Baby Girl is 2! {another over-due post}

As you probably recall I had plans of doing some make-up posts on important stuff I'd missed after the baby was born. I think I did like, one maybe? lol Then came the holidays and us being sick (yes, all six of us!) and well, you know how it is. Anyway, I'm still wanting to do a few of those over-due type updates so here's the one about Darcey's birthday. That was in October! Enjoy. :-)

 (yummy cookie cake.....made especially to be allergy friendly)

 (laughing over her singing birthday card)

 (loved opening her tea set.....she had to serve everyone of course)

 (eating chocolate syrup for her birthday breakfast. good stuff)

(balloons for the birthday girl and daddy staying home from work to celebrate)

It's so hard to believe that this little girl is 2 already! She is such a fun, sweet, wonderful addition to our family. It's amazing just how big her personality is. Not to mention her vocabulary!
She loves to give hugs and say I love you or I missed you. She likes sleeping in her own bed or if she occasionally ends up in ours still wants her own space.
She had made huge strides toward being potty trained before Daxton was born (at her own request), but totally lost interest afterwards. I'm okay with waiting until things are a little more normal before pushing it again. Although not having to change 2 little ones will be a relief for sure!
She loves singing and dancing like a ballerina. Has a huge imagination and is always ready to play. She loves the ABC song and can count to 20. Most of the time. lol
She has grown so much over the last few months and now weighs a whopping 30 lbs! And it's not fatty weight at all but she is just a big girl. Quickly out growing the  size 2 clothes we started the winter out in and already needing bigger ones. Ah!
She also thinks she's as big as her older sister and brother of course, which is sometimes cute and sometimes frustrating. For both of us! She also loves her new baby brother and calls him her buddy. So sweet.
I could go on and on about our Darcey girl but I'll just sum it up by saying there's definitely not anyone else like her. And we wouldn't have it any other way! I can't wait to see her grow and change over the next year and am so blessed to be her momma. Thankful God has allowed us another year to have her in our family. :-)

The Best "Things" in Life

Sweetest thing ever is when your 20 month old says, "Momma, baby read Bible."  and then lays on the couch like this while she pretends to do just that. My heart is so thankful to be blessed with copies of God's Word and that I have the amazing privilage of sharing it with my children! May I never take it for granted and always seek to instill a love of it in their little hearts by them seeing me feel that way about it myself. Here's a picture of the sweetness for ya'll to enjoy as well....

"And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 2 Timothy 3:15

Tyra

She's 1 Today!

It's almost impossible to believe that a whole year has passed since we welcomed this beautiful baby girl into our lives, but time has flown by and we are definitely celebrating her 1rst birthday today! I could go on and on about her and how special she is to us but I think I'll just let some pictures do the talking for me. Mostly anyway. :-)

Holding her for the first time!

Meeting the big brother and sister!

                           (fast forward a WHOLE year!)

Birthday Party!

Opening presents....she learned fast!

She had the most fun with the paper!

Taking a break to read her card!

Loves baby dolls....what a cute smile!

Wasn't sure what to think about her first cake!

What is this?!

She figured it out pretty quick! (altho she didn't end up eating much)

The 3-D's!

Waking up happy on her birthday!

We've had a fun weekend already celebrating and I'm sure today will be full of it too! Happy Birthday to our Darcey Ella! She's a wonderful, sweet, lovable addition to our family and we are so thankful to have spent the past year with her in it. Good times and bad I wouldn't trade a moment of it for anything!

Already 8 Months?!

It doesn't seem possible that our baby girl turned 8 months old last Friday! She is growing way too fast and learning something new almost every day it seems. I'm thinking she's trying to catch up to her big brother and sister! Here's a few things that she's up to lately.....

She loves to sing and play the piano. Of course her version of singing is a bit off-key and hard to decipher any words out of, but it's definitely her way of making music! Oh, did I mention that it's too cute as well? :)

She's pulling up to stand on everything and even letting go occasionally, which often results in falling down and banging her head so she's always getting bumps and bruises. (Thankfully we have the miracle homeopathic cream, arnica, which is completely amazing in that it almost totally does away with the bruising. If you've never tried it then you should check it out!) I love seeing her stand up and then bounce up and down all excited, squealing and looking around to see who's watching. She gets so pleased with herself for doing something new, it's just fun to watch!

