend that doesn't involve work. Life is full and beautiful, and although it's all going by in the blink of an eye, I am thankful for the energy to just keep up and enjoy every second.

The Love of My Life

Entreat me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God.
Where you die, I will die,
And there will I be buried.
The Lord do so to me, and more also,
If anything but death parts you and me.

Ruth 1:16,17

(Our vows from March 17, 2005)

Today, Brian and I celebrate six years of marriage. He is the love of my life and a blessing beyond measure. I could not have dreamed of a better man to share this journey of life with. He is my best friend who makes me smile more, laugh harder, hope fervently, love deeply, and believe with a faith that grows stronger as we keep our eyes on Jesus together. Each day I am more grateful than the day before to be his wife. Six years, many moves, medical school, residency, and on our way to three children make this life, this marriage, beautiful and full. I could not ask for more.

Happy Anniversary, Brian. I am so in love with you.

Life

Life has been busy and full lately. It has been full of reality, of fun, of celebration. We celebrated Abigail's first birthday just before Valentine's Day and can hardly believe it has already been a year since we were blessed with meeting her. We had a small family celebration that carried over to celebrating Valentine's Day and then a much needed week off for Brian. We loved having him here all day every day.

But life as usual is full of residency for Brian. We are constantly adjusting and readjusting to Brian's ever changing schedule, but always cherish the moments we have with him. Days for us girls are full of routine that include a lot of eating, sleeping, playing, reading, learning, growing, wobbling (although Abigail is VERY close to walking), laughing, singing, and anything else that can go on with an almost four year old and one year old.

Did I mention reading? It's pretty much the most popular activity around here. We have bookshelves full of our own books with more bookshelves full of those checked out from the library. Abigail is developing her own love for books, so we keep all the board books low for her and the "paper" books, as Elisabeth calls them, on the shelves that only Elisabeth can reach. We can't get enough around here. And with Abigail wanting to do everything her big sister is doing, it's a good thing we have two copies of this particular book...


So not only is Abigail getting to read the same book as her sister, she's on her way to being a big sister herself! Our third little baby is on his/her way and due to arrive early October! We could not be more excited to meet this new little life!


Life has been busy and full lately. Full, in the most wonderful sense. We are blessed.

Random

Just for fun, I thought I would share a few random things about the girls:

Elisabeth

1. She has a fear of buttons. She won't wear them and she won't let us hold her if we have them on. I have no idea where she gets this from.
2. Her eyes are so dark that it's hard to see her pupils.
3. She has an amazing memory.
4. She absorbs every detail in life and then lives it out. We've found this to be good and bad.
5. She loves to sleep in a "Daddy shirt", but she calls it her dress.
6. She loves to wear dresses.
7. She loves to dance. Almost every "performance" begins with her hands on her hips and only her legs moving. Think Riverdance. She can't wait to start taking dance lessons again.
8. She has changed her name to Meg. We watched Little Women over Christmas and she decided she wanted to be the oldest sister, Meg.
9. She is almost 4 and still puts everything in her mouth.
10. She has a habit of biting her fingernails. So does her Dad.
11. When she helps me cook, she likes to pretend like she has her own cooking show.
12. She has pretended to graduate from college everyday since my youngest sister, Allyssa, graduated from Texas A&M last month. When she graduates, her name is Meg. She finishes the graduation ceremony with the Aggie War Hymn. Her version starts out, "Goodbye to dear old Texas Aggies." She won't let me teach her the real words because she says she knows how it goes.
13. She loves to sing, mostly making up the words as she goes.
14. David and Goliath is currently her favorite Bible story. I overheard her "reading" it yesterday and realized that she almost has it memorized out of her little Bible.
15. She loves to carry Abigail around.


Abigail

1. She does not like for Elisabeth to carry her around.
2. She's a screamer.
3. She loves to sleep.
4. She figured out how to pull the crib bumper down so that she can sleep on it like a pillow.
5. She loves to eat, but only by herself. Yogurt and oatmeal are the only things we can spoon feed her.
6. She's wearing 18 months tops and she's only 11 and a half months old.
7. She is a speedy little crawler, especially when we are coming toward her.
8. She's starting to stand on her own unassisted.
9. She loves to laugh. She'll start fake laughing just to get the rest of us laughing.
10. She is a snuggler. She loves to hug.
11. She is babbling a lot lately, A LOT. It makes Elisabeth laugh really hard. She may be more of a talker than Elisabeth!
12. She is a little choleric in getting her way, but when you tell her "no" she is extremely sensitive. She pouts her lip and starts to cry like you just ruined her world.
13. She loves to sing and dance to any beat. A song, Elisabeth singing, the hum of the dryer...
14. Her dancing consists mainly of head bobbing.
15. Like her sister, she always has a smile on her face.

