Lovin' The Mud...

The kids have found a new passion...playing in the mud!  I should state that Mason has always loved this activity, but it's a pretty recent discovery for Ellie.  We have a spot in the backyard where grass won't grow, so any time it rains, this dirt spot turns into a wonderful mud hole.  I got tired of trying to keep Ellie out of it the other day, so I finally gave in, stripped her down, and let her go!  Mason quickly decided that he wasn't going to be excluded from the fun, so he dove in after her!  This has now become a regular event in our backyard.  And if there's no rain, the kids get the waterhose and make their own mud!

First Appointment...

Today I had my first doctor appointment for the baby.  I also had my 8 week ultrasound.  Everything looked fine...Baby's heart is beating strong, and yes, there was only one heartbeat!  (Mason mentioned to me the other day how cool it would be if we found out I was having twins or triplets.  I had to remind him that his sentiments would probably change if he had to share a room and a bathroom with 3 babies!)  :)

Unfortunately we don't own a scanner, so I had to take a picture of the sonogram picture with my camera in order to post it.  As if sonogram pictures weren't hard enough to read already, now you have to battle light from my camera's flash and extra blurriness.  My apologies.  The picture shows a profile shot of Baby's left side. The white horizontal line next to the light from the camera flash marks the top of Baby's head.  The other white mark shows where Baby's bottom is.  And if you're really good at reading sonograms you can also see Baby's left eye, as well as arms and legs!

Snow!...

On Tuesday we had a wonderful surprise...beautiful snow that fell for 7 hours or more.  We don't get to see that too much here, so the kids were especially excited to play in it.  Here is a picture of Mason getting ready to pelt me with a snowball.  Ellie is not really sure what to think of the snow:

Here is Mason next to the little snowman we made. Our intent was to make a bigger one, but that was cut short by my constantly having to retrieve Ellie from the neighbor's front porch knick knacks.

Mason named him "Mr. Coldy Carrot Nose", followed by a name change to "Frosty" who, due to a little boy who was very saddened at the thought of him melting the next day, now comfortably resides in our freezer.  :)

Perfect Timing...

I am a planner.  I've always been bad about trying to manage things in my life, according to when I think the timing is best, instead of letting God have control...particularly when it comes to my children.  I was a teacher at the time when Matthew and I first decided we were ready to have kids.  So of course, I tried to plan for the perfect timing of when our first child should be born.  And if you are a teacher, you know that the perfect time lies somewhere conveniently between late March and summer time.  I knew I wanted to quit teaching to stay home, and of course I just knew I would become pregnant right away, so obviously I knew when the best timing would be for me.  However God had a different plan.  It didn't happen right away--it took the average 6 to 9 month span that the doctor tells you about.  This placed the birth of Mason in mid-December...right smack in the middle of the school year!  God worked things out though.  I was able to resign at that time without incident, and there was a teacher who stepped in and took over my class that following semester, and everything worked out fine. 

Then after some time, we were ready for baby #2.  My new and improved plan was that this time it would now take us that "average 6 to 9 month span that the doctor tells you about", so of course we waited for Mason to be just the right age for our kids to have that perfect 2.5 to 3 year age span.  But again God had a different plan.  Little did we know that this time it would take us more than a year-and-a-half of waiting, in addition to a small amount of medical intervention, before I could become pregnant with Ellie.  And Mason was nearly 4 years old by the time she was born.  But God worked it out again.  Because Mason was older, he was a great helper, and he really had an understanding of this new little sister he was about to have.  Watching his excitement was priceless.

So now I'm at a point where I'm again making my plans about a future baby #3.  But of course, it just seems like I was pregnant with Ellie not too long ago, and she is still my little baby in my eyes.  And with Mason going off to school in the fall, I really want to have some time to devote just to Ellie, as well as have some time to do some volunteering in Mason's classroom.  But you know, this won't be a problem because we now know it takes us "more than a year-and-a-half of waiting, in addition to a small amount of medical intervention", to become pregnant.  So I should have plenty of time to use toward these other important things while we wait on baby #3, right?  Well apparently God is showing us His sense of humor through life's little ironies, because after only one month of not even really trying, we have news to share that Mason and Ellie will have a little brother/sister later this year, and it appears as though Ellie might even be sharing her birthday, as the baby is due to be born at the end of October...right at the time of Ellie's 2nd birthday. 

So now as I worry about losing some precious alone time with Ellie, as I worry about how she will adjust to not being the baby anymore, and as I worry about how Mason's transition to kindergarten will go with another big adjustment for him and for our family, I am reminded of how God's timing is always perfect.  It certainly was with both Mason and Ellie.  They wouldn't be who they are if they were born at any other time, and I so much love who they are.  And so I'm confident His timing for this child is perfect too, as He continues to show me that He is in control of perfect timing...not me.

Love...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Stuck!...

Ellie enjoys being in tight spaces. She has recently learned to climb up onto the couch in order to hurdle over the back of the couch, and then lower herself down into the small space between it and the wall.  She especially likes it here since there are only about 4 inches between the couch and the wall.  The only downside is that she hasn't figured out a way to pull herself back up.  We were enjoying a snack on the couch this afternoon, when I left her to go into the kitchen for a moment.  After a few seconds I heard her crying and came back to find her like this:

Of course, I immediately rescue her (and when I say 'immediately', I mean after I first stop to snap a few pictures of her predicament).  But what do you think she does next after I get her out?  That's right...she turns around and gets behind the couch again:

And...we're back where we started...

Fifteen Months...

This week, Ellie will turn fifteen months old.  I love her silliness, mischievousness, and sweetness all in one!