She finally got two teeth breaking through the gumes on the bottom! That in itself is a tremendous accomplishment since she's been teething for months now and had such a hard time with it some days. (and nights) She's still acting like there's more to come so I'm not sure if those two just aren't totally out yet or if she's gonna get several close together. Guess we'll just wait and see!

Her sleeping has gotten so much better for the most part unless something is bothering her. She's slept through the night several times now so that is a huge blessing there. She's pretty good at taking naps during the day too unlike the older kiddos were so that helps to have breaks to do other things! She's also eating more 'solid' foods, although she doesn't have a big variety yet since she's still very sensitive with her stomach. She loves eating though and of course still takes several bottles a day as well.

My biggest amazement in seeing her turn 8 months has to be in looking back over how hard we struggled with her health issues just a few short months ago. I am beyond thankful at how much better she is doing and grateful that the Lord has helped us so much in that area. Things aren't perfect and I'm sure we'll always have some problems to deal with(since we all have such severe allergies)but it's such a relief to see the improvement that we have.

Mostly Darcey is just a happy, laughing girl who fills our lives with so much joy every day. Has it been a little hard at times adding her into this (sometimes crazy) family? Well, yeah, honestly it has. But is it more than worth it? Most definitely. :)

Getting Around...

Our Darcey girl has been busy the past few weeks! It's hard to believe how fast she is growing and all the things she can already do, but the proof is impossible to deny. :)

She loves to get around. Which is why she quickly has gone from sitting up, to raising onto her hands n knees, to scoot-crawling across the floor, to perfecting the actual crawling technique, and finally just this weekend.........

....standing up in the bed by herself!! Look at how pleased she is. lol Totally thinks she's something....and so do we actually!! :) She is an absolute handful sometimes but also so much fun. I'm pretty sure it won't be too long before the pulling up turns into letting go and then full out walking. Definitely following in her big sister's footsteps it looks like as an early walker. Now if we can just somehow keep her from all that climbing Delancey likes to do...... ;)

Oh, and for the record this weekend also included going to get a bigger bed. As you can see we have used the convenience of the co-sleeper for as long as possible! ((sigh)) Although those first few months were rough and seemed impossibly long, now it seems like her baby days are just flying by. So I guess I better enjoy them while I can! 

6 Months Old!

I honestly cannot believe what I just wrote as a title. Has it really been six months since our baby girl was born?! Seems impossible and yet here it is and I can't deny how big she's gotten or all the things she's started doing. Some days when I look at all the kids I just want to stop time for awhile and not let them grow up so fast. But that's part of life and I guess I need to just do my best to enjoy them in the moment! Here's some things that's going on with Darcey.....

She has filled out so much and now weighs about a whopping 19 pounds! Her 6 months clothes are already getting too small and although I first thought she wouldn't be able to wear Delancey's hand-me-downs this summer because the seasons/sizes were off, I think she just might prove me wrong. Which is a good thing since we won't have to buy as much now! :)

She can sit up for a few minutes at a time on her own, although it seems to cause her reflux to flare up a bit from the pressure on her stomach. I think she prefers laying down so she can roll over, scoot, and attempt to crawl. If I'm not mistaken she'll be figuring it out pretty soon! She also likes to stand up while being held in our laps or sitting on the floor. I'm thinking she's gonna be another early walker like Delancey. And boy will I have my hands full then! :)

We've been giving her baby food a couple of times a day now for a few weeks, but it seems to be causing some stomach issues so I'm not sure what to try. It's so challenging to figure out what to feed them when they have allergies and reflux to deal with. So for now she might just mostly keep getting formula until her stomach can adjust a little better. She's also trying to cut some teeth so that probably effects things as well. One good thing about them getting older is they can actually tell you what's wrong instead of having to guess so much! But that being said, I really am not in a hurry to have her grow up.....it's pretty nice having a baby around the house. :)

So there's a little bit about our Darcey girl. All in all, she is a sweetheart who loves attention and never fails to make us smile. We're all more than glad to have her in the family, in spite of how hard some of the past few months have been. Until later..... 

Struggling With Hard Times {second part}

*If you haven't read the first part of the story then click here. And if you already have then read on.....

