Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and your family a very wonderful and blessed Christmas!

Christmas countdown

Look at that... Daniel is back home, and I am still blogging. Who would have thought?

We have really enjoyed having Daddy back in our lives. Emily pretty much was attached to his hip all day because I was doing my glucose screening (oh, pregnancy) and running the last bit of our errands. Between unpacking (Daniel got his bags - yea!), washing clothes, packing, returning library books, getting an oil change, and having friends over for dinner, we still managed to fit in some Christmas family fun. I have already mentioned how much Emily is enjoying arts and crafts, so I was really hoping she would be old enough to decorate a gingerbread house this year. Of course, I put it together ahead of time and spread icing all over the roof and let her go to town. She had a blast and covered every inch of the roof with candy. She was so proud of herself. It is so fun to finally start up family traditions!

We leave early tomorrow morning to head to Houston, and we cannot wait! Daniel was getting bothered by everything we have to carry in the airport, which is funny because I am usually carrying twice as much stuff. Then it hit me, he has no clue what I go through when he is not here. I usually have a stroller, a toddler, a dog (we always travel with Roxy), a HUGE diaper bag filled with every necessity, my camera bag, a lunch sack filled with goodies for the day, and our beloved blankie and teddy bear. When you go through security, everything has to go through the xray machine, so I end up carrying a puppy under one arm and a toddler under the other. And then we have to switch planes. Daniel refuses to fly anything but direct, so we only have one flight tomorrow and we are ditching the stroller because of it. I feel like tomorrow will be so easy. I guess you do what you have to do, right? It's something military wives know a lot about. It will be nice to have Daniel with us on this flight, especially since my belly will be taking up most of my personal space in the plane. Plus, we haven't flown with Daniel in over a year and a half, so it will be nice to take a family trip.

Next time I post, we will be in Texas!

Multitude Mondays - Week Four

Well, we got through the last week without Daniel. It has been nice that December flew by so fast, because before we knew it, Daniel was back safely in our home. After taking 4 flights in a little over 24 hours, I'm impressed that he was only 4 hours delayed. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about Daniel's bags. They are either in Georgia (the country), Germany, DC, or Charlotte, but they definitely are not at our house. Taking into consideration that he flew three different airlines does not make matters any better. We will just continue to pray that they will get here before we leave Wednesday morning for Texas, as there are Christmas presents inside the bags, as well. If missing bags are the biggest of our problems, then we are doing pretty well. We really have a lot to be thankful for...

87. Fruit smoothies

88. The joy in making Emily laugh

89. Having a busy schedule that makes time fly by when Daniel is gone

90. Stickers -- hours of enjoyment

91. Doing our first of many Christmas art projects

92. Realizing how old Emily is getting while we cuddle on the couch watching the Sound of Music

93. Going to see a living nativity

94. That Daniel is safely back home from Georgia (the country)

95. That Emily knows how to pray now before meals and sometimes reminds me

96. Making new friends

97. Watching Emily be entranced by the Nutcracker

98. Participating in ornament exchanges

99. Becoming more involved and the satisfaction and growth that it brings

100. Getting to be a mommy

101. The feeling of a clean house

102. Going to dinner with good friends

103. Knowing God is always there

104. That Daniel managed to get on the last flight back to Jacksonville last night

105. Finding brilliant ideas on the internet that I would have never come up with

Vacuum pumps

Emily loves corn, so we have been eating a lot of it recently. Tonight, she got the brilliant idea to stick a piece up her nose. She just giggled as she did it, while I ran over to get it out. I had only sat down for 5 seconds until she had put another piece up her nose. This time, it made more sense to jam it way up there. I am now writing this post after sitting in the ER for 4 hours. I guess one ER visit a year isn't too bad, right?

To make matters worse, they wanted to take her rectal temperature. When I went to take off her diaper, I realized it was dirty... and I didn't bring any extras. It sort of reminded me of this situation when I was unprepared, as well. (If you haven't seen these videos, PLEASE go watch them. You will get a good laugh! The second one is my favorite.) They were out of spare baby diapers, but the nurse got me an adult diaper and cut it down to fit Emily. She then handed me a roll of tape to strap it on with. Stuffing was coming out everywhere. It was a disaster, but hey, it worked for the time being.

