Let Freedom Ring

My family got together at my brothers house to celebrate Independence Day and my mom's birthday which was on the 7th. (My dad's birthday is the 6th so it's a busy week for us!) I put the kids in their red white and blue and we headed over for a day fun in the sun.



I swear she was happier than she looks!

My brother had a giant blow up water slide that all the cousins were playing on, but Ellie was absolutely terrified to go down the big slide and wanted nothing to do with it. I told Mike to just make her go down, and she reeeally didn't like it after that. There was a spray gun attached to it and she had no problem shooting other people with it, but ran away yelling " No no don't get me" any time anyone aimed it at her. Typical.

After lunch and a non existent nap Ellie played outside with her little cousin and we played with some sparklers and made some s'mores on the bonfire. I had Michael in the Ergo, managed one s'more and high tailed it inside at the first sign of mosquitos.

 

Over all we had a good day and had fun celebrating my mom and the fourth. I had such a good time spending the day with family and Ellie always loves getting together to play with her cousins. It will be so fun next year to see Michael running around and playing with all the other kids.

And what day would be complete without a mini photo shoot at Aunties house??

 

 

 

 

Meeting Michael

 

When I was pregnant we didn't tell anyone until pretty late in the pregnancy. We kept it a secret and only told immediate family until we had already found out we were having a boy. After the miscarriage I was nervous that everything would be ok so we waited extra long to share the news. We waited just as long to tell Ellie because we didn't want her running around saying "Mommy has a baby in her belly!!" When we told her we tried our best to make sure that Ellie understood what was happening. We would tell her that she was going to be a big sister and that baby Michael was in my belly. We prayed for him every night that he would grow big and strong and that he would be healthy. She would talk about him and she heard his heartbeat when she went to a few of my midwife appointments with me. I really didn't know how much she actually grasped and wondered how much it would rock her world when he actually arrived.

 

When I went into labor Ellie stayed with my brother and sister-in-law Andrea while we were at the hospital. Andrea sent us lots of pictures of Ellie having fun while she stayed at their house. We couldn't believe how big she looked now that we had another little baby in our family.

Doesn't she look so big!!

We had told her that I was going to have baby Michael and she was going to be a big sister. The day after Michael was born they came up for her to meet him and I was so curious how she would react. I am so thankful to Andrea for capturing these first moments of us as a family of four! Ellie was excited to see her daddy and I and knew right away that this was baby Michael.

I told her that baby Michael was here and wasn't in mommy's belly anymore. She kept saying "aww he's so cuuuute." and "he's so liiiiiittle." She knew that this was baby Michael and this was her little brother. It was so sweet and warmed my mama heart to see her loving her little brother so much.

 

She was so gentle and sweet with him I couldn't believe it. After a little while my brother and SIL held Michael while Ellie and her little cousin entertained themselves playing in the hospital room. It was such a sweet time and I was so glad that Ellie was able to come up and meet her little brother.

 

 

Since we have been home she hasn't asked if there is a baby in my belly and she absolutely adores Michael. She looks for him first thing in the morning, she always strokes his head and says he's so cuuute, when I burp him she pats his back and says "he's such a good baby", and she covers him with a blanket; and not his head either. She will just put it over his legs and say "there ya go". She tells me she loves him and is just so sweet.

 

She seems to have adjusted so well and hasn't had really any behavioral changes or jealousy outbursts. She has never tried to hit him, or ask when he's going back to the hospital. She was in heaven after he was born because Mike took some time off work and she got to play with daddy all day. I love her sweet spirit and am so thankful that it was a pretty smooth transition for her. I am so excited to watch them grow up together and I pray the become the best of friends in the years to come!

 

 

 

 

Introducing...

Michael James

May, 15, 2013

7:45pm

8lbs 21in

 We are so in love and so immensely blessed!!

***Photo credit to my amazing sister Andrea

Look Whoo's Two

Yes I am fully aware that Ellie has been 2 for an entire month and I am just now getting around to recapping her birthday/party. I have been so pre-occupied, but more on that another day.

Don't judge me. 

Ellie's birthday fell on a Saturday this year so we ended up having her party on the same day. 

I wanted to do an owl theme for Ellie's birthday this year. Mike wasn't really all for it, but once I showed him some of the stuff I wanted to do he came around. 

Men. 

The menu consisted of: pigs in a blanket, fried ravioli, deviled eggs, fruit pizza, veggie pizza, cupcakes, homemade hot chocolate, and pink lemonade/raspberry sorbet punch.

These were the goodies to add to the homemade hot chocolate. Marshmallows, crushed candy canes, Hershey kisses, Rolo's, and Reese's. Everyone said that the hot chocolate was amazing, but I was too buys to actually get to try some during the party. By the time everyone left it was all gone. So I guess I will have to take their word on it!!

Recipe here. I doubled it for about 15-20 people. 

(Sorry for the super good quality photos)

The cupcake toppers alternated the number 2 and these cute little owls that took me forrreverrr to make on my cricut. 

