Short update.

My husband is home now!! It was so wonderful getting to see him again. Evelynn was a little shy at first, but now she is back to being a complete daddy's girl again. They are sooo cute together. I am very thankful to have him home and that he loves his baby girl so much. Since he has been home we bought a new car, cleaned out our garage, fixed a few things around the house, and got Josiah's nursery almost completely finished!!! I am so happy about that. Then tomorrow I have an ultrasound and then the next day I have my 33 week midwife appointment. I am thrilled. Can't wait to see what they have to say. I will try to update more in depth in a little while, until then here are a few pictures from our family time at the park

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About to have a little family reunion!

Hello Everyone- I just wanted to share my excitement! We are sooo close to having my husband home. My daughter doesn't fully understand what is going on yet, but I know she is going to appreciate having her daddy home after 10 long weeks. I will probably cry when we first see him!!! Then once we get home, we will have a lot of adjusting to do. We need to get everything ready for when baby Josiah comes. I want to get up our Christmas decorations, get our house decorated (we have no pictures hung yet or anything) And Stephen will be adjusting back to working at QuikTrip after almost 2 full years of Active Duty Military time. Then probably right around the time we are starting to get settled in, Our little man will make his appearance and bring us a whole other world of adjusting and who knows how long that will take!!!!!!!! It will all be worth it though. I am just so blessed to have my family back together the way things were intended to be. <3 I will update again once we are home. :)

Election Day fun, and YouTube Channel.

So, today was election day and for the first time- I VOTED!!!! I feel like I made the absolute best choice for my family and while there is no perfect candidates, I am super confident in my decisions, and I hope it works out. Even if it does not turn out the way I would prefer though, I believe that God is in control and we will be just fine. :) I look forward to taking my children with me to vote and teaching them to do so when they are of age as well. Regardless of who you vote for, I think it is so important to do some research and try to make the best decision you can and let your voice be heard!!!!

I am trying to be better about blogging on here more often and I am hoping to start doing at least bi-weekly if not weekly updates. :) Also, I wanted to share on here- because I do not think I have before... but I recently started a YouTube Channel when I became pregnant with Josiah. I so wish I would of done this sooner just to document my pregnancies and be able to look back on their lives, as well as mine in the future. I am still VERY new to it, but I am trying and I thought I would share for anyone who is interested in watching. Please subscribe and comment and tell me your thoughts!!! http://www.youtube.com/LoveFamilyLife

30 week doctor appointment

This is going to be a real short blog. I had my 30 week appointment with a midwife, Finally. My blood pressure was a little high but it lowered before the appointment was over. I have gained about 20lbs so far. I am measuring 33weeks, and they want to start seeing me weekly! I am going to start trying to work on our birth plan, and then I pick Stephen up in a week so I am super excited about that and to get things done! :)

1st Birthday, Moving, and 29-week-update!

Hello everyone, it has been a couple of months since I have been able to make a blog, and SO MUCH has happened. First of all, we were able to buy a house! We closed on August 7th, which was awesome. Then we spent about 3 weeks "remodeling" things, which was really just cleaning, painting, re-doing floors, hardware, doorknobs, etc. The house is really coming together. We have most everything done now and most everything moved in as well. Haven't really gotten to decorating yet, but that is not something we HAVE to get done immediately. :) At the end of August we went back to Wichita, where we stayed for a week before Stephen left on his deployment. On Labor Day, Stephen left. It was pretty hard for me and Evelynn coming home but I knew we would press on, and we have. She was really attached to her daddy so it has not been easy, but the time is almost over now! We came back home, got a lot more unpacking done, waited to get our new screen door put in and our new furniture (we got a new bedroom set, mattress, computer desk, etc.) And then once we got everything done we had to and we got Evelynn's birthday stuff in the mail, we headed back to see our family. We stayed with my grandma for 3 weeks! That really made the time go a lot faster. :) Then, on October 6th we had a big birthday party for Evelynn!!! It was soo much fun. We did ladybug theme, and had a great turn-out of people so I was super happy. Evelynn knew the day was all about her and really enjoyed herself. :) Now we have came home and I am going through the process of trying to find a midwife. It is such a big pain! We have had issues with my OB in Wichita sending over my records and it has caused all kinds of problems. I FINALLY got an appointment with a midwife, which will be on Tuesday. This is the first I appointment I have had in 3 months, my last one was July 30th. Stephen gets home soon. We have a couple more weeks here that I am trying to get stuff done, and then we will go back to Wichita to pick him up and we will still have to stay there for another week. When he comes back he will be going back to work at QuikTrip, and just be reserves again. It will be a lot of adjusting, and we will need to get ready for baby. Josiah will be here in about 2-2.5 months! It is sooo crazy. So everything is coming up pretty fast. I am 29 weeks pregnant now and We have SOO much to keep us busy. We are excited to welcome our baby boy into the world and hope that everything goes smoothly. Wish I could go into some more detail at this point, but I cannot. I will add on some pictures for your enjoyment. :)

Looking forward, Gender reveal, Update and PICTURES. :)