Maybe It Was Just My Imagination

I think Abigail can talk.

Yes, I know she's supposed to be learning words, saying Mama, Dada, baby, etc., but we're into baby sign language around here and she's not really playing our game!

We taught Elisabeth sign language when she was just a baby and still use it today. It's fun to have another way to communicate and helpful when we are in a situation when we need to be quiet and still need that communication. She only knows basic words, so it's not like we could really communicate with someone that has signed all their life. But it was tremendously helpful when she was a baby and couldn't yet speak all the things she was trying to communicate to us. We love the Signing Time videos and watch them fairly regularly.

Several months ago, we began working with Abigail on more, please, and all done, just a few signs. It took Elisabeth until about 12 months for it all to click, so I wasn't expecting much when we first started with Abigail. Repetition and consistency were all we were focusing on so that Abigail would eventually have her moment to get it. She is 11 months and one week and we have yet to see a sign from her. But I'm not sure we're going to need it! Whenever I ask her if she wants more of something, I repeatedly show her the sign and then use her hands to make her do the sign and then I give her more of whatever it is she is wanting. She usually just stares at me, but a few times, in the middle of all of my, "More? More? More?" she will just say, "more." Oh. So you'll just talk to me? Well, okay. And today while we were trying please, she just stares at me while I'm doing my bit to convince her that it's great fun to copy me and says, "pease." Really?! I thought I just imagined it, but Elisabeth was laughing because she heard it too. So it appears that Abigail will just be talking to us instead of signing! We'll keep at it though, because it's so extremely helpful at this age. Plus it's a fun activity to do together and use in certain situations. Elisabeth is having fun trying to teach Abigail different signs. We're looking forward to her playing and learning along with us!


And while she may just skip over signing and go on to talking, her little body has been in no hurry to produce any teeth. Until yesterday!! At 11 months and one week, the girl finally has a tooth coming in! We love her gummy smile, but know those teeth will sure come in handy!


We are enjoying her so much more each day and love the interaction we have with her at this age. She loves to laugh, often randomly and dramatically laughing to get the rest of us going. She's quite the little character. She seems to be pretty laid back, yet knows exactly what she wants and will let you know if she's not getting it. She adores her big sister and fills all of our days with joy. We are so thankful for our Abigail Grace!

Reaping

"And let us not grow weary while doing good,
for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."

Galatians 6:9

This is a verse that I cling to. It applies to every area of life, but for me it is a verse for motherhood. As mothers we pour our lives into the lives of our children. It can be exhausting while simulantiously being completely joyful. It can be frustrating yet beautiful all in the same moment. It is my dream job, yet the hardest thing I've ever done. Parenting is HARD. Being consistent is HARD. So many times I feel like I'm doing it all in vain, that it's not sinking in. But then the Lord allows a time of reaping. Elisabeth came to me recently, unprompted and said,

"Mommy, I did what you told me to! I wanted to obey you! I didn't want to disobey you! I wanted you to have a happy heart! I wanted God to have a happy heart!"

It was one of the proudest moments of my life. She got it! All that we are doing to teach her and help her in order to walk through this life and become the person God desires her to be has not been in vain. It was a sweet and beautiful moment and I want to remember it for ever. But thankfully we didn't just reap, but we are reaping. My Elisabeth is almost four and is becoming such a lovely little girl. She has always been a blessing and a joy, but there is something about how she is growing up and turning into this more mature little girl. Of course, she's still silly and VERY loud, but I think mature is the right word to describe who she is becoming. She is more thoughtful in her actions and polite and respectful with her speech. She is learning to treat others the way she would want to be treated. She is desiring good. She is desiring Jesus.

And oh, how I learn so much from her and from being her mom. Being a mother has given me a clearer picture of the love and desires the Lord has for me as His child. And by His abundant grace He fashioning me, chastening me, molding me to be more like Jesus. In turn I devote myself each day to point Elisabeth and Abigail to Him, and while I feel like I constantly fail, the Lord is faithful to work through me. He is pursuing them. But it is through my obedience to teach them and train them in the ways of the Lord that I, we (I'm so thankful to share all of this with Brian!) are blessed with a time of reaping.

And there is nothing more beautiful than to see someone's heart unfolding for the Lord.