22 June 2012

April/May 2012

Easter Sunday 



The girls are growing and changing so much and life at our house is getting crazy!  Hope and Genevieve both have their own little personalities, so I’ve written a few things about each of them.  They are funny little girls…two nuts just like their mama and dada! 

Hope Allison                                 
Hope is a busy little girl.  She only sits still to eat and sleep.  Now that she’s crawling she is everywhere.  She is also pulling up to stand anywhere and everywhere she can.  It’s so fun to watch her.  It’s easy to let her explore at home because everything is kid friendly, however when I take her to other people’s homes it is crazy.  She is a bit aggressive with others, especially her sister.  She doesn’t know she’s hurting her, and sometimes Genevieve thinks it’s funny and other times she screams out for help. Hope just doesn’t know how strong she is…and she is really strong for a baby.  She babbles like crazy saying, “mama” and “dada”, “baba” and “nana” and she giggles a lot.  She loves to eat!  I think she would eat all day if I let her.  She loves anything you give her…baby food and finger food.  She lights up with smiles when she sees her daddy! She is a daddy's girl for sure! For her future I think she is going to be athletic and independent.  She is so sweet and her laugh is contagious.  I love it! 
Hope now has 7 teeth, 3 on the bottom and 4 on top.  She’s working on a few more on top…chewing on anything she can!  At her 9 month check-up she weighed 19lbs 11oz.  She’s is getting so big…I can’t believe it. 

Genevieve Hannah
Genevieve is a content baby.  She is not crawling just yet, but she’s working on it.  She enjoys just sitting and playing with a few toys.  She is fascinated by the details in everything, from a tiny toy to the patterns on her clothes.  I am sure she will be artistic in the future.  She is really fascinated by her hands and really into clapping her hands and banging toys together.  It’s too cute!  She is a little ham in front of people…kind of like her mommy!  She loves to make people laugh…also like her mommy! She is a cuddle bug and she loves to be held.  She loves to babble just like her sister, her favorite phrase is “Uh-Oh”  and she’s also a squealer.  She cracks me up everyday! 
Genevieve now has 7 teeth, 4 on bottom and 3 on top.  She is also working on a few more on top.  At her 9 month check-up she weighed 18lbs 15oz….my big girl!

Being a mommy just keeps getting better.  I finally feel like we have a good routine each day and we go on play dates every week now!  I’m really enjoying the girls more and more each day…falling in deeper love with them every day as well!
During the play dates the girls are experiencing children of all ages and they love toddlers.  They enjoy watching them play and they laugh so much when they are around.  It’s so cute!  Now that they are sitting up and crawling they are really interacting with other kids and each other.  I have a few videos of the girls playing with each other…they always make each other laugh.  They play peek a boo with each other and of course Hope wants to wrestle with Genevieve. 
While it is so much fun around here these days…I still have my moments.  The past few months I have felt overwhelmed and lonely at times. As I think any stay-at-home mom feels from time to time to time.  Motherhood is the hardest job and the greatest job.   God continues you to teach me so much about myself through motherhood and raising babies. 
I can’t believe my babies are almost 1 year old…where did the time go?  Thank you God for the most amazing 9 months ever….Thank you for your faithfulness and protection…Thank you for creating life…Thank you for grace and mercy…Thank you for the gift of motherhood!  God’s timing is always the best and he is always faithful. 
Recently I’ve been thinking back to the days of going through infertility and loss.. I’ve been asking God to remind me of that journey. I want to remember what He taught me and I want to minister to others on that same path.  It is hard, but I know God is faithful and he will use the journey for greater purposes.  I found that my identity was not in becoming a mommy but in Christ alone…I learned total dependence on God and now as I am a mommy, I need Him even more.  I want to be reminded that I did not create Hope and Genevieve, they are a gift from God and He created them.  I am to take care of them on this earth and I need Him by my side each day.  I recently read a poem in my Infertility/Pregnancy Loss Newsletter and it brought tears to my eyes and reminded me once again of our journey and the journey of so many couples are facing each day.  Erik and I have recently had experiences where we had to think back to the day we lost Ivy and the day we lost Ephraim…we’ve experienced flashbacks and pain, but God has used our loss to help us minister to others.  He uses everything in our lives for His greater glory.  Praise God!

It’s amazing to see our life today and to think back to where we’ve been. God is good all the time, all the time God is good.