Sophia's Walking!!!

The long awaited news ... Sophia finally started walking. She is still getting the hang of it, and she sure likes to crawl to get some place fast. Although, if I stand her up, she will walk until she falls down. Last night she walked from the back of our bedroom, to the hall bathroom! For those of you that have been in our house know that is pretty far for walking day #1! Here is a video clip Sarah's snapped last night!

Hope you enjoyed her first few steps (on video)!

Allyson

My Knight in Shining Armor ...

"Love never calculates; love never thinks how little it can decently give; love’s one desire is to give to the uttermost limits’ and, when it has given all it has to give, it still thinks the gift is too little."

- William Barclay

When I heard this quote last Sunday in church, I was just struck ... Many thoughts went through my head, but one of which was, "Do I show this kind of love to my husband, my best friend, now that Sophia is here and we are a family of 3?" I wanted so badly to say yes, but the honest truth would be no .... probably not at all times. The thing is that Nate IS most worthy and deserving of this intense love and devotion. Why is it that when you have your first (or second or fourth) child, the natural tendency is to transfer this type of love towards your children at the expense of your spouse? Could it be because kids take so much of our undivided attention and time? Could it be they are so needy that we can only extend ourselves so much? I know God doesn't want it to be that way -- He is very clear in the Scriptures. However, it still happens so easily?

I have been spending lots of time in prayer and thought this week, trying to find ways that I can show Nate how much I love him and cherish him. He is the most wonderful husband any girl could ever ask for!! He is so giving of himself for our family. He works his tail off at work, so that I can stay home and raise Sophia! He commutes 2.5-3 hours EACH DAY so that we can stay in our house surrounded by a wonderful community full of friends and a great church. Nate stays home with Sophia 1 weekend a month, so I can get out and work with adult interaction and mind stimulation. Nate is a romantic and is always trying to find ways we can connect on deeper levels. On Valentine's Day he surprised me with a pedicure and foot massage at the Nate Long Spa! Not too many men would be so selfless to do "Satin Feet" on their wives! I could go on and on about how wonderful of a man he is .... but I will keep the rest of my thoughts to myself b/c they always bring a smile to my face and joy in my heart!!

"Love's one desire is to give to the uttermost limits' ...." Nate always seems to give to the uttermost limits.... so how can I give to my uttermost limits each day for him while still loving and caring for a toddler?

Are there any secrets you wives have out there that you would like to share?

Allyson

No visitors?

This might be the reason we haven't had any visitors lately? Do you think they are afraid they might lose an eye or get a hole in their head walking up to our front door? Ha!! Oh, old man winter, please go away for good and bring me young man spring!!!

Love,

Allyson (who is WAY OVER winter!)

Rumors

After my recent bout with the oh-so-nasty GI bug, I have had quite a few awkward stares. A few have cocked their neck, lifted their eyebrow, and asked me with their eyes, "Are you sure you are not pregnant?" Well, I wanted to officially dispel any rumors that might be circulating ... Sophia will not be having a brother or sister in 9 months! The thought of that kind of makes the intense nausea from the weekend return! Please know that I will rejoice and be glad when God blesses us with another child .... but I am pretty sure it isn't His timing right now! :) Ha!

I know many of you are breathing a sigh of relief .... or maybe that is my heavy breathing slowing down!! Ha!!

Love,

A Family of THREE!

Holding one sweet baby girl!

Whew .... what a busy week!! Filled with highs and lows ... starting with the high ...

This past Wednesday, I had the opportunity to take a meal over to Jon and Mel as well as hold little Jolie Cate. Check out my previous posts for background on this tiny little miracle baby!! She is such a doll! Seriously, I think she gets cuter EACH day!! Is that possible? Sophia, Sarah, and I had a nice visit with Mel, Mel's mom, and Jolie. Jolie slept in my arms most of the time. What a heart-warming feeling, although, I am NOT ready for another little baby anytime soon!! (Just in case you were all wondering!) I covet my sleep at night!! Ha!!

