No prize for 2nd best...

Our church had what passes for a church picnic today. Instead of actually having a picnic, they sell $5 tickets and provide the food (hamburgers, hotdogs, baked beans, chips and water) and you bring a dessert. This time they had "Sweet Tooth Wars" - a competition for the best homemade cakes, pies, cupcakes and cookies with a prize award for each category. This was my entry:

You may recognize this as my Lemon Pudding Cheesecake. Or you may not because I FINALLY learned how to make the sides turn out pretty! The secret? Line the pan with parchment paper of course! Brilliance! Thank you, google! To make it even prettier, I learned I should cook it in a water bath, but let's not get carried away here.

As I'm sure you've guessed by the title, I didn't win. I like to imagine I was a close runner up. But it all got eaten so I figure that's close enough. :-)

Abby Crawls!

It's official! Our baby is mobile now! Abby started crawling this weekend and Saturday night we were able to get some video of it. She's 8 months and 1 week ok.... I checked Maggie's baby calendar and she started crawling at 9 months and 1 week so Abby's exactly one month ahead of her. Already out to prove herself..... :-)

And this has nothing to do with Abby crawling, but here's a pic of us with the Whithaus'.... we were able to meet them for lunch on Friday as they were passing through on their way back home. It was Joy's birthday so we had a great meal at the Oyster House (complete with peanut butter pie for dessert! YUM!). The kids (and dads) had a great time playing on the playground underneath the restaurant after lunch. :-)

A great week....

In addition to Abby's Baby dedication, Sunday was of course Mother's day and I had the great joy of celebrating with my mother this year since she was in town for Abby's dedication. Ben's mother and Aunt were also in town so as a special treat, I took all the ladies (except Abby) to Bellingrath to enjoy their annual Mothers' Day concert put on the by Mobile Youth Symphony.

It was a great evening with a picnic lunch, beautiful music and even some ice cream afterwards!

Wednesday, Maggie had her preschool choir program, Praise Parade. I'm the coordinator for the choir this year (my friend, Kimberly actually does the directing for the large choir when we have the 3 grades combined). They did really well!


Usually only the k5 choir gets to have solos and things like that but we had some kids absent so we had to make a last minute substitution and Maggie got to play the blocks on one of the songs - she did great despite almost missing her cue (she only got to practice it once!) and mom and dad were so proud! Not to mention all the grandparents and great-aunt in attendence! To see a video of the program, click here or on the link to the right (under YouTube videos).


We were also blessed to have a visit this week from our good friends, the Whithaus'. They were passing through on their way to a house hunting trip. A good time was had by all. :-)

Abby's 8 months!

I meant to do an Abby update when she turned 7 months but we just kinda skipped over that one. :-) She turned 8 months on May 13th and she's growing and changing every day! It really is going too fast!

Last time we weighed Abby she was 19 lbs, but that was about a month ago so...? She is eating fairly well although we have to deal with constipation issues and diaper rash frequently - much more so than we ever did with Maggie. She has 6 teeth already (4 upper, 2 lower).

She is getting more vocal. She's mastered "Ba!" and has finally started saying "Da!" and "Ga" although she won't do it on command or repeat you yet. But when the mood strikes her she has quite a nice conversation with herself. :-)

She is VERY close to crawling and has, just this past weekend, mastered sitting up on her own and has started clapping, which is very cute.

On Mother's Day, we were blessed to have both sets of Grandparents in town for Abby's dedication at church:



This was a great reminder for me that I can't hold onto her quite as tightly as I want to because, in the end, she really belongs to God. But I'm SO grateful we get to enjoy her for awhile. :-)

San Antonio visit

Last week we drove out to Texas to visit our good friends, the Whithaus' and the Turmans. We had a great time just hanging out and doing some sightseeing as well.

Maggie and Will at the Riverwalk in San Antonio

Us and The Turmans

To view the full web album of pics, click here.

There is also a short video I shot at Ken and Joy's showing some interactions with the kids....click on the link at the right.

Six months old!

Abby had her 6 month check up today. She was 75% for height and weight. That's actually down a little on her weight. She was 26.5 inches tall and 17 lbs 13 oz.

The biggest surprise was that the ped told us to start practicing using a cup with her. I couldn't believe we're already to that stage. He said the goal is to get her off the bottle by 10 months. I asked him if that had changed because I thought it was a year. He replied "No, you just didn't listen to me last time." hehe. Well, I couldn't argue with that.

So Abby had her first experience with a cup this afternoon.... She ended up wearing most of it of course but was very interested and quickly caught onto the concept that yummy stuff comes from the cup and started trying to "hold" it. :-)

The pediatrician also laughed at me when I told him was was going to "try" to take a picture of her today. He said "That's just sad." ouch. Second child syndrome indeed! So here is Abby's 6 month photo! Many Kudos to Maggie for getting such wonderful smiles from her.

God Will Lift Up Your Head

Make sure your speakers are on!

I added a new song to my playlist and I wanted to mention why. This was a song that God gave to me when I was first dealing with infertility, before we had Maggie. When I was at my lowest point, I was listening to Jars of Clay's CD "Redemption Songs" and when "God Will Lift Up Your Head" came on, it was like God tapped me on the shoulder and said to me "Listen carefully, this one is for you."

There is a line at the end that says "Wait 'cause in His time so shall this night soon end in joy... soon end in joy. .. soon end in joy.... soon end in JOY". And I knew that was His promise to me. I didn't know that God was promising me a baby, but I knew he was promising me Joy - with or without a child. I am very thankful that he chose to to give me both.

When we faced secondary infertility, this song again brought comfort to my heart and reminded me of His promises. We chose Abby's name for many reasons, but one of most important was it's meaning "Source of Joy".

Frequently when friends and family are going through hard times, this song comes to my mind and so I added it to my playlist for you. If you are experiencing a "night" right now, I hope this can encourage you as well.

(For lyrics, click here)