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Saturday, March 23, 2013

Elijah Neal {2nd Birthday}

Dear Elijah,

Just two short years ago, you entered our world and brought so much joy with you. From the very beginning your big ole personality shown bright and it just keeps getting bigger and brighter with each passing day...

I love to watch you dance around the room whenever you hear music.  And the way you look at me and daddy to make sure that we are watching...precious. And the way you and Bubby grab hands and spin in circles just melts my heart.

Did I mention your smile yet? It lights up a room. Literally. You seriously have the cutest toddler teeth that I have ever seen.

You are usually the first person to wake up in this house.  You are our little alarm clock...a creature of habit, you are. As soon as you wake, you come get me out of bed and pull me to the fridge to get your sippy cup of almond milk.  Then we cuddle for a little while longer in the bed before you pull me into the living room, point at the television, and say, "George!" or "Sheep!" (Curious George and Shaun the Sheep)

Like your brother, you are a slow talker,but you are starting to connect words a bit. Your most repeated words are Da-ye (daddy), pup pup, car, ball, ma (that's what you call your pacie),jew (for juice and milk) and shoe. It's your understanding of what we say that is most impressive. After we change your diaper, we hand you the old one and say "trash please", and off you go to put it in the trash.

Your favorite foods are Chili's hot sauce and chips, mommy's chicken tortilla soup, sweet peas, corn and icecream. You are such a foodie.

You LOVE to play outside! And if you spot a puppy, cow or horse while playing outside it thrills your little heart.

You STILL have the highest pitched scream that I think I have ever heard. You alternate the sound of this ear piercing scream when you are upset, excited or just plain bored and feel the need to get everyone's attention.  It works.

Tonight while I watched you as you fell asleep, I thought to myself "I wish I could just freeze this moment and re-visit it when you are grown." But then I was reminded of Solomon's writings in Ecclesiastes:

"A generation goes and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
 The sun rises and the sun sets;
panting, it returns to its place
where it rises."


...such words of wisdom and truth that remind me even more to be thankful for every moment and to truly count my blessings so graciously given from God. So as your eyes grew heavy and your glow-in-the-dark pacifier shown bright against the dark room, I held your little hand as your other hand traced my face and twirled my hair. And I prayed and thanked God for my little two year old boy who after many rising and setting suns, will one day be doing the same with his own baby, Lord willing. "A generation goes and a generation comes..."

But I pray more than anything, Elijah, that your daddy and I will be constant reminders of God's grace. I pray that you will be able to see that grace lived out in our lives everyday and that your eyes will be opened to His saving grace. Because even more important than generations going and coming, is the fact that Jesus came and will come again. Will you walk that narrow road and follow Him? Oh, how I pray that you will!

I love you E-man. Daddy, Mommy and Bubby have enjoyed celebrating your day today!

Love,

Mommy




Our plan was to take you to the zoo for your big day but it ended up being way too windy and cold. (We'll try again this next weekend) So we went to the store instead to let you pick out some toys with your birthday money. 





You ended up with more cars to add to your collection. I saw this coming before we even got to the toy aisle!


Then we ate at Buffalo Wild Wings for your birthday.  You were pretty impressed with all the televisions in there and not to mention the basketball goal right above your head. 





For dinner, mommy fixed one of your favorites: pizza!









And because you prefer icecream over cake, well, that is what we got!




Josiah was pretty excited about all the excitement!

Josiah hates icecream so he decided to try the candle instead!


Who would have thought that a candle would make such a great spoon?









And it just wouldn't be a good birthday without getting into the Vaseline and rubbing it all in your hair!


It's a...


GIRL!

Yep, we are adding a precious baby girl to the mix and we are so excited! After having two boys, it is really hard to imagine having a little girl.  Especially since I don't have any sisters myself. But I just couldn't stop smiling after the sonogram tech told us that she was 99.9% sure.  Jordan is already planning on adding to his gun collection. There is no doubt about it... This little one is going to be very protected by her daddy and two older brothers. I posted our sonogram pics below but they are a little blurry.  And for the life of me, I couldn't get the last pic (of her girl parts) to load the right direction. Oh, and I will also add that little miss is already pretty lady like.  She had her legs crossed through the whole ultrasound up until the very end.  The sonogram tech prodded and pushed for the longest time and we almost walked out of there without knowing the gender. Fortunately, she decided to prod just a little longer and little miss finally gave us a peek. I see a lot of pink in our future...this is such a whole new world that we are about to enter into!










Monday, March 18, 2013

Spring and 15 week baby bump

 So I got really excited and maybe even a little carried away when our temperature reached into the upper 70s last Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  I realized yesterday that packing up most of the boys winter clothes probably wasn't the best idea when we stepped outside for church into the chilly air...the chilly air that reached into the 50s but no more...the chilly air that is suppose to hang around until we reach the 60s later in the week.  Y'all may think that temperatures in the 50s aren't that bad, but when you factor this "rip you to the bone" Oklahoma wind into the mix, it feels 20 degrees colder.  Seriously.  This native East-Texas is not cut out for this kind of winter. I really kinda miss those mild winters (even the extreme humidity) where we would have days that reached into the 70s or more in the middle of January sometimes.  But I'm not complaining.  I guess it's a fair exchange considering the Oklahoma summer isn't near as bad as the East Texas Summer.  I mean it still gets just as hot here temperature wise, but we don't have the humidity that makes those E-Tex summers so miserable.

So I guess all that was just an introduction before I bombard you with the loads of pictures that I took of us enjoying our warm weather.  And mind you, I had a lot to make up for considering that I haven't taken very many pictures since Christmas.  I'll blame that on the cabin fever, all-day morning sickness and bronchitis. 


Thursday: I took the boys to one of the many parks we have here in Lawton.  This one was a first and I think we'll be going back! They really enjoyed looking at the water and chasing the ducks.  Of course, I got quite a workout in trying to keep them out of the water....
















Friday: Friday morning I had to go get some blood drawn.  I took Josiah with me and afterward we had a date.  We ate at Chic-fil-a in the mall and then I took him to see Escape from Planet Earth.  I was very impressed with my big boy.  He sat there the whole time paying attention and about 15 minutes before the movie was over, he decided that he was ready to go. So we left and played in the mall's play area for awhile.  I really enjoyed my date with my little man!









While Josiah and I were on our date, Jordan and Eli were on a little excursion of their own. Jordan took Eli to Pumpkin Center to eat.  Eli even took the waitress her tip and got a sucker in return! (If you're wondering how Eli's face got beat up, it was the swing's fault. He was pulling a "superman" and flipped over head first)




We spent the rest of our day on Friday playing in the backyard and finished it off with a steak dinner from our grill.








Saturday: Jordan helped "Uncle Rob" clear some fences at their soon-to-be new home.  When they got done, they picked Eli up and went for supplies to work on the pergola that we started building in our backyard last summer.  While they were gone, Josiah and I played behind the church.  I really enjoyed our one-on-one time together...He even almost fell asleep while swinging with me on the horse swing.  I'm trying to soak these moments up...I can't believe he'll be four in August!






 
 
Jordan sent me this pic of Eli wearing Uncle Rob's helmet.  That little boy loves his Uncle Rob!




After the guys finished the table installment on the pergola, we put it to good use with good food and good company!







And last but not least, here is my 15 week baby bump picture.  I go for my first appointment/ultrasound on Thursday. At that point, I'll be a day shy of 16 weeks so we are hoping to find out the gender of baby #3...It's still a little early but we found out Eli's gender at 15 weeks so we are hoping to find out early with this one too. We shall see!