June

I can't believe June is already almost over!  Where did it go?  We've been so busy, summer is just passing us by.  Lizzy and I have set a goal that we (and I mean, me) will accomplish one house project every day.  Some days we do small projects like changing out all of the burned out ceiling lightbulbs and somedays we clean out Daddy's toolshed (now THAT was an act of love).  Having a project every day helps me to work through my To-Do list because I could very easily sit down and play and read with Lizzy all day and not accomplish one thing! 

We've been doing some swimming trying to beat this outrageous heat.  Our sweet friends have been so nice to let us come over and let Lizzy swim in their pool.  Lizzy loves swimming but she is really excited about the Goldfish snack that this special friend leaves out for her.  Here's a picture of Lizzy wanting to help water the flowers at our friends house:

In other not so worthy news, tomorrow is my 30th birthday.  I can remember thinking that 30 sounded so OLD.  Now that I'm actually here, I don't think there's anything old about 30.  In fact, I think this will be my best decade yet.  God has blessed me with so much.  I have a wonderful husband and a precious child- what more could I want?  

Summer

Summer is finally here and ohhhh how great it is!  I am LOVING every minute of my full day with precious Lizzy.  This time with her is such a blessing.  She is such a little person now and is fun to be around! 

Lizzy is 16 months old today and is 100% all girl.  She's very in to hair bows and shoes right now.  She spends her day wanting to switch bows, add another on the other side, or change shoes.  It is very disappointing to her that she can only wear two shoes at a time!  It is very scary for her Daddy to see her already this in to accessories! 

This was really our first true week of vacation.  We've been going on a daily hour long walk with Mimi every morning to get in some exercise to start our day.  Then Lizzy and I have been doing at least one house project every day.  We are working on cleaning out, straightening up, etc.  Lizzy can be an excellent helper but is most helpful when she takes a long afternoon nap so Mommy can work a little faster! 

We are looking forward to more summer fun to come!  Tomorrow we are going to work on a Father's Day project for Daddy!

Lizzy enjoying her lazy boy chair Daddy gave her!

15 Months

Our sweet Lizzy is fifteen months old today!  She had a great checkup with Dr Fitch and took her three shots like a champ- she cried for about 20 seconds, shot the nurse a dirty look, and then she was over it!  She weighs 21 lbs and 13 ounces (30th %) and is 30 and 3/4 inches long (70th %). 

For the past few nights Lizzy has had a really hard time going to bed- imagine 1.5+ hours of screaming- NON STOP!  Each night I've waited it out for the first 35-45 minutes then gone in to try soothing her.  It's ultimately ended each night with my driving her around in the car until she fell asleep.  I could tell her molars coming in were really bothering her (she was pulling on her ears, grabbing her cheeks, running low fever, not eating much, etc).  But, the bedtime situation was quickly escalating out of control.  Gas prices are just too high to drive around that long!  So, when we saw Dr Fitch today and she had a clean bill of health- no ear infections, sore throat, etc, he suggested Lizzy might be enjoying her nightly car ride touring the neighborhood a little too much. 

I felt the best solution was a change in the routine- someone else needed to put her to bed- someone she knows means business.  So, when Rob got home I explained his assignment for the night and he went straight to work "creating the scene" for the "perfect bedtime" routine.  His routine did take a little longer than I thought was a good idea but, who am I to judge- my routine was clearly not working!  When Rob left her room, there was screaming (LOUD SCREAMING) for a total of 12 minutes.  TWELVE MINUTES compared to my NINETY!  So, Rob, who now prefers to go by the Baby Whisperer" is planning to author a book on raising children.  We can all look forward to that one! 

On a different note, we had a great family weekend together and loved celebrating our Mimi and Honey yesterday!  What a blessing our moms are to us and how honored I am that God chose me to be Lizzy's mommy.  It's changed my life in a way I never could have imagined. 

On that happy note- tonight at Bible study one of our good friends announced she's pregnant!!!!!  We'd prayed so hard for a baby for them and she is now 3.5 months along!!!  What a blessing and true testimony to God's abounding love for us!  "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" Psalm 37:4

Love,
Katherine

Ps- one more pic from this weekend- we had my cousin Elizabeth in town and she came to ride the train with us!!

Busy Day

Lizzy and I had the best day together!  We had a good long walk with our friend Lib this morning and during our walk Lizzy fell asleep for a quick nap.  Since she slept this morning, I knew her afternoon nap would start later so I took the opportunity to pack her up and we headed to the Outlet mall!  We needed a couple of things and wanted to look around at the J Crew while we were there. 

I never had any doubts but it was 100% clear today that Lizzy is my child!  She LOVED the outlet mall!  She was so happy to be strolled while she ate her lunch and looked around at all of the people.  We stayed for almost two hours and there wasn't an unhappy sound from her at all. 

