Little Mover

Ellie is on the move all the time. She is a busy little girl, but such a delight. She's always on the lookout for new things to get into, and as she has gotten taller, more things have become available to her. Thankfully, she is (for the most part) obedient when we tell her not to touch something, so we have been able to let our curious little girl explore some. It is wonderful to watch as she learns new things and plays new games. She wears me out some days, but it is rare when I don't end the day with a smile in my heart and thankfulness for the silly little girl God has given us.


One of Ellie's favorite things these days is to crawl into our room and pull up on the bed, then "hide" from us by burying her face in the comforter. She giggles and giggles when she's "hiding" and she'll peek out to see if we're looking at her, then quickly bury her face again and giggle some more.

In the same way, she loves to roll around on the comforter on top the bed. I think the softness is fun for her and she is just plain cute when she rolls to get away from you, then rolls back to surprise you with a hug or kiss. It really is heart melting. Here I caught her in a brief moment of quiet as she looked out the window at the birds outside. She really is a curious thing and a very careful observer.



For a long time now Eliana has liked playing the piano. She thinks it is so fun to sit on the bench or on Daddy's lap and play and play and play. Recently, though, Ellie discovered that she is now tall enough to play the piano by herself. And so, in the middle of playing in the living room she will take a break to come over and play a few notes on the piano. It's delightful to both her and me and I hope that her desire to make music is something that grows with her. She likes to sing and dance along with her musical table, and when there is music playing in public she will often bob along with it. Music is good and I hope she holds on to it.



A favorite passtime (and an almost sure sign that she's up to something) is closing doors. Often I will notice that the house is unusually quiet and I will go searching for Eliana, only to find her in her Daddy's office, door mostly closed, playing with a book or the fringe on a blanket. When I open the door and spy her, she giggles at me guiltily and holds out her hands for me to pick her up as an admission of her naughtiness. She's never really gotten into anything bad, but it is true that when kids are quiet, too quiet, they are up to something.

And now I close this post with the best feeling in the world - the tug of small hands holding fast to my legs as I'm trying to do something. That tug is almost invariably followed by a grin and sparkly blue eyes and is sure to make my day 100 times better, no matter what.

Pretty in Pink

Someone told me today that there is no way she could ever be mistaken for a boy now. She just looks too much like a girl. I still dress her in head to toe pink whenever we go out. She's my girly girl.

The Sandwich Snatcher

During the nearly two weeks that my mom was here Eliana decided that she is now a big girl. She got a new big girl car seat and she rides in the "big girl" seat in the shopping cart. She is also not interested in eating her baby food anymore. She wants big girl food. The other day we were going to go shopping, so mom made a quick sandwich to eat in the car. While she was getting ready to go out to the car, she sat Ellie up on the counter and grabbed her sandwich. Ellie was intrigued and lunged for it, so mom let her bite a little bit off. Apparently Ellie liked it a lot, because she ravenously grabbed it and ate it like she hadn't been fed in days. I should mention that she'd just been fed rather large lunch. Mom had to eat her sandwich as quickly as she could, just to salvage some of it from Ellie! It was hilarious. All told Ellie ate half of Mom's sandwich. Thankfully I had my camera in hand to bring you footage:

The first taste of peanut butter sandwich

Careful observation

Let me try!

Give me that sandwich!

Yummmmmm!

Now let me feed YOU some!

The Unexpected

11 days ago we found out we were pregnant. I was so happy. Our babies would be 18 months apart, just like we’d planned. I got to surprise Leif with the news and we were finally going to be a family of four.

Tuesday we found out the pregnancy was ectopic. We were going to lose our baby no matter what. Thankfully we found out before it ruptured. They gave me a couple shots of methotrexate to stop the pregnancy before it could rupture and I would need to go back for weekly blood tests over the next few weeks until my HCG levels are back to zero.

I know that our little baby was created by God for His glory. And I know that both the short life and the death of our baby will bring glory to God in His sovereignty. It’s not about me, and it’s not about Leif, and it’s not about our baby. It’s about God. We are here for His purpose and His glory. And I praise Him for that.

