Monthly News: July 2008

Evie pretending to be Mary with Baby Jesus - so sweet

July 2008: Waitin' on The World to Change

July has officially been the month of unanswered questions. In the last 30 days, we've been presented with multiple possibilities and no concrete direction. We're still awaiting a response to the counter offer we made to a buyer for our house (we expect an answer by Tuesday at noon), and we are still debating our next housing move - to buy or not to buy? In addition to the questions surrounding our potential life altering move, there are the ever looming questions we have about Anabelle's upcoming arrival. When? How? Needless to say, we've had many sleepless nights in July. We are just waiting, two months from now we could be living an almost completely new life. Scary, so scary. All we can do is pray and trust that God will send us His answers in His time, but it is so very hard to wait.

Ben

Even in the middle of this current family craziness, Ben is probably the most relaxed he's been in over a year. He is finally (FINALLY) 100% finished with all things related to paramedic school. After passing his state exam last week, he is officially Paramedic Ben!!! With that under his belt, moving and expanding the family seems like child's play to him right now (I think he's probably in for a real shocker).

Earlier this month, Ben and I celebrated our fifth anniversary prompting me to take a little trip down memory lane and revisit my old "husband requirement list". At some point in my junior year of high school I made a list of everything I wanted in a husband (the Biblical and the shallow). Other than "must be a trillionair", Ben of course met all of them. I was just enjoying thinking back on my list and laughing, when it occurred to me that Ben has brought many attributes to our marriage that I didn't even know I needed or wanted. For example, my list should have included traits such as, "a man who will give CPR to baby rabbit", that's a true story by the way. Ahhh Ben, what would our little family be like without you?

Megan

I am currently the family's "crazy lady" - I think every family has one. My nesting instinct combined with all of the uncertainty has turned me inside out and upside down... koo-koo. I've been trying to keep busy with plenty of little projects that I can do while sitting down. I recently learned how to do some simple crochet work to embellish a newborn cap for Anabelle, yesterday I had a monogramming marathon, and today I am painting some letters to go above the baby girl's beds. It's so good for me to get lost in something creative. I plan on sharing some of these "couch crafts" in some upcoming posts.

Spending so much time on the couch, I've naturally been watching a lot of TV. Right this minute I'm watching Muscle Beach Party on the classic movie channel (TCM). Who decided this was a classic I just don't know, but Frankie is about to kiss someone other than Annette - oh no! One show I am totally hooked on is Tori and Dean Home Sweet Hollywood (a reality show about Tori Spelling and family). Not only is this show fun and entertaining, but I can really identify. Tori is having her second baby (a girl), is in the middle of a move, and keeps getting threatened with bed rest. It's like having a best friend on TV! Believe it or not I don't only watch silliness, I've been watching a lot of History Chanel too. I've always loved TV, but I really depend on it right now. (Muscle Beach Party update: Frankie is singing and shaking his hips while Annette is telling the foreign girl to back off - fabulous!)

Along with crafts and TV, I have the best friends and family who have done so much to keep me well fed and entertained. Thanks so much to all of you. I know that one day this time in my life will just be a memory, but it's difficult for me to see past the present without you!

Evie

Our Baby girl is looking and acting more like a big girl every day. In the last few weeks her language has exploded into full decipherable sentences, and her imagination is in constant action. For most of her life we've teased about her being a "baby Ben", with her busy physical personality. Now that she's added "chatter box" and "pretender" to her list of talents, Evie appears to have a lot of my personality too. She's about as entertaining as they come. Some of our favorite things she says right now are: "Baby Soup" = Bathing Suit, "A-wats TB" = I watch TV, "Snow Wipe" = Snow White, "Wooka me!" = Look at me!, and "A-chayka-baff" = I take a bath. Ben and I get a kick out of speaking Evie's language ourselves. She also spends a lot of time speaking in the third person and refers to herself as "Ebie" - so very cute!

I do worry about Evie and all the changes she's about to experience in her little life. I know that moving and becoming a sibling can be traumatizing enough by themselves for tiny people. I'm fearful that the combination of the two will be an extremely hard adjustment. I'm praying that God will just put His arms around her, and carry her through as only He can.

Anabelle

I may have speculated too soon about this baby's calm personality, in the last week or so Anabelle has become a wild wriggler! Big Sister Evie came to my doctor's appointment last week with great expectations of hearing "Ayabelle's boom-boom-boom" or heart beat. Besides being in a breach position right now, Anabelle didn't disappoint, she's healthy and strong. Anabelle still has a couple of weeks to turn head down, and my doctor said she would not worry until sometime between 34 and 36 weeks. I reminded her that Evie was born at 34 weeks, so she gave me some home exercises to encourage Anabelle to flip around. Come on Little Girl, you can do it!

... Still Waitin' on The World to Change

If July was the month of great speculation, we certainly hope that August is the month of many answers (at least about the move anyway). Well, TCM is playing Gidget now (bringing a little summer fun to my living room) so I gotta run! Thanks for reading!