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My husband and I will celebrate six years of marriage on July 8, 2013, and after a lot of praying, hoping and dreaming, we welcomed our first baby boy into the world on August 18, 2011. About a year later, we were blessed with a second pregnancy and welcomed our beautiful daughter into the world on March 22, 2013.

Today, we're just doing life. Trying our best to live each day with intention and purpose while keeping our eyes fixed firmly on our Creator.

God has blessed us more richly than we could ever have imagined, and in all things,
His grace has fallen like rain on our life together.

We couldn't ask for more.



Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Blake Louis: 19 Months

Well little man, you are officially 19 months old, and about to become a big brother!  Your little sister Lainey will be arriving in just three short days, which means your days as an only child are extremely numbered :)

Originally, I was only going to do yearly updates once you hit 12 months, but in the past seven months you have changed so much that I just have to catalog some of the memories.  I’m afraid if I wait until you’re two, the little boy standing in front of me will have already vanished and these special moments will be lost.

So, here’s my little snapshot of you at 19 months:

·    You have the most adorable scrunchy nosed smile, and use it to your full advantage.  If you get in trouble, you’ll just scrunch that nose up and grin at me…knowing full well how cute you are.  You also use that smile when we’re out and about and you’re flirting with people you meet.  You are just so adorable.  Everyone loves you, and everyone comments on how handsome you are.

·    Over the past few months you’ve really gotten into imaginative play!  You’ll sit with your cars on the floor and drive them all over—making sounds for them, having them interact with each other, the whole nine yards.  Your little voice when you’re playing pretend is just so precious to me. 

·    You love to read.  You pull books off your shelves and sit with the giant teddy bear Uncle Tony gave you while you read the books to yourself. You are so expressive with your voice and hand gestures as you read!  Your words are just gibberish, but it’s the most precious thing I have ever heard.  I was so excited to get a video of it a few months ago!

·    You are absolutely in love with Toby and Emma.  You climb all over them and get so excited when I tell you we’re going home to see them.  Emma is more tolerant of you than Toby, but that just seems to encourage you to chase/harass poor Toby even more. 

·    Little man, you have your daddy’s dance moves.  Your shake and wiggle those hips like there’s no tomorrow, and you have this funny little skip-walk/head bob you do when you’re especially happy or in a good mood.  So precious.  I also taught you how to raise the roof in the car, which you love, and I think is pretty hysterical.

·    You are very clean.  You hate to be dirty.  If you’re eating something messy, and it gets on your hands….well, hold the phone.  Your little world stops until you can get a napkin to clean yourself.   You love to help mommy dust, and have a broom at Grandma and Grandpa’s house that you push all around the house.  You’re also very very fond of the vacuum.  You’ll hold the cord for me and follow me around the house as I go.

·    When you do something exciting, or you’re proud of yourself, you clench your fists into tight little balls and wave them by your side while saying “whoa!”  

·    I used gel in your hair for the first time today, and when we got the bottle out I told you I was going to give you a faux-hawk.  Later that day, after you woke up from your nap, you came running to me with the bottle of hair gel asking for a “hock” over and over…but you replaced the ‘h’ with a ‘c’ and it was pretty funny.

·    For a long time you weren’t very verbal, but in the last month your vocabulary has really exploded! Here’s a list of what you can say (I’m sure I’ll leave something out!)
o    Mama/mommy
o    Dada/daddy
o    Lainey
o    baby
o    Grandma (sounds like ‘mama’)
o    Grandpa (sounds like ‘papa’)
o    Tony (sounds like TAW-nee or NAW-nee)
o    Uncle (sometimes)
o     No (this one gets its own bullet point below)
o    Yes (but you only nod your head for yes, you don’t say it)
o    Dog
o    Chip (you call chips ‘chippies” and it is the cutest thing)
o    Up
o    Down
o    Help
o    Hi
o    Bye bye
o    Cookie
o    Uh oh! (you always tell me this when your toys get stuck or something breaks)
o    Whoa!
o    Stuck
o    Seahorse (sounds like saORse when you say it…and if you don’t have him in the car you call for him over and over and over)
o    Water
o    Milk (you call it milk milk)
o    Sit down!  (This one cracks me up, because you must hear me say it to you a million times a day….when you’re climbing on the couch, or the train table, or a multitude of other places.  You will often tell Toby or Emma to sit down while you wag your little index finger at them.)
o    Ouch
o    Church
o    Oh well!
o    On
o    Off
o    Yucky (you love to find ‘yucky’ things on the ground to point out to us)
o    Bubble
o    Banana

