It's Kicking Time!

I've been feeling this baby move for about 8 weeks now, but Will finally felt "him" this past Sunday when I turned 20 weeks. What joy! It really is The.Most.Amazing.Thing to feel life moving around inside of you, but it's even better when it can be shared! I'm not sure Ella has felt Icee. She always moves her hand when I try to put it in the right spot, insisting, "No, Mommy, Icee's over here." Plus, she has a tiny hand, which makes it harder. :-)

It's interesting that Will didn't feel Ella move until 24 weeks, but of course, I didn't feel Ella until about week 20. I guess the more babies you have, the earlier you feel movement b/c you know what it feels like.

But as I write that exciting news, I can't forget the heartbreaking news I heard yesterday. I'm sure you all have heard by now of Steven Curtis Chapman's 5-year-old daughter Maria who was killed Wed. night in a tragic accident. Let's lift his family up in prayer.

Children's Book Monday

Dimity Duck by Jane Yolen
Illustrated by Sebastien Braun

It's so funny. Elise reviewed a different Jane Yolen book last week and I did a search for her books at my library. Only then did I realize that she is the author of one of Ella's favorite books. (Guess I don't pay much attention to details, huh?)

This is such a fun read, with winsome rhymes and adorable illustrations.

It tells about a day-in-the-life of Miss Dimity Duck.

Dimity Duck
waddles,
she toddles
out of bed.

Niddy-noddy
goes her tail
and quack!
goes her head.

After getting some breakfast, she meets her delightful friend, Frumity Frog.

Dimity Duck waddles,
she paddles to his side.

Splishy-splashy
go the two,
playing seek-and-hide.

Only the sunset can separate these two playmates and finally Dimity must blow a kiss and say goodnight to Frumity.

Then she puts on her PJs, plumps her pillows, and waddles off to bed.

Sleepy-sloppy goes her tail... (of course you have to read this part very s.l.o.w.l.y)
And snore goes her head.



I'm sure you & your toddler will love this book as we have. It's one of the few I don't mind reading over and over again. You just can't help yourself from smiling while doing so. Enjoy!

Look What We Can Do

I can't believe my little girl's hair is finally long enough to do this.



She now has her own pocketbook full of ponytail holders and loves to pick out the color for the day. Just the other day, I wanted to put a pink one in her hair since she was wearing all pink. "No, Mommy, wanna wear purple one. Purple is my favorite." And today she told me, "Know what, Mommy? I'm growing up."
Indeed you are, my precious girl.

A Birthday Bash

Ella rarely sees either of my sisters' children. In fact, this is the first time she's seen Marna's 4 kids since August! This is mostly due to the fact that they were in Mexico over Christmas and when they returned, 2 them got chicken pox, followed by the flu.

So, I defintely wanted to make it down for Dylan and Kaitlyn's combined birthday party. Kaitlyn was turning 2 and Dylan had just turned 7. And wouldn't you know it, Ella and Kaitlyn are the same size, even though Ella will be 3 next month.

It took awhile, but by the end, Ella and Kaitlyn were giving each other hugs and kisses. And jumping on the trampoline together. And playing in the sandbox. And splashing on the pool steps. It was WAY too cold to actually get in and go swimming. This was 2 weeks ago and the water *may* have been 74 degrees. Of course, Marna's boys got in. I just think boys can do cold better than girls can. But Dylan did put on his flannel PJ's after getting out, though he insisted it was NOT because he was cold.

And I had to thank my sister for making more work for me. As soon as Ella saw Kaitlyn's brightly colored Dora cake, she exclaimed, "Mommy, I want that cake for my birthday, too." Now I have to try to duplicate that. I've made a vow to make all of my children's cakes. Not that I'm much of a cake baker, but it's something special I get to do once a year, so why not? And I always loved my mom's cakes. In fact, I still remember one year (I think I was turning 16) when my mom's cake flopped, so she ran out to buy one. I took one bite of it and knew it wasn't homemade. Thus, my mom was forced to bring out the falling-apart-cake and *that* was the one that got eaten!

Enjoy the sweet pics.

A Great Mother's Day

I was so surprised to get a corsage at church this morning for the youngest mother. I never considered 31 that young, but apparently at the church we're visiting, it is. It's beautiful-two red roses-and it brought some sunshine to my black dress. :-)
(By the way, Emily, this is one of the dresses you gave me from Abbie and it fits perfectly! So thank you to you both!)

Ella and Icee made me the sweetest card.
Will asked Ella what she wanted to say to me and this is her reply,
"Good morning, Mommy! How are you? Happy Mother's Day, Mommy."
Then Will asked, "What do you think Icee would say?"
After saying some undecipherable words, she finally said, "Bopee."
:-)

We enjoyed some great KFC w/Will's parents and got to see Aunt Joan and Uncle Will when they brought Mama back home from dinner.

Re: this pregnancy, I think my weight has finally started to level off. After gaining 10 lbs. the first trimester, I was getting a little worried, but I haven't put on much more than that since then. And we finally decided (after much prayer and research) on the local midwife. (Well, local, meaning the one that's an hour away.) I've had one official appt. so far and it was great. I go to my first of two required doctor visits in a couple weeks.

I've also had a horrible rash since 12 weeks (which didn't itch, thankfully) all over my stomach, part of my back and my legs, but thankfully the stomach and back part are better. Hopefully the leg part will be better soon too. And the nauseau is gone and I'm getting a bit more energy. So all is going well. Praise the Lord!

Here's my recent belly shot and one of my precious little girl all sweaty from running around!

Those Curls

There once was a girl who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
And when she was good, she was very, very good....

We all know how the rest of it goes, but since it is Mother's Day, I'm just going to reflect on the *good* part.

Swim Time!

We went swimming today for the first time this year! Let's see...it only took me 20 minutes to get all the way in. Will, of course, just dived right in. But he made me feel better when, after catching his breath, he said, "Wow, it *is* cold." Yeah, that's why I'm going in
s-l-o-w-l-y. Ella only "swam" for part of the time. She had her floaties on but has not gotten the swim motion down and when you're not swimming, you, of course, get cold even more quickly. So then she became our lifeguard. Will wrapped her in towels and put her on a chair right by the steps. After being prompted on what a lifeguard might say, she began shouting things to us like, "No horseplaying!"

I so enjoyed swimming some laps but finally had to get out because I just had to go the bathroom. And you can't get back in the water after you go pee. Okay, maybe it's just me but having to pull a wet bathing suit back up is just not fun. And besides, it was time to eat. And did I mention the water was cold?
77 degrees to be exact.

But still we enjoyed ourselves.
And we're looking forward to going again soon.
Perhaps tomorrow?