More to Come

Whoo weee! It's been a while since an update and a vent. Ellie, my darling daughter, is something special! I love her, and I am loving her more and more everyday. I am beginning to see her uniqueness, and I am already trying to pick out what kind of girl she is going to be. She is such a happy baby. She loves to make different sounds. She loves straps and strings, and waving them in the air. She is standing up on EVERYTHING. Although, she can not stand on her own yet, she is getting there. She is our super petite little girl, and I have no idea where she gets it from. Taylor and I have a tall slender build, but she is just stinkin tiny. She also will eat pretty much anything we give her. However, the other day, I was feeding her vegetable medley with turkey, and she was giving me the sour face, and I couldn't figure out why. When she opened her mouth wide for the next bite, I saw chunks of potato and carrot and realized that this was the next stage, and not everything was pureed. She was letting me know, "Mom, this stuff is making me choke!" We are also giving her the snack food bite things from Graduates, which she grimaces when eating them, but she doesn't stop. Half of them end up in her palm or in her seat though. She is getting better :) She loves to smile, and I try to encourage her to smile at people that say hi to her. She knows the word 'no'. Which is awesome. Rarely does she test the limit, which leads me to believe that the next one may push the limit and test us a bit more. And we are trying now to be consistent. As hard as it is. We are working on sign language with her. Hopefully by next year, she will at least know 'more' and 'all done'. We will see :) Oh, and her FAVORITE thing is Frog. Whenever we lay her down for her nap, she reaches for that thing, and covers her face, and in goes the thumb. Super cute!



Now, we have found out that the little one growing in my tummy is another girl! We are so excited! I feel almost more excited about this one than I did with Ellie, and I think it is because I know what to expect now, and I know what is coming out, not as far as sex goes, but as far as what a baby is! As far as names, we are thinking Gemma Lee right now, but we are looking at others. Not 100% sure. She is moving around A LOT! I love it! I definitely felt it very soon, something like 16-17 weeks, the slight flutters and so forth. I went to a consignment sale a week ago, and got a double stroller, a pack 'n play, and something like 13 outfits for $130. I felt accomplished! I am trying to mentally prepare myself for sleepless nights here in a few months. It is going to be a slightly different ball game. On one hand, I know mostly what to expect. I realize that this baby may pose new things I didn't see with Ellie. But I know how to change a diaper now! But on the other hand, I am also going to have a 1 year old wanting my attention, and I am not sure how she will be. If she will be jealous, clingy, whiny, happy, gentle, rough, I have no idea. Obviously, I hope the transition will be perfect, but that is not the real world.



Taylor is doing great. A couple of weekends ago, he and a few other guys participated in the 24 hours of Lemons race, which is where they buy and upgrade a car for $500 or less, not including the safety stuff. I have very mixed feelings about the whole thing. It took up a lot of time and money, but Taylor had a great time doing a hobby he loves. Since this was the first rodeo, there was a lot to learn. Things will be done a bit different next time around. The weekend went horrible, but I would do it again. The car didn't last long at all. And they spent the whole weekend in the pit trying to fix it enough for the next person to get a turn. I spent most of my time keeping my mouth shut, but fuming in the background. Taylor had a great attitude throughout the entire weekend, and I respect him even more because of it. Now if I can have a great attitude and give him more the reason to love me. He wouldn't say this, but that is what I was thinking. Taylor's dad was also able to come! It was such a short visit, but I think he had fun working on the car with Troy's dad, also from Michigan. Oh, and it was the first weekend for me away from Ellie. And yes, I balled my eyes out the night before we left.



I think this next picture is the final tow. It caught on fire and was done. They did win an award - Most Horrible Yank Tank. Which ALMOST makes everything horrible that happened totally worth it.



A couple weekends before that, my mom, sister, Ellie, and I had our 2nd Annual Girls' Weekend. We went to Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was a lot of fun. My mom was awesome, and got us a pretty nice set up for the weekend. Ginny and I got a massage and a pedicure. I would like to make both a monthly or every other month ritual. It is so worth it. We enjoyed going to the park. We didn't really go somewhere super nice to eat, which is something that would have been nice. Every time it was time to eat, I felt like nothing was good. So it was definitely my fault. Ellie also had the worst gas/constipation ever! It was horrible! I was almost in tears because she was in so much pain. I tried putting her in the bath, and she was so tired that she kept falling over into the water while crying. I finally got in with her and turned the shower on and just held her. She was finally able to calm down and let out a bunch of toots. But that was a horrible experience. That was on Saturday, so we didn't really do any of the plans we wanted to. But the whole point was just to get away with just us girls and hang out. And that was what we did. :) Next year will be a handful with two little ones, but we could hardly leave the gals out of the girls' getaway!




We are also having a transformation in our finances, and for the better! We are doing the Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University with our church. We are so excited and with gazelle intensity, we are determined to get debt free! I get very passionate about this and want everyone to become knowledgeable about this stuff. Maybe, that is what I should do. I just had a light bulb. I have been so disappointed with how our school systems, high school and college, have taught students about personal finance, debt, checkbooks, borrowing, mortgage, etc. It is sad how much we don't know, and because of it, get ourselves in so much DEBT that we feel trapped. The one thing for me, is if something were to happen to Taylor and I, I don't want to leave Ellie and Gemma with OUR debt, nothing for them, and no will, which reminds me, we have to get on writing that, which is super HARD which is why we haven't even started. I don't want the government deciding what happens to our kids or our assets, what a tragedy. I need to accomplish that soon. It is making me worried thinking of it as incomplete right now.

And, I am 24 today. Crazy how much has happened. I have been a Christian for 8 years, 9 months, and 19 days. Taylor and I have been married for 4 years, 1 month, and 17 days. Ellie is 8 months and 16 days old. I am 21 weeks and 3 days pregnant with our second little girl. We have been a dog owner for 1 year, 5 months, and 6 days. We have been a house owner for 1 year, 3 months, and 8 days. We both have college degrees. Here are some goals for the next, let's say 10 years:

- to be DEBT FREE!!
- to go to Europe.
- to begin building our own home with our own land.
- to have 2 more kids (maybe ;) )
- to go on family vacations to: camping in Canada, skiing in Colorado, snorkeling and Disney in Florida, hiking and camping in may other places, and of course sailing in Tawas!

There are probably more, but that is all I can think of for now!