·    By far, your favorite word right now is “no”.  Today, daddy called and I asked if you wanted to talk to him.  You looked at me, looked at the phone, and said “no!”  And when you say no, it’s in the sweetest little voice.  It sounds like no-OO with a smile and a sweet shake of the head.  So sweet.   Then later on the way home in the car, daddy asked if you were ready to meet your baby sister.  Your response?  “Uh, no!”  We laughed and laughed, and you thought you were pretty hilarious.  Lately you’ve been saying ‘oh no’ and ‘uh, no!’ (with some attitude) more often that just ‘no’.

·    Your ‘no’ isn’t always so sweet, because if Toby or Emma decide to go after your food or they’re doing something you think they shouldn’t, you’ll run after them wagging your finger saying “NO NO NO NO NO!”  You also like to tell mommy that when I ask you to do something (like lie down for a diaper change) that you definitely do not want to do. 

·    Your happy place is outside.  You love to be outside.  You follow daddy around the backyard, love to watch him work in the yard, and love going for walks and wagon rides.  I’m so excited that summer is coming, because that means we’ll get to spend a lot of time outdoors.  I know you’re excited!

·    You know most of your animal sounds and most of your body parts.  You love to honk mommy and daddy’s noses and have lately become fascinated with nails (mommy painted hers the other day and you thought it was the most interesting thing you’d ever seen)

·    After daddy gets home from work, the two of you will wrestle and play on the floor for hours.  Daddy tickles you and you just laugh and laugh.  I can’t wait to watch you two together every night.  It makes me so happy.

·     You have the most ridiculous fake laugh.  It’s deep and throaty and makes you sound like an old man.  You only do it when you think you’ve been pretty funny and want everyone to know it. 

·    You’ve gotten a little bit better with food, although you are still very picky.  You have learned what it means when I say “take a bite” and will eat bites of your dinner if I bribe you with something better to come.  Hey, I’ll take it!

·    We started time out with you, and in general you’ve gotten pretty good at minding us when we tell you to go there.  You just have to sit until you’re calm, and then come give hugs and say you’re sorry. 

·    In general, you are very well mannered and follow directions very well.  We always get compliments on how well behaved you are when we’re out and about…especially at restaurants!

·    You give the BEST hugs!  They melt my heart.
 
·    You do NOT like bedtime.  As soon as we start the bath water, you run from the room yelling “no no no no no!”  It goes downhill from there.  You refuse to read your bedtime stories because you know what’s coming next….and once we turn out the light, you cling to us like there’s no tomorrow.  It’s not the best part of our day, but we’re just keeping the routine the same and trying to stay consistent…hopefully you’ll move past this phase soon!

·     The carseat is also not your favorite place.  You whine and whine and whine everywhere we go.  You just cannot be confined right now.  I call you my tornado or ‘turbo’ because you are always moving.  I clean up one mess and you’ve already recreated it by the time I turn back around.  Busy, busy, busy!

I’m sure I’m forgetting so many little things, but my love, you are just the sweetest thing daddy and I have ever laid eyes on.  You’re so loving and sweet, and such a big helper!  We love you more than I could ever say.  I can’t wait for you to meet your sister and watch you in your new role as big brother.   I know God created you to be a big brother for this very little girl, and that just blows me away.  God has such big plans for you, little one.  I can't wait to watch them unfold from the front row. 

You and your sister are our greatest blessings.  Never forget that, and never forget that you are loved every moment of every single day. 

All my love, forever and always,

Your Mama

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