19 Months + Roots

Kiera is 19 months old today.  I was REALLY hoping she would be walking by the end of this month, so it is wonderful that she is!  She’s been learning 1 or 2 new words a day for a while now, so I think she has about 100 words in her vocabulary.  She’s also starting to want to feed herself more now and she did quite well with using a fork for pasta yesterday evening.

Yesterday, I planted my flowers outside as most nights are now staying above 0 degrees.  I was cleaning out last year’s stuff from one of my pots and I was quite surprised at how deep some of the roots went.  It made sense though, because they have to dig down deep in order to stay planted where they are during bad storms and if they’re growing and healthy, their roots will be growing, too.  That made me think of how I need to be digging into God’s Word every day and spending time with Him in order to weather the storms that life throws at me and in order to grow in my relationship with Him.  Just as plants need sunlight + water to grow, I need the Son + his “living water.”  It’s neat the things that God can use to teach us and remind us of things we need to keep on learning. 

I’ve Come Alive Again

Oh, how I love the warm, sunny weather!  I feel “alive” again after being frozen all winter.  I love the smells of BBQ’s and flowers as I go for walks with Kiera.  I try not to complain about it, but I really struggle with the cold winter weather.  I’m the type of person who’s already naturally cold, so winter is hard for me.  I don’t get depressed, but I very much hate the cold.  We would move south simply because of the weather, but being near family + friends is more important.  I find it so much easier and more fun to go out with Kiera in this weather and not have to bundle ourselves up.  I’m so thankful for this season!

Do you see the butterfly?

Shopping + Milestones

This past Saturday, I woke up early at 7 a.m. (yes, that’s early for me…I usually sleep ‘til 9 or 9:30) and by 8:00 was heading to Grand Forks with my Mom for a day of shopping. My Mom bought Kiera another really cute summer outfit

and she also bought these a few weeks ago (the outfit on the right is pajamas).

Once again, Aeropostale had amazing deals: all of the t-shirts in their store were $10 each. I could have bought many but I limited myself to 2.

While we were there, I picked up Jared’s Father’s Day present (I know it’s early). It’s the Stir Crazy Popcorn Popper. He tried it out shortly after I got home and it was pretty cool!

On the way back, I had to pay duty at the border for the first time in my life. I’ve done several day trips before and spent around the same amount of money and they’ve always just waved me through but not that day. Oh well. It was $12 and my sweet Mom paid for half of it which was so very nice of her. :)

In other exciting news, I think I can officially say that Kiera is walking!!!!!!!! Praise the Lord!! Right now, it’s pretty much from Point A to Point B, but she can walk halfway around our church without stopping, so I would say she’s a walker! She also takes off walking without any encouragement from me. She sometimes still crawls and can’t stand up without pulling herself up against something, but she’s on the way. She also finally made the switch from drinking from a bottle to a soft-top sippy cup a couple of weeks ago, so we threw out her bottles (they weren’t in good shape anymore) and now she’s just a sippy cup drinker! It’s been a GREAT month! Here’s a video of her walking that I took today.

Fun at Poppy + Granny's

These are pictures of when Kiera stayed at Jared's Dad + Step-mom's house overnight in December and January.

What a beautiful complexion she has!

Poppy accidentally put her shirt on backward (hee hee)

The Latest News

After a call to our internet provider yesterday, our internet is working again. It turns out the password on the online internet account was changed and there was box checked that said something like, "Change all passwords" and it was left like that. It turns out, that changed the password to the modem, so then the router wouldn't connect after it was reset. After sorting that all out with the tech guy on the phone and him walking Jared through all sorts of steps, it's working again! Kind of confusing and complicated, but hopefully we won't have anymore internet issues!

We had a great long week-end hanging out with friends and family. I went to a girls night on Friday night, Saturday afternoon we went and bought the vanity for our downstairs bathroom and in the evening we had a friend over for some Bohnanza. Sunday we had a couple over for lunch after church and then had a big bonfire in the evening with a bunch of friends, and Monday we went to my parents' house for supper (homemade perogies and meat pocket/bun things...I think there's some German word for that). Last week, Jared + I felt our baby move for the first time! SO exciting! I had almost forgotten what that felt like. I've been feeling little movements now every day! Today, the rest of our flooring is getting installed in the basement, so it's getting close to being done! Now it's just finishing work left like window trim, baseboards, doors, installing the toilet and vanity, and a bit of painting. Pictures to come soon!

No Internet

Today, our internet quit working again. I'm blogging from my parents' house right now. This time it's not something simple like a loose wire. We've tried all kinds of things to try to get it working again, but so far nothing. We suspect something may be wrong with either our wireless router or our computer, but we don't know yet. If I'm MIA for a few days (and hopefully not longer than that), then that's why. It's frustrating, but maybe God wants to teach me something without the distraction of the internet right now. Hopefully I'll be back soon!

