LOVE

 

progression of a haircut

I think these photos from September are funny. She actually did really well with the whole thing - the pictures show otherwise. :-)

and adlee is off....

Adlee started crawling a couple weeks ago - she is now pulling herself up on everything and has even tried moving from one piece of furniture to the next, which usually results in landing on her head. :-) Anyway, I got this video a while back and have been neglecting my blog lately but I wanted to get this up there. It might be one of those things that only my parents like, but you do get a "Matea Original" song and a funny Dumb and Dumber quote at the end (which is the only reason I didn't crop this video, its pretty boring for a good 20 seconds).

I'll be trying to upload more photos and stuff soon....we've got my brother's wedding this weekend which is keeping this week pretty busy for us!

6 months

Happy 6 month birthday, Adlee!
I am so glad that today is here. I remember when Adlee was born I thought, "I can't wait till she is 6 months." I know a lot of you are screaming inside, "but they grow up so fast! enjoy the time when they are little!" and while I can appreciate the sentiment, I just really have a hard time with babies. Now that Adlee seems like a little person I am enjoying her so much more.

Adlee can sit, she grabs for stuff, she is eating cereal and other veggies now, and laughs a lot. I love it. Her spitting up has decreased by about a gallon each day. She is finally fitting into 3-6 month clothes. :-) It is fun to see her start to wear some clothes that Matea wore. And it is fun to see the two girls interact with each other. I hope they grow up to be best of friends like I am with my sister.

Assuming the next 6 months go as fast as the last 6 months I'm sure I'll be writing about Adlee's birthday before I know it! Crazy.

I am thankful for this life God has given me.

some pictures

Here are some updated pictures of the girls!
I did my most elaborate cornrows yet on Matea - I really was proud of myself. :-)

Adlee is getting more and more enjoyable every day! She "talks" to us often now and is pretty smiley. I love it.

We got Matea a bike and I think it was the best $30 we spent. :-) She is LOVING riding it! She has improved so much in the past week that the last few times we've gone out around the block I have to run because she is going too fast for me to walk. So I'm getting some good exercise too! (and in case you are wondering, I've got 6 pounds to go!)

That's all I've got for now, I just wanted to do a quick update since it has been a while!

house update

I know there a lot of you who have been praying for our house in Duluth to sell so I wanted to give you a quick update -

Last Friday (as in over a week ago) we got feedback from a showing that we had that someone was "very" interested in our house and was going to schedule a third showing for this past week. We never heard anything, and after checking with our realtor we came to find out that the potential buyer's real estate agent currently does not have her license due to the government state shut down. (We are assuming she needed it renewed and has been unable to get it renewed). This
would explain why she has been unable to schedule another showing this past week.

We are hopeful that the government will start back up soon and this potential buyer will put in an offer soon. The buyer also has the option to go with a different realtor if they so choose. Ultimately we are still trusting in God to provide for our needs as he has in the past. Just wanted to give you all an update so you can pray specifically.

Thanks!

Duluth.

We did it.
We moved, and now we live in Champlin.

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind, and I don't think it hit me what was actually happening until I was in our jam packed Subaru, by myself, driving away from our neighborhood. Yep, I cried.

Before Aaron and I left we spent some time praying and thanking God for all that he has done in our lives in Duluth and in our home. I'd just like to praise God publicly for a FEW of the MANY things He has done in our lives while residents of Duluth:

-we got married! (ten years in 2 weeks)
-we have Matea and Adlee
-our hearts have opened and embraced adoption
-we have friendships that will last a lifetime
-we grew spiritually through InterVarsity, small groups, and church
-we have mentored and been mentored spiritually
-the Lord has met every financial need we have ever had even when we had almost nothing
-God has provided for ALL our needs....not just financial...we have NEVER been without anything, and in fact, we have been abundantly blessed
-we have learned to view our possessions as God's and not our own and are still working on living that out better every day
-we have grown to have a deeper understanding of theology (I'm sure we've just touched the surface) and are working towards living that out daily

Those are the broad things that He has done....and there are more. Daily the Lord is providing for us and drawing us closer to Him - and yet sometimes I still doubt! Ridiculous. I am realizing how important it is to recount what the Lord has done so that we are encouraged and remember. There is a reason the Israelites would tell the story of what God did over and over and over in the Old Testament - perhaps we need to work on that a bit more in our household.

