funny Ellie story...

Since Alexa has been born, it's like Ellie has grown up overnight! In the past week, Ellie has been doing all kinds of new things. As I have said before, she is just smitten with her sister. Every morning, "baby Yeta" is the first person she asks for! I love that she either calls her "yeta" or "exa"! So cute!

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Well, this morning when Ellie woke up, we had just given Alexa a bath. As Joel's Mom and I were getting ready to dress her, Ellie noticed Alexa's little umbilical stub that hasn't fallen off yet... (though it's getting VERY close). Ellie was concerned and said "uh-oh...bleedin' - to which we quickly responded "No, Alexa's not bleeding..." before we could finish explaining what that little thing on Alexa's belly button was, Ellie then responded "poop?" We burst out laughing! It does kind of look that way! Ha!

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Another very sweet thing that Ellie has been doing since Alexa was born was learn how to pray! Right when we sit down at the table, Ellie always quickly says "pray?" So we all join hands and pray. But this week we've been giving her the chance to pray. Her sweet prayer is "thank you Jesus...Amen!" YES... THANK YOU JESUS, AMEN!

Beyond blessed...

I've been doing a lot of thinking this week about how incredibly blessed I feel to have such a wonderful family... As I look into the eyes of my girls, I have often been brought to tears to think that I have the privilege of raising these girls and helping to shape their little lives. What a huge responsibility, but awesome joy and privilege... My heart really is overflowing with gratitude for the way that God has blessed... He didn't have to and we didn't do anything to deserve it, but God has entrusted these little lives to US! When I think that just 4 years ago, we thought we might never see this day of having and raising children, it makes this season even more sweet.

So thank you Lord, for the wonderful man you gave me to do life with and raise kids with. He is more than I could have ever asked for... and thank you for our little Ellie Hope and Alexa Joy... They have brought such richness to life and I can't wait to see what you have in store for them in the days and years ahead. Thanks for the joy and privilege of being their Mommy.

What do you think?

Ellie as a newborn

Alexa as a newborn Jen as a newborn

First Days at home...

We've officially be home from the hospital for a day and a half now and are LOVING it! Above is our little Alexa Joy in her coming home from the hospital outfit! It's the same one we brought Ellie home in 22 months ago. Thanks to our good friend, Jana, for this sweet little shirt and hat!
Tonight, Alexa had her first bath... Let's just say she wasn't the biggest fan. :) So...we're not posting any of the actual bath pictures, but instead a pic of her happy again after she got warmed up in her towel with Daddy... :)

Ellie continues to be smitten with "baby"! I'm still not sure she realizes that this is her sister and she's here to stay. But I love that she loves her! Tonight as we were about to put Ellie to bed, she wanted to make sure and share some cow tail with Alexa. If you don't know Ellie well, her big attachment is to her stuffed cow and she rubs her nose with it's tail. To show her love, she rubs everyone's nose with his tail. I'm glad that Alexa made the cut. :)

Ellie is also obsessed with giving baby fist pounds, hi-fives and hugs! I can't get over how cute this is!!! I'm already SO excited to have two girls who I hope will be the best of friends as they grow up!

Alexa is such a sweet and content baby... Here's to hoping she sleeps like this all night tonight! :)

Our Sweet Alexa Joy...

Our sweet Alexa Joy entered the world on Monday, May 17th at 10:36am! She weighed in at 7 lbs. 1 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. We are absolutely smitten with her and already can't imagine what life was like without her in our family... Let us introduce her to you!

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One last picture of us as a family of three... headed out the door to the hospital! Ellie had no idea that this day her life would change!

First pictures of Mommy and Daddy with our sweet little Alexa Joy...
Our first picture as a family of FOUR!

Daddy and his two little princesses...
Ellie is already a wonderful big sister!!!

More to come! Thanks for your prayers for a safe and healthy delivery. We feel incredibly blessed!!!

22 months!

THUMBS UP to being 22 months old!
This is one of Ellie's newest things. Giving 2 thumbs up with a big grin! I just love it!
Another new Ellie-ism... throwing her head back and laughing like crazy! It's so cute!!!

