October Family Pictures...FINALLY!!!

We had some family portraits done wwaaayyy back in October and I finally got the pictures..yeah! Unfortunately they were taken at night so they didn't come out quite as nicely as I had hoped but still not bad for trying to get 2 kids and a toddler to stay still for a photo.

Decorating the Tree

So I got to posting a little late this year. Actually...a lot of things are a little late...like the Christmas cards that I haven't sent out...or made. ..oops. I thought I probably should go in some sort of order though so putting up the tree needs to be posted before Christmas Eve and Christmas...soooooo..here it is...the 2009 Baldwin Christmas tree.

Elijah really got a kick out of the whole thing. He just LOVES lights! If the lights aren't on he lets me know I need to plug them in.

Another new favorite is eggnog. We usually pour ourselves a big glass and turn on "A Muppet Christmas" and deck the halls. This year was no different. I wasn't sure if Elijah would take to the eggnog but he loved it. Check out the mustache! Here he is doing the "Cheese" look. He's so squeezable!

Shamrock Farms

On Saturday Jake and I had the pleasure of taking Elijah to Shamrock Farms Holiday Tour. When we left the house at 8:15am (early for this night shift gal!) it was 35 degrees!!! Brrr!!!

When we got to the farm we took a tour in a little shuttle around the farm and were able to see all of the cows. Elijah was able to play in there little play area. He loved the slide! He also enjoyed sitting on his own little cow.

When the tour was over there was a lot of fun things to eat and do. We had chocolate milk, Krispy Kreme donuts, eggnog, hot dogs, chips, ice cream...MMMMMmmm! Elijah met Roxie the cow...not so fond of her sorry to say. Maybe next year. We made a gingerbread house ornament out of a cardboard dairy container and a snowman out of a quart of milk.

When we were outside Elijah heard the MOOO of a calf and just had to check it out. He got a little mad when he couldn't pet her. How rude!

And of course the best part....they had SNOW!!! YEAH! They even had a snow slide to sled down!!! This was my favorite...Elijah's too if you can tell by his smiley face!

Here he says "I want to do it again!"

Now we can make some snow balls!

Okay...time to do the slide again!

Mom, Dad, this is WAY cool!

These doritos are yummy!

Who is this Santa guy? I'm not super sure about him. He could be alright. I think I like him better than that Roxie cow.

Cutie Patootie

I found these two plants at Home Depot and immediately thought of my Mom. I always remember her having Violets and Christmas cacti. I just hope I don't kill them. Any hints?

Here Elijah wants to be like Daddy. He's gotta get his big shoes on.

What can I say other than how cute are these pictures! These were taken when I found that Elijah can indeed climb on to the chairs. He thought he was Joe Cool for doing so too. He'll be sad to find out Snoopy already has that position. Don't you just love his big blue eyes? In the one picture he is giving Kitty a hug and petting her. He's very sweet with her. He just doesn't understand why sometimes she gets mad when he wants to keep petting (or should I say patting?) her and she is done with it. What can you do though. At least he's not mean to her.

Less Stress

Did you ever realize how once you are a little bit stressed, your feelings seem to escalate very quickly. I have that feeling now. It is very easy to become overwhelmed and for some reason I like to add to it. I took on a lot of projects right before the holidays and now I am wondering what I was thinking. Now I am just hoping to be able to get it all done before Christmas. Which brings me to another little tangent...what the heck? Why are we playing Christmas music the first of November? What happened to Thanksgiving???!! Seriously!

Spoken too soon

Okay, so my last post was a little premature. Later in the day I got a call from my OB/GYN saying that even though the radiologist said we could take a core sample (which by the way is NOT what he had told me) he thinks I need a second opinion to get it removed. Apparently if I don't get it out the growth needs to be monitored every 3-6 months..so..now I have to get my records, see my primary care doc, make an appointment with a surgeon and (EEK!!!!) potentially get this thing out. You would think it would be a relief to get the thing out but quite frankly I'm scared to death. Unfortunately this is not a cyst like the last time and so ignoring it will not cause it to go away with time. Yuck.