Flooring Fiasco

We decided we wanted to totally finish our basement this year and we've been trying to do it all with cash, but we don't have quite enough for everything. We can't afford loan payments and it was too much of a hassle to add onto our mortgage for such a small amount, so we decided to try to get a line of credit and then you're only required to pay the interest every month (we'll probably pay a bit more, though). We also don't want to wait a year since the next baby is on the way and we're hoping to use next year's tax return for a trip to a hot spot for our 5th anniversary. Our financial institution said they could give us an interest rate of prime plus 5.5% or something like that which ended up being over 8% on a line of credit. Jared said, "Nope. I can do better somewhere else." He called around and got approved at one bank for 6.5% and another bank said they do anywhere between 4.5%-6.5%. He e-mailed the original loans officer and said that he would really like to keep his business with them as he has done his banking there for most of his life and he's already been approved for 6.5% and would they give us a rate of 5.5%? I thought, "They're never going to do it," but I prayed about it anyway and left it in God's hands. They e-mailed back and said, "Yep, we'll do it. Prime plus 3%." In the meantime, prime dropped down to 2.25%, so now our interest rate is 5.25%!

So, the flooring guys came yesterday to install everything (we're doing part of the basement carpet and the rest vinyl). Jared came home at lunch and said, "Elleah, you need to come look at this." We went downstairs and they had installed the wrong vinyl! It wasn't what we had picked out at all! Thankfully they hadn't glued it down yet, but it was all cut out, laid out and ready to be glued. We quickly called the flooring guy we've been dealing with and he figured there had possibly been some mix-up with the shipment as there had been an Alberta tag on the roll of flooring, so it's possible our flooring went to Alberta and we got someone else's vinyl! He's not totally sure what happened, though. It actually kind of matched in the basement, but it was quite a bit darker and way different than what we had wanted. He said if we kept it, he would give us a chunk of money off, or we could pick something else and if it was a bit more expensive, we could get it for the same price. We quickly went in after Jared was done work and ended up picking something else that is more expensive, but we don't have to pay extra, so in the end it worked out in our favor! Now we just have to wait for them to order it in and we were really hoping it would be done today, but now we have to wait 'til next week. Oh well. On top of all that, I had 2 piano students quit yesterday because they can't afford to take lessons anymore (due to her maternity leave ending and she's not going back to work). I've had quite a week, including Kiera throwing many tantrums in the last 2 days, but I know a girl who had everything in her apartment ruined by a fire this week and she has no insurance, so my problems look really small in comparison. I'm actually not discouraged about all these things and I know that is the Lord at work! Tonight, I'm going to a girl's pajama + movie party, so things are lookin' up!

I'm Thinking of Opening Up a Pharmacy...

I forgot to blog about my Mother's Day week-end...it was really good! Friday night, Jared picked up pizza for supper and then stayed home with Kiera (he wasn't feeling well) and I went out to a friend's house for games night! I LOVE playing games, plus there was cheesecake there (which they sent half of it home with me since everyone else is either watching their weight or didn't want it), so it was wonderful! On Saturday, Jared stayed home with Kiera again while I went to a friend's house for an Epicure Party. I ordered the Lemon Dilly Dip which is so yummy! In the evening, my parents came over and Jared bbq'd burgers for all of us which was great! Sunday, Jared's Mom made a chicken + potatoes meal for lunch and in the evening, we got together with Jared's Dad + Step-mom and the rest of the family.

On Monday, I went to the hospital to get the standard pregnancy bloodwork done. On Tuesday morning, I got a call from the doctor's office saying that she needed me to come in to discuss the results. My immediate thought was, "Something is wrong or else I wouldn't need to go see her." I didn't think it was anything too serious, though. I went yesterday and it turns out I have a bladder infection which really surprised me! I've never had one before and I don't really have any symptoms! Now I'm on antibiotics which I have to take 3 times a day, plus I'm taking acidophilus to counteract the negative effects of the antibiotics (they kill the body's good + bad bacteria), and I have to drink lots of cranberry juice, which I don't really like, but it's not the end of the world. Thankfully it was nothing very serious especially since they caught it right away. Also, my iron is a bit low, so now I'm taking an iron supplement as well! My cupboard is starting to look like a small pharmacy but also with vitamins in it. Here's what I'm all taking right now:


















Thankfully, 2 of them will be done next week. Does anyone know how long you're supposed to take folic acid for? Is it just for the 1st trimester (which I'm done with) or is it the whole pregnancy? I have a couple of weeks worth left. Yesterday, I had to go out with Kiera in that horrible weather (rain/snow) for 3 different appointments in 3 different towns/cities and coming home in between all of them only to have to go back out again a little while later! Not fun driving in the pouring rain all day, but we made it to all of them safely! I'm very much enjoying relaxing at home today hopped up on drugs + vitamins. :)

Internet + Doula

Our internet wasn't working for most of the week-end which normally I try to stay off it on week-ends, but there were a couple of things that I really wanted to look up before Monday. We called our internet provider and they couldn't figure out what's wrong, so they were going to send someone to come check it out today. As Jared was fiddling around with it, he discovered that it was just a wire that was loose and not plugged in quite properly! We had tried unplugging and plugging it back in, but the plug had to be in just the right spot for it to work, so that was silly! Before all of this happened, we were planning to switch internet providers anyway because Jared can get on their student plan right now for $24.95 a month for the next year, even though he won't be in school for the whole year. He is in school right now, though, so we qualify for that which is awesome! We've been on a student plan before, but it always from September-April, so now we got a 1-year plan that goes through the summer.

