Summer.

Though the weather has quickly changed to milder temps, the first day of Summer was sure not to disappoint. We welcomed Summer and it's warmer temps with open arms.

Beginning with a treat:

Popsicles--A Summer favorite. Reserved for Summer because they can be consumed outside...

 Followed by another Summer favorite: sidewalk chalk....

 And ending with my favorite Summer favorite: an afternoon siesta...

More Summer favorites to come.





HAPPY SUMMER!

Beautiful.

I love this little space of mine. It's much of an outlet for me--a place where I can come to put my thoughts into words, to share and refect on little moments which have been happening in our lives. Most of the time I just simply write, and sometimes..just sometimes, those emotions I'm feeling spill out into words and can be felt through my writing. Today was momentous for us. Not only was it Father's Day, but we also had Lillian dedicated in church. And though I have so many emotions going through me, I'm struggling to find the words. But it was beautiful.

God, Our Heavenly Father, chose us to be her parents.

Today, we affirmed our commitment to raise her to know Him. To know of His love for her--The love of her Heavenly Father.

He has put His child in our arms for a short time on this earth, and we will continuely seek His wisdom as we raise her...Our little miracle from God.

"One tiny hand to guide and hold,
One tiny life to shape and mold;
each child, a gift from God above,
a symbol of His strength and love."

Change.

While we were on vacation, we shared a room with the girls. During this time, we discovered Adelynn was able to get out of her pack n play. And after a successful first attempt, she realized it was a pretty easy process, so she continued to do it. If she happened to stir in the middle of the night and wake up, she would crawl into our bed, get up into either my face or Brian's face and say, "you awake!!". Which was usually in a voice one would use if they were..say...across the room from you!

Or so it sounded at 3am in the morning.

We were anxious to get back home and put her back in her crib since she had yet to try to get out of that. But as luck would have it, the first night home, I heard a loud thud in her room and walked in to find her out of her crib and rubbing the side of her arm!

So we decided it was time for a change, and as of today moved her into a toddler bed. I figure if she can get out of her crib, there's no sense in keeping her in one. And while I'm excited for this milestone in her toddler life, my mommy mind is a little nervous over it. We did a trial run for naps--so far so good. She hasn't moved once. Hopefully tonight goes the same.

That's not the only change going on around here.

Yesterday Lillian had her first taste of cereal. At first she seemed a little uncertain, but she quickly warmed up to the idea.

My babies are growing up. And while I'm sad to see it happening all so quickly, it's so wonderful to witness it right before my eyes.

And then perhaps the biggest change yet occuring in our family; An answered prayer...

For several months Brian has been working long hours. It's been hard not having him home in the evenings, especially with the girls. Well recently, an opportunity presented itself to pursue a different position at another bank, and he has accepted. We are thrilled. This move not only means he'll be closer to home, but it also means he'll have better hours. It means he'll actually be home in the evenings with us--home for dinner, and baths and bedtime for the girls...Praise the Lord!

Yes, there are some changes happening around here. Good changes.

Home.

We're settling back in nicely after our vacation, picking up with reality right where we had left it. We rolled back into Bryan around 2:30pm on Saturday, about 5 hours or so later than we had expected.  The anticipation of a week of vacation made it much easier getting there than coming home, especially after such a fun week. Fifteen hours with a few quick stops to get to The Outer Banks and eighteen long hours to return home with 1 tired husband, 1 cranky wife, and 2 restless kids. We arrived home to a refrigerator that had stopped working and our golden retriever who happily greeted us back to "his home". I could tell he had proudly taken over, guarding laying on "his couches", as evidence would show by the hair I've been pulling off my clothes. Thankfully, my dad happened to catch our refrigerator mess while taking care of the dog, and was able to save most of our food.

You know those perfect family beach pictures--Beautiful, happy people, with perfect smiles? The ones where the light breeze blowing off the water is just right. Yeah, those weren't ours.

It was incredibly windy. And when I say incredibly, I mean hair flinging in your face, dress flying up, and sand blowing everywhere kinda windy. Not to mention our girl just wasn't into standing so close to the water. Needless to say, the conditions weren't the best for picture taking.

 That's ok, there's always next year.

**The Wink**

We realized on vacation how funny it is to try and watch her do it .

So now we ask her to do it all the time because it's just too stinkin' cute.

She makes me laugh.

I don't know what it was, but it seemed like in just the one week we were gone over vacation Lillian started looking so big to me. I realized just how much of a difference a couple of ounces and one week can make. She's growing. Up to 9lbs now...

And I knew it was coming, but she's been laughing out loud the last few days, turning my heart into mush.

We left to a beautiful sunset Friday evening.

And while the week away was refreshing, it's good to be home, sleeping in our own beds and getting back into a routine.

For now, we're making our plans for next summer.

We are excited for some changes happening with our family...

More to come.



The Carolinas.

We loaded up this morning and drove to the beach. And as we drove we talked about how nice it would be to live by the water. To be just a short drive away from sandy shores and waves, and to be able to hit the beach at a moments notice. I wondered to myself if I might get tired of it after awhile. If maybe I just thought it was so grand because it's out of the ordinary for us, and if I lived so close maybe it would get old. But as I breathed in the salty air and sank my feet in the sand, I answered no to the question. Sure, I may miss my Ohio winter's and the beautiful snowfalls, but I'm pretty sure I could soak in the sun and salty water forever and be content. And this week, that's exactly what we're doing.

