Haven Leigh

This sweet little girl finally came into our family a week ago today on May 22, 2011, weighing a whopping 9 pounds and was 19.5 inches long. She had a bit of a dramatic entry into the world and I am going to blog about it soon before I forget some of the details. God is so faithful and she is such a healthy peaceful little bundle. Sorry that it has taken me awhile to get some pictures up...I decided the internet can wait and isn't going anywhere. My newborn on the other hand is changing everyday and I am trying to take advantage of this cuddle time when she is defenseless against my constant barrage of kisses and cheeky loves. :)

The classic C-Section shot of parents and baby. :)

Our first picture as a family of 4!

Going home outfit.

When we got home, sweet Anna couldn't wait to hold Baby Haven. I promised her that she could hold her as soon as she came out of mommy's tummy. The number one question around our house these days is "Can I hold her?".

Since she was breech, she slept with her legs up like this the first few days and hated having her diaper changed. After a week, she stretches her legs out normally and doesn't scream when we changer her diaper.

Wearing the cute outfit we bought the day we found out we were having another girl.

First bath. Doesn't she look like such a chunk? On her 5 day check-up she had already gained 9 ounces. Slow down girl!

Little Mama

Judging from Anna's behavior towards her favorite baby doll, I'd say she is ready to be a big sister. I joke that Haven doesn't have a chance...she will be smothered with affection and probably bossed around by Anna from day one.

I never realized how many nursing friends and relatives we had until I noticed Anna wanting to nurse her baby so much.

Changing her baby's diaper is cute until she gets frustrated and demands that I help her. It wouldn't be so bad except sometimes she wants to take the diaper on and off several times and often it is when I am trying to do something like make dinner. I just wish she could get good enough to help change Haven's diaper!

This is by far the sweetest think I have found her doing...praying with her baby before pretending to feed her dinner. You'll notice in the video Anna says "shhhhh" as she starts to pray. This is because often when we start to pray, Anna will start praying too and we have to get her to be quiet until we are done and she can have a turn.

Sprinkled With Love

My sweet sisters-in-law and sister gave me the perfect sprinkle to celebrate Haven's arrival. It was small and intimate just like I wanted! After all there is really nothing this baby girl needs anyway, but it was important to recognize and celebrate her life. I am so lucky to have all of the women in my life who were there!

Remember how Brad revealed to me that he also wanted to name our little girl Haven? Courtney came up with the idea to use scrabble letters to make the name places. So creative! I loved seeing "Haven's Mommy" in writing.

Me, my sis, and friend MarciMy sis-in-law Sandy, me and my sis

Gigi, Grandy, and Courtney
My sis brought cupcakes from what is in our opinion the best cupcake bakery in Fort Worth, the Cupcake Cottage.
Sandy always comes up with creative cookies and cakes (she should start a business one of these days) and this time was no different. She made these cute little duck cookies and some amazing chocolate dipped pretzel rods with baby footprints on them.
It was fun to get some new clothes and accessories for Haven so that everything she has will not be a hand-me-down from Anna.

Our church lifegroup also gave Brad and I a sprinkle to celebrate Haven and we felt so blessed! We have not been in Fort Worth for very long but have felt so loved and welcomed by these friends. Of course, we got some cute stuff for Haven but even more important than that, they took the time to pray over us. This was a very meaningful time for our family. During this time of prayer, one thing I felt the Lord speaking to me was that just as we desire for Haven to be a safe place and sanctuary to others, He is calling our family and more specifically Brad and I as her parents to be that for her as well. I have begun to pray that she feels this sense of safety and security from the moment Brad places her on my chest after she is born.

(I have pictures from this sprinkle, but right now they are being held captive by a virus on my computer!)

Another Year Has Flown By!

How true that statement is! This sweet little girl turned 2 on May 6th and we celebrated her with a family birthday party that was kite themed. I learned to be careful what you wish for because I was hoping there would be enough wind to fly kites and as it turned out there was more than enough! It was so windy that everything had to be tied down or it would have flown away.

We had been talking about her birthday for a few weeks and everytime we did, she mentioned birthday cake. She even told me she wanted a chocolate cake. It was fun to watch her when her big day finally arrived.

Here are just a few pics from that day (thank you Aunt Courtney!!!). Hopefully I will have more pictures soon. My computer has a virus and I am praying that our last few months of pictures can be recovered!

I love this picture because of the story behind it. When she opened this present from Gigi, she immediately wanted to swing in it. Since it was her special day, she got her way. :)

The Girls' Room

We finished getting the girls' room ready just in time and I love how it turned out! We chose a neutral woodland themed bedding when we had Anna so that we could reuse it for the next baby. I'll admit that if I had known we would have another girl, I would have gotten something more "girly". I focused on the birds in the bedding and painted some letters and bird houses that I hung from branch decals.

Anna has not yet attempted to crawl out of her crib, so we went ahead and bought the same crib for Haven. Since the model is over two years old, it was on clearance! When Brad and I saw the cribs side by side, it really hit home that we were about to have two babies in our family!

I love this birdhouse watercolor done by an old friend.

