2 Months old!

Dear Addelaynie Mae,

This month you are 2 months old! We have loved getting to know you so much this past month. Your sweet personality is starting to show up. You’ve started smiling and cooing and mommy enjoys sitting and having conversations with you during the day. This month was pretty crazy with mommy and daddy having class but you were such a good baby through all of it. You don’t mind when other people hold you but you prefer mommy and when you’ve had enough of other people we get to be together just the two of us.

This month mommy and daddy had finals to take, but the day they were over we drove to Kansas City for mommy to be in Steph’s wedding. You were a great sport about the whole thing you were passed around and loved on the whole time.

The day after the wedding you went to your first birthday party. We celebrated sweet Gentry’s 3^rd birthday. You were quite the charmer with all of your sweet smiles.

The next day we packed up the car to visit your grandma in Arkansas. We spent time with her, her friend Renee and her girls, Adriane and Simon, Alexis, Tara, Sam, Antha, Joy Primm and her boys, Jennifer Carlson and her boys, the Mcllelands, and some other sweet people. We spent the day at the Clarks house and you were loved on by your auntie Jenn and uncle Kirby.

We spent Christmas Eve at your grandmas house and we spent Christmas day with your daddys family. You great grandparents loved on you and so did your great uncle and his family. Mommy wasn’t feeling well, but we made the best of it.

The day after Christmas daddy left for Bolivia for 2 ½ weeks, we miss him a lot. But we got some good mommy daughter time without any interruptions of classes.

This month you started sleeping through the night and you love standing when people hold you, and bouncing always makes you happier. You still don’t like the car but you’ll tolerate it as long as mommy holds your hand. You love to be held and cuddled which is great because we love cuddling with you.

We love you,

Dad and mom

One Month old!

Dear Addelaynie,

You turned one month old on the day that our silly lab turned one year old. It was a day of celebration for sure. We are so blessed to have you in our lives and give us all of your sweet cuddles. I can't really remember what I did before you were here with us, it must not have been very important.

After Thanksgiving you, the two pups, and mom drove back from Arkansas together, it was a long rough trip. But for some reason you then had a hard time nursing all night. So you and mommy sat on the couch together and cried for a while until you fell asleep. Then when you woke up you were able to eat a little bit. We think this was caused by your new found love for your pacifier, you want it all the time and don't like it when it falls out of your mouth.

We have also struggled with your constant want for mommy to hold you. This makes mommy feel special except those small moments when mommy needs to work on school work or do anything around the house on the weeks that daddy works. But it's hard on your daddy, he loves you so much and just wants to cuddle with his girl. I'm thankful that you at least get a couple hours in the morning when mommy isn't there to cuddle.

You have outgrown all of your newborn clothes and I have spent an entire day changing out your wardrobe. You were given so many cute things by so many people who love you. I hope we can have you wear them all before you outgrow them all.

We love you little lady!

Mom and Dad

Safe and sound, you're here with us now, like we'd hoped you'd be

Dear Addy,

Tomorrow is your first Thanksgiving holiday, but we celebrated it a day early so that your daddy could be with us to eat. We came to Arkansas for the week and spent days introducing you to people and letting them hold and kiss you. You are very popular, in fact random strangers enjoy walking up to you and they always comment on how pretty you are.

We found a dress for Steph and Alex's wedding for you to wear, and we went Christmas shopping (you picked out some very good presents for all your grandparents, they will love them). You still don't like your car-seat very much, and you cry every time that we put you in it. This breaks your mommy's heart but she knows that you are really ok and just expressing your opinions.

You still enjoy charming us with your sleepy smiles and snuggles. At night is my favorite time to cuddle with you, that and our nap time that we typically take around 3 or 4:00. You like snuggling with people but mom is ultimately your favorite, because she has the food. You love eating and would do it constantly if I let you.

You're growing and it makes me excited to see who you will become and what your voice will sound like when you talk. I can't wait for the days that we get to go on adventures together, but for today, I love sitting with you and cuddling you!

We love you more everyday.

Mom and Dad

One Week of Life Change

Dear Addelaynie Mae,

You turned a week old yesterday. So far you have been the easiest going baby and only cried when you are hungry (which is about every hour and a half during the day, and 3 hours at night). You love to be held and snuggled and aren't a huge fan of me putting you down to do homework.

Your daddy is simply enthralled with his princess and wants to hold you everytime he is home from work. He just started a new job that requires him to work 80 hours one week and then he gets a week off. I am so proud of how hard he works for you and I to live in our apartment, we miss him when he is at work but you like the days that he is home, because you like to lay on his chest and listen to his voice.

I have loved being your mom so far and know that it will only get better when I get to hear your sweet voice and laugh. But right now, I am content just to cuddle with you and kiss your sweet cheeks. I can't wait to read you your Jesus story book bible at bed time and to teach you about the love our Father has for us. Someday you will know, but until then we will rock and sing "Amazing Grace" and be wrapped in your swaddle blanket.