As I said at the end of the other post, we really felt like God answered our prayers in giving us another baby when we were so unsure about what to do. But I also think that I started feeling like since He had allowed us to get pregnant again after all that time, then that meant everything would go easily. I soon realized that's not exactly what He had in mind though since it was the most difficult of all my pregnancies yet. I then started worrying about the health of the baby and how I would handle it if she ended up being like the first two. And although I tried to pray and trust God to take care of it, I have to admit I struggled with really believing things would be okay. Then to have Darcey be born and to start experiencing the exact same things we went through with Dathan was really, really hard to accept. I'm not gonna lie to you...my first response was not one of everything being okay. If there's an emotion to be named then I probably felt it those first few weeks. I had just so wanted more than anything for this baby to be 'normal' that dealing with the fact she wasn't was more than a little overwhelming. Fear, anger, doubt, resentment became almost constant companions....and then just overall numbness to realize it was out of my control entirely. I cried, prayed, questioned, and just about everything in between I think! There's just something about having to see your baby cry in pain for hours on end and not being able to help them that does something to your heart. It's not something that's easy to deal with every day that's for sure.
On top of that was my own physical/emotional health going downhill again as I dealt with the stress of healing from childbirth at the same time as caring for a sick baby, seeing Blake as he tried to juggle working and helping out at home too, and probably worst of all having to watch my other kids basically fend for themselves and deal with it all as their world was literally turned upset down overnight. Needless to say, I didn't always keep a good attitude. I wasn't always ready to praise God and see His goodness in spite of it all. I really, really wanted Him to just make it all go away and coming to terms with the fact that He didn't was not easy at all. I know that may sound arrogant and awful to say, but I'm trying to be honest about where we've been and how hard it was. And I wouldn't be completely honest if I didn't tell the bad along with the good. 

I have to admit there were times when I would sit and hold Darcey while she cried (while bouncing on the exercise ball of course)and just cry myself while trying to pray and feeling like it was just so hopeless. It even got to the point where I questioned what was the use in even trying to pray since it seemed like it didn't help anyway? I just couldn't understand why there should be any reason for this! Then one night while things were really bad with Darcey and I was really struggling to deal with it, the Lord brought a song to my mind that I had looked the words up to a couple of weeks earlier.(coincidence?) I just felt like I was supposed to start singing it out loud and by the time I got to the second verse I felt His presence so real there in that bedroom as I said, "Great is the Lord, He is faithful and true. By His mercy He proves, He is love." And I realized that even though I might not ever know why things were hard or even if Darcey never got any better, He's still a loving, merciful, and faithful Saviour. Any other blessings I have in my life (and there really are alot of them if stop to think about and focus on the good instead of just the bad) are just added benefits. Oh, and by the way, by the time I finished singing the rest of the song a couple times over (it was so good the first time I didn't want to stop!) Darcey had stopped crying and was sound asleep. Just cause He could, you know?!

Now I also have to admit that things weren't totally perfect after that. We're still human and it's still really hard to care for a sick baby 24/7. And even though she has gotten alot better in some ways there's still days that we struggle. (like this week when she has a really bad cold which may be turning into something far more serious and I just couldn't help but ask "For real?! weren't things already difficult enough??!!") But every now and then He comes by and reminds me of His mercies. And I remember how I need to just keep praising Him for who He is, in spite of everything else. I'm so very thankful that He's faithful and true to me, even when I'm not to Him! I'm hoping that I'll start learning more and more how to keep that in perspective during the hard times.

Well, I guess that's all for now. Looking back I really didn't go into alot of detail of Darcey's actual health problems so maybe that will be a post for another day. For now though, I hope maybe some of you can be encouraged that no matter what you may be going through, God's still good. And please keep praying for our family as we figure that out ourselves! We would also appreciate your continued prayers for Darcey that she'll be healthier soon and we'll come through all of this stronger and better than we were before. Until next time.... 

So Far Behind!

I really thought I'd be posting on this blog way more than I have so far. But then life (or I should say Darcey!) happened and it just hasn't gone that way at all. Which is okay I guess, although it does bug me sometimes when something happens or I think of something good I want to blog about and then just never get around to it. Or worse yet by the time I do get around to writing, I've forgotten what was so great that I wanted to share! When I think about all the other stuff in our lives that I'm behind on as well though, the blog kinda takes a backseat anyway. (you know, like laundry piled everywhere, a messy house, etc) So for tonight let me just throw a few quick thoughts out there and hurry to bed while I can grab a couple of winks!