So being a little down and feeling like things are going crazy in my life I decided...what the heck...lets make things crazier....lets paint our room. We had painted it when we moved in and both of us have hated it since. Now that we have new furniture I thought it would be nice to have a room that was done the way we want it...that I could relax (or at least try to) and get away from it all. Well, I did two colors...I love one, hate the other. I will be redoing it (hopefully) today. So now I have a bazillion projects including scrapbooking stuff everywhere awaiting a home somewhere, a huge growing pile of items for a garage sale, a broken toilet, pictures waiting to be hung, drawer pulls to be put on the cabinets, a half hung door on our closet which will hopefully be traded for a pocket door sometime soon, a backyard full of weeds and dirt, two cabinets that need to be refinished/started, and an entire bedroom in complete disaray half painted, half washed, and hideous...oh yeah, and an overflowing laundry basket full of clothes to iron. Anyone want to trade. Just kidding. What was I thinking? I think I just want to get my house done. I think deep down inside I feel like if I get everything done maybe THEN it will be my time to have a baby. I guess I'm just a little bit hopeful...maybe.

Thankful Day

These past few months I feel that I have had a lot going on in my life physically and emotionally. One of my "worries" has been a questionable spot that I found a couple months ago. I had a similar thing happen about 4 years ago and it went away (I did have an ultrasound that said it was benign) so it was only slightly worrisome...at least until I went for my first mammogram today. Then I realized that I was very nervous. Praise the Lord, so far everything looks OK. From what the radiologist sees he thinks it's just a fibroid but I need to follow up with a needle aspiration of tissue to be sure it's not cancerous. I have been reading a lot in God's Word about trusting but let me tell you it is easy to say and hard to do! I have really been drawing closer to His Word and praying lately. I know it's something that one should always do but to be perfectly honest I am human and so my flesh starts out the day running to do the things I "think" are more important. Now that I have been absorbing myself in His Word I realize how important it is in my life. I have really learned a lot from the Old Testament and have received a lot of comfort from the New Testament. I am starting to do a study on trusting Him now. I have found myself sinking into a deeper depression in the past few months. It is very different from the postpartum depression that I went through though. That was terrible. No one should have to go through that! This I know is not due to hormones and such...just a little situational I think. Some of you may or may not know that Jake and I have been wanting, praying, trying for a baby for the past 9 months. I never thought that I would ever have to face the possibility that I may have trouble conceiving and let me tell you the news is quite devastating to me. I talked with my OB/GYN and from what it looks like as of now getting pregnant without the help of medication (from a medical perspective at least) is not going to happen right now. When or if it ever will be possible is up in the air as well. I have all sorts of feelings going on right now. All I want to be is pregnant. I want to rest my hands on my belly, feel little (or big!) movements, inhale the soft scent of baby clothes. I wouldn't even mind the perpetual nauseated and tired feeling..at least I can say that now. I want to give Elijah a sibling...a playmate...someone he'll always have to bug :) I am surrounded by pregnant friends. Don't get me wrong because I am SOOO happy for them. It just makes me feel SOOO sorry for myself. Which I shouldn't. I believe that God has a reason for this..I just don't know what yet. And to be quite honest it is just very hard to trust Him when your fleshly emotions get in the way. I would most definitely appreciate some prayers from you all! Not just for becoming pregnant...for being at peace with whatever the Lord's will is for my (and Jake's) life.

Enough of me. The pictures tell how busy we've been. Here is Elijah playing in the couch cushions. There also is a couple of Elijah washing his "new" used car we got from Goodwill, and us at Cabella's with a coon cap and his new "pop" gun that he loves. He's such a big ball of energy. I love him so!

My Little Man

Isn't my little man SO cute! I found this little newsboy cap when I was in Michigan and just fell in love with it. He looks a little bit mischievous don't you think? Well, quite often he is! I could just squeeze him I love him so much! Lately he has been doing this sweet little pursed lip smile that makes me just go "Awe, how cute!"

Better get going home. Just thought I'd do a quick post! Toodles!

Kuhls

What are "kuhls" you ask. Well, they are one of Elijah's favorite things to eat. Does that give you a clue? Well, here's the story.

