March Happenings

 Oh, how I love spring!!!

Eliana has continued to improve on her picture taking ability!  These two photos of Rachel and Natalie were taken by Eliana!  I'd say not bad for a 2 year old!

 Aunt Marcie came for a visit!  We love having family come and visit us!  Aren't you impressed with Rachel's ability to hold both of the wee ones at once?

 For the first time since we moved away from family, we spent Easter weekend back in our hometown.  It was great to see friends who moved away the summer we did, friends from our old church, and lots of family!!!  In the picture above, Kallie and Eliana are "hiding" their faces while Troy hid Easter eggs.  They loved it!!!

 Eliana was purely delighted with the hunting.  We had about 5 hunts that day, 2 the next, and several more at home.  Eliana enjoys hiding the eggs and then helping you find them.  You have to be quick to find them, otherwise she will help you find them before you've even searched for them.

 Natalie slept okay while we traveled.  She ate about every 3 hours instead of every 4.  Which is actually AMAZING compared to how Eliana traveled at that age!!!  Eliana is doing so much better in the car!  I think it helps that she has someone to look at in the backseat and that she can hold conversations with us up front.

What is this???  Eliana wanted to hold her sister AND smile for a picture?!?!?!  You bet I took a picture before she changed her mind!

When Natalie was 5 Months Old!

Natalie is now a few days into her 6th month, but let's step back in time for just a moment to high light her 5th month!

 She is at the wonderful age of smiles!  Since I know that is a season and not forever, I am enjoying these easy smiles while they last!

 Natalie learned how to make raspberries!  She has also enjoyed looking at other babies like her friend on the right Amelia!

 Natalie has joined us up at the table during meal time.  She was getting lonely down on the ground.  She is still just being breastfed, but she does enjoy chewing on her toys and hands.

 Natalie loves rolling over and enjoys sitting up.  She is much more content when she can sit up and enjoy her box of toys. 

She found her feet this month!  She is still waking up in the night.  She is having a feeding somewhere between 10 and midnight, and then again between 1 and 4am.  We're praying that she'll drop one of theses feedings.  Thankfully, the extra wakings beyond these feeds have stopped for now:)  Kyle has been a SUPER help in the morning.  If she gets up before he goes to work, she joins him for a little bit until she gets hungry.  That means I can get between 15 and 45 minutes of extra sleep.  Hooray for my fantastic husband!!!

February Recap

For the first time in nearly three years, I got to see the see the ocean.  It was only for less than half an hour, but I'll take it! There is just something about the ocean that soothes and excites me all at the same time.  I think it is in part because growing up we spent many family vacations visiting grandparents and seeing the ocean.  Awe.  We were near the ocean for Rachel's dad's funeral.  So, you may notice that Eliana wasn't with us.  She had an amazing day with my family.  We figured her seeing some of her favorite people mourning would rock her world a bit.  Natalie thankfully slept through the whole service and brought joy and comfort to those around us.

Any guesses what you are looking at to the right?  Well, I had cooked a turkey and then made broth from the bones.  I happened to notice that we had run out of freezer bags.  I was a little worried that the regular bags would open, so I put all 8 or so small bags in one large bag to freeze.  Can you tell what happened?  At least one bag did open and then all of them were frozen together.  They had been sitting on a bag of frozen veggies that had a bird chip clip keeping the bag closed.  As you may see, it was frozen stuck.  I hadn't planned on using all of the broth at once, but I ended up making some soup.

 Awe, cheesecake!  We had Jonathan and Julia over.  They brought yummy cheesecake for dessert!  Since they were mini cheesecakes, we got to sample all of the flavors!  Amazing!

 Eliana loves collecting things.  Lately, she has been collecting rocks!  It is starting to warm up a bit, so we are outside often again!  Praise the Lord for spring coming!!!

 Playtime with Kyle and Eliana is always an adventure!

 Dane and Natalie are distant cousins.  Just like Eliana and Dawson below. 

 If you look carefully, you'll see that Eliana is wearing a baby carrier.  It was so nice to have some company in the morning!!!

 Can you believe it?  They are both smiling at the same time!  That is a miracle!!!

Eliana continues to love changing her clothes multiple times a day.  Lately she likes to change into her Cinderella pajamas as soon as we get home from a walk or playing outside.  I don't mind so much since I know it will be different within a couple of hours.