Ellie is getting to be such a big girl these days! She is 22 months, going on 10, I think! She is not afraid of anything and is always wanting to try something new. Curious is her middle name!!! Here she is thinking that she can master a rock climbing wall that is probably way too big for her. But I love that she's not afraid to try. :)

Hard to believe that our "baby" is getting so close to 2 years old! And that we'll be welcoming baby #2 in just a couple of days!!! Where has time gone? We enjoyed one of the last days with Ellie as our only and tried to get a lot of play time in before life brings a big change on Monday!

Ellie LOVES spending time with her Daddy! It always brings a lot of smiles!

Other fun facts about our 22 month old...

• She is getting a mouth full of teeth! And she is getting WAY better about letting me brush them. :)
• Ellie is incredibly curious and has amazing fine motor skills, which can be a hazard to her health. She has figured out how to get into almost any "child-proof" thing, including bottles, undoing safety latches and today I caught her trying to take safety plugs out of the outlets. Gotta watch her every move.
• She takes everything apart and tries to figure out how it works! Her favorites right now are pens. So, if she gets ahold of a pen...good luck trying to find all the pieces to put it back together!
• She's getting quite the large vocabulary and it's so fun to watch her little personality develop!
• Ellie loves anything that has to do with "baby"! She enjoys pushing her stroller with her baby doll, playing in baby sister's room and pushing the swing and bouncy seat, and whenever she sees a "baby" (sometimes they are way bigger than her even!), she is completely taken!
• Ellie LOVES animals of all kinds! Right now she is VERY into puppies, birds (pronounced bird-a!), bunnies, kitties, goats, cows...okay, any animal!
• She just started SINGING this week and it's SO CUTE!!! I got a little video of her singing a line from her Chipmunk CD. I'll see if I can post it soon.

Anyway, we are LOVING this stage with Ellie! She is just so much fun and we feel so privileged to be her Mom and Dad!!! Looking forward to adding number two. We'll introduce you to HER in the next post!

9 days away...

Looking a bit "end of the day"ish, but wanted to post one more set of belly pics before the big day! Can't believe our new little princess arrives in a mere 9 days. We are so excited to meet her!
And Ellie loves being in on the action as well... She's going to be a wonderful big sister...
Lately she has been coming up to my belly and hugging it, giving it a kiss and saying "I U", which in Ellie language is "I Love You". I think they are going to be great friends...

Fun with the Fam...

A day full of family! These days are my favorite... Just wish that they could last longer...

Joe, Belinda, Wyatt and Isaac got to fly back for a few days from Maryland to visit family, so Jason and Jen, and Joel, Ellie and I made the trip to Kansas City to meet up with them for the day! It was picture perfect weather and we had so much fun! The day just went by too fast. As you can see from some of these pictures, Wyatt and Ellie have gotten to the age where they are starting to become friends. Oh how I wish we lived closer so they could do everyday life together! But until then, we'll take advantage of these special moments.

Had to get a sibling picture with all the kiddos in it!

We got to visit the "Deanna Rose Farmstead" and it was a hit for the whole family! I would highly recommend it to all if you are in the Overland Park area. It's free during the week and only $2 on the weekends! You can't beat that. Ellie and Wyatt LOVED all of the animals!

We even got to spend a little time with Belinda's Mom and sister Brianna and her kids. Brianna is how I even met Bel in the first place and subsequently got to introduce her to my brother! The rest is history! So, it was really fun to get to catch up with all of them.

After we were done at the Farmstead, we headed to the Legends to do a little shopping and let the kids enjoy the water fountains. It was a definite hit as well! Wy guy just had to get in a little smooch. I love that they love each other. :)

The whole family all together. We missed you, Dad and Mom!

Okay...a couple more shots from the kiddy zoo. Ellie just loved petting the goats. We could hardly get her to move on to see the other animals.

And a closing shot of the two cousins.

Seeing them together just melts my heart.

We are truly blessed...