I am thankful that Eliana woke up with a 102.5 temperature that morning. I am thankful that I called the doctor on Monday to ask if I should be concerned about the little bit of spotting I’d had over the weekend. I am thankful for the cramping I had that convinced me to call, even though I was sure everything was okay. If Eliana hadn’t had a fever and been acting sick, I would have dropped her off at Taylor’s house and gone to the appointment alone. Instead, I made an appointment for her that afternoon and took her with me. If I hadn’t had her with me I wouldn’t have called Leif to see if I could drop her off at his office while I had blood drawn and a sonogram. She was whiny, so he didn’t think he would be able to get much work done, so he decided to come with me to the appointment, especially since we were having a sonogram and would get to see our little baby. I am thankful that she was whiny and fussy because it meant that Leif was with me when we found out about our baby. He was able to take Eliana to her appointment when I was still busy getting shots and meeting with the doctor. There was nothing wrong with Eliana. By the time she got in to see the doctor her fever was gone. Her throat was a little red, so they did a strep test, but it came back negative. There was nothing wrong with her, but I am so thankful she had a fever because I wasn’t alone that day.

On Wednesday morning I was in a lot of pain, so we went back to the doctor. They did another sonogram and discovered that the baby had grown a little, and that I was bleeding into my abdominal cavity. They ran some more blood tests and I went back home and waited for them to call with the results. When the doctor called with my results, she said she wasn't comfortable waiting to see if my body would reabsorb the pregnancy. She said that my body had a good chance of reabsorbtion if my HCG levels were below 5,000 and if the pregnancy were smaller than 3 cm. The pregnancy was bigger than that and my HCG levels were at 6,000, so they scheduled me for surgery for Wednesday night.

My surgery was delayed due to an emergency operation, but around midnight on Wednesday I finally got into the operating room. They were able to do the surgery laparascopically, which means that I have three tiny incisions instead of a large incision, and it means that I should be able to heal more quickly. They had to remove the tube containing the pregnancy, but said that everything went smoothly and that the other side looks good. My doctor said she didn't see any reason why we couldn't still have more children in the future, so that was good news. I am on bedrest recovering for the next two weeks, but thankfully we were able to fly my mom up on Thursday morning. She will be here for 12 days helping me take care of Eliana since I am not allowed to lift her. We are praying for a speedy recovery, but I am so thankful that my mom was able to come. It is another example of God's faithfulness is carrying us through hard times.

I believe that God is sovereign. And I believe that He does things for a reason – for His glory. I thank Him for the life of our little baby because it allowed me to see His hand at work yet again, and it is another reminder that He is in control. He knows the plans He has for us. For me, for Leif, for Eliana, and for the baby we will never get to meet. He has a purpose for each of us, and that purpose is to bring Him glory.

To God be the glory, great things He has done.

Day 3

So after the flower pot incident, then the next day getting into the Tupperware, here is Ellie's idea of fun while Mommy is in the shower on the third day. Yes, those are crystal candle holders that were a wedding gift. And yes, she was enjoying the sound they make when she bangs them on the tile. Nothing broken, but I did rearrange the shelf.

Curiosity

I love these pictures of Eliana discovering the camera. She has become extremely curious about things lately. She is getting into EVERYTHING and is testing her boundaries. She knows what "no" means, but lately it seems like she is testing to see if we really mean it when we say it. She is becoming more independent and is as active as ever. Today we were at the Children's Museum for playgroup and I put Ellie down on the floor to play. She crawled everywhere - crawled, mind you, not power-scooted. I don't know if the carpet was different and so she didn't want to drag her belly on it or what, but she just got up on all fours and crawled away to get into stuff or go after the other kids. I've seen her do it before, for short spurts, but nothing like today. And now that we are home again, she is crawling here, too. Maybe she has finally realized that it really is a more efficient way to get around.

Ellie also discovered the box of tupperware in the pantry today. She loves climbing up on things and loves digging through and pulling stuff out. Right now there is tupperware strewn all over because she was digging in the box. She also started pulling the clothes out of the laundry basket. She's like a tornado... leaving destruction in her wake for her mommy to pick up!