Isabella and Elisabeth

Isabella's 1st day of 2K!!

2009-09-12T18:30:00.000-07:00

I CAN NOT believe that Isabella is old enough to go to school already!! I never thought that I would send her to a 2K program!! She was in daycare until the week before Elisabeth was born and still talks about her daycare friends!! She is happy to be able to be at home with us instead of daycare but we can tell that she misses her friends there, as well as the wonderful ladies that took care of her!! We have several friends that sent their children to 2K (also called pre-3K) last year, so Jason and I looked into it and decided that Isabella would go--but just two days a week! Selfishly, I am not ready for her to go any more than that!!

Waking her up for her 1st day of school!! We LOVE to wake her up in the mornings, she has absolutely no cal-lick and her hair usually all over her face, like a veil!! She is still so sweet in the mornings and LOVES to snuggle and be held when she first wakes up!

Her teacher came for a home visit a few weeks ago, last week we went for classroom orientation, and we have been counting down the days until school starts with her!!

I went and got her a new back-pack (that she sometimes calls a suitcase for some reason) that she loves and was so excited to take to school!!

Showing us how to put on a back-pack!!

A super nutritious breakfast of Corn Pops (her choice) and a banana!!

Elisabeth watching from her exer-saucer as we ate breakfast!

We could not get her to smile for this one--she was too busy telling us to hurry up, that she did NOT want to be late to school!!
And finally, in the car of the way to school!

Walking into the building, like such a big girl!!

We were so glad to go pick her up, the house was so quiet while she was gone!! As I was latching her car seat to come home she looked at me and said "Oh Mommy, thanks for coming to get me from my first day of school. I love you so much!!" Melt my heart and fill me eyes with tears right there--she is so sweet!!

Eating lunch with us and telling us all about her day!

After lunch we made a birthday cake for Jason's Dad, aka Papa and sometimes called Grandpa!!

The best part of being the baker, is licking the bowl and spatula once the cake is in the oven!

I don't get to say this often, but I think that she looks like me in this next one! She definitely loves chocolate icing, like I do--it is the best part of the cake!! :)

Sharing a piece with Papa--or rather eating his icing!

Birthday loves with Elisabeth!! She is so cuddly lately!!

I am so proud of Isabella and how great she did with her first week of school!!
I am so proud to be called her Mommy--being a Mommy to her and her sister is just the absolutely best thing ever!! I thank the Lord for them and the privilege of being their Mommy every single day!!

I am SO thankful!!

2009-09-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

Jason had his gallbladder removed last Friday!! He had been having symptoms of a problem with it for a while but they got a lot worse last week!! After a visit to our family doctor, a gallbladder ultrasound, hida scan, and a visit to the surgeons office--it was removed Friday afternoon!!

As rotten as the long Labor Day weekend was, I am so thankful for so many things:
**I am so thankful that it was able to be done laparoscopically, and he was able to go home late Friday evening!!
**I am so thankful for my Mom and his Dad and all the help that they give us with the girls!!
**I am so thankful that Elisabeth doesn't scream when she is with my mom, like she does with everyone else besides Jason or myself!!
**I am so thankful that the girls handled it so well, very understanding that Daddy couldn't pick them up all week!
**I am so thankful for our friends that helped us by providing meals this week!!
**I am so thankful that the high (102) fever only lasted a few hours, even though it meant a night of antibiotics and fluids in the hospital!
**I am so thankful for our sweet friend Lori (and Drew-dawg too!!) who stayed with the girls until we came home from the hospital on Monday!!
**I am SO THANKFUL that we didn't catch any extra germs while we were at the hospital (those of you that know me well know that I am TOTALLY a germaphobic person--funny being a nurse, I know)!!

Last but not least, I am so thankful that Jason continues to feel better everyday!! Those of you that knew what was going on this week and prayed for him--I am so thankful for you and your prayers!!

CRAWLING--almost!!

2009-08-30T15:28:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned, Elisabeth LOVES to watch Isabella! You can absolutely see on her face that she can not wait to be able to keep up with Isabella!! It is so amazing to watch Elisabeth hit her milestones sooner, because she watches and learns from Isabella! Isabella did not crawl until eight or nine months (I know that I should know that, but I can not remember) and Elisabeth will be crawling very soon! She thoroughly enjoys being on the floor and trying to scoot around on her tummy, so far she situates herself so that she can roll to whatever she wants to reach! She straightens her arms and can lift her tummy and upper legs off the ground, but not all at the same time just yet.

I know that her eyes are closed, but I love her smile in this one!