Apparently, a girl had been in right before us that had a pompom stuck up her nose, so I didn't feel too bad. Everyone on the staff was quite interested in what was going on and assisted in ideas of how to get it out. They started off having me close one nostril and blowing into her mouth like I was giving her CPR. Emily thought it was hilarious, but it didn't budge the corn at all. Then they tried tweezers. The problem was, since it was corn, it was too soft to grab with varying sizes of tweezers. They ended up using a vacuum pump that goes down the trachea of patients on a ventilator. It made the most awful sound, which didn't comfort Emily after they had already stuck 5 different things up her nose. Finally, after a couple of minutes of sucking, it finally came free. The corn kernel was HUGE! It was at least twice the size of her nostril, which was another reason it was so difficult to get out.

At least we are home now. Unfortunately, Emily is sick, and we have an actual doctor's appointment tomorrow morning. She is really going to hate doctors after all of this. Poor thing. I just hope she is old enough to remember this experience, though.

Hours of fun

Being 18 months, Emily's attention span is still very small. I love finding things that keep her preoccupied for quite a long time, and let me tell you, there aren't many things that fit the bill. I have recently discovered how much she enjoys playing with stickers in her high chair.

She pulls them off the side where I line them up.

And she puts them on her paper.

Then she pulls them off her paper and puts them on her tray.

And then puts them back on the paper.

And back on the tray.

And back on the paper.

This goes on until they don't stick anymore, which can be a pretty long time.

I will give you one guess as to what Emily is getting in her stocking this year...

Multitude Mondays - Week Three

Wow, is it really Monday again? I swear I was just doing this a couple of days ago. I guess our December has been really busy, which is good because that means Daniel will be back soon!

59. That this time without Daniel has really flown by!

60. Our friends -- the Boyle's

61. Being financially able to be a stay-at-home mom

62. The wonderful drop-off daycare on base

63. Being able to buy cheap books on Amazon.com since our library doesn't offer Christian books

64. That the Lord is providing for my Bible study group

65. How much fun Emily has at daycare

66. Living in a neighborhood where everyone is our age, going through the same things (military-wise)

67. That Daniel gets to spend this Christmas with us

68. All the new lives that are being created (I have 13 friends who are pregnant or had a baby within the past month)

69. Candy

70. Friends babysitting

71. Emily riding with Michael in his red wagon

72. How much Emily loves arts and crafts

73. Having the means to eat what I am craving

74. Reading with Emily every night after dinner

75. Daniel being able to call home for free

76. Feeling really needed when Emily doesn't feel well

77. Chocolate milk

78. Emily making her first Christmas ornament at daycare

79. The experience I am having my being a military wife

80. That parenting is a challenge that makes us grow

81. Used books at half price

82. That having a child has made Daniel and me mature faster than anything else

83. Not knowing where we will be living in a year

84. The church library

85. How crazy weird my chid is -- just like me

86. How thoughtful Emily's daddy is

Our daughter is so weird.

But we already knew that.

Last night, for the last 30 minutes before bed, she played with all her toys, like she always does, only she had a packet of Italian dressing hanging out of her mouth.

She wasn't doing this for attention or trying to be funny because I was in the kitchen doing the dishes and she was just wandering around minding her own business.

I wish I knew what was going on in that head of hers.

She also loves having pictures taken, but she doesn't understand that you don't have to stand right in front of the lens. But look at that little face!

I hate those bangs, though. Something needs to be done about them. Maybe we should start growing them out?

"Ma..." Mama..."

I know when I hear her calling for me like this, it means whatever I had planned for the next hour will not happen. This means, "I'm awake. Come get me."

Although today, it happened even before she went to sleep. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. She was tired. She was fed. Her diaper was clean. Hmm...

Of course... a wardrobe malfunction. I don't know why this didn't even come to mind.

Photography class

Well, the class is now over... at least for me. Emily woke up this morning with a 102 fever, so looks like we will be staying at home all day. It sure doesn't seem to bother her at all -- she is still running around and playing like she normally does. She apparently doesn't feel too awful, which is good.