I bought a jar of the deli style Claussen pickles. I was eating one with my lunch and Elijah likes pickles so I gave him one. He devoured it by the time I had put the jar back in the fridge. He then proceeded to ask for more. This time I left the pickle jar on the table. After he finished his second pickle he pointed to the jar, signed "please" and then pointed to himself and said "me?" I questioned whether I should give him a third pickle but he was so darn cute who can resist. Of course he finished that as quickly as the first two and unfortunately I had to stand my ground about a fourth pickle. Come on, that can't be good for his little tummy, right? Fast forward to later that evening. I had made Jake a sandwich and gave him a pickle. Of course Elijah wanted one. He didn't really want to wait for us to give him one of his own...he wanted Jake's. Well, he started saying "kuhl...kuhl.." We weren't sure if he was trying to say "pickle" or not so I opened the fridge for him and said "What do you want?" He pointed at the pickle jar and said "kuhl" then proceeded to sign "please" and say "me". Okay...so he ate four pickles that day. It didn't kill him. They're vegetables...right?

I LOVE my Grandma and Grandpa!

I loved going to the zoo with my Momma and Grandma. My favorite was the under water tunnel that we could see the seals and hear ourselves echo. YIPEE!

Of course Momma and I had to get our picture taken in front of the water fountain. Every Michigan native has this picture.

Grandma and Grandpa took me to the apple orchard to pick apples. I liked the ones on the ground best. Who cares if they are brown and mushy. They are easily accessible.

Fun Stuff

Well, we are here in MI and Elijah has found that there is some fun stuff here. Grass everywhere..doggies, birdies, froggies...a cool van to toot the horn and drive...another Grandma to spoil him. He's having fun for sure. Can you believe it's 80 degrees here. Figures. Time has gone by quickly. It's nice to see everyone. Hard to be away from Jake. I definitely do miss him. Well, best be going!

So Excited!

I haven't been able to update lately. I thought I would give a quick update while I eat the lunch I didn't get to eat at work before I leave. Every day I work has been very busy and pretty stressful. I am extremely excited to get a break this week. Of course I have a little cold. It figures! I work 3 more days and then I get a week to spend with family. YEAH! I am SOOOO excited to see my Mom, Dad, and Heather and Bryan. It seems like forever...even though it's been 5 months. I can't wait for them to see how much Elijah has changed.

As for Elijah, he is such a little imp! Into EVERYTHING!! Nothing is safe. He's on the go...go..go...all the time. He came up to me the other day with my camera (it was on the table) and was saying "sheesh, sheesh"...meaning "cheese". What a cutie! He wants to play with anything he gets his hands on. He wants to play with all of my "necessities" under the sink, especially if it has a cap. Unfortunately, who wants to let a 15 month old put a hairspray cap on and off of the can. He's never tried to put the little pieces in his mouth though...he just wants to eat the smelly lotion. Silly goose.

Well better get going. Lunch is done and time to go home!

Where have you been?

Ok..so I've fallen off the face of the planet. Or, at least that's what it seems like looking at the last blog posting date. I apologize profusely. I can honestly say that I have been extremely busy. Jake and I have both thrown ourselves into extensive projects since we came back from Jessica's house. We now see (a little) light at the end of the tunnel. We took on quite a bit but I will be sure to post the final results when we are finally done.

So how has Elijah been? Great! He's grow...grOW...GROWING. We went for a 15 month (wow 15 months, where has time gone?) checkup yesterday. He's 30 inches, 26 pounds, and developmentally ahead of the game. He has been walking since 12 months and is now attempting to run. He "dances" to music, loves to spin around and jump on things including the couch (which I let him because, hey, you're only young once and I'm not so attached to the thing that I would deny him a little fun). He "talks" extensively. He tries to mimic pretty much any word you say. We know for sure he says MaMa, DaDa, Kitty, meow, vroom, uh oh, juice, and shoes. Obviously I swear he says more but those he's said on numerous occasions and referring to the object. He also signs "more", "all done", "please", "milk", "drink", and of course, "bye bye". He still loves anything masculine, boyish, or messy. Of course he LOVES movies. He still comes up to me with a movie in hand and then sits in his little chair. Too cute. Although a movies at 730 am is a little excessive.

