The girls were showered with Valentine’s Day goodies today! Not only did we get a care package from Great Aunt Issy (chock full of candy, toys, and the sweetest outfits), but Charlie opened her bag from Mommy and Daddy and is thoroughly enjoying her heart stickers and felt cupcakes.
I’m really in love with this little swing top I just got at Forget Me Not Kids. It has a little stitched-in peter pan collar…too cute. I’m loving the swing top/leggings look on Charlie these days!
These pictures are from last week. I found these butterfly wings at Old Navy, of all places. At first Charlie was a little skeptical, but after some coaxing, she put them on and fluttered all over the house. Gotta figure out creative ways to pass the time during these snowy days!
Sweet Ella was dedicated at our church on Saturday night. Our good friends Ms. Megan and Mr. Scott were our prayer partners, and Vann picked out this verse to commemorate the occasion:
John 8:12 – When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” As we stood there waiting for our names to be called, I was reminded how sweet and innocent Ella is right now…perfect, unwrinkled skin, feet free from callouses and no responsibilities except to eat and sleep. She is so beautiful and when we try to imagine what she will look like in the future it’s still really hard. Today she our darling baby, content to sleep in our arms and coo when we smile at her. What a blessing she is! We love you, Baby Ella!!
Saturday morning we met up with our former married small group friends for our newly appointed monthly brunch. It’s hard to believe that 4 years ago some of us weren’t even married yet, and I remember how nervous I was to get to know all of these couples. We have walked each other through marriage struggles, births, toddlerhood, and now baby #2 for some of us, so it’s been quite a journey. We may not be in group together anymore, but we still cherish the time spent with these amazing friends.
As you can see from the pictures below, gathering all the kids of various ages was not easy…but so fun. Aren’t they a cute bunch? Charlie’s wearing one of my FAVORITE outfits to date, the sweetest set by Deux Par Deux.
Patience is a funny thing, isn’t it? Truly hard to come by. I pray for it ALL the time. Patience in regards to our hopeful move, patience in regards to our living space, patience in feeling stuck in this “newborn” phase… Colossians 1:11 states, “…being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience…” Does that mean that God is strengthening us as we seek to be patient? I learned that lesson this week. Although Ella has been “sleeping through the night (or STTN as the online community says)” since 6 weeks, (which you know means 6 hours), and has gradually stretched her time, I am so ready to have some normalcy around here again! Every night this week I have been pouring over her schedule, trying to figure out a way to get her to drop that last feeding of the day so she goes to bed when Charlie does. We tried it cold turkey. She woke up at 4:30 am, screaming for food. I kept thinking, “She’s never going to do this”, keeping in mind she’s not even 3 months old yet, and according to Babywise (the method we use) dropping that feeding usually occurs around 3ish months. I called my Mom (Mimi) and told her how frustrated I was and why couldn’t she just drop it already, and yada, yada, yada…she wisely reminded me of a few things:1. Ella has been in the world for just over 12 weeks. Give the girl some slack! She’ll do it when she’s ready.2. Give myself some slack! Be gracious to myself. Let it go.And you know what happened after I realized how impatient I was being? Two nights ago we couldn’t wake Ella up for her 9:30 feed for the life of us. So we put her back down, and she slept until 6:30 am. Last night, after we fed her at 7:30 pm, we put her down. She slept until 7 this morning. She did it, on her own time, not mine. We’ll most likely take steps backwards before we continue moving forwards, but little E taught me a lot this week about letting go…and letting God work. 11 hours! For those of you that have kids, you KNOW how amazing and life-giving sleep can be!!For those of you interested in sleep training, or going through it right now, you have to check out this awesome Babywise blog:http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/I don’t know HOW this mom has the time or the energy to keep this blog updated and current, but it is seriously the most amazing site. She’s answered almost every question there is about sleep training…
What a crazy week! In my zest for being out of the house, I’m afraid I overscheduled us. Monday Becky watched both girls for me so I could go to the eye doctor, which you know is an amazing gift, being out and about solo. Charlie always loves spending time at the Petkus house, and with all the boys in school she gets one on one time with the Petkus girl, Sammy, who just turned 3. The picture below is of the boys “holding” Baby Ella. It’s hard to believe that 2 1/2 years ago they were doing the same thing to Charlie!
Tuesday was mom’s group and yesterday we hung out with Ms. Kim all morning at her house. Charlie and Emi had a ball chasing each other and playing hide and seek. For two high energy toddlers, they always play so well together. Ella ate and slept well (gotta love newborn portability), so I was able to visit and drink coffee, my two favorite things.
Today we walked over to Ms. Liz’s house to play and again I got to visit and drink coffee while Charlie and Lauren reenacted “Cars” and ate snacks, two of their very favorite things. It is always great spending time with friends, and I am really blessed to be walking through motherhood with about 50 other young moms, some with 4 kids, and some with 1. I know that I will always look back on this time and appreciate it for how special it is!!
On our walk home from Liz’s I realized that I don’t really have my stroller system down yet. My options have been:
1. Double Jogger
2. Baby in Graco, Charlie walking beside
3. Baby in Ergo carrier, Charlie in umbrella stroller
Today I tried Option #3. Turns out it’s really difficult to bend down and strap your squirming toddler into her stroller with a baby on your chest. I thought I was pretty close to snapping my newborn’s neck, that’s how clumsy the whole thing was. Option #1 is too wide to fit through the outside door of our “vintage” (read: old) apartment, so it’s a lot of work and will be better suited for the spring and summer and for walking and jogging, which is really why we bought it in the first place. I call it my “garage” stroller, that will be wonderful when we have a house and a place to store it. Option #2 just takes too stinkin’ long. If I wait on Charlie, it will be dinnertime by the time we get there.
So, practice makes perfect. I’m sure I will get it eventually. Who knew that it would take me 45 minutes to make it four blocks? Ms. Liz probably thinks we are crazy. 😉
At any rate, by the time we (slowly) made it home, Charlie was having a fit and I was about ready to call social services and have her hauled away. It is always worth it to be at our destination…but getting there is a lot of work. Lesson learned: I need to make sure I have some days at home as well.
It’s such a shame we don’t have more space because I would love to be hosting playdates here!! To all my sweet friends who host us, I would love to be returning the favor. Know that we appreciate you sharing your toys and coffee with us…