Overall, I enjoyed taking the class. I didn't get too much out of it, but still, I feel if I walked away with a least a little it was worth it. The class was an intermediate photography course, so I was a little worried I wouldn't be where the rest of the students were. I took a course in college that did a unit on slr camera operation, so I had the basics and was hoping I would be okay. Turns out, the exact opposite was true. Apparently, the beginner class the guy teaches is how to take a good picture while staying on the automatic setting. I definitely knew more than the rest of the class, but still walked away with a couple helpful techniques. Some people didn't even know how to turn on their cameras.

The one thing I was pretty disappointed with was that the teacher wasn't that impressive. He is stuck back in the 90s thinking portraiture should be done in a studio with completely posed shots. His pictures were ridiculous and he kept saying, "now this is a good picture." I know of many other photographers in town who would have been better qualified to teach the class, but oh well.

The dynamics of this class were very strange, as well. The class was made up of either moms or senior citizens. Apparently, senior citizens can take any of the continuing ed classes for free. Two of the senior citizens who paid for the class were not happy when this information came out. And they were so funny... about every hour, one of them would raise their hand asking if they could tell a story. This story never had anything to do with photography. Like did you know quail turds could be made into jewelry? I also learned the evolution of the tobacco barn in North Carolina. Useful information, let me tell you.

At one point I asked a question and the teacher said, "I have two answers for you and one is the expensive option." I told him, "Well, I don't really want to hear that one." He stopped for a second and was a little taken aback. He then commented, "if any of you think I am ever trying to be fresh with you, I'm sorry. That is not how I mean to come across." Awkward. All I meant was I can't afford the $500-1000 option.

So, we will see how my pictures come out now. Only problem is that I don't really have a subject to shoot. Emily won't stop long enough for me to take a picture of her.

And that is why I am pregnant... babies are the best subjects.

What an imagination

I love seeing Emily play make believe. She just blows me away with what she comes up with sometimes. It is so easy to underestimate what is going on in that head since she is not talking!

On our dining room table, we have some little pine cones that are scented cinnamon flavor. She loves smelling them, so I usually give her a couple to play with. Yesterday, she was pretending they were soap bottles. Pine cones, really?

She would turn them over and pretend she was pouring something out of them, while making a "shhhh" sound...

Then she would rub her hands together...

And wash her face...

So cute!

I'm glad to know the brain is working, even though the mouth is not.

In other news, she has done wonderful while I have been in my photography class. She spent Monday at daycare and was so excited when we got there. I was talking to another lady who was dropping off her daughter and Emily ran up to me to give me a hug -- that's all. Then she wanted back down to play. When I walked in to pick her up, everyone there was upset and she was busy coloring a Christmas tree. It's no surprise to me that she loves arts and crafts, and I love the daycare because they realize what the kids enjoy doing, and they allow them to continue even when that time is over. You should have seen all she made while she was there. I always get the best ideas from them! They said she didn't even cry of get upset once. That is such a change from a couple of months ago!

Today she went to hang out with her best friend, Michael, so she obviously had fun. Tomorrow it is back to daycare, though. I wonder what fun things they have planned...

Multitude Mondays - Week Two

I have so much to be thankful for, as always. I have a journal out on our kitchen counter so I can write down things as they come to mind. It will also be something nice to look back on when I am done with all of this. I will never be done thanking the Lord, but you get what I mean. I was only going to list blessings 21-40 on here because I am nervous that, although it is easy to come up with stuff right now, it will get more difficult when I am around, say, blessing 678. But, these are suppose to be my blessings for week 2, so I guess I will list them all. It will only make me search out more blessings in the future.