I am looking forward to this next phase of life and seeing what God does. Stay tuned.

pictures

A few quick pictures of the girls - I am taking a short break from packing. We are loading the moving truck today...craziness. Our house still has not sold yet, prayers would be appreciated.

a new song to love

My DAD of all people turned me on to this Taylor Swift song. I love it. And I love the video. Although I will admit the second and third time I watched the video I got more and more sad. :-) Anyway...enjoy!

love it

You can find this on Etsy - the store has some really fun stuff on it! Here is the link.

update!

FINALLY I am blogging again!! Wow, its been a while. Things have been going well here. Over the last month or so....

We went to Frederic over Mother's Day. We spent a bunch of time at the school playground in the great weather. Matea is getting more and more brave and coordinated every day - it is fun to see the progress in her. We had preschool screening this week and although I was not surprised by anything in the results, it was funny for me to see that she scored TWO points ABOVE the "minimum" for her motor skills!

We went to a Twins game with the Schunks, Jen, Brandon, and Robby. It was FUN. The weather was PERFECT, our seats were great, the kids did fantastic, there was lots of scoring...but the Twins lost. With the way their season is going it sure wasn't a surprise, but it was still disappointing.

Adlee is doing great. She has been sleeping through the night since she was 8 weeks old which, obviously, is fantastic. She is growing well, although she is still little! She weighed a whopping 8# 1oz at her 2 month check up. She has started cooing/talking a LOT and we can get her to respond to us pretty easily. I am enjoying her more and more every day.

And weight loss update: I have lost a total of 5 pounds in the last 6 weeks. So, I'm making progress. I was hoping for more. I have been exercising 5-6 days a week but I am going to really start watching my calories now!

Our last bit of big news is that we are moving to Champlin in July! After months of prayer and contemplation we decided to pull the trigger. Our house has been for sale since early April and we found a place in Champlin 2 weeks ago. The new house is not in the location or the style of house we were thinking we'd be, but this just seems right. There were a number of cool factors that are leading us to believe that this is the place God has for us. It will work really well for Aaron to keep his business in the home for a few more years and the price couldn't be beat! We are now trusting that God has the sale of this home in his hands. As I've mentioned to a few friends, here is where we get the chance to actually trust God, and not just talk about trusting Him! :-) If you know of anyone looking for a place in Duluth, send them our way!

working it out

I had my six week check up with the doctor on Tuesday and was given a "clean bill of health." Those were the doctor's exact words. I didn't know people actually said that, I thought it was just in the movies.

Anyway, the only "problem" that I have is that my hemoglobin levels were extremely low - as in the nurse told me I am borderline anemic. I was actually kind of glad to hear that. I had been mentioning to Aaron that I seemed more tired than I should be - some days I will sleep until 9:00am, take a nap, and then be exhausted at 8:30pm. Even with a newborn it seemed I was way more tired than I should be. Turns out I was right. Bring on the vitamins, red meat, and spinach. Hopefully in the next week or two I'll be a little more normal.

My 6 week check up has officially ended my "take it easy" time and has ushered in "time to get back in shape." I stepped on the scale yesterday morning and officially have 21 pounds to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I am planning on not buying any new clothes until I have gotten back to a reasonable weight for me, and with each day I am loathing my maternity pants more and more so I think I have great motivation. I decided I'll be blogging periodically about my weight loss in order to have a little extra accountability and motivation.

This week my fitness goals are:
*exercise every other day (work out videos)
*take my vitamins daily (got to get my energy level back up!)
*work on a healthy 2-3 week meal plan that I can continuously rotate.

I think that's good enough for now. :-) I did exercise yesterday and it felt GOOD! It is a little weird to be back at the beginner level of my videos, but, I did just have a baby, right?

4 weeks

We are officially a month into life as a family of 4. Well, technically four weeks in, but that's basically a month in my book. Things are going well, for the most part! We weighed Adlee on Aaron's shipping scale yesterday and she's a little over 7 pounds so she's gaining weight well. I can definitley tell that she is putting on weight - she doesn't seem as "fragile" as she did for a while. I know babies aren't fragile, but its nice to have some extra cushion on her. :-)

Nighttime is going well - I feed her at 11 and around 3am (or whenever she wakes up), and then Aaron takes the 7am feeding and I sleep in. It seems to be working decently, although I am learning that I really do not do well with broken increments of sleep. I am very, VERY thankful that Aaron works from home and is flexible enough to allow me an extra couple hours of sleep in the morning. That being said, I think we're both looking forward to when Adlee sleeps the majority of the night and we can get back to a "normal" schedule.