Never to miss an opportunity to have her picture taken, while I was taking these Isabella decided to climb into her toy box and have a seat!!

First time feeding Elisabeth cereal!

2009-08-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

My girls have been different in so many ways!! One of the things is their appetites, Elisabeth was born hungry (probably why she was already 17 pounds at her 4 month well-baby) and we have pretty much always had to encourage Isabella to eat! Elisabeth nursed within the first hour of being born, and we had to work with and wake Isabella up for weeks to nurse! I have NEVER had to wake Elisabeth up to eat, she does NOT like to miss a meal!!

At her four month appointment her pediatrician and I talked about starting her on some cereal. He said that when babies are gaining weight so well and growing so much, they don't really need cereal at four months, but suggested that we start just trying at 5 months, and then getting real serious with it at around six months!!
Right around the five month mark we tried giving her infant cereal mixed with breast milk! By the third spoonful coming towards her mouth she was opening her mouth in anticipation! It is so much fun to watch her facial expressions!!

I have been trying to make some vegetables into baby food for her, for when we start that! So far I have made carrots, sweet potatoes and bananas! I am SO super excited for her to eat them soon, to know exactly what is in her baby food, to know that it was made with love, AND to save money!!! If anyone reading this makes or has made baby food, please pass along any suggestions or thoughts on the subject!!

Bath time fun!!

2009-08-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

Isabella and Elisabeth will probably totally dislike that I posted these someday, but I had to document their first bath together!!
Isabella continues to be SO sweet toward Elisabeth--she wants to hold and play with her all the time, and even try to feed her!! Elisabeth continues to LOVE to watch Isabella do everything, she just stares at her in adoration!!! It frequently reminds me of how we should look at the Lord, with total and complete adoration and love!!
Isabella has been asking for weeks if Elisabeth can take a bath with her, so we decided to try it!

There she is looking at Isabella and below is what she was watching Isabella do!!

I just LOVE her hands in this one!!
It was a huge hit, and we will totally start doing this more often, especially as Elisabeth starts sitting up better!! Both girls just love to be in water of any kind--just like their parents (I wish that I liked to drink water as much as I like to play in it)!!

Sunflowers!!

2009-08-01T17:45:00.000-07:00

There is a field of free Sunflowers near Florence, and we went and cut a bunch last Saturday! I love Sunflowers!

I am so not a florist, but this arrangement turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself!!
Now, a week later, I have pollen all over my table, but it was worth it!!

Catch up! A little update!

2009-08-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

I thought that I would post some new pictures and updates from our life recently!

We have finally been able to catch some of Elisabeth's smiles and grins!

She doesn't look like it in this picture, but she usually loves her Jumper!!
She is so determined to roll over all the time that she is going to flip herself out of her bouncy seat soon!
She has also started to love to play in her exersaucer!
Sweet sisters!
She wants to be on the move so badly!! It will not be long before she crawls!
Elisabeth and Jack, future sweeties!
She looks like such an angel when she sleeps!!

Updated pictures of our garden, it has yielded tons of tomatoes!

Fun times playing in the pool!!

Jason decided to cut down a very ugly tree in our front yard! He told me to stay inside so that I did not worry to much!
Later in the week the city came by and got all the tree scrapes from the yard! Thank you City of Florence!!

Family beach time!

2009-08-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

We decided to go to the beach for a day! Isabella loves the beach this year! It is so fun to watch her play in the sand and surf!

Our first family beach photo!

My sweet girls!! LOVE!!!
We decided to spend the night and make a little mini-vacay out of it! Since Isabella has a play kitchen at home, she LOVED the fact that she could open and close (time and time again) the hotel fridge and microwave!

And the view from our balcony!We had a great time at the beach! I look forward to tons more super fun trips to the beach as a family!

Maryland and Ocean City!

2009-08-01T16:05:00.000-07:00

While Jason was at camp with the Youth Group, Mom and I decided that we were going to make a "girls only" road trip! We decided to go to Baltimore, Maryland to visit Ben and Kim! July 13th was my brother's birthday and we were able to celebrate with him in person this year!

It was Elisabeth's first long road trip and she did great on the way up! We traveled Friday and were in Baltimore with them until Tuesday morning! Monday night we celebrated Ben's birthday with our other family that lives there too, it was so great to get to see all of them too!!

Tuesday morning Kim, Mom, the girls and myself headed to Ocean City, MD for a few days! I LOVE OCEAN CITY--I grew up going there and have so many wonderful memories. I got to introduce Jason to it on our first anniversary, our first vacation together! He LOVED it too, of course! Ocean City is so different than Myrtle Beach, much less commercialized, more family oriented, and has a awesome boardwalk that runs alongside the ocean between the sand and the hotels!

