Pregnancy, Precious little girl, and Pictures

We are celebrating 15 weeks. Celebrating because I lost my last pregnancy at 14. Every milestone is a (tiny, tiny, tiny) sigh of relief. Being pregnant again has been interesting. Very emotional. And since pregnant women tend to be more emotional, it makes the me feel a little crazier. Much of the emotional craziness has to do with Daisy's upcoming birthday. I cannot believe she would have been 3 this year!

For the most part, I am confident. I believe this baby will be born in May, just as we hope. However, there are moments of doubt. Moments when the doubt slowly creeps in and before i know it, I am having a minor panic attack. Of course, there are usually reasons for the doubt. A little cramping or strong back pains or other symptoms that are probably not good for this audience. However, it has been a time of purposely not focusing on the reason for the anxiety and turning to the LORD and giving it to him, over and over, and over.

Matt has been so helpful and does not complain about my requests. He has taken on many responsibilities including some cooking, most of the laundry, help with the grocery shopping. I am grateful to have a husband that is willing to help in whatever way I need. In the last couple of days, he even helped out with our recipe card business!

I am grateful for the people in my life that are cheering us on by encouraging us in ways that unimaginable and unexpected. And it is so nice to have a doctor that is understanding and doesn't mind that I am a little bit of a hypochondriac this time around. Having him by my side has been one of the greatest blessings.

Lily's vocab is the funniest. She uses big words correctly like awkward, disaster, frustrating, guacamole, download, hysterical.

There are other words that are still a little off Llke Advent - she says elephant Another good one is elf - she says elth

I don't have the heart to correct her.

She is such a girly girl. I love to watch her and listen to her. One day this week, I had laid her outfit out. She added matching shoes and a headband. She did her hair and brushed her teeth without me asking her. Even though her hair wasn't the way I would do it, I didn't say much. And she was in her glory dancing and twirling in front of the mirror in her outfit. I think she may have even flipped her hair:)

I gave her a roll of wrapping paper. It has been the best investment. She wraps items from around the house, then lets me open them. It has kept her busy for hours. LOVE IT!

Christmas is coming and we are excited to celebrate the Savior's birth. We are also looking forward to a much needed vacation time. Matt has the Christmas week off and we are ready to rest, rejuvenate, and be together with our families and friends.

First pic is at Thanksgiving. We were trying to get the kids to take a picture and look at the camera. This particular picture was the last one we took--the kids had had it, I (the camera person) had had it, and clearly Matt had had it too:) Yes, Henry is in Lily's old pajamas.........

A time for everything

Congrats to our friends Matt and Abby--after many years of hoping (and two adoptions), she is pregnant. WE ARE SO EXCITED for them. And even more excited that they are sharing in a close pregnancy timeline as we are. There is definitely a time for everything. On one hand, I am mourning with a dear friend over the loss of her mother. On another hand, I am rejoicing with a different friend over a newly found and long-awaited pregnancy. As Ecclesiastes says so well, There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. So many of these things are happening in this world; and more closely to home, in my heart and life. God is providing some really amazing, healing, lovely gifts. There is a feeling of redemption, joy, and healing for Matt and me as we continue our journey. And I hope that our friends Matt and Abby feel it too.

Added a new pic of Lily at Halloween. She was a flower. She picked it herself! Saving all these costumes, but then I have to wonder if I should just let her play with them all year instead!

