Hey there, Old Friend!

We are just going to pretend that it hasn't been almost a year since I last wrote on here and jump right back in, mk?

I was very, very close to letting the blog go and forget ever updating it again. Life has kind of held me captive. Thankfully all is well. I have to admit, though, it is so much easier to capture a picture, add a short caption, post it to Facebook or Instagram, and have the moment recorded. But I do miss having updates and posts with actual words. So, I am dusting off the keyboard and getting back to blogging.

It feels overwhelming to try to go back and fill in the last year, so I will leave that up to you to look through Facebook and Instagram posts for all the details :) I am going to give a quick, picture-filled post to recap the most recent things. (Who am I kidding, it probably won't be quick... I always have too much to say!)

Let me tell ya, life with a toddler is FUN and definitely keeps me busy. Sarah is now 22 months. Not our little baby anymore! It seems like Eli and I keep saying each stage is so fun, but this is hands-down the best so far!

Sarah is full of life, giggles, and independence. She is extremely strong-willed, curious about everything, and has all of her grandparents, aunts, and uncle wrapped tightly around her finger. So I don't forget, here are some of my favorite things about this sweet girl:

• She loves to sing, but never on command. Some of her favorites include "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," "You are My Sunshine," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Jesus Loves Me," "Old MacDonald," "Wheels on the Bus," "ABCs," and of course, "Let it Go." 
• Her favorite foods are "nummies" (gummy snacks), "stawbies, blackbies, bluebies" (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries), watermelon, any kind of chicken, avocado, brown rice, and chips and salsa. Really, she loves anything she can dip. hotdogs in ketchup, pancakes in syrup. Oh, and gluten free cupcakes, thanks to Nana ;)

• She has recently started praying before meals and before bed. Her prayer is the same every time, but couldn't be any sweeter. "Tan-too Jesus. We wuv you. Amem." If you don't speak toddler, that translates into "thank you Jesus, we love you, amen."
• She can count to 14, say all of her ABCs, knows most of her colors, and recognizes a few shapes. She proves how smart she is all the time!
• Any time she wakes up from a nap, she will yell "Momma.... arrrr you?" It melts my heart to hear that she wants me like that. Every time.

• Also, she has the best bed-head. All day long.
• "I need it." No matter what it is, if she wants it, it's important to her. Then if we ask her to ask nicely, she says "I need it, please?" 
• She talks in complete sentences and refers to herself as I, Me, or Sarah. Her sentences are not always understandable, but she does a very good job most of the time communicating to us. I love hearing her put words together and tell us what she is thinking or needs. She amazes me every day!
• Her favorite movie is Frozen. She asks to watch it  e v e r y d a y . 
• She can be a bit of a stinker, but she really is a very sweet girl. She loves to help around the house, like cleaning, picking up toys and washing veggies. She even sings "tean up eddybody" (clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere...) 

Goodness, I love her!


About 2 months ago, we had a very scary trip to the ER with Sarah, which resulted in an overnight stay at the hospital and many, many tests. We are not completely sure of the cause, but Sarah had a febrile seizure. While this was extremely scary and hard to handle, the doctors assured us that this is actually more common than we think and Sarah is completely fine. Our God is good and he is taking care of our girl. She was so brave and reacted much better than we thought to the hospital scene. And she was the cutest little patient ever.  * Don't let the right picture scare you - she has an EEG brain scan on to monitor for seizure activity. Baby had to have a "pretty hat" too :)

This post has gotten pretty long, so I'm going to end with a few pictures of recent things we've done.


Her first swim lessons. She has grown to love being in the water, but is still not fond of going under. But hey, we have progress!

We took her to the splash pad the other day, but she hated it... So, we ended up in the creek. This girl cracks us up. She wouldn't get close to the sprinklers at the splash pad, but she would wade in the creek up to her neck with her Daddy. I'm so grateful for him and how he shares his love for adventure with our girl. 

