409 days.

As I sit here, drinking my coffee and reflecting on the last 409 days since I've written on this blog, I simply cannot believe how much our lives have changed.  We added the sweetest addition to our family, Micah Wesley, and have fallen completely in love with him.  He'll be 13 months old in just a couple of days and is seconds away from walking (and taking over our house).  He keeps us laughing all day long and we're beyond thankful for his life.  Over the past 409 days we've also learned that Elijah has several developmental delays, the main one being language.  We've immersed ourselves in early intervention services and are absolutely blown away by the progress he's made in just a few short months.  Our little smarty pants is starting to talk and already knows how to say and recognize the alphabet, spells his name, knows his shapes, animals, and colors.  We are so proud of Elijah and are excited to see what he learns next.

409 days have also held a whole lot of waiting for Jason and I.  We've been in a season of intentionally laying our lives before God and asking Him what it is that He has next for us.  So far, it seems that He wants us to stay exactly where we are and appreciate where we live and who we do life with.  We've prayed for Him to open the right doors and close the wrong ones, and He has been extremely faithful.

We are thankful.

Dear Baby: 37 weeks

Dear sweet Micah,

We are now just 14 days away from meeting you (unless you decide to come sooner) and we can't wait!!  We are so excited to see what you look like, smell like, sound like, feel like... the list goes on and on.  I'm pretty sure it still hasn't sunk in that we are about to be a family of 4 (and probably won't until you're here), but it's going to be awesome.  I have no doubt that you are going to be the perfect addition to this family.  I'll be honest, I'm a little nervous about juggling two little ones, but I promise I'll figure it out!  You have a very fun, sweet, loving big brother waiting for you!  He loves to touch my belly and give it kisses.  I think he thinks my belly is "Micah", but he'll learn soon enough!

We love you so much, Micah, and are counting down the days till you're in our arms!  Stay safe in there!

All my love,
Your momma

12 months (BIRTHDAY POST!)

 (written on March 7th)


Dear Elijah,

Happy birthday, sweet boy!  Today you are ONE YEAR OLD and I can hardly believe it.  What an amazing, joy-filled year this has been.  You have completely turned our worlds upside down, in the best ways possible.  You are such a happy, smiley boy and always down for some snuggles.  You love to crawl, but haven't attempted walking yet (which is okay with me).  You like to "wrestle" with daddy and cuddle with momma.  You LOVE your toys, especially the ones that make noises.  We have little stations around the living room with toys, and you just crawl from one to the other and play all day.  Your favorite book is Red Truck.  Seriously, you're obsessed with this book.  Your daddy and I both have it memorized because we've read it so many times!  You really could care less about any other book, it's so funny.  You are really liking food these days.  You'll try anything we give you and pretty much like it all.  I think your favorites are pizza, grilled cheese, carrots, applesauce, bananas, yogurt, and goldfish crackers.

You are a wonderful little boy, Elijah.  You really love your momma and daddy and we really love you!  You have so many fun things to look forward to this year, including becoming a big brother!  I think you're going to be the best big brother in the world.  I can't wait to see you in that role.

I'll end this letter by saying this:  even though the world classifies you as a "toddler" now, you will ALWAYS be my baby.  I love you more than words can say, sweet boy.

Happy birthday!!!

All my love,
Your Momma

11 months

Dear sweet Elijah,

Happy 11 months to you!  I can NOT believe that we are just a month away from your first birthday.  Where did my "baby" go?  You keep getting bigger and more independent with each new day.  You are such a wonderful little boy.  You continue to amaze us and we thank God every day for you.

You love your momma and daddy so much.  You love to give us big smiles and snuggles and you even give me kisses.  (Daddy's beard weirds you out a little bit, though).  You are such a cuddly boy and I LOVE that.  I hope that never changes, but I have a sneaky feeling it might.

You are finally eating table food and are loving pretty much everything we give you.  Your favorites are yogurt melts, baby cheetos, applesauce, grilled cheese sandwiches, and whole grain waffles.  You're still unsure about vegetables, but we're working on it!  You need all the nourishment you can get for all the crawling you're doing these days.  You love to explore our house and get in to everything.  It's so fun to watch you discover new things.  I think you're still a month or so away from walking, but who knows!  I'm in no hurry!

We love you SO much, Elijah.  You are one of the best things to ever happen to us and we are so thankful for you.  Keep on growing, but not too fast, okay?

All my love,

Your momma

Goodbye Charlie

With heavy hearts we said goodbye to Charlie on Sunday afternoon.  We've been struggling with what to do with him for months and months and finally decided to re-home him.  He just did NOT get along with Elijah, and that was obviously not gonna fly with us.  He seemed increasingly anxious and downright fearful of him.  Of course, Elijah thought he was the coolest thing in the world, and that's one of the many parts that break my heart.

We found a wonderful family to adopt Charlie and they are absolutely crazy about him.  He seems to be doing really well adjusting, which makes it much easier.  Even though he was a crazy dog, we loved him, and for a year and half (until we had Elijah), he was my baby.  He helped get me through some really tough times, including our miscarriage, and I'll certainly never forget that.

We love you, Charlie boy!

i'm a parent. woah

If you could take a peek inside our house, you would likely see lots and lots of clorox wipes, lysol spray, saltine crackers, sprite, blankets, and a very sleepy mom and dad.  That's right.  We caught the dreaded stomach flu this week and it was, well, dreadful.  It started with me, then Elijah, and finally Jason caught it on Tuesday night.  Luckily, we are all feeling much better and are so happy to have that in the past.  We've paid our stomach bug dues for the year right?  NO MORE, PLEASE!

I realized this week just how hard it is to be a mom, let alone a "good" mom, when you're super sick.  Oh man, it was rough.  Pre-kid I would have been sprawled out in bed, all day, sleeping, watching movies, and definitely not chasing an almost 11 month old around the house.  Well, not anymore.  Even though I felt like death, my momma duties didn't stop.  I suddenly felt like a really parent.  I mean, I knew I was one, but now I really know!  It's for real, y'all.  Even though he was sick too, Elijah didn't skip a beat.  It was really hard, but at the same time, not hard at all.  I love him more than I could ever have imagined and so I did it.  I got off the couch and onto the floor, and played with him.  I fed him.  I rocked him.  I sang to him.  And it was fine.  You do what you gotta do.

There's really no point to this post except to say, "I'm a parent.  Woah."

Elijah's nest (about 10 months late)

We made a few changes to Elijah's room this week (mainly because we had to move the changing table so he can't destroy the blinds anymore...) and I realized that I've never posted pictures of his room on the blog.  We have a 2 bedroom house and with both families living out of state, Elijah gets to have a super cool nursery/guest room combo!  Lucky boy ;-) So, here ya go, Elijah's nest: