Here we come Indiana!!

So I'm going to take a minute to pause..from the laundry I'm already not folding...to say I am so excited!

We get to be in Indiana for Easter and I could not be more excited! We're going to see both our families! I mean seriously...just thinking about flying in makes me cry.

We haven't been back in Indiana since Thanksgiving...and that's the longest we've been gone since we got married back in 2007. Five months seems like such a long time to go without seeing our grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends. We L-O-V-E living here..and we have A-M-A-Z-I-N-G friends here, it's just so hard being away from our family. We've been super thankful that our parents and Sarah and Luke have all been able to make the trip down here to meet the little one!

I'm so excited for everyone to meet Noah. Seriously!

Plus! While we're home we're going to meet little Nora, and my sweet friend from college Debbie's little one Reuben! I'm super excited to love on those babies in person instead of just internet stalking!! AND we get to see El's baby belly!!

Seriously ...how can I describe how pumped I am?!

Anyways. That's what's on my mind!

I can't focus on anything other than I just know I'm not going to sleep tonight because I can't wait! It just seems like so much has changed since the last time we were there so it feels so much bigger this time. Whoa.

Anyways..have a wonderful weekend! It's Easter! We get to celebrate that Jesus rose from the grave..making salvation possible for us. The words of awe for this are also indescribable.

Two Months Old!

Oh my goodness sweet Noah turned two months old on Friday. How did that happen so quickly? It's just crazy.

We went to the doctor today. Here are his stats.
14 lb. 12 oz. (97th percentile)
24 3/4 inches (97th percentile)

I'm not sure where little man is getting his height from..but I'm hoping he doesn't use all his height now! :)

He is growing and changing each day. It just amazes me. So cool.

This month he has accomplished:
Smiles, smiles, smiles
He coos and jabbers all day long
He likes music...we turn on Pandora and I sing and dance and make funny faces at him while he smiles and coos. It makes my day every day.
He has pretty good control of his head..but absolutely zero interest in tummy time. We put him on his tummy and he either cries or falls asleep.
He loves bright colors and will turn his head to stare at them
He is starting to learn he can grab things with his little hands. Our noses, our shirts, my hair, his paci.
Starting to try to touch things near him.
He loves to be cuddled, seriously, but he is so sweet and will sit contentedly while I try to get things done
He's a very content baby..not much of a crier at all. AWESOME.
Last week he started SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! He did it every night last week..but last night we did get up in the middle of the night to eat, so I guess we'll see which sticks. I'm hoping for the sleeping.

I can't wait to see what month three brings!

Here are some pictures from our little photo shoot for his two month birthday. I know that they're all the same picture..but I love his funny little faces.

Uncle Luke

Uncle Luke came to visit Noah last week! We had a great time! Noah seemed to really like to watch Uncle Luke make funny faces! He gave lots of smiles at Luke! Thanks for coming Luke! Come back and visit us! We love you! Here are some pictures from our week!

I'm different now.

So I was talking to a friend the other day about how things are different now..and I am..different.

I like it.

For the most part.

Different as in:

Everywhere I go I have a little man with me.

Dates include our third family member now. He's a pretty adorable addition.

I am now a wife AND a mother. Sometimes I find it's difficult to be in both roles. I told Brad the other day I struggle to be "on" all the time. Yet...it's a challenge that I love, and thankfully I have an extremely supportive husband, and a baby who smiles at me and makes everything seem perfect.

I am so much more aware of how very thankful I am for our amazing friends and family. I have always been aware of how much they meant to me, I thought...but now..I just realize more and more how much we love and appreciate the amazing people we do life with.

I am so much more aware of my lack of communication with people outside of Brad. :) This is not to say that I have improved all that much but I'm really working on it. I'm really making attempts to call, write, email people within a reasonable amount of time. I feel like I'm slowly but surely improving.

I am much more emotional. I can't decide if this is good or bad. Good in some ways because I find my heart is more tender. Bad in others..because while it may be more tender..I am also more sensitive. I find myself asking Brad if I'm overreacting often.

