Favorite Photos of 2010

After my friend Sarah posted her top pictures of 2010, I thought I'd do the same. It was hard to narrow it down. Thanks for the idea, Sarah. In no particular order here is a look back at 2010.

1. I love this guy! Taken in January at Ft Myers Beach

2. Ella and Mommy. Also in Ft Myers Beach

3. Beach Baby.

4. She loves the beach!

5. Happy Valentine's Day from our little sweetheart! February

6. Tenley Hope is here!! October

7. Big girl bed! September

8. Ella turns 2! September

9. Life in rose colored glasses. August

10. A bit of a sticky situation. Summer

11. Less isn't always more! Summer

12. Catnap. Summer


13. Bathing beauty. June

14. Being a mini-mommy is hard work! Spring

15. Sister sister! December

16. Sweet smiles. December

It Was Holly and Jolly!

We had a fantastic 3 days of Christmas cheer! We started on Thursday with Kirk's side, spent Christmas Eve with our little family of four, then Christmas day with my parents, brother and his family. By Sunday we were all worn out... and spoiled!! :) Here's a little recap of Christmas this year. (In no particular order)

Christmas day: Ella, Lauren (my niece) and Paw Paw made a gingerbread house.

Thursday's Christmas with K's family: Ella and Tenley got a wagon. Derek and Lena wanted a ride too!

Ella in her Christmas dress on Sunday, we stayed home from church Christmas Day as Tenley was sick.

Christmas Day with my family: The Grandgirls!

My Sweet Santa Baby! Still had a smile for me even though she was under the weather.

Christmas Eve with our girls: Tenley got a hippo from Ella! To read the story behind the gift go here

Christmas Eve at our house: Ella had to add her bucket under the tree for some reason.

Thursday Christmas with K's family: Isn't this the cutest baby ever!!!

Thursday's Christmas with K's family: Tenley's first Christmas.

Thursday's Christmas with K's family: Derek, Lena, Ella. Such a cute picture.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas this. Christmas was really fun this year. It was great to see the holiday through Ella's eyes. The excitement of lights, trees, and presents. Seeing the wonder in her eyes as we shared the birth of Jesus with her. Hearing her cry in the middle of the night that she "lost Baby Jesus, Mommy find Him!" and having to search for the pieces of her Nativity in the dark as she wanted to sleep with Jesus every night. Hearing the joy in her heart as she shouted Away in a Manger, O Holy Night, O Come All Ye Faithful and Jingle Bells. But one of the most meaningful things this year was holding my Tenley. I wonder what Mary's mama-heart felt that night... the peace, the joy, the questions about how this was all going to work. I wonder what if felt like to hold a precious tiny King, to look in His eyes and know He was special but not fully understand His significance. As my sweet 2 year old sang this season: "O come let us adore Him! O Holy Night stars are brightly shining! How I wonder what you are!" (She often customizes her songs just a bit by combining several songs :) for some reason she often put O Come All Ye Faithful, O Holy Night, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.) Her rendition touched my heart a bit. Wonder perfectly describes how I felt this Christmas. Precious Jesus, how I wonder what you are.

You Have To See It To Believe It!

My little girl has curls, curls, curls!

Here's Tenley after her bath the other night.

More Ella-isms

"Ella, we are meeting Daddy for lunch. At the restaurant you can have grilled cheese or chicken fingers. Which one do you think you'll get?"

"Ummm, I'll just have chicken fingers."

long pause while studing her hands....

"I have people fingers, Mommy!"

Christmas Cookies

Ella and I made some cookies the other day. Way too messy for a 2 year old but we sure had fun!! Here's a peek at my little baker.

Ella's finished cookies. I frosted, she sprinkled.

Tenley... 2 Months

My little darling is 2 months already! Wow! Time is going so fast, and here it is nearly Christmas. Tenley is such a good baby, so good that I almost hate to admitt to others how good she is. She's been sleeping all night since 4 weeks old... sleeping 7-8 hours at night. (I know, I know! I told you I hate to even say.) She hardly cries at all. Tenley is such a happy girl, all smiles and coos. Today she had her 2 month check up and she weighs 10 lbs 9 oz and is 22 in long! No wonder I've been feeling like her 0-3 month clothes are getting small! She's becoming a little butterball. Her little rolls are so cute and her cheeks.... oh those cheeks! I just can't kiss 'em enough.

SISTERS! I'm really loving watching their bond grow. I adore how Ella is always looking out for her and trying to take care of her. And in case you wonder, these 2 look so much a like!! I'll have to post pictures of Ella as a newborn so you can see.

First smile caught on camera, except she's looking at Ella.

Those baby blues... are already turning brown. And Tenley's hair... tiny little corkscrew curls when it's wet!

This One Takes the Cake!

To Tenley: "You big boned! Are you a hippo?"

-Ella, Age 2

Poor Tenley! Sure she's a bit chubby but I wouldn't go that far! I forsee some self image issues if this keeps up. Kirk and I laughed so hard that now Ella gets a kick out of saying these things to us so I apologize in advance to any of you who gets called a hippo or big boned. She means it in love, folks.... I think.

Ella-isms II

I knew that Ella would some great thoughts about her sister. I knew she'd make us laugh. What I didn't know is how long it would take. You can just see Ella's mind working to process all the fuss and care over Tenley. She's so curious about everything... from diaper changes, umbilical cords, nursing, and pumping. It's all fascinating to her. Here's a few things my funny girl has said.





With urgency: "Mommy! Tenley's leaking! She's leaking! Mommy!"
(Tenley had spit up)


I overheard her tell Tenley today with a loving tone: "Tenley, you obey me or I have to spank you with a spoon! On your heiny." (I'm not sure Ella's heard me say that lovingly.)

