I see...

When Parker says, "I see...", it sounds like he is saying, "I eat..."

That's just good to know if you hear him say, "I eat Daddy," or "I eat trash."

Ellis at 14 Months

My baby girl is growing up too quickly! I need a pause button.

•  This little girl is unstoppable. She will walk and climb anywhere she wants.
• She continues to add words to her vocabulary.
• She loves to mimic sounds people make. She has no fear to try out her vocals.
• She believes 100% that she's a big girl now and that she can do whatever any other kid can do.
• I've seen some mini temper tantrums. I'm hoping that these don't accelerate into full blown temper tantrums as she grows closer to the terrible twos.
• She loves playing in her kitchen. She hasn't gotten to the point where she's pretending she's cooking. She likes to open and close the doors, put food in and out of the bins, and bring me some food to pretend to eat.
• She and Parker have become great playmates. Sometimes Parker instigates trouble, but I love to see them playing together.
• She loves to wrestle. If you are laying on the floor, you are fair game for some sneaky wrestling moves.
• She's so adorable. I just love to watch her in amazement. She's growing up too quickly. She's loosing the babiness and is growing in to a toddler.
• She just a sweet bundle of cuteness. I could just love on her all day.

Getting Closer

It's a little over 2 months away until our big move! It's starting to get real. I'm really excited about moving to New Orleans and becoming a seminary family, but I'm also nervous. That's a lot of change, and it's so far away from all that is familiar.

I've been pulling out things to get rid of since we will be living in a small apartment. It's so hard to prepare to move in to a place that you've never seen. All I have is a floor plan. Going by that floor plan, I've realized that we are going to have to sell our couch. I love our couch. It's red, comfy, and big. The big part is the reason it's got to go. I have to admit that out of all the things we are getting rid of the couch makes me the saddest. All the extra stuff that we had hanging around is not hard to get rid of. I started going through stuff with the rule that I have to love it and/or need it in order to keep it, but I love our couch and I don't get to keep it. The two pieces of furniture that we actually bought that weren't hand-me-downs, we have to get rid of because that just won't fit in our apartment. Sad times, but to bring myself back to reality, it's all just stuff. Stuff that will one day break, wear down, and eventually decompose out in a landfill some day.

All this reminds me that following Jesus is not easy. We have to surrender everything to Him, and that's tough. The deeper in my relationship with Christ the more I realize I haven't surrendered to Him. It hurts to release our tight grips on the comforts of this world, but the beauty of having surrendered what we deem as precious, to be filled all the more with my precious Savior makes all the pain worth it. I love the adventure of following Jesus. To the world, He may lead me down the path of craziness and stupidity, but as the Alpha and Omega, I know that I am secure, eternally secure, and that's all that matters. As we shed some of our earthly belongings to prepare for our move, I'm also shedding some more of the inner belongings that are taking up valuable space for the Holy Spirit to reign supremely in my life. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Ellis at 13 Months

Ok...so I'm late again on posting the monthly update. So much so that I confused myself about which age, 13 or 14 months, I was supposed to be posting on. You may have noticed that I haven't done a lot of blogging lately. I'm gonna get better. I had been focusing on Paul's mission trip to Peru and then while he was gone, we distracted ourselves from missing him by spending some time in the upstate and then doing some fun activitives around home. Alrighty then, let's get to the subject at hand.

• Ellis may have struggled with weight before, but she is making up for it now. She is eating like crazy! She will eat and eat until her belly is swole.
• She finally got her confidence and started walking.
• Along with this new found confidence, she decided that she should be able to climb Mt. Everest. I thought Parker was bad about climbing when he was little, but Ellis wants to climb everything.
• Ellis is quite the talker. Me ma (pick me up), cup, ball, I eat are just some. She says all kinds of stuff that you have to listen to catch what she's saying.
• She loves to play Pat-a-Cake. Before I get to the "throw it in the pan" part, she will throw her hands up and say "throw it."
• She also loves Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She does the motions to it and will sing "how I." So cute!
• She has moved up to 18 months clothing. She is finally in the clothing size she should be in! Yay!
• She wants to explore her world. She wants to be down and walking around.
• She already has a little rebellious streak in her. When we tell her to stop doing something that she shouldn't, she just smiles and keeps on doing whatever it is. Oh my!
• She is such a sweet little hugger and kisser. She can just melt your heart unless you a little person. Then she will attack you with hugs as she lays on top of you on the floor. (Poor Perry he experienced this many times when we were in the upstate visiting.)
• She has a little lovey that she calls baby. She sleeps with it and will carry it around with her.
• She's so fun to be with. She loves to interact and try to copy what you do.
• She thinks she's a big kid now. It's like she thinks now that she can walk she can do anything that all the big kids do.
• Have I mentioned before that she's the most adorable little girl in the whole wide world and I love her so much more than I could ever describe?