I am EXTREMELY bothered by what's on TV now. Or not just TV...things I see out in public. I am more aware of the depravity of our world. I am so so so much more aware of the awesomeness of God. I worry and hurt for the pain the little guy will experience. I wonder about things that he might experience due to his sinful nature...and I ache for Jesus to call Noah to himself.

I think about when he's a teenager and I shake in my boots. Oh GOODNESS GRACIOUS.

It's just different. My thought process. But I think it's amazing. I feel like God is really growing and stretching me and I just am so thankful and excited.

Want to know a change that kinda freaks me out? My stomach appears to be a little weaker than it once was. Like the other day I saw something with blood..and I got queasy. Me..the nurse..I got queasy. Little things...I notice things that NEVER would have bothered me..make me a little weak in the knees. This concerns me slightly for when I go back to work. That's just strange. I'm hoping that's just my crazy hormones balancing back out.

Well..that's it for the day. Tomorrow we'll have an update on Noah's two month stats after we have his appointment. I'm excited to see how big he is.

These made me smile today. I set him up in his chair so I could sweep and mop. If you didn't know you'd think he could read :)

And then a sweet sweet smile!
Have a great day!

God is SO good.

So lately...I have just been absolutely floored by the goodness of the God that we serve. For real. I want to share just a few examples, because I just have to.

1. For us...in this moment in our life..this is the absolute perfect picture of his goodness in our life.
2. But let's expand on this. For example...before Noah was born you might recall a post I made about finances..and all that jazz. Well a little more detail about that - our company was purchased and our short term disability was understood to be temporarily taken away, and we also no longer had the choice of whether or not to take a paid day off when we were canceled at work. Well those two things combined with a low census really was going to seriously limit what my maternity leave would be able to be. THEN - we were able to stop taking our paid time off if we were canceled, and they fixed the short term disability thing, and BAM my worries were out the door.

3. But then our insurance would cost us an arm and a leg once Noah was born if I wanted to work part time - and then Brad's amazing boss increased what he was reimbursing us for insurance. This made it possible for me to only have to work one day a week, having six days home with our little man, and to be able to keep my awesome job.

4. Do you remember when Brad and I went through foster care training? Well at the time..we just weren't sure what that looked like for us...yet we knew that our hearts were being led to something in that area. So we were certified for babysitting/respite and we have found that at this time our fit is to serve the families that are doing foster care. So we've been able to love on the Mullins' kiddos, and NOW the Lord has opened the door for me to love on the Griswold's new sweet boys AND when the Campise's get kiddos I'll get to love on them too! Since I'm able to stay home all but one day a week, then on Tues/Wed/Thurs Noah and I will be sharing our days with little ones. I'm so excited! Talk about an answer to prayer!

5. This one...I have to admit..I spent most of the day with tears when it happened - and it's not even us. Our sweet friends Britt and Steve had their baby boy Paxton about a week ago. Pax had been breech while Britt was pregnant, and we had been praying and praying for that little one to turn. Britt really had wanted to have a natural birth so we prayed that the precious baby would turn so she might be able to. Well, the morning Pax was born I got the text that he was coming and thought "Oh no he hasn't turned yet!" Well it turns out that Britt had a condition that could have been so dangerous for her. If she had delivered naturally, it could have been a very serious situation..but GOD is SO good! He didn't turn that baby..He kept him breech. Pax was breech so Britt had a c-section, they found the problem, and she and Pax were both safe. How amazing when he answers our prayers with no. A no that means He has a better plan for us than we can imagine. Even now..I think of this and I am just amazed.

There are so many examples, like the Mullins and their move to Taylor and how the Lord worked that out, or the amazing friends and family that He has blessed us with, or how when Brad was unemployed he protected us so very much, or how we know we feel like financially we need to probably sell our house but we're still trying to decide what that means for us - but in the meantime while I'm not working they started a bonus program at Brad's work that is so amazingly helping us out and allowing me to stay home without guilt.

Anyways..He is a God that is SO good. He never leaves us. He knows the details of our life. Even when we're not sure where he's leading, or what the answers are, or if they don't seem like answers we want right now...we just need to wait for His perfect timing to understand.

That's it for today. Have a great day!