So... I haven't been on here in quite a while and I think it is time for an update. We are currently still in Wichita, but plan to move in the next week or two to a house in Blue Springs, MO where we have decided to buy! It is so excited that we will finally have a house of our own. The place is 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, and very nice. I cannot wait to raise our little family there. One of the greatest things is that we got a good deal, because it is a foreclosure. It does not need a ton of work but we will be doing a few things for sure. However, since we do not have to put nearly as much down- we are able to do most if not all of the fixing with cash we have saved. AND since the house is so much cheaper than we originally planned, we are able to get a 15 year loan!!! This is super excited to me. So, my sister Shyann came down a few weeks ago and stayed for 2 weeks. We took her home last weekend. I was very lucky that she was willing to help me and we got our whole house packed up and moved into the garage except for the few things we still needed out. Here is a picture of Evelynn and Shyann together. She loves her Aunt Nanner. :)

Evelynn is nearly 10 months old now! She started crawling around 8.5 months and now she is all over the place. She pulls herself up to stand- goes up the stairs, and will follow you anywhere. She is also eating table food a lot now and learning to drink from a sippy cup. She did not get any teeth until about 2 weeks ago, and she cut the first one on top. Since then she has also gained her 2 bottom teeth and one of her fang teeth on top! She is starting to talk a little. She says mama, dada, baba, no, yay, tank ou, and makes all kinds of other jabbers we cannot understand.

I am currently 17 weeks pregnant according to my charting, although the doctors do not listen and go by last missed period so they like to tell me I am almost 2 weeks farther along than I really am. Earlier this week we went to the doctor and got an ultrasound!! Luckily, our little baby was not shy at all about showing the goods- and we found out we are expecting a baby BOYYY:) Stephen is super excited and so am I. We have decided to name him Josiah William Love. I feel very blessed to have a little boy and my baby girl. <3

Above: Profile of the little guy. Below: Gender shot! :)

An exciting month coming up!

Hello everyone! Just wanted to say hello to you all/ :-) This week is starting a very exciting next month for me! Today I am 7 weeks pregnant. So far things have been going great. I have gotten sick a couple of times, having some pretty bad headaches, and I am super sleepy... But it is nothing too major! Evelynn is 7.5 months old. :-) I am leaving Friday night to go back to Springfield and be with my family for about 9 days! I will be staying with my best friend, Haley. Her wedding shower is Saturday, and then her actual wedding is a week later! I am so proud of her. During this time we are going to be hanging out, finishing up some final preparations, and pampering ourselves! On May 29th I am getting an ultrasound! :-) I am really hoping to hear a heartbeat and that everything is okay. In my heart I feel like it is. =] Part of me thinks I might be having twins, but that is probably just me being crazy! I am so excited about this baby! I have been looking at double strollers, and trying to plan what Evelynn will be doing while we are in the hospital. Things are much more complicated when you already have one baby to worry about. Then when we get back home we will have a week to re-coop. Evelynn will turn 8 month old, And Josh and April will be in KC area for 3 weeks! Granted, I don't know when they plan to see us during this time but we will for sure see them at one point or another! On June 25th is my first appointment with my OB/GYN.. so that is exciting! My niece, Elizabeth is going to have an early 2nd birthday party on June 30th and we will definitely make a trip for that. <3 Then I will be 12.5 weeks pregnant at the end of June. :-) Life is just so exciting and I am very blessed to have my family and friends, and to have time to spend with them.

Here comes Baby #2.

YAY!!! I am so happy to announce that we are expecting again. YES, it was planned. It happened our first month trying! I was charting so we should be due around January 9th or 10th 2013. :) We showed up at my grandma's unexpectedly on Friday and let them know. It was awesome! They had no idea we were coming, let alone that we had that kind of news. =] Everyone is a little shocked and of course some people will just never understand why you would want your children close in age, but they can get over it! I am SO excited. Prayers, positive thoughts and anything else is always appreciated. I am not quite 6 weeks along yet. =]

Excitement and Surprises!

Evelynn will be 7 months old tomorrow! I cannot hardly believe it. :-) She is growing so fast. Now she rolls around the place ALL the time and is trying to get her scoot down! My little sister, Shyann is going to be 15 tomorrow! This is also hard to believe. She is growing up WAY too fast. I love her so much and I only want her to be a strong, independent good person. I think she will be. Sometimes she gets a little wild but I guess that is all part of being a teenager right? Anyway- Our lives are going by really fast and changing by the day. So many wonderful things are happening in relation to our family, jobs, buying a house, etc. Life is a little crazy but totally beautiful in these moments. Mother's day is coming up. Next weekend. This will be my first mother's day! (I was pregnant last year but it didn't really count.) We are planning a big surprise for mother's day, and I can't wait. Seriously, this week can hurry up already! I can't wait for Friday!!! (The start of mother's day weekend. <3 ) Anyway, I will have lots more updates coming soon. I haven't forgotten about my blog...but due to several surprises and uncertainties in our lives right now there isn't much I can tell! I promise I will soon.:)