For all you Christian readers I would appreciate it if you could add me to your prayer list for an unspoken prayer request. I know we all have a lot going on in this world we live in but if you wouldn't mind I would appreciate it greatly. Also, if you have something for me to pray about, let me know and I will add it to my list. Thanks a bunch!

Good Times with Family

This weekend Jake, Elijah, and Jake's Mom and I went to Jessica's (Jake's sister for all you non-family readers) house in CA. Her family will (sadly) be moving to Japan within the next couple months. Phil is in the Navy and so this will start a new and exciting chapter for them. Although they will be well missed they have such a wonderful opportunity before them. What an incredible experience for the kids to be surrounded by a whole new culture! I sure do hope Jake and I can save a little money and visit them! We sure will miss everyone. I'm a little disappointed that when we went we weren't able to see Phil so we're hoping we can see them all at least once more before their departure. Military life is so much different than civilian life. I don't know how Jessica does it! The internet sure has opened up a lot of information so that she can see what her new place will look like and plan all the decor prior to going. How helpful is that?! She is a wonderful decorator and will no doubt have their place looking great shortly after moving in.

Jess and Phil can't take everything with them on their travels so they were very sweet and gave us their bedroom set along with a bunch of wonderful goodies including a whole scrapbook room full of treasures. I can't wait to put everything in its place. I will have to post pictures when everything is all put away.

We sure did have a great time visiting with everyone. Elijah loved playing with Isaac and Abby. I wish we had more time. The drive takes up so much of the visit time! We arrived in the wee hours of Saturday morning and had to leave Monday morning. Of course it took us longer to get home because of the big load we were carrying. We finally reached home at 2:30 am after missing 3 exits, changing drivers twice and surviving a blow out... a poop blow out that is. Of course a 13 hour drive is the perfect time for the little guy to have diarrhea and get it everywhere! Poor thing. It was a long weekend for him.

I will have to post some pictures soon!

A Day with Momma at Our House

This is how our days have gone at our house lately.

No. You can't have that.

No.

Give me that!

How did you get that?

Get over here!

Where did you go?

What do you want. I can't understand. Show Momma.

No. You already saw Cars today..no more movies.

Sit down. No standing in your chair you might fall.

Sit.

Now!

(I'm washing dishes, baby's in the living room...it's quiet)...You don't have the remote do you? Baby's not supposed to have the remote. (laughter)

Waahh! Waahh! (Interpretation..I want the remote...why can't I have it...I don't want you to smack my hand...was I really disobedient? Maybe just a little..but I want that!!! IT's WAY COOL!!!)

Hug Momma's legs (Meaning I love you Momma...see you can't stay mad at me...I'm too cute!)

Feeling Better

I took this picture the other day when Elijah first started feeling better. He actually wanted to play a little bit. Here he is playing with his cars. He loves "vroom"ing around.

This is him when he was sick. Poor thing. All he wanted to do was sleep or sit in his chair and watch movies. I hate to have him watch TV all day but I had to think about what I do when I am sick...lay around on the couch and watch TV. I think we watched Finding Nemo AND Cars once a day when he was sick. He would come up to us and give us the movie and then crawl in his little chair. Granted, he still does that now that he feels better but he's much more animated about it now and kicks his feet and claps his hands. Way cute. He doesn't get as much TV time though...he can play and run around since he feels better...right?

One of his favorite things is to read books. He LOVES it. I am so glad because Jake and I both love(d) to read. I say that b/c who really has time for books with a one year old. I am just working on reading my Bible through this year (I am close to catching up to the halfway point..I got a little behind). Anyway. He reads books in his crib when he wakes up, before his nap, and before bedtime. I don't have to read the books to him all the time either. Sometimes he just goes into his room, grabs his blankie and a book and gets on his little toddler bed to read. It's very sweet to hear him read in the morning too. I am so blessed to wake up to Beethoven or Bach from his music box (it was a mobile but that part comes off) and hear him "abada la ama....". That's how I know he is actually ready to get up. It's funny but if he wakes up crying, he's not ready to get up. I just let him fall back to sleep. In a little while he'll wake back up again happy and reading. Then when I go to get them he has to stand up, go to his music box, push a new button and wiggle his little bum to the music. Then he smiles, plops down and shows me his book. Predictable but very sweet. I just love him to pieces.

