Valentine's Day

Yay! Valentine's Day is here! For Valentine's Day we did the following -

1. Woke up to Daddy bringing me a new espresso machine (I think he got tired of seeing Starbucks charges on the bank account if you ask me!)

2. Drank our coffee...

3. Elouise and I ran around town. We got Josh a gift certificate for a massage, got some wine (I got this...no worries, Elouise didn't), got some groceries, .......

4. We made heart shaped brownies for the neighbors. It was a beautiful day so we "strolled" down the street and delivered two to each neighbor. By the way, for the BEST brownie recipe, try The Lady's Brownies by Paula Deen. These are my absolute favorite. I always make sure that I have the ingredients for these at all times. Hey, you never know when you'll need to make a last minute thing of brownies!

5. Made dinner for Josh. Josh has been doing the Arbonne detox diet and has lost 20 lbs. However, he has been CRAVING pizza so badly. So Elouise and I decided that we'd make him a pizza for Valentine's Day. To be specific - a heart shaped pizza!! It was delicious.

HL

I NEED A HOBBY!

All right, so before I get rolling on what's been going on in our lives, I just need to say that I NEED A HOBBY! We are just now getting "in a routine" and I'm figuring out that I spend a lot of time wondering...what can I do now??

Now before you go thinking that being a stay at home mom is a cake walk - let's get one thing straight! Keeping Miss Elouise Kathryn happy and smiling is a FULL TIME JOB. Ha! She is an extremely happy baby and we have sooo much fun, but goodness....

So every morning we wake up ... have coffee... have breakfast.. watch Kathie Lee and Hoda on the Today Show (don't judge me...guilty pleasure) and then E usually falls asleep for an hour. WORKOUT TIME!!! I have been soo proud of myself. NO MORE BABY WEIGHT!!!!!!!
Then what?!? I need a hobby.......

So I found this blog..... http://mrspriss.com. I clicked on DIYs and Tutorials and found so much to do.. As soon as I can get to a craft store, YARN WREATHS and FELT ROSETTES for EVERYONE!!!

So, if at Christmas, you get a yarn wreath, ACT SURPRISED!

Inspiration

So as many of you know, we are struggling to sell our house. Since we listed with a realtor in October, they have shown it ZERO times. It is very disheartening. Through this process, I have flip flopped on being angry and then realizing I need to trust God and not be angry that I haven't gotten what I wanted yet.
The house we built in Edmond has sold. That temptation has now been lifted from our path. It was a pricey temptation, but none the less, it has been removed from our path. We know this happened for a reason. It was heartbreaking to lose that "hope" that we held on to, but we know we built that house out of haste without much prayer and petition. We did it more for us and didn't rely fully on God to tell us what to do. We knew in our hearts it was like the foolish man building his house on the sand. But I guess we thought that God would make it work. Much like in the song, "God will make a way where there seems to be no way..." Unfortunately we didn't realize that the way that God will make for us wasn't with a hasty decision. We continue to lean on God during this process. With that house out of our sights, I have noticed I have been able to focus more on Elouise. I'm not stressed with the thought of moving...I know it will happen one day...in GOD'S timing. As Ghee would have said, "Perfectly perfect" timing.

So I started a fast to focus and redirect my thoughts from things on Earth to things above. Since I can not physically fast - I did a "Facebook" fast. I found myself getting on Facebook for meaningless reasons just to kill time. So a facebook fast was a great thing for me. Today's reading really struck a chord with me. It is Psalms 27.

It's about time!!!

It's about time! I haven't blogged in almost a month!!! Oops!
Alright - here we go!
Elouise is now almost 4 months old. Goodness it has flown by!! She changes every single day. She is now focusing a lot more and smiling ALL the time!! She is a very very good baby. She lets anyone hold her and will smile or just look around. If she gets fussy, it's for GOOD reason, i.e., food, sleep...the normal stuff. She can hold her head up no problem now and is sleeping through the night.
We recently had our first "sick baby" experience. We noticed something was right with her. She was extremely whiny which is not like her at all. She whimpered all the time. Finally we noticed that her cheeks and nose were all red. We took her temp and it was over 100. I immediately called the doctor. She said she figured it was just a "bug" and called in a prescription. We didn't sleep at all that night. We checked on her every 2 hours. We were extremely worried. The next day she was slowly getting back to normal. She wasn't completely well, but her smiles were increasing. Her temp broke at 4 am. She finally, after two days, was back to normal.
Josh and I recently started the Arbonne Detox Diet. I can't do all of it because I still feed Elouise, but in one week I have dropped 5 lbs and can get on my size 4!!!!!! All by helping Josh do the detox! I can't wait to see what it's like after 28 days. Josh is doing it "full blast" so I can't wait to see what HIS results will be like. I just KNOW it will be fantastic!!

Our house is still on the market after lowering the price AGAIN. Nothing is really moving down here at all. We just keep praying and hoping that eventually someone will come along. As everyone says, it just takes one. Just one buyer...
We need prayers with this situation. It is extremely discouraging. We pray that God will provide the buyer for our house and also continue to be with us and keep from getting discouraged. It's all a test of faith for sure!

Love -

HL

The Mobile from the ALMIGHTY!

So I have spent the past 6 or so months looking for the "perfect" crib mobile for Elouise. I was extremely picky (probably too picky, oops). I had to have one where the rotating items faced down towards her face. Who cares if they had pretty hearts, but if she only saw the bottom of those hearts.....how boring! Also, I didn't want a "boy" one or a random sea themed or goofy one. It had to be "perfectly perfect" as Ghee would say. Finally, I found one. Once I got it, I discovered that it didn't fit on a sleigh like crib. LUCKILY, I called the company and they shipped me an adapter free of charge. It came in the mail today! Yippee! As I was reading earlier, Josh yelled at me to come upstairs (that is where Elouise's room is). I grumbled about putting my book down, and I hiked up the stairs. I could hear her, but I figured she was just laying on her changing pad talking. For some reason, while laying on her changing pad, Elouise LOVES to talk. Nope, not this time. She was laying in her crib MESMERIZED by this new mobile. Matter of fact, when I picked her up after nearly 20 minutes of looking at the mobile, she stuck that bottom lip out so far. She about burst into tears. So Josh and I put on our best baby voices to coax her out of crying.........
This mobile is definitely A MUST for us!

Big Smile!

Elouise loves to smile now!!! She will smile when anyone is talking to her. This is a picture I took of her smiling today. I was having a chaotic day, and this is all I need to make myself slow down and realize what really is important. It's amazing how life changes after you have a baby. You learn to cherish the moments that they fall asleep on your chest, holding them in your arms, and all the smiles. It really forces you to slow down - realizing it won't be like this for long. It amazes me how long I can spend just looking at her sleep! Oh God is so good!

Merry Christmas!

First trip to see Santa!!!!! My mom came in town, and we took Elouise to meet Santa. She loved him. She was decked out in a I love Santa tutu outfit with precious red leggings and red mary jane shoe/socks. She loved Santa, too. She got a little "too" lovey. She started nuzzling her face into his beard (which was real, by the way!)
I have to sign off for a sec to put a VERY tired elf to sleep! But I have more pics to post very soon! Her stocking...etc.
Love and Merry Christmas