1 and 2.

Easter Sunday, 2013

 



I can't believe we have a 1 year old and a 2 year old.  Of course, a year ago, I couldn't believe I had a 15 month old and a newborn.  It's so insane how much has happened in a year.  In some aspects, you think, "A year is just a year...  it will go by so fast." Then, you think, "Wow...  this is taking a whole year to get to this point."  When people ask me about this year, I usually can't even find the words to say.  If you know me, you probably find that hard to believe.  Let's just say that a lot has happened and hasn't happened in a year and it's all been kind of a big, hot, sticky crockpot of a mess.  At least that is the way that most people (and sometimes Micah and I) see it.  We still haven't sold our home in Lexington, so we are paying for 2 mortgages.  Childcare costs us an arm and a leg for 2 babies.  We are both teachers and we work a lot.  We are so tired at the end of the day that all we want to do is sit.  While it looks like a bunch of hard and negative stuff keeps happening in our lives, we have also learned more in this past year than I think we have in our entire marriage.  Here is what we've learned:

 1. How to live on very little. 
 2. What we need vs. what we don't need.
 3. Joy does not come from our circumstances - and if it does, then we have the wrong mindset and we need an attitude adjustment.
 4. When God wants to bless us, it doesn't mean He wants us to have "stuff."  He blesses us with the fruits of the spirit and the relationships we have with others and with Him.
 5. Suffering and heartache do not come from God.  It is unavoidable, but our struggles don't glorify Him.  He is glorified when we have a positive outlook during and despite of our suffering.  (Thanks, Joyce Meyer for driving this point home.)

So, while the year has been full of waiting, (something I never thought I was very good at), longing, disappointments, some regret, tears, and fears, it has also been full.  Simply full.  Our hearts have been full to the brim with an overwhelming gratitude for a God who cares for us, watches over us, and ALWAYS provides for us.  It's been full of an indescribable love for our precious little girly girls.  It has been full of daily prayer and discussion with each other and with God.  I know that God is shaping our hearts this year and things haven't let up yet, so it must mean that He's not done yet.  In all honesty, He never will be.  He wants us to grow.  I know that some of the best rewards come from some of the hardest struggles.  I have faith that God is going to bless us tremendously through this struggle and in so many ways, He already has.

I want to write this blog so that I have a recap for my daughters one day.  To be honest, I don't have time for baby books.  Heck, on most days, I don't even have time to shave my legs.  Besides, the baby books mostly tell stuff like weights, head sizes, the first smile, the first time the kid slept through the night, etc.  I want my kids to have a glimpse of not only that stuff, but who they were when they were 1 and 2.  I want them to know who I was when I was 27.  I want them to read into my absolute love and adoration for them and for them to feel like they know this woman.  Now that you are thinking of my long, pale, 14 year old boyish hairy legs, let's move on to the real stuff....  The stuff I think about all day...  Those kids.  Although if you ask my husband, he'd probably tell you that these legs are for real and that the razor could use some exercise.

Isla Faith: 1 year

 Isla on her actual first birthday.

 Her birthday party.

Waiting on her smash cake

 



At her 1 year checkup, she was in the 78th %ile for weight (about 22 lb.), 61st %ile for length, and 93rd %ile for head size.  Yes, she is kind of like a chubby sucker.  (Sorry, if this is future older Isla reading this.  You are THE cutest chubby sucker I have ever seen!)  The doctor said she is perfect.  The only thing to work on is her iron.  She had a pretty low iron score and has to take a supplement to try to increase her score.  They will have to test it again in a few months, but I suspect she will be fine. 

She started crawling around 7 months and started taking a few steps on her own about 2 weeks or so before she turned 1.  The week after she turned 1, she started walking more than crawling.  Now, she hardly ever crawls and just walks.  (She turned 1 just a couple of weeks ago.)  She is into everything.  Every. Thing.  If she sees it, it goes in her mouth.  Period.  Necklace, Easter basket grass, fuzz, soap, anything and everything.  We have to watch her closely all the time.  We pull things out of her mouth constantly that should never be in her mouth in the first place.  Today, she tore a piece off of a paper bag and tried to eat some of the paper.  One day, she had grabbed a Kleenex out of the box.  By the time I noticed what she had, she had already eaten (swallowed) half of a Kleenex.

Isla has 8 teeth that are all the way through.  She has 4 molars coming in at once right now.  It's funny to compare her and Adia when Adia was this age.  Adia wasn't walking yet, was so calm, and she had 1 tooth.  They are pretty comparable size wise at this age.  Isla wears 18 month clothes, size 4/5 diapers, and size 4's and some 5's in shoes.

She laughs all the time.  We took her on a little wagon ride yesterday evening and she would just laugh out loud for no apparent reason in the wagon.  She had a great time, and then she almost fell asleep.  She loves to laugh at her sister and she loves to try to make her sister laugh.  It is seriously adorable.  She is very busy, but really, she is such a good baby.  She very rarely throws tantrums.  She cries some when she is tired or when she is teething, but that is really about it.  She sleeps around 11-13 hours every night.  She's not an overly snuggly baby.  She likes to be held when she is not feeling well and when she is very tired.  Other than that, she likes to be let loose to do her own thing.  Often times, when I ask her to give me kisses, she hits me in the mouth and laughs.  She loves for me to stroke her cheeks and her forehead when she is tired.  It's super adorable and I hope she never grows out of that.