The cute little hotel where we stayed!
A picture of the hotel where Jason and I stayed 7 years ago!

The ocean was BEAUTIFUL, but quite cool! Aunt Kim and Isabella got in, but it was way too cold for me!
Mom and Elisabeth, they got lots of bonding time this trip! Thanks for all your help, Mom!!
Me and my sweet girls! Actually I think that both of them have their eyes closed :)
Aunt Kim and our babes!
Mom and the girls!
Cheerios for breakfast before hitting the beach!
Snacking on Mickey gummies on the beach!
The girl will try anything, she LOVED calamari!
They took their first nap in the same bed, so sweet! I so look forward to other sister firsts!!
Mom and Elisabeth stayed under the umbrella mostly, and people watched!
Snoozing in the car on the way home!
The sign of a great vacation, cheeto crumbs around your mouth and super dirty feet!!

It was so nice to take a little vacation and spend time with Mom and other family!! We had a wonderful time, but missed Jason terribly!! We were all so HAPPY to see him when he got home!

OH NUTS!!

2009-08-01T15:24:00.000-07:00

Actually just peanuts!!

We waited until Isabella was two years old to ever even try giving her anything with peanuts. Shortly after her 2nd birthday, I made her a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich on wheat bread. She did not like it and spit out the only bite that she took. Within the next few minutes she broke out with a few hives around her mouth and also across her forehead, where she had wiped her hair out of her face. I quickly washed her hands and face and the hives faded within a few minutes. At her next pediatrician appointment I told Dr Whitehead about it and he suggested that I try to figure out of it was the peanut butter, jelly, or bread that she reacted to. I narrowed it down to the peanut butter, but hoped that it was a fluke! I decided to try it one more time and the same thing happened. We took her off of anything with any kind of nuts in it!

Mother's Day weekend, while I was busy feeding Elisabeth, my grandmother gave Isabella a cracker with peanut butter on it. She quickly broke out in lots of hives around her mouth and came to me and told me that her tongue was "itchy"! We rushed to the store and dosed her with some Benadryl, and praise the Lord she got better quickly!! Scared me too death!

At our next appointment with Dr Whitehead I discussed the Mother's Day reaction with him, and we decided together that it was time to officially get her allergy tested! Thanks to a connection of my Mom's we were able to get in to see Dr Stone (an allergist) the next week! They tested her for 24 different allergens, foods as well as environmental allergens. Thank you Lord, she only reacted strongly to peanuts. They do a skin prick test, then come back and read it after 15 minutes. After 7 minutes the peanut spot was so large and traveling around her side so I went and got the the nurse. She quickly gave her Benadryl and applied Benadryl cream to the skin reaction. They prescribed epinephrine pens and told us to keep one and some Benadryl with us at all times!

My cousin Emma has a 6 year old daughter (Madison) who is allergic to Cashews and wears a Medic-alert bracelet all the time. With the suggestion of both doctors we have ordered Isabella a bracelet too, she got to help pick it out and is so excited for it to get here! She is also excited that it looks just like Madison's!!

We are trying to (age appropriately) teach Isabella about her allergy. We, so far, tell her that she does not like peanuts and peanut butter and she can not eat them!

We are becoming a peanut-free household, and have learned how to use an epi-pen correctly! I pray everyday that we will never have to actually use it and that she will grow out of this allergy!

The last 4 months!

2009-07-18T13:10:00.000-07:00

I CAN NOT believe that Elisabeth is already 4 months old and that Isabella will be 3 in October!! Instead of a bunch of posts to catch up the last several months, I am just going to include a bunch of pics and stuff in this one--and then I will be caught up, and will keep up better!!

St. Patrick's Day
We have always wanted to take Isabella to the neighborhood St. Patrick's Day parade but we have always had to work! This year Jason was able to take her, they were able to sit on my Mom's front porch and watch the parade go by! We dressed her up in her green and off they went!! We did not have any green clothes small enough for Elisabeth! Since she was only 6 days old, she will never know that she did not wear green, or get to go to the parade this year!

