Big News!

Of course my blog has been neglected recently, but with good reason! Several months ago we found out we are expecting another baby! We are so excited about this new life that God has created and couldn't be happier. About a week or so after we found out we are expecting I started having severe morning sickness (just like I did with Emma). This time it was even more severe than last time and i have already stayed in the hospital twice and am currently receiving some home health help to get me through until the sickness stops. I had a pretty good week this week, so we are hoping it will continue. We found out at our 20 week appointment that baby looks very healthy and also found out that baby is a GIRL! Emma is thrilled that she is getting a little sister and already kisses my belly and talks to baby M every night. We would appreciate your prayers for this child and hopefully for less complications with this pregnancy than last time.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We keep Valentine's Day pretty low key around the Swain household, but we always enjoy an excuse to give each other sweets and go out on a date. We are saving our date for the weekend and will be having a friend over for dinner tonight. I am making chicken tortilla soup (one of my favs) and these:

Yum!
It's always nice to have an excuse to make a chocolate-y dessert!

Other than that our day today will consist of wearing pink, cleaning the house, and making these for Emma's MDO class:

Thank you Pinterest

Cake Auction

Every year at our church we do a cake auction to raise money for any of the youth going to camp in the summer. I think I have decided I will make this cake! I saw this reeses peanut butter cake on pinterest and it looks so delicious!

Maybe for Valentine's Day too - just because :)

That reminds me - I'm thinking about starting that Couch-2-5k program... maybe just one piece of that cake, haha!

Sweet Kisses

This is an old picture of Emma when she would do this "kissy face" all of the time.
One of our favorite things is to get a kiss from our sweet girl! She is very generous with her hugs and kisses, but we also have a few tricks to get a hug and kiss too.

We play a little game I like to call "Nighty-night," haha, where you pretend to be sleeping and the only way to wake someone up is by giving them a kiss. So if we pretend to sleep she will almost always come up and give you a kiss and yell "Wake!"

I've also taught her the Barney I love you song, to my husband's chagrin (ha!), and whenever we sing the part about a great big hug and kiss she gives them both.

Other things she does right now that I don't want to forget:
Calls fish "shish"
When she wants to go outside she will sometimes say "grass?" instead of "ouside"
She LOVES to dance - which is running on her tip-toes and clapping around
She can clap to "If you're happy and you know it," and do some of the motions with "head, shoulders, knees, and toes"
I can also put her hair in pigtails - but she doesn't really sit still enough for me to get them in well.

18 months

On February 3rd, Emma turned 18 months old! I can't believe this means that she is now closer to 2 than she is to 1. I am loving this age right now, but I can't neglect the fact that I am a little sad that she is no longer a "baby" and is in full toddler mode now. She is so sweet and learning new things every day and she really keeps me on my toes. Here are some of her 18 month stats:
We will find out height and weight and her appointment next week, but I'm fairly certain she is still tall and skinny for her age, haha!
She can repeat almost any word we say, but some of her most recent favorite words to say are:
oh boy!
oh wow!
baby doll (no longer just baby)
animal names (she used to only say the animal sounds, but now she can say the name of the animal and its sound)
the numbers 3 and 5 are her favorites, haha
A,B,D, and P are the letters she likes to say
She can name most of the monsters on Sesame Street - we have lots of SS books, and she gets to watch Elmo's World most days
Are you? When she is looking for something she asks this. A recent example was when Aaron slipped some string cheese out of her hand and when she saw it wasn't there she looked all around saying, "Cheese...are you?" haha
She has started learning names well - she can tell you the names of about 10 people from church without prompting

It is so fun to be able to teach her things now that stick with her - she is a little sponge for sure.

Some of her favorite foods right now:
apples
blueberries
string cheese
pizza
mac and cheese
muffins
green beans
tomatoes
ice cream
In other news: Emma climbed out of her crib for the first time last week. The downside of having a baby that is a climber and a light-weight is that they can pull themselves over the top of their crib! This happened at 1:30 in the morning last week because she has been teething and woke up in the night because her teeth were bothering her. She is now sleeping in her pack-n-play until we can get the rail that converts her crib into a toddler bed.

Happy Anniversary!

January 12th marked our 4 year anniversary. In a way I can't believe that it has already been 4 years, but in some ways it seems as if 4 years has flown by. I am so grateful to the Lord for Aaron and the wonderful husband and father that he is. I am so thankful for the provider he is for our family. I am thankful for the way he loves our daughter and enjoys spending special time with her. I love to hear him rocking and singing to her at bedtime. I am grateful that he puts our interests above his own. I am most of all thankful for his love of the Lord and the way he loves his family!

Christmas Card photo...

Thanks to our friend Brian Fleming at BrianFlemingPhotography.com we have some great photos to choose from for our Christmas card this year, but I am thinking this may be the winner!

In other news:
-Emma is growing faster than ever it seems at times. She is so sweet and girly, but also so independent and silly. Her personality is really showing itself more and more and also her sinful heart, haha. She is starting to realize that she doesn't want to share as much as she used to, but also giving away kisses so freely that it melts this momma's heart. This age (16 months) presents many new parenting challenges (ie: power struggles, more discipline, etc.), but so many new fun adventures as well! I am so thankful for my sweet girl and the reminder of God's grace that she is in my life.
-We have had a really tough month and suffered loss, but God has been so good to us and we are grateful for the never-ending reminders of His grace in our lives.