Thursday morning I started feeling a little nauseous on my way to drop Sophia's off at mom's. I was scheduled to work 8:30am - 4pm. I was really looking forward to my first day on our new system. We are finally jumping into the 21st century with computer technology! Throughout the day, my nausea continues to worsen. By 2:15pm, I had to make a trip to the bathroom. Two lessons were learned immediately -- (1) Puking is NO fun. It might be one of the worst things in the whole wide world. (2) Puking in the Meijer public toilet is absolutely disgusting!! It makes you want to puke even more!! They should be cleaning those toilets at least 3-4x/day - SERIOUSLY!! To make a long story short, I only lasted about another hour at work, by 3:30pm I told Steff I had to leave. I was so sick and getting worse by the minute. I managed to make it to mom's house where I slept and laid on the couch for the next 5 hours. Thank heavens my parents were able to watch and care for Sophia! She and I ended up spending the night in Greenwood b/c I was too sick to drive us home.

6:45am Friday morning I awoke to my cell phone ringing -- it was Nate and he was sick at home needing his Florence Nightingale at his bedside, so Sophia and I headed home. Nate and I were sick all day long!! Whew ... it is REALLY hard being a mom and being sick at the same time. I am really worried for baby #2 b/c the morning sickness with Sophia lasted about 20 weeks. I don't think I can handle another 20 weeks of Thurs/Fri with a toddler! YIKES!!

Finally by this afternoon Nate and I were feeling back to 75%. Hopefully tomorrow we will be at 100%!

One way we pass the time is play our new FAVORITE game ... Bananagrams! Have you heard of it before? We never had until researching games on Amazon. It was actually the #1 selling game on Amazon last year. It is a mix of scrabble and boggle, however, each person creates their own puzzle, and you don't have to wait for the other players to take turns! I am not a patient one ... so this game is great for me!! Ha!! It is also extremely portable, as you only have to carry around the banana seen below. Here is one creation ... although Nate informed me I used a proper noun (which is not allowed) and thus I should have become a "rotten" banana and the loser! Can you figure out which is a proper noun in the picture below?

Going bananas,

Allyson

32 MPH

Nate and I had a wonderful romantic getaway this past Sun-Tues! For Christmas, my parents gave us a GC to any of the Indiana State Park Inn's! What a perfect gift for outdoor lovers such as ourselves!! (The best part was the free babysitting also offered in the gift!) We searched each park's website, looking for the best option and we choose Pokagon State Park and the Potawatomi Inn. It is located in Northeastern Indiana, just north of Angola. It is minutes from the MI state line! As one can imagine, the place was covered in snow -- absolutely beautiful!!

When we arrived we checked in and put on some fun clothes and headed out to their famous Toboggan Run. We rented a 3 person toboggan for an hour and were able to make 3 runs. It is a 1/4 mile run .... however, that means you have to carry the 50 lb toboggan back up the 1/4 mile and climb to the top of the tower. We were exhausted!! The ride was exhilarating!! We peaked at 32 MPH on the way down!! Make sure to click on this link and take a virtual ride on their website (however, we had snow all around us unlike the video)!

After an hour on the toboggan run, we headed inside to change clothes and explore our weekend retreat center. We had the chance to sit by the fire and play games and read books. They were showing the Super Bowl and had an all-you-can-eat taco buffet in the cafe! We were thrilled we could cheer on the Colts in the presence of many die-hard fans. Unfortunately, the game did not turn out as we expected. After the incredibly DEPRESSING loss, we headed to the hot tub to wallow in our sorrows!! We weren't the only depressed people that had that same idea!! Ha!!

Monday morning we were able to sleep in until 7:45am! Woot Woot!! After a quick breakfast in the room, we headed down to the leather couch in front of the fireplace for more reading. After sitting there for 3 hours, I decided to hit the outlet mall 3 miles down the road. I got some INCREDIBLE deals for next winter! Sure hope she grows as I expect!!! When I got back, we had nice soup and salad at the lunch bar. We spent the afternoon playing games and watching the wildlife! HOW relaxing!!! While everyone else was at dinner, we decided to hit the hot tub again .... an hour later we looked like a bunch of raisins! But relaxed raisins at that .... We showered and spent our final hour and a half in front of the fireplace and read books. We decided to leave at 9pm Monday night to beat the storm that was quickly approaching. We didn't want to get snowed in up north considering they had predicted 12 inches by morning.

We had such a wonderful time away, but it was SOOOOO good to get home and pick up our baby girl from Grammie and Grampie Kiesel's house!! Sophia had a wonderful time with them!! Although, she was sure glad to see her mommy!!

Hope you will check out their website and consider the journey north!! (If not just for the outlet mall! HA!)

Allyson

Who knew TP could be so entertaining?

Can you guess my new favorite word? Watch my video! I only say it about 50 times!!

Love,

Little Miss Sophia!