Baby belly, or basketball?

Here I am, as huge as can be at 32 weeks. It's hard to believe I'm only going to get bigger.

Tender Moments

I have a really sweet story about Eliana to share. My nieces have been staying with us for the last month or so, and they are sleeping in Eliana's room, so Eliana has been sleeping with us. Well, she has had a few bad dreams in the last couple weeks, but thankfully she has finally figured out that dreams aren't real (that's a hard concept to grasp). Anyway, the other night I noticed she was tossing and turning a lot, whispering to herself, and just not going to sleep. I told her to lay still and go to sleep.

"I don't want to go to sleep, because I don't want to have any dreams," was her reply.

"Oh," I said, "Why don't you pray and ask God to give you only nice dreams?" I asked. "Can you ask Him for me?" she said.

"Okay. Dear God, please watch over Eliana tonight and give her nice dreams. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Eliana waited a minute or two, "...What did God say?" (So cute!)

I said, "Well, God loves you very much and He doesn't want you to have bad dreams."

She seemed content with that answer, but she still wasn't going to sleep. So, I decided to start her off by giving her an image to think about. She's always saying how much she wants a kitten, so I said, "Why don't you think about a little, white kitten with blue eyes and a pink bow? It's lost and it's looking for it's mama. Then you find it and you say, 'Don't worry baby kitten. You can come home with me and I'll take care of you."

She liked that idea, so she asked me, "Do you want to come in the dream with me?" How adorable is that? "Yes, I can be in your dream," I said. Eliana gently picked up one of my hands and laced her fingers with mine. "Okay," she said, "You have to hold on tight so I don't get lost. Let's go into the dream." My heart melted. She fell fast asleep, still clutching my hand as tightly as she could. These are the moments that make motherhood so meaningful. Just the other day I was complaining to Miller about having to share our bed and how I couldn't get comfortable with Eliana leaning on me, plus her body heat, and my big belly in the way. This little moment made all of that well worth it. Before I had kids, I looked forward to being a mommy more than anything in the world, but the most I could imagine was holding a tiny infant and rocking him/her to sleep while I sang a lullaby. It's so amazing to watch my girls grow, discover their personalities, and receive such unbelievable blessing from them. I cherish these little moments with them, and I definitely had to blog about it because I don't ever want to forget it.

Baby Addie is a Big 2!

Well, this post is little over a week late. "Baby Addie," as she has affectionately been dubbed in our family, turned 2 last Monday, June 1st. I thought I would wait until today to blog about her because she was supposed to have her 2-year well check today. Then her pediatrician's office called and said her doctor has taken a leave of absence, so they are rescheduling her visit. The bad news is that I have no stats to post right now to show her growth, but the good news is we get to postpone her shots a little longer. That's always a good thing.

So what is Addie up to these days? Everything! She is talking a lot, running, learning to hop, potty training, and spends most of her days trying to keep up with her sister. She does a pretty good job, too, I must say. It's adorable. She really looks up to Eliana, and copies everything she says and does. I think Eliana likes it too, and so far hasn't found it annoying at all. Addie has also decided that she would like to spend her summer completely nude. Yes, no matter what we dress her in, she eventually takes it off, diaper and all. Thankfully she is pretty much completely potty trained when we are at home, so we haven't had many accidents, but I have to be able to move quickly when she says she needs to go potty, and moving quickly is pretty hard for me these days. Also thankfully, she knows that clothing is not optional when we go out in public, so even though she puts up quite a fight when we get her dressed, once we leave the house, the clothes stay on.

Addie absolutely loves the outdoors. She is a true summer baby, and had a blast while we were on vacation. She would have spent the whole time there in the water if we had let her. If it's not the water, she's perfectly content to swing, slide, or just run around in the grass. Her favorite toy by far is a ball of any size. She is definitely a bit a of a tomboy. Still, sometimes I'll find her playing dress up or having tea parties with Eliana. Addie also loves to read books. She loves being read to, but if there isn't anyone available, she will pick up a book and "read" to herself. She is remarkably good at retelling stories. Everyday I am more and more amazed at how much she has grown. She is still my strong-willed baby, and gives me plenty of opportunities to test my patience, but she always makes up for it with her affection. She is second to none when it comes to snuggling. She loves to shower me with kisses and hugs, and still loves to be held like a baby all day if I let her. Addie loves to eat and for the most part will eat anything we offer her. Her favorite foods are crackers, fruit, pizza, cheeseburgers, and fries. She also loves her movies, and her favorites are anything Veggie Tales or Dora.

Addie is still really shy and feels most comfortable when we're at home, just the family. She comforts herself by playing with my hair or with Miller's ear whenever she's upset or in an uncomfortable situation. I've loved watching her grow so far, and sometimes wonder where my little baby has gone, but I'm also really anxious to see what kind of a young lady she will grow to be. We are truly blessed by her and I pray that God uses her in a mighty way someday.

Baby Addie


Introducing Addie to the family



My little bundle


What a happy girl


Crawling


Standing



My little beauty


2-years-old now

Cozy Nooks

I think it's cute how kids find the need to try to fit into tiny spaces. I remember having special hiding places when I was little, too.

Eliana found a clever spot to play hide-and-seek.


Rub-a-dub-dub.... Two kids in a laundry basket?


Camping out in the corner by the couch.


This Baby Moses Basket is actually supposed to be a bed for infants, but I use it to store the girls' stuffed animals in... They decided to turn it into a boat.

Happy Daddy Birthday!

Monday was Miller's birthday, and it was really nice because we got to celebrate the whole day. He's been off of work for the past week because his entire school district closed due to the swine flu. I hate to say that he benefited from others' misfortune, but this was a much needed break for him. We started off the morning with a really yummy breakfast of cream cheese stuffed french toast. (Thanks for the recipe, Meg!) The girls and I also gave him our cards and presents. Eliana even wrote "dadby" on the outside of her card all by herself. It's hard to see in the pic, though.


Then Miller and I went to go see X-Men Origins, and it was really good. We both have a weird obsession for super hero movies... I know, we're nerds, but that's why we get along so well! After the movie I made a really good Vietnamese dish of Banh Xeo for dinner. This is actually my favorite Vietnamese meal, but we had Miller's favorite the night before.


After dinner, we had the ice cream cake that I made by his special request: French Vanilla cake with coconut ice cream, whipped cream topping instead of frosting, and almonds. I decorated in the shape of a basketball since he's so excited about his Mavericks being in the playoffs, but it's also hard to see in the picture.








Then the girls decided to give him their own special beauty regimen/massage using carefully selected kitchen utensils: a turkey baster an a measuring spoon.... Now what Daddy is more pampered than this?


Happy Birthday, Honey!

Half way to the finish line!

Okay, I normally don't like to post pictures of myself. However, my friend, Sheila mentioned that she had never seen what I look like when I'm pregnant, and asked that I send her a picture. Then I realized that I really never documented my previous pregnancies with pictures or anything, so I decided to go ahead and post one. I'll spare you the horror of posting a pic of my bare belly, but here I am at 20 weeks. This was just taken today.

Looks can be deceiving... Not much to see from the front.
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There it is! Baby-bump belly!

Making Room for Baby

We decided to take down Addie's nursery and put bunk beds in Eliana's room for the girls to share. We actually have a 4th bedroom, so we could have left her in her own room, but I thought they would like sharing a room. So first we put the bunk beds together, but both girls wanted to be on the top bunk, and I knew right away that it was going to be a bad idea. So luckily, this bunk bed can be taken apart and separated into two twin beds. This works a lot better, and the girls love it. Addie isn't quite ready to sleep in there at night, but she is taking naps in there.