Ella - Five months

Our little lady is five months old. In the last week she has really proven she can sit on her own. She is in the stage where she can sit for several minutes until she gets distracted then will fall over. She has become very good at rolling from her tummy to her back but still can not figure out how to roll from her back to her tummy. Ella is showing more of a desire to play little games and get tickled. I love how easily she laughs at Obie. 

Sleeping through the night is still a struggle. She has been eating some oatmeal cereal most days and has taken to that easily. Ella is always trying to use new noises but my favorite is her squeal. 

Ella - Four Months

If you are still following this blog I am sure you have figured out this has become solely about the two little cherubs. More specifically, Ella. Since moving back to the states I have had very little time to write any blog posts but I have been determined to document a few things about Ella and what she is doing each month. I think it is safe to say that in the months to come I will be posting monthly updates about her so that we can have this documented for our family. Feel free to check back in, especially for those family and friends that do not live in AZ. 

Ella is getting closer to some bigger milestones. She has really shown a desire to roll over in the last several days and my guess is she will be successful in the next week or so. She is also getting closer to being able to sit up by herself, although that will take more time before she really gets the hang of it. 

Her love for her brother seems to grow daily, she will carefully watch him play. Obadiah is particularly adorable with her and already shows great care for his little sister. 

Ella has a wonderful laugh that we love to hear but unfortunately she is a little stingy and keeps it to herself. If anyone can get her to laugh, though, it usually is her Daddy. 

This little man surprised me most days with his ability to learn and pick up on things. He can be so intense and focused but his desire to make people laugh is becoming more and more evident. Some of the phrases that he repeats the most these days are: "Obie do dit" or "Oba dee" (Oba see). He wanted to participate in this little photo shoot as much as possible. I had no choice to oblige him.  

Ella was sleeping a miraculous 11 hours straight at night last month, but this month has decided she needed some more fellowship in the night. Understandably, some nights are better than others, we will just have to be patient as she get the swing of sleeping.  

The hair that she had when she was born is being replaced by lighter hair. She is losing her some hair but it seems that as soon as it is falling out it is being replaced with more. 

As another moth passes we praise Yahweh for her life and for the happiness of watching Ella grow and change. Even on the days that having a 4 month old and a 2 year old are quite challenging, the Spirit is reminding us ways that we can look at them and see his great deeds and his mercies to us. 

Ella - Three Months

Today our little girl turned three months old. She is a delight, and we love seeing how she loves life. Ella readily smiles and has begun to squeal and "talk" often. She seems to have started to know who mom and dad are and has a bit of preference for us. Ella continues to light up when Obie interacts with her. She regularly sleeps through the night about 11.5 hours straight. She has very little motivation to roll over and continues to reveal a very contented personality. 

Ella tries to put her hands in her mouth all the time. She has also began to swipe at toys and things that are placed in front of her. 

We have loved to spend so much time with family in the last month.  One of Kyle's sisters and her family were visiting from Florida this week and Obadiah loved playing with his cousins. We got to spend some time with both of Kyle's sister's families this last week but then had to say goodbye to Serina as she and her family are moving out of state. Then goodbye to Melissa's family as they headed back to Florida. 

Obie really enjoys playing in the pool and he has little fear about jumping into the water. 

We have gotten acclimated back to the weather and pace of life here in AZ but we are looking forward to getting into a house in the next few weeks. 

Ella- Two Months

Our sweet little girl is two months old today. She has done well in adjusting to the time zone and has seemed to have no idea that we have just had a major move. It took us about ten days to get back into our normal sleep schedules. On Monday it will be three weeks since we left Uganda. 

As we are going through all the emotion and adjusting to this big move we are overjoyed to be learning more about this little girl's personality. She like to "talk" with people and will smile very easily. She hates having a dirty diaper and loves her big brother. 

This little boy has noticed our move across the world and likes to talk about things from Uganda. He pretends to call Uncle Lama and has asked about his friend Zion. He is loving the time and attention he is getting from his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. 

Ella seems to be changing everyday. Her sleep is real consistent and she only wakes up once in the night to eat. She LOVES bath time and sometimes she fusses if she has been held too much. 

Thanks for praying for us as we make this transition. Oh how we need the Lord and are so thankful that he is with us. 

Ella: One Month

We are so thankful for this beautiful girl who somehow is already one month old. 

We can already note the differences between her and her brother. There have been a few nights where she has only woken up once to feed! She seems to be pretty easy to please, except between 7 and 9:30 at night. She is weighing 9.5 lbs and has seemed to put herself on her own schedule. 

Obie loves his little sister and Ella seems pretty taken with him. As she is starting to try and smile it seems as though Obie makes her smile the most. 

I do not know what this expression is below, maybe gas, but I thought it was too funny. 

2 Year Interview: Obie

We did this for our own archives of Obie's life, but thought it was too cute, so we had to share it!

Two Years Old!

On Saturday Obie turned two and we celebrated with a small party and some yummy food.  As a kid I remember my mom always making some amazing cakes for my birthday and so I was motivated by these memories to try something fun for Obie. 

The kids had fun running around and playing with balloons. 

The menu was: fried chicken (from KFC) homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, cabbage salad and pineapple. Erin and Trey managed the kids while the rest of the adults enjoyed dinner. 

This handsome boy sure did enjoy the day but the cake might have been his favorite part.  

Hamlet and Zion. 

These people love us well. The Lord has used them in so many ways to remind us of his love and care for us. We are blessed by them and were so glad that we could celebrate Obadiah together before we leave. 

These days Obadiah loves to talk about the trucks he sees on the road or the birds that he sees outside. Anytime he hears an airplane he tries to make the ASL sign for airplane. His favorite books are Amazing Airplanes, Tremendous Tractors and The Jesus Story Book Bible. Obie loves to give Ella kisses and wants to help change her diapers, unless he sees some poop then he gags and has to walk away. I am amazed at his vocabulary and my favorite word he says is "good morning!" which sounds more like "morg-in." When Ella and I come down the stairs most mornings he says: "Morg-in mama, morg-in Ella!" Obie is Kyle's little shadow and adores doing projects or tasks with him. 

We love to see this little boy grow and thank the Lord for him everyday. 

Ella will be four weeks old on Monday and this is our first picture with all four of us! Gosh the problems of the second child are real, there is too much to do than to get pictures of every little thing the second time around.