21. Cool weather that makes lugging around a little one when pregnant not so horrible.

22. Healthy pregnancies.

23. How happy Emily's pink boots make her.

24. Lazy days when you get to stay in your pajamas.

25. Our comfy new couch that I sink into when I dip into the Word.

26. The amount of sunlight that comes in our house when all the blinds are open.

27. My family's health.

28. Being able to skype with family across the country.

29. Our new laptop computer.

30. Christmas music and Christmas movies.

31. Getting to wear sweatshirts again, even if I am sweating by noon.

32. Pregnancy hormones that make this freezing house slightly more tolerable.

33. How much Emily loves going to the grocery store.

34. The ministry of motherhood.

35. Books that make Emily shake with excitement.

36. Chubby crayons for little hands.

37. Internet access in foreign countries.

38. Hot apple cider.

39. Watching Emily hang her first ornament.

40. Spiritual readings.

41. For the Lord convicting me in so many areas of my life lately.

42. Getting to chat online with Daniel.

43. Neighborhood coffees.

44. Playgrounds and how many there are in our area. (4 within a mile of us. 3 are within a 1/4 of a mile.)

45. A little one singing along to her songs from the backseat.

46. Sitting on the couch while Emily and I each read our own books.

47. Emily running and throwing her arms around me.

48. Watching Emily and Roxy playing and hearing deep belly laughs.

49. A warm, cozy house when it is cold outside. (I love my heater!)

50. Pictures drawn by the talented Emily Grace.

51. Emily moving to the big table to share meals with us.

52. How incredible Daniel is with Emily.

53. How much Sunday refreshes my soul.

54. That Emily can play at the daycare/nursery without any tears now.

55. Learning from women with older children.

56. That Emily is not a "runner..." yet.

57. Nap time when I need to get some things done.

58. Nap time when I need to sleep, as well.

Separation anxiety

Last year for my birthday I got a fancy new camera. I fell in love with this wonderful lady's pictures and aspired to be just like her. I can't figure out for the life of me how to take similar pictures of my family. I have read books, done online tutorials, and played around with every setting on my camera. I finally resolved to just take a class through our local community college. They offer a variety of photography classes through the continuing education program, but they are spaced out at the oddest times of the year and it has taken me a while to find one that I can attend. I am thankful to get this class in before the little one comes, but it will be quite intense. It is this upcoming week, Monday through Friday, from 9am to 1pm.

I have never been without Emily for such a long time before. I have utilized our on-base daycare before, but only for a maximum of three hours. She also has never been to daycare more than once a week, if you don't count me also going to the gym or to my Bible study, but those daycares are located where I am. You can only drop your kids off 3 times a week, if they aren't full-time, so Emily will be going Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8:30am to 1:30pm. (The other days she is staying with a friend.)

Oh, geez. I am already nervous just thinking about it. Please keep us both in your prayers. I will let you all know how it is going.

I'm sure this will be more difficult for me, but isn't that the way it always goes?

Daddy lessons, part II

Portion Control

Daddies also teach us about portion control. This, for example, is too many goldfish for one little girl to eat.

But it is okay, as long as the Daddy declares your tray as the place where the appetizer for the whole family was placed.

A letter to Daniel

I bet yall are all shocked that I have been posting so much recently. There is a very simple explanation for this... Daniel is out of town.

Actually, he is more than out of town.

He is out of country.

He is on a top secret deployment, which is why I haven't mentioned it until now.

The military has apparently found it beneficial to send 1st Lieutenants with no real deployment experience (unless you count partying at various ports around the world) to do their dirty work.

Sort of.

Truth is, he currently IS deployed. Although I don't know if you would actually classify it as a "deployment" since it is only for around 3 weeks. He could be training out in the field, in-state, for longer than that. He got tasked out to do a really cool trip (or so I think) and I am super excited for him. I'm not giving more details right now because you never know with the military.

Example - My friend Sarah took her son to get his first haircut on-base, and they sat the little guy in a chair next to his father. She said it was so adorable because they were both sitting there with capes on getting their hair cut. She pulled out her camera and they freaked out. Apparently, taking a picture would violate some kind of military safety regulation and they would confiscate her camera if she took a picture. Seriously??? She was bummed, as you can imagine. Like I said... you never know with the military.

All I say right now is that he had a long layover in Germany, where they had a chance to get out in town and grab some food. The group he was with all ordered a beer because, apparently, everyone else was drinking one in the restaurant at 9:30am, as well.