 Adelynn is starting to enjoy it a little more also, though she's still alittle unsure of the water. She took to the sand, making sure to stay far enough away from the rip tide. The waves were high and loud, crashing up onto the shore of the beach, making it easy to understand why she may be alittle frightened of them. And while we were there, we witnessed a rescue as someone got a little too far out in the water and got caught in the waves, which would be enough to scare just about anybody. But we kept our distance, dipping our toes in and sitting just close enough to meet the waves at the shoreline. It was a fabulous afternoon.

 As we arrived back to the house and started cleaning up, dumping sand from our bags, Adelynn happily jumped on the bed. And when her foot accidently slipped and she fell to the floor, I heard her say something I would never have thought to hear her say. Just to be sure I wasn't mistaken, I asked her to repeat it. "What did you just say?", I asked. She paused, staring at me as if she knew she had just said something she shouldn't. "What did you just say!?", I asked again, my voice rising this time. "I said ohh shit!", she whispered. I began to feel a little panicked. That was my kid who just said a bad word, and it was not just out of nowhere either. She actually used it in context. Don't get youself worked up over this, I thought to myself. She had to have heard it from somwhere."Who says that?", I asked calmy. "Daddy says it!", she said with a smile on her face. I yelled for Brian, who must have been listening in around the corner, because he walked in and said "Did she just throw me under the bus!?". Yes, yes she did. "Adelynn, we don't say that word", he said. She smiled, "Ok daddy, we don't say ohh shit!" And she continued to repeat, "we don't say ohh shit." Though it may have been a little humerous to us, I was careful not to laugh. It's not her fault. We set the example. There are little ears listening, and those girls adore him. They're listening closely and watching his every move, so those moves and words better be good.

I'm not perfect. I've said things I shouldn't say before either. She could have easily said she heard it from me. Today I was clearly reminded of the example I need to set for my girls. We live, we learn, and we move on.

Happy Monday! :)

We made it.

It was a long 15 hours of driving straight through the night, but we have arrived. Exhausted, but here. We've made it to "the ocean", as Adelynn says.

 And the first thing we did when we got here was head to the beach. Because I have one goal for this week, and that's to turn my girls into beach babies.

 I think I may have my work cut out for me with Adelynn. Because not only did she not like the feeling of the sand on her feet, but she was also terrified of the water.

 At least I have one who's on the same page with me. :)

 She would only get near under the condition that Brian would not put her down. Oh, sweet Adelynn, this is something we're going to have to work on this week.

Very much looking forward to this week away. But for now, sleep is a priority.

More sun and sand tomorrow!

A Getaway.

Last summer Brian's brother, Brad, and sister-in-law, Jennifer, approached us about going on a vacation this summer to The Outer Banks. They had chosen it as their honeymoon destination a year prior and really enjoyed it, so they decided to invite each of their families to join them in a return visit. They had rented a house big enough to accommodate everyone, so all we needed to do was get there. At the time, Brian and I had started praying about growing our family, so we accepted under the condition I wouldn't be due at or around that time.

When we found out we were pregnant with Lillian and I would be due in March, we were excited we would be able to make the trip. We knew traveling with a toddler and a baby would be quite the adventure, but we were up for the task. Then when Lillian made her early debut, we hesitated a little on whether or not we'd have to cancel our plans. Would she be well enough to go? Would the financial stress of having a baby with extra needs push a vacation down on our list of priorities? We pondered these things for a few months and made the decision to go for it. We knew having some time away from the stress of everything over the past several months would do us all good. The beach was calling our name.

So today we're hitting the road. We are leaving around the girls' bedtime. Since Lillian wakes up at night to eat, we'll still have to make some stops, but we figured we'd get the most out of our drive time if we left in the evening.


And since this week has been a seemingly crazy week around here, a vacation is sounding wonderful! The girls have been keeping me on my toes. On Wednesday, I was having a particulary down day. We had planned on meeting some friends at the library for music and then getting some lunch, but our morning just didn't get off to a very good start and we didn't make it.  I sat down to feed Lillian before we headed out the door, and when she had finished and I called for Adelynn she appeared from her room like this....

Apparently she had found some sunblock in her diaper bag and decided to give it a whirl! Having only fifteen minutes before music started, I knew I wouldn't get her cleaned up in time.

But the worst came just after I snapped this picture. Because her hand went right to her eyes and she let out a blood curling scream.

And somewhere between Adelynn's cries, Lillian's cries, and trying to keep Adelynn from touching her face while I was running bath water, I think I began to cry too! Her eyes become all puffy and she could barely open them. Thankfully, our day did get better. Both girls napped at the same time that afternoon so I was able to get a nap in also, and when Adelynn woke up her her eyes didn't look as bad.

Knowing I was having a bit of a rocky day, my dear friend brought us lunch and later in the day had this sent to me along with some chocolates...

Thank You, Brianne--You brightened my day! I'm very thankful for you. You're a great friend!

Hopefully Adelynn will let me put sunblock on her for vacation. She might be tramatized. :) So with that, it's off to the beach we go!