Well, I best be going.

I Have Wonderful People Around Me

Last night started out terribly. I came in early to team lead only to find out that they would be csectioning triplets. Of course we had very little time to get things ready and of course it happened at shift change. ICK!!! I had wonderful helpers to get through it, many of whom stayed over their shift to help get things done. Of course to add a little something special, there was a miscommunication in scheduling and we had a no show. Lovely when you're dealing with moving babies, getting beds ready and admitting triplets. This was all a little stressful but I think I would have handled it ok. Until I got a worrying call from Jake. Elijah had a 103 fever, had slept all day and wasn't really eating. I thought back and the day before he had been tugging at his ear a little bit. I attributed it to him getting his molars in but maybe he had an ear infection. How could I have shrugged it off? What a terrible mommy! I told Jake to give him some tylenol and a bath. Then I changed my mind. What if it was an ear infection and he was in terrible pain. Better go to urgent care. How can I deal with all this work stuff when MY baby is at home sick and poor Jake has to take him in to urgent care? What if he didn't know the information they ask him? Shouldn't his Momma be there to comfort him? What if it's not an ear infection and something worse. Of course at this point I burst into tears. I couldn't deal with it...and then I got called to go to a csection. Really? Right now. Didn't they know I was in crisis mode? I went to the csection and when I came back I found out that we had found someone to come in for a couple hours to help us out and my night shift CM (she's wonderful!) was going to do our high risk duty for me. Yeah! Not only that, upon hearing my worries about Elijah, she told me I needed to be home with him..that they could stick through it all. I was able to meet Jake at the urgent care. Thank God!
So at the Urgent Care I found Elijah already being seen. Daddy had it all under control. The Dr. already figured out what he had...drum roll please...Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. Seriously? He showed me the very slight rash around his mouth. Yeah, I saw that. I thought it was b/c I had given him so many berries lately and he was sensitive. Nope. He showed me the inside of his mouth/throat which was very sore looking. Apparently this is a very common summer virus and you can't really do anything for it. Just keep him comfortable and hydrated. He thinks he has a mild case. I hope so. I just read up on it and often the high fever strikes first. It will be interesting to see if he gets more of a rash today. That apparently is the most uncomfortable part.
I did end up going back to work. Jake had it all under control (a little pang when I say that b/c does any mother really want to feel like she isn't needed when her baby is sick) and he would be going to bed when he got home anyway. I will be home all day (and don't have to work) so I will be able to take care of him. I just couldn't leave the girls hanging.
Better go! Keep Elijah in your prayers!

New(er) pictures...and exciting news!

I haven't posted any pictures in awhile so enjoy!

These pictures are of Elijah's new favorite food...raspberries. He was being a big goofball when I was taken them and kept nodding his head to the right every time I would pick up the camera. He was eating the raspberries as quickly as I would put them on his tray. He stuffed them all in like a little chipmunk and then would sign "more". I bought some cherries too and he was the same way. He sure does love fruit!

These picks are of him in the little pool we bought him for his birthday. He didn't stay in for long but kept kicking his feet and throwing the ball out of the pool (onto the dirt so it would get all muddy, of course). It's funny because he enjoyed it more than he's been enjoying his baths. He is more of a shower guy right now. He really doesn't want to lie down in the water and often just cries. He doesn't like his hair washed either. I think his ears are sensitive. He pulls on them when he gets out. Hmmm. I was hoping he'd be a little fishy. I guess we'll have to see how he does when he's older.

These are pictures of him with a new favorite as well...SNAPS! He loves to throw them and hear them pop. Of course it makes a mess but Daddy was great about sweeping it all up and what a joy it was to see the excited face that he would make with them.

Our exciting news? Elijah and I are going to Michigan to see Grandma and Grandpa in September. YEAH! I can't wait! And what a perfect time of year. I smell fresh donuts and caramel apples...maybe a hayride? I'll be making room in my carryon for some fresh picked apples as well. Yummy!