I have really gotten to talk to him quite a bit, so far. We usually chat online (oh, technology, how I love thee) when I get up and before I go to bed, due to the time difference. Although, currently, our chatting program is not opening for me, so I am going to write him an email... on here. Sorry.


Dan,

So, I could access every website tonight except gmail, so looks like I won't get to talk to you before I hit the hay. Sorry about that one. Probably is for the best, though, because I am beat after today. Emily's 18 month appointment went well. I will tell you all about it later. My appointment is tomorrow, and I am eager to see how much I have gained. Surely not eating Mexican food like I did in Texas will help me some. I love you and hope to talk to you soon. Call me in the morning (my time) if you can. It has to be between 8 and 9, though, because my Ob appointment is at 9:20.

Liz

ps - Emily actually sorted those spider shapes tonight. I didn't even ask her to. I thought it was a fluke, at first, but she kept doing it. Aren't you way impressed???

Digital cameras are killing me

If someone wanted to do my family a favor, they would buy me a 35mm camera for Christmas. Otherwise, my children will grow up with no pictures of their childhood. Digital cameras are a great invention, and I love how much my camera holds, don't get me wrong. But that is exactly the problem. My camera holds too much. And, if it runs out of room, I just move pictures on to my computer. Where they sit. And sit. And sit. I even have a folder on my computer entitled "to print". Maybe I need to change the name to "the best of" so in 20 years, my children know where to look for all the good pictures.

I'm notorious for having empty picture frames in our house. The pictures are either outdated, or they house some other family. We moved into our new house in June, but it took me forever to decorate. I'm slightly (okay, a little more than slightly) OCD, so everything has to be perfect. Just the thought of hanging stuff on the wall gave me an anxiety attack. I finally decided to host the weekly neighborhood coffee at the end of September, in hopes that it would encourage me to finish decorating the house. I had picture frames that had been waiting to be put into a collage on the wall, and thanks to the coffee, they finally got there. Only problem, when people arrived, half of the frames still had the commercial family print inside from when you buy it. The other half had pretty backgrounds from a grouping I did in our old kitchen. HOW EMBARRASSING!!! A couple of weeks later, we hosted an Aggie game and I filled the frames with the commercial prints with maroon paper. Somehow, in my head, this made things better. There they have sat.

Well, I'm hosting the neighborhood coffee again tomorrow. Not only are the picture frames still without actual family pictures, but I just spent the last hour trying to find a picture to put in a new blank frame that sits on our entry table. I wanted a family picture, but all I could find was a picture of me and Daniel from before we got married (we look like babies) or a horrible picture of me and Emily. Either way, there is no good picture to put in the frame.

Maybe I will host the coffee again in January and finally get some recent pictures up. It's all about baby steps, right?

In the meantime, I leave you with a picture tour of the pictures that do grace our walls. Keep in mind, the only reason these pictures got selected is because they are some of the only ones I had actually printed off. And we actually have some more recent ones in our bedroom, but nobody sees those. The following is what people do see.

First, the wall collage...

This next picture of from our ski trip December of 2006. We had just gotten engaged... how young and naive we were! This picture actually looks good up right now, it being Christmas and all. Only problem... this picture stays up all year long.

Here is a family picture from the pre-wedding crawfish boil Lucas (Dan's best man) threw for us.

And here is another picture from the crawfish boil. I obviously was on top of things to print out two pictures from the same party. I'm impressed, aren't you? This one is of my group of friends. Sorry, no Dan in this one.

The following picture is the only picture we have up of Emily. She was only 2 weeks old. No older picture of her exists printed off. Sad, I know.

And that is it. Out of the 14 picture frames we have in our living room and kitchen, only 4 have actual pictures.

The first step is always admittance...

Child labor

Children amaze me. You don't think you are teaching them anything by your day-to-day activities, but they are picking up on so much. Last night, while I was cooking, Emily took it upon herself to set the table. She got the timing right, but the placement was a little off.

I'm glad to know that chores can start earlier than I first thought.

