silence

Sitting in my apartment enjoying the sound of
nothing.
Silence.
How rejuvenating.

All day long this apartment is full of sounds.
From Sesame Street to tiny little trains being pushed on their track
and sibling rivalries to toys that make 10,000 different sounds.

All I hear right now is the ticking of my clock and the sound of my own typing.
It is like I can hear my own thoughts for the first time today.

I am not an introvert by any stretch of the imagination.
I love the energy of being around people.
My children teach me the importance of play and fill my heart to the brim with happiness.
I love their sounds, noises, and energy.

But, oh, I miss the sound of my own thoughts.
I long for quiet.
I long for the energy to stay up later or get up earlier just to tune in to my own heart.

I never thought I would be so thankful for
silence.

15 months

 Adelyn is 15 months old!

Height: 29 inches (12th percentile)

Weight: 19 lbs, 2 oz (5th percentile)

Sweet girl is still growing, but she is tiny!  She still wears her 9 month footed pajamas and some 12 month footed pajamas, too.  For the most part she wears 6-12 month clothing.  Some 9 month pants still fit her, too.  It is crazy to me how different kids can be!  Hunter was much bigger (here is a link to him at 15 months!) and was wearing more like 18-24 month clothing.  Our little girl is petite!

But she is strong and knows how to hold her own.  Last night he was pushing her around on her little car in circles around the living room.  She would laugh and giggle.  Then he would get so excited and start going faster and forget to slow down as he rounded the corners.  He knocked her off that thing multiple times!  She would hit the ground and cry for a few moments but then get right back up on the car.  She loves playing with Hunter, even if it means getting knocked around now and again! ;)

Adelyn walks nearly all the time now.  She has figured out that if she is walking, she can carry items in her hands.  Now it makes much more sense to her to walk!  It is adorable to watch her toddle around our apartment.  She is so proud of herself.

She loves books, her bunny and all food.  She eats more than Hunter at most meals.

Adelyn has 7 teeth: four on top and 3 on bottom.  It looks like 2 more may cut soon...


Her words:
Mommy
Daddy
Bobby (that is what she calls Hunter!)
Shoe
Yes (she also nods her head-- adorable!)
No
Puppy
Bye-Bye
Tickle
Night Night
Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

She babbles a lot of nonsense but in a way that makes you think she is being very clear!

She will point to these when asked where they are:
Head
Hair
Tongue (she loves tongues. She always wants to touch them... ewww!) 
Nose
Eyes
Feet

bath time

Hunter LOVES bath time!  Many days he asks to take a bath and will enjoy playing in the water for nearly an hour!  He loves to 'float' and splash and pour water from one toy into different buckets or cups.  Water completely fascinates him.

 Now we let Adelyn bathe with him occasionally.  She requires much more supervision!  But we let them bathe together for a few minutes sometimes.  He gets so excited to have her play in the water with him.  And she is so brave, letting Hunter pour water onto her and crawling in and around him.

 She loves bathtime, too!  Really, anything to spend time with her older brother.  She just adores him.  It is really sweet to see their little relationship.  They are each other's greatest fans!

See the water splashing?  Adelyn loves the bigger bathtub!!!

 These pictures are from January.  I'm behind!  But better late then never.

Valentine's Day Cards!

We had so much fun making our traditional Valentine's!  This year, I had to buy bigger paper since Hunter's hands have grown so much.  We did Hunter's left hand and Adelyn's right hand.  

 (please excuse how I look!  I didn't plan to be in pictures, and normally I wouldn't post one like this of me!  But Hunter just looks sooooo cute!  It is tough to get a REAL smile from him!  So I post this so you can see him!!!)

 She wasn't so sure about having the paint on her hand.

And of course, as soon as we were done, my little Hunter had to wash his hand as soon as possible!  He does not like to be dirty.  

Here is our finished product!

The T where God used to be

For Christmas, we drove to New Mexico.  One of the nights we were there, Hunter asked his Paw Paw to take him to “Old McDonald’s” to go play in the play area.  We decided to all go and enjoy a little time out.  Because of our car seats, we drove separately from my mom and Glen.  In the short (seriously, 10 minutes top) drive to McDonald’s, this conversation happened:

_________________________

“Mommy, that T is where God used to be!”  Hunter said excitedly. 

Confused, I looked around the dark street, lit only by a few houses lined with Christmas lights and the occasional home that had a few decorations in their yard.  

“Oh, you mean the cross in that front yard?”  I responded, when I realized Hunter was looking at a lit up cross.

“Yes, that is where God used to be.”

“You are right, son.  That is a symbol of where Jesus used to be.  But he is not there any more.  Do you know where he is?”

“I don’t know?”

“Jesus is in Heaven!  He has arisen!  The cross reminds us that Jesus paid for our sins.  He died on the cross, defeating our sin forever.  And now He lives in Heaven forever!!”

“I want to go there!!”  Hunter said, eagerly hanging on to every word I was saying.

“You can go there, too!  All you need to do is ask Jesus to forgive your sins, trust Him to do so, and He will live in your heart now and you will get to live with him in Heaven forever!”