 Sometimes I think God made dirt just to play in:)  Sofia and Eliana love dirt, throwing balls, and kicking balls.  I had so much fun with these two girls.  I had them run, run, running!

 All of that good running caused Eliana to fall asleep while we were praying before bedtime.  At least she made it through Bible story time!

It was challenging to get a one arm photo of us when we were a family of three, and it is simply humorous to try now.  I figure this one didn't turn out too bad.

Natalie is 4 Months Old!!!

For a few more days, Natalie will be 4 months old.  This month she swallowed a firecracker.  That is my best explanation for the sound she now makes when she is super tired or really fussy or just plain mad.  Thankfully, although we hear that noise a few times a day it isn't a-l-l day or even for super long periods of time.  She is awake for between 1.5 and 2.5 hours at a time.  She alternates between 6 and 7 feedings a day.  For the last few nights she has been fighting her last nap.

Natalie became the main focus of Eliana as she learned how to take photos.  The upper right photo is a self portrait of Eliana:)

 Natalie is still eating once in the middle of the night.  She has a new habit of also waking about an hour before I'm willing to feed her (somewhere around 1am) and then an hour before I'm willing to start our day (somewhere around 5am).  So she get the pacifier and thankfully goes back to sleep fairly quickly.  The only thing is that I am getting pretty tired from all of the extra waking up.  For many months she was eating around 3am and then at 7am.  That was nice.  I'm not sure what happened and why she started waking around 1am, but I remind myself that this is just a season.  One day she will sleep through the night.  Hopefully is will be a wee bit sooner than it took Eliana, but I'm still getting way more sleep than I did with Eliana.  SO, I count my blessings!

 We love making Natalie smile.  Now that I know these easy smiles are also a short season, I am treasuring them and basking in the gleeful, toothless smiles she gives me oh so easily.

Natalie loves to stand while holding onto our hands, to sit up with help, and chew on anything she can get her hands on.  If there is nothing to chew on, she finds a way to chew on most of her whole hand at one time.

January Recap

 We continued to try and get a picture to send out to some of our family and friends since the Christmas photo excursion was a flop. After 6 attempts, we sent the one on the right to those who sent us Christmas cards. I do love Eliana's smile on the left.

Kyle took an intensive seminary course (aka a semester course in 3 days).  He was away for a week.  We girls at home missed him TONS.  He brought back this scarf for Eliana from Aunt Dacra.  

The Monday after Kyle returned Natalie was diagnosed with RSV and I was told to keep her away from kids under age 2 until she was symptom free for 7-10 days.  Most of support system is made up of other moms with wee ones.  Thus the severe home bound season began. Thankfully, friends like Rachel, Anita, and Michele still found a way for me to get out of the house and visit.  Talk about some sanity savors!!!

 Two days after Natalie's doctor appointment, Eliana had a MAJOR allergic reaction to some thing we still haven't figured out. Kyle and Eliana had gone grocery shopping and she came back with spots.  I can't describe the feeling that went through me when I saw her spotted face along with swollen and red hands and feet.  God and I had a quick chat with me begging Him to intervene.  Eliana sounded fine and was breathing fine, but in her words, "I have poka dots on my face!"  She happened to have them everywhere and they were spreading.  Kyle and Eliana had a visit to the ER, where she was given a steroid and some Benadryl.  While Kyle and Eliana were gone, my dear friend April came over just to pray for me.  There is something amazing about prayer from another Christ follower when you are falling apart inside.  There is no other word to describe it but comfort. She had two flare ups two days later, but since then we've been good. We still don't know what caused the reaction.

Kyle had a special appointment that required travel for three days.  I thought I just might entirely fall apart if he was gone again since I was still on lock down, so I asked Aunt Marcie if we could stay with her for a few days.  She was thrilled to have us come, and I was so grateful for adult interaction.  Pop Pop would be turning 82 at the beginning of February, but I wasn't planning on making another trip out of town.  SO, I made a Oreo cheesecake a wee bit early for him.  Since he is on his own, we didn't want the cheesecake to go bad.  We thought it would be best to give him a super large slice and then share the rest.  It was delicious! Uncle Michael and Sean said I can come over and make it for them any time!




Yes, she is asleep sitting up on the homemade bed guards.  She really does need those guards up.  She rolls all over the place at night.  We try to remember to put a pillow between her and the wall since she has been know to repeatedly hit the wall in the middle of the night.