As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I called to get a midwife, but because we have a midwife shortage in our area and they can only take on 2 clients a month (plus I'm not a teenager, Native, or born outside of Canada) I didn't get accepted. My mom talked to a midwife she knows and this lady recommended some doulas in our area (a doula is a birthing coach for those who may not know that), so I called one of them and she came over last night to meet us. I was REALLY hoping that I would like her and that we would click as that's really important for someone who's going to be there helping me through labor. It went very well and it wasn't awkward at all (praise the Lord)! She's a Christian lady and totally has a heart to help women and she's so nice! I'm very happy about that decision as I found the whole labor + delivery to be extremely challenging with Kiera and Jared felt pretty helpless, so I think we will both very much benefit from having her there this time. That's the part that I'm most nervous about right now...the extreme pain is still fairly fresh in my mind. I try not to focus on that, though, as worrying about it won't help. Well, time for an apple + yogurt snack!

Kiera's 18-Month Photo Shoot

Last week, I got professional photos done by my Mom-in-law, June, for Kiera's 18-month pictures. Despite Kiera being sick with a fever that day, they turned out fantastic! I had a hard time narrowing them down, but these are a few of my favorites:

I think I want to get at least one of them blown up, but I'm not sure which one. Maybe I'll just do the collage!

Thoughts About This Pregnancy

Yesterday was the big day...I got to hear our baby's heartbeat for the first time! There is nothing quite like it, especially that first time. :) I just couldn't help but break out in a big grin and sigh in relief as there was only one heartbeat! I guess there's a remote possibility that there could be twins and one heartbeat just didn't show up, but I'm thinking not! This pregnancy has been quite a bit different not only symptom-wise but with Kiera, I was VERY focused on her and thinking about "the baby" the entire pregnancy and with this one, I'm not as much. Sometimes I almost forget (but not totally) that I'm pregnant because Kiera keeps me so busy and I'm focused more on her right now. I'm guessing that's normal? I also had "rose-colored glasses" on when I was pregnant with Kiera because I was like, "Oh, we're going to have a baby and it's just going to be so wonderful!" She is wonderful, but I was TOTALLY unprepared for how much work she was going to be and what to do with a baby that screams for hours every day and it wasn't fun in the beginning like I thought it was going to be. I have a much more realistic view with this one knowing that it's going to be great and also challenging at times! Our 2 biggest prayer requests in regard to this baby is that they will be healthy + that they'll be a content baby! On a slightly different note, I am really enjoying being in the 2nd trimester and I'm feeling good most of the time, so I praise God for that!

Something good came out of the whole "robin fiasco." When I went outside one day early in the morning to go block our windows, I saw that it had rained and there were water droplets hanging from our neighbor's tree that hangs into our backyard. I took this picture which I really like.

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

Lately, we've been wondering what we're going to do financially for the summer if I don't have any piano students. We figured we could scrape by for several months if we absolutely had to until the baby arrives and my child tax benefit goes up and all that. Well, last week, I got a call from the place I was working at before I had Kiera asking me if I would like to come back part-time for the summer. Their part-time receptionist is quitting in June and they need someone to work 9-hour shifts just on Saturdays and just for the summer since they have someone else who will be starting there in the fall. I was like, "Since when does that happen? People don't just call you + offer you a job that you didn't even apply for!" Total provision from God!! I'm not very thrilled about working every Saturday this summer, but it's just for a season and it's a huge blessing! We're excited...God ALWAYS provides!!

On a different note, we've had a strange thing happening lately. We've had a robin pecking at our basement windows. We just got new windows a while ago, plus it would start pecking at 6 a.m. almost every morning (which would wake me up + I'm not a morning person) and it would continue throughout the day, so it was driving me nuts! Jared wanted to shoot it with a pellet gun, but it's illegal to shoot robins, so instead, I went and put stuff in front of the windows to block it. This bird kept finding ways around my barricades, so then we talked to Jared's parents about it and his step-mom told us why this robin is doing that. She said it's mating season + robins are very aggressive + territorial. This robin is seeing its reflection in the window and thinking that it's another bird, so it's going after it and doesn't quit because it's not "getting the other bird." She suggested taping a piece of paper on the inside of the window, so I did that and it solved the problem! The same bird was doing the same thing to our next door neighbor, so Jared told her this and she just simply shut her blinds. We don't have blinds in the basement, so the paper is working for now! It seemed like a really stupid little problem, but again, God provided a solution!