Speaking of Darcey (or I was earlier in that first paragraph anyway!), she is doing alot better than a few weeks ago. I don't think I'll ever be able to claim an 'easy' baby by any means, but for us it's a success that she can sleep propped up by herself for a little while at night! Or that the entire day isn't spent with her screaming in pain all the time. I'm just so thankful at this point that we were able to try a different approach so much sooner than we did with Dathan. I really believe it's helped her alot to go the natural route rather than rely on medicine. Please keep praying for her (and us) though as her health and care is still a challenge. Actually, prayers for all 3 of them would be appreciated since dealing with so many allergies is a struggle for us all!

I mentioned in one of my previous posts about thinking on the word change recently and it's still definitely on my mind. We're seeing not only some changes that the Lord is dealing with our hearts about, but also experiencing what we feel like is satan resisting us allowing God to help us make those changes. Needless to say, it's challenging to keep on praying for something specifically when you know it might make things worse before they get better. But I truly believe if we don't grow weary in well doing that the rewards we'll reap will be more than worth it some day!

Well, I would love to share more with you all but bed is calling my name rather loudly at the moment. Sleep is so scarce and for me not being very restful when I do get some so I really need to try and get it while I can. Until the next time I grab a few minutes......

10 Weeks Old!

Has it really been 10 whole weeks since I gave birth to this wonderful little baby girl?! It doesn't seem possible she could be that old already....although there have been a few days that seemed to go on forever I must admit. :)
I'm working on some of the struggles we've had and how hard it's been in another post though, so for now I'm gonna just focus on the good stuff!

Darcey is sweet and smiling whenever she isn't hurting. I love seeing her wake up in the mornings or from a nap when she isn't in pain and knowing that the bubbly little smiles and interactions are her true personality. (not the constant crying of feeling bad which covers that up!) She's very observant and likes to be held facing out while walking around so she can see everything. She's been grinning and trying to laugh at us for several weeks now. And she never gets tired of being talked to by any of us! She also makes noises and tries to mimic whatever we're doing with our mouths....it's so funny to see her trying to use her tongue and lips....she takes it so seriously! :)
She seems to be developing quickly (or maybe I'm just forgetting how the other two were) and started holding her head up very young. Now she's already trying to sit up whenever she's on the changing table or being held in our laps. I had bought her a Bumbo seat for Christmas, but figured it would be a little while before she could use....she surprised me by already being able o sit in it by herself for a short amount of time! It seems to cause her reflux to get a little worse though (probably too much pressure on her stomach) so I don't sit her in there very often or leave her for very long.
She also sits in her vibrating seat for small intervals every day before getting fussy. It's a little break for me and good for her as well I think! The swing is probably not as much liked by her, but sometimes works for just a minute if she's not already crying when I put her in....which wasn't very surprising since the other two kids didn't swing very much either, so I wasn't getting my hopes up too far. I think maybe when her pain level has gone down even more (which we hope is soon!) she'll be using both seats alot more often. We can always wish for that anyway! :)

Darcey is also growing like crazy and still wants to eat almost 4 ounces about every 2 1/2-3 hours. She's wearing 3 months clothes and size 1 diapers, but is looking like she'll be moving up again before too long! Probably the biggest accomplishment in the past couple weeks is that we've been able to lay her down between us in the bed propped up on some pillows to sleep part of each night. That might sound crazy to most people since it isn't for very long or even in her own bed, but when you've got one who has to be held 24 hours a day any kind of break is wonderful!

This past week has been a little rough with her being even more fussy than normal, but she seems to be doing a little better now so maybe that was just a phase or something. I had ran out of the probiotics I was giving her and got some more of those Friday night so hopefully that'll start helping her stomach again. I also began adding some aloe vera juice to one of her bottles each day again to see if that would help her digestion. Some days it seems like things work and others not so who knows really, but we're trying to do all we can to give her some relief!

Well, I guess that's about enough updating for now. I'll end with saying how thankful we are for this baby girl and how much we all love having her around! She's definitely become a very special addition to our little family.....one which I wouldn't trade for all the peaceful, sleeping nights in the world. And that's saying alot for us right now! :)