"Tenley! Stop crying! Eat your boobie!" (is that appropriate to post on here?)

Ella is very good at reminding me what I should be doing. "Mommy, she's crying pick her up!" "Mommy, you need to pump now?" "Mommy, you change her diaper?" "Mommy, put Tenley in the swing!" Ella's also good at telling me what she should not do to her sister... "I don't feed her fruit snacks!" "Don't color on sister!" "I not poke her anymore!" "Shh! Tenley sleeping! I not wake her up!"

Tenley Hope.... again.

Our Sweet Tenley is 3.5 weeks old already! I can't believe how fast time is going. She is such a good baby. She's doing great at night, eats way better than Ella ever did, and is overall a very content baby. I'm not convinced that she was really 3 weeks early, I suspect my due date was off. Tenley is amazingly strong for being early plus she was good size too. She lifts her head all the time and is very alert, looking all over when she's awake. She can already roll from her back to her side too. (Slow down, little baby, Mommy's not ready for you to grow so fast!!) We've gotten her to smile a couple times for us.



Here are some pictures I took when she was 2 weeks old.

More Pictures of Tenley

It's hard to believe that my little Tenley Hope is already 10 days old. Wow! It's going so fast... except at 2 am. We are all surviving though maybe not thriving! :) Going from one to two kids is definitely an adjustment but it's gone much better than I thought for all of us so far. Ella is doing really well, a little more naughty sometimes and MUCH louder. I'm not sure why she thinks that we all went deaf after Tenley was born... just has to make sure we are paying attention to her I guess. Tenley is a sweet baby and very good during the day, the nights... well, the nights are long and often sleepless but we'll get there. She had to be on a bili light for 3 days and we are thankful that we are done with that and done with daily trips to the doctor for blood draws to check her bili levels. I am so thankful for all the fantastic help I have right now. Both of our moms have been very helpful with Ella, laundry, house and yard work, and chauffering all three of us girls to the doctor for 3 days. Of course, Kirk has been a terrific help too, always is but I didn't want to leave him out! Enough about our mundane life, on to the star of the show.....

All About Tenley Hope

Well, I've had a few requests for how it all went down. I actually wanted to write it all down right away so I don't forget the details. Here's Tenley's birth story:

On Tuesday afternoon I had an OB appointment where I found out I was 3cm dilated and 80% effaced. She told me that she'd be very surprised if I lasted another week. She also told me to expect a fast labor as Ella's was fast.



So, on my merry way I went home, excited that the end was near but not really expecting to have a baby too soon as I had 3 whole weeks until my due date. I got home did just a few things around the house, packed a few things for the hospital but not much as I desprately needed to do laundry, made my to do list for the next day and the next, then decided to put my hugely swollen feet up for the evening (per doc's orders) as I figured, "I have much to do tomorrow so I better rest up!"



A quick side story here before I continue.... on Monday night I had woken up in the middle of the night and had a random thought before falling back asleep. "What if my water broke while I was sleeping and I woke up and didn't know if I'd wet the bed or if my water had broken!" I sorta chuckled at that scenario, thinking to myself how silly, that wouldn't happen. After all, my water never broke on it's own with Ella, so why would I even think about that.





Back to Tuesday night.... I woke up at 4:15 am to turn over (it's quite a process you know!) and would you believe it! My water breaks at the exact moment I wake up. Definitely NOT pee! I said to Kirk, "Kirk! Wake up! My water just broke!" He jumps up and races to my side of the bed and askes what should he do? How should he help? My answer... I laughed and said "I don't know! I can't believe this! I have stuff I needed to do yet before she was born." I was a bit afraid to move as I was making a large mess so I just laid there for a few minutes in shock!



We threw some stuff in a bag, called Kirk's mom to come stay with Ella and headed to the hospital. We got there about 5:30 am. All the while still having gushes of fluid and still no contractions. Around 6 I was finally feeling a few mild contractions that were very sparatic and not painful, in fact they were hardly uncomfortable.



At 8:00am they started me on Pitocin to get my contractions going good. At 9:30 I got an epidural. Then my blood pressure dropped too low and caused the baby's heart rate to drop too low so they stopped the Pitocin for at least an hour to let the baby's heart rate stabilize and gave me some medicine to get my pressure up. Then started me back up again on the Pitocin. At noon I was dilated 7cm and to 10 about 15 minutes later and by 12:31pm..... (drum roll) Tenley Hope was born!! Still a fast delivery, although the doctor thought it'd be quicker, but if you don't count the 4 hours I didn't have any contractions then it's plenty fast for me!! It was really an easy delivery.



We were so thankful everything was ok, apparently only 10-15% of women's water breaks with out any contractions and it's even less common to go that long with no contractions at all. Of course they told us this after it was all said and done so we weren't freaking out at all. I was especially relieved to know she was ok because Tenley was VERY lazy in the womb and didn't move much at all so in the back of my mind I was always a bit concerned that something maybe wrong even though the doctor and ultrasounds always said she looked great.

SHE'S HERE!!!

Guess who decided to come 3 weeks early!?!?

Tenley Hope, that's who!

10/20/10 12:31 pm 7 lbs. 7 oz. 19 inches long

perfectly beautiful in everyway!

It's ok, we were pretty excited to meet our newest little sweetheart anyway!

Don't you love her cheeks!

My favorite girlies! They look so much alike! I am so thirlled that they have each other. I can't wait to see what this sister thing is all about.

Thank you, Father, for another sweet blessing!