Your puppies love you and can't get enough kisses on your cheeks. :) They are very protective of you and like to make sure that you are safe and sound all the time. Salem cries when you cry, and she has to come make sure you are ok.

You have had a lot of visitors and everyone comments on how beautiful you are and how sweet you are. Both of your grandmas have loved spending time with you and holding you. You already have all of the wrapped around your finger.

We love you and love that you are finally here with us!
Mom and Dad

The Start of a brand new adventure

Dear little crumb,

We are less than 20 days (at the most) from meeting you. I hope you come before then, but we are waiting on your timing. We are anxious and excited to meet you and get to know you and learn all your little quirks. We want you to know that we love you already, and your puppies aren't 100% sure what is going on but we know they will love you too.

Even though we didn't plan your arrival, we know that the Lord has big plans for you and He knew you needed to be added to our family; and we pray that we can teach you with wisdom and grace.

Love Mom and Dad

We'll give thanks to you, with gratitude, a lesson learned in how to trust in you. That we are blessed beyond what we could ever dream in abundance"

We had our big ultrasound on Tuesday that would have told us whether we are having a boy or a girl, but we thought it would be more fun to leave it as a surprise and find out when the little one is here. There are so many surprises in life, and we figured since this little one was a surprise, it's entrance into the world should be an event of surprise as well. So aside from the ultrasound tech trying to be careful not to somehow reveal the secret, and Alexis trying to remind crumb to keep it's legs closed, we had a good time.

Alexis, Walker, and Danny (Walker's babysitter) drove up from Arkansas to have lunch with me, we went to 3g's and Kathy's pasta. Then Walker was introduced to the puppies, who were very excited to give Walker kisses (they were kept back the whole time). I was so blessed to have Alexis with me and crumb during the ultrasound, she was so precious and took lots of videos of the wiggle worm and sharing the experience with me.

Crumb was good and healthy and wiggling like crazy! It was pretty funny to watch the little one move and feel those movements at the same time. But the rounder I get, the more I'm already ready to have this little one out and spend time getting to know him/her.

With all of the changes going on in our world, a lot of relationships have changed as well. People we once thought of as family have stepped back from our lives, and people we don't know have stepped forward. It's strange really, people that I thought would be major parts of my life for our whole life, are suddenly not answering our calls, or even claiming us as a person that they are even close to. I don't really know how to process this change, and what it means for when we bring crumb into our world. I'm trying to trust that the Lord will bring the right people in crumb's life to surround it with love and guidance but it's hard when a lot of the people you had hoped would be there are gone.

Murray has been working so much that we only get to spend saturday mornings together. So we spend all of that time at the dog park letting the dogs run around and be socialized with other dogs. They love the space and they love the chance to have Murray around with them, because they love him even though he is always gone so it is more special for him to throw the tennis ball than me because the three of us spend all of our time together.

The Consistently Inconsistence of Life

So, for some reason, I have been blogging since October, but for some reason all of my posts are MIA and have been lost in cyber space. Not that people really read this, but it is kind of sad to have lost all of those months. Oh well, I will not fret over the fact that I cannot control this.

Anyway: since then our family has rescued a yellow lab named Kodi and he is a ridiculous addition to the family since all our dogs do now is wrestle and run around. So we have over 100 pounds of dog running through our 2 bedroom apartment and slamming into doors and walls. Which is entertaining but the bigger they get, the more difficult it is to laugh and not worry about the walls falling down on us.

Since Kodi we have started going through 6 cups of dog food a day, and twice as many bones. We have two dog kennels and he loves to chew up toys. He is a sweet little man but being a rescue he is often timid and scared- until you get to know him.

School has been stressful and constant, especially since we changed majors. I have been trying to cram 36 hours into one year. Which means that I will be taking summer school and a heavy load in the fall so that I can take a lighter load in the spring.

The biggest thing to put on the blog world would be that I am in my 21st week of pregnancy. I am not very round, but I am sure getting there. I am due October 30th. We have decided not to find out what we are having because we think it would be more fun. This pregnancy was a surprise because we weren't trying to get pregnant. Regardless of the shock that we had when we found out, we know that the Lord has given us this blessing and we are excited to meet this baby and love it. We have been praying for "crumb" every night before bed since we found out about it. So below I'm adding a list of significant markers that we have hit with the little one already:

Feb. 21st- positive home pregnancy test, and positive clinic test

Feb 24th- first Ob nurse appointment

Mar. 7th- first ultrasound (6 weeks and 1 day)

April 13th- first time we heard the heart rate (166)

April 23rd- (my birthday) the completion of our first trimester

April 26th- second time we heard the heart (160)

May 19th- First time mommy felt movement, little kicks

May 24th- third time we heard the heart (155)

June 14th- First time daddy felt the movement of kicks

Next week we have our 20 week ultrasound (I will technically be 21 weeks) but since Murray is working so much he won't be able to come. So, my precious friend, Alexis and her little man Walker are driving up from Arkansas for the afternoon to look at crumb and have lunch. I am soo excited and blessed to have them come visit us.