Cutie

On Friday before we headed for Chicago (pictures coming), I wanted to take some pics of the little man because I thought his outfit was so cute. My parents gave Elijah an Adidas warm up suit for his birthday and Kirk's parents got Elijah a shirt that says "I watch ESPN with daddy" when he was born that now fits him :).  I put him in that outfit and he looked like a little athlete! Unfortunately, he wouldn't stand still so I could get a good standing picture of the outfit, but I still think these little (slightly fake) smiles are too cute.

He really does watch ESPN with daddy :).

When I go home, I am going to scan some old pictures into the computer of me doing a fake smile when I was little...it looked a lot like this, I think!

The face that melts my heart every day.

Let them be little

Ok, so I tried again to get the video to load of the little one kicking, but no luck.  You'll have to come to my house if you'd like to see it :).  But, today, I came across this song and found myself weeping like a little baby at my computer.  Give me a little break, because I am pregnant :).  But, I think it is such a sweet song.  I sometimes find myself thinking "I can't wait for Elijah to..." or "It will be so fun when Elijah is at an age when he can...", but I don't want to wishing the days away, because he will only be little for a while :(.

Meet BD2

Kirk and I had the joyous experience of seeing our baby today!  It was so much fun and truly amazing to see how developed it is already.  We stuck to our guns and didn't find out...sorry to all of you who were hoping we would cave :).  I just remember how much I loved hearing from Kirk "It's a boy!" last time around in the delivery room and I am excited for that again.  Below are some pictures of the little one...I am still trying to get the videos of him/her kicking to load :).

The baby had its hand up by its face the whole time.  I love how you can see the bones in the hand!

You can see part of the spine in this one.

Hi Baby!

Right at the end of the ultrasound, BD2 gave me a good punch...I was glad the tech could snap a shot of it!

Group Date Night

I'm pretty sure I have mentioned this before, but I can not express how thankful Kirk and I are to be a part of a really great small group through our church.  The Lord placed us in the perfect group for this season of our lives.  My friend Bethany had a great idea to get babysitters (4 out of 5 of the couples have kids) and go out to eat and to a comedy club last night.  We had a great time.  It was nice to be kidless and to do something different in downtown Indy.  We ate at Champps, which was good, and then we headed over to Comedy Sportz, which is a family-friendly improv club.  It was a funny show and we had a lot of fun! Great idea, Bethany!

3 of 5 couples were there last night.  From left to right Sarah, Brian, me, Kirk, Bethany and Pete.

Brian and Sarah (don't know why it's blurry).

Bethany and Pete.

Me and my man.

Happy Birthday, Campbell!!

Happy Birthday to my favorite niece, Campbell Grace! I can't believe she is 2 years old.  Cam is  the most happy, sweet, funny, and smart little girl I have ever met!  

Cam: Uncle Kirk, Elijah and I love you very much! We hope you have a lots of fun on your birthday.  We wish we could celebrate with you today but we are sending lots of hugs and kisses from Indiana!

This is Cam on Elijah's birthday, 2 months ago...she looks even more grown up now!

BD2 Belly

Since I promised to update you on the belly picture, here I am at almost 18 weeks.  I had an OB appt on Monday and everything is going well! The big ultrasound is Tuesday...I will definitely post pictures of BD2 after that.

I wish someone had told me...

When I was sitting down at the desk this morning to blog the previous post, I came across my notes from a MOPS speaker earlier this year.  MOPS is a group of young moms at my church that gets together 2 Fridays a month.  I've really enjoyed being a part of it this year.  Anyway, I thought these notes were really good then...and I still think they are good now.  I wanted to share them and I hope they will encourage you.  The speaker spoke on what she wished someone had told her when she was a young mom.

I wish someone had told me that...

• A perfectly clean house is for an entirely different season of life.
  
• Praying is not just for a set time in a set chair for a long period of time.  God calls us to pray without ceasing.
  
• Taking care of myself is not selfish.
  
• When the phone rings, I don't have to answer it.
  
• There will be a strong pressure to say yes to many good things...it is ok to say no.  It is only necessary to say yes when God asks you to.
  
• To be overcommitted would not make me any more spiritual or productive.
  
• Margin in my life is a good thing.
  
• God wants to give me the gift of time.
  
• My children are the church.  They are the greatest investment in the kingdom I will ever see. 
  

That last one is my favorite one.  Kirk and I praying that Elijah will come to know his Savior at an early age and that we would do nothing but point him to Jesus.  Would you pray for him too?

I can do it myself!

Elijah has been a little under the weather for the past few days.  The poor guy has a horrible cough and it wakes him up a lot at night, which in turn, makes him a little more cranky during the day.  This morning I wanted to cheer him up so I tried to do his favorite things...I gave him a bath (he loves that tub!), I looked at his favorite animal book over and over and over again with him while making all of the animal sounds, and, last but not least, I let him feed himself (the bath actually came after this...you'll see why in the pictures).  He loves to work that spoon all by himself...and it is pretty comical.

See, I told you I could do it.

Can't you just hear him saying "mmmm".

First I put my spoon in the applesauce...

...and then I put the applesauce in my mouth.

At least, some of the applesauce gets in my mouth.

Spring has Sprung!

We are SO happy that we are finally experiencing some warmer weather and sunshine here in Fishers.  It feels like it has been forever since we've seen the sun, so we are trying to take full advantage of it! Before Kirk left for class tonight, we decided to take a little walk around the neighborhood.  Elijah loves being a "big boy" and walking by himself and he walked almost around the whole loop! The pictures are below, but I wanted to update you all on my pregnancy and what Elijah's been doing these days too.  If you are interested in that, keep reading.  If not, scroll down for pics!