Isla babbles a lot these days.  She says the following words pretty frequently: momma, dada, Ada, Isla, dog, uh-oh, tay too (thank you), and duh doo (love you).  She has just recently started shaking her head no and saying, "no no no no no" with a smile on her face.  She plays peekaboo, blows kisses, gives a 5, and waves bye.  I really love her carefree attitude and her toughness.  She can fall 50 times and she gets right back up like nothing ever happened and just tries again.

Having her through this past year has been such an incredible blessing.  I love her more and more every second and I day dream about that round little face all day long.

 

Adia Beth: 2 years

 My sweet Adia with her hair all "curlied."

 Hunting for Easter eggs with "bunims" inside.

Adia and her little friend Ada had so much fun playing together.  They played with their babies, "fixed" each other's hair, giggled, and held hands.  It was perfectly sweet.

 

How did she  go from this cooing little baby to this little girl wearing high heels and big girl panties?  It all happens too fast.  Adia weighs 30 pounds and is in the 82nd %ile for weight and the 51st %ile for length.  She doesn't have any major health issues, but overall, it's been a hard year on her.  She's been sick several times.  She's had the flu, a stomach bug twice, several colds/upper respiratory infections, an ear infection, and hand, foot, and mouth disease.  She's been snoring terribly for the last several months.  It's gotten worse as time has gone along.  For a while, I thought it was just due to sinus stuff.  One night, she was snoring so hard that she gagged herself and threw up.  She has also been gagging on her food much more often.  I finally took her to the doctor and he said that her tonsils are enormous and would most definitely have to have her tonsils and adenoids removed.  We go to the ENT doctor tomorrow and they will talk about surgery with us and schedule the procedure.  I hate that she has to have it done, but I am very hopeful that this will not only help her snoring and gagging, but keep her from getting sick so often as well.

 

Adia wears a 3T in almost everything now.  She wears a size 7 and 1/2 shoe and fortunately, she is out of diapers (except for a night time pull up.)  She is potty trained now.  What a huge blessing...  We don't have to buy any more formula for Isla and no more diapers for Adia.  This helps us out tremendously financially right now.  Adia did great potty training.  The first few days were very difficult and we both shed some tears. After that, it really hasn't been bad.  About a week or so ago, she went through a little relapse.  It took a couple of days and she was back to normal again.  We have the occasional rare accident, but it's very rare.  I'm so glad we pushed through and got her trained.

 

Adia is growing into quite the girly girl.  She loves makeup, purses, jewelry, hair accessories, shoes, clothes, nail polish, and so forth.  She loves to shop.  On a recent shopping trip for some new shoes (the poor girl has been squishing her feet into shoes to small for a few weeks now), she saw a pair of pink sandals with a little heel in her size.  We had to buy them on her feet and she walked around the mall in them the rest of the day.  She even did an Easter egg hunt in them...  in rocks...  She has worn them pretty much non stop ever since we purchased them. 

 

She is still a very sweet child.  She loves to be held and snuggled.  She gives lots of hugs and kisses and she is so caring.  If I am sad at all, she notices and she tries to comfort me.  She holds her baby dolls and sings to them, rocks them, feeds them and diapers them.  She loves princesses and all things pink.  I always said that if I had a girl, I was going to work hard to introduce her to oranges, greens, and other shades and to pretend to be something other than a princess.  The funny thing is that I can't try to make her into something she's not.  If you ask her, "What is your favorite color?"  She will shout without a second thought, "I like pink!"  She was looking at herself in the mirror a couple of days ago when I asked her, "Who's in there?"  She said, "Just Adia."  I said, "What else do you see?"  (thinking she'd say "Mommy.")  Instead, she said, "I see a pincess (princess.)"

 

Cute things she says:

1. "Can you make my hair curlied like yours, Mommy?"

2. Me: "Are you going to go poo poo in the potty?" Adia, on the potty with her hands on my shoulders, "I'm so sorry, honey.  Not this time."

3. "Mommy, you needa come here.  Isla's bein all cazy."

4.  "I'll be right back in a little bit tiny minute second."

5. "I had dreams last night, Mommy."  "What did you dream about?"  "I dream about Nana... and....  MUFASA!"

6. "Mommy, you don't needa go to work today...  Not today."

7. While she is sitting in the high chair and the end of Beauty and the Beast comes on, "Oh, Daddy! You needa get me down!  You gotta dance wif me!"

8. Trying to console her after she falls and is crying, "Do you want Mommy to hold you?"  "No!"  "Do you need a hug?"  "No!" "Do you need Mommy to kiss it?"  "No!" "What do you need?" "I just need chocowit!"

9.  While putting on my makeup, "Mommy, you look soooo booful."

10. While I'm using the restroom in a public restroom, "Mommy, you are doin such a good job!  I'm so prouda you for goin poo poo in the potty!  Yay!  Daddy's gon get your potty heart!  So excited!  I wonner what's in der!"

11.  While trying to pick out my clothes,"Adia, what should I wear today?"  "Mmmm...  how bout jeans, a pupple shirt, and some panties?"

12. Her night time prayer with her little hands folded, "Dear Jesus, thank you for all the babies.  Thank you for God.  Keep us safe.  Aaaaamen."

 

Words that she says so adorably:

1. polka dots are "coca dots"

2. curled is "curlied"

3. moon is "meeeyoon"

4. Adia Beth is "Adia Bess" and Isla Faith is "Isla Face"

5. Instead of "I don't like to..." it's, "I don lika..."

6. M&M's are "bunims"

7. marshmallows are still "marsh pillows"

 

This post was sooooo long.  It only took me 28 hours to write.  I could've shaved my legs 3 times in the time in took me to write this beast.  Oh well.  My bed and a tall glass of ice water awaits me.  :)