It was really fun to watch Ellie open her presents this year. She kept saying "Open presesnts" until it was actually time to sit down and get to it. She knew what was going on and after every toy she opened she said "Wanna open it" because she wanted to play with every single one right away. So we had to keep the assembly line moving so she wouldn't get distracted by all the fun stuff she got. But who doesn't want to watch a toddler open presents for hours?

Ellie had 5 of her cousins there and had absolutely no interest in sharing any of her toys with them. She got a 24 pack of playdoh and a jar of utensils to go along with it and when she opened up the jar of utensils everyone kept taking them and trying to play with them. So she shot them all a dirty look, picked them all up and put them away. I guess in her mind if she had to share her toys she didn't want to play with them. 

Unfortunately we I didn't get a picture of her in her birthday outfit so these action shots will have to do. 

It was the cutest little outfit I've ever seen. It was perfect for her owl theme. 

Here's what it actually looks like. (I wish I got this deal for it!)

Little Miss Princess was actually still asleep when every one got to our house for her party. We let her sleep until we finished up setting everything up. I had NO intention of waking her up because she can be quite the bear when she's awoken from her slumber. (I have NO idea where she gets that from.)

So needless to say she was a little shy when she woke up and saw her house was full of people.

When it came time to sing happy birthday she really wanted nothing to do with it. 

Sweet Daddy's girl

Being shy didn't stop her from eating the frosting off her cupcake though. 

And because we are amazing here is the ONLY shot we got of the three (four!!) of us all day.

Definite capturing the moment fail. 

Once everyone left Ellie spent the rest of the night in a slap-happy sugar high. She played with all her new toys and climbed all over Mike like he was a jungle gym. You can't sit on the floor without this girl climbing up your back to sit on your shoulders. 

This was the last year that we will celebrate Ellie's birthday as a family of 3. I wonder how she will do having to share EVERYTHING with her little brother in just a few short months!

I can't believe we have a 2 year old, how did the time so by so fast? 

Once our little boy comes I am never blinking again!

Gotta Love A Vacation Post

Every year, since before I was born, my entire family spends a week at Gull Lake Ministries. 

It was my favorite place to be growing up. I still love going, but vacation is a little different when you are chasing around a toddler. 

Less tanning by the lake and more running around the playground.

 But I still love it. 

It's such a great week to spend time with family, eat amazing food, and grow closer to the Lord. 

The week was a little rough for me because we were planning on telling my family about our pregnancy while we were there, but instead I spent the week still grieving with the miscarriage. 

While we were there I found myself getting all sentimental about when we were there last year and just how much Ellie has grown and how things have changed. 

What a difference a year makes!

We stayed in the same condo this year, but we had the upstairs. The kitchen was a "kitchenette" so we didn't have a stove. So we had a lot of delicious sandwiches for lunch! But Lord knows we weren't hurting on the snack front. I brought 2 coffee cakes and some chocolate peanut-butter bars, we had 6 bags of assorted chex-mix, about 2 batches of cookies, puppy chow, 3 bags of chips, and some blueberry muffins. I'm pretty sure nobody lost weight that week. 

I swear the house isn't shifting, evidently I have some shaky hands.

This year the week went by so fast. Normally Saturday, Sunday, and Monday go by pretty slow and then Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday fly by. But this year the whole wee was a blur. 

Enter photo dump

The girls were obsessed with standing over the vents and playing in the curtains. 

Ellie had so much fun at the splash pad. She has the best daddy ever!

One of the theme dinner nights was "Take me out to the ball game" We of course had to support out Detroit Tigers and Ellie and Jackson had the same t-shirt on. I told them to stand next to each other and this is what they did. I die. I kept saying "Leah, no Lucy, No Leah, GAH-ELLIE stand next to Jackson!!!"  With 4 little girls in one house we could never get their names right!

The little girls. Obviously they were super cooperative for their group photo.


The last night was the "Stars and Stripes Carnival" We made tutu's for all the girls to wear.

Cousins in the bounce house

Our last day Ellie woke up from her nap with a fever. We brought her out to the living room and she just laid down on the ground. Mike and I just looked at each other in shock. She never lays down anywhere. She is always so busy. So we knew that she really wasn't feeling well. We gave her some motrin, before we took 100 pictures to document her actually sitting still, and she perked back up in no time. (We took her to the Dr's last Friday and she ended up having an ear infection and a respiratory infection. Poor sweet girl.)

We brought out all her animals for her to snuggle with. 

I swear we haven't converted, that is not a bindi on Ellie's head.

Before we left for vacation Ellie had a spot on her head that she would.not.stop.picking at. It was driving me crazy. She would leave it alone during the day but the when we put her down to sleep she would just lay there and pick, pick, pick. It was driving me crazy. And I didn't want her to end up with a scar. I didn't want to put a band-aid on it because I was afraid that she would pick it off and eat it. We tried a band-aid during one nap and when she woke up it was gone. I thought Oh boy, we're going to find that in her diaper later. Luckily we found it on her blanket, which happened every.single.time we put her down. But it did end up helping her head heal. But it didn't look very cute in pictures. 

All in all we had an amazing week. We made memories that we will cherish forever.