Easter
My Grandparents and brother were able to come down for a visit over Easter! None of them had gotten to meet Elisabeth before! It is always wonderful to watch my grandparents interact, play with, and love on my children! I know that I am very blessed to have grandparents!
I wish that I had gotten a picture of my brother with Elisabeth, one morning I had just fed Elisabeth and Ben picked her up to hold her and all the feeding came out all over him! He handled it like a champ, but wow was he soaked with breast milk--he had to completely change him clothes! Mother's Day!!
My first Mother's Day of being a Mom to TWO beautiful girls was wonderful!! My grandparents came back to celebrate with us! Their birthdays are both in the month of May so they usually come down to celebrate Mother's Day and their birthdays!! To make this Mother's Day even more special, there was a Dedication Service at church and we had Elisabeth dedicated to the Lord! I know that having her dedicated does not mean that she is saved, but it is a way of outwardly saying that we dedicate ourselves to raising her in a Christian home and instilling Christian beliefs and teachings in her!! Wow, what a powerful charge and responsibility as a parent! I pray everyday that our children will come to know the Lord and live their lives to love and serve Him!! My Mom had recently purchased a kayak, so the evening of Mother's Day we went over to our sweet friends (Brian and Jennie Edwards) house for Jason and Mom to use her kayak in the lake. Playing while Grand kayaked on the lake! Jason putting Isabella "up in the sky"!! Jason even decided to try it out!!

Our Garden and Swimming!
Since last summer I have been talking about wanting to plant a garden, now that we finally have a yard again! I finally talked Jason and his Dad into helping me plant one! Jason teases me that it all has to do with my "Mommy hormones," apparently I think that I can grow anything since I can grow babies in my tummy! One Saturday morning Mr. Allen, Isabella and I went to Lowe's and picked out a bunch of plants--tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, squash, watermelon and cucumbers; we went home and picked the spot in the yard and got to work!! We have just started getting vegetables from the garden large enough to pick and eat!! We are so excited, and go outside to water it and look for more veggies everyday!
This summer we decided to go and buy a plastic pool for the yard for all of us to play in! The best 10 dollars we have spend in quite a while--Isabella loves it! It totally does not matter to her that the water is cold straight out of the hose! She loves to just "play, play, play in the water!" Of course, I do not have a picture of Elisabeth in her bouncy seat outside, but she loves to sit, watch and smile at Isabella having so much fun!!

Memorial Day weekend!
My brothers wife (aka Aunt Kim) had not been able to come see us and meet Elisabeth yet, so we decided that she would come for a visit over Memorial Day weekend! We were all so excited for Aunt Kim to come! Isabella and Aunt Kim have always had a love affair, they just adore each other! We had a countdown on the fridge for about three weeks before she was to get here, and everyday we marked off a number and talked about how long it was still going to be.
While she was here we decided to go to Charleston for a day. We spent time downtown walking around and shopping, and then ended up at Foley Beach for the evening! I LOVE Foley Beach! We met up with my Dad and Andrea and they go to hang out with us too! It was great to get to spend time with all of them together!
Isabella and Aunt Kim on the beach!

If they made one trip to and from the shore, they made at least twenty! They had so much fun playing together!!
The look of sheer determination!
My Dad (aka Grandpa Nick) and Andrea

Dad trying to keep Elisabeth warm enough, as the sun set it did get a good bit cooler!

Isabella thought that it was hilarious to dump sand on my feet while I acted like it bothered me!

Of course while Aunt Kim was here we had to make brownies--one of Isabella's favorite things to do lately! And she HAS to help lick the bowl afterward, something she learned from her Mommy (my favorite part of making brownies)!
We LOVED having Aunt Kim here, and so wish that she and Ben lived closer and we got to spend even more time with them! Thanks so much for coming, Aunt Kim!!

POTTY TRAINING Isabella!
Isabella and I had been working on potty training for MONTHS! I had finally given up and decided that she would "get it" when she was ready. We went over to our sweet friends Brian and Jennie's for dinner one Friday night in early June. Brian and Jennie have two girls also, a 3 year old and a 1 year old--it is so fun to watch the girls interact and play! While we were there I shared some of my frustrations with Jennie and she asked if it would be okay for her to try--of course I said yes! By the time that we had left that night, Isabella had urinated in the potty (and on the floor 2 times--I am still sorry for that, Jennie!!) but ever since then Isabella has had very few accidents! Peer pressure worked for us, (and later lots of pee pee parties and M&Ms) Isabella watched her friend Carlisle use the potty and it dawned on her that she could do it too!! YEAH-we are so proud of her!! Thanks Jennie for being such a great cheerleader for both of us!
(Sorry no pics to accompany that one!!)

Our weekend in Atlanta with great friends!
We decided to go Atlanta for a weekend to visit our friends Chris and Robin! Chris and Robin used to live here in Florence, but have moved to Atlanta and we don't get to see them nearly enough! This was also Elisabeth's first road trip, and she did great! We spent the weekend hanging out and reconnecting, it was so great!

