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. 

11 months

11 months.  Hard to believe!  These past few weeks I have been remembering this time last year.  I had so much anticipation of what it would be like to welcome this beautiful girl into our family.  I was nervous about how Hunter would do and what it would be like to juggle two kids.  I was physically very uncomfortable and ready for her to be here.  As the leaves were falling off the trees last year my heart was in preparation mode, readying myself for a new season of life with two kids.  This fall, my heart is just so full-- life is so rich.  Adelyn has blessed our family greatly.  I know it sounds cliche- but I really cannot believe we are about to celebrate her birthday.

 She is about 17.5 pounds now.  She has really had a rough couple of months with her health.  After we spent 4 nights in the hospital in September, she took about a week to recover and even then she wasn't back to normal.  We spent another afternoon in the hospital around that time to make sure she didn't have another bladder infection.  Thankfully, she didn't.  But since Mid-September, she has had: a yeast rash, and then developed eczema on her arms and legs; an ear infection; then another virus that caused coughing and low grade fever.  The girl has had a tough time.  I think that is why she hasn't gained much weight in the past few months.  She is on antibiotics every day to prevent bladder infections.  Now we do cream on her arms and legs twice a day for the eczema and we are starting her on probiotics.

 Adelyn has gotten the hang of "cruising" while holding on to the couch or a walker toy.  She hasn't taken the plunge to start walking on her own yet.  She can stand for a good 30 seconds on her own, but when she realizes what she is doing she sits down.  I think she could walk if she tried, but she hasn't been interested yet.  She definitely gets around, though!  She is keeping me hopping more than ever.  EVERYTHING she touches goes in her mouth.  And she finds everything.

 Tonight I let her have a little chocolate ice cream.  I know, she is still a little young for that.  But the girl loved it!  She is a little foodie!  When she tries something new, she makes lots of sounds while it is in her mouth.  Josh & I joke often that if she had words she would be telling us all the ingredients to that item.  She really analyzes everything.  With the ice cream tonight she would mumble and then whine as soon as she swallowed her taste.

 Adelyn sleeps like a champ at night--usually about 12 or 13 hours!  During the day she sometimes takes 2 short naps and sometimes one long one.  She LOVES her bunny and now holds it with her most of the day.  It is funny to see her crawl around with it because it isn't much smaller than she is! ;)  She still gets between 4 and 5 bottles a day and eats 3 meals of solid food.  She really likes Mum Mums and puffs and really anything she can feed herself.  I have been trying to teach her the signs for "all done" and "more."  She has her own modified versions--it is so neat that she is able to communicate!

 Speaking of communicating, she associates "momma" and "dada" with us now!  She also occasionally says "bye bye" and "uh oh."  She babbles a lot so I think more words will be coming soon!  Another new development this months: she points!  She points at what interests her and it is helpful in knowing what she wants!

She is happy and so charming.  She truly loves her brother and they actually play together quite nicely. Hunter loves her and it is neat to see such a good relationship forming.  She has a different childhood than Hunter already-- he was not entertained by a little person all the time!  

She is less of a cuddle bug than Hunter was at this age.  I do love it when she snuggles up close, though.  She still smells so delightful and her soft baby head is my favorite.  Such a precious baby.  I love her!