Matea is doing great as a big sister...she is super helpful and really seems to enjoy Adlee. Today I took Matea to the library for story time with some friends and it was nice to get out and do something one-on-one with her. Plus I got to visit with some friends, so that is always nice! Matea has had a pretty wicked cold the last few days so this afternoon she and Adlee both took 2.5+ hour naps and I took a 2 hour one myself. It was FANTASTIC.

So there's the one month update. Sorry no pictures...I'll get some on here soon. Surprisingly I haven't taken a ton...I should get on that. :-)

love

Adlee Elizabeth

A week later I am finally getting around to this blog post!!

Adlee Elizabeth was born March 2 at 9:56pm. She weighed 5# 70z and was 18.5 inches long. It was a LONG day, and I am so glad it is over. Here is our first family picture - not the greatest of me, but who really looks good after having a baby, right? :-)


We went to the hospital at 6am (I got induced) and they started pitocin at 7:30. My water broke early afternoon, and I got an epidural around 4:30 in the afternoon. I slept for a couple hours and woke up when my right side started to hurt. Between 4:30 and 7:30 I went from 5cm to 9.5cm and half of my epidural started working. They said it was pointless to get a new one at that point - I started pushing shortly thereafter. Apparently I'm not a very productive pusher because it took 2 hours. It was pretty brutal (for me - I'm not tough at all).

After Adlee was born we had Matea come in for a couple minutes by herself to meet her new sister. It was nice to have a bit of time as our little family - Matea is doing well with the baby (and all the extra attention from grandparents/aunts/uncles!).

We had a bit of an interesting beginning...Adlee had swallowed a ton of amniotic fluid and was very gaggy/spitty for the first 24 hours or so. She had to get "deep suctioned" twice to get the fluid out of her lungs and had to be watched constantly so she wouldn't choke. We also had a hard time with feeding early on and she lost a lot of weight quickly so we had to stay in the hospital an extra day. We were FINALLY able to come home on Saturday evening.

I haven't taken very many pictures this week, which is kind of weird for me. I am starting to feel pretty healed up and I think it won't be long before we are in a good routine with Adlee. I am looking forward to getting outside and going for walks with my girls!

I am so glad that this pregnancy is OVER...and I am so thankful that we had a completely 100% uneventful 40 weeks. That is a total God thing - thank you to all who prayed for us during the pregnancy. Adlee seems very healthy despite being a little peanut and we are looking forward to watching her grow and learn her personality!

unexpected comment

I had a doctor's appointment today which was pretty uneventful. In an effort to try to jump start any chance of going into labor this weekend we spent some time this evening at the mall doing a little bit of shopping and A LOT of walking.

On our way out to the car we were stopped by an african american man who was outside. The abbreviated version of our conversation went a little bit like this:
"Is she your daughter?"
"Yes, she is."
"Well CONGRATULATIONS! I am from Mississippi and you just don't see multi-ethnic families down there. It is so wonderful to see the love you have for each other. Thank you!"
"Well thank YOU for saying that to us! It really means a lot coming from you."

I had a couple thoughts as we got into the car....
First, I am proud of our family, but I often wonder what other black people think when they see us. It was really cool to have someone go out of their way to comment positively on our family.
Second, I always say that I want to be more encouraging to people and I rarely seem to do that. When I have exceptional service at a store or restaurant I always say, "I should write the manager" but never do....I too often just keep my mouth shut. Being "complimented" (for lack of a better word) by this total stranger really made my night - how often can I do that for others just by being NICE? Really, it isn't that hard. I just need to step up and do it.

So, those are my random thoughts on the night. It was a good night. And, I guess that's all I've got!

It is February...

February is here!

Last weekend Aaron took Matea to the Father Daughter Ball that is held every year in Duluth. This was Matea's first year going and we were both pretty sure she'd have fun...but...she's 3, so you never know. Turns out she loved it! She told me MULTIPLE times, "next time you should come to the father daughter ball because it is SO much fun!" Aaron got her a corsage that she thought was really fun to have. Aaron had a lot of fun with her (and our dad friends) at the dance, so it was a win-win.

