Latest & Greatest

Grace has been cracking us up lately. She’s always been pretty silly, but she’s turned it up a notch. Lot’s of fake, manic laughter is involved. She is officially sleeping in her big girl bed. We just transferred her cold turkey last week. She’d already been waking up about four times a night for at least two weeks. We couldn’t figure out why. She did tell us one morning that she saw her baby doll floating on the ceiling. So dreams maybe? Plus, we moved her into a pack-n-play about eight weeks ago so that Adon could take over the mini-crib. (Poor Beej mentioned it was killing his back to reach over so far and pat and comfort Adon back to sleep when he was in the pack-n-play.) But Grace has been too big for both the mini-crib and the pack-n-play for quite a while. I’m sure the rock hard, thin mattress isn’t the most comfortable thing to sleep on. I just hid the pack-n-play before she got home from my mom’s one night, and we tucked her into her big girl bed. She loves that we can lay down next to her and snuggle while we tell stories at bedtime.

Adon has regressed! We are back to waking up everything three hours at night, but his bottom tooth has finally cut through. You can just barely see it. It's amazing to me how happy and smiley he is considering how little sleep he's been getting. I wish I could say the same for myself! I'm working on it. He is melt-my-heart adorable though. He’s been busy exploring the entire house, getting much faster at pulling himself around. And he's really into following Grace around and trying to touch and play with whatever she's into. I'm hearing "Mine. No, Adon. Mine" more and more often. 

Other memorable moments recently:

My best friend’s step-dad passed away suddenly on May 11^th. My heart breaks for her family and it was a privilege to serve them last week in different ways. 

The weather has been extremely nice lately—lots of sun, which always makes me just want more!

Beej gifted me a massage at The Spa LAST Mother's Day. I am going as soon as we can make it happen! I can't believe it's been a whole year since he gave me the gift card--you know what I'm gonna say, "time flies"!

My mom and her friend Mike rototilled two areas in our tiny side yard. I have some planting I need to get done soon!

I’m ordering THIS for Adon. As soon as I saw it, I thought of my dad, who loved to go deer hunting every Fall. So many funny stories of his adventures with my Uncle Steve and brother Dan. 

I can't believe May is almost over! Summer is on it's way. Yay!

Mother's Day 2012

I know Mother's Day is long gone now, but we've had such a busy time of it since then that I have had no time to share some of my favorite memories from that day. So, here goes...


Adon was very excited for Mother’s Day this year. So excited, in fact, that he couldn’t sleep. He just had to wake up early and shout “Happy Mother’s Day” in his own special words. You know, the loud and wailing kind. But don't worry, I knew what he was really saying, you know, deep in his heart. If only he had the vocabulary to express what he really meant!

I joke about Adon, but I really am beyond thankful for him and Grace and the amazing amount of joy being their mom brings me.

And I was incredibly blessed this Mother’s Day. On our date, Friday, Beej took me over to a local jewelry shop and I got to pick out a pair of earrings. Every time I’ll wear them I’ll remember this special Mother’s Day. I love meaningful gifts like that.

Grace greeted me in bed Sunday morning, “Happy Mom’s Day! Happy Mom’s Day!” She gifted me a new book, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, which I can’t wait to start. With some help, she’d written a sweet note and traced her hand on the inside cover.

Adon gifted me Mama’s Milk. What? You haven't heard of it? Let me show you...

With this special note written inside: "Mr. Adoniram can’t really attempt to write but he found this particularly meaningful on his first post natal Mommy’s Day."

Hilarious! I laughed pretty hard when Adon handed me his gift. It’s a sweet little book all about animals nursing their young. Did you know kangaroo’s milk is pink? Now we both do! You learn something new every day.

Beej took me out to breakfast and it was really packed. I loved seeing tons of families out honoring their moms and having breakfast together. At one point later in the morning, we were in the car and Grace kept saying "Happy Birthday". I explained Mother's Day, and she kept shouting, "Mommy Party! Mommy Party!" It was SO cute! That's just what we did too. We had both our mom’s and some family over for a barbecue lunch. It was such a great way to spend the afternoon, just laughing and telling stories. 

Thank you family for making my day so special! And thank you Mom and Mick for all your love and years of sowing into your children! I hope you both know how much I love you! 

Time to Swim

I think I was more excited than she was. I signed her up months ago. Last week, we went to Target and got a new swimsuit. We've been talking about swim lessons for weeks, really building it up. This last Tuesday, we headed in to EPT for her first, official swim lesson.

It was a ton of fun! I taught swim lessons for a number of years in my later teens and early twenties, so of course, I want all of our kids to learn how much fun the water can be at a young age. Hands down, teaching swim lessons was my favorite job. It was just a blast to climb in the pool every day with a group of kids and see how excited they got to learn a new skill. I think Grace is just ready to do this too. She was a little apprehensive when we first walked in. It's loud with so may little ones and parents singing and splashing about. Once we got in though, she had a great time kicking, doing the hokey-pokey, and blowing bubbles. The pool was a glorious 86 degrees (the warmest the pool I taught in ever got was 76). It's so much more fun when no one's teeth are chattering!

The last five minutes of class were "hot tub time". Yes! We climbed in, and I thought I was going to have to drag her out. "I need more hot tub. I need more hot tub. I NEED MORE HOT TUB MOM!" Thankfully, she did listen, and we were one of the last ones to leave.

As we were leaving the building, she kept saying, "I need more swim Mom" over and over. I think the first lesson was a success.  Looking forward to the next one tonight!