Happiness. :)

My baby girl is growing up way too fast. She is 6 months old now. She has started eating solids a while back and LOVES it. I don't think there is anything that she doesn't like. She is sitting up on her own for a little while by herself. She is trying hard to crawl, scoots around. She rolls ALL the time. She is usually a happy little baby and such a joy to be around. She is teething and has yet to cut a tooth but she has been a little bit cranky lately because of it.
My best friend (and cousin), Haley is getting married on June 2nd!! Evelynn is going to be the flower girl! <3 We are really excited because I am going to make the trip to Springfield with Evelynn a little over a week before the wedding. I am really missing my friends and family so I can't wait to be able to spend this time with them all.
We are trying to be healthier. We did our juice fast, so far I have lost 38lbs since I had Evelynn, and about 17 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight. I would still like to lose around 10-20 more though. We are getting filters, doing fresh juice, cutting out red meat, and we are hoping to be vegetarian soon and vegan after that. We find it very important to raise our daughter in a healthy home that way she does not struggle with the junk like I do.
A few weeks ago we found a really nice house in Blue Springs that we made an offer on, It is a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bedroom, finished basement, 2car garage and a nice yard. It needs a little bit of work but it could be AMAZING. We are supposed to find out within the month if they accepted our offer.
Along with going organic and vegan eventually, I decided to stop taking hormonal birth control. I am pretty sure it is awful for you, and we would like another kid anyway. So for now I am stopping and if we get pregnant I won't be sad. I am learning to chart my cycles though and learn all about my body so that I can also use it as birth control after I am done having kids. (Or if I need more space between kids)
So many things are going on! It is just so exciting! I am very happy with my little family and all the progress we have made. I really hope that we are able to give our children a better life. <3

Making the next steps!

Lots of things have been going on in our little world. Evelynn is doing great. She smiles, laughs, scoots around in a circle, and she is trying really hard to roll over. She is just a little joy to me. :-)




We filed our taxes and we are getting around 3,200 in federal back and 700 in state. We are also getting Stephen's sign up bonus which is over 5,000. This is really exciting because there are some things we are needing to do.

When we moved we had to borrow money from our vacation fund and use the credit card because it was way more expensive than we planned. We plan to pay both of those back. We are also going to go ahead and get Evelynn some of the things she will be needing like a high chair, toddler bed, excersaucer, etc.

We are going to try and be healthier so we plan to get a juicer and do a juice fast. We are watching our portions for now and starting that in March. I would like to lose 20-40 lbs if possible.

Then we are putting the rest towards our down payment on a house. That is the most exciting part. We are going to be able to put 20% down, and with the housing market the way it currently is things are looking great!

We got pre-approved for a loan. At the very top of our budget with property tax and insurance included we will be paying less than we pay in rent now!!! That is so awesome. And there are no penalties for paying off early which we would plan to put as much extra as we could towards it and hopefully pay it off before Evelynn gets out of high school. :-)

And we decided that we do want to try for a baby soon, but not now. I dont want to be 8 months pregnant when we move. So we are thinking we will try this summer. That will make them 1.5-2 years apart depending on how long it takes. <3

Update of Life. :-)

One year ago today was when I had my first positive home pregnancy test and found out that I would be expecting my darling princess.

Now that I have her, I am so happy. She is wonderful and beautiful. Growing up fast, and lighting up my world in ways I never thought possible.

She babbles and smiles, laughs even. She has good head control and is TRYING to roll over. she will be 4 months old in a week. She has a doctor appointment tomorrow.

Stephen came back when she was around 6 weeks old and we are now living in Wichita. It has been quite the change and I have battled some depression here and there but it is getting better. Stephen and I are still getting used to living together again and it is even harder since we have a baby now. But we are pretty happy. We are starting to settle into a routine and we really enjoy our little love. <3

I can't believe that it has only been a year since I found out I was pregnant. It seems like Evelynn has been in my life for an eternity. I can't imagine life without her.

She is SUCH a good baby. She sleeps 10-11 hours at night, naps for 2 hours in the morning and naps about 3-4 hours in the afternoon. She eats at the same times every day and we start her bed time routine at around 6:30-6:45pm. She is always in bed by 7:30.

She has been teething, but has yet to cut a tooth... although I can tell where the first one is going to be. Even teething she has really been pretty good.

I love being a mom. And I am staying at home. In Kansas childcare for an infant runs from around 160-240 a week. After gas and childcare, I would maybe make 25cents an hour!! LOL. Staying at home makes me think that I should have our 2nd baby a little sooner than originally planned. I was going to wait between 1-2 years before trying... but if we have another one sooner the medical will all be payed for again, and I have to stay home anyway so its no big deal. Evelynn will be outgrowing things just in time for the other baby (like a crib, etc.) So it is something we have been considering. It is not set in stone and I fully believe that even if we do stop the birth control God will not give us a baby until he believes we are ready to handle another one.

For now, I am just enjoying my little princess. And in just about 10 months. I am TOTALLY potty training. ;)