Catching up!

So, what have we been up to this month? Lots of playing with our girls and some work and school and sleep thrown in for good measure. Jeff and a friend put on a race in frigid weather (which turned out great!). We've discovered that Charlotte is likely allergic to milk - yikes! For a girl who loves (or loved :-( ) her milk and cheese and yogurt, that is bad news folks! But, hopefully it will be good news for her poor tummy and her disposition. Caroline asked Jeff to take her training wheels off her bike last weekend and here are the results!

She did awesome. Jeff just ran next to her the first time, and when he let go, she kept going! She didn't fall until about try 7 or 8 and she was really proud of herself. It's a skill we have to keep working on, but we were really proud of how brave and agile she was.

On the subject of kids, we also found out this month that you'll likely be seeing another little face on the blog come early September! I'm a little over 9 weeks along, feeling so-so, but we're looking forward to welcoming another baby into our family. As always, we appreciate your prayers for this new little life!

These are a few of your favorite things: Caroline

Our first-born Caroline has a personality like no one else I know. As of January 2010, here are a few of your favorite things, sweet Caroline and some of my favorite things about you:
You love to pretend. Baby dolls, Barbies, Disney Princesses, Little People, Nativity sets, trucks and cars; they all quickly become part of your elaborate imaginary world.

You love apples and blueberries. Cranberry juice and popsicles. Dessert of just about any kind. Red beans and rice, hamburgers, fish, cous cous, broccoli. Crackers and bread. You can eat an entire bag of microwave popcorn on your own.

You love movies, especially Disney movies involving princesses. Or superheroes. You loves to play outside and you are full of joy when we spend an afternoon or evening at the park. You can entertain yourself in your room with your dolls or legos for what seems like hours.
You love music and particularly enjoy singing. You knows the words to more songs than I do. You have a memory like a steel trap and often remind us of things we've done long ago or places we've been that seem impossible for you to remember.
You love your gymnastics class and your dance classes; you look so forward to the days we go to dance or gym each week.You just taught yourself how to maneuver the monkey bars like a pro.

You were beside yourself when we went to see the Nutcracker this year. You loved the dancing and followed the story so much better than I ever would have expected.

You love stories and look forward to our time reading together each night. You love your Bible and love Jesus more than just about anyone else I know. You talk about him like he is your closest friend. You ask questions about God and the way the world works that are often really difficult for us to answer.
You have a tender heart that is easily bruised and you have a keen sense for when someone else's feelings are being hurt.

You have a contagious smile and laugh and a wonderful sense of humor. One look at your smiling face can bring me out of a bad mood every time.
You love your sister with all of your heart.
You love to help with everything and you make just about anything more enjoyable.

These few paragraphs sum up a small glimpseof the girl who made me a mother. There are so many more things that make her who she is and that make her a joy to be around.

I love you Caroline!

December with our girls

Caroline, Jeff, and I went to see the Nutcracker in December and it was wonderful. Caroline was totally entranced by the performance and followed the story really well. For those of you who haven't seen it, it is purely a ballet, no talking or singing at all, so I was hoping it would hold her attention. It certainly did that and more. She pretended to be Clara for days after the performance. There was a channel that was showing versions of the Nutcracker from around the world during the weeks leading up to Christmas and we caught the very beginning of the one performed by the Bolshoi Ballet Company in Russia. Caroline loved watching that and she and I sat together for two hours enjoying their version. Jeff said it was too boring on TV. So, here are a couple of pictures of our girl with her new haircut and her Christmas dress right before we left for the Nutcracker.





Charlotte had her first ride as a passenger in Caroline's Jeep, and she was happy as could be riding around the yard and down the sidewalk in the pink Barbie Jeep.



And just because she is growing so much and I love this little dress, here's a picture of Charlotte before church two Sundays ago.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I never intended for it to take me until New Year's Eve to get a post up about our Christmas, but apparently that is what happened! In any event - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Here's a recap of the family Christmas 2009.

We had a great Christmas with our families this year. Over the past week and a half we were able to spend time with everyone in our families who lives in Louisiana. The girls were blessed to enjoy their cousins and aunts, uncles, and grandparents. And of course they were showered with presents. Caroline's Christmas was filled with Barbie, Disney Princesses, dolls, trucks, and tools.

On Christmas Eve as she was going to bed, Caroline was very intent on leaving Santa three cookies and chocolate milk. Not regular old white milk. From all appearances, Santa loved the treats; when we woke up there were only crumbs and an empty glass on the counter. Jeff made french toast for Christmas breakfast for the girls and they paused just long enough to inhale a couple of pieces before getting back to the business of playing. Caroline and Jeff spent about an hour outside playing with her new tool set. We also spent time watching Enchanted and Aladdin and dressing up dolls and Barbies and breaking the Disney Princesses out of the dungeon.

Charlotte got her very own cell phone and key set so that she might stop dropping mine on our tile floors. She got a drum and musical instrument set that she and Caroline have gotten plenty of use out of! Add to the list baby dolls, a ball, stuffed animals, and I don't think that quite gets everything, but she was one blessed little girl this Christmas as well. Unfortunately, opening her presents is a two parent operation, so we don't have pictures of that, but here are a few of her enjoying the aftermath.

Unfortunately, Charlotte ended the day with an ear infection, but other than that one little blip, our holiday was a good one! The one thing I'm sorry about is that we didn't get to make it to church this year for Christmas Eve service. Christmas Eve service always brings me back to what Christmas is really all about and makes for a great way to remind kids too that though presents are a lot of fun, the thing that makes Christmas is the birth of Christ. I hope we did a decent job of focusing on that fact during the entire Christmas season, but it did seem like something was missing this year.

We are truly blessed to have wonderful friends and family, I wish we were able to spend more time with everyone. The short hours of time together always leave me wishing there were more holidays to bring us all to one place more often.

Christmas Songs According to Caroline

We've been listening to a Christmas CD in the car for a week or so and Caroline absolutely loves it. She sings along to all of the songs and asks me to "please turn it louder" every few minutes. I get a real laugh out of her take on the songs, so I thought I'd share:

On the instrumental version of "Sleigh Ride", she says, "Oh! This is the song with the cracking! I'm going clap with all the cracks." [think the sounds of the whip cracking.]

She loves to try to mimic Judy Garland's voice in "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", which is comical in itself, but according to Caroline, the song is entitled "Have Yourself a Little Bitty Christmas". Or less frequently, "Have Yourself a Very Little Christmas".

She calls "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire", "Chestnuts and an Open Up Fire". And her favorite part is when he sings "Jack Frosting sniffing on your nose".

Another of Caroline's favorite lines from a song is in "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". She thinks it is very funny when he sings about "marshmallows for toasty", because of course you don't eat marshmallows with toast. duh.

I could go on, but I think you get a hint of the entertainment I'm treated to each morning and afternoon. It truly gives me something to look forward to on those drives to and from school and work.

Wordless Wednesday: O Christmas Tree

December 6, 2009

Today marks two years since we said hello and good-bye to Joshua. The title of the devotional in My Utmost for His Highest today is "Rainbow in the Cloud." That phrase I think sums up well the way I feel about losing him. Losing a baby is certainly a dark cloud to walk through, definitely the biggest one we've been under thus far. And while I'm still not at the place where I feel like I have many answers, I do see how God blessed us, continues to bless us, and how he's really walked with us over these two years. I see him in ways that I truly don't think would be possible if not for the loss of Joshua. For those revelations I'm truly thankful, and I see them as the rainbow in a dark place. It doesn't take away the dark place, but it brings light. And hope.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows." 2 Corinthians 1:3-5