They have this awesome neighborhood pool where we played and swam on Saturday!

Isabella saw other kids going down the slide and wanted to go, I thought for sure that she would chicken out but she LOVED it! She went down it several times, and squealed with delight the whole time!
Isabella sitting like the little prissy that she is!

Elisabeth napped on the bed while the rest of us got ready to go to the pool!
Isabella chillin' poolside with Miss Robin (for some reason Isabella called her "that girl" all weekend)!

While we played in the pool Elisabeth napped the afternoon away on the lounger--I love her little belly hanging out!!

Chris and Robin told us that they wanted to sell their dining room table, and we decided to buy it, but then had to try to figure out how to get it home, in our van! In this picture you can see that they were able to fit luggage for all 4 of us for the weekend, a bouncy seat for E, toys for Isabella, a dining room table, 6 chairs and Isabella's potty!! They were so proud of their packing ability, and the fact that they were right and were able to make it all fit!!
Thank you so much for a wonderful, much needed weekend of relaxation and reconnection! We had a really great time!

Some random pictures from the last few months!
Elisabeth's first bottle, she did great!
Isabella and her Grand, on Grand's birthday!

Sweet girl loves!
Isabella and her babies, she is such a little Mommy lately!!
Sleeping babies are SO sweet!!
I just love this picture of her in her Daddy's hat!
"Mommy, I'm ready to go!" --in my shoes and with my purse!
Just too sweet!!
Elisabeth with her Papa!!

Whew! That was quite a long posting, but I think that we are finally caught up! I am determined to be better at keeping up with blogging! The last few months of have been some of the most difficult, exhausting time but also the most awesome, awe-inspiring, love filled times of our lives! We thank the Lord everyday for our family, His love for us, and the blessings that he has given us!

ELISABETH MAE

2009-06-01T05:56:00.000-07:00

Thursday March 11, 2009 was a miraculously wonderful, awe inspiring day for our family! At 6:52pm we welcomed Elisabeth Mae into the world and our family!! The instant that we got to finally see her we all thought that she looked EXACTLY like Isabella!! She weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 20 inches long (Isabella had weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 21 inches long). Naively I thought that this time would less awe inspiring, I actually think that it has actually been more awe inspiring, that we could possibly be blessed with two healthy, beautiful girls!! Just like our salvation, we certainly did nothing to deserve the blessings that God had given us!!

As she has grown and changed from that brand-new infant to an almost 4 month old baby her looks have changed too. You can definitely tell that they are sisters, but are not identical anymore.
From those first few minutes with her we could already see ways in which she differed from Isabella. Elisabeth was born hungry and nursed well within her first hour, with Isabella we had to fight with her to get her to eat for weeks. I had to wake Isabella up those first few weeks to eat at night, I have never had to wake Elisabeth to eat!! Isabella LOVED her pacifier the first time we gave it to her, and Elisabeth will not take it at all! Isabella was a very content baby, Elisabeth--well we are still working on that!!

Our dear friend Chastity Wilson (Graceful Images) came to the hospital and took some pictures of the girls meeting for the first time!! It was so amazing to watch them lay their eyes on each other!! I love it when I can see Isabella thinking and putting things together in her mind! I watched her look at my stomach and then at Elisabeth and then at my stomach again, and then ask if baby sister was going to go back in there!! Umm, no way!! I absolutely LOVE watching them interact! You may not be able to see it in the pictures--but I was so EXCITED to see Isabella, I had never been away from her that long, and missed her so much!!

Our first family photo!

Super sweet sister kisses!!

Just about to leave the hospital to go home!!

Our first night at home!

I had to include this one, Isabella thought that the bouncy seat was pretty cool when we got it out of the attic! She was trying it out for Elisabeth!!

We thank God all the time, everyday for our family!! It has certainly been a time of HUGE transition in our home--actually to be honest, harder than we ever thought it would be!! We have loved every moment, and thank God for all of them--even the sleepless, fussy ones!!

Our new blog!!

2009-05-30T05:45:00.000-07:00

I finally decided that instead of trying to catch up our other blog, I would start a new one--especially since almost four months ago we started a new chapter in our lives! I don't know about anyone elses transition from one child to two or more, but it has really been a time of HUGE adjustment for our house! Please don't get me wrong for a second, we LOVE our girls with our whole hearts and enjoy very second with them!! I am REALLY going to try to keep this updated more often, to keep a better record of our daily lives!