Then and Now

So here I am at 39 weeks pregnant with Anna in May 2009 and with Haven in May 2011:

Same jeans and shirt, same bad photo quality. I think my belly looks bigger this time and wonder if my muscles are just more loose, Haven is bigger, or both...we'll soon find out. I also have an outie this time!

2 Years Old!

At two years old the best way to describe you is joyful and so much fun to be with! Here are just a few things you are up to these days...

You are starting to use your imagination and "pretend" to do some pretty funny things. Since it is spring and the bugs have started to come out you are interested in looking at them outside. Sometimes when we are inside you make a little hissing sound and rub your finger along my arm saying that it is a beetle or a ladybug. Then you proceed to tell me it's not scary. You also like to pretend to go on walks down to the Central Market. You often get us ice cream and apples.

BY FAR, your favorite toys to play with are your dolls and one doll in particular that you named Missy. You carry her everywhere and totally "mommy" her. I love to watch what you come up with to do with her. You nurse her, feed her, pray with her, go on walks with her, change her diaper, make her stand, and push her in the stroller.

You have started to sing more and sometimes make up your own songs. I can't always understand you but I love hearing your sweet little voice. You also don't like it if I try to sing with you.

You LOVE your cousins and friends. When I tell you that we are going to see a friend or cousin that day, you make this wide-eyed look with your mouth open and get so excited. You will talk about them all day until we see them and then that is all you talk about when they leave. You play pretty well with others but do have trouble sharing at times. You don't hit or grab but instead scream when someone is playing with something that you want to play with. We are working on this...

You like to stick to your bedtime routine and get upset if any small detail is off. Here is what it has progressed into (kinda ridiculous): Mommy and Daddy give dolly and owlie boopies, kisses, and hugs. Then you stand up and get a boopie, kiss and hug from mommy and then from daddy. Daddy lays you down and covers you with your 1st bird blanket (light pink side down) then mommy covers you with your second bird blanket. Either mommy or daddy will pray for you and then you often want to say a prayer. Sorry child, don't know if this will be able to continue once baby sister arrives!

Just before you turned 2 you started to get very interested in using the potty and are slowly progressing to being potty trained. We put a potty seat in the bathroom a few months ago and have been talking about it, but for the longest time you only liked to sit on it with your diaper and clothes on. I wasn't going to put forth an effort to officially potty train you until after Haven, but you have kinda taken the lead. When we are at home, you often let us know when you want to go potty and have gone #1 and #2. You even insisted on wearing your panties when we left the house once and stayed dry!

Your Stats:
Height: 34.75 in. ~ 66%
Weight: 28 lbs ~ 72%
Head: 48.5 in. ~ 97%

Easter Sunday 2011

This is what Anna woke up to Easter morning.

And this was her about 5 minutes later.

I love the dollar bins at Target where I got her "dress up" attire. She got yogurt covered raisins in her Easter eggs and loved them.

A quick shot on the way out the door to church.

In the afternoon we headed over to Appy and Grandy's. Here are the little ones getting ready for another egg hunt.

Cousin Shanna has such an adventurous little spirit. We were standing around talking and Sandy realized she hadn't seen Shanna for a couple minutes. This is how we found her. Anna would never be so daring, at least for now...hope she isn't getting any ideas. :)

Sweet cousin Emma had already changed out of her Easter dress (can't blame her) and was looking cute in her sun hat as she took mental notes for next year's egg hunt.

Brad's parents put on a Seder meal for us which is a fun tradition (you usually don't have a Seder on Easter but that is the only day all of us could get together). It seems like the table gets longer each year but there was still room for everyone. This year, the musically talented (that is an understatement) Paul and Cathy joined us which always makes any occasion more fun!

Shame on me for not getting a family Easter picture this year! Not that we were that cute coordinating Easter family or anything, but we did try to look a little nicer than usual. :)

Easter Fun

A few of the fun things we did to celebrate springtime and Easter this year:

Anna painted hard-boiled eggs with watercolors. They turned out great and weren't as messy as the dyed eggs. As she was painting them, she kept talking about how bootiful they were. :)

Another day, we made these Stained Glass Easter Cookies that were a fun and easy food craft for Anna.

Of course, eating them was the best part.

While many Easter activities and traditions are just plain fun, I wanted to find one that Anna could participate in and focused on Jesus being risen. I found a blog about these Resurrection Rolls and we made them with Brad on Saturday morning. As we made them, we told her the story of Jesus being put into the tomb and then being risen three days later. Honestly, I thought she was a little young to understand and was just having fun being with us in the kitchen. When we woke Anna up from her nap later in the day, she was talking about Jesus in the tomb and the rock being rolled and the mommies (that is what Brad called the three Marys when he told the story) who went to see Him. She kept saying He is risen. Again, I was reminded not to doubt her ability to understand things of eternal significance and the responsibility I have in teaching these things to her.

Later that day, we headed out to our church's Easter egg hunt. Here I am at almost 37 weeks, and this is one of the few pregnancy pictures that I actually like! I think the angle, lighting, and cutie on my hip make the photo more flattering.

I think it is funny how picking up Easter eggs and putting them in baskets seems to be almost instinctual for toddlers. So is opening them up and eating the candy!

Cute little thing in her dress jumping with all boys, including her good friend Andrew on the left.

Her cousins showed up looking handsome in their coordinating navy outfits.