“I just have to ask?”

“Yes, you just pray and ask Jesus to forgive your sins and then you can be in relationship with God and live in heaven forever!”

There was a moment of silence, so I turned to look at Hunter in the backseat, strapped in his car seat.

He has his hands folded, eyes closed.  Then he said, “Heavenly Father, forgive my sins and help me trust Jesus.  I love you. I want to live in Heaven with you.  Amen.”

AMAZING!

We didn’t prompt him to pray or tell him to do it... He just wanted to and he just did it.  It was amazing and so genuine.  I teared up, Josh and I looked at each other and just praised the Lord together.  It was so neat to all be together and to see Hunter begin to desire to walk with the Lord in his own, personal way. 

His baby faith is continually inspiring to me.  He loves the Lord in a trusting, open, genuine way.  He is understanding the Gospel and he really loves God.  I am constantly in amazement of his baby faith. 

Oh Lord, continue to grow this child in your ways and in your Word.  Thank you for the blessing of getting to be a part of watching him come to faith as he grows everyday.

Adelyn's First Birthday

On Dec. 1, Adelyn turned one!  

 (First thing in the morning) 

It was a wonderful day.  Her birthday fell on a Saturday so we got to spend the whole day as a family celebrating Miss Adelyn.  She awoke to many presents and balloons!  Hunter was so excited, too!  We had pancakes and let her open a few presents.

Then, we got Adelyn ready and skyped with the grandparents.  She looked so cute in her birthday outfit.  I was so impressed with her ability to stand without touching anything and pushing herself up to standing.  

 She got a Little Tykes princess castle from my mom and Glen.  It is SO.CUTE. and it is a huge hit in this house (with both kids! ;)

We gave her a new carseat as part of her birthday present.  Here is a picture of her in her new ride! :)  

 We all went to the Zoo because Adelyn loves animals and because we wanted to let her ride the carousel for her birthday!

We had lunch at the zoo... (AKA the most expensive PB&J we have ever had)

During her nap, we got the house ready for her party.  That will come in a different post!

Adelyn turns one!

Adelyn turns one.... just 6 weeks late! ;)

Adelyn is one.  ONE!  There is a part of me that is still in shock about this fact.  It is hard to believe my little baby is blossoming into a toddler.

One year old stats: 

Weight: 18 lbs & 4 oz (8th percentile)

Height: 28.5 inches (25th percentile)

Head size: 18 inches (65th percentile)

She is such a pleasant little girl.  The day before her birthday, she took 2 steps.  I have seen her take up to 4 at at time, very cautiously and almost in disbelief as she does so.  It is adorable!  She seems to not be interested in walking at the moment.  And why would she?  She is a super quick crawler, able to get where she wants to go in no time at all.  Adelyn LOVES to climb!  She scales our couches and chairs and would climb the shelves if we gave her enough time alone.  Hunter has a little table that he likes to do projects at and often we find Adelyn on TOP of it.  She is petite but strong!  We call her a little adventurer.

Adelyn and Hunter have an adorable relationship.  He loves to care for her and she enjoys anything and everything he does.  Well, not everything.  Hunter is still learning to control his impulses and often Adelyn is his victim.  But even then, Adelyn is quick to forgive and she wants to be around him soon.  Her favorite place to play is on Hunter's bed (another place she loves to climb!).  His cars, trains, blocks are all incredibly fascinating to her.  Hunter is so sweet to her.  I love watching them interact.

The biggest most shocking thing about this petite princess is her appetite.  She is an EATER.  Oh my goodness, it is shocking.  She rarely finishes a meal, usually we have to just cut her off after 45 minutes of eating.  She just loves to eat!  From the beginning we have called her a foodie, but now that she is eating table food it is just hysterical.  Until this week we hadn't found anything she wouldn't eat.  At dinner the other night she wasn't a huge fan of broccoli.  I think it was more of the texture than anything.  Her favorites right now are cheese, yogurt, bread, and turkey.  Anything she can get her fingers on will go directly into her mouth.  Cute, really.

She sleeps well at night in her crib with her beloved bunny.  She still takes 2 naps a day most days, but she is able to do one long nap without too much of an issue if we are busy or out of the house all morning.  We are almost done weaning her from the bottle.  She has done well with that.

Adelyn loves books and will often point and scream at the bookshelf until we read her a book.  Sometimes she will climb onto the couch and help herself to books!

Adelyn is very endearing and so sweet.  I am so blessed to spend my days and nights with her!

DADDY ADDITIONS:
I asked Josh what he would like to remember about Adelyn at age 1 and this is what he wrote:

**Personable: she interacts with lots of expression. 

**The way she gives hugs and lays her head on your shoulder.

**The way she likes to cuddle. 

**Her natural cuteness, the way she bats her eyes without being trained. 

**Her directness and therefore courage.

**Her fearless way: climbing, doing things on her own, loving to be thrown in the air.

**Her appetite--she regularly eats more than her 3.5 yr old brother!

**That she laughs with such commitment

**That she dances and claps whenever presented with music.