We headed home and played a little bit and then she took a good long afternoon nap.  As soon as she woke up we headed over to see Mimi who had been out of town all weekend.  To top off our great day, Aunt Lizzy came over for dinner!

It continues to amaze me what a little person Lizzy has become.  She was eating up all of the attention the store ladies were giving her and she'd wave "bye bye" to each of them as we left. 

As far as the house goes, still no bites.  Neither Rob, nor I, am worried about it.  We'd love to move to the house we've picked out but know that it's not something we want to push God's timing.  We are awaiting His plan and will see where that leads us.

Hope you are all doing well!  Thanks for checking in on us!
Love,
Katherine  

Easter Pic

And Lizzy playing in her sand/water table she got for early Easter!

Forgot to post the pic!  I couldn't get her to stand still so this is the best I got... Rob took some throughout the day so I'll post a better one when those get uploaded!

Easter

Today was one of my favorite days with Lizzy.  She didn't sleep great last night (but I did see today she broke the skin of three new teeth last night so that could explain it!!!) but she LOVED Easter.  I'm embarrassed to admit that we took her to the church nursery for the very first time today.  She's gone to "big church" with us but is now at an age where sitting still and quiet for more than 1.5 minutes is not an option.  So, she went to the nursery. 

I was a little apprehensive about how it would go.  She been very clingy lately, and I wasn't sure she'd like Sunday school once she realized Rob and I weren't staying.  But, Lizzy walked in that room like she'd been there every Sunday of her life.  Didn't shed one tear as we left!  In fact, when we picked her up she tried to wiggle free to go back in and play some more.  I couldn't be more thrilled. 

As soon as we left church we met Mimi and Uncle Gates at the Argyle for lunch.  Lizzy loved visiting with the Easter bunny and getting her picture taken.  However, she didn't quite get the whole concept of picking up the eggs during the egg hunt.  She was much more interested in what all of the other children were doing (she didn't seem to notice that what the other children were doing was picking up eggs!!!).  Lizzy had a great lunch with my family and especially enjoyed the cheesy potatoes (she also decided to condition her hair with them as well). 

After a nap we met Honey and GDaddy up at the SACC to go swimming.  Sweet Aunt Lizzy even came up too.  Lizzy was very excited to get to show off her "swimming skills" (aka: splashing in the water, getting in and out of the baby pool 100 times, etc).  Her grandparents were so sweet to come out to watch her. 

Lastly, we finished off our very busy day with an engagement party for our good friends Helen and Paul!  They got engaged on Friday and everyone's been waiting for this for so long that we couldn't wait to throw a party!!  I happened to have set Helen and Paul up on their first date so we weren't about to miss this celebration!  Even Lizzy came along!  We tried to teach her for her first word to be "FINALLY" to say to Paul but she didn't go for it!  Just teasing!

Sweet Lizzy was so worn out when we got home she could barely sit up to get her PJs on.  I know she will sleep well tonight and so will her Mommy.  It was such a great day.  Very busy and exhausting but my sweet little girl looked so precious in her Easter dress with her baby pearls on.  She looked so cute with her Easter basket, running around the house.  She was so excited but didn't really know why.  Seeing the joy of a child can't be beat.  It melted my heart.  It really hit me today to think that Christ feels that for each of us, but even more than we could ever imagine. 

Renewed Effort

So I am making a renewed effort to actually write on the blog more than once every three months or so!  I love the idea of using the blog as a way to share with family and friends what is going on in our lives as well as have a record for myself of all the great things God is doing in our lives and His faithfulness. 

Lizzy is turning 14 months old this week.  I truly wonder where the time has gone!  She is such a little PERSON now with definite likes and dislikes.  She finds some things funny and some things annoying.  She has facial expressions to match all of her feelings!  She's starting to walk and couldn't be more proud of every step she takes.  We jokingly call her "Lizzy the Lion" and when we do, she literally makes a roaring sound.  She thinks it is hilarious (and we do too)!  I can't wait for her to start talking- I want to know what is going on in that little head of hers! 

Rob has been busy with all of the upcoming Fiesta events.  "Each recurring springtime..."!  He works so hard on his real job; I admire his willingness to take on so much else.  I know it's been hard on him lately not being as home as often as he'd like to see Lizzy.  But, Fiesta will be over soon, and we'll be back to normal (aka boring) around here!

We decided a few weeks ago to put our house on the market.  We've had lots of showings but no offers yet.  I am praying for God's will to be done and that if it's supposed to sell, it will be in His timing, not mine.  His timing always works out so much better. 

All in all, we are doing well.  I write this with a thankful heart tonight.
Love,
Katherine