Elijah is turning into such a big boy.  I'm sure when he's 2 and 3 and 4, I am going to miss when he was  a "little" one year old, but to me, it seems like he is growing so fast! He is learning and discovering new things every day.  Here is a few things he's mastered lately:

• He is a master at the "M" sound now, which makes me happy because he says Mama from time to time (not as often as Dada, but I'll take what I can get).  He also says "mmmm" when I bring out food and "mo", which I think means more.
  
• He loves to open and shut doors.  He could do that all day long, and he especially loves shutting himself in mommy and daddy's bathroom (not sure what he does in there, but he has a blast doing it).
  
• He loves to be chased and he has gotten his little run down quite well.
  
• He has taken a recent interest in books! He doesn't like to read them really, but he sure does love to hold them, eat them, and look at the pictures.
  
• He absolutely LOVES his daddy.  When he hears the garage door open he gets a huge smile on his face because he knows that means daddy is home.  Once he hears the door open, he runs to the gate at the top of the steps and waits for daddy and once he sees him, he runs away (hoping that he will be chased by daddy).
  
• He has begun to experience some separation anxiety.  He cries when our babysitter comes and he cries when he gets dropped off at nursery at church, but he is getting better.  Even though it's sad that he is sad, it does warm our hearts a little to know that he will miss us :).
  
• His new favorite food is blueberry muffins.  It's great that he loves them so much, but it is unfortunate that his feast on them inevitably ends in a LOT of crumbs on him, me, the high chair, and floor.
• He makes every day brighter and more joyful for his mom and dad.  We are SO thankful for our little man and can not wait to keep watching him grow and learn.
  

Here's what's going on in my pregnancy:

• I will be 17 weeks on Friday.  I do have a bump and I will post pictures soon.
  
• I am feeling SO MUCH better and really only have one symptom left which is tiredness.
  
• We are still set on NOT finding out the sex of the baby, but we are looking forward to our big ultrasound on March 23 (yes it is fun, even if you don't find out the sex).
  
• I have been feeling little flutters for a few weeks and Kirk even felt the baby for the first time 2 nights ago! I am not sure why it happens so much earlier the second time, but I plan on asking at my next OB appt.  
  
• I have 2 cravings: cheese fries and iced cinnamon dulce lattes at Starbucks (but I have been getting decaf!)
  
• It is just as cool to experience a pregnancy the second time around.  I forgot how good those first flutters feel and how fun it is to imagine who the baby will look like.  

Wait, you mean I get to walk all by myself, down this sidewalk?

Yup, just follow the leader!

It's fun to be outside! (and to suck on a red spoon...he did that until it fell on the ground).

It's so exciting!

Little boy. Big world.

I love this little guy (please excuse my hair...it did look decent at one point today but then I took a nap and well, you can see the result).

One of my favorite pictures of my two favorite men.

Shameless Plug!

For those of you who have children, or even just know children, you NEED to check out my friend Aubree's new little business. She and her friend are making beautiful hand-stitched clothes for boys and girls! Check out her site on etsy.com!

www.etsy.com/shop/crewandcate

So, so, so cute!

Sneak Peak

Kirk and I bought a car today! We have been wanting to get another car for a while now (we have had only 1 for about a year and a half) and we found the perfect vehicle for our family. It's a Buick Rendezvous. We don't have it in our possession yet (we will have it tomorrow after the dealer details it), but we are so so so excited to go pick it up! We are so thankful that the Lord provided the perfect car for us in our price range. Hopefully we will have more pictures soon :).

Orlando Trip

Elijah and I just got home on Monday from 5 days in Olrando, Florida.  We had a good time seeing Mom, Dad, Jess and Campbell.  The trip was nice, despite the fact that the stomach bug worked its way through the entire condo except Elijah and me (we had it already the weekend before).  That definitely put a damper on things, but we enjoyed 60 degrees and seeing some sunshine! 

Elijah was excited to get going at the airport.  I could not have been happier with how he did on the plane.  He was a champ! Could have something to do with the fact he's been on 5 round trip flights in his short life.

My parents surprised Jess and me with Disney "hopper" passes on Thursday.  We got to go to any Disney park we wanted to.  It was so fun and my parents were kind enough to watch the kids for the day.  We went to Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot.  It was quite a day!   The picture below is from Magic Kingdom's Block Party that they do at noon every day.

We love Disney World! 

Do you remember the Carousel of Progress at Magic Kingdom? It's a rotating theater that takes you through different decades and shows how we've progressed.  Well, something went technically wrong while Jess and I were in it, and we got stuck in the 1920s.  We heard the speech 4 times.  I can tell you anything you need to know about the 20s, but I have no idea what happened past that (we never did get going again).  It felt like a bad dream.

After Magic Kingdom, we headed to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM).  The best part there was a new (at least new to me) attraction "The American Idol Experience".  It may be the closest I will ever get to being in the audience of American Idol and I thoroughly enjoyed it! 

Looks just like the real stage, with the stools and everything.

Finally, we went to Epcot.  I told Jess I think we set a pregnant woman record for how many sights we saw in one day! 

On Friday, we went to Animal Kingdom and took the kids.  We did Disney's "Give a Day, Get a Day", where you volunteer and get free tickets.  It was a great time.  The kids really enjoyed the animals and the adults thought it was really cool too!  This is Elijah and Grandma in line for the African Safari.

Cam and Jess getting ready to check out the safari.  Campbell LOVES animals.

Elijah enjoyed sitting on Grandma's lap and taking it all in.

Of course we need a picture of my favorite animal, the giraffe.

Elijah liked the birds.

We went on the safari a second time since the lines were so short.  As you can see, Elijah was bored of it after one time through.