Sisters

I caught a couple precious moments today and had to put them down for posterity!

Anna and Elizabeth have started to interact.  Well, INTERact may be too strong of a word.  Anna 'acts,' Elizabeth stares in Anna's general direction. Well, sometimes Elizabeth stares in Anna's direction.  Sometimes she turns her head away...

Anna likes to see into Elizabeth's pack n' play.  Up on your toes, now!

Notice the neon yellow picture drawn for Elizabeth by a 3-year-old fellow Wheaton Bible Church-goer who brought over dinner with her mom yesterday.  The care of the body of Christ extends to 3-year-olds and newborns!

Steve and Elizabeth...

Also, Anna is learning to jump.  I have no idea where she got the idea or learned to try to jump, but here she is, on her 18 month "birthday" trying to jump.  The carseat is very distracting, but she does get one good attempt in there.

Joy

My new favorite quote about joy and delighting in God:

"Joy is perfect acquiescence - acceptance, rest - in God's will, whatever comes.  And that is so only for the soul who delights himself in God...Accept for yourself the Fatherhood of God...and by the presence of the Holy Spirit within, you will learn to rejoice in the will of God, and nothing else....Leave yourself open to the circumstances of His choice, for that is perfect acceptance, and rest in the will of God...If you do so, you are in the company of the brave!..In this..."You became imitators of us and of the Lord. (1 Thess 1:6a)" - Amy Carmichael

1. first discovered by me Monday, December 4, 2006.

2. rediscovered by reading my old journals Monday, August 17, 2009 while trying to come to grips with the fact: yes, I am a mom!

3. hopefully not forgotten by me in the coming weeks and months!

Another week's update

Anna and I have the same conversation every morning:

Anna: "Dad-dee"             Me: "Yes, we love Daddy, don't we?"

Anna: "Cool" (school)     Me: "Yes, Daddy went to school"

Anna: "Car"                  Me: "He went to school in the car"

Anna: "Dee" (key)          Me: "Daddy took his key for the car"

Actually this conversation happens many times throughout the day.  Ahhhh...toddlerhood.

Onto the pics!

Elizabeth's 1 month picture.

Steve calls her our "Little Blob".

The headmaster of Wheaton Academy wrote Elizabeth a card welcoming her to the WA class of 2027!  Wow.  The Little Blob may one day be a graduating senior:).  Until she can hold her head up, though, she will stay our Little Blob.

Who knew that people could ever be this flexible?  We called this the 110-degree head.:)  You try it!

We always joked with people when I was pregnant when they asked, "What is it?" Instead of saying "a boy" or "a girl" or "we don't know", Steve would often answer, "a human".  However, Anna occasionally tries out her own alien hairstyle.

We went to Brookfield Zoo this week and saw the elephants and giraffes (Anna's fav - she thinks they both make elephant noises) and also the dolphins and sea lions.  However, the only pics we took were while eating lunch!  Anna ate half of Julie's lunch.:)

Anna and Julie enjoy one another's company!


My mom taught Anna to offer her dolly a drink.  Well, Anna has expanded that to offering everything a drink, from characters in books to Elizabeth.  

Bubbles, Watermelon, and the Garage

Bubbles have become Anna's obsession.  This morning she woke up before 5am and kept saying "Bu-bble" "Bu-bble" to poor tired Steve.  Bubbles are only available in the garage, though, so she kindly brought him his shoe so they could go out and, you know, walk around the garage trying blow bubbles.  Occasionally a bubble will appear, but she's basically just obsessed with the idea.

Anna finally added a new food to her limited diet - watermelon was finally accepted and now she just wants more, more, more!  

The garage has been the family hang-out and party center for the summer, and so this just gives a taste of our contented time in the garage...:)

There was an incredible storm here today - rain, thunder, lightning, wind, the whole bit.  Anna was originally afraid of the rain, but we told her (in a moment of creative weakness) it was just God driving his truck up in the sky (YOU try explaining thunder to an 18 month old).  Now when it thunders, she does her truck motion and makes her truck sound.  Of all things for her to pick up, why this?:)  And does she REALLY think God is up there driving around?  Hmmm...

Regardless, Daddy and Anna enjoyed watching the storm.

Elizabeth continues to hang out!  Almost 4 weeks old.  Doing well, too - 9 lbs and 10 oz yesterday!

The best family shot we have at this point...well, the only one.  

Steve heads back to school tomorrow, so our summer season ends today!  We look forward to the year with great faith that God will accomplish all His works and be faithful in all His promises as we start the next season.

Let me help...

Kids show you a lot about our Heavenly Father.

Anna recently became upset by a garage step from which she really wanted to get down.  She focused on it for a while, could see no solution, and started to whine a little.  This would normally be a normal reaction, except that the whole time she considered her predicament and was upset by it I (as the ever-attentive and loving mother) was standing there saying "Anna, let me help you" and "Anna, take my hand."

Is this not what God does with us every second of every day?  If only I would listen and allow myself to be led and helped by Him moment by moment - surely THAT is part of the abundant life!

So do not fear, for I am with you; 
do not be dismayed, for I am your God. 
I will strengthen you and help you; 
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

- Isaiah 41:10

Another week goes by...

The summer continues to fly by, and we are enjoying our family days!

Elizabeth is still hangin' - now in her 3rd week of life.  Eating and sleeping are her fav activities, in addition to trying to stay safe while sharing living space with Anna! 

Anna often shares her enthusiasm for the "BAY-BEE!" by VIGOROUSLY rocking the occupied car seat or bouncer.  We are thankful that Elizabeth has remained unphased by the exuberant rocking.

Anna tries to put a sock on Elizabeth's foot.  Was unsuccessful.

Anna's one "safe" activity she shares with Elizabeth is kissing her - I sound like a hyper mom in this video, but it's only because it was preceded by many attempts to rock Elizabeth.  Kissing=nice, rocking=highly discouraged activity.

Steve's friend/co-worker Jim has put in many hours helping us upgrade (meaning 'do something with') our landscaping.  Everything looks great!

College friend Kate visited with her son Andrew - Anna and Andrew are new pals, can't you tell?:)

Steve's parents came down this past weekend and Anna really enjoys playing with Paul - they spent many hours together.  However, no one can get her to get in her turtle pool.  We finally sat her in it today but she was not at all happy about it.  Maybe next year?

A recent visit with the Posts - in a few short years we have gone from 4 to 8 people when we get together!