Multitude Mondays - Week One

Thanksgiving has reminded me of all I have to be truly grateful for. It's unfortunate that on this one day a year we continually give thanks -- something that should happen every day of our lives. I have to admit, I come to the Lord all too often with more prayer requests than thanks for everything he has blessed me with. One of my daily prayers is that I see the hand of Lord in everything, so I can constantly remind Emily (and future children) of God's truths. I am hoping this list will help me be thankful for EVERYTHING he has placed in my life, and as a result, nurture thankful children, as well.

The idea comes from the blog, A Holy Experience. I love what writer Ann Voskamp says about her experience...

"Too often I miss him, oblivious, blind. I don't see all the good things that He is giving me, gracing me with, brushing my life with. True, he is everywhere, always. But maybe, before the Gift List, I thought of Him as further off, not so close. When I started to see all the things that I love bestowed upon me, I started to see Him as near, present, everywhere, showering me with good things. Seeing the things I love all around me gives me eyes to see that I am loved, that He loves me."

Today I start my running list of a thousand gifts and every Monday I will add to it. Would you like to, as well? It's about making our life all about worship and experiencing God's transforming powers.

Here we go...

1. My wonderful husband who loves me unconditionally.

2. The timing of our first great blessing. That I currently have an 18 month old who amazes me everyday.

3. My fluffy puppy who keeps me company when my husband is far away and the babe is in bed.

4. My Bible.

5. All the Word has revealed to me.

6. My alone time with the Lord that I attempt to fit in every morning before our little one wakes up.

7. Hearing the voice of God through others.

8. Trick-or-treating bags carried around as purses that put smiles on little girls' faces.

9. Women that encourage me by their faith in the Lord.

10. Realizing that I am not a horrible mother and that others struggle with the same things I do.

11. Pumpkin spice muffins.

12. Blogs that encourage and inspire.

13. Doing dishes every night and hearing the uncontrollable laughter coming from bath time with Daddy.

14. A new little one constantly moving in the womb.

15. That Emily folds her hands any time she hears the word "pray" or "God"

16. Fake Christmas trees that don't need to be tended to.

17. Christmas trees that are already strung with lights that are perfectly spaced out.

18. Our Christmas decorations that went up the day before Thanksgiving.

19. Setting out our nativity set for the first time.

20. Remembering every time I walk by our nativity how important of an event this was.

Daddy lessons

This Thanksgiving, we are especially thankful for Daddies who teach us valuable life lessons. Without them, there are some things we would just never learn...

What do you keep in your purse?

For a solid two weeks leading up to Halloween, Emily carried her trick-or-treating bag with her everywhere she went... to the grocery store, to church, to friends' houses. Her interest in it finally died down, but we still keep it around the house for her to play with. Today she insisted on taking it to church with us. I find it funny the things she feels necessary to bring along inside it. Usually it is a basic grouping of toys, but today she brought an odd assortment... 5 baby washcloths, her sippy cup, and a plastic condiment bottle.

Yep, that is what I keep in mine, too.

Our little dancing queen

Halloween festivities

If you remember from last year, I have a new found love for Halloween. I think I started setting out decorations about mid-September, despite the 90 degree weather. Then, I found this amazing little dress that I was dying to make. Once upon a time, I thought I would get into sewing. That was before I learned it took multiple days to make an outfit. This halloween outfit was definitely worth all $10 I spent and very fast to put together.

I asked her to pose, and this is what I got...
We also carved pumpkins this year. Emily was having a blast, as you can tell.Daniel's is the way impressive one in the middle, mine is full of Texas pride, and Emily's is the lame uncarved one on the left.
Since it was 85 degrees and incredibly humid, we didn't put her costime on until the last second. She absolutely LOVES her trick-or-treating bag. I will post more on her new "purse" later -- it's too funny. She insists on carrying that thing everywhere we have gone the past week, including church.

You can tell she loves her costume. I was impressed, though. After the first minute of trying to get it off, she didn't tug at it anymore. I guess she gave up.

We really only trick-or-treated at one house. I think she was confused as to why a stranger was putting something in her beloved purse. In this last series it appears as if she is a pro, but I don't want to mislead you. She was just holding her purse, walking up to the Boyle's where we spend most of our time anyway. So really, it was like any other day to her.

I'm sure she will love Halloween next year.

And maybe we can get some cooler weather?