 Eliana continues to care for her dolls and stuffed animals as she watches me care for Natalie.  She diapered her caterpillar.  She has also been known to nurse them.

 This month Eliana has found the best thing to do during her quiet time (aka nap time minus the nap) is to redress herself.  It had started with her wanting to pick out her own socks and has turned into multiple wardrobe changes throughout the day.  She has a pair of capris that she LOVES, but since it is cold I often tell her that she needs pants that go to her ankles.  So, she layers them with another pair of pants on top.  Although it is kind of hard to tell, she is wearing two shirts in the photo above.

This month Eliana really seems to have grasped toilet training during the day.  We now go days without an accident.  HALLELUJAH!!!

This month Eliana has hit an all time high in whining and getting in trouble for disobedience.  Normally I don't post about difficulties in parenting, but I want to be remember this since it will probably come around again when Natalie is this age.  Eliana's continued disobedience makes me wonder why God puts up with us.  We are all sinning against Him on a regular basis, yet He still loves us.  I do understand why He has consequences for disobedience, but I'm stunned that He is slow to anger.  God's grace amazes me as He has watched millions of 2 year olds disobey their parents.  Then I think about sins that far more devastating than my 2 year old is capable of.  Upon further reflection I thought about how God in His ultimate love sent Jesus to die for my sins.  My sins which over my life have been far more than Eliana's choices to disobey.  And not just my sins, but for everyone's sins.  That is mind boggling to me.  There is nothing like parenting to make me realize that I am a in need of a Redeemer.  And there is nothing like parenting that draws me to prayer.  Last week I wrote in my journal, "Dear God, I beg you for wisdom in parenting."  I don't know if I've ever used the word beg before, but trust me, it was needed.

Natalie is 3 Months Old!!!!!!

 Natalie is still technically 3 months old for a few more days!  I have the best intentions of capture special moments of her life each month.  We'll see how long I can keep it up.  Life with two wee ones is busy.

 Natalie continues to have a content and sweet personality that is an immense blessing to us all.  She does well in the car.  She loves watching Eliana run around and play.  Eliana is getting good at singing her songs when she cries. Natalie eats between 6 and 8 times a day.  We were seeing a pretty consistent pattern for about 5 days, and then it all changed again.  We don't have a complete pattern for her sleep and wake cycles, but I can often get an idea of how the day will look by comparing it to other days with the same in the middle of the night feeding time.

Natalie just recently discovered how to make her hands grasp what she is looking at.  She continues to love chewing on her entire fist at one time.  I don't know how she gets all five fingers in, but she does.  Natalie continues to bring joy to many as she smiles and coos at strangers.  We love her laugh!!!  Our friend said she is a little Wookiee because of a noise she can make with saliva in the back of her throat.  When making that noise she enjoys having a conversation.  She makes the noise, I respond with humming raspberry because I can't make the same sound she can.  Kyle responds by rolling his Rs.  Today a friend said she had Spanish intonations.  We don't speak that much Spanish around the house.  It is used mainly when I am trying to tell Kyle something without Eliana understanding.

Sometimes I forget that Blogger automatically signs Kyle in.  Thus it says he wrote this, but really it's me, Tasha.

Picture Mix

Here are a mixture of pictures that I found in our camera. I am not sure if they are even from the same month. Enjoy!

Natalie is getting pretty strong. She likes to sit in the bumbo. Tasha started putting her in the exersaucer too. Her tip toes touch the base when the adjustment is bottomed out. I remember my office throwing a baby shower for me before Eliana came. Ruli helped me put it together. As we tried to figure out where all the doodads went, Ruli exclaimed, This thing is going to give her baby ADHD. :)

 

Eliana loves playing with this block doll set. The clothes are magnetic so she gets to play fashionista. She discovered that they stick very well to the fridge too.

 

Here she has put outfits on her and cousin Kallie. In the picture in this picture, they are wearing dresses that GramE and Aunt Marcie wore when they were about the same ages.

Check them out GramE! Size 8s.

Eye-lash scarf made by Aunt Dacra.

Natalie's eyes are still blue. Tasha found a long silver hair on one side of her head that has a texture unlike all the rest of her hair. She also noticed that Natalie's dark hair has very light roots.

We are blessed beyond measure!