So thankful!

I am so very thankful for this precious little girl. Although being a parent is hard work, it is also the most incredible blessing too. Sometimes I think how simple and uncomplicated our lives were before kids, but I would never want to return to those days and miss the joys that raising a child brings. I feel like I haven't shared much about Miss Elliott lately, so I thought I would take today to share some things in her I am thankful for.

I am thankful for her excitement for life. The girl runs all the time (or her version of a run). She is never satisfied to sit still and is constantly exploring, constantly moving. Her new trick has been learning how to climb. The other day I turned around to find her standing on Truman's huge bin of food. Gulp. Visions of her crashing to the floor flashed through my mind as I realized we have entered a whole new stage of potential for injury. Elliott is not a huge talker but one of her favorite words is "wow" and she uses it OFTEN. Apparently there is a lot that "wows" her.

I am thankful for her independent spirit. She loves to do things on her own...feed herself, climb up stairs, I think she would change her own clothes if she could just figure out exactly how to do it. The reverse is she hates to do things she does not initiate, such as getting her diapers changed. It's funny to see such a small girl try to exert such independence (and have such strong opinions about things...that's putting it nicely).

I am so thankful to see her act more like a little girl and less like a baby. It's amazing how much she understands! I can tell she is actually comprehending what I tell her, whether it be what we're doing or when I give her simple commands. It seems like every day she is understanding more too. I can now get her to throw things away for me (the trick is getting her to leave other things in the trash), and I'm hopeful that by the time Baby Boy gets here, she'll be able to get a diaper for me. We'll see how that works. :)

I'm thankful for the moments she still needs her mommy. It warms my heart when she gives me kisses or lays her head on my shoulder or reaches for me when she gets hurt. Although she is a busy little girl, I always get to see glimpses of her sweet side.

Joyful independence!

We took these pictures about a month ago, but I feel like they show such a joyful side of her (especially since she is not smiling in so many pictures we take). She is truly our little miracle, and we are so blessed!

Preparation...

How is it possible that Thanksgiving is in 2 DAYS?? And that Christmas is in 1 MONTH??? I feel like I'm in a whirlwind of activity and time is flying by. And with each day that flies by, I keep thinking, how is it possible that our little baby boy will be here in 5 weeks or less? I had Elliott when I was 38 weeks 5 days so I realize there is a possibility he could come a little early. I'm not sure I feel ready. Don't get me wrong, this body is TIRED of being pregnant. Wow...not sure how women have like 10 kids. Pregnancy wears.me.out. I do love feeling baby boy move, and I love knowing he is growing, but this stage in the game is just uncomfortable and I would say I'm definitely more uncomfortable than I was when I was pregnant with E.

Part of me wonders if I am physically ready. The pain of birth is no surprise now...no mystery. I know it hurts...bad. Also, although I am uncomfortable now, I'm not sure I'm ready to be completely and utterly exhausted from waking up in the middle of the night. Newborn babies are SO sweet, but there is nothing like getting only small segments of sleep. We finally got baby boy's crib set up, but beyond that, I don't feel like I have much more ready for him. Poor guy doesn't even have a name yet!

Finally, I'm not sure I am mentally prepared to have 2 children. Elliott is at a super fun age as we get to see more and more of her little personality, but she also is at an age where I am constantly questioning how to be an effective parent. It's so easy to second guess how and what you do and wonder how to best raise them. What's going to happen when we throw in a completely helpless baby that demands our attention?

We are SO excited to meet our little guy, and I don't want to seem ungrateful. I am so thankful for this precious life growing inside me, but I definitely have had more emotions as his due date draws near. I think in some ways my fears stem from my desire to want to have all my "ducks in a row." I like to feel totally prepared, totally on top of things, and I just don't right now. It's probably just preparation for our lives with 2 kids, but it is hard for me to let go of the control.

Where we've been

Where do you even start when you've been gone for a greater than 2 week blogging hiatus? So much to share, especially since we were gone for most of this time. I'll try to make it brief, but I warn you, I decided to limit the words so I could post more pictures.

Elliott and I decided to make a girls trip to Texas to see my first niece/her cousin.

Isn't she precious?

We actually flew into Oklahoma City first so we got to spend a couple of nights with our sweet friends...

they even hosted a come and go party for us so we could see other friends since we weren't able to hang out with everyone one-on-one (of course I took no pictures of this event). Then we stayed a night with Kev's parents and E got some play time with her cousins

and Aunt Lisa.

No pictures with Uncle Seth! So sad!

Then we drove to Texas and spent a week with my parents (my dad was there too...promise).

My middle sister and her husband came up for the weekend so we got to see them too.

Hanging with Uncle Josh.

Checking Baby H out.

Did I mention I did all of this when I was 33/34 weeks pregnant with a 15 month old that weighs 26+ pounds? Not going to lie, all of the travel was slightly exhausting but TOTALLY worth it!

The flight to OKC was slightly traumatic...we missed our first flight due to poor time management and having E's diaper bag run multiple times through the scanner then eventually searched (I guess the snacks I brought looked suspicious). Definitely a bad start to an already potentially stressful day. Don't kid yourself, I was definitely that token pregnant girl walking through the airport bawling when I called Kev to tell him. Not my best moment. Things got better from there, and thankfully the missed flight only extended our travel time by a couple hours (which can feel like an eternity with a toddler).

The flight home from Amarillo was much more smooth even though we had one extra stop, and we only had one leg of the flight where a very large man sat in the middle seat so we had very little room in our seat by the window. Did I mention the plane was hot as well? Not a good combo for this girl. I packed new toys/stickers/coloring book, tons of snacks, put videos on my iPhone, but I hadn't thought through the fact that I can no longer bend at the waist. This probably made flying the most difficult because I had to rely on the people sitting next to me to get things for me. By the end of traveling, I wised up and put everything I thought we could potentially use in the seat pocket in front of me.

It was quite an adventure but we survived! It was pretty amazing to see Kev's face in Chicago though. Life is definitely easier with him! I'm just SO thankful we got to see Baby H! She is absolutely perfect and I'm just sad we don't live closer so we can see her more often.