We started last month with a little craft time! I love crafts and have all my stuff from teaching, so for Valentine's Ellie made a valentine for Daddy, of course, and our friends Miss Lindsay and Miss Brittany, who always take care of our sweet Ellie so Mommy and Daddy can go on dates! We are so appreciative of them loving on our little Ellie while we are out and wanted to take this day to tell them!
Ellie and Mommy were well loved by Daddy on Valentines. We both got flowers and Daddy said next year he will have to buy 3 bouquets. Ellie was so excited that her Daddy got her flowers! Nana and PopPop also sent Ellie some candy and a tea set, which is so cute and we were excited to use this past month! We are looking forward to having our next tea party and can't wait to have one with Nana!
Speaking of crafts, I have been very busy. I made a long list of items I wanted to make for the baby and then for friends that are having babies, which we have many! Ben's mom also ordered a few wipe clutches from me and Ellie helped me pick out the fabric for hers. I am having so much fun sewing and have a goal of one project a month, which I have far exceeded so far. I also made Ellie a bow holder for her new room. I am making the baby a blanket and I am going to make Ellie a blanket, since I don't want her to feel left out later on since I didn't have a sewing machine before she was born. I made a few living room pillows as we were in need of new ones and after the baby arrives curtains will be on the top of my list for our bedroom since it will be the only bedroom upstairs without them. I have to say a huge Thank You to my GrannyFranny for giving me the sewing gene and always making me so many items growing up, I am taking totally after you with my sewing projects!
Baby Sling
Nursing Cover
Bow Holder
My great friend from high school, Missy, is having twin boys and is actually due the day before me, so I made the boys wipe cases, a burp cloth and paci holders.
Bibs
A gift for my friend Caroline. She was due with her little girl 2 1/2 weeks before me, but little Kendall came this morning and we can't wait to meet her. Her big brother Ethan is Ellie's great friend and now our little girl will be Kendall's great friend.
Burp Cloths for our sweet little one
Paci clips for our little addition and friends
In February we also celebrated the twin cousin's 5th birthday. Ben's sister and her family live about an hour south of us so we went down there to celebrate the boys. Ellie had a good time playing with her cousins and seeing her Geep and Gran.
Our First of Many Tea Parties!
Playing a little hide and seek.
Geep and Gran came for a visit this month to get in a last visit before the baby comes.
Ben has been keeping very busy as well with his own projects. I have mentioned he is making Ellie's big girl furniture and the bed is complete. He is working on the dresser now. He has even dovetailed the drawers and the drawers alone took him 10 hours. He is working on the finishing touches and should be done in the next week or so. Even though I have been a little impatient with the completion of the project, I know he knows I love all the hard work he is doing and I am so proud of what he has done and know Ellie is going to love having these pieces from her Daddy.
Here is a picture of our little one at 33 weeks. She is growing away. All the weight is going to her as I have only gained half of what I gained with Ellie. We successfully made it past the 33 week appointment with a great blood pressure and no swelling, which is an amazing blessing and a huge thank you to the many people that are praying for me and the baby during this pregnancy, God's blessing is completely on it. I am extremely grateful to my Grandmary and her amazing friends that have been praying for me weekly and probably many times a week throughout my pregnancy and always know when my appointments are.I did develop gestational diabetes with this little girl, but I keep to my diet and it is well controlled. Around our house we say we will take the diabetes over the bed rest. I will say that I can not wait to have some pasta and a piece of chocolate as soon as she arrives :) The big news in our house is that we have a first name for this little one. Of course we won't tell anyone what it is, but it is a huge accomplishment for us. We decided on Ellie on the way to the hospital. With Ellie I always loved the name and wanted her to be Ellie Rebecca to have the same initials as me and Rebecca is my middle name and my mother's name, so it is very special to me. This go around I had no ideas, I made a list and Ben narrowed it to 2, then last week out of nowhere he had a new name and I liked it. We are now "noodling" on the middle name, which we have narrowed to 2. This time around the name will most likely not be anything that our family or friends would have expected from us and what makes it special is her name was thought of completely by her Daddy with a little input from Mommy, but not too much.
A couple weeks ago Ellie got a gift from PopPop (and Nana). She got an Elmo playdough toy and let me tell you Elmo in this house is one of our absolute favorites. Elmo and Olivia are hands down the favorites besides our baby. Also, anything that is given to Ellie is from PopPop and anytime the phone rings it is PopPop. Items can be from other people, but they are also from PopPop. To say she is in love with PopPop would be an understatement. Even when it is not playdough time she carries Elmo around. He is removable from the top and today she wrapped him in a blanket and he rode in the stroller with "Baby", our doll, and Elmo even slept in the crib with Baby. He has been elevated to a very high status. Thank you PopPop, Elmo is a hit!!
We have a little artist in the making. We explored with our paint last week and it was a huge success. Ellie did a phenomenal painting and without telling her she would use one color at a time and she wanted a different brush with each color so she did not mix colors. We are looking forward to making our next painting just for Nana! Nana loves Ellie's art and even has Ellie's framed drawings in her office, so we can't wait to send her an extra special painting to make her days cheerier! I am also sure that Ellie's painting will get a prominent spot at NaNa's and PopPop's house right next to Uncle Drew's framed painting he did when he was younger ;)
Ellie is obsessed with "glassees" as she calls them. I wear glasses to see and Ben and I wear sunglasses, so she always wants her "glassees". My mom got her some last year that she loves wearing in and around town, and in stores or anywhere really, and Ben's mom got her some recently that she wears around the house. Glassees are a must in our family!
Ben has been working hard. Along with finishing the dresser he added a whole two week long yard project to his list. He wanted to do it to make our yard awesome, but I am pretty sure he is also doing it because I love a beautiful yard, I am a landscaper's daughter after all. I had to be sneaky and snap a photo of him working outside today from the window, hence the screen. He is not one to want his picture taken often. Over the past week he has weeded, mowed twice, trimmed bushes, dethathced our whole yard, had it aerated, laid mulch (which he fill finish next weekend, as he ran out), fertilized the yard and is in the process of laying compost on the whole yard. He still has to finish the compost, mulch, seed and do a little trimming. He is then going to create our new beds out back and mulch around Ellie's little house. Also, he is making me a raised garden. Last year I tried my hand at growing sunflowers and I think I found my green thumb (which I should have since my parents farm) and this year I am excited to try and grow a few more items. My garden of course will not be done until the dresser is complete, but I am already imagining the things Ellie and I will plant.
So as you can see we have been busy! Amongst all this activity Ben and I both still work and Ben is chugging along in school and of course we are super busy chasing Ellie around and enjoying every minute of it. I will try to do better about updating the blog. I am taking the pictures, they just don't make it to the blog :) However, it is very likely that the next time you will here from us on here is with the news that our new little girl is here. Thank you for keeping up with our family and keep us in your prayers as our family will expand very soon and we are very excited as our lives are extremely blessed minute by minute!