They are a cute couple. :-)


Pregnancy update...
I'm 37 weeks today which puts me at full term. Ready to be DONE being pregnant. I'm really hoping that I have the baby THIS MONTH. We had a doctor appointment today and everything looks good. The baby had a growth check ultrasound and she is weighing approximately 5#6oz...if I go 3 more weeks she'll be about 7 1/2# according to my doctor. I am going to work really hard at enjoying these last few weeks as a family of 3 and not having a newborn to take care of! Here are a couple of pictures of me from today...it is a bit difficult to take pictures of yourself in the mirror. These are the best I could do. :-)


Finally....
Aaron got me a KitchenAid Mixer for Christmas and I've been experimenting with some bread recipes. I tried out this breadstick recipe the other day and it turned out really good, so I made them again today and mixed in a bunch of extra herbs, garlic, and cheese. The house smells amazing and the breadsticks look pretty good!! I'm excited to eat them with the chicken chili I've got cooking in the crockpot.
Well I am off to work for the afternoon...I've got a few days of work ahead of me which is nice. Well, the paycheck is nice! It is always good for me to get out of the house for a while, too. I tend to hole myself inside in the winter. The extended forecast is looking promising that spring won't be TOO far away - hopefully the bitter cold is behind us for the rest of the winter!

sneak peak

We had yet another ultrasound today...we finally got a glimpse of the baby's face. Normally her hands are up in front of her face so we can't see much. These aren't the greatest pictures, but here is a glimpse for you....
Apparently her head was jammed up against my uterus or the placenta or something so the ultrasound tech couldn't get a good shot. But, its the best we've gotten so far! I am really looking forward to this baby being OUT of my belly and moving on to the next part of life. I've got to make one giant Target trip to pick up some things for me and for the baby and then I think we're ready!

health

Despite my best efforts to ward of the stomach bug that has been going around Duluth for the last month, it finally hit us. Hit me, more like it. I don't even know where I got it, but all I know is that being sick while being 34 weeks pregnant is NOT FUN. Not that being sick is EVER fun, but it just makes it that much worse. I have a hard enough time sleeping these days WITHOUT throwing in an upset stomach. I'm praying that Aaron and Matea don't get it and we can be healthy for the rest of the winter.

In other news....
-Its finally going to get above zero today! Yeah!! I hate the cold.
-I am officially a Packers fan during playoffs. GO PACK, GO!
-I cornrowed Matea's ENTIRE head of hair last week, and I am very proud of myself.
-I am hopeful to not be pregnant too much longer. :-)
-I have been enjoying Phil Wickham on my ipod these days. Check him out.

Well, I am going to try to take a nap and re-hydrate myself while Aaron and Matea are at church this morning. I am thankful that I got sick on the weekend so Aaron didn't have to take time off of work to help me out with stuff. He is a great husband and father!

pregnancy update

It is EXTREMELY painful for me to post this horrendous picture of myself on the blog. This is honestly the first time I've intentionally taken a picture of my belly....so....its pretty much one of the only ones I've got! This is me at 30.5 weeks-ish. Yep. That's pretty much all I've got to say about that!!

In other pregnancy related news........
-my blood pressure has been pretty good so far. It started creeping up a bit the last 2 appointments but nothing to worry about
-I am now at weekly appointments. Good times.
-I had an ultrasound last week to check the growth of the baby (my HBP and my medications can cause the baby to not grow very well). My sister was in town for a few days and was able to come with me. It was REALLY fun for me to have her there (especially since we sat around FOR FOREVER at the appointment). We got to see the baby yawn and then stick her wrist in her mouth. The baby is a bit on the small size, but nothing to worry about at this point. It sounds like they'll check again in a few weeks.
-Oh yeah, have I mentioned on this blog we're having a girl? I don't remember.
-I have been feeling nauseous a lot lately. EXTREMELY annoying.
-I am fine to deliver at St Luke's ("our" hospital) anytime after 37 weeks. February 10 is 37 weeks. Keep that in mind.
-I am SO ready to be done being pregnant. It has been a very easy, uneventful pregnancy which I am very thankful for, but I am just ready to be done. I miss my clothes that fit, being able to cut my toenails comfortably, and my exercise videos.

So, I think that's all I've got! Things are moving right along..........!