Hooray! So much to be happy for!

Josh is back safely from Georgia! We all missed him terribly and are so relieved to have him back. Lizzie really missed her "da da" and that stands for his tractor too! Whenever we went on our walks, she would point at it and say very emphatically "da da! da da!" And I would let her play on it, but since I don't know how to turn it on, let alone drive the thing, that is as far as she got until he came home.

Also, Josh said I could tell everyone....

I am pregnant! I am due April 1st, 09! He really wanted me to wait until I started the 2nd trimester but I just couldn't wait. We are all very excited!

There is one thing I covet your prayers for. I have Bell's Palsy and I really need the Lord's strength to accomplish things throughout the day. Bell's Palsy is a temporary paralysis of one side of the face due to the 7th Cranial nerve become swollen and cutting off communication from the brain to the face. So my left side of my face can't smile, blink or taste food. This also leaves me feeling even more tired than normal because my body is trying to recover. So not only am I tired from the first trimester I am wiped from this palsy. (anyone that has had Mono knows how tired I am!!) Needless to say the house is gross and Lizzie gets restless. The dr. said I should see some signs of improvement in 2 weeks, and I should be fully recovered in 2-6 months.

It is times like this I praise the Lord that she is still breastfeeding! When I am laying in bed dead tired, she crawls in with me and cuddles and nurses. So I am able to rest and recover without worrying what my toddler is getting into, and at the same time feel the love and warmth of my cuddly daughter.

I do start to worry about whether Lizzie will be nursing a lot when the new baby is here, but a lot changes in children between the ages of 15 mos and 22 months. I know that if I continue to trust the Lord and do my best he will give me the wisdom and strength to continue on!
Lizzie seems to be doing very well so I must not be doing too much wrong! LOL She has never been on antibiotics (praise the Lord!) and she is so brave and curious about the world around her. When we go on our walks down our driveway she will take of running and when she falls down, she just gets right back up without another thought (and this is on a gravel driveway, you should see her poor knees!)

that's all for now, but i will update with more later!

ok, this computer isn't letting me post pics on blogger easily, so this is this only one I could get to upload successfully. I have more to share and will when I have time. This is the most recent pic of Lizzie - taken about 2 weeks ago.

Hello everyone! Wow it has been FOREVER since I last posted. I blame it all on living out in the middle of nowhere without access to the internet. But I have stolen a moment while Josh is watching Lizzie here at his office to update all my friends.

I miss you all! I wish I had the internet at home (we will in about 1 month!) so I could update more frequently. Lizzie is 14 months old! She is growing and changing in so many ways. I'll post some pics at the bottom. And now for the bullets (saves me and you time LOL)

• Lizzie is eating so much more now! She drinks a lot more from a sippy cup. She eats lots of snacks and 3 meals with me. This is a very large improvement from her exclusive breastfeeding. She started eating more during the day about 2 months ago and has just kept it up. So this is the start of the weaning process, but we are still pretty far away from complete weaning.


• Unfortunately, her sleeping is not doing well since we moved. Everything is different and she still wakes a few times at night. She is teeting molars on all 4 sides, so this is not helping her in any way! Poor darling.....and VBS was this week, so she is all kinds of stressed out.


• She has started to talk a little! Her words: Mama, Dada (which was her first official word, she said it and pointed at him and laughed) Baba (sippy cup) Dadadadada (Grandad, she says this as she points to his picture) She signs "eat" for nursing, "more" for everything she wants LOL and puts her hands on her head or shakes her hands if she wants to sing. and her gibberish - oh it cracks me up! She will get all excited about something and just go off and I can't understand a word.


• I love our new house! I had about 2 weeks of it just being Josh, Lizzie and I. My sister is 20 and lives with us to save money while in college. She is moving out again in June. My dad is sleeping on our couch for one more week (this will make 2 total) while his car is repaired. God is good! He has given us the grace to live with my family and we will be blessed for this short period of stress.


• We have goats! Yes, Josh bought 3 female boar (meat) goats. Charolotte, Emily and Anne. I named them after the Bronte sisters - 18th century novelists. They are sweeties!

Lizzie is growing up! But she is and always will be my little baby girl. I have run into a few people telling me their opinions on how to raise Lizzie and what I am doing wrong. Isn't that the best thing to tell a mommy? Those seeds of doubt sprout fruit very quickly and I shed some tears, but praise the Lord for his grace. Josh has been so encouraging and I know now that my loving her and doing what I feel is best for her will help her grow into a very strong girl that loves Jesus. I didn't realize that other moms can be some of the most opinionated people on the planet. I believe that as sisters in Christ we need to be encouraging eachother.

So I say to all my fellow mommies that I miss so much - if you are working outside the home you are doing what you can to provide for your child and setting a great example. If you are staying home, you are doing the same thing. Both are exhausting and both can be thankless at times and seem more stressful than it is worth. I pray that God blesses each of you moms reading this with a wonderful night's rest and His blessed peace that trancends all understanding - letting you know you are doing a great job with his child!