Lily loves America's Funniest Home Videos. We watch it as a family on Sunday evenings. It is Fun to see Lily get the giggles and also start to understand some of the humor. As we watch we have to rewind and watch them over and over and over. She has learned the word hilarious due to watching the show. She also has learned the words fast-forward, ridiculous, disaster, awesome, disgusting. Some of her vocab that used to be so adorable is changing too. "to-saster" is now disaster, girl went from gourl to grill to now girl. And below you will learn her most recent vocab changing moment. As lily grows up there are some bittersweet moments such as her going to the neighbor's house to ride bikes together with her two pals that are 6 & 8. The other day she rode back and forth on the sidewalk with her 6 year old friend. Lily rode her tricycle and Sophie rode her bike with no training wheels. After that, they rode scooters and played chalk. With permission, she got to jump on their trampoline. She had a ball. However when it was time to come home, she wasn't very obediently obliging. I ended up grabbing her shoes and started to pick her up. She yelled, "don't pick me up!!! I am not a baby anymore!!!!" for the first time she was a little embarrassed in front of friends. Of course, I had a hard time not laughing, but my heart was also aching because of her independence. She didn't want me to hold her anymore, and especially not in front of her friends! I ended up putting her down and telling her to put on her shoes and she did so that time because she knew I would pick her up in front of her friends again if she didn't. We came home and after some disciplinary action, I asked Her if she liked the "jumpoline" (that's what she called a trampoline) lily looked at me and said "mom, it is not called a jumpoline--it is a trampoline" This morning she ate breakfast and a few minutes later she was eating a granola bar. I told her that she must be growing. She said, "As soon as I am done with my granola (pronounced gorilla) bar, I will go use my measure thing to see if I am bigger." She measured herself twice today and decided that she grew today. Her laugh is one of the most contagious laughs. During her parent/teacher conferences this past week, her teachers said whenever they hear her giggle, their day gets better. She is one of the smartest kids in the class. They had tested all the kids to see if they had number recognition. She was the ONLY kid in the class that recognized the numbers 1-10 if the teacher pointed to them randomly. I thought that was pretty basic, but I guess not. She is a smart girl.....She seems to "get" everything pretty easily. Last week she asked Matt how bees made honey. He showed her 3 informational videos off YouTube. She watched them carefully and wanted to see more, but Matt said that 3 was enough. Her information-gathering brain is in full gear. She talks constantly and is always asking questions. Many times about how things work. She sleeps from 8-8pm and at 8 in the morning, she will start saying, "Mommy, it's 8 in the beginning!" Yes, she can tell time. It started with this habit, but has changed into much more. At 11, she'll say, "Mom, it's 11 in the beginning. It is time for lunch." or "Mom it is 12 in the beginning. It is time to leave for school." Also, she knows the days of the week and which day it is currently. I guess this is above-normal!?!?!? She knows that it is Sunday and on Sunday we go to church and I go to zumba at 4 in the beginning. She knows that she goes to school on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. If I tell her a babysitter is coming on Saturday, she remembers. Saturday morning when she gets up she'll ask if her babysitter is still coming and will ask what time she'll be here. Ok, enough rambling and boasting about my girl. I just had to write some of these things down because I was feeling like I was not "documenting" it often enough.

Peaches and Funerals

Lily loves frozen peaches. In the early fall, I typically freeze some peaches. I have been getting them out for an after dinner sweet. Lily can eat almost a whole quart-sized bag! Tonight she, Matt, and I ate two whole bags. Good thing I have plenty to get us through the spring.

Speaking of which, I felt like a Susie Homemaker tonight. We ate veggie soup, made with corn I froze, green beans that I canned, and tomatoes that Matt and I also canned. We ate it with millet and flax (gluten free/dairy free) dinner rolls. We spread homemade strawberry jam on top of the rolls. Then, to top that off, we ate the frozen peaches for dessert. Lots of yummy veggies and food that we "stored up" for winter. Truly a delight when Lily loves it too!

Lily has been sleeping with her Bible verse cards underneath her pillow. I find it very sweet that she likes to keep God's words that close to her. Very endearing.

We visited the pet store on Sunday. She got to play with a puppy. She loved it....The puppy was very hyper, so I was not even tempted to take her home. Thank goodness! We went to another store afterwards. Lily's eye was bothering her. She was rubbing it constantly. I suggested that she was allergic to the puppy. A little bit later through the store she said, "Mommy, that puppy was a allergic to me!" She got it a little backwards; and of course, we found it funny.

Lots of funerals lately. Friends' grandmas, friends of the family, etc. So hard to know that there is so much loss right now. It hit a little closer to home for me as a family friend passed on Saturday. I attended the funeral today and I was reminded that great women are passing....And that the next generation is left to fill their shoes. This family friend helped care of me as an infant and young child, as well as helped my mom clean. Phyllis ended up taking me in almost as a adoptive grandchild. We would stop when I was younger at her house when we were in Fort Wayne. (Why don't people "stop in" anymore?) And more recently, I would stop every so often and she got to know Lily. She adored us both and we adored her.

Phyllis did not say a cross word to anyone or ABOUT anyone. She was loving, giving, caring. She loved to hear what you had to say. She loved to talk about her family. As it was stated in the funeral today, she was affirming to everyone. Everyone of all ages adored her and was drawn to her. Today they quoted Proverbs 31:29 as the type of woman that she was....And she was.

It says, "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all.”

Not many women that I know this can be said of and it be so true. We will miss Phyllis. She was a lovely woman to have known.

She reminded me quite a bit of Mary Helen Brown Bowmar, who also passed last week. My forever friend's grandma. Both women were spunky, full of energy and so positive. I hope that I can be that type of woman!

Florida

Just got back from Florida and had to post a few pictures!!!