 Fourth of July parade.

Dear Sarah, 

It has been a while since I have written you a letter on here, but know that I grow more in love with you each day. You have a sweet spark to you that lights up our family. You can be quite the stinker sometimes, but Daddy and I wouldn't be who we are without it! It's your sass and independence that makes you our Sarah. You are so smart. You amaze us with your knowledge of numbers, letters, and words. I know God has big things in store for you. We pray every day that you would grow in your love for him and worship him with your life.

I love you more, 

Momma

**I have another post in the works about our upcoming trip to Turkey. Stay tuned!!

No excuses, but...

We are just now coming out of an unofficial and unplanned blogging hiatus. Here's what has gone on recently:

• Two weeks ago, all of Eli's cousins hung out at his parent's house for a week. This is what is known as "nephew week" - where 6 rowdy boys (plus Eli and his brother) take over the house for several days, play ping-pong non-stop, tackle each other in the yard, eat all the food available, and become completely absorbed in Lego Land. Yes, even (especially) Eli and his brother broke out the legos all over the living room. And the battles began! Let me tell you, these boys definitely know their legos and won't let anything or anyone get in the way of a great war!

• During the week, I got the chance to take pictures of two really good friends, Emily and Curtis. I have had the privilege of working with Emily for the past two years at school. We have grown really close and I'm so sad to see her moving to the elementary school this year :( But I know we will remain close. This year, Emily and Curtis celebrated being married 5 years and they asked me to take a few pictures to document this stage of their life. Here's a sneak peak, but I'll be sure to post more later! 

• Last week, Eli took the youth from our church to youth camp at Highland Lakes Camp. They had a great week and God really worked in their lives. From our group of 7 youth, the four boys ALL accepted Christ in their hearts! And our girls connected with God's plan for their lives on a deeper level. Even though I wasn't able to spend the week with them, I am so proud of these kids! God is so good! I am praying that his love will become even more real to these kids now that they are facing real life again. They have been on a mountain, face to face with our Creator. Now it is their job to go into the valley and live out God's power in their lives.

• Since I am giant and round, I politely declined the opportunity to be a youth sponsor at camp this year. Five days of crazy heat, inch-thick mattresses, walking non-stop, and camp food didn't sound too appealing to me! You understand, right? :)  So... I did what any pregnant woman with nesting fever would do with a week to herself: I invited my mom over and put her to work crafting and getting the nursery ready! Okay, so I worked too, but there's no way I could have done it without my mom! She worked so hard and I'm extremely grateful for her. I really enjoyed the week and our time together. Thanks, Mom. I love you!! And now you're probably wanting to see what we made, right? Well, you'll have to wait a few more days... I'm working on that post, but I want to showcase those details in their own little spotlight! 

• And speaking of pregnancy things, we are now at 34 weeks! Yes, I realize I haven't posted a picture since week 31... stay tuned for two weeks of photos later today and week 34 at the end of the week! I promise you'll see them soon!!

• One last exciting bit of news from this week is our 2nd anniversary! I can't believe it has been two years since I said "I do" to the man of my dreams and committed to love and honor him for the rest of my life. Again, that will be a separate post. There is too much to just put it in a bullet point!

So there you have it! Our last two weeks condensed into a few bullet points! Thanks for bearing with and still loving me guys. I will put up full-length posts on the few major things very soon. 

29 and 30 weeks

You would think since being out of school, I'd be on top of things and cranking out more posts a week. Well, that's not exactly the case when the nesting fever has set in! These past couple of weeks, I've really felt the need to clean house, organize things, and get the nursery closer to being done. Call me Mama Bird. I'm definitely getting our nest ready for our little baby bird!

Since school has been out (really since I finished teaching summer school), Eli and I have:

• painted the nursery walls and trim (thanks to Eli's mom Dana for helping finish the trim!)
• deep cleaned and vacuumed the nursery
• painted a thrifted dresser and nightstand for our girl
• replaced all the knobs and pulls on the dresser and nightstand
• arranged most of the furniture in her room! (it's coming together and so real now!)
• washed many, many loads of clothes, towels, and sheets
• folded/put away said clothes (more of a task than you think...)
• cleaned out our closet and packed up two bags for the youth garage sale
• dusted the entire house
• helped harvest honey again
• walked with Sasha many times for exercise all around
• gone fishing at the creek twice with Sasha
• hung out with my three best friends and their husbands in Waco
• renewed our driver's licenses
• registered to vote
• gotten an offer on my car
• started the car-buying process (Agh... what have we gotten ourselves into??)
• watched my sister and her best friend jump out of a plane at 10,000 feet in the air!
• watched our little girl on the ultrasound screen again (I will never get tired of this)
• taken two glucose tolerance tests (one 1-hour and one 3-hour) Yuck. 
• oohed and ahhed over sweet baby clothes (me more than Eli!)
• daydreamed of an adorable little girl that will be ours to hold in less than 10 weeks!

Whew! I'm sure there's more I've left out, but typing that list just makes me tired, much less accomplishing it!

I am almost 31 weeks now. I never realized how fast the time would go by, but I have really loved being pregnant and preparing for our daughter. When I see how far we've come, 10 weeks left really doesn't seem like that long. I've been questioning lately if we're ready for this. Are we really ready to support and care for another life? Are we ready to be depended on 24 hours a day from now on? But when these thoughts come to mind, so does the promise from our Father who will never leave us and will always be our strength. I'm so grateful we don't have to do this alone. He is more than we can ask for or imagine.

Baby Girl has been growing quite a bit lately, forcing my tummy to grow quite round as well. She's gotten so big that my stomach completely changes shape when she starts moving. It's really pretty crazy to watch. I've heard other moms-to-be say their baby kicks them in the ribs. I haven't had this particular feeling yet, but it does get pretty uncomfortable when she pushes behind my (non-existent) bellybutton. She will usually get cozy in a different position, though, if I gently push back on her.

Like I mentioned in the highlight reel above, I got to watch my sister and her best friend skydive last week for her friend's birthday. They are so brave! You might remember when Renee and I went skydiving last September. I wish I could have gone with her again, but I think I have a little more than my own life to take care of now! I happily took my place as photographer on the ground and watched the crazy dare-devils fall through the clouds. I'll get some pictures up for you to see as soon as I edit them!

Enough talking. Here are pictures from the past two weeks:

* * * * * * * * *

Dear Little One, 

It's getting pretty hot here now that summer has begun. We are trying our best to stay cool, but I'm glad you have your own little climate-controlled home to live in for now. Soak it up, baby. When you get here, it will probably be nice and toasty. Thankfully your room is nice and air-conditioned (probably the best in our whole house!).

We have worked so hard and finally finished painting your room, dresser, and nightstand. I think you're going to love them! I have to admit, I have already spent a few hours in there, just dreaming of rocking you to sleep, playing with you on the floor, and taking in everything about you. Our new addition to the room this week was a beautiful glider and ottoman from your great-grand parents. I think this has easily become your Daddy's favorite place to sit! Several days, the house has gotten quiet and when I went to look for him, he was in your room reading in that chair. I adore this and can't wait to see you in there with him. It makes my heart overflow with love.

We love you sweet girl. Keep growing strong and healthy. I can't wait to meet you and hold you, but also I am ready to see you in your daddy's arms. He's going to be such a great dad, you just wait and see.

Love always, Momma

Highlights

Highlights of today 1)  getting a call at 8:50 this morning for an 11:00 interview two hours away. 2) Driving two hours with the Little One (my sister!) to said interview. 3) having a brand-new, real adult job a.k.a -  I AM A TEACHER NOW!! 4) spending a few sweet hours with